Cooking for one

caronc

Nelski wrote: »

I bought a lot of the foil trays and some of the plastic ones you get from a chinese takeaway (i have a costco card ) Problem is they just take up too much room so most of what I freeze now I freeze flat in a ziploc bag then stack them all up

I also think I could live a good few months from my stock PN if not a year and bar a few sneaky buys that will no doubt happen that is what I intend to do so watch this space to see how long it lasts. I am lucky in that i get to eat out quite a bit with work so dont really suffer the boredom thing and to be honest I have so many different things in the white box I just need to keep varying meals.

Yep use lots of ziplock bags as well but love the trays for things like cottage pie.
If it came to it and I wasn't bothered about health or 5 a day calorie wise my stocks could I'm ashamed to admit last me 6 months if not more - hopefully the "Eating out of your freezer/cupboard" thread will help me with that a bit. Partly I need to keep good stocks due to health limiting shopping etc. and I do bulk buy meat from an on-line buther 2-3 times a year but I think in part having a good supply in stems back to being a child. When I was wee like a lots of families my Dad was paid weekly and things were very tight financially. We ate good food and were never hungry but there was never any choice and by a Thursday night there usually was just enough food in the house to cover breakfast the next day, Every item of food had a purpose and except at weekends when my parents were happy to entertain having someone unexpectedly for a meal could cause my mum to get in a flap. I suspect my "stocks" are a counter-balance to that:)

LameWolf

Nelski wrote: »

Still not settled on tonights menu but i am edging towards a jacket potato with cheese and beans

We ended up with the potato'n'pasta soup with HM bread, because that means I now need to make a loaf tomorrow, which makes tomorrow's dins easy to decide on - if I'm having the bread maker out anyway, we'll have pizza; I can make the base before I put the loaf on, and only have to wash the bread maker pan once.

Someone (PN I think?) mentioned sandal-wearing hippies - I'm not one, but I am a fully paid-up barefoot, toe-ringed hippy. :rotfl:

caronc

LameWolf wrote: »

We ended up with the potato'n'pasta soup with HM bread, because that means I now need to make a loaf tomorrow, which makes tomorrow's dins easy to decide on - if I'm having the bread maker out anyway, we'll have pizza; I can make the base before I put the loaf on, and only have to wash the bread maker pan once.

Someone (PN I think?) mentioned sandal-wearing hippies - I'm not one, but I am a fully paid-up barefoot, toe-ringed hippy. :rotfl:

That sounds just the ticket for a winter's night is your soup a specific recipe if so could you share or a see what's lurking job?
I'm neither a sandal-wearing nor toe-ringed hippy does a penchant for desert-type boots count? (and my hair's quite long and I like lentils and grow stuff LOL :-)

PasturesNew

Even if I had a breadmaker, which I don't as it makes too much bread that then needs eating ... I'd not make bread AND pizza base on the same day - there's no time to eat that.

Bread needs to be eaten quite quickly with a breadmaker, but you're already eating pizza.... probably for 3 days Bread will be off by the time you get round to it.

I had to use up some manky tomatoes and some really manky squidgy peppers the other day, so tossed those onto a naan. Made my quick base, lobbed the tomatoes/peppers and onions on, then topped with a spot of cheese.

Then I couldn't wait to eat it, so got it out when it was "about passable".

https://postimg.org/image/xrvyfhaop/

Nelski

PasturesNew wrote: »

Even if I had a breadmaker, which I don't as it makes too much bread that then needs eating ... I'd not make bread AND pizza base on the same day - there's no time to eat that.

Bread needs to be eaten quite quickly with a breadmaker, but you're already eating pizza.... probably for 3 days Bread will be off by the time you get round to it.

I had to use up some manky tomatoes and some really manky squidgy peppers the other day, so tossed those onto a naan. Made my quick base, lobbed the tomatoes/peppers and onions on, then topped with a spot of cheese.

Then I couldn't wait to eat it, so got it out when it was "about passable".

https://postimg.org/image/xrvyfhaop/

Looks lovely PN ...careful now you are getting a bit cheffy there

Talking of cheffy I have got out some peppered mackerel fillets for some fish cakes tomorrow least that will be a bit more potato used up too

PasturesNew

Nelski wrote: »

Looks lovely PN ...careful now you are getting a bit cheffy there

Talking of cheffy I have got out some peppered mackerel fillets for some fish cakes tomorrow least that will be a bit more potato used up too

LOL. The thing is "cooking isn't difficult". If I wanted to and put my mind to it, I could cook anything I wanted (if I had the equipment and wasn't scared of ovens/hobs). I just have no wish/desire to whatsoever.

My food sounds worse than it is most of the time I do all right, with what I've got and the amount of effort/time I'm prepared to put into it.

People are so keen to "food shame" these days, leaping on their own favourite little wagon ..... I don't food shame (I do mock the posh choices, which is a different thing to shaming). People cook what they do for the reasons they have, that are valid reasons.

I have a zero food waste policy, so I am 'forced' to use stuff up, even when it gets manky, I know that one day I will HAVE to eat it ... and that naan was the quickest, most pleasant, way I thought of using up the peppers ....

PasturesNew

One thing I do like to have in my cupboard is a selection of 2-3 tins that I call "instant dinners". For those times when I want to break the cycle of having leftovers, or really CBA to make more effort, it's nice to just open the cupboard and KNOW that in there is an instant dinner.

I've got cupboard/freezer instant dinners available - I can knock up a selection of frozen veggies, with some stuffing and mash and gravy in about 12 minutes flat - and sometimes I do that.

But, for tins, there are a few items I gravitate towards... beans for beans on toast of course, but I like to look out for "nice sounding chunky soups" as these are quite like a stew, so are flexible as they can be eaten as a soup, or viewed as a stew - and served with bread, or even on top of rice or with noodles.

One little favourite I used to have was Mr T's Spag Bol cans.
http://www.tesco.com/groceries/product/details/?id=274747434
These used to be 20p. Now they're 36p!!

That's two meals there, in the tin.

2 slices of toast - half a can of spag bol - an optional small toss of some grated cheddar across the top and that's dinner sorted. Before they put the price up that worked out as a meal for 15p!

Sometimes, if I'm trying to use up eggs, I'll lob a cheeky poached egg or two on the top.

I went through a phase of buying meatballs in tomato sauce - half a tin of those with rice is "a kind of, bit like, sort of, sweet/sour meatballs" - especially if I've got a couple of strips of peppers I can lob in.

Years ago there used to be some enchiladas (I think) - in a tin. A roll of pasta round some meat, in a tomato sauce. They were nice

A carefully curated small collection of "dinners in a tin" that hit your personal sweet spot is essential IMHO.

iammumtoone

Tonight I had YS bread swirls with cheese and tomato, they are meant to be shared as an accompaniment but I ate the whole lot pizza style.

I made some tomato salsa to go with it. I put more onion in than I would have liked (had to use it all up). I will now be eating salsa with whatever I have tomorrow.

I am sure I put on more weight eating for one. I don't want salsa tomorrow or the next day but I will eat it as an 'extra' to whatever I am having just to use it up.

The general advise is contradictory we are told not to eat for the sake of it (so we don't put on unnecessary weight) but also told to try to reduce waste. These two good pieces of advise do not work together

Today I received my Goode for one book, can't remember who recommended it but thank you, I haven't read it but flicked through and it looks really good, uses simple ingredients and easy recipes.

monnagran

Caronc, What is a sous vide machine when its at home? I thought I knew all the new kitchen devices but that one escaped me.
It's not that I am devoid of cheffy accoutrements, goodness no! I myself am in possession of a rolling pin. It does have a few dents in it, occasioned by my greeting family members who returned late from the pub.

PN, I like your thinking about not dirtying a knife by using it too often. Can I come and live with you. I'm not too much of a hippie, although a very good friend did once refer to me as, "that bohemian."

I do love it when a perfectly sensible and serious thread descends into chaos and fantasy.
Long live mayhem.

x

PasturesNew

monnagran wrote: »

Caronc, What is a sous vide machine when its at home? I thought I knew all the new kitchen devices but that one escaped me.

It's a posh word for: Make Your Own Boil in a Bag Meals.

You make a meal, seal it in a bag, toss it into the machine, that's a boiling water bath.... remove the meal and ... I'm not entirely sure what happens next. Not sure if you can store it, I think you can. Lots of restaurants started doing these boil in a bag meals ... and they couldn't call them that, they had to have a posh word for it

monnagran wrote: »

I myself am in possession of a rolling pin. It does have a few dents in it, occasioned by my greeting family members who returned late from the pub.

You're one ahead of me. I've got OCD issues about pastry making - and rolling anything on the worktop, which might not be surgically clean ... and I'd fret about that... and clean it ... and do it again and again and again ... and still worry, so I might not fancy eating whatever I've rolled.

So I don't do it.

monnagran wrote: »

PN, I like your thinking about not dirtying a knife by using it too often. Can I come and live with you. I'm not too much of a hippie, although a very good friend did once refer to me as, "that bohemian."

I do love it when a perfectly sensible and serious thread descends into chaos and fantasy.
Long live mayhem.

Nobody lives with me. I'm weird. I prowl around the garden in the dark at 3am ... and creep about the house without any lights on (OK, mostly because most rooms don't have lights, but it saves energy bills).

Nobody else could live with the weird rules either... don't touch/use the oven/hob. Don't turn any two items on in the kitchen at a time. Try not to go into the kitchen after dark. Only I can shut the curtains because nobody else knows how to do it right ... because it's all a bit "loose" and the hems are pinned up and another one if you touch it the whole lot will drop off the wall.

I need a little DIY man really.

And those are just the starters....

Chaos and fantasy??? I'll have you know this is real life... we here, who you think are chaos and fantasy... are actually living these lives