Cooking for one (Mark Two)

Need2bthrifty

moneyistooshorttomention wrote: »

Well - I added those various bits of "oomph" I had in mind to it - and have just had the first of the 2 portions it made.

Verdict - one of those "Well I ate it...." scenarios. As in - it was edible - but not what I would call tasty.

So I shall eat the second portion tomorrow - and then not make this particular recipe again. NB: The recipe was one from her meat-eating days - so I substituted vegetable stock powder for the chicken stock cube she used.

Gotcha - my father had the same expression when I tried cooking him something different for a change, translation = its okay, but don't make it again

I'll stick to Arborio and keep the barley for my soup.

caronc

Good evening everyone,
PN - you wouldn't want to be near my closest Asda it's not great, non-food departments but the fresh food can be really hit or miss. I'd use them more if the on-line delivery came from another store as the one just a couple of miles further away is really good. It always surprises me that two stores so close together can vary so much!

I managed to drop my favourite bookmark under my bed and then managed to push it even further out of reach trying to retrieve it. Nothing else for it but to move it out, not an easy task as it is a heavy wooden frame! Now I do "sort of" clean underneath with the hoover & mop so while I thought there might be a bit of stoor where it meets the wall I wasn't expecting just how much had gathered:eek:, though in fairness I can't actually remember when I last hauled it out but it obviously was too long ago. I had another wrestle with Henry and course that then showed up how dusty the skirting board was so that's done too. I really must do better in keeping up to date with these things so I don't end up up with big jobs to do which I find taxing. One for a "New Year's " resolution I think as recent cleaning has shown that while my house might look clean and tidy it really is only surface clean which I don't like. I'm not one of these people that is incredibly house proud but I don't like the thought of lurking dirt.

In between Henry wrestling I managed to scoff a slice of cream sponge, there's a piece left so that will be tomorrow's treat . I must have a rake in the fridge/freezer/cupboard to see what I fancy for dinner and I'm going to take a HM fish pie out to defrost for tomorrow night. I could cook it from frozen but as it is already cooked find that the longer cooking time leaves the fish & prawns rubbery.

I've managed to solve a conundrum re my electricty bills, since I got the smart meter in a can track the cost my actual bill has always been a bit less than I calculated it would be. Anyhow when I first got the meter I was sure the installer told me the standing charge wasn't included in the cost shown and it would seem it is. I noticed on Saturday night when I was up later than usual that at midnight the meter zeroed but within a minute 19p appeared on it. Checked on-line today and yes the standing charge is included so that's why my calculations were out. As they say every day's a school day :cool:

poppystar

caronc wrote: »

It always surprises me that two stores so close together can vary so much!

I think it is the proximity that causes the difference. I have the same with my favourite coffee shop. If a big company has two close retail outlets they tend to favour one over the other - for refurbishments, priority in stock and in quality of staff, especially management - all of which makes a downward spiral. Demoralisation and less effort from those working there, not so nice environment to work in, further demoralisation ….etc.

The fact that customers also notice and maybe even express their dissatisfaction just makes it worse because the outlet then gets bad reviews this feeds back into how much funding the company is willing to invest in this now 'bad' store and its staff. It's illogical in that if they invested in the store and staff it would generate more positivity and profit - but big company does not work that way:(

caronc

poppystar wrote: »

I think it is the proximity that causes the difference. I have the same with my favourite coffee shop. If a big company has two close retail outlets they tend to favour one over the other - for refurbishments, priority in stock and in quality of staff, especially management - all of which makes a downward spiral. Demoralisation and less effort from those working there, not so nice environment to work in, further demoralisation ….etc.

The fact that customers also notice and maybe even express their dissatisfaction just makes it worse because the outlet then gets bad reviews this feeds back into how much funding the company is willing to invest in this now 'bad' store and its staff. It's illogical in that if they invested in the store and staff it would generate more positivity and profit - but big company does not work that way:(

Yes that would seem to be the case, we have 3 stores within a 15 mile area, one is very good, one is good and the third food-wise really isn't great.:(

PasturesNew

caronc wrote: »

It always surprises me that two stores so close together can vary so much!

Most people assume that all shops are the same/like the one they go to - annoying for the majority of people when 'advice' or 'recipes' given assume that goods are available everywhere. Store stocks are store-by-store and regionally and demographically selected by head office computer algorithms.

On the telly as the celeb chefs drag out "sheets of gossamer butterfly wings which are ideal for wraps" they'll invariably say "you can get these from all good supermarkets" when what they mean is "as it's me, my local Waitrose orders them in specially to be collected at the Kensington branch"

AndyCF

caronc wrote: »

Yes that would seem to be the case, we have 3 stores within a 15 mile area, one is very good, one is good and the third food-wise really isn't great.:(

Its similar to me then, there is nothing within 'sensible walking range' really , well there are local shops but the selection is variable to say the least. The 'major places' are about 30 minutes away or more, which might sound OK but then you figure in the weight of heavy bags on the return journey etc it does not work out well.

I roughly calculated the cost of bus tickets there and back vs walking there and taxi back and there was not actually a mass difference, the advantage of the latter being you'd not have to wait too long and worry about frozen bits quietly defrosting while waiting for said bus to arrive.

wort

Jacket spud was yummy! Farway -it's my go to, definitely. I remember a few years back dd2 still lived at home and hubby worked away mon to Friday, the number of times I went in the kitchen and said oo what should I have? ! My dd would laugh and say jacket potato you always do!!

Just had toast and cheese spread. Lunch at work so I'm taking a ham salad bar and a muller rice as it's always perishing, so that will warm me up. I've just thought, that today may be our Xmas dinner? I know it's a Tuesday, but not sure if it today or next week?
It's not as fancy as it seems! It's buffet of sandwiches, sos rolls etc.they usually get me a g free sandwich and a mince pie. Will take mine just in case.

I've lifted out a chicken something from freezer, can't remember if it's the remains of hm curry,from fri, or the hm enchilada sauce thing. Either way it's got chicken peppers onion, and spicy sauce!!!:o
Money- glad your little man sorted it out and didn't charge you a bomb.

moneyistooshorttomention

PasturesNew wrote: »

Most people assume that all shops are the same/like the one they go to - annoying for the majority of people when 'advice' or 'recipes' given assume that goods are available everywhere. Store stocks are store-by-store and regionally and demographically selected by head office computer algorithms.

On the telly as the celeb chefs drag out "sheets of gossamer butterfly wings which are ideal for wraps" they'll invariably say "you can get these from all good supermarkets" when what they mean is "as it's me, my local Waitrose orders them in specially to be collected at the Kensington branch"

Agreed.

Well - I've certainly never noticed laverbread on sale in my local supermarket until I moved here (possibly I was oblivious to it - but I dont think so). So that's a regional difference.

Thankfully my clotted cream seems to be available everywhere now - for those times when it's the obvious thing imo to have with something:)

I'm surprised at just how many regional differences there still seem to be - in a variety of shops actually.....after a comment from someone the other day of "I can tell you bought that item of clothing back in your home city - as that's obviously that city's style. You wouldnt be able to buy one like it here" and I'm waiting to buy the new clothes I need generally until visits there.

Books/magazines seem to be much the same - as the advert etc says "Available in any good supermarket/bookstore" and I'm left thinking "Why can't I find it near me then?"

wort

Andy - I'm in similar position to large supermarkets, asda is about a mile, if I cut over the canal. Tesco is just to one side of town centre,that's a mile in opposite direction to asda. Both would take around half an hour to walk. I have a little tesco about 10 mins away and a coop a little closer which I use for milk.
Tbh Asda is so big I'm not keen, hubby used to go there ,with dd2, but then it seemed to get expensive so as they were in a car they started going to Morrisons. Which is not walkable! !!!
I'm lucky that I can usually get a lift with my sister if I need a big shop. But it tends to be the close ones usually tesco.

PasturesNew

If you want to buy something from Argos you can find out which stores have stocks of that item online. It'd be good if supermarkets had that.
There might be one product you want to buy and there are 2-3 stores within a 10 mile radius - and if you could check online you might find that it's not stocked at the one you usually go to, but if you go to another one the same distance in the opposite direction they have it there....

Their computer knows which goods ended up in which stores, so it's not a complex SQL query to drag that out into a searchable interface.

Ditto with the floorspace. It'd be nice if each store's web page gave you the selling floorspace so you could look at, say, 2-3 online and "go to the biggest one".

We all know the nearest store, beyond that there are markers you can see on their store locator map, but if you never go to those places you've no need to. If, however, you could spot that another one was 2x the size of your usual one (or smaller) you might choose to visit that store instead.

Things people in ivory towers don't think are useful/important for many shoppers.