The Simple Bare Necessities feat. Gratitude & Recipes

Cheery_Daff · 10 January 2017 at 11:14AM

Morning :hello:

Glad you slept well in the end :j Werriting in bed does no good at all, but we all do it! Sometimes I have to actually open my eyes and remind myself *just how many people are in the bed* - if the other one is asleep and in no need of attention then there is absolutely nothing I can do to help anyone else, and the best thing I can do to help myself is GO TO SLEEP :rotfl: doesn't always work but makes me giggle sometimes

Yes, I'm doing lots of thinking about using stuff up - we don't have a big storecupboard or anything, but we do have some stuff that's been there for literally yonks (er, how long exactly is a 'yonk'??) :rotfl: mostly this week i am using up cocoa powder making biscuits

:rotfl: not going to create much space but more interesting than using up months-old spaghetti! :rotfl: :rotfl:

Lovely greying, you are in no way slacking! :eek: be nice to yourself

thats an order

xx

EssexHebridean · 10 January 2017 at 12:22PM

Ahhh - yes, my 2004 sachet of jelly crystals. :rotfl:

I always try to start my meal plan with that trawl through the fridge, at least. Last night's stir fry used up the last third of the cabbage I bought before Christmas - it's been in the fridge wrapped, and was a little brown on the cut edges - I trimmed those off and the inside was absolutely fine. Still got to find a use for umpteen carrots, mind you! :rotfl: My focus now needs to be on our storecupboard - which is absolutely rammed full. A lot of it is jars of preserves etc - although I think I've persuaded MrEH that we don't need to make marmalade this year - we just need to not give away the jars we have left, is all. The larder also needs attention as the Jelly Crystals go to show. There's assorted things in there which arrived with us as freebies from various places too - the 6 packs of sausage casserole mix from 2015's good food show are an example of that! (note to self - sausage casserole on the meal plan for next week!)

Isn't this the best thing about these forums? The way we can all get motivation and inspiration from each other?

Cheery_Daff · 10 January 2017 at 12:27PM

Tis indeed the best thing! :j :j Greying, if it wasn't for seeing your tasty food pics every day I wouldn't have been inspired to start cooking properly again :j Mr Cheery even commented last night how cheerful it was to have a shopping list and meal plan - and he is (a) in charge of shopping and cooking and (b) lifelong Hater of Lists :rotfl: :j

I am also enjoying not thinking about what to have for lunch - although I will need to restock the freezer at the weekend! Discovering that I've noot been putting enough into the freezer bags - what looks like a decent portion in the freezer bag is only half filling my microwavable soup cup thing and leaving me feeling most deprived! :eek:

All round to EH's house for jelly tonight?!

Upsidedown_Bear · 10 January 2017 at 12:31PM

Cheery_Daff wrote: »

All round to EH's house for jelly tonight?!

joeyjimbles · 10 January 2017 at 2:02PM

Cheery_Daff wrote: »

Morning :hello:

Glad you slept well in the end :j Werriting in bed does no good at all, but we all do it! Sometimes I have to actually open my eyes and remind myself *just how many people are in the bed* - if the other one is asleep and in no need of attention then there is absolutely nothing I can do to help anyone else, and the best thing I can do to help myself is GO TO SLEEP :rotfl: doesn't always work but makes me giggle sometimes

I like this very much. I can lie there at 4am fretting and there really is nothing to be gained from it. Often when i get up the feeling goes away anyway. I shall borrow your thinking.

At what point does something become leftover and not just an ingredient? I think we may have had this debate before but I was in the hairdressers the other day when all the pre-Christmas magazines were in and there were recipes for leftover cheese and leftover bread. Now in my house, that isn't leftovers but lunch. I accept that if I cook too many veg or have some minced beef from a recipe then those are leftovers, but I'm curious as to other's definitions.

Cheery_Daff · 10 January 2017 at 2:47PM

What an interesting question! Leftovers for me are an actual *meal* (or part of it), already cooked. So no, not leftover cheese or bread! Leftover (cooked) pasta though (unlikely), or a bit of spare risotto.

To be honest we don't often have leftovers (by my definition) as we're pretty good at estimating quantities, and very good at eating seconds :rotfl:

EssexHebridean · 10 January 2017 at 3:44PM

Cheery_Daff wrote: »

What an interesting question! Leftovers for me are an actual *meal* (or part of it), already cooked. So no, not leftover cheese or bread! Leftover (cooked) pasta though (unlikely), or a bit of spare risotto.

To be honest we don't often have leftovers (by my definition) as we're pretty good at estimating quantities, and very good at eating seconds :rotfl:

Same definition here - and also the same skill in demolishing seconds!

My chunk of cabbage last night was definitely leftovers though - We'd already used the rest of it for 2 meals! :T

Cheese though is NEVER a leftover. :eek:

We never have leftover pasta or rice as I weigh them before cooking. Likewise couscous - I measure it with a scoop them use the same scoop to make sure I get the right amount of water. We probably have less leftovers than some folk as often things that other people would brand as leftovers I've already factored into another meal for later in the week.

The one that always makes me chuckle is "leftover wine" - I'm sorry - WHAT?! :rotfl:

Greying_Pilgrim · 10 January 2017 at 4:08PM

Well, we have wandered up the high street to see what we could see. We ended up seeing some very interesting things - not that would be of the slightest interest to many, but floated my boat. And for the sake of keeping my eyes open - free entertainment

I got some wooden blocks/shapes from the chazza for BG for when they are older. They weren't in a box, but there are quite alot of bricks for £3.50. Similar sets appear to retail for £15, if t'internet is to be believed. I loved building with my wooden blocks when I was little, but only had about 10! At least BG now has 2 sets, so amalgamated they have quite a few

I had a moan to the long-suffering manager of h3ron f00ds about the changed UHT cartons. They think it's because they're cheaper, and the company is motivated to change only on the basis of price. I think it sounds right, and also, is 'what everyone else is doing'. Free Market economics is supposed to improve choice, i think it limits it. mrL used to do brilliant baby wipes, 80 to a pack and they were a decent size - a godsend during p00-nami episodes. They have recently changed them. They are now 64 to a pack, have a difficult to open in a hurry plastic cap and are about half the size they were! Exactly the same as every other shop sells! Why couldn't they sell something different? why can't they be different, so that i would say, 'when you are in mrL getting wipes, could you also pick up........x,y,z'. MrL will argue that they have reduced the price...... I'd argue that they have reduced the effectiveness of the product - i'd be surprised if they stock such useless [STRIKE]carp[/STRIKE] things in Germany.......

I made lentil soup for my lunch - taking a leaf out of Cheery's book (again), and i was going to use up the last of the hm foccacia that had gone a bit stale, as sort of crutons, but it got nibbled as I waited for the soup to cook...........

I always regarded 'leftovers' as complete meals, and I too regard bread or cheese or whatever as 'ingredients'. So if I'd bought stilton for the cheeseboard, and some remained and I make stilton souffle, then that isn't using leftovers to my mind, I'm using ingredients that I have in. But if I had made a cheese sauce with the stilton, and had 1/2 a pint left, along with some cooked broccoli and some chicken stock, which I then made into broccoli and stilton soup..... then that to my way of thinking is using up 'leftovers'.

I suppose it only matters that we are minimising our spends and avoiding food waste

Right, i seem to have gone in fits & spurts today and achieved somethings and not others. I'm away to see what else I can strike off my list.

Greying X

PS, I'm only prepared to travel to EH's if there is ice-cream on offer with that jelly

Greying_Pilgrim · 10 January 2017 at 4:23PM

Oh, and on the subject of 'useless' - bloomin mApl1ns (hi-di-hi) - went in and explained, Store assistant said, 'I'll check'. Came back 5 minutes later, via the shelf where the batteries are located having plucked it off the shelf! It clearly hadn't been set aside for me, and explains why I never got a phone call to say that the battery was available for collection.

What is the point of ordering things specifically for yourself because the store is OOS, and when it comes in they just shove it on the shelf for any Tom, Richard or Harriet to buy..... having ensured that you have paid for it first! :mad:

Note to self, if at all possible, do not shop at this store again!

Greying X

EssexHebridean · 10 January 2017 at 11:18PM

Sorry - tragically we're currently an ice-cream free zone round here!

The Simple Bare Necessities feat. Gratitude & Recipes

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