Cooking for one

PasturesNew

sitesafe wrote: »

I LOVE pies...not had one for ages but noticed the chip shop in the local small town does pukka pies - always had these growing up as a child, the chicken and mushroom ones - they always used to be squidgy not crispy which I liked about them!....

I was a big fan of Pukka years ago - but in recent years (10-15 or so) chippies increasingly would nuke the pie, then wrap it in the same bag as the chips before rolling the whole lot up! So I stopped buying them.

Then supermarkets started selling them (keep your eye out and you can get them for £1 every now and then).... and so I'd cook my own.

But I now find that they don't seem as big - and the white sauce part doesn't seem as fluid ... so I see them now as "the pies that were good, but changed".

Last week I got a family sized one - not chick/mushroom unfortunately - it was chicken/gravy ... and ate it across four meals. £2 at Asda (special price) - and I really enjoyed EVERY slice of that.

Small Pukkas are £1 at the moment at Asda (I just looked).... they don't seem to do a family sized Chick/Mushroom though.

karcher

PasturesNew wrote: »

You've entirely missed out an essential food group there: Pies.

I really need to buy some pies..preferably one right now.

I haven't had one in ages and I'm going to get some next week...will report back!

I'm undecided about CFO tonight...I have HM coleslaw made but undecided whether to have it with HM chips in butties, mashed potatoes or another fish finger sarnie.....

Tough decision...which I shall decide on later as I'm not hungry enough yet.

Doom_and_Gloom

I have to admit I love a good vegetable pie with chips and beans. However I'm not jealous about the thought of it, as I would usually, as I'm enjoying a vegan fry up right now :cool:. Been soo long since I had one and I'm going to savour every mouthful.

caronc

Evening everyone
On a "hi and bye" as unfortunately vertigo flared up so have been mainly horizontal mainly . Food has been LOs and I'm contemplating a pizza.
I'll catch up with the thread tomorrow

Catwhisker

:hello: Hello!
Fellow 'oner' here. Came here to lurk and pick up tips as my grocery spending had become very un-MSE of late and found this thread.
People seem to think that cooking for one is simply a matter of industrious batch cooking, freezing and joyfully opening the freezer to a wide range of homemade ready meals.
Like many here I struggle with freezer space, having to buy more than I need then feeling obliged to use it up and finding the motivation to cook a 'proper meal'.
I was on my fourth day of using up broccoli due to having to buy an amount suited to a family of four as my local SM seems to have stopped selling it loose so it was nice to find I am not alone.
Tonight I am cooking a jambalaya after being envious of a work colleague's lunch leftovers (and actually having all the ingredients), I halved the recipe and was planning in having it tomorrow too but there's loads.

PasturesNew

You can put me down for three more scoffs:

- handful of fruit pastilles, sweeties.
- two fruit scones, cut in half and a tiny blob of jam on each bit.
- one muffin, toasted, teaspoon of orange marmalade on each half.

Not a high count /10 .... but ... meh.

PasturesNew

Catwhisker wrote: »

People seem to think that cooking for one is simply a matter of industrious batch cooking, freezing and joyfully opening the freezer to a wide range of homemade ready meals.
Like many here I struggle with freezer space, having to buy more than I need then feeling obliged to use it up and finding the motivation to cook a 'proper meal'.
I was on my fourth day of using up broccoli due to having to buy an amount suited to a family of four as my local SM seems to have stopped selling it loose so it was nice to find I am not alone.

A big welcome - this is our little sanctuary where we can tell it how it really is ... without smug people telling us to batch/freeze ...

Yeah right - if it's so s0dding marvellous how come they don't buy/cook 4 chickens every 4th Sunday, or buy 4 cauliflowers at a time

karcher

caronc wrote: »

Evening everyone
On a "hi and bye" as unfortunately vertigo flared up so have been mainly horizontal mainly . Food has been LOs and I'm contemplating a pizza.
I'll catch up with the thread tomorrow

Sorry to hear that caron...really hope you feel better tomorrow x

karcher

PasturesNew wrote: »

A big welcome - this is our little sanctuary where we can tell it how it really is ... without smug people telling us to batch/freeze ...

Yeah right - if it's so s0dding marvellous how come they don't buy/cook 4 chickens every 4th Sunday, or buy 4 cauliflowers at a time

:T :rotfl::rotfl:

Very well said PN :T

Catwhisker

PasturesNew wrote: »

A big welcome - this is our little sanctuary where we can tell it how it really is ... without smug people telling us to batch/freeze ...

Yeah right - if it's so s0dding marvellous how come they don't buy/cook 4 chickens every 4th Sunday, or buy 4 cauliflowers at a time

Another bit of 'useful' advice that makes my eye twitch is to buy bags of frozen veg.
I tried that but have given up as I only have a small, undercounter freezer and they take up far too much room. Also, I don't enjoy frozen veg as much as fresh and had a bad experience with a mixed bag of broccoli and cauliflower where the broccoli was brown and tasted funny.
Unfortunately I don't have the access to a local greengrocer (they're thin on the ground, I work full time and have no desire to spend my Saturday's food shopping) or the opportunity to buy loose veg. I rely on one of the major supermarkets for most of my shopping and everything is geared towards cooking for families.
Apologies for just turning up and whinging......it's obviously been building up more than I realised!
The jambalaya was tasty, would have benefited from a dollop of sour cream which I did consider buying but it seemed pointless for a couple of spoonfuls and I could think what else I'd use it for. As predicted there is plenty left. May see how hungry I am tomorrow and use whatever is left as a packed lunch on Tuesday.