Northampton man builds free recipe website for people who cook for one

A Northampton man has built a free website of more than 450 recipes written specifically for people who cook for one.

Neil Fletcher launched Solo Supper after getting bored of ready meals and going blank in the aisles of the local supermarket when trying to shop for one person.

“Supermarkets sell for families,” said Neil. “If you cook for one, half the coriander, the rest of the mince and most of a bag of spinach end up in the bin. I wanted recipes that didn’t assume there were four of you, and a shopping list that made sure the packs you open actually get finished.”

Every one of the site’s 451 recipes is written to serve one person. A planner picks a week of dinners that share their ingredients, so a pack of chicken thighs bought on Monday is used up across the week rather than half of it going off.

The recipes, planner and shopping list are all free to use. An optional £2.49-a-month tier adds the low-waste planning features.

Friends and neighbours have been test-cooking the recipes and sending in photos of what they made. “They don’t hold back,” said Neil. “If a recipe doesn’t work, I hear about it, and it gets fixed.”

He hopes the site will help the growing number of people who live alone, from students and shift workers to older people cooking for themselves for the first time.

“Cooking for one can feel like a chore, or like it isn’t worth the effort,” he said. “It is worth it. It just needs recipes that are written for you.”