Cooking for one

Anne_Marie_2

PN Bake looks good.
So much for my thoughts of cooking for later, power cut for several hours, so nowt got done, other than a fruit salad, which should last a few days.
Brunch was scrambled cheesy tomato eggs in pitta bread. Fruit salad with yoghurt just polished off now. Siesta time as it's too dashed hot to do anything else, and at least the electricity is back on now.

PasturesNew

Anne_Marie wrote: »

PN Bake looks good.
So much for my thoughts of cooking for later, power cut for several hours, so nowt got done, other than a fruit salad, which should last a few days.
Brunch was scrambled cheesy tomato eggs in pitta bread. Fruit salad with yoghurt just polished off now. Siesta time as it's too dashed hot to do anything else, and at least the electricity is back on now.

If I lived there, with disposable income, I'd have picked up a small/portable solar oven to sit outside..... they're really advanced now and you can cook all sorts on them. It's not cost effective here as there are few days it's THAT hot.

There are many designs, but it's just a small black box that sits in the garden. 2-3 hours and you've usually got a pizza or something cooked. £50-100 or less can get "something that does the job" nowadays. There's all sorts, from long tubes that cook burgers/BBQ food, to boxes that cook stews/pizzas. to simple bags aimed at campers to cook all sorts of saucepan foods in.

Fusspot

Thanks to those of you have allieviated my fears about ready made food, I am going to go with what suits me now and balance things out.

Last night I had corned beef hash made with low fat corned beef and ready made mashed potato and frozen onions, fried in the pan with frylight and it was lovely.

caronc

Deleted_User wrote: »

Re the cooking for one, I eat different meals to my Mum, and so you could say that this household is more often than not a cooking for one at different times of the day lol.

Mum has no problem making up a little roast for herself some nights- she makes a few roast potatoes, a little yorkshire (from scratch) and puts them into a foil baking dish inside of a oven proof metal dish, and it saves on the washing up (no dreaded scrubbing!) She usually has something like a lamb or pork chop, and whatever veg she fancies (usually cabbage, cauliflower or peas - frozen or tinned).
Other small meals I've seen her make include mini shepherd's pie and veg (she makes enough for three portions) mini cornbeef pie (pastry from scratch, again enough for three portions) and her latest is yellow haddock (easy enough to freeze) with baby new potatoes and veg.
she's also happy with a egg on toast - poached, scrambled, boiled, or fried, with beans or bacon, or on its own. She's very much traditional english.

I'm a little different as I mention. For me, I work evenings/nights so I have to make sure I eat somewhat properly.
I make lasagna from scratch, the only thing I use out of a jar is the red pasta sauce, I make my own cheese sauce, and portion it accordingly, then freeze when cool enough. I do the same with pasta bakes, when I make them.
I've also found that the lidl ready to wok noodles freeze INCREDIBLY well, so I make big stirfries, and portion and freeze those as well.
I eat tuna salad a lot in hotter weather (homemade without dressing or mayo) or wraps with chicken, a spoonful of mayo, and salad.
I have ready meals on standby in the freezer (in case I CBA to cook at any point) and keep both healthy and unhealthy snacks in the cupboard. I am a chocoholic, that is my one big weakness; along with bread and cheese. I take after my maternal grandmother in that I can just eat bread and butter without thinking, I just love it!

I have to want eggs to have eggs. Drives mum nuts. lol

edit: just seen the quiche posts. My mum taught me how to make a lovely quiche, she got the recipe from slimming world, just make an egg base for the quiche as normal and add grated cheese, ham, and onion. Cook in oven for 30-45 minutes (until golden brown on top). Serve with salad on the side.

Hi Deleted_User welcome to the thread. As you & your Mum demonstrate CFO comes in many shapes and sizes:)

PasturesNew wrote: »

I liked the quiche so much yesterday I've just made another one... well, two.

I made it, twice the size of yesterday's. But I didn't have the right sized dishes, so ended up having to split the mix across two when I wasn't happy that the mix came right to the top of the dish so would have overflowed. I've popped one in the fridge to cook later - the other one's already baked in the oven, it pinged just 2-3 minutes ago, so I'm just waiting a bit before I take that out. They're something best "left to sit and mellow", so I'll eat that in a bit... it might not get as far as lunchtime as I am one of those people who has to eat food when it's tempting

This one's cheese, red onion, red pepper, oregano. The next one will be the same as it was all mixed up at the same time.

Quick photo - you can see where I've filled the dish, then had to scoop some out to split it between two, so it's made a bit of a mess.

https://s1.postimg.org/i8vxkmtdb/Quick_Quiche.jpg

8ocaxr41c

Oh that looks scrummy

Fusspot wrote: »

Thanks to those of you have allieviated my fears about ready made food, I am going to go with what suits me now and balance things out.

Last night I had corned beef hash made with low fat corned beef and ready made mashed potato and frozen onions, fried in the pan with frylight and it was lovely.

Good for you, we each find what suits us best , corned beef hash - yum:D.

Not very much so far in CFO, crackerbread & cheese spread for breakfast and a ham salad roll with the small portion of LO soup for lunch. I didn't eat my baked spud last night so that will be getting used tonight though with what I'm not sure just now, probably chicken thighs and some of the green beans I picked yesterday:).

gonebust

Fusspotso glad you feel happier with your choices

I know what you mean, when DH was working away, whilst I might have cooked for 50 or 60 in my job, when I came in, I just cba to cook for myself and quite often went to bed on a crisp sandwich and bottle of wine . To me a "healthy meal" was sardines or eggs on toast. The only time I got veg in me was if I made soup. I haven't died of malnutrition yet . Even now I still have problems around food but I do try and mix it up a bit. Like I have marmite on toast instead of jam or marmalade , I still eat tinned fish a lot, I still eat soup. To me that's me getting my vitamins and minerals. I take juice and tinned fruit and I've found I can stomach spinach in a curry and like pointed cabbage - that's my green leafy veg sorted , the rest is salads

I don't cook for one any more but as I example there, I'm limited by what I will eat. I often cook what is deemed to be a well balanced healthy meal, and I'll go make a sandwich for me as I like nothing I've cooked or it looks horrible on the plate or the texture is wrong . I actually can get very upset about meals thinking I should make the effort to " eat healthier" but that just makes me worse so I muddle along in my own sweet way

Hollyharvey

As I'm melting I don't feel too much like cooking or eating today.


I had Greek yoghurt and berries for breakfast.


A crumpet for lunch in the end because it was easy.


I was going to have a lamb rump steak and salad for dinner, but I don't even want to put the grill on so I'm just going to open an emergency tin of corned beef and have it with some salad. That should take me about 5 minutes to throw on a plate. Quite long enough today.


I was supposed to do some baking for a fete tomorrow but it's been too hot. I think if I dig about in the freezer there is a lemon drizzle cake and an apple and a madeira cake so they will have to do. If not, I'll have to buy something in the morning.

PasturesNew

Hollyharvey wrote: »

....

Rule 1: Never volunteer
Rule 2: Never get volunteered
Rule 3: If you overhear the word 'volunteer', or suspect it's being discussed, get as much distance between that conversation and yourself as possible.

You can always return, when the heat of the moment has gone, and offer ... but that's best left to the last minute as a "surprise" offering. Between the first discussion/volunteers being roped in ... and the event itself ... it's often also morphed into something entirely different to what you thought you were buying into when it was first mentioned... and you get given more "jobs" along the way.



The person turning up on the day with an offering is thought far more highly of than the person who promised early ....

PasturesNew

I just popped the second quiche in the oven, as I was at a loose end.

candygirl

PasturesNew wrote: »

I just popped the second quiche in the oven, as I was at a loose end.

I've got quiche envy lol:rotfl:
Am in a cba mood so having a cheese omelette n salad for tea 😀

PasturesNew

candygirl wrote: »

....cheese omelette....

Well, it's practically the same thing isn't it Just slight variations, but it comes down to being "almost the same", of sorts


I've been meaning to have cheese omelette for some weeks.... then never got round to it.