For a while now I’ve been meaning to write a piece on interesting meals to make in a hurry for one person. I eat at home each day for lunch time and often make something substantial so that I can grab a sandwich later on my way to another activity, but these are equally applicable to an evening meal for one.

The first set of recipes use eggs. They’re nutritious and easy! If you try these recipes, or have variations of your own, then let me know :)

Omelette

Take a small frying pan, and pop some butter in it over a medium heat. While the butter melts beat two eggs in a small bowl with a fork or wish, grind some black pepper into it as well.

When the butter just starts to sizzle, pour the mixture into the pan and then leave it alone while you prepare your filling. Fillings can be any combination of:

• grated cheese
• chopped ham or bacon ( tinned ham is nice )
• mushrooms
• chopped onion (I like to fry mine first)
• whatever else is in the fridge

When the egg is mostly set, and brown underneath, scatter your filling across half of the surface area and then fold the rest of the “pancake” over the top of it. After two minutes, flip the whole thing over and give it a couple of minutes on the other side.

Serve with salad, coleslaw or whatever else comes to hand – bread and butter if you’re hungry!

Spanish Omelette or Tortilla

For this you will need some boiled potato left over from last night’s meal which has been in the fridge. Its fast and filling.

Heat a bit of butter in a small frying pan and chop half an onion (the other half will keep in the fridge for a few days but put clingfilm over it or something so the smell doesn’t go everywhere).

Pop the onion in the pan and fry until it softens, meanwhile chop the boiled potato into cubes. Throw that in the pan and beat two or three eggs in a small bowl with a fork, and grind some black pepper into the mixture.

Now pour the egg mixture over the onion and potatoes, and wait. You can try flipping it or I usually pop the frying pan under the grill for two minutes to finish off the runny egg that floats on top.

Again, serve with salad or whatever else comes to hand. You can extend this recipe to include leftover vegetables also.

Scrambled Egg On Toast

This is a good lunch for a cold day but probably isn’t a meal on its own. You could grill some bacon to go with it.

Put a small saucepan on the hob over a medium heat and add quite a lot of butter (two heaped teaspoons of butter, although I don’t think that’s a traditional measure!). While it melts, beat three eggs together in a small bowl with a fork, add some black pepper.

The key to this dish is not to try to multitask so you should get the plate out of the cupboard, make the cup of tea to go with your toast or whatever at this point. Oh and put the bread in the toaster.

Now pour the egg mixture into the pan on top of the melted butter and stir continuously with a wooden spoon. Just keep on scraping up the mixture all the time from the bottom of the pan, don’t let it form a structure. When it starts to look like scrambled egg, its done. Take the pan off the heat and leave to stand for one minute (allows it to finish cooking and kind of set), then spoon over the toast.

Eat this with relish, salsa, barbecue sauce or whatever you think goes.