Cooking for one (Mark Two)

poppystar

caronc wrote: »

It is another manky, wild and bitterly cold day and I seem to have a bit of the lurgy which probably explains why I felt so chilled yesterday despite multiple layers and the heating on. (You were right Poppystar)
The lurgy hasn't stolen my appetite and I've just had a late lunch of crispy bacon and french toast. . Later I'm for some comfort food in the shape of a pork chop with mash, sprouts and a creamy mushroom & onion sauce. I've cooked the tatties for the mash and will freeze the extra portions. I CBA making small amonts of mash so either make a lot or have something else. :cool:

Wish for your sake I'd been wrong;)

My appetite increased enormously while I had the bug - never eaten so much in such a short space of time:eek:

poppystar

Whatever I eat for the next few days will be cooked in the oven. I need to have it on as it's the only way I seem to be able to get the temperature up in the back of the house where the sun does not shine

caronc

Good evening everyone,
Shame about the lack of trimmings Farway - as you say probably bumped for Christmas ranges:(

Poppystar - yes I wish you had been wrong too;), at least by planning oven based meals you're not just turning the oven on the heat the space. Many moons ago my sister lived in a baltic flat and used have to run the oven with the door open to get above freezing. I'm sure it would have been cheaper for the landlord to improve the heating as her bills were included with the rent.:eek:

I've had a very quiet afternoon snuggled up with a throw, reading and listening to the wind and hail battering outside. I'm so glad I could stay indoors:D.

meg72

poppystar wrote: »

Whatever I eat for the next few days will be cooked in the oven. I need to have it on as it's the only way I seem to be able to get the temperature up in the back of the house where the sun does not shine

I am lucky in that I live in a very small bungalow double glazed and insulated . I find that it gets well heated if I have an oven session and leave all the doors open and it works out cheaper than running the central heating. But of course theres a limit to how much oven stuff you can do lol if you cook it you've got to eat it.

also was surprised just what a difference just using the slow cooker makes really takes the chill off my unheated kitchen. In the evening I just put the lights on my electric fire and it makes the sitting room look and feel cosy without using a lot of electric I also love candle light.

I had smart meters installed in /August and its really made me more aware of what Iam using energy wise. I turn off lights now whereas didn't occur to me before. The other afternoon I nearly had a heart attack the monitor was showing 37p an hour a quick scuttle into the kitchen to find the freezer door wasn't shut properly. My latest bill is showing a predicted figure of £100 less than last year. Will be delighted if so.

Would love to know how other singles cope with energy bills anyone want to compare bills and share tips?

karcher

Evening all

Well my Chicken curry wasn't of my 'normal' making.

I 'normally' cook curry from scratch using all the spices and making my own sauce, but last night I used a bought famous brand name Vindaloo jar of sauce.

As I always find with ready made sauce it was neither very hot nor spicy and too sweet, hence why I always make my own from scratch.

But I have to say it wasn't too bad and did have a very slight 'kick' to it so I wouldn't be averse to using one again and maybe adding an extra fresh chilli (I did add an extra large clove of chopped garlic but it could have done with some fresh chilli too).

I had that with brown rice...and that is where I went wrong. For some reason I just can not eat rice without having a bloated, uncomfortable stomach the next day

I am nearly out of rice now and I don't think I will ever buy any ever again. I do like it, it just doesn't like me! I'm the same with pasta but to a lesser extent.

As a result, I haven't been hungry all day so haven't eaten as yet. I'll no doubt have something later but right now I feel like I have a football sat in my stomach!

caronc

meg72 wrote: »

I am lucky in that I live in a very small bungalow double glazed and insulated . I find that it gets well heated if I have an oven session and leave all the doors open and it works out cheaper than running the central heating. But of course theres a limit to how much oven stuff you can do lol if you cook it you've got to eat it.

also was surprised just what a difference just using the slow cooker makes really takes the chill off my unheated kitchen. In the evening I just put the lights on my electric fire and it makes the sitting room look and feel cosy without using a lot of electric I also love candle light.

I had smart meters installed in /August and its really made me more aware of what Iam using energy wise. I turn off lights now whereas didn't occur to me before. The other afternoon I nearly had a heart attack the monitor was showing 37p an hour a quick scuttle into the kitchen to find the freezer door wasn't shut properly. My latest bill is showing a predicted figure of £100 less than last year. Will be delighted if so.

Would love to know how other singles cope with energy bills anyone want to compare bills and share tips?

Meg I got a smart meter installed in March and quickly saved £10 on my electricity by just being a bit more conscious of what I was doing but certainly not to the point of for example using my oven to cook a CFO meal. Things I was a bit guilty of before I had it were running the washing machine half full because I wanted to wear something that was in the wash (I have far too many clothes so this was unnecessary:o) and ditto the dishwasher because I was running out of mugs:o:o. Both these practices have been curbed. My electricity bill had already dropped by £15 when my son left home and I don't really think I can get it down much more. Where I'm struggling is with the gas bill, it has pretty much stayed the same and realistically despite being only me now the house is the same size and I use as much gas to boil a pot for CFO as boiling one for a family. I could be much more frugal with the heating but I'm feeling the cold as it is so I reckon I'm stuck with that.:)

karcher wrote: »

Evening all

Well my Chicken curry wasn't of my 'normal' making.

I 'normally' cook curry from scratch using all the spices and making my own sauce, but last night I used a bought famous brand name Vindaloo jar of sauce.

As I always find with ready made sauce it was neither very hot nor spicy and too sweet, hence why I always make my own from scratch.

But I have to say it wasn't too bad and did have a very slight 'kick' to it so I wouldn't be averse to using one again and maybe adding an extra fresh chilli (I did add an extra large clove of chopped garlic but it could have done with some fresh chilli too).

I had that with brown rice...and that is where I went wrong. For some reason I just can not eat rice without having a bloated, uncomfortable stomach the next day

I am nearly out of rice now and I don't think I will ever buy any ever again. I do like it, it just doesn't like me! I'm the same with pasta but to a lesser extent.

As a result, I haven't been hungry all day so haven't eaten as yet. I'll no doubt have something later but right now I feel like I have a football sat in my stomach!

I'm glad the curry worked ok - I find some of the bought curry sauces ok if a bit sweet for my taste and I tend to use some lemon juice to sharpen them. That said I seldom buy them now as they tend to also be scarily high in salt:eek:. Shame the rice disagreed with you, I much prefer pitta or naan with a curry as I only like a couple of tablespoons of rice (otherwise like you I bloat) and it means there's not enough to mop up the sauce. I do use rice in soups and other stew type dishes and I'm fine but again I'm only having a small amount of rice. I do find brown easier on my tum than the white variety. My only exceptions are rissotto and rice pudding which I seem to be able to manage a fair amount of probably because the rice breaks down a bit.:)

karcher

I normally just have naan bread or HM flatbread with curry, but I just fancied some rice. That's the last time though.

moneyistooshorttomention

meg72 wrote: »

Would love to know how other singles cope with energy bills anyone want to compare bills and share tips?

Personally:
- the main thing imo is checking out what supplier/which tariff one is on and I do a comparison (ie from elsewhere on MSE) at intervals (eg when I'm coming to the end of the term of particular tariff I'm on) in order to see if I'd be better off swopping

- the windows were doubleglazed anyway when I bought the house and I made sure the fitted carpet I have on all floors (except bathroom and kitchen) is decent thickness and with thickest possible underlay underneath it (darn well has to be if the house has concrete floors like this one has:cool:)

- I check the energy ratings of new electric appliances as I buy them anyway - so have good energy ratings on fridge, freezer, washing machine, cooker bits.

- Well I did think I'd got a 12" thick layer of loft insulation up in my loft. I did - until another tradesperson had a suitable ladder with them for me to take a peek up in my loft myself and I could see the one that had added some for me hadnt even done the job as well as I would have personally:mad::mad:

But - I deliberately wouldnt get a smart meter. It comes under my heading of "I've read too much about the problems with them to have one - as long as I have the strength to fend off anyone trying to put one in....".

karcher

meg72 wrote: »

Would love to know how other singles cope with energy bills anyone want to compare bills and share tips?

I use my heating, oven as little as possible:o. Wear lots of layers and use hot water bottles. It's not a nice being cold but being alone on a very low income, needs must

AndyCF

Still debating on late dinner/tea I'll sort something by 9 though as I do prefer a 'late one' at the weekend especially.

I did notice the local shop had some of those Peri-Peri frozen fries in but gave them a miss as I was not sure how much I would like them / dislike them or how they would turn out in the micro either. I could do with some kind of small 'trial bag' of them to find out. Mind you I do have some McCain vouchers they kindly sent me a couple of weeks ago but the local shop won't take them as they don't take anything other than cash/cards etc has to be main supermarket for manufacturer vouchers.

Briefly I see mentions of Smarty Meters, I do have a thread (its still ongoing btw in a way at least) about my recent experience with this, its not my first experience with them either. I'll not link it as I only have a few 'new threads' of my own so you can easily find it as its got "Saga" in the title.