Cooking for one

iammumtoone

PasturesNew wrote: »

But ... that's not how it actually works.

You can't eat what you like, when you like. You end up having to perpetually eat what needs using up ... no matter how odd the mixture is. There's nobody ever to help you out and eat any of it.

If you buy it, you have to eat it, all. All before it goes off.... and after 30-40 years you're really tired of it.

Yes, you can decide that "tonight is pizza night" - but then you've got half a pizza lurking tomorrow.... and if you think "it's pizza and garlic bread" then that's only used 1/3rd of a pizza, so you've then got another two nights of pizza and garlic bread.... but you might run out of garlic bread after the 2nd night - so the third night it's the final 1/3rd of pizza, but that's not quite enough ... so then you have to work out what you can put on the plate to go with it.

It's endless!

True, I think alot of it is how you view waste.

I used to make sure I used everything up but I am now more relaxed about it. I don't fret as much if I have to throw something out. I worked out this way I enjoy my food more as it takes the pressure off having to eat something up.

I do have one rule which is I don't waste money. A lot of time its is cheaper to buy more so for example if a pack of 4 jacket spuds cost £1 and a pack of 8 costs £1.50, as long as I have eaten a £1 worth of the 8 pack (ie 6) I don't feel guilty about putting 2 in the food waste bin as I have still saved against buying the 4 pack.

Pizza situation doesn't effect me as I eat a whole one but I understand what you are saying.

Anne_Marie_2

PasturesNew wrote: »

It's not great, not great at all - if you were all like me ... it'd be great. Then I'd not be the weird one

Aha....but who told you, that you were the weird one? It could be me, it could be not just me....who cares? I would hate to be the same as everyone else. It's good to be different. If we were all the same, this thread wouldn't have got anywhere for a start.

PasturesNew wrote: »

I used to open a (sliced, 24p) loaf and eat as much as I could manage before the best before date, then freeze what's left.

Then I realised it's better to remove 8 slices and pop those into plastic boxes and immediately freeze the loaf as it's nicer when defrosted than when it goes in on its last legs.

The problem with that is that one sliced loaf takes up half of one drawer of the freezer - and with only 2½ drawers, it was too much.

Right now I've not got the spare room in the freezer to even freeze two slices. Every time I free up a spot, something goes into the freezer.

I treated myself to a carton of juice at Xmas, having opened it a few days ago I'd had about half of it - and the remainder needed freezing... bang went the free corner!

Nothing more can go in until I've used something that's in there - and I don't fancy what's in there

Well, until you get what's in there down, am afraid that you are stuck with it. Can you not try making some stuff with what's in there? Post a list of what's in there and see what inspiration people can give you. You never know, someone may come up with something that you'd fancy.

Anne_Marie_2

iammumtoone wrote: »

This is one of the great advantages of catering for one, no one to please but yourself, you can eat what you like, when you like.

I think those with large families should start their own thread to counteract this one It most be a pain having to turn round after a long day to cook a full meal when you really can't be ars*d. As much as its difficult with the left overs/waste/repetitiveness for one cooking large quantities for family has is own disadvantages.

Totally agree.
I don't fret too much either about waste, but am pretty well organised, and rarely waste food other than salad leaves, and the odd thing that I've forgotten about lurking in the back of the fridge.

Anne_Marie_2

PasturesNew wrote: »

It's not that I can't think what to make with it - the issue is I don't fancy eating that right now.



I've some great stuff I COULD make ... I just don't fancy it.

Know exactly what you mean. I've opened the freezer feeling hungry, and despite it being full of food, there is nothing that I want.

PasturesNew wrote: »

I've probably got:
1Kg oven chips, 1Kg brussels sprouts, 1Kg frozen roasties (don't ask), 1Kg cauli, 1Kg peas, 0.5Kg mixed veg, 0.25Kg broccoli/cauli mix and some other stray mixed veggies. 1Kg chopped white onion, six individual bags of red onions sliced.

I over-catered with veggies in the run up to Xmas.

Cooked cocktail sausages (four portions of five), about 8-9 chicken dippers, 200 grams quorn mince, 9 fish fingers, 30 mexican meatballs, 3 medium yorkshires.

Two small packs of chillies, one bread roll, one banana, some fruit juice, about 2" of ginger and just under ½ litre of pineapple/coconut fruit juice.

I think that's it, but there might be something I've forgotten.

I can see a fish finger bap in there.... I'll have that tomorrow. So the freezer will be reduced by 3 fish fingers and one bread roll.

Oh my goodness, you didn't half go to town on the veggies....I'm a vegetarian and have nowhere near that amount. Am off to bed now, but will pop in again tomorrow to see if I can help, and if others have given you some ideas.

PasturesNew

Anne_Marie wrote: »

Oh my goodness, you didn't half go to town on the veggies....I'm a vegetarian and have nowhere near that amount. .

I know ... it didn't go to plan. There was a plan, but I c0cked it up....

I did "my first ever Xmas where I have to work out what I want and how I'll cook it, then buy it and then cook it and eat it" ... and I changed my mind about which veggies and changed my mind about "frozen or fresh" on a few ...

I've always been at home/somebody else's for Xmas before. This year it was me, just me.

I'll know better next year what I really want/need.

Anne_Marie_2

PasturesNew wrote: »

I know ... it didn't go to plan. There was a plan, but I c0cked it up....

I did "my first ever Xmas where I have to work out what I want and how I'll cook it, then buy it and then cook it and eat it" ... and I changed my mind about which veggies and changed my mind about "frozen or fresh" on a few ...

I've always been at home/somebody else's for Xmas before. This year it was me, just me.

I'll know better next year what I really want/need.

Oh you poor thing. Totally understand, as I've gone overboard at Christmas in the past, such a waste.

I was on my own at Christmas too, totally my choice as I was invited out. I don't want to go to a restaurant and pay exorbitant prices for food which will be an afterthought, as the main focus is on meat eaters. Prices here usually include drink at Christmas and New Year.
Total waste of time for me, as I am not a big eater, hate feeling stuffed, and not a big drinker. I'd just rather not bother.

I did make myself a very nice Christmas dinner, where I had the starter at lunchtime and main course for dinner, and as usual never got round to a sweet, so didn't even bother planning one. Didn't even bother with wine, as I didn't fancy any, and no one urging me to go on, have a glass.

I didn't buy anything extra in for Christmas, other than making sure I had all the ingreds for my meal, which I prepared on Christmas eve. The only thing that was wasted was excess bread sauce, which I had made far too much of, meant to do something with it, and forgot, so in the bin it went.

It was great, no guilt at having all the extra rubbish to get rid of. Suppose people will think I am a right killjoy, and maybe I am. I have spent years of running about shopping, cooking Christmas dinners, having a glut of food that needs using up, and am done with it now. Goodness, it felt good.

moneyistooshorttomention

...and don't forget there's the "Oh blow it - I simply can't be ars*d another minute to think what to have for my next meal - so I'll eat that out".

Well - if you're a pretty conventional eater that's okay. If you're not.....on the other hand....whoops.

To me - eating out means I'm almost certainly compromising in the first place - bar a suitable specifically vegetarian cafe/restaurant. Reason being - I'm thinking "I bet there's not a single organic thing in this meal and I do hope that any eggs they're using aren't battery ones". Add the fact that I don't eat meat anyway and have had to pretty much give up using fish (the horror articles are starting to mount up about fish swallowing all these microbeads "they" are throwing into our oceans).

I can think of places where I'm pretty okay - Brighton, Totnes and Glastonbury (lots of other people nearby with similar concerns - so the eateries tend to cater for us). I'd probably be okay in Cambridge/Oxford/Bath/suitable parts of London. Anywhere else - and careful selection is necessary. Some places are full of what I call "1980s pubs" (old-fashioned/boring and when they say "brown bread" they don't mean wholemeal, they mean dyed processed white bread).

So - if you're living in the latter type of place - then you eat at home a lot - as at least you know your own food passes muster on the healthy enough/modern enough front.

......and then you're back to that repetitive eating....and swooping on any "new" food that comes into the shops and wondering how to use it up after you've tried it out the first once/twice. It's a good thing I've got a lot of shelf space for food storage.

PasturesNew

Anne_Marie wrote: »

.... I am not a big eater, hate feeling stuffed, and not a big drinker. I'd just rather not bother.

Me too. I used to eat a lot, used to be able to shovel it away for Christmas, but these days I'm smaller and older, so can't manage it.

I had an invite I managed to duck out of. I also thought it was "important" that I did "do the whole Xmas thing" because I wanted to "prove to myself" that I could bother, to motivate me in future years... if that makes sense. Do it all once and you "know" you can do it. Skip it and it'd slide. And I do like Xmas dinner.

I did make myself a very nice Christmas dinner, where I had the starter at lunchtime and main course for dinner, and as usual never got round to a sweet, so didn't even bother planning one. Didn't even bother with wine, as I didn't fancy any, and no one urging me to go on, have a glass.

I just had the main course. No starter, no dessert.

I bought myself a random bottle of Schloer Rose. Really glad I did, that was really nice. I'll get one next year.

I am not a drinker, never have been.

I didn't buy anything extra in for Christmas, other than making sure I had all the ingreds for my meal, which I prepared on Christmas eve. The only thing that was wasted was excess bread sauce, which I had made far too much of, meant to do something with it, and forgot, so in the bin it went.

It was tough writing/re-writing my list of what to make. Over the years, growing up, the Xmas list got bigger and bigger because, as a family it doesn't matter if there's an extra bit of this, that and the other, and if 10 vegetables are cooked and 4 stuffings.

Then there are all the extras for Xmas week, the crisps, nuts and chocs. I was quite harsh with myself over these quantities... but struggled to get through what I did buy because of the Xmas dinner leftovers and veggie overload that needed to be used up. I'll not buy ANY nuts this year; last year I bought a bag of monkey nuts and a small bag of mixed nuts/raisins... didn't enjoy either. No nuts this year. Ditto the tortilla chips I thought seemed a good idea as I could make nachos ... no, you can't make nachos when you've already got two shedloads of food to get through .... so they're off the list this year.

Alone, you have to be harsh and cull a lot of it. Having done it last year, this year I'll cull more. There'll be no broccoli or peas for starters.

We never had bread sauce at home, so I've never liked it or bothered with it. I also haven't had cranberry, so that was another thing to not bother with. I did insist I got myself turkey though, as I like it

Next year I know what I'll cook and whether I'll buy fresh/frozen veg for that.

I cooked a lot the day before and boxed it up in the fridge for nuking - e.g. the mash, the mashed swede and the turkey. That was because I did it all in the toaster, microwave and SC so it made sense to get those done the day before because the root veg takes quite a while and I wasn't sure how long the turkey would take.... this year I'll cook the turkey on the day as I know how long that size takes in the SC now.

PasturesNew

moneyistooshorttomention wrote: »

...and don't forget there's the "Oh blow it - I simply can't be ars*d another minute to think what to have for my next meal - so I'll eat that out".

I don't do it. My "oh blow it" moments might end up in me buying a microwave curry for one

moneyistooshorttomention wrote: »

.... organic .... battery ones

I'm lucky in that I eat "what I like/fancy" and I've no regard for any of these lifestyle choices at all... the only "fad" I keep an eye on is I do like to buy the reduced salt/sugar baked beans. That's my "healthy" lot

moneyistooshorttomention wrote: »

.... microbeads "

I am not concerned, I never read this stuff.

Over the decades I've seen things come and go ... it all goes over my head. Edwina Curry and her egg scare, 20 years on was proven to be entirely wrong; I never stopped eating them, never gave it a thought, at the time either.

moneyistooshorttomention wrote: »

I can think of places where I'm pretty okay - Brighton, Totnes and Glastonbury (lots of other people nearby with similar concerns - so the eateries tend to cater for us). I'd probably be okay in Cambridge/Oxford/Bath/suitable parts of London.

I grew up in one of those places and found that finding veggie food elsewhere seemed to be almost impossible. My sibling was a veggie. Pubs/etc seemed to only ever offer a veggie lasagne, or something with mushrooms.

moneyistooshorttomention wrote: »

......and then you're back to that repetitive eating....and swooping on any "new" food that comes into the shops and wondering how to use it up after you've tried it out the first once/twice. It's a good thing I've got a lot of shelf space for food storage.

I pass by the new foods, I stick to what I know so there's zero waste.

I actually live within spitting distance of a popular fast food outlet that serves burgers on the budget menu from 99p and sometimes the smell of their breakfasts wafts across my patio. Been here nearly 3 years and not once have I crossed their threshold.

PasturesNew

I've been thinking overnight, I can't take the bread roll and 3 fish fingers out of the freezer as I've got half a tin of beans and some 6 week old potatoes to use up... and I remembered a small cheese pasty in the freezer, so that's what I'm having today

Cheese pasty, mash, beans.