Nice people thread part 4 - sugar and spice and all things

lostinrates

neverdespairgirl wrote: »

Really? Pretty normal for me, I think. I've shared rooms / beds with all sorts of random uni friends (not in *that* way) when doing stuff.

Maybe if we ever that that NP meet up we should all meet in a bed shop? Or, more aptly, a hopital ward?

PasturesNew

neverdespairgirl wrote: »

You have all three of those?

You're posh. We don't have a toaster or a microwave. Just a kettle.

How do you make beans on toast then?

Microwaves are better than ovens/hobs as it's less costly (and less time) to get stuff hot.

I have a pie here for tea, just a small, individual pie. It'll take 30 minutes to get the oven hot enough to put it in, then it cooks for 20 minutes. 50 minutes for one tiny pie is such a waste of energy .... on average I will turn an oven on 1-2x a month max. I cook most things based on the fact they're microwaveable.

It's also not my house... it's a fully furnished holiday let (too much bloomin' furniture actually, it's getting in the way). So it's not me that's posh, but the sort of holidaymakers that have £600/week to spend on a week's holiday for 4 self-catering in peak season.

Edit: I should add I only rent half of that though, they keep the other half for storage for themselves in winter.

lostinrates

PasturesNew wrote: »

How do you make beans on toast then?

Microwaves are better than ovens/hobs as it's less costly (and less time) to get stuff hot.

I have a pie here for tea, just a small, individual pie. It'll take 30 minutes to get the oven hot enough to put it in, then it cooks for 20 minutes. 50 minutes for one tiny pie is such a waste of energy .... on average I will turn an oven on 1-2x a month max. I cook most things based on the fact they're microwaveable.

It's also not my house... it's a fully furnished holiday let (too much bloomin' furniture actually, it's getting in the way). So it's not me that's posh, but the sort of holidaymakers that have £600/week to spend on a week's holiday for 4 self-catering in peak season.

I don't have a microwave. I' rarely hve something like taht for just me for supper, but if I did I'd try and optimise use by making something else for the freezer at th same time (whih may or may not need reheating itself...e.g. cake wouldn't need re heating)

After I have used the oven (and tbh I rarely if ever give it time to heat up if I am simply reheating) I leave the oven door open so the warmth goes into the kitchen

what I do have because of old style, is a slow cooker. And I hate it. I've just got it down after not using it for over a year, to make chilli in. TBH, I hate it, and would much rather have made the chilli on the hob. As it is, I started it yesterday (with the idea of re heating tonight for better flavour) but just as well as last night I loooked at the yucky stuff and thought DH wouldn'teat it, but haveing put it on again today for another 8 hours its ALMOST good. OK is probably more apt. If I'd made it my normal way on the hob it would have been superb.

I have learne this week I still don't love the slow cooker but I might be cooking stuff for too short a time in it and need two days rather than one for some stuff:eek:

edit: if e were having beans on toast would be beans on hob, toast under grill if we ddn't have a toaster. We do have a toaster but I don't like it much. The only thing I mis about an aga type stove is the toast.

PasturesNew

lostinrates wrote: »

I don't have a microwave. I' rarely hve something like taht for just me for supper, but if I did I'd try and optimise use by making something else for the freezer at th same time (whih may or may not need reheating itself...e.g. cake wouldn't need re heating)

The flaw with this is food overload... if I made a cake I'd have to eat a cake at some point. I've also got a tiny freezer and not here for very long, so I am not in a position to batch cook and fill the oven. And if I did, then I couldn't make hundreds of cakes just because they don't need heating up .... all I could do would be to bake many things for the freezer, that'd then need the oven on again to reheat (or microwave).

So ovens don't really work for single loner hermits who aren't in a settled position.

Although you're alone a lot of the time, you can also do stuff on the basis you have your own man-hoover who will eat any food overloads

lostinrates wrote: »

edit: if e were having beans on toast would be beans on hob, toast under grill if we ddn't have a toaster. We do have a toaster but I don't like it much. The only thing I mis about an aga type stove is the toast.

Beans on the hob take a bit longer than in a nuker - but there's also an issue of quantity. I eat 1/3rd of a can and it's easier to find a container small enough for that quantity to nuke, than to find a saucepan small enough to cook that many in.

I also find a lot of items are easier to wash up from the nuker as the ring of food from a nuker rinses straight out more easily and you'd have to be a seriously bad cook for things to stick in a nuker.

lostinrates

PasturesNew wrote: »

The flaw with this is food overload... if I made a cake I'd have to eat a cake at some point. I've also got a tiny freezer and not here for very long, so I am not in a position to batch cook and fill the oven. And if I did, then I couldn't make hundreds of cakes just because they don't need heating up .... all I could do would be to bake many things for the freezer, that'd then need the oven on again to reheat (or microwave).

So ovens don't really work for single loner hermits who aren't in a settled position.

Although you're alone a lot of the time, you can also do stuff on the basis you have your own man-hoover who will eat any food overloads


Beans on the hob take a bit longer than in a nuker - but there's also an issue of quantity. I eat 1/3rd of a can and it's easier to find a container small enough for that quantity to nuke, than to find a saucepan small enough to cook that many in.

I also find a lot of items are easier to wash up from the nuker as the ring of food from a nuker rinses straight out more easily and you'd have to be a seriously bad cook for things to stick in a nuker.

that'strue, I do have a man hoover, and when I can be bothered, lot of people to share with. I find the farm labourers next door are also hoovers.

I do beans in a milk pan, small and non stick/easier to clean.

mystic_trev

PasturesNew wrote: »

How do you make beans on toast then?

Microwaves are better than ovens/hobs as it's less costly (and less time) to get stuff hot.

I have a pie here for tea, just a small, individual pie. It'll take 30 minutes to get the oven hot enough to put it in, then it cooks for 20 minutes. 50 minutes for one tiny pie is such a waste of energy .... on average I will turn an oven on 1-2x a month max. I cook most things based on the fact they're microwaveable.

PN why don't you buy one of these.

http://www.robertdyas.co.uk/P~149583~Nuo-Halogen-Oven

They use very little lecy, and are great for things like Pies and Baked potatoes, I even do roasts in mine! I hardly use my normal oven at all these days.

PasturesNew

mystic_trev wrote: »

PN why don't you buy one of these.

http://www.robertdyas.co.uk/P~149583~Nuo-Halogen-Oven

They use very little lecy, and are great for things like Pies and Baked potatoes, I even do roasts in mine! I hardly use my normal oven at all these days.

They're quite big and bulky and I am trying to accumulate as few belongings as possible. When I do get a home I'll get a simple mini grill/oven from Lidl at £30.

Those halogens have various issues that don't make me happy.... randomly (and obviously not present in all models): weight of the whole glass bowl when full; top loading and I'm short; hot lid to put down somewhere when you take it off .... and I just don't need it for the odd pie/chips. I can get by with a mini oven and a microwave for 99% of things. I don't even plan on having an oven in my next proper home as I won't use it. You can get a whole pizza in a mini oven (as I only buy small ones) and it's possible to cook chickens and yorkshires in them, if I ever wanted to (can't see me ever
cooking a chicken to be honest).

This oven's a pain in the butt... I've got it on and the only way I can get it to actually start working is by pressing some buttons on the front ... that seem to count up or count down, then an alarm goes off and it turns off... and if I press the alarm button it continues to cook for a few minutes then the alarm's gone off again.... so then I turned it off at the wall and I think I just have it on counting up this time and in about 6 minutes the alarm will go off again to tell me it's finished.

I've never had an oven that didn't simply have one knob that you twisted for the temperature and it just worked.

I'd like the alarm/counting thing .... as it turns the oven off once the alarm goes off (sometimes) ... if only I understood it.

Davesnave

lostinrates wrote: »

The only thing I mis about an aga type stove is the toast.

I love the Aga, but it is not very efficient. Our 'Aga man' recommends these as an alternative:

http://www.sandyford.co.uk/

He also says, whatever we choose, make sure it's not a modern Rayburn.

tomterm8

My cooker was inherited when we moved in, and it doesn't have a grill. I miss cheese on toast.

mystic_trev

PasturesNew wrote: »

They're quite big and bulky and I am trying to accumulate as few belongings as possible. When I do get a home I'll get a simple mini grill/oven from Lidl at £30.

Those halogens have various issues that don't make me happy.... randomly (and obviously not present in all models): weight of the whole glass bowl when full; top loading and I'm short; hot lid to put down somewhere when you take it off .... and I just don't need it for the odd pie/chips. I can get by with a mini oven and a microwave for 99% of things. I don't even plan on having an oven in my next proper home as I won't use it. You can get a whole pizza in a mini oven (as I only buy small ones) and it's possible to cook chickens and yorkshires in them, if I ever wanted to (can't see me ever
cooking a chicken to be honest).

This oven's a pain in the butt... I've got it on and the only way I can get it to actually start working is by pressing some buttons on the front ... that seem to count up or count down, then an alarm goes off and it turns off... and if I press the alarm button it continues to cook for a few minutes then the alarm's gone off again.... so then I turned it off at the wall and I think I just have it on counting up this time and in about 6 minutes the alarm will go off again to tell me it's finished.

I've never had an oven that didn't simply have one knob that you twisted for the temperature and it just worked.

I'd like the alarm/counting thing .... as it turns the oven off once the alarm goes off (sometimes) ... if only I understood it.

PN I really don't think you know how brill these things are, particulary for a single person, once used you'd never wonder how you'd managed before. Things like oven chips come out far better than a 'normal' oven, I've even started frying eggs in mine,first from underneath, then poaches on top, delics! Buy one, and if after three months you're not convinced, PM me and I'll refund you the cost, no questions asked! Even little people can use them :j they're really great. Go on, prove I'm wrong!

MT