Cooking for one

caronc

PasturesNew wrote: »

Over the course of the summer, maybe identify the cheap/filling/tasty items to bulk out on. e.g. spud salad and pasta salad are cheaper than chips! Grated cheese looks more/goes further than slices/chunks of cheese.

Salad tomatoes are a lot cheaper than posher cherry tomatoes and nice looking ones

Eggies are cheap Veggie scotch eggs could be cheaper than scotch eggs.

I bought a jar of pickled whole baby beetroot the other week - no idea why, I don't eat beetroot because of my ability to spill it and I'd hate to stain my clothes... so I've avoided it for years just for that!

Bulk out on cheap/easy fillers and go sparingly on the pricey "main bit/focus".

You're absolutely right - it still seems to work out dearer. Roll on my garden produce

Farway

caronc wrote: »

I took the risk and planted out my runner, dwarf and broad beans today as the forecast is really good for the next while.:) Of course it's now very windy so I'm hoping they'll be ok:(

Farway - If you want to save oven use your confit toms can be started in the microwave - med heat for 5 to 10 mins depending on how many toms you have. Then pop in the oven for an hour. Another trick is to cover them with foil cook for an hour then switch off the oven and let it cool. They also do well in the slow cooker if you have one. Can you tell I make loads of these each year? I turn them into passatta which tends to last me until the next harvest:D.

My runners are still inside the fleece wigwams, and I was given more plants this morning, wish the weather would warm up and east wind drop so I could really get going and planting out

Thanks for confit tip, but oven is gas, the idea yesterday was use same oven heat for the YS ham, which I did, and made the kitchen area nice and warm as well

The confit was super for yesterday dinner on toasted crusts, with chunks of cheese, def will repeat when ingredients are cheaply available

The YS ham cooked nicely, I just followed the instructions on the pack, no brain required

That was base for lunch, ham & tom sandwich
Dinner will be more ham, may do it with egg & frozen chips, but if CBA kicks in then it will be more ham & tom sandawiches, i do not like "just a sarnie" for dinner, but it fits in the CFO at times

Mention of Pies by PN, maybe time for another one here, if I were really good at it bet a HM ham & something pie would be lovely, but not to be

PN I know just what you mean by "I'd buy it YS again... not full price as it wasn't that much significantly better than any random other pie I could've bought for the £2.10 I paid for this one.

Bottom line is: it's all about the price ... and things can be nice, just as nice, as other things, so then it's a choice based on price.... and as it wasn't "the best... ever... omg ..." then it just gets lumped under the "it's a nice pie" banner, so judged on price." I follow similar thought processes, like the Hunter's chicken I tried this week

caronc

Afternoon everyone,

Not much CFO today as sadly I had to have my elderly pooch put to sleep this morning, so as you can imagine I've not had much appetite.... Will have a rake about later and put something together and a couple of glasses of red are definitely on the cards.

Hollyharvey

PasturesNew wrote: »

I'd buy it YS again... not full price as it wasn't that much significantly better than any random other pie I could've bought for the £2.10 I paid for this one.

Bottom line is: it's all about the price ... and things can be nice, just as nice, as other things, so then it's a choice based on price.... and as it wasn't "the best... ever... omg ..." then it just gets lumped under the "it's a nice pie" banner, so judged on price.

I agree with you on this one. With ready meals there are some that I like but don't like enough to pay full price for.

PasturesNew

caronc wrote: »

...pooch....

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meg72

caronc wrote: »

Afternoon everyone,

Not much CFO today as sadly I had to have my elderly pooch put to sleep this morning, so as you can imagine I've not had much appetite.... Will have a rake about later and put something together and a couple of glasses of red are definitely on the cards.

So sorry to hear this, hugs love.

meg72

Really really CBA but its Friday and fridge use up soooooo a kind of mixed grill bacon, sausage egg and beans with a couple of sorrowful tomatoes.

PasturesNew

meg72 wrote: »

Really really CBA but its Friday and fridge use up soooooo a kind of mixed grill bacon, sausage egg and beans with a couple of sorrowful tomatoes.

I read that and thought of hash browns ... and then I thought I'd ask....

I've not actually ever bought hash browns, I've had a couple about 20 years ago, in a hotel buffet bar ... and they kind of look a bit hard and uninviting .... but they do sound so nice.

Does anybody here actually buy hash browns to go with this sort of "cooked breakfast food"? Or are you like me and think they sound fab, but the packs of frozen ones look uninviting ... and there's no way you're going to stand and grate spuds/make your own just for the heck of it?

They're one of those foods I think "I wish they looked and tasted as good as they sound"

meg72

I`ve never bought hash browns but loved the when I had the with a hotel breakfast. Presume they used frozen as cant see them making their own.

PasturesNew

Well, there's a strange turn of events.... I went for a mooch round Sainsbobs... didn't even get a basket as I didn't intend to buy anything, just look to see what they sell....

No YS stuff of note. e.g. sandwiches I didn't want reduced from £2.50 to about £1.20, so pfft.

Then wander round the freezer dept - check out the £1.10/8 choc ices (but not buy any) .... and there they were.... hash browns, "reduced" from £1.25 to 90p. So without researching the market/price I just thought "seize the day" and bought them ... well, I was on a roll then! So I also checked out "cheap pizzas" and grabbed a £1.20 chicken/sweet chilli pizza .... and I thought "might as well get the choc ices now then as I'm buying frozen stuff

So I spent £3.20 in total .... freezer's jammed full of food... I'm supposed to be emptying it!

I'd popped out earlier and picked up my favourite choccies too - which is why I'd told myself I couldn't ALSO buy choc ices...

Worra biffer.... worra piggy wiggy. I seem to be "over treating" myself lately; I started.... and haven't yet stopped.

Oh well... I probably "am worth it"