Cooking for one (Mark Two)

caronc

Good afternoon everyone,

Need2bthirty - glad your heating is back on. I think a pot of pea & ham soup could well be made here in the next few days. I have two small tubs of pease pudding my son brought from Newcastle lurking in the freezer and some bacon ends so reckon that with some veg would make a quick tasty soup for lunches.

My painting is finished and I am so pleased with it, getting it done has really lifted my spirits as knowing the front was so shabby was grinding me down a bit:D.

Like the "Rattle the Rut Challenge" PN, mine last year was deciding to start the CFO thread. At the outset I thought it might get half a dozen replies and here we are 10 months later........:eek:. Everyone's contributions have definitely headed me out of te CFO rut I was sliding into - thank you :A

The forecast is manky for later this afternoon and then it's to get really cold this evening/overnight. Still hopefully that will mean a nice crisp and sunny day tomorrow. I've not much left to do in the garden to "put it to bed" for 2017!

I had the usual toast/fruit for breakfast and tonight I fancy a piece of steak so I must look one out of the freezer. Lunch I think will be the last frozen muffin toasted with bacon and mushrooms or scrambled egg. Once I've had the muffin with the exception of a pack of pitta & a naan bread which I'm happy to keep on the go, that will be the last of the multitude of frozen bread products used up.:) Hopefully from now I can keep better track of these and not end up with a surplus again:cool:.

PasturesNew

Lunch today was what food writers might describe as: Fully Loaded Hot Chilli Beef Cheese Nachos

OMG that was gorgeous.

I only made enough for now... so about 1/4 packet of the tortilla chips.

I bet it was full of calories though .... my rule is to never check until after you've eaten something, so you don't spoil your appetite.

I did two layers, with just cheese in the middle and the chilli beef & cheese on top.

I've not priced it up either, but I'd guess at 80p, with cheese costing the most. 100g of cheese is 50p before you do anything else.... I could've skimped on the cheese, but didn't. Emmental is on offer at L1dl maybe this weekend, so it could be done cheaper ... but I've used what I've got, which was cheddar.

moneyistooshorttomention

Pastures - it's certainly one of my philosophies to be pretty experimental with food one way or another. I know that will occasionally mean I'm looking at some new food or new recipe I've tried and thinking "Yuk - in the bin" and I've wasted my money there:(.

But I think the odds are good I'll find something else - food or recipe for food-I-already-know and my worst case analysis of trying something new out usually results in something I can at least tolerate enough for my "Well I ate it...:cool:" scenario.

A variety of reasons for being experimental:

- it adds a bit of interest to life

- I'm from a city where the community way of thinking is "Bring on the new - let's experiment" and so I'm very used to that way of thinking (ie a locality where many are on the lookout for the "new" whatever-it-is). So, to me, if someone told me I was "in a rut" I would tend to take it as a not very complimentary comment:rotfl:.

- logically the greater the variety in one's diet = the greater the chance of getting a wide variation of different nutrients and not missing out on anything my body might need.

It is much more difficult for us singles I know (tell us about it:cool:) to get that variety - as it's still so difficult to buy small quantities of many things. So we do the best we can on that:cool:

Today's supermarket "experiment" was that I bought a different brand of almond milk to try - having found I don't like the Tesco own brand one (down the drain...), I do like the Rude Health "almond drink", so today I got the Alpro version to see what I think of that.

PasturesNew

caronc wrote: »

Like the "Rattle the Rut Challenge" PN, mine last year was deciding to start the CFO thread. At the outset I thought it might get half a dozen replies and here we are 10 months later........:eek:. Everyone's contributions have definitely headed me out of te CFO rut I was sliding into - thank you :A

The lone person/diner is most often swamped with family stuff, family recipes, family stories .... OH, DH, DS, DD, Gs ... and more.
It's stayed on course for being "cooking for one"

Well done for starting it; it's been an enjoyable zone free from "crowd pleaser recipes"

moneyistooshorttomention wrote: »

I know that will occasionally mean I'm looking at some new food or new recipe I've tried and thinking "Yuk - in the bin" and I've wasted my money there:(.

I don't have the luxury of that; if I buy it I have to eat it. Zero waste here. That stops me experimenting with really weird/new stuff.

Buy it = I have to eat it all ... just me.

Budget for throwing food away is probably £1/year, max.

I like "old style" food, that I know and am used to. Good old 60s-80s stuff

With all my fears, phobias and lack of equipment, I think I do all right

moneyistooshorttomention

It's true that there has to be a bit of budget leeway for "experimenting" - as there isnt any money available for failures.

Though I guess part of my attitude on this stems from the fact that my mother felt (rightly or wrongly) that there was no "room" for experimentation as I grew up. That resulted in me not even knowing what much very basic/standard type food was like - as she just wouldnt/or couldnt experiment at all. Hence I started experimenting the second I was "in charge" of what I ate - as I had one hell of a lot of "lost time" to make up for. I had to start by just finding out what a LOT of ordinary/everyday type foods/recipes were like - because I'd never had them - before I could branch out and actually do "real experimenting".

Yep....my mothers house was one where I never even knew what baked potatoes were like:eek: - as she would only ever do them chipped, boiled or mashed.

So I started out on adult life very very ignorant indeed/not even knowing the "basics".

Food wasnt the only respect where I had a lot of catching-up to do to get to "normal/standard level" - never mind on beyond that....and so wasnt the only thing I was working on to just get to "normal" level.

Yep....I'll still reach for dictionary or online dictionary for some pretty commonplace (imo) words for instance - because I'm not 100% sure of the meaning or pronunciation - and sit there learning them just to get up to "normal" level. I became very conscious a while back that I was brought up with a vocabulary that was only set at about "Daily Mail/Express" level and needed (imo) to get up to "Guardian/The Times" level for instance. Another project I've been working on....

Glad

I need some new ideas too now I'm CFO, I love cooking and experimenting but over the last few months I've been trying to eat 'clean'. So as little processed food as possible, and mainly organic and in season. I'm also trying to stick to Carbs 40% Protein 40% Fat 20% due to exercising to tone up a little.

My problem is that I generally need 2400 calories a day, and that is really difficult when I don't eat meat and am trying to keep the fat percentage low

I have a large organic fruit and veg box delivered weekly but my meals seem to all be veggie curries or stews etc

Farway

kittie wrote: »

old bones pn! its down to genes and lack of stress too. I know two old ladies, both in their 90s and are doing very well, one tried to push things along by eating bought trifles even though she is a diabetic. It is whatever our destiny is, it is always best to live in the moment and anyway, the way things are in the world, do we really want to live to a century? Not me

Depends where you start from I guess. A bloke I see most days in the pub, he will be 100 this month, RAF POW captured in Java, slave labour in the Japanese coal mines, was under ground in the coal mine at Nagasaki when the Atom bomb fell on them, diet for 4 + years consisted of whatever, including rats if you were lucky enough to catch one. I think it is down to luck & genes regarding old bones. Live and enjoy each day as best you can, you never know, it could be your last chance

Now back to CFO, just tea and a bourbon biscuit for breakfast, out in the rain but nothing of great excitement in the shops, new or otherwise. Stocked up with more Heck bangers on offer, getting ready for pig in blankets for Xmas, I like them but do need decent bangers & bacon IMO, I could have them alongside a nut roast, ultimate flexitarian there

Also bought a pack of dumpling mix. I know I could buy suet etc and make my own, but I only have dumplings once a year or less and the last lot of suet went rancid ages ago, curse of the CFOer. I just fancied my savoury mince with dumplings blobbed in it this weekend

Lunch was a YS mini pizza from Lild, 35p, living life to the limit today

Dinner is a rinse & repeat, last of the bangers, LO HM mash, nuked, with LO baked beans

PasturesNew

Farway wrote: »

.... pack of dumpling mix....

I prefer to make mine with suet, but I do get through a box a year.... even so, I've bought those bags just to see .... and they're great.

I'm a great supporter of ready mixes, even crumble mix .... because if you only want something once a year, for one, it's THE way to go. Most people simply don't understand the CFO mindset and requirements of "a small amount .... once a year and sometimes not even that often".

Go for it! Although, you can just use flour/oil, I do that sometimes too, it's a different dumpling, but it's a dumpling. Ditto other fats.

As a CFO you have to, more often, find your own little ways to suit the minimal usage needs.

PasturesNew

Chinese for tea for me. Later.

Farway

PasturesNew wrote: »

I prefer to make mine with suet, but I do get through a box a year.... even so, I've bought those bags just to see .... and they're great.

I'm a great supporter of ready mixes, even crumble mix .... because if you only want something once a year, for one, it's THE way to go. Most people simply don't understand the CFO mindset and requirements of "a small amount .... once a year and sometimes not even that often".

Go for it! Although, you can just use flour/oil, I do that sometimes too, it's a different dumpling, but it's a dumpling. Ditto other fats.

As a CFO you have to, more often, find your own little ways to suit the minimal usage needs.

Thanks, I had to smile, after reading your post I googled dumplings without suet, and up popped your page in top slot :j
http://www.foodcheats.com/how-to-make-dumplings-without-using-suet