Cooking for one (Mark Two)

caronc

candygirl wrote: »

I got a few curries from Morrisons yesterday, saag aloos, saag paneers, Bombay spuds n bhajis, all either £1 or £1.50 each, normal price, n really tasty. One of them with bhajis n rice does me for a meal, n the rest go in the freezer 😁

Oh yum I love saag curries:D

candygirl

caronc wrote: »

Oh yum I love saag curries:D

Think they're a special buy , as they were in the end fridges, but i'm really fussy re my curries , n would highly recommend them 😁

caronc

candygirl wrote: »

Think they're a special buy , as they were in the end fridges, but i'm really fussy re my curries , n would highly recommend them 😁

My son is up this weekend so I'll get him to have a nosey for me:), then again goodness knows where I'd stash them.

caronc

Good morning everyone,
I hope everyone in the storm path is safe and secure. It is due to hit here mid-afternoon and so far it's pouring and the sky is so leaden with rain it's still almost dark:(. Still I'm snug indoors and have no plans to stray

PasturesNew

I'm all right Jack on the storm front. South coast ... it's not coming here. I've had storms with those wind speeds 2-3x in the last 2-3 years though, it's all about luck whether you're protected or exposed.... it's not until you've had a big storm that you realise which bits of your house are most likely to be hit by the wind.

When I see houses with sea views all I ever think is "Yeah - and as the huge wind storms come every winter YOUR house will be the FIRST thing they hit". Not as great at 2am in the dark in December as it is at 2pm on a Saturday afternoon in July/August

Yesterday I had the final 2 sausage rolls from the pack of 6 - so now I'm back to square one and wondering "what on earth am I going to eat?". I've got bread in the freezer, I've got eggs, I've got baking spuds, I've got beans open.... so I expect I'll gravitate towards those today.

moneyistooshorttomention

Yep...I'm in storm path here - but, by now, I've lived in this area for a few years and so think "80mph winds - that happens here sometimes anyway - even without them predicting this". So my reaction is to think "Agh!:eek:" to that in my home area (where it just isnt windy basically) and "Oh well - more again - darn it" here.

Feeling too ill (etc) to go out today anyway.

Right - food thought for the day is that I repeated my experiment cooking rice in my slowcooker yesterday. This time it was more successful - it was for a rather shorter time. Think it was 1hour 15 minutes on high this time? Fine-tuning next time - and I'm guessing 1hour 5 minutes to 1hour 10 minutes might be the sweet spot for how long to do the size of portion I do (1 cup rice and 2 cups water).

So - I'm onto how best to easily/safely re-heat rice (that being the one I gather we are supposed to be more "careful" about). Think it will have to be a case of chuck a portion worth in a saucepan with a little water and do for few minutes - hope that will be safe enough.

Need to work on my re-heating of grains (safely of course) or work out more exact quantities of what one person needs - as I don't/won't have a microwave and the way of eating I'm moving towards tends to advocate having cook-ins one day a week. In which one cooks up enough of one grain to do for the week and that's part of your "bowl food" at dinner time.

EDIT; Cross-posted with Pastures - I know what you mean re houses on the coast. There is a particular area here that people see in the summer and think it's lovely and some of them buy a house there. Then comes the first winter........and the house sometimes goes back on the market again the following year.

caronc

PasturesNew wrote: »

I'm all right Jack on the storm front. South coast ... it's not coming here. I've had storms with those wind speeds 2-3x in the last 2-3 years though, it's all about luck whether you're protected or exposed.... it's not until you've had a big storm that you realise which bits of your house are most likely to be hit by the wind.

When I see houses with sea views all I ever think is "Yeah - and as the huge wind storms come every winter YOUR house will be the FIRST thing they hit". Not as great at 2am in the dark in December as it is at 2pm on a Saturday afternoon in July/August

Yesterday I had the final 2 sausage rolls from the pack of 6 - so now I'm back to square one and wondering "what on earth am I going to eat?". I've got bread in the freezer, I've got eggs, I've got baking spuds, I've got beans open.... so I expect I'll gravitate towards those today.

Yes I'm fortunate that while I live near the sea I'm not sea-facing:)

moneyistooshorttomention wrote: »

Yep...I'm in storm path here - but, by now, I've lived in this area for a few years and so think "80mph winds - that happens here sometimes anyway - even without them predicting this". So my reaction is to think "Agh!:eek:" to that in my home area (where it just isnt windy basically) and "Oh well - more again - darn it" here.

Feeling too ill (etc) to go out today anyway.

Right - food thought for the day is that I repeated my experiment cooking rice in my slowcooker yesterday. This time it was more successful - it was for a rather shorter time. Think it was 1hour 15 minutes on high this time? Fine-tuning next time - and I'm guessing 1hour 5 minutes to 1hour 10 minutes might be the sweet spot for how long to do the size of portion I do (1 cup rice and 2 cups water).

So - I'm onto how best to easily/safely re-heat rice (that being the one I gather we are supposed to be more "careful" about). Think it will have to be a case of chuck a portion worth in a saucepan with a little water and do for few minutes - hope that will be safe enough.

Need to work on my re-heating of grains (safely of course) or work out more exact quantities of what one person needs - as I don't/won't have a microwave and the way of eating I'm moving towards tends to advocate having cook-ins one day a week. In which one cooks up enough of one grain to do for the week and that's part of your "bowl food" at dinner time.

EDIT; Cross-posted with Pastures - I know what you mean re houses on the coast. There is a particular area here that people see in the summer and think it's lovely and some of them buy a house there. Then comes the first winter........and the house sometimes goes back on the market again the following year.

Aw - hope you feel better soon. Yep storms not unusual here either. My house is 90 years old so it has seen a good few so fingers crossed there will be no damage. I will look out some candles just in case the power goes off. I'm still in my pjs so must get dressed, it looks as though the rain is easing so I want to go and move my bird table so it doesn't blow over and bring my rocking garden chair onto the deck. I only bought it this summer and I don't want it damaged, my son is going to stash it in the hut for me this weekend. I'm just hoping my greenhouse doesn't take a major hit, it's 40+ years old and generally I lose some panes each winter but so far the structure has been ok.
Re re-heating rice. It can be iffy but should be ok if it was cooled and popped in the fridge quickly and reheated thoroughly. I cook and freeze rice frequently and tend to re-heat in a sieve over a pan of water (I do have a microwave but prefer it that way) and never had any bother.

moneyistooshorttomention

So - re-heating rice in sieve over water aka steaming it.

Now that might be a possibility - rather than direct in saucepan.

How long do you do it for?

PasturesNew

moneyistooshorttomention wrote: »

So - I'm onto how best to easily/safely re-heat rice (that being the one I gather we are supposed to be more "careful" about). Think it will have to be a case of chuck a portion worth in a saucepan with a little water and do for few minutes - hope that will be safe enough.

It's not the reheating that's the biggest issue, it's the cooling stage. Once cooked, portion out what you're eating and immediately wash the rest down in cold water to cool it - and box it and stick it in the fridge. Always get it in the fridge within 1 hour.

For reheating, so long as you can see "blimey, that's super hot all the way through" that'll do

I've got into the habit of "serving up" my leftovers as I'm spooning my portion of food onto my plate, as it lessens the chances of "forgetting" things and leaving them out too long. As my fridge is pretty empty 99% of the time it's not an issue for me to put warm/hot foods in there as there's nothing in there to worry about if the fridge temperature is raised by doing that.

PasturesNew

caronc wrote: »

I will look out some candles just in case the power goes off.

My house is a candle free zone. If my leccy went off I've got solar lights permanently charging and/or available to charge up if I were to ever anticipate an issue. They're great, cheap/everywhere; I've got three good/bright ones ... I've also got a "wind up torch" that I keep beside the fuse box.... never needed to use it, but that's where I'd need it "if ever".