Cooking for one

caronc

Good morning everyone,
Not scorching here about 15C and expected to stay that temperature. Overcast/damp just now but forecast is it will dry up as the day goes on.:)

Breakfast was a break from my usual toast as I'm out of bread, so toasted crumpets instead:D, with a couple of apricots and a glass of fruit juice. Lunch will be the other portion of the soup I made yesterday. I'm not sure about this evening swithering between a turkey steak or the last HM venison burger:).

Hollyharvey

Breakfast this morning was Greek yoghurt and berries, followed by a banana abount an hour later.


Lunch will be a cheese and pickle sandwich with a side salad (I went shopping this morning and bought some salad bits)


Dinner will be haddock in a tomato and sweet pepper sauce, new potatoes and steamed veg. I've made a lemon tart to use up some lemons that I didn't want to put in the freezer and take up room so a slice of that will be pudding.


I have made some scones so I'm sure that a couple of those will be consumed during the course of the day

Anne_Marie_2

Ended up just having yoghurt and fruit for dinner last night, just had no appetite.

One egg cheese omelette sandwich for breakfast and the usual coffee.
Should really eat dinner at breakfast time, as feel more like eating then when it's cooler, although don't quite fancy spag bol/curry etc for breakfast. :rotfl:

No idea about the rest of the day, but soup still needing used up.

Very much scorchio too here, but no choc ices in the freezer, and I'm not going out to get any. I was eyeing up the ice cream in the supermarket yesterday, but resisted, as I didn't have the cool box in the car, it would have melted, and I'm trying to free up some freezer space.

PasturesNew

Temperature's risen here a bit more - but the sun's not directly on the patio doors any more, so I've opened up one of those. All windows open, but there's no breeze.

I'll be whipping up a quick/small crustless quiche later.... when I can find the battery to my scales that I removed and slipped into a pocket so I didn't forget to buy a new one while I was out .... well, I did forget and now I've forgotten where I slid it

In the meantime, it was a crumpet and margarine for lunch. I tossed the other four crumpets into the freezer.

With the quiche, just because I have to "use stuff up" and I'm nearly through one of the pack of two little gem lettuces I bought, I will toss some of that onto the side of the quiche - and I've still 5/6 tomatoes, so I'll slice one of those onto the side. Blob of salad cream as it's compulsory.... and maybe a few cheeky chips.

It's still all very fluid as random ideas what will end up on the plate, to be honest... but I don't have to decide until the very last minute. A tomato might become part of the quiche ... who knows....

Who knows... I might even make two different quiches - weather report says it'll be like this until Sunday.

Doom_and_Gloom

caronc wrote: »

Sounds good - something that tastes like rice pudding for breakfast works for me

It was nice, unfortunately I'm all out of the crispy rice now so it will be a while till I have it again. Though I am aware it is on offer at the moment, I have plenty of other breakfast choices.

moneyistooshorttomention wrote: »

Question for Doom & Gloom - reminded by your chia seeds with breakfast thing:

I saw a huge packet of chia seeds reduced in price yesterday - so bought them (as chia is such an expensive food - I decided such bulk buying would save me money).

It is a rather big bag - so wondering whether I should have.

- Is it possible to store chia in the freezer? - as I thought maybe I could bag up half of it and do that - if they'd keep okay

- what ways do you use chia seeds besides in morning cereal?

If are the whole seeds they should do well in a glass jar even after the best before date. I store mine in an old peanut butter jar, as I bought small bags that I found cheap and this works, but a mason jar would suit a large amount.

With morning cereal they are soaked over night with the cereal, I like that but some people may not like soft cereal. A lot of people do chia pudding in a similar way with no cereal component. Don't think I would satiated that way though.

Chia eggs are a thing. One table spoon, preferably ground, with three tablespoons of water stirred then left to sit for at least ten minutes is an 'egg'.
There are loads off things you can do with chia. Internet is your friend.

gonebust

Fusspot wrote: »

Thanks for this, its reassuring. I keep hearing about prepared foods are not only full of fat but full of additives and should be avoided but then again if everyone avoided them the companies who make them would go out of business and this food wouldn't sell, which it does.

I admit I used to eat full ready meals all the time and that did get a bit much but the frozen food and veg combo I find satisfying and don't feel as if I've eaten junk so to speak. I also do batch cooking occasionally, in fact I have done some tonight, but I know I'll not want to eat the portions once I've frozen them, I'll just find it all unappealing somehow. As you say its all a case of balancing things and being sensible.

Fusspot, when my DH who couldn't cook a thing was living away in bed sit land for 3 weeks at a time, he lived off ready meals bulked out with steam bags of veg, jacket spuds etc. He was a builder with a huge appetite and it never done him any harm. He made sure he ate fruit and salad stuff as well and if he wasn't flying home for the weekends, treated himself to a real slap up Sunday lunch in a pub

Farway

Fusspot, as others have pointed out, do waht suits you not what the latest health guru says, as others have also pointed out, next week / year / decade it will all reversed anyway, next will be beef dripping sandwiches with a crusting of salt are excellent for you

Depending on your budget the ready meals in M & S, or Waitrose sometimes on offer, 3 for a tenner or less sort of thing i find are ideal if chosen carefully. I choose waht i would neve make myself, not because I can't but because the ingredients are not to hand, or obscure or just CBA. For instance both Liver & bacon and battered fish fall into this category for me

Picked the runners, 600 grammes yesterday BTW, that's over a couple of saved quid right there, and far better quality than shop ones

I steamed half yesterday and was going to use the rest today with my new steamer, but it is just too hot to even think about that, so salad it is tonight

Breakfast was zero, but found YS digestive biscuit packet in asda, so despite my good intentions I now have biscuits in the house, and had some mid morning, dunked in my coffee of course

Because of forthcoming break away I am trying to limit the perishable stuff I buy, my loaf is runing out but do not want to have most of a new one shoved in the fridge for 4 days while I am away, plan A is use ready to bake baguttes 'cos they will keep

Thus it was bagutte for lunch, and because it is salad tonight, I opened up a tin of corned beef, some used in the baguette with spring onions & tomato, the rest of it will be for tonight's salad, which BTW will use up the LO potato salad made the other day

Very heathy on the veg stakes today with all the salad, and may have a handful of freah gooseberries & red currants during my garden patrol

Any ideas on using cold runner beans? They are fresh uncooked at the moment, it had crossed my mind to cook them & toss in mayo / salad cream when cool. Any one done this, or any other ideas?

PasturesNew

Dragged myself out for batteries...and got some... then popped into 4ldi... scuttled out of there clutching a bottle of cheap fizzy pop (allegedly like my favourite one, but I've now tasted it and it's not)... a box of choc ices (because you can never have enough when the weather says it'll be hot), a box of lamb burgers (ummed and aahhed over jalapeno burgers or lamb burgers, but settled for the lamb this time) and a pack of cocktail sausages (I like those for cooked breakfast and they don't need eating this week).

Didn't get any bread rolls for the burgers though, I was in Aisle 1 when I chose to not buy any .... and, later, picked up the burgers in the furthest aisle from aisle 1.... so just headed for the till rather than trying to go to the far end of the shop just for some bread rolls. I didn't intend to eat a burger today so it wasn't important.

Doom_and_Gloom

Breakfast had been loads of coffee.

I will be having the spicy vegetable rice for lunch and dinner as there is so much of it. For lunch I will have it with some beetroot and potatoes that need eating. For dinner I will have it with spinach and avocado.

Fusspot as for ready meals I rarely have them. Though I do have a few fresh soups I bought reduced and froze in the freezer for times I am having a hard time. I also bought a few tins that are meals/soups, bought on clearance also for such times. As a vegan there are few frozen ready meals available and the ones that are are expensive, £2.50+.
I use the slow cooker and batch cook a lot, extra going to freezer for a home made ready meal. Cheaper and I really know what is in it as I don't generally add sugar or salt to my cooking.

As others have said though sometimes the store or basic versions are healthier because of being cheap.
Or the marketed versions of being healthy are simular to own/basic versions.
I laughed when I found a tin of WW beans and compared it with a supermarket reduced salt and sugar version. They had basically the same stats, the WW had slightly less calories per portion but the difference in price was insane!

gonebust

Faraway I'm just sitting reading through some old cook books and I've found a great recipe for runner beans for you

It's two beans in tomato. The other beans being broad beans but hey if you don't have them ( mine aren't ready yet) then double up on the runners

225gr of diced runners
450gr broad beans
Tin of toms
Dessert spoon of sugar
1 teaspoon of dried thyme or oregano
Salt and pepper

Make the tomato sauce, bring to the boil, add the beans, boil for 5 mins
If you use the BB, blanch them first for 2 mins then pop them out of their skins then add for a minute at the end of cooking

That would be lovely served Luke warm or even cold either as a side dish or stirred into pasta