Cooking for one

[Deleted User]

does anyone else find they are on the same old merry go round of what they are actually eating? Also what do you eat when you really cannot be bothered? I had a moment like that this afternoon but salvaged myself by making a nice veg soup, which I had with a hm plain scone. My downfall is having lots of small portions of meat in the freezer where I would be better off batch cooking and freezing as ready cooked meals. I do eat plenty of veg but cook the whole lot in one small pan and fresh for a meal. Takes some effort to actually cook for myself at the moment

caronc

kittie wrote: »

does anyone else find they are on the same old merry go round of what they are actually eating? Also what do you eat when you really cannot be bothered? I had a moment like that this afternoon but salvaged myself by making a nice veg soup, which I had with a hm plain scone. My downfall is having lots of small portions of meat in the freezer where I would be better off batch cooking and freezing as ready cooked meals. I do eat plenty of veg but cook the whole lot in one small pan and fresh for a meal. Takes some effort to actually cook for myself at the moment

Welcome Kittie, repetitive eating and using stuff up seems to a common issue for us solo cooks. I'm trying to move to more what you are doing of freezing small amounts of meat so I can vary what I do with it. I do still do some batch cooking mainly soup or things I like that are hard to make a small amount of. I'm not keen on re-heated veg (unless you are talking bubble & squeak or roasted veg) so do always cook fresh for each meal, I'm finding the microwave handy for that:)

PasturesNew

kittie wrote: »

does anyone else find they are on the same old merry go round of what they are actually eating?

Yes, the never ending grind

kittie wrote: »

Also what do you eat when you really cannot be bothered?

I make sure I keep a stock of CBA stuff, I keep a small stock of "meals in a tin" which might be a chunky soup, or a tin of sausages/beans. I've always got beans in. I've usually got bread and/or crumpets/muffins. I eat a lot of toast sometimes.

I've always got packs of instant custard too - and a tin of rice pudding and at least one tin of fruit.

Cheese triangles are good too

kittie wrote: »

.... portions of meat .... veg but cook the whole lot in one small pan and fresh for a meal.

I don't buy/cook much meat. I'd rather buy a ready meal a lot of the time. I went through a phase of buying a pack of mince and making chilli. I often intend to buy chicken, to knock up a curry, then get overwhelmed by the choice of sizes/cuts and walk away again.

I do buy ready cooked meats in vacuum packs - e.g. cooked cocktail sausages, or meatballs .... nuke them for 1-2 minutes and you can do lots with them.

Scrambled eggs are easy/quick too ... on toast with/without beans.

I've always got cheese in - usually cheapest mature cheddar.

Fish fingers like to make an appearance in the freezer - nuke and shove in toast with a splash of something saucy.

For veg I mostly have frozen as it'll sit untouched for 3-4 months and still be OK to eat I have been trying to buy the special offers recently - there's currently a whole large swede in the kitchen ... but they have a good lifespan. I'll end up mashing that and probably serving with some instant mash, nuked cocktail sausages and instant gravy .... and probably 4x over because the sausages will want using up and there'll be a lot of swede.

karcher

Evening Oneskis

....back soon (ish) after I've caught up on the billion posts you've all posted whilst I've been out earning a crust

[Deleted User]

Oh I am glad it is not just me. I used to be a really good cook but am finding that looking after my home by myself takes a lot more time and tbh, why bother with great food when there is no-one to cater for, except myself. PN you mentioned toast, lol, my toaster is out all the time now but somehow I am still managing to get the oomph to make my own sourdough, then I slice and freeze and a quick meal is peanut butter on toast, with frozen berries and frozen stewed apple later as a snack. Buttered toast with a boiled egg, toast with soup

Main thing at the moment is I am trying hard to use what I already have stored and then I plan on buying only what I need for a week or so ahead, easier said than done when I have had a good food store all my adult life. So, I am going to have to learn to adapt

karcher

Nelski wrote: »

Anyway lovely to get such positive vibes about tonight from my thread friends......:rotfl:

Curry made and in the fridge , bean chilli in the slow cooker rice and potatoes done ...so now its cleaning hate this bit

Hope it goes well Nelski ...and I hope you managed to finish the book...after all that is the whole reason for the cooking/cleaning etc

meg72 wrote: »

Well managed to salvage my chilli and its actually very nice, only problem was after faffing around I didn't fancy it with rice as planned, wanted pizza.

Thought I wonder what chilli pizza is like, I had pitta bread and mozzeralla in freezer so gave it a go. Result absolutely delish will make this again.

That looks delicious meg (though I did have to turn my netbook upside down ) ....good thinking going for chilli pizza

mcculloch29

Ames mentioned a perching stool. I have an OT supplied one in my kitchen, plus one behind my ironing board, couldn't believe my luck, I thought they had stopped supplying them. They are £40 each, I already bought my own rollators, sticks, commodes (x2), ramp for trike and just about everything else.

Marvellous thing, has made a huge positive difference to my life. I can't carry mugs, only travel mugs - floors are slightly uneven so a trolley won't be much use either. However with my perching stool I can sit in my kitchen and enjoy all my hot and cold drinks seated. I'd also got in to the habit of eating standing up in the kitchen as it was less hassle than transporting meals to the dining room table.

Now I can eat seated, and pop the plate /cup/cutlery straight in to the sink. Bliss!!!

Today a quick ready meal as I went shopping before tea - a lovely A!di Chicken Jalfrezi, right at the limit of my tolerance for hot, spicy food, but great value.

caronc

Well dinner was unexpectedly delayed as I completely forgot (despite reminder letter & text) I was getting a smart meter fitted this evening:cool: So ended up with cumberland sausage, baked tattie with "nuked" mushrooms and corn. No effort at all required was blooming tasty (and on the "not F&V counting" front I'm at 6/10 today LOL;))

PasturesNew

kittie wrote: »

.... why bother with great food when there is no-one to cater for, except myself. ...

Although my tastes are stuck firmly in the 60s/70s in the main ... I do like to not bulk buy or batch cook etc because I like to believe that I try new things all the time.... and I do actively try to vary what I buy, but just a tiiiiny bit.

e.g. beans. I always have the low sugar/low salt, but I'll try any supermarket brand.

For toast, I do try to keep an eye out for "different things to shove onto it" - trying new things occasionally. In the last year I've tried/bought chocolate spread for the first time (and another jar as that's nice) - and I've now bought my first jar of marmalade.... I bought lemon curd the other year and I use different jams from different shops every time I buy a new jar (1-2x a year). Not exciting jams, usually the 30p ones, but not the same shop/brand.

I also bought peanut butter for the first time in 20 years about 2 years ago.

So, little changes. Not sticking with one flavour/one brand, but sticking to "the usual food" in the main - small tweaks and small variations here and there so it's not "all the same every year".

I do constantly look out for new things to catch my eye ... so although my food sounds all the same ... it is different here and there as I do try to vary stuff, while keeping the basic "style of foods" I know I like.

Tried frikadellen a couple of years back (Aldi/Lidl coated burgers really) - they're really nice ... with beans and mash. Ready-cooked meatballs and patties. Nom.

I also don't repeat buy things. Even if something is nice I won't buy it again for awhile... because I don't want to get into too much of a rut as such.

moneyistooshorttomention

I shall soon be finding out just how much use I shall have from a perching stool. I've got one sitting here already awaiting my new kitchen I shall soon have - complete with breakfast bar to sit at if I wish. The basic idea is extra work surface space - but I daresay I'll use it for that too:).

Am now waiting to try owt much new until I have that kitchen - but one of the first things I'm promising myself for CBA occasions is having a go at experimenting more widely with cereals. Time to have a go at making my own granola for instance. I think buckwheat can be "cooked" by just soaking - and duly chuck in whatever I decide in the way of fruit/nuts/etc with it.

Bowls of healthy type "cereal and...." would tick all the boxes basically. Filler food and fruit and protein (ie the milk).

So that's one of my projects lined-up - ie to expand my cereal range beyond "porridge and....".

Courgetti with summat suitable is a pretty CBA type of meal.

A large casserole dish of various suitable vegetables (including onion and garlic) and drizzled with olive oil and baked in oven is a pretty CBA type meal imo and can be eaten with couscous for instance (ie only a few minutes to prepare). If feeling even more CBA than that - then eaten with some decent bread instead of couscous. Add a bit of suitable cheese (eg feta) and its "all boxes ticked" again.