Food and living alone

Kirri

geordie_joe wrote: »

Then price comes into it, 4 eggs are 36p each, but buy a pack of nine and they are only 22p each.

Smaller packs cost more.

Then there is Iceland, they do six packs of fr eggs for £1, so what do you do, buy 4 eggs from waitrose at £1.49 or 9 for £1.99 or go to Iceland and get 6 for £1.

Either way, if you only wanted/needed 1 or 2 eggs you will be stuck with some you don't want/need and have to use them just to prevent waste.

The Waitrose 4 pack I mentioned are organic, not sure if they do non org in that size. They do still work out a few pence more than the organic ones I buy now in a 6 pack but it is pennies difference - I used to buy the Waitrose 4 pack if not baking/cooking so much. It's all a choice, I'm in the same position, but if something isn't needed or there is a lack of space to store it, it's pointless buying larger packs even if there is a difference in cost.

Also, as I said above, eggs usually have a few weeks bb date so it's not like it's something (like some other foods) that literally have to be eaten meal after meal.

Dunroamin

PasturesNew wrote: »

Well, there's a trip to an alien world

I buy the eggs from Lidl and the dates are what they are. Eggs are there, I either buy them or go without. But, once bought, you have to keep an eye on the date. These ones aren't too bad, it's the pittas that give up early .... I dug to the back to get the ones with a 4 day date. They're the 22p/pack of 6 ones. Not had them before.

So, I have to use up the pittas.... which requires a filling. I have eggs and cheese ... but it's the pittas that have the most pressing date.

Once the pittas are dispensed with I'll buy a bag of spuds as I've not had any for 2 weeks, and they can go with eggs and cheese. So I'll be on cheesy mash and fritattas for a few days. By then the eggs and cheese will have run out and I'll have spuds.... by then I'll have to see what I fancy next to finish those spuds up. That all depends on how many I have left, what the weather's like and what day of the week it is.

I don't like wasting food but at less than 4p each, it really isn't the end of the world if you feed a couple of the pittas to the ducks!

geordie_joe

The eggs I was looking at were all free range, not organic, but it was just to illustrate a point.

Kirri wrote: »

I'm in the same position, but if something isn't needed or there is a lack of space to store it, it's pointless buying larger packs even if there is a difference in cost.

That's a valid point, but if you are also short of money then the problem is even worse.

Suppose you eat 2 eggs per meal, and only want two eggs. You can buy 4 eggs for £1.49 or 6 for £1. If you buy the 4 pack you have paid 49p more, but you now only have two meals instead of three, so have to buy something else for the third meal.

Kirri wrote: »

Also, as I said above, eggs usually have a few weeks bb date so it's not like it's something (like some other foods) that literally have to be eaten meal after meal.

I see your point, but that is the reason I posted in the first place.
Someone says they have 3 days to eat the eggs, then people start saying eggs last for weeks. That's fine, but what if they've been sat in the fridge for weeks because the person want a couple of eggs and had to buy a pack of 10. So they used the two they wanted, forced themselves to eat another 5 then left 3 in the fridge until "the last minute".

This is what happens when you live alone, you have to buy more than you want, say a cabbage. So you eat it for days until you can't face it any more and stop eating it. Then comes the time when you either have to eat it in the next couple of days or throw it out.

Then when you tell someone you have a couple of days to eat half a huge cabbage they get all clever and high and mighty and tell you that a cabbage will last for weeks in the fridge. Because they assume you have just bought it five minutes ago.

And all you want to do is grab them by the throat and shout at them.....

"I know a cabbage will last for weeks in the fridge, I've had this one in my fridge for weeks and now it is on it's last legs. The reason it has been there for weeks is I could only get a huge one and I ate so much of it that I can't face cabbage now, I never want to eat cabbage again. But I have to eat the rest of this one or waste it and the money I paid for it".

Then you get the people who tell you different ways to cook it, and you think "it will still be cabbage!"

Sorry to rant on, but I'm certain PasturesNew knows how long eggs and cabbage last and how many different ways there are to cook them. But at the end of the day, if she just wants two eggs and has to buy 10, then she's going to have to eat another 8 eggs. And no amount of telling her how long they last, or how many ways there are of cooking them is going to change anything.

Kirri

If you like houmous (or split peas done in houmous style) you could make it as and when/fresh from dried, and use as pitta filling with salad, it's cheap and I just make up 100g at a time for a couple of days.

I don't shop in Lidl's - the M&S pitta are obviously a lot more money but still only 70p ish for a pack of 6 and the wholemeal ones are nice, no additives etc and can get them with a date of about a week. I make pitta now mostly though, they are quite easy though obviously don't last long without preservatives but can make small amounts if wanted.

I guess it's harder to use stuff up if you're only eating 1 meal a day, unless today food ^ is not a normal day's meals?

Potatoes should last/store this time of year - again though don't buy them as I grow them but once dug up they are just stored all winter for use.

Kirri

geordie_joe wrote: »

The eggs I was looking at were all free range, not organic, but it was just to illustrate a point.



That's a valid point, but if you are also short of money then the problem is even worse.

Suppose you eat 2 eggs per meal, and only want two eggs. You can buy 4 eggs for £1.49 or 6 for £1. If you buy the 4 pack you have paid 49p more, but you now only have two meals instead of three, so have to buy something else for the third meal.



I see your point, but that is the reason I posted in the first place.
Someone says they have 3 days to eat the eggs, then people start saying eggs last for weeks. That's fine, but what if they've been sat in the fridge for weeks because the person want a couple of eggs and had to buy a pack of 10. So they used the two they wanted, forced themselves to eat another 5 then left 3 in the fridge until "the last minute".

This is what happens when you live alone, you have to buy more than you want, say a cabbage. So you eat it for days until you can't face it any more and stop eating it. Then comes the time when you either have to eat it in the next couple of days or throw it out.

Then when you tell someone you have a couple of days to eat half a huge cabbage they get all clever and high and mighty and tell you that a cabbage will last for weeks in the fridge. Because they assume you have just bought it five minutes ago.

And all you want to do is grab them by the throat and shout at them.....

"I know a cabbage will last for weeks in the fridge, I've had this one in my fridge for weeks and now it is on it's last legs. The reason it has been there for weeks is I could only get a huge one and I ate so much of it that I can't face cabbage now, I never want to eat cabbage again. But I have to eat the rest of this one or waste it and the money I paid for it".

Then you get the people who tell you different ways to cook it, and you think "it will still be cabbage!"

Sorry to rant on, but I'm certain PasturesNew knows how long eggs and cabbage last and how many different ways there are to cook them. But at the end of the day, if she just wants two eggs and has to buy 10, then she's going to have to eat another 8 eggs. And no amount of telling her how long they last, or how many ways there are of cooking them is going to change anything.

It's always possible to be negative about everything.

Plenty of people are in the same position (myself included) but look for ideas, answers and new ways of looking at the same old problems rather than just being negative the whole time.

KxMx

PasturesNew wrote: »

Where's this salad coming from....? That's a huge meal commitment right there!

Salad's pretty much definitely off the buying list unless you've prior warning that there's a heatwave coming and you know you can mix n match it all and eat it in a week.

You can buy half a cucumber, tomatoes and peppers singly and little gem/cos lettuce. Not a huge commitment and I eat salad all year round, always find the attitude that it's just for summer odd frankly.

I have various sandwich combos for lunch but they always include at least one of the above items. Salad can also be added as a side dish to a many main meals. There may be two of us in our house but we go through salad items pretty quick!

Dunroamin

PasturesNew wrote: »

I'd feel bad/guilty

I'd feel I failed at something simple like using up food and not wasting food/money.

Well, you feel bad now at having to eat them several times in a row so there's not much difference. I'd be worried for myself if I felt bad about wasting 8p.

dlusman

PasturesNew wrote: »

Where's this salad coming from....? That's a huge meal commitment right there!

Salad's pretty much definitely off the buying list unless you've prior warning that there's a heatwave coming and you know you can mix n match it all and eat it in a week.

I can make an iceberg and most other types of lettuce last several weeks by continually "feeding" it..
put a small amount of water in a dish , cut the base of the lettuce to allow it to soak up the water , put it in the dish and cover loosely. Check ever couple of days and top up the water if it has run out or is looking a bit brown, and cut another sliver off the base of the lettuce if it has "healled up"

Dimey

dlusman wrote: »

I can make an iceberg and most other types of lettuce last several weeks by continually "feeding" it..
put a small amount of water in a dish , cut the base of the lettuce to allow it to soak up the water , put it in the dish and cover loosely. Check ever couple of days and top up the water if it has run out or is looking a bit brown, and cut another sliver off the base of the lettuce if it has "healled up"

Do you keep it in the fridge?

Dimey

PasturesNew wrote: »

I live by some bizarre rules, one of them is "if you buy it you HAVE to eat it all". My rules cannot be explained, it's the way I am.

I have that in-built too.

It came about from being drummed into me as a child in the 1950s when we just didn't have food to spare and left-overs were made into other meals.

Nowadays I'm more relaxed and justify anything I leave by giving to birds, foxes, badgers, hedgehogs, cats & dogs.