Cooking for one (Mark Two)

PasturesNew

Farway wrote: »

.... cracked on with making the long promised Ginger marmalade.
I made 7 and a bit jars, works out around 58p a jar, good value especially as I am finding harder to get ginger marmalade now, must be one of the things not profitable / selling enough to warrant shelf space these days

Sainsbobs and Waitrose (& Ocado) allegedly sell it, pricier than yours.

I guess, whether one can find products depends on your closest/usual shops and if they have it .... and if you remember/go looking for it in those shops.

Sains: 75p/jar, own brand; Granny Cool lemon/ginger £2.90/jar!!
Waitrose: 80p/jar, own brand

Farway

PasturesNew wrote: »

Sainsbobs and Waitrose (& Ocado) allegedly sell it, pricier than yours.

I guess, whether one can find products depends on your closest/usual shops and if they have it .... and if you remember/go looking for it in those shops.

Sains: 75p/jar, own brand; Granny Cool lemon/ginger £2.90/jar!!
Waitrose: 80p/jar, own brand

The catch is the "allegedly"

My local Waitrose only started stocking it once I complained, and it is rubbish. They now have half a shelf of it, unsold
Sainsbobs, I never find it on the shelves, and my local Sainsbobs is a huge one.
Morries sometimes has Mckay's, which is fine, but not always available
I did spot some in M & S, but have never seen it since

I did find some to my taste in the local WI market, but he only makes so much and not always there. DIY will now be the way ahead, but 7 jars should keep me going for best part of 2018

moneyistooshorttomention

Still experimenting here - got some cashew nuts soaking currently - ready to have a go at making vegan "butter". Errrm...it does have oil in (coconut oil and some olive oil).

Anyways - shall have a go at that in a minute - and see whether it might be an alternative bread spread to the one I currently use (ie Yeo Valley buttery - which is the only healthy one I can see in my local T*sco).

Cue for a CFO problem rearing its head - ie how fast nuts go rancid. Those hazelnuts I snacked on yesterday tasted more than a little odd to me - cue for googling what rancid hazelnuts taste like. Yep...they were rancid. So the rest of them have gone into the bin and I've been checking how long nuts "last" basically. Looks like I've just discovered another reason for needing some clear space in my freezer - as storing nuts and seeds in the freezer ensures they last noticeably longer than just put there in my larder.

That's the thing - ie if one is vegetarian or vegan - ie one uses rather more nuts than yer average meat-eater (which is followed, if single, by trying not to use too many nuts - as they're expensive these days). I remember when nuts were cheap - it was quite some time ago though...

moneyistooshorttomention

Update - just made that vegan "butter". Hmm...not bad actually....and easy. Just a matter of soak those cashew nuts in advance for a while and then blitz all ingredients together.

Bit of an adjustment to add a smidgen more salt and the optional extra of a bit of nooch (aka nutritional yeast - which has a "cheese" type taste) and yep....not bad.

Whether I'm going to be able to figure out what to put on bread that is both vegan and doesnt have oil in is a "challenge and a half" and I've not really got any idea on that one yet.

So - I'm sorta semi "cooking mode" at the moment. When I go into cooking mode is one of the times I feel the frustrations of CFO most - as I'm wanting to try out several experiments a day and CFO does rather mean it's difficult to manage even several experiments a week:cool:.

Right - I've got a recipe to cook up for tonight involving lentils/kale/aubergine - so best get cracking.

PasturesNew

Back now.... from CFO to MPM (Made a Pig of Myself) ... I really know how to "have a blow out" when presented with a huge raft of food cooked by somebody else

caronc

Good evening everyone,

MTSTM - I think you are asking a lot of yourself trying to switch to both vegan and oil free. Is the oil-free because you are trying to lose more weight? Personally I'd wary of trying to both at once as I'd be worried I was missing vital vitamins & amino acids. Would you use something like avocado oil as Lidl sell which is tasty if you have one near by?

Brian has left the area , leaving a dry but very chilly evening behind. I've had to turn the heating up a bit as depite a t-shirt, jumper, gilet and my fleecy slipper boots I was still chilly:(. There's more rain on the way though so that should lift the temperatures a bit. I'm finding because I'm less mobile than I was I feel the cold more. My fuel bills this time last year were ok but that was mainly because I was virtually bed bound so I suspect they will be much higher this year though I'll put up with that as I wouldn't want to be in bed all the time again and as I said re the delivery costs I have PIP to cover that sort of expense:).

Looking forward to my easy roast dinner, made the root veg mash earlier so just things to nuke now:D.

Tomorrow I'm aiming to do something I've not managed for 18 months:D - going for lunch in a restaurant. I'm meeting up with some ex-work colleagues who are also good friends so I'm really looking forward to it. I've good meds that should reduce any chance of an attack (wish I could take them everyday) and I'll put up with their "hangover" afterwards. I'm not sure where we are going but I'm sure it will be lovely:j

caronc

PasturesNew wrote: »

Back now.... from CFO to MPM (Made a Pig of Myself) ... I really know how to "have a blow out" when presented with a huge raft of food cooked by somebody else

Glad you enjoyed yourself, I'm sure your friend(s) did too. I always find it a pleasure to cook for people who enjoy eating what I've made:).

moneyistooshorttomention

Caron - yep...main reason for working on figuring out cutting down/out on oil (if only temporarily) is for weight loss reasons. Would probably be easier if the underlying depressive temperament I've had since about 22 years old didnt surface and knock my willpower at intervals:cool:. Could be worse - I could be someone that just headed for chocolate and/or junk food when....and at least I rarely do that thankfully.

Ditto - the vegan bit...as I basically am so experimental with food that I don't actually know whether I could stick to vegan only. Add that vegetarian is still hard to get often if eating out - and many menus still don't have any vegan options at all yet.

Basically - I feel I need to do quite a bit of experimenting yet to figure out optimum way for me to eat until I'm back to correct weight. Then - eating thereafter.

Think I'm probably a lot more informed than many on whats what and what I think of it on this type of food - but still got huge gaps in my knowledge...

PasturesNew

moneyistooshorttomention wrote: »

Could be worse - I could be someone that just headed for chocolate and/or junk food ..

Surely NOBODY these days eats like this! In these enlightened times of healthy eating, when we're offered so much fresh, organic, sustainable and "good for you" products.... who on earth would choose such a route????

I don't believe anybody eats like that now...!!


*shoves favourite choccies under the cushion.....*

caronc

MTSTM - you certainly seem to be putting a lot of thought and effort into it.:) Just watch all the dietary changes don't impact on the depressive illness. One of nephew's battles (mainly successfully) depression but his care team were very keen that his diet was high in B12 and Vitamin D when he was very unwell. He's always vulnerable to it flaring up when daylight reduces (he is using a light box to help). I'm not clued up on the complete dietary ins and outs of veganism but suspect these are both mainly found in meat/fish/dairy/soy. I know you've been struggling to find organic soy.