Cooking for one

caronc · 15 July 2017 at 6:11PM

moneyistooshorttomention wrote: »

I've just had to pick a load of plums off a tree in my garden - as I discovered the local birds are making themselves so much at home they've been treating it like a free snack bar.

Talk about confidence on their part - by now they'll even come and sit on the tree when I'm actually by it and try to get another little fruit snack:cool:

So I've picked the vast majority. Some of them not quite ripe enough yet - and those ones are stuck on trays on my windowsill in the hope they'll finish ripening.

So - I've got loads of "ripe enough" ones - I have a feeling I'm going to be eating a load of stewed plums over the next few weeks somehow (and attempting bottling some of them again - minus sugar - as I don't use sugar).

Must get and do that stirfry I decided on for dinner......

*****************

Go to food-wise = well....I find it quite handy to chop up loads of suitable veg. including onions and do a tray of roasted vegetables. Can be eaten with couscous or potato wedges for instance. That stirfry I have in mind is another one.

What about plum chutney or plum brandy to use up some of them?

Need2bthrifty · 15 July 2017 at 6:40PM

Thanks for the welcomes

NewPastures - I like your philosophy but at the momont it wouldnt work for me.

Everyone I seem to talk to lately appears to be "a creature of habit" - translating to "it's monday it must be mince" I'm sorry but this is something I find hard to go along with - I am not, never have been, and hope never to become a creature of habit. Routine and eating the same meal repeatedly bores me, which is probably why it can take me over 6 months to run down the freezer meals to defrost the thing :eek: .

Like others there are the days when I CBA cooking thats why in my quest to be more organised and eat more meat-less meals I thought the batch cooking of beans would provide the base for burgers, stews, chilli as well as side dishes and salads. So as a start I'm going to cook a batch of black beans tomorrow and see how it goes.

Tonight from the freezer I've had Chilli in Tacos with salad and sweetcorn salsa, also from freezer stocks tomorrow's evening meal will be Chicken & Mushroom Lasagna with green beans & a garlic bread slice, so two meat meals in a row it has to be meat-free on Monday.

caronc · 15 July 2017 at 6:46PM

Need2bthrifty wrote: »

Everyone I seem to talk to lately appears to be "a creature of habit" - translating to "it's monday it must be mince" I'm sorry but this is something I find hard to go along with - I am not, never have been, and hope never to become a creature of habit. Routine and eating the same meal repeatedly bores me, which is probably why it can take me over 6 months to run down the freezer meals to defrost the thing :eek: .

Sounds like the typical menu when I was growing up: Roast on Sunday, roast LOs Monday, mince Tuesday, sausages Wednesday, macaroni or cheesy eggs Thursday (my Dad got paid on Friday so something cheap), fish on Friday and curry or spag bol on Saturday:)
Running down the freezer- I try and fail miserably on that one

Need2bthrifty · 15 July 2017 at 7:13PM

caronc wrote: »

Sounds like the typical menu when I was growing up: Roast on Sunday, roast LOs Monday, mince Tuesday, sausages Wednesday, macaroni or cheesy eggs Thursday (my Dad got paid on Friday so something cheap), fish on Friday and curry or spag bol on Saturday:)
Running down the freezer- I try and fail miserably on that one

Yep, sounds familiar to me except my dad (bless him) didnt like "foreign stuff" so it was just mum, me and my bro's that had mac & cheese, curry was a no, no but during school hols back in the 70's mum and I would sneak in a vesta curry for the two of us and everyone else would complain about the smell :rotfl: :rotfl:

candygirl · 15 July 2017 at 7:13PM

My fave go to cba meal is either a cheese omelette, or cheese n onion butty

Am having more n more cba days at the mo

caronc · 15 July 2017 at 7:33PM

Need2bthrifty wrote: »

Yep, sounds familiar to me except my dad (bless him) didnt like "foreign stuff" so it was just mum, me and my bro's that had mac & cheese, curry was a no, no but during school hols back in the 70's mum and I would sneak in a vesta curry for the two of us and everyone else would complain about the smell :rotfl: :rotfl:

I think many folk were like that. Don't get me wrong my parents were actually for the time pretty adventurous eaters and unusually for my part of the world my Dad cooked, financial constraints and availability of many foodstuffs probably paid a big part. Certainly as I grew up food varied more though still tended to follow a pattern. I think getting a fridge/freezer in the mid-70s opened up a whole new world for them:). My maternal grandmother was very suspicious of "new" foods unless it was vaguely Anglo-Indian! Her sister lived in India for many years and brought back some dishes that my gran deemed acceptable;)

moneyistooshorttomention · 15 July 2017 at 7:58PM

Definitely not a creature of habit here.

I had far too much of enforced "habit" whilst still holding down a job (ie prior to retirement).

The whole "If it's Monday - Friday I have to make sure I'm there at the office 9 - 5 or thereabouts".

Can't be doing with it now.

I do have a tendency for pretty much the same breakfast every day - ie porridge (with fruit/seeds/whatever on top) and toast and coffee. But I'm planning on trying to introduce a bit more variety when I get my act together.

No "habits" for what I have at lunchtime or dinnertime - or even as to which of those 2 meals is going to be my "main meal" that day (it varies according to what I'm doing).

About the only habit I have food-wise is doing a quick scan whenever I'm buying food somewhere to see if there's anything I've not tried out yet. My "food vocabulary" is way way bigger (quantum leap stuff) than I was brought up with:)

caronc · 15 July 2017 at 9:04PM

moneyistooshorttomention wrote: »

Definitely not a creature of habit here.

I had far too much of enforced "habit" whilst still holding down a job (ie prior to retirement).

The whole "If it's Monday - Friday I have to make sure I'm there at the office 9 - 5 or thereabouts".

Can't be doing with it now.

I do have a tendency for pretty much the same breakfast every day - ie porridge (with fruit/seeds/whatever on top) and toast and coffee. But I'm planning on trying to introduce a bit more variety when I get my act together.

No "habits" for what I have at lunchtime or dinnertime - or even as to which of those 2 meals is going to be my "main meal" that day (it varies according to what I'm doing).

About the only habit I have food-wise is doing a quick scan whenever I'm buying food somewhere to see if there's anything I've not tried out yet. My "food vocabulary" is way way bigger (quantum leap stuff) than I was brought up with:)

Mine too! I don't mind "samey" breakfasts/lunches but do like variety in my evening meal:D

caronc · 15 July 2017 at 9:08PM

I've just emailed M&S re their Southern Fried Chicken portions to see if they have changed the recipe. I buy this reasonably regularly but on this batch the coating was horribly salty, I had to pick it off:( (and it's usually the best bit :cool:). I hope not but hate when places change things. No sign of "new & improved" on the packaging (it seldom is IMHO) but you never know.....

meg72 · 16 July 2017 at 9:26AM

caronc wrote: »

Sounds like the typical menu when I was growing up: Roast on Sunday, roast LOs Monday, mince Tuesday, sausages Wednesday, macaroni or cheesy eggs Thursday (my Dad got paid on Friday so something cheap), fish on Friday and curry or spag bol on Saturday:)
Running down the freezer- I try and fail miserably on that one

Yes that's the way it was when I was raised too. It had to be that way no fridges or freezers and lots of stuff was still on ration plus money was tight.

Looking back I think I was lucky to be raised that way. I was happy healthy and learned to appreciate a treat. Mum baked jam tarts scones, rock buns .Bread and teacakes and fruit cake.

I raised my own family along the same lines but had a fridge in the late 60s and then a freezer so more choice. but had to work hard to avoid the children getting picky and asking for more and more sweet things. Lol I remember my son feeling very hard done by when he was told No he couldn't have cheesecake for his tea but could have it after instead.

I see nothing wrong in being a creature of habit. Lol we all are in that we all need to eat and we all have our own different habits.

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Cooking for one

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