Cooking for one without living on toast

One pan, one chopping board and a short list of staples cover most weeknights.

Food · By the Man Brief team · 1 min read · Wednesday 16 September 2026

A stir-fry is the easiest weeknight habit to build. Frozen vegetables, an egg or some chicken, a splash of soy and whatever rice or noodles you have is dinner in fifteen minutes.

Cook two portions and take the second to work the next day. It's the same effort and one less lunch to buy.

Keep garlic, onions, a tin of chopped tomatoes and a bag of pasta in at all times. With those, you're never more than twenty minutes from a meal.