Cooking for one

caronc

NewShadow wrote: »

I'm guessing you zapped it from frozen - out of interest, how long did did you do it for?

I zapped it from frozen 3 minutes initially and then another 2 when my casserole was ready.

PasturesNew wrote: »

Fish/sauce/bag: I bought a box of those about a year ago; food, but not to write home about. Bottom of the list for bothering to buy again.

Defrosting fast: quite a few methods work, I'm happy to nuke things 99.9% of the time though.... or accept I'll have something "tomorrow".

Beans/half: Yeah, not economical to buy mini cans. I bet they sell barely any of those. You can freeze half a tin once opened... but people rarely bother. Opened/decanted they're fine for 4+ days in the fridge anyway. I eat a lot of beans. I buy the 4-packs of supermarket own brand reduced salt/reduced sugar.... not because I'm "faddy/bothered about that", but because I might as well as I don't crave/need the sugar/salt at all. 95p for 4 cans, that's 8 portions at 12p/portion.

Baked spuds/freeze. Yep, freezing/done is the way to go - IF you oven bake them to start with. 99.9% of the time I just nuke them and accept the skin's not crispy, but I don't care .... sometimes then oven-baked them, but by then I just want to eat it, so tend to whip them out before they're fully crisped anyway. Not bothered crispy/not, so tend to stick with nuking. But, yes, you can slice/freeze them, fill them or not before freezing, etc. Just like the super-pricey ones in the supermarket freezers (that I've never bought as I'm far too tight for that).

I've been "busy getting my head around a part of the family tree I thought was known/understood/done 30 years ago" - turns out it wasn't. So I lined up all my ducks and notes ready for midnight .... as Ancestry UK starts a freebie at midnight....

Well, lining up ducks makes me scoff. So since I last posted I've had another crust/chocolate spread (just because it finished off the last slice of frozen bread I froze last Friday) ... and a drinking chocolate with mini marshmallows.

Midnight .... I clicked through to Ancestry expecting to just grab some Census entries I'd bookmarked and it's giving me an error message, so I guess others sat and waited for midnight too

Shame about not getting on the site you had waited up for I'm not overly keen on spuds that have been fully baked in the microwave I miss the crispy skin, I do start them in the microwave and just finish in the oven to crisp up:)

PasturesNew

At 4am this morning I was in the Wide Awake Club - eating cheese triangles.

caronc

PasturesNew wrote: »

At 4am this morning I was in the Wide Awake Club - eating cheese triangles.

Cheese triangles on toast with a cup of tea is one my favourites hope you enjoyed them:)

PasturesNew

caronc wrote: »

Cheese triangles on toast with a cup of tea is one my favourites hope you enjoyed them:)

I'd have enjoyed them more if I'd had something to put on them ... but they are a handy snack to grab when all else is uninviting.

I'd used up the end of the last loaf when I had the two lots of chocolate spread yesterday evening.

I'd never bought chocolate spread before until about a year ago, I've got through 1½ jars in the last year and already have a spare in the cupboard for when this one runs out. It's a great "choc fix" or dessert in the absence of having other sweet things available.

karcher

I'm not a fan of chocolate spread, but I love cheese triangles on toast...adding them to my shopping list.

Not feeling too good today. Thank fleck it's Friday!!

caronc

PasturesNew wrote: »

I'd have enjoyed them more if I'd had something to put on them ... but they are a handy snack to grab when all else is uninviting.

I'd used up the end of the last loaf when I had the two lots of chocolate spread yesterday evening.

I'd never bought chocolate spread before until about a year ago, I've got through 1½ jars in the last year and already have a spare in the cupboard for when this one runs out. It's a great "choc fix" or dessert in the absence of having other sweet things available.

I'm not keen on chocolate spread but my kids used to love it on toast with chopped banana on top as a treat. Known for some strange reason as "banoffee toast" no idea why but that's kids for you..... On the rare times now my nephew who is 18, well over 6ft and plays in a punk band stays over he reverts to being a 7 year old and loves to have this snuggled on the couch in his PJs watching a film LOL

caronc

karcher wrote: »

I'm not a fan of chocolate spread, but I love cheese triangles on toast...adding them to my shopping list.

Not feeling too good today. Thank fleck it's Friday!!

Hope you feel better as the day goes on

Doom_and_Gloom

caronc wrote: »

I'm not keen on chocolate spread but my kids used to love it on toast with chopped banana on top as a treat. Known for some strange reason as "banoffee toast" no idea why but that's kids for you..... On the rare times now my nephew who is 18, well over 6ft and plays in a punk band stays over he reverts to being a 7 year old and loves to have this snuggled on the couch in his PJs watching a film LOL

Reminds me of my OH. He's 30 but loves a sandwich called the fluffernutter. This is a sandwich with marshmallow fluff and peanut butter. I don't know if it should have chocolate spread in it also by definition but that doesn't stop him adding that also, normal or duo versions! He does this toasted as a treat.
A banana would be too healthy in that for him. Only way to get him to eat bananas is banana bread/cake.

PasturesNew

I've been invited out for my tea

Now - that's great, but when you live alone/cook for one, you really need to forward plan anything "unusual" up to a week ahead. If I'm going away overnight, then a week before I'll start thinking about that and making sure I use up all food before going - and don't buy any in the lead up to going so food isn't sitting home alone going off while I'm away.

If I know I'm eating out I'll arrange/plan other food in the 2-3 days up to that point, knowing that I'll be eating out. If it were, say, a carvery, I might even "half starve" myself in the final 2-3 days in anticipation.

Today I woke up without much food in the house, feeling that today I'd go shopping for a loaf/eggs. Trouble is, I'm now going out for my tea, so loathe to buy bread/eggs today as I know they'll just sit there until at least tomorrow and so I won't/can't.

I've still got a spud and spaghetti hoops (but no bread) ... so I'll have spud/spaghetti hoops and cheese for lunch.

There is a lot more food juggling in a household of one as you try to stagger what you eat/when so it all gets used up.

sitesafe

PasturesNew wrote: »

I only went into the kitchen to make a coffee .... somehow managed to wander out again clutching a toasted slice of crust topped with some chocolate spread

I soo love chocolate spread - well more the Nutty type - and could easily get through a jar in a couple of days. It's so versatile too. I haven't bought any for years simply because it wouldn't last five minutes!

Yesterday I ate well, the porridge with banana and blueberries for breakfast, lunch was half an avocado, some mozarella pearls (basics ones - really little difference to the standard mozarella), some cherry tomatoes (from the ys 15p packet), a few ys lettuce leaves, a little oil and balsamic vinegar on the top and some brown bread and butter. Various snacking on a brazil, almonds, apples x 2, couple of prunes, 2 shortbread biscuits and lots of cups of tea! Supper I had meal planned to use the ys turkey breasts and use up some leftover thai green curry paste and coriander from the other day. Made a lovely curry - it had sweet potato, onion, garlic, ginger paste, fish sauce (not something I would normally buy - this was given to me), tin of coconut milk, some stock, green beans and a carrot - had this with brown rice - made enough for three meals but decided to make two out of it as I will be sick of the sight of it on day 3, plus I was hungry..... Meal planning is kind of going to plan. Up until a few months ago I'd never used things like coconut milk or ginger or thai green curry paste so it's all a bit of a learning curve but I'm enjoying learning as I love food and sometimes wish I'd pursued a career in catering....

Loving hearing what everyone has cooked or eaten!