Rosemarie's Sunday Dinners
The Sunday food she made for four, cut down to one plate and a useful extra.
Dinner for one, every night, without the waste.
My wife's recipe box, rewritten for one plate: 60 easy dinners, 6 small sweets and 8 weekly meal plans with shopping lists. Every step tells you the heat, the minutes and what you'll see in the pan.
The cookbook is almost ready.
It isn't on sale yet. Start with the first five dinners from Week 1, free, and look through the book below.
- 66recipes for one
- 8weekly meal plans
- 229pages, ready to print
No. 1, from the box
Rosemarie's Sunday Chicken
Serves 4 1
extra thigh goes to Tuesday's soup
One recipe box. Sixty dinners. A plan for every leftover.
Sunday suppers, one-pan nights, oven dinners you don't have to watch, slow-cooker mornings, soups that freeze and pantry weeks when you can't get to the store.
What's in Ray's Cooking for One
- The Recipe Box60 dinners and 6 small sweets in 9 chapters, each with a photo of the finished platePart 2
- 8 Weekly Meal PlansSeven dinners in order, one shopping list by aisle, and where every opened package goesPart 3
- Ray's Kitchen RulesSmall pans for one, the Pantry 20, shopping for one, the leftover chain, the freezer systemPart 1
- Pages to PrintThe freezer chart, Ray's savings tracker, a thermometer and measuring chart, blank recipe cardsPart 4
- Two indexesFind a dinner by what's in your fridge, or by how much energy you have tonightBack
The cookbook isn't on sale yet. The free recipes are the first five dinners of Week 1.
Cooking for one is harder than it looks
- The recipe feeds four, so you eat the same thing all week or throw it out.
- Half a pepper, half a can of beans and half a carton of broth go bad in the fridge.
- You're too tired to stand at the stove, so it's toast again, or the diner.
- The recipe says "cook until done," and you're not sure what done looks like.
One plate, on purpose
Every dinner feeds one. When it makes extra, the card says so, and says where the extra goes.
You know when it's done
Every card ends with a "Done when" line: the temperature, and what the food looks like.
Prep sitting down
"Before you start" is done at the table, before the stove goes on.
Where one person's food money goes, and what you can keep
This is the sample math from the book, built on government numbers. It isn't a bill for your house. The book gives you a page to put in your own.
| Habit | Starting number, per year | Sample change | Sample saving |
|---|---|---|---|
| Waste less food | $728 of food thrown away | Cut waste by 60% | $437 |
| Eat out less | $2,171 spent eating out | Cook 1 in 3 of those meals at home, at about 30% of the price | $507 |
| Buy smarter for one | $3,497 spent on groceries | Switch half to store brands, about 25% cheaper | $437 |
| Sample total, one year | $1,381 | ||
About $780a cautious reader
$1,381the book's sample, rounded to $1,400 on the cover
About $1,900a committed reader
Sources: EPA estimate of $728 in food wasted per person per year (April 2025). Bureau of Labor Statistics, one-person household food spending, 2023: $3,497 on groceries, $2,171 eating out. Store brands about 25% to 30% cheaper: Consumer Reports and the Private Label Manufacturers Association. None of these savings is guaranteed; your own receipts are the ones that count.
Nine chapters, sorted by how much you feel like cooking
Not by meat or vegetable. By the night you're having.
One Pan, One Plate
Stovetop dinners with one main pan to wash.
Dump and Bake
No browning, no stirring. It goes in the oven and you sit down.
Too Tired Tonight
About 15 minutes, start to finish. Most need no knife.
Set It in the Morning
Decide at 9 a.m., eat at 6. One small slow cooker does the rest.
Soups and Stews That Freeze
Two bowls from one pot. One for tonight, one for a bad day.
Pantry Nights
Nothing fresh needed. For snow, storms and days with no ride to the store.
From the Neighbors
The dishes with a person attached.
A Little Something Sweet
One portion. No leftover cake on the counter.
Eight weekly plans, each with its shopping list
Seven dinners, Sunday to Saturday. One trip to the store. Every opened package already has its next job.
- The First Week
- Sunday Supper and Soup
- Skillet, Oven and Slow Cooker
- Lemon, Soup and Sausage
- Too Tired Tonight
- From the Labeled Freezer
- Pantry Week: Snow or No Ride
- Thanksgiving for One
Pages to print and keep by the stove
- The Pantry 20
- The Freezer Chart: what keeps, for how long, how to reheat
- Ray's Savings Tracker: a box for every dinner you cook at home
- Thermometer and Measuring Chart
- Blank recipe cards, for the ones you miss
Real pages from the book
Tap a page to see it full size.
Three cards from the box
Each one as it's written in the book.
No. 9, One Pan, One Plate
Sausage and Peppers
Serves 4 1
"Belmont street fairs smelled like this."
Done when pork sausage reads 160°F, chicken sausage 165°F, and the pepper is soft.
No. 35, Set It in the Morning
Beef Stew for Tonight and Later
Serves 4 1
"Dolores likes it better the next day."
Done when the beef breaks apart with a spoon and the potatoes and carrots are soft.
No. 29, Too Tired Tonight
Nicky's Quesadilla
Serves 4 1
"I called it a snack. The kid was right."
Uses up the half sausage and pepper strips from No. 9.
My friend,
After Rosemarie passed, I stood in our Yonkers kitchen looking at a chicken and a card. We had been married forty-five years. She did every bit of the cooking. I fixed the sink.
Her card said "serves four." I ate chicken for six days, then threw out the rest. In the second year I started buying groceries every three days. One pork chop. One potato. If I opened broth, I wrote down where the rest would go.
This book is what happened to her cards. A dinner for one, with the pan named and every step spelled out. Some recipes are Rosemarie's, some are my father's, and some came from the neighbors.
Ray
How you'll get the book
A digital book, delivered by Gumroad. Nothing to install, nothing in the mail.
Tap the button
Gumroad's checkout opens. Gumroad is the shop that sells and delivers my books.
Pay on Gumroad
Type your email and pay by card or PayPal on Gumroad's secure page. I never see your card number.
Open your book
Gumroad shows a button to open it right away and emails you a link, so you can download it again any time.
- What it isA PDF ebook, 229 pages, US letter size.
- Where to read itA tablet, computer or phone. A tablet is the most comfortable.
- PrintingPrint any page at home. The plans and pages to print are made for it.
The cookbook isn't on sale yet. Start with the free week.
Questions people ask
Is this a printed book?
No, it's a digital book, a PDF. You read it on a screen or print the pages you want at home. Nothing comes in the mail.
I'm not good with computers. Will I manage?
If you can open an email, you can open this book. After checkout, Gumroad sends you an email with a button. Tap it and the book opens. If you'd rather have it on paper, anybody with a printer can print the pages for you.
How is it different from the free recipes?
The free PDF is the first five dinners of Week 1. The cookbook has all 60 dinners and 6 sweets, all 8 weekly plans with their shopping lists, my kitchen rules and the pages to print.
Where does "Save $1,400 a Year" on the cover come from?
It's the book's sample math, shown above under "The math": government numbers for food waste and food spending, with three changes one person can make. It comes to $1,381, rounded on the cover. A cautious reader might save about $780. Your own numbers are the ones that count, and the book has a page for them.
Does it work for a special diet?
These are ordinary home recipes, not a medical diet. Every card has a "Swap it" line, like less salt or softer to chew. If your doctor has you on a special diet, check the recipes with them.
What do I need in the kitchen?
Small, ordinary pans and a meat thermometer. The first rule, Small Pans for One, lists them. A small slow cooker is only needed for the Set It in the Morning chapter.
Start with the first week, free
The cookbook isn't on sale yet. The first five dinners from Week 1 are ready now.