Cooking for one (Mark Two)

[Deleted User]

milk freezes very well, Elona why don`t you decant half pints and for de-frosting, just put them right on a stainless steel sink. The steel defrosts things very quickly

I had a small tin of baked beans with some spelt bread and grapes. It`s been an unsatisfactory day for me today, I will do better tomorrow, make some proper food. I think it has been a CBA day all afternoon, once I got back from the allotment

I need to get busy again

iammumtoone

PasturesNew wrote: »

memories of nasty skin forming in the 60s, which sticks to your lip then flops down your chin and it looks nasty

Thats the best bit I remember as a young child I would go with my mother to her friends and she would make me a milky weak sweet coffee. I loved it I have found memories of milky coffee skin.

I also like the skin on custard, I am not sure if I will get that using my dried milk.

iammumtoone

PasturesNew wrote: »

I've only ever had that at school dinners. I used to love the skin and ask for it. I've never seen custard with skin in any home setting, mine, my parents', nor the homes of others.

One of the problems of CFO is "tiny quantities".... in most instances, if there were a skin, that'd be 100% of the entire volume of custard... you can only get a good skin if you've a much larger volume of custard than I'd typically make.

A skin will form, it doesn't normally happen in a home setting as the custard is eaten too quick. Skin forms as the custard cools the larger the surface area at the top the more skin you will get. Its why when some people make trifle and need cold custard they put cling film over the top to stop the skin forming.

I am sure not sure if a skin will form with instant custard or if made with dried milk but with fresh milk it will whatever the amount made.

caronc

Good evening everyone,
Unlike most of us on here I don't tend to have any problem getting through milk and buy it in the 4 pint cartons. I find it usually has a use by of 8 days + and keeps ok for 2-3 days after that date. I have milk in tea and coffee and use it in various ways in cooking. I've frozen milk previously and found it fine for cooking with, I'm not keen on it in a hot drink as it seems to me to have a slightly grainy texture. I've a carton of UHT and a tub of dried in the cupboard in case I run out. If I do get an excess I make a batch of white sauce which I freeze in small portions:).

I've made a slight change of plan for tonight's meal. After having chicken last night I decided I didn't really fancy poultry again. Cue a portion of pork ribs, jerk spice, a splodge of ketchup, lea & perrins, white wine vinegar, onion & garlic being lobbed into the slow cooker. About an hour ago I chucked in some frozen peppers and a corn cobette. I'll have this with the "ping" rice & peas.

The stewing steak has been trimmed up and vac packed into 3 packs. If I'm cooking stew etc. I want to cook more than one portion at a time so each pack will make 2-3 portions depending on what I actually make with it. The soup made from the pease pudding worked well, a good use up of a lurking frozen ingredient;), and with the veg made a nice rib-sticking soup:D. (I'll blame the cold weather but I had 2 bowls for my lunch )

On a non-cooking note I ended up emailing a "Permanent Secretary" this afternoon. Getting my pension sorted out was turning into a farce so my "dummy got spat out of the pram" and I decided to go to the top! I received a lovely reply within the hour and things are now moving......:cool:

Need2bthrifty

caronc wrote: »

On a non-cooking note I ended up emailing a "Permanent Secretary" this afternoon. Getting my pension sorted out was turning into a farce so my "dummy got spat out of the pram" and I decided to go to the top! I received a lovely reply within the hour and things are now moving......:cool:

:T :T :T :T :T Yeah..good for you - sometimes they need a right kick up the proverbial

Glad

evening ladies

dinner tonight was a chicken thigh fried with some leeks and mushrooms, with a tub of cottage cheese and half an avacado on the side followed by a banana, an apple and some fat free greek yoghurt

yesterday I found a kg of parsnips in the fridge that needed cooking so I chopped them up and put them in the SC with some veg stock thinking I'd make some curried parsnip soup, then realised I had no coconut milk in! so I left the cooked parsnips in the fridge for the day

there is a very handy B&M next door to the gym so I popped in tonight, they have 400ml cans of coconut milk for 49p which I usually use when I'm batch cooking, but on a CFO note they also do baby cans of coconut milk 165mls for 25p each
a little bit more expensive per ml but handy and no waste

iammumtoone

i got some creamed coconut today to use to make milk it came in individual sealed packets, each making 200ml of milk. £1.35 per packet (4 sachets) which is more than Glads B&M buy but it would have cost me extra in petrol to get there.

I plan to attempt a curry with it next week, I normally use cream but then get stuck with the waste and extra on the waste line to eat it up.

Glad

I hate 'skin' on anything, the mere thought of hot milk skin being in my mouth makes me feel sickly

I recently stopped smoking and started eating healthier and since then I really haven't fancied tea, even though I used to drink a dozen cups a day, I don't drink coffee at home and I use almond milk in porridge etc, so I stopped buying milk, it is a problem when I have guests though:o

Glad

iammumtoone wrote: »

i got some creamed coconut today to use to make milk it came in individual sealed packets, each making 200ml of milk. £1.35 per packet (4 sachets) which is more than Glads B&M buy but it would have cost me extra in petrol to get there.

I plan to attempt a curry with it next week, I normally use cream but then get stuck with the waste and extra on the waste line to eat it up.

I'll look out for sachets though, I like a wander around B&M once a week or so after the gym, it's just opened and it's a really big store

PasturesNew

I've not got a handy B&M, I've even just now had to google it to see where the nearest is

Looking at the map, neither of the two closest locations are places I am familiar with, or ever actually near to.

Nearest is 13 miles away, the other one (in the opposite direction) is 20 miles away.