Excessive Food

Between Thanksgiving and my wife's birthday, we have a lot of food, milchig and fleishig.  Had we a full contingent for Thanksgiving, six of us with two returning home after dinner, most of Thanksgiving would have been consumed or packaged, with a little remaining for us for shabbos.  As it is, recipe writers and food manufacturers have not really adapted well to the reality of people living alone or as empty nesters in ordinary times, made even more obvious by restrictions that Covid-19 safety has imposed on most of us.  I've not adapted to scaling down recipes or preferentially selecting those where excess can be frozen.  I'm not even sure I really have the cookware to make individual or double portions.  For my wife's birthday I made coulibiac which goes in a pie plate which seem pretty standard in size.  The almond torte goes in a springform pan, where I only had one designated milchig, though that I could have cut the ingredients and maybe baked it in an 8-inch skillet with parchment paper instead of a springform.  At least for the glazed carrots I took out the right amount.

Thanksgiving was harder.  I bought a half turkey breast which is easy to prepare and leftovers freeze well.  Soup could have been scaled back if I used fresh beans, which I did, but canned beans usually only come in one size.  Large cans of diced tomatoes can be portioned in plastic bags or they now come in small cans with some spice added.  Tomato paste can be used in the amount needed, the rest frozen in a sandwich bag and needed amounts broken and thawed later.  While the ratatouille excelled, it needs a variety of vegetables and therefore big quantity.  Better to make single vegetables and limited amounts of salad.  Stuffing can be scaled or frozen.  Cakes are hard to portion, either as partial recipes or finding smaller baking utensils.

I will likely have to send a lot of food to waste this time.  I enjoy the preparation and output, but need to reconsider portioning more appropriate to my circumstances.