A Cooking Idiot

Toonie

bertietheblue wrote: »

Switch on the feezer? I mean, isn't that expensive for one person? Any idea how much that costs a month?

It depends what sort of freezer, how large, what energy rating etc.

I would suggest first of all you need to let people know what sort of food you like and how long you have to cook it. Why don't you join the Grocery challenge and keep track of how much money you really spend in a month and then reduce that until you feel comfortable.

Oh and olives can last months if they are in jars that are closed properly.

mouseymousey99

How about making some bread and using the olives in that. Also eggs are very good value - so Spanish omlette (using your olives) and bits & bobs.
You could puree (with a spud basher if you have no processor) add olive oil and make your oilves into a pate.
Delia has a great one person cookery book and Jocassta Innes's 'Paupers Cookbook' is well worth a read (library).

Skint_Catt

Just got back from having a shower - was thinking about the olives but Toonie beat me to it - don't worry about 'using' up things in jars and cans - they last months once opened - though you may need the ideas if they've been open for some time.

C xx

Mamae

bolognaise sauce for pasta or jacket potatoes, freeze any leftovers.
Stew
Beans on toast - a good standby
any leftover veg make soup and freeze until needed.

lainz

I agree with switching the freezer on, I couldn't live without mine, it's just me and the cat and I have a 5ft freezer which is full most of the time either with the reduced/special offer meat and fish I get or the portions of chilli/spag bol/curry etc I have in.

Once a month I have a look as to what meat/fish I have in and make a sort of meal plan, it tends to run along the lines of rump steak (I live well, bought on special ) salmon etc and then on the day I decide how I'm having it - with pot and veg, pasta, rice, couscous. It works well for me as I just look the night before or morning and then take it out the freezer.

There is a meal plan thread (although I've not seen it in a while) where people put up what they are planning to have that week, so that's good for ideas. The secret is that it's not set in stone - you can change it round to suit you, if you make chilli/ curry/ spag bol etc you can make enough for 4 (most recipes are for 4) have one portion and if you want one the next day and freeze the others or freeze the other 3, then you have meals ready for the future. Also quick and easy meals like jacket potato, egg and chips, omlette etc are good to do.

Hope that helps

bertietheblue

Thanks for the tips - I didn't log on in time to see the olive suggestions so I'm eating Covent Garden soup and toast tonight with tinned mussels and camembert on wheat bread. Typical in that my meal isn't terribly cheap and I've had to prepare nothing!

As for the food I like - I will eat just about anything as long as it's not swimming in fat.

Cazza

I believe a full freezer is much cheaper to run than an empty one - don't ask me about the science though!

Bitsy_Beans

I've heard people stuff their half full freezers with bags of clothes etc as it's more economical to run when completely full. You could do that until you've got a good stash of food there.

You can make home made soup which freezes really well. You're best best it batch cooking as there really is less waste. Cooking for one probably seems laborious exercise but if you utilise your freezer and keep the excess you have home made healthy meals at the touch of your defrost button on the microwave.
You can bulk out chili's, bolognese etc with lentils, extra veg etc. Some of it can be trial and error but most of it works in my experience.
You won't change your eating overnight. It took me a couple of months to get my head round things and to digest as much of the info from this board. there is so much you can read it can be a bit overwhelming. Stick with it and you'll get there.
what saved me most money (and I need to at the mo) is meal planning. I made a list of the stuff I like to eat and set it out on a weekly planner. That way you can check your cupboards for the ingredients you need and ONLY buy these items. Rather than wandering round aimlessly thinking I'd spent a fortune with no real food I now have a plan.

mouseymousey99

Mmmm so your 'e really a bit of a foodie Bertie? Camembert - supermarket's do a Normandy one which is good (so does Lidl, last month they had marked down to 49p). You just have to be prepared to age it yourself - no problem at all, just leave it out of the fridge for a couple of days.

Lidl does some pretty good cheese. Tinned Mussels!! You could have a net or even frozen (with no prep).

The soup - yes you can make it - but here's when the freezer comes in as I bet you don't want the same meal for 5 days in a row. (You could make and portion freeze). A tin of tomatoes (about 33p in Tesco) some herbs and veggies - add some oilve oil you have a fairly decent soup; or if it gets warmer chill it!

You say you don't want fat, but actually that meal is pretty high in fat from the cheese - and you have only the soup providing your veggies. You can 'fill up' a lot on some veggies - frozen don't won't lose any goodness and its easier to portion out an amount. You could also buy fresh and freeze the bits you don't eat.

clutterydrawer

mouseymousey99 wrote: »

I'm intrigued - re the no waste, how are you defining waste? That you eat and that's it - nothing left in the fridge? Unless you eat totally packaged meals that's unrealistic (in my humble)? If you buy half of a cucumber (and I don't recommend you do by the way) you would still have some left over from a salad or a sandwich. Do you have a store cupoard with some basics? Is this another post from someone writting an article or an essay?

I don't think it's unrealistic - I cook for one and all I remember throwing away in the last six months is 1/5 of a bag of spinach.

I never buy anything without having a plan for the whole item - so if I buy, for example, a cucumber, I will have salad for lunch every day till it's gone. I think meal planning will be the OP's friend here