Single Money Saver living on my own

Olliebeak

Have any of you folks on here bought one of the counter-top halogen ovens like this:

http://www.jmldirect.com/Halogen-Oven-PH1500/

A friend of mine, who lives alone, got one last year and swears by hers but I'd be interested in getting other opinions before committing myself to buying one.

Normally I'm not overkeen on JML stuff (I've had some of their things that are like a cheapie version of somebody else's 'original product') - for example their double-sided-flip-over pancake pan was absolute rubbish - the pancakes slid through the large gap between the two halves of the pan!

I'm not sure if my friend has the JML halogen oven (or another version) but I'm just interested in some opinions in general.

Thank you, Ollie

lilac_lady

One of my friends swears by a halogen oven. She never uses her ordinary oven. she doesn't really cook though - just heats up frozen food. I'd be interested to have the opinion of someone who cooks from scratch.

PasturesNew

christabell wrote: »

I find I cannot live without a RAMOSKA

I thought you meant one of those pottery pots that go in the oven, but I googled it anyway ... and OMG!!! it seems to make all sorts of fun things (including toad in the hole)

http://www.lakeland.co.uk/content.aspx?content=noticeboard/recipes/remoska.htm

Gonna look into these.
I was about to buy a mini oven as I am fed up with turning the oven on and waiting 30 minutes for it to warm up before I can cook an individual pie.

I will look through the recipes there and elsewhere, see if this will really get used by me or not.

Thanks for the heads up

PasturesNew

GoToGal wrote: »

Single too and trying to stick to £15 a week - maybe we should start a challenge

£15/week?
I won't eat double portions for a whole week for anybody :P

I don't tend to go over £10 as a rule.

PasturesNew

Olliebeak wrote: »

http://www.jmldirect.com/Halogen-Oven-PH1500/

OMG - never heard of/seen one of these... that is scarey!

I have a lot of silly fears about fires. And I don't like using ovens as I am sure they are going to catch fire... then I saw the halogen oven video... and that is one scarey mofo! I'd have to sit beside it worrying the entire cook time!

Probably won't be getting one of those, no matter how nifty and ideal it looks (except that price tag of £50)

Sola

Before I was married, I used to batch-cook with another single friend who lived in the next apartment block. We'd split the shopping bill and cook a couple of large dishes each - I'd do chicken curry, pizza or some kind of Chinese dish, she'd do chilli, soup and bolognese sauce, and we'd halve the results for freezing in portion-tubs. We'd often end up with 15-20 portions each out of a weekend's investment. It kept me sane on a very limited budget and allowed plenty of variety.

MushyPeas

Ooh lovely thread, it can feel like it's only families on OS sometimes

Some great tips for singletons. I'm still getting used to living by myself and after years of cooking for two have gone down the heat a tin of soup up route

But now I have a fridge and freezer I'm determined to do some cooking....when I can get my butt in gear....

Guapa1

I always have a batch of soup in the fridge, so on lazy days, or really hungry days I have something to heat up quickly. It's also all veg, so quite healthy. I also reduce it doen sometimes and use it as a pasta sauce.

GoToGal

PasturesNew wrote: »

£15/week?
I won't eat double portions for a whole week for anybody :P

I don't tend to go over £10 as a rule.

LOL :rotfl:

Does that include all household items too? I've decided to bravely cook soup from scratch instead of buying cans when my current batch runs out. If I was vegeterian, I'd save a whole load of dosh as I seem to spend most of my money on meat.

christabell

GoToGal wrote: »

LOL :rotfl:

Does that include all household items too? I've decided to bravely cook soup from scratch instead of buying cans when my current batch runs out. If I was vegeterian, I'd save a whole load of dosh as I seem to spend most of my money on meat.

Hey everybody, those New Covent Garden Soups are very hard to beat....imo, plus I cook with them.