Instructions: If you cook for one or two most of the time - or if members of your family rarely have time to eat together - you can probably identify with these frustrations:

Many packaged foods contain too much to eat at one meal.

Leftovers sit in the refrigerator so long you could enter them in a science fair.

You end up eating cereal or peanut butter sandwiches night after night.

Here are some tips to help you plan healthy meals, cut down on leftovers and wasted food, and enjoy more variety at mealtime.

Wise buys
Large-size, get-more-for-your-money packages arent a good deal if you end up throwing away food. Youll probably pay a little more for smaller packages, but you can enjoy greater variety. Heres a sample shopping list:

Individual-size bottles or cans of juice.

Single-serving cans of soup, tuna, vegetables or fruit.

Single sticks of string cheese.

Frozen vegetables packaged in bags. Its easy to remove just the amount youll eat, then back into the freezer with the rest.

Single-serving microwaveable entrees or meals.

Pints or half pints of milk.

Fresh vegetables or fruit from a supermarket salad bar. Select just the right amount for one or two.

Single pieces of fresh fruit at various stages of ripeness. For example, buy a ripe banana to eat right away and a green one that will ripen in several days.

Plan your meals to take advantage of cooking a quantity of food and then using it in various dishes. For example:

Cook rice as a side dish at one meal. Use leftover rice in rice pudding.

Fix pasta as a hot entree at one meal. Chill leftovers for a pasta salad.

Bake chicken pieces for one meal. Use leftover chicken in casseroles, sandwiches or soup.

Make a meatloaf mixture and bake some as a meatloaf. Freeze the uncooked portion for meatballs or stuffed peppers.

Make individual-size pizza crust from a tortilla, English muffin or pita bread.

Use chicken or tuna salad in a sandwich one day and in a stuffed tomato, cantaloupe or pepper the next.

Savvy storage

For best quality, freeze food while its fresh. Dont wait until its been refrigerated for several days. Tips for freezing foods:

Immediately wrap and freeze half a loaf of bread as soon as you buy it. Or freeze the whole loaf and remove slices, pop in the toaster and use as needed. Package meat the same way - wrap individual portions and freeze.

Write the date and contents on packages of frozen leftovers. Move older packages forward as you add food to your freezer.

Easier to find small packages
Food manufacturers recognize that many consumers are shopping for one or two. Its becoming easier to keep your cupboards and freezer stocked with convenient, healthy foods. That helps you avoid the "why bother?" attitude about cooking.

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