Cooking for one

PasturesNew · 18 May 2017 at 6:55PM

I think ... I'm lacking in self control.... I think in the next 10 minutes I will take a drive out to buy my favourite bag of chocolates

I know I shouldn't, but I think I'm now past the stage of being able to say "No".

EDIT: Mission accomplished... also popped into 4ldi. Bought muffins and crumpets. Left the bread as it'd just end up in the freezer. They were flogging off small bags of Jersey new spuds at 32p instead of the offer price of 65p so I got those (small bag so I know I'll get through them without a struggle).

Also picked up some compost at £land ... and, of course, my favourite choccies... TWO bags (might as well, "I'm here now")

Tea tonight was: one muffin, toasted, spread with margarine.... and a small pot of choccies.

Hollyharvey · 18 May 2017 at 8:31PM

PasturesNew wrote: »

EDIT: Mission accomplished... also popped into 4ldi. Bought muffins and crumpets. Left the bread as it'd just end up in the freezer. They were flogging off small bags of Jersey new spuds at 32p instead of the offer price of 65p so I got those (small bag so I know I'll get through them without a struggle).

PN - I love hearing about your impromptu trips out to the shops they sound so much more interesting than mine

I like the way that they usually end up with the purchase of your favourite choiccies

All I shall be getting tomorrow is some salad and veg and maybe some milk, most certainly nothing that could possibly end up in the freezer!

PasturesNew · 18 May 2017 at 8:34PM

I think I've decided that all this "store cupboard food" is nonsense.... and I need to empty my cupboards almost entirely ... so I've got a couple of bits in, but mostly buy things in when I want/need them.... and keep stocks low.

It's easy to go off stuff, or find a new addiction .... and then if you've got 1-2 spares in the cupboard they languish, unloved.

So that's the plan this year, to actually reduce the nonsense

Hollyharvey · 18 May 2017 at 8:36PM

All this talk about kitchen sizes and designs has made me want to re-do mine. It is functional but was fitted before I moved here 11 years ago and is looking quite tired now, but at the moment I can't afford to have it replaced, there are other things that I need to save for first. Maybe in a couple of years I will be able to do it, but at least I have a kitchen

Tiddlywinks · 18 May 2017 at 9:09PM

PasturesNew wrote: »

I think I've decided that all this "store cupboard food" is nonsense.... and I need to empty my cupboards almost entirely ... so I've got a couple of bits in, but mostly buy things in when I want/need them.... and keep stocks low.

Now you see.. I've decided on exactly the opposite.

I've actually upped my store cupboard stocks so that I've always got the components of a wide variety of dishes. That way, I can make what I need and when I need it so there's less waste.

Then, for instance, the flour then be turned into bread, cakes, crumble topping, dumplings, pastry etc.

Canned pulses / beans can be used in stews, salads, dips, sauces.

Canned toms can be turned into pasta sauce / chilli / soup / dips / breakfast.

Nuts can be put into flapjacks, muesli, made into nut milk, creamed into butter.

I still get ready made stuff too but my core meals are now from components rather than ready prepared.

I'm actually quite enjoying the challenge.

Livelongandprosper · 18 May 2017 at 10:30PM

Tiddlywinks wrote: »

Now you see.. I've decided on exactly the opposite.

I've actually upped my store cupboard stocks so that I've always got the components of a wide variety of dishes. That way, I can make what I need and when I need it so there's less waste.

Then, for instance, the flour then be turned into bread, cakes, crumble topping, dumplings, pastry etc.

Canned pulses / beans can be used in stews, salads, dips, sauces.

Canned toms can be turned into pasta sauce / chilli / soup / dips / breakfast.

Nuts can be put into flapjacks, muesli, made into nut milk, creamed into butter.

I still get ready made stuff too but my core meals are now from components rather than ready prepared.

I'm actually quite enjoying the challenge.

Store cupboards are another thing that can cause controversy

I cook for 3 adults regularly and for masses every now and then, so for me, I need a store cupboard. Then again I don't need a years supply of tinned tomatoes or loo rolls

I have a larder. That has my opened packets. I have a whole drawer of spices and another drawer full of different flours,sugars etc. In the larder are my open jars like pickle, open packets like pasta, bread, biscuits etc

My store is my spare. Where I keep my tins and unopened jars. Just a couple of each, bought when on special offer. Mum is a hoarder and I do have to watch what she's hoarding ( got to be at least 40 cans of soup, she's now hiding them in her wardrobe) There's no need for us to store any more. If by chance or when we become frail then we will revise it. Right now I prefer to only have in what will be used at least within the next 2 years

I totally get that as a single, a store is just more food that "needs to be eaten before I add to it". I would cut mine to the wire( I'd keep my herbs and spices) if I was once again cooking for one

mcculloch29 · 18 May 2017 at 10:42PM

I'm of the 'useful stocks' school of thought. Honey is the latest thing I don't want to run out of. Especially after learning how to make luxury chocolates out of honey, coconut oil and cocoa.

Cocoa is quite useful - sugar, powdered milk and a bit of coffee whitener ground up and you have instant chocolate, then there's chocolate custard which for some reason is so much nicer than yellow custard...

Spaghetti savoury for my meal tonight - cooked spaghetti, mushrooms, bacon, tomato soup and cheese. Loads left and it used virtually nothing - half a dozen mushrooms, about 6 oz Heron bacon mis-shapes, a chunk of cheese and a can of condensed tomato soup with water in addition to the spaghetti. I'm quite happy to eat that for lunch.

This was a variation on pasta bake from The Glasgow Cookery Book, my guess is it was developed sometime in the 1950s, when spaghetti and macaroni were the only pasta choices widely available.

For the late Twenty Tens I would use mushroom soup next time, to make it a low fat version of spaghetti carbonara.

I can remember buying spaghetti in very long packs wrapped in blue paper with Italian writing in the mid 70s , dried pasta other than macaroni and spaghetti was still something faintly exotic then.

PasturesNew · 19 May 2017 at 5:29AM

Tiddlywinks wrote: »

Now you see.. I've decided on exactly the opposite.

I've actually upped my store cupboard stocks so that I've always got the components of a wide variety of dishes. That way, I can make what I need and when I need it so there's less waste.

Then, for instance, the flour then be turned into bread, cakes, crumble topping, dumplings, pastry etc.

Canned pulses / beans can be used in stews, salads, dips, sauces.

Canned toms can be turned into pasta sauce / chilli / soup / dips / breakfast.

Nuts can be put into flapjacks, muesli, made into nut milk, creamed into butter.

I still get ready made stuff too but my core meals are now from components rather than ready prepared.

I'm actually quite enjoying the challenge.

That works to a point... but stuff grows by magic. Take pasta. I am not really a "fan" of pasta, I'm more a "potatoes" person. X/spuds/veg/gravy more than pasta/sauce.

But I do like a bit of pasta 2-3x in the summer and mac cheese 3-4x a year. A small (500g) bag of pasta makes 6-10 meals. But I've got a 500g bag of macaroni + a 1Kg bag for when that runs out. And I bought mini shells for salads. Then I got a notion I should make a lasagne, so bought a box ... and another box. Then I thought spaghetti would be a good idea, so got a pack.
That's all very well and not too bad... but then I was "gifted" two HUGE packs (1' high) of very large shells.

So now I've got enough pasta for my needs for the next 3-4 years. That's too much.

I like rice more than pasta, so will eat rice more often. But a 1Kg bag of rice is about 15 meals, so will typically last me nearly a year. But I don't want to run out, so I have a pack of rice I am getting through - and a 1Kg spare for when that runs out, which has already sat in the cupboard for 4 months and it'll be several more months before the last bag runs out.

Then I have cous cous... no idea why, except it seemed a good idea to try it - but I don't really like it. I have a small bag of cous cous and 3 packs of "gifted" flavoured stuff. That's all taking a lot of time to get through and will probably still be cluttering the cupboard this time next year.

Re flour, I have plain and SR. But I don't make cakes, or pastry. I just use flour for dumplings, so I really only need one 500g bag every two years.

I think it's a combination of lack of cupboards and 2-3 years of food

My food is contained in one wall cupboard and 1½ shelves in one base unit in the main.

PasturesNew · 19 May 2017 at 5:44AM

Tiddlywinks wrote: »

I use large plastic boxes as drawers in the cupboards below the worktops which makes it easier to pull things out and get right to the back of the space.

I have two of these, specifically for:
- plastic sandwich boxes/takeaway boxes. While they are kept neat it means I can paw through to grab the right one without the whole lot "falling over".
- all my tins. I lay peas/carrots/similar on their sides on the right hand side; baked beans and tomatoes are upright at the back; all other tins are upright on the left hand side.

Bizarrely, at the back of two of my base units I have:
- a gas mains switch, to turn off gas to the hob
- a couple of sockets that run the hood/oven or something.

So I figured that I need to keep these cupboards accessible "in case of emergency", so don't actually like keeping anything in those cupboards to be honest.

Tiddlywinks wrote: »

Gadgets, like my beloved and cherished pie maker , hand blender, sandwich toaster etc are stored .... on top of my kitchen wall units.

The ladder perpetually in the kitchen would annoy me - and I'm not that steady on ladders really.

Basically, I have a long standing love affair with plastic storage boxes and use them for almost anything that doesn't move

Me too. Gathered over the years for a variety of reasons, my latest fad was the £1 7-litre ones at £land ... got 4 of those for under the sink/cleaning stuff. I originally bought just ONE for food, but it was too big to fit in the cupboard.... so had to re-purpose it and realised if I bought more I could organise under the sink with them

Price can be an issue though; I do have to buy the cheapest ones that will do. I couldn't give a monkey's chuff for eco-friendly

Last week I reorganised all my sheets/towels by buying more/new plastic boxes. £land were selling some at £2 but they were out of stock/sold out, so I ended up in 4sda paying £4 apiece

which nearly put me off, but I bought them anyway.

Next time I move I won't need to pack .... it's perpetually half done

PasturesNew · 19 May 2017 at 5:48AM

Hollyharvey wrote: »

a greek yoghurt and some berries.

Not proper food.

Hollyharvey wrote: »

crumpets

Proper food.

Hollyharvey wrote: »

.... if I end up feeling really cold and miserable because of the weather I can always change it to chicken with veg.

What... run out of oven chips???

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Cooking for one

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