As do many people, I hate wasting food. So, although it's a poor excuse for overeating, the fact there's "just a little left in the pan and it won't really keep" is one of my most common pitfalls when it comes to portion control. Portion sizes in this country are out of control, there's no doubt about that, and could it be that one contributing reason is people's aversion to wasting food? It's a small reason probably, but I bet it's part of it.

Not to downplay the challenges of cooking for a large family, but having extra food sitting around isn't usually one of them. But for single people, or even some couples, it's another story altogether. Most recipes don't make just 1 or 2 servings, and most foods in the store don't come packaged in smaller more convenient amounts, or if they do they're much more expensive and hardly make sense.
This poses a real problem for people like me, who hate to waste perfectly good food. Yes, sometimes freezing or refrigerating leftovers is a good solution, but not everything reheats or keeps and still tastes good afterwards. So the trick seems to be not making more than you need from the start. And that is soooo much harder than it sounds.

But it's not impossible. By learning to prepare only what you need you'll easily cut calories out of your diet and give your weight loss and fitness goals a boost. For ideas and tips on cooking for one see this post from last week, and also see if any of these addtional ideas help:

• Keep bread and rolls fresh for longer by freezing them as soon as you buy them. Defrosting in the microwave is fast and easy (and in my personal experience a slice of bread defrosts naturally by the time I've finished putting a sandwich together!).
• Make foods that keep well in the freezer, like casseroles, ahead of time and freeze in individual servings. They'll keep for several months.
• Buy your fresh produce and fruit individually instead of by the bag.
• When buying meat, ask the butcher to cut it into meal size portions before you take it home.
• Find recipes that are easy to reduce by half or quarters.
• Read packages carefully on products like pasta and rice -- many have instructions on making individuals servings.
• Check out the salad bar if your supermarket has one -- they are often a good place to get small servings of veggies and fruit (pre-cut and ready to eat!) to either eat in salads or as side dishes.