Single Money Saver living on my own

Rowan9

Stephen Leak - I make this a lot when OH is away and i'm on my own. I just love it. Sometimes I am extra bad and put on a dollop of mayo as well. Sometimes I am good and have a side salad. Another one i like is to stir crumbled blue cheese onto cooked pasta - sometimes if i'm organised I'll fry chopped garlic in some oil and add the blue cheese to that before tipping it all on top of the spaghetti on my plate. Another one is to 'fry' or heat a dollop of peanut butter and then stir that into your spaghetti. Yum

Thanks for your post jake's gran -it has inspired me to grow some garlic on the kitchen windowsill. At the moment I have my geranium and a little pot of daffs and i was thinking that it's not good feng shui to have an even number of plants so will add a pot of garlic

Tindella_2

Hi everyone - I've been single for years - a single granny!. I would die without my slow cooker. Mine's called "Team international". It's oval and size 3.5 litres, but I know you can get smaller and larger - as someone has already said, you don't have to fill it. I've seen slow cookers on sale in Tesco so can't be very expensive. I think mine was £20.

I make all sorts of meals in mine but would advise treating yourself to a small paperback cookery book. Mine's called "Slow Cooking Properly Explained" by Dianne Page and I think it cost about £5 from Smith's but it was well worth it. (Oh - just looked on the back - it was £4.99!). It tells you how it works and has "trouble shooting" in it as well in case something goes wrong!

To those who think it's only for soups and stews, there's recipes for cake, puddings as well as things like bread and pate.

If you're counting all your pennies, try the library - if they haven't got this book, there'll be others. You should try the charity shops, too because slow cookers have been around long enough for the books to be in charity shops.

I had my first one nearly twenty years ago - and it came with a cookery book but my new one didn't! Some brands may still have books included.

Can also recommend Delia Smith's "One is fun!" (great title - I absolutely agree!) - seen this in charity shops - good collection and useful for those of you "newly single" for whatever reason and finding yourselves "over cooking"

Great thread - have enjoyed - but really must get back to my OU assignment!

Happy cooking!

Jake'sGran

Roz_V wrote: »

So what slow cooker do you singletons recommend? Like redspot24, I only have an ice box as freezer space and, for similar reasons, I'm not keen on using it so was thinking of a small 2-portion one so that I can eat the leftovers for lunch.

I read an earlier post about slow cookers. The correct way to use them (unfortunately) is to heat the food before it goes in. The amount of heat used by the slow cooker is very small so the food will not be very nice if it is put in cold. For example you could quickly fry a pork chop, put it in the cooker and add some boiling water and seasoning and anything else like carrots, sliced onion, sliced potato. You can slow cook anything that is raw but it must be made hot before adding to the slow cooker and switching on. It's then safe to leave it for hours as long as you add sufficient hot liquid.
I think a lot of people were very disappointed when they first came out as they did expect to just put cold food in and come home to a wonderful tender meal.

JaySL

Hi! I am a single moneysaver too, living on my own. can i join?

I discovered MSE few months back and been lurking on the old style threads. been quite inspired, even got out my old slow cooker (it is a big one, dont know how many litres). the thing is, i get bored eating the same dish and dont have big freezer space. Also, I dont have many recipes to cook with the slow cooker.

So, thanks for the recipe, pendine50 - might try that one next!

JaySL

squeaky

Tindella wrote: »

To those who think it's only for soups and stews, there's recipes for cake, puddings as well as things like bread and pate.

Bread in the slow cooker?

Wow!

Tell me more!

Please

squeaky

Jake'sGran wrote: »

I read an earlier post about slow cookers. The correct way to use them (unfortunately) is to heat the food before it goes in.

That's not strictly true. Trust me

You are advised to part cook root vegetables because they take longer than pretty much anything else to cook.

For some meals, especially if you want to reduce cooking time, you can boil the water, or stock, first to help give things a quick start.

Many recipes suggest browning meats in a pan - more for taste reasons than heat; but you really don't have to.

But honest for more than 9 out of 10 things I just chuck everything in and let it get on with the job.

Don't forget too, that for working stiffs who are going to spend perhaps eight or ten hours away from home - a slow start helps to avoid overcooking, which can happen in todays slightly more vigorous slow cookers.

freelancemermaid

i know it can feel like a pain to cook for one and it's certainly more expensive shopping for one, but i would just like to say one thing:
it's especially important to look after oneself when single - after all no-one else is going to!

so altho money-saving is essential, we should also make sure we're eating enough vegetables and fruit. i'm a bit concerned that some of the meal plans above contain no/very few veg or fruit.

veg and fruit are really cheap when bought from markets and can be supplemented by the odd bag of ready-made salad for those nights when cooking really is too much!

i'm very much into frugal eating but i'm also into making sure i take care of myself and fruit and veg are essential to us humans :-)

good luck to everyone here with cheap, healthy and creative eating

Wiggynut

I need to join this one!

I'm renting a room in a flat and the freezer is always stocked with someone else's food so I can't use it - can't do the batch cooking thing.
and when I renting a place on my own they only have those tiny fridges with a small box for the freezer.. .so I'll be in shock if I ever get around to having a large freezer for myself!

I personally couldn't have a slow cooker... I would not leave the house with something turned on!
pressure cooker? I might have to look into that though... I'm not entirely sure what they are!

Last time I tried to make a stew it tasted horrible, so I've not really tried making my own soup... I would love to make spinach soup... you used to buy it but I havn't seen any in years!

I have to say when you're single you don't really bother with cooking as it's a lot of effort 'just' for me... yet if you are with friends or partners then suddently you go all out and make a huge effort! hmmm... doesn't really make much sense.

Lisakx

Argos have slow cookers for £8.49 half price at the mo! 3.5L

Diana_Prince

I don't live alone but I am single and live with parents!!

I'm restricted to what I eat as too much yeast, dairy or sugar will give me horrific stomach cramps!! But this is a really easy recipe (good for you as well) for when I've had a rough day at work!

Jacket potato (I rub them in a bit of salt and brush some olive oil on for extra crispy skin) shove in the oven for around an hour.
When nearly cooked take a tin of tuna (I use value tuna as I prefer the taste - and cost), and some tomatoes - cherry or normal, chop the tomatoes and heat in a frying pan with the tuna, mix until nicely warmed.
Put some spread on the potato for a bit more moisture and put tuna on the potato!! Simple and tasty and healthy! Also hardly any washing up!!