Cooking for one

Farway

PasturesNew wrote: »

I've decided my life has no room for couscous.

I'm not against it, but I've decided it's got no place in my life. I've had some over recent years and was "gifted" some OOD packs somebody'd bought and wouldn't get round to using - and, as I've had them a year myself, decided to open one and use them up. Trouble is, one pack "serves two" so I've only served half a pack.... still seven halves to go then, PLUS the 500 gram bag of plain cous cous I picked up from a supermarket for god knows what reason....

It's just unsatisfying .... so therefore pointless.
.

We agree on that PN, I bought a packet a year or so back, Ainsley Harriot one, on offer of course or it would still be on the shelf, Thought I would try it as "everyone" raves about it. made as per destructions

I found like you, tasteless & pointless, my kids said I should add spices and all sorts of stuff to it, which to me seems another waste of time, I can make a more satisfying sandwich without faffing

Meg72 nice photo, and like you I was out in the garden, all the climbing bean wigwams now up and populated. If they all crop I will be knee deep in beans, good job I like them

My M & S refund voucher, "sorry for a gristly burger", arrived :j, as Easter is nearly here I expect there will be plenty of tempation to use it

Usual toast and marmalde for breakfast, bacon / brown sauce sarnie lunchtime, then had a ginger marmalade sarnie to follow it, but accoriding to calorie thingy my gardening stint has used that up, yeah, right

It is the cauliflower cheese tonight, all prepped and just need the oven lighting

Today's YS haul was a cheese & veg type of [STRIKE]flan[/STRIKE] quiche from Asda, which will go well with chips & beans tomorrow, unless Lidl coughs up something in which case the freezer will have one more item in it

mcculloch29

Thanks for the reminder on the chicken breasts. I got some ready cooked ones from the XSell freezer at Heron Foods (XSell package misshapes of premium freezer foods and Heron Foods is a discount freezer shop, brilliant for bargains.).
I plan on using a couple for a super - quick katsu curry, looking forward to seeing how that goes. The only long grain rice I have in at the moment is wholegrain basmati which takes AGES to cook, so it will be couscous instead - sorry! We'll agree to disagree on that one. I like it.

PasturesNew

I knew it was a mistake before I started, but I decided to make/eat it anyway - all in the name of "using stuff up" - I'm really trying to empty the freezer entirely by hook or by crook so I can defrost it....

So I had some yorkshire puds topped with a "pizza mix" that was just cheese/onion and pepperoni .... it was edible, but you'd not write home about it - but I expected it to have that outcome before I started.

It's got a few small items moved from the freezer, which was the objective.

meg72

Farway wrote: »

We agree on that PN, I bought a packet a year or so back, Ainsley Harriot one, on offer of course or it would still be on the shelf, Thought I would try it as "everyone" raves about it. made as per destructions

I found like you, tasteless & pointless, my kids said I should add spices and all sorts of stuff to it, which to me seems another waste of time, I can make a more satisfying sandwich without faffing

Meg72 nice photo, and like you I was out in the garden, all the climbing bean wigwams now up and populated. If they all crop I will be knee deep in beans, good job I like them

My M & S refund voucher, "sorry for a gristly burger", arrived :j, as Easter is nearly here I expect there will be plenty of tempation to use it

Usual toast and marmalde for breakfast, bacon / brown sauce sarnie lunchtime, then had a ginger marmalade sarnie to follow it, but accoriding to calorie thingy my gardening stint has used that up, yeah, right

It is the cauliflower cheese tonight, all prepped and just need the oven lighting

Today's YS haul was a cheese & veg type of [STRIKE]flan[/STRIKE] quiche from Asda, which will go well with chips & beans tomorrow, unless Lidl coughs up something in which case the freezer will have one more item in it

Well done on getting a head start with your beans. I have a real slug and snail problem so start mine off on the windowsill in toilet roll inners then plant out when they have got some height, seems the little blighters don't fancy them so much. I have prepared the trench and got the wigwams up though. Have potted some potatoes and put strawberries in baskets, and have tiny tomato plants on windrsill. Started a couple of trays of little Gem.

Just off for a quick look at Asdas reduced.

caronc

Anyone that has spare cous cous can lob it this way :cool: Any I can't manage elderly pooch will scoff he loves it (mind you he loves most food):D

Meg72 - I'm jealous you have mini tomato plants no sign of mine yet!

Farway - "Flan" always makes me think of the cheese flan we had at school. It was like a quiche but with breadcrumbs through the egg mix with a crispy crumb top. It was nice hot in the winter with beans and chips but rather hard going cold in the summer ......

PasturesNew

caronc wrote: »

... "Flan" ... quiche .....

It's taken me over 40 years to awkwardly use the word quiche. It was always flan, I liked flan, I don't like this new-fangled quiche word - it just feels awkward/wrong to think/say the word

Growing up, my only experience of it was at school dinners - it wasn't something we ever had at home that I remember.

Ours at school was just cheese/onion flan, without noticeable breadcrumbs.... just regular cheese/onion flan.

PasturesNew

Last night I shuffled out to the local food shop - I went for "something nice for tea", but the shelves were pretty bare ... so I returned with just a loaf, a pack of crumpets and a bag of sweeties.

Well ... I've eaten most of the sweeties and they've made me feel "not well". I think I need to give up sweeties. I think they're something I eat because I've been conditioned to think they're a treat, but, since getting older, I've noticed that I do feel ill, and/or groggy, if I eat too many.

Bye bye sweeties ... most of you weren't that good anyway.

I'll stick to carefully chosen sweeties in the future and try to really ration them when I do buy them.

moneyistooshorttomention

:hello: 'Morning all.

Kitchen chaos still in existence - but there's light at the end of the tunnel. New kitchen is basically in position now - though not usable yet. So I'm still struggling at the moment re mealtimes.

I've had a few meals out - and duly taken advantage of the modern tendency to doggy bags to ask for any of my meal I've not eaten to be "bagged up" to bring home with me.

It's the washing up more than anything that is problematic. I've had to do all sorts of contortions to do that.

Combined brainpower of 3 logical people - myself, the kitchen firm and the fitter later. End result = it's a very very logically arranged kitchen:D. Lots of worksurface/lots of cupboard space and an enormous sink (that I've discovered I can rest trays in to drain off - even when my washing up bowl is in situ in it). So - homey it isn't - but modern and very "logical" it is (which is what my personal priorities are). I can't stand things that don't work as well as they "should" imo. I've been studying the kitchen of one of the more modern local cafes and I reckon mine would now do duty for having quite a few people cooking at once etc if I chose to.

Back to it - first workman of the day turning up any minute (courtesy of kitchen firm having to do some "being rather firm" with one of the firms involved so that they don't delay things as much as they were hoping to get away with:cool:).

Nelski

moneystooshorttomention good luck with the last bit of the kitchen fit I hope we can get pictures when you are done I know I will be deeply jealous

mommymeg :wave: whats for tea :rotfl:

I'm in the cant stand cous cous camp I just find it tasteless but maybe I haven't had it prepared properly so I would try it again with a guarantee of taste

I made a start on decluttering some pizza coleslaw and potato salad last night. Lunch today will probably be much the same (ahhh the wonders of single cooks groundhog day.

Visiting family in York this weekend so cooking for one is suspended till sunday. tonight we are having an Indian takeaway apparently which I love and never have on my own:T tomorrow we are off to Whitby for the day and going for a fish and lobster lunch :j very excited about that. The weather looks like its going to be good so hopefully get the first sun rays on my face of the year. I need it I look like marble at the moment.

ill check in and report on the food consumption over the weekend. Have a lovely one and hope you manage to enjoy some of the lovely sun coming our way xx

moneyistooshorttomention

Would do in principle Nelski - ie re pictures. In practice - would you believe I'm so useless at technology that I just don't take pictures of things and wouldnt have the foggiest how to put them up on the Net anyway?:rotfl: - I can laugh at my own expense...:cool:

First workman of the day has turned up - not having seen it since he did a bit of work originally on it. Eyebrows went up and he made a very approving noise and smiled. Looks like a friends husband has found himself an excuse to call round this afternoon. I can't think why LOL - but it might involve him checking it out. Aw - they keep a bit of an eye out for me I think...and they want a new kitchen themselves at some point...

Well - it's been a long time a-coming - like decades in fact and I use a kitchen "hard" basically....:cool:. I'm trying not to think about the cost....:cool: