More Americans dine alone than ever before: 21% eat their meals solo, a jump of 25% in two decades. Traditional recipes may feel oversized and impractical in one- and two-person households, leading to wasted food and excessive takeout. Small-batch cooking and baking offer a practical alternative, with fresh, cost-effective and satisfying meals scaled to today’s smaller households.
Cooking small makes sense now
Meal preparation has long been built around families that don’t always match today’s households. Many dinner recipes online serve four or six people. Desserts often serve even more. These recipes aren’t always optimized for current household needs.
In 2025, there were 39.7 million one-person households, accounting for 29% of all U.S. homes, up from 20% in 1975, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. The Census Bureau’s Historical Households Table HH-6 shows the average population per household declined from 3.33 people in 1960 to 2.50 people in 2025. Among people who live alone, the World Happiness Report found that the share who ate all of their meals alone the previous day rose from 55% in 2003 to 69% in 2023, a 25% increase.
For these smaller one- and two-person households, cooking a full meal is time-consuming. Extra servings can leave you with leftovers for days. Even good leftovers get old after a few nights. When cooking feels like a project, it’s easy to slide into takeout, snacking or skipping meals. Choices that can be more expensive and less healthy than cooking at home.
The mismatch between traditional four-serving recipes and smaller households often results in waste. The EPA estimates that over one-third of the food produced in the United States is never eaten. With store-bought and packaged foods, portions can be too large for a small household to eat, leading to spoiled produce and unused ingredients.
Small-batch cooking addresses the problem while still allowing home cooks to embrace flavor, variety, healthy options and the joy of cooking. Rather than focusing on scaled-down meals as a compromise, small-batch recipes are designed to be cooked and enjoyed in the moment.
Rethinking dinner for 1 or 2
While meal prepping can be a cost-effective and convenient tool for families of any size, it can feel rigid and repetitive in smaller households. Even storing leftovers can lead to burnout, abandoned food and a refrigerator full of unknown containers. Small-batch cooking focuses on flexible dinners without the repetition or extensive effort.
This can start with choosing recipes that naturally scale down or rely on ingredients that hold up well in smaller quantities. A wedge Caesar salad turns a single romaine heart into a hearty, knife-and-fork meal that feels intentional. If you buy a single head of lettuce or two, you won’t have extra bags of greens moldering in the fridge. Small portions of chicken or fish, either fresh or frozen, with a serving of veggies, cook up quickly and offer a filling single-serve meal.
Small-batch cooking also invites a looser definition of dinner. An omelet with vegetables and cheese works just as well for dinner as it does for breakfast. A yogurt parfait with fruit and nuts, or a charcuterie-style plate of cheese, crackers, salami and produce are balanced options that require little to no cooking.
Kitchen and shopping hacks for small-batch cooking
Shortcuts in the grocery store and at home can help reduce cooking time. Buying loose produce instead of prepackaged lets you purchase exactly what you need. Pre-chopped vegetables may cost slightly more but often come in smaller packages, reducing waste. They also decrease time spent on cooking, a win if you’re looking for a fresh meal without extra hours in the kitchen.
Appliances can also help cut down on work and waiting. Rice cookers and slow cookers are well suited to small-batch meals, enabling you to cook without constant attention. Many one-pot dishes, such as soups, pastas and casseroles, work well in these appliances, minimizing cleanup after dinner. If space and budget permit, adjusting the size of your appliances to your preferred recipe size reduces the need to deal with large, unwieldy pans.
Keeping the right staples on hand will help add variety to your meals. Pantry basics, such as olive oil, pasta, rice, canned beans and your favorite spices and condiments, make quick customizations easy. Frozen vegetables are especially useful for smaller households, since you can use exactly the amount needed and return them to the freezer without waste.
Small-batch desserts and drinks without leftovers
Desserts are a clear example of how traditional recipes fall short for small households. Cakes, brownies and cookies can feed a crowd, leaving solo bakers to choose between overindulging and letting treats go stale.
Single-serve desserts solve that problem. A chocolate mug cake comes together in minutes using pantry staples and a microwave. There is no need to plan ahead, portion leftovers or eat something before it goes bad, making it an ideal option for spontaneous cravings.
Fruit-based desserts like a single-serve apple crumble provide the same flavors as an entire pie without the work. A single serving of fruit and a simple topping come together easily. For even more simplicity, bake an apple or pan-roast a peach in a cast-iron skillet.
Small-batch baking lets you get creative without ending up with more leftovers than you can handle. Whether you’re mixing up a small batch of cookies or a few muffins, you can try new flavors and ideas while using up ingredients before they go stale.
The quiet benefits of cooking small
Beyond saving money and reducing waste, small-batch cooking can boost your health. Cooking at home can mean more control over your ingredients than with pre-prepared meals or takeout. Smaller portions can also make it easier to enjoy desserts and comfort foods without pressure to eat more than you want.
Cooking for one does not have to feel provisional or lonely. Taking a few minutes to make yourself something delicious and filling can provide a moment of self-care, even if it’s only a few times a week. Sitting down to a home-cooked meal with a loved one or baking a dessert together can provide a moment of connection.
Cooking that fits into small households
As household sizes and routines have changed, home cooking needs to shift with them. Small-batch cooking aligns recipes, shopping habits and expectations for singles and couples. Whether you have an apartment all to yourself, are married without kids or are empty nesters, exploring small-batch recipes makes it possible to enjoy fresh, flavorful meals. At the same time, you can reduce waste, save money and build meals around your favorite foods.
Jere Cassidy is the writer and recipe developer behind the blog One Hot Oven. A passion for all things food related led her to culinary school to expand her baking skills and now to share easy recipes for all home cooks and bakers of all skill levels. When not in the kitchen, Jere’ likes to travel far and wide to find delicious food.
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