Cooking for one

Hollyharvey

PasturesNew wrote: »

I've pushed the boat out .... I've not had a chinese for years.... the one I'd found locally wasn't that good and it was expensive, so I'd not bothered again - then I was told about one about 2½ miles away that's "good". So I was determined to find out.

No website .... but there were some reviews online where they said the food was rubbish and the staff very rude. But I went anyway ....

OMG the size of the portion!!! S/S chicken balls - you think you know it don't you... chicken, balls. Done. No - not here - full sized, good quality, chicken fillet lengths... each length is about 3-4" long... and you get 8 of them. It's a monster! I made my own plain rice before I went and treated myself to a plain chow mein from the shop; while a good portion, it was edible but wasn't the best I've ever had, I wasn't aware of any onion strips in it and it was made with thin/thread noodles, whereas I prefer regular sized noodles.

All that for £7.90! My previous disappointing encounter with the other chinese would've cost me £9... and the chicken portion in this one was double.

But - there was a "bonus pack" - a huge bag of prawn crackers for free. Enough to serve 4 really.... it's clearly a stack of bags they just hand out per order, not based on what you ordered.... didn't expect those - and I never order them ... but happy to scoff them.

I've eaten half of the chicken balls/sauce/chow mein and rice ... so tomorrow will be the other half. The crackers could take a few days.

In all honesty, one s/s balls with an order of chow mein and an order of rice alone would serve four people!....

I'll definitely be having more of these in the future. Maybe 3-4x a year!

That sounds really good value for money :j

Hollyharvey

I've just had chicken chasseur for dinner which I put in the slow cooker earlier, with some steamed green beans, cauliflower and broccoli with mashed potato, followed by some stewed rhubarb and yoghurt. I also made enough to freeze two portions so that's two more home cooked meals in the freezer :j

caronc

moneyistooshorttomention wrote: »

Ahem....errrrm....nope:rotfl:.

I've got a "scale" here which goes:
1. Soak and boil up dried chickpeas and make it from scratch.
2. Cheat and make it from canned chickpeas.
3. Buy it readymade.

Ideally - I come in at no. 1 on that scale. Better still - and I really think ahead and have a go at making raw hummus (that takes a couple of days or so in preparation).

But - it was option 3 = the readymade variety.:o. My turn on the "naughty stool" today:rotfl:

Not at all, I tend to go for option 3 unless I'm cooking for the masses, option 2 if I am. Option 1 just doesn't happen in my house....:rotfl::rotfl:

PN - sounds like you hit a winner.

I do like chinese food but unfortunately the takeaway stuff is a no-go for me these days . I've chanced it a few times and always been much worse balance-wise for a good number of days afterwards :( My son who was supposed to be going out now isn't (honestly weans for a bunch of intelligent men they couldn't organise the proverbial in a brewery :eek:) is currently scoffing beef satay & veg chowmein.... That said I'm having rump steak with a mushroom and blue cheese sauce, with jersey royal spuds and green beans so am hardly hard done by:D

caronc

Hollyharvey wrote: »

I've just had chicken chasseur for dinner which I put in the slow cooker earlier, with some steamed green beans, cauliflower and broccoli with mashed potato, followed by some stewed rhubarb and yoghurt. I also made enough to freeze two portions so that's two more home cooked meals in the freezer :j

That sounds lovely and pretty nutritious:)

candygirl

Caronc , soz you're feeling rubbish hun.I get intermittent vertigo due to pernicious anaemia
Had soup for tea , but really have no appetite at the mo x

caronc

candygirl wrote: »

Caronc , soz you're feeling rubbish hun.I get intermittent vertigo due to pernicious anaemia
Had soup for tea , but really have no appetite at the mo x

Thanks. Poor you, vertigo is the most horrible thing and so hard to describe to folk that had never had it....

PasturesNew

caronc wrote: »

PN - sounds like you hit a winner.

I do like chinese food but unfortunately the takeaway stuff is a no-go for me these days

There are a number of factors that go into deciding if food's worthwhile. Ease of access, cost, taste.....

And, while not the BEST chow mein ever - and not the BEST SS sauce ever .... the novelty factor of "This was cooked for me and it's hot" won me over And the sheer size/quality of the lengths of chicken. It was actually nothing like anything I've had before that called itself chicken balls.... the batter wasn't as crispy ... but the batter was "lots of it".

I don't go out, I don't eat out, I don't get cooked for .... so the pure novelty and luxury of simply choosing food and getting it hot was magical. Of course, home delivery would've been nice .... but we all know how that goes when you're ordering for one and never reach half the minimum order value, even though you're ordering what will be enough food for two meals.... so the "buy more" doesn't work

Anyway - I figure that home delivery costs more as you probably have to tip ... and I like picking it up and bringing it straight home, knowing I'm not 2nd or 3rd on the delivery list and he got lost for 20 minutes.....

Swings and roundabouts .... it didn't lose. Last week's indian was a right loser, so I'm glad I finally found an edible takeaway!

caronc

PasturesNew wrote: »

There are a number of factors that go into deciding if food's worthwhile. Ease of access, cost, taste.....

And, while not the BEST chow mein ever - and not the BEST SS sauce ever .... the novelty factor of "This was cooked for me and it's hot" won me over And the sheer size/quality of the lengths of chicken. It was actually nothing like anything I've had before that called itself chicken balls.... the batter wasn't as crispy ... but the batter was "lots of it".

I don't go out, I don't eat out, I don't get cooked for .... so the pure novelty and luxury of simply choosing food and getting it hot was magical. Of course, home delivery would've been nice .... but we all know how that goes when you're ordering for one and never reach half the minimum order value, even though you're ordering what will be enough food for two meals.... so the "buy more" doesn't work

Anyway - I figure that home delivery costs more as you probably have to tip ... and I like picking it up and bringing it straight home, knowing I'm not 2nd or 3rd on the delivery list and he got lost for 20 minutes.....

Swings and roundabouts .... it didn't lose. Last week's indian was a right loser, so I'm glad I finally found an edible takeaway!

Absolutely always so nice to have meal that someone else put together. So glad you enjoyed it

PasturesNew

Breakfast: One crumpet + chocolate spread.
Inter-meal Snacks: 4 prawn crackers

[Deleted User]

I do hope the poorlies are feeling rather better today, horrible to be ill

Sunday has a different ambience, for starters I don`t expect parcels or anyone to call unexpectedly. so I still have to go and get changed for the day

Yesterday could have been a washout wrt food but I turned it around and my last meal was soya beans, defrosted beetroot, chopped shallot, tomato and celery slices with strawberries after. I use the jars of soya beans, ok organic jars and I rinse them thoroughly in running water until the cooking foam disappears. The rest are boxed in the fridge

My hm cheese scones look great, I made it very wet and lightly squashed with a rolling pin and cut out with a knife, used a wide tool to ease them on one baking sheet. Didn`t try any as I had already had cheese. Made a sd loaf, which sadly is now sliced and freezing and this morning have made a mutton casserole, which is now cooking on low in the oven for about 3 hours. My veggie drawer is looking empty :T just got a few stalks of purple sprouting, celery, carrot and red onions left. I put aubergines, celery, shallots, garlic, carrots, frozen tomatoes and celery in the casserole, a bay leaf, wine and a good old fashioned oxo cube. I also put in half a stick of cinnamon and a bit of sumac, which I have never used before

I can get away with the rest of the veg for a couple of days as I also have frozen green beans and frozen leeks

This making of casseroles is very important to me as they are the means of me having ready meals in the freezer

Maybe last meal will be the same as last night, I enjoyed it and felt virtuous ie not stuffed full of rubbish