Almost every recipe is written for four. For the very large number of people cooking for one, that means either eating the same thing for four days or halving quantities that do not divide neatly.

The Arithmetic Problem

Quartering a recipe produces awkward numbers. A quarter of three tablespoons, a quarter of a 400 g tin, a quarter of an egg.

Weights divide cleanly in a way volume measures do not. A quarter of 380 g is 95 g, which is straightforward. A quarter of one and a half cups requires a measuring set that goes down to an eighth and a certain amount of arithmetic. Scales such as those in the Escali Scale range make scaling a matter of division rather than of finding the right cup.

Halving an Egg

The recurring obstacle in small-batch baking. The answer is to beat one egg thoroughly and weigh half of it, which is around twenty-five grams for a medium egg.

This is precise enough for almost any purpose and is impossible without a scale. The remainder keeps a day or two refrigerated, or goes into scrambled eggs.

What Does Not Scale Down

• Cooking time, which depends on thickness rather than quantity
• Pan size, since a small amount in a large pan burns and dries out
• Anything relying on a minimum depth, such as a braise that needs liquid coverage
• Recipes with a long reduction, where surface area governs evaporation
• Some baking, where small quantities behave unpredictably

Pan Size Matters More When Scaling Down

A quarter recipe in a full-size pan spreads thin, cooks too fast and often burns. Using a smaller pan preserves the depth the recipe assumed.

This is the most common reason a scaled-down recipe fails, and it has nothing to do with the ingredient quantities being wrong.

The Alternative: Cook Full and Freeze

For many dishes, scaling down is more trouble than cooking the full quantity and freezing portions.

Braises, stews, soups, sauces and ragùs all freeze well and are arguably better after a few days. Weighing portions into containers means each one is a known quantity rather than an approximation, which matters when reheating.

This also solves the ingredient waste problem, since the full recipe uses whole tins and packets rather than leaving fractions.

Ingredient Waste

The larger cost of cooking for one is not energy but unused ingredients. Vegetables sold in bags of four portions, herbs that wilt in three days, and cuts of meat sold for a family.

Buying loose rather than packaged, using the freezer aggressively and favouring long-lived ingredients addresses most of it. Onions, carrots, cabbage, pulses, frozen vegetables and eggs are all forgiving.

Portioning Dried Goods

Pasta, rice and pulses are the clearest case where weighing prevents waste. Poured by eye, most people cook substantially more than one person wants, because dry volume gives a poor sense of cooked volume.

Seventy-five to a hundred grams of dried pasta, or around seventy-five grams of dry rice, is a reasonable single portion. Weighing takes two seconds and eliminates the standard problem of a pan of leftovers nobody planned.