Cooking for one (Mark Two)

Wednesday2000

I went through my spice shelf today too. All were in date. I bought a peri peri one I haven't tried before today.

I decided to have a pasta bake tonight.:)

PasturesNew

Ye Olde Beef Curry ended up in the freezer.

I removed Ritz from the List of Things, I stared at the boxes yesterday and pondered "do I really want/need you?" and I told myself No and crossed them off the list.

karcher

I did my 2 and 1/2, 3 weekly shop yesterday.

My small freezer is full to bursting, the fridge still has plenty of room but my one small food cupboard is full.

I now have no need to go shopping again till next year, although I will need a loaf of bread when I've finished the one in the freezer. I don't have enough room for another full loaf.

I also forgot to buy cream crackers.

The only concession to the festive season is 4 types of cheese (Camembert, Stilton, Sheep's Cheese and some very mature Cheddar), some water biscuits and a big bar of chocolate.

That's that 'C' word wrapped up for this year and the walk to and from the supermarket took longer than the actual shopping.

See there are some benefits of being alone, no battling the crowds, no presents to buy/wrap, no panic buying and sufficient food as there is only me eating it

AndyCF

karcher wrote: »

I also forgot to buy cream crackers.

I used to buy these relatively regularly, moreso when there was the 'twin-pack' available for only a few pence more than the regular ones.

I have of late been having salt/pepper crackers (Supermarkets own brand) and have enjoyed them immensely. , I did try a small pack of the 'garlic/herb' one too, as I could not recall trying anything 'garlic' that I'd noted, it was OK and edible but given the choice I'd have the salt/pepper ones over the garlic/herb variety.

I have tried the 'crispbread' pepper rye too a while back, mainly out of curiosity which is nice but a bit too pricey I think, same as the 'flatbread thin' things I tried, nice but too many pennies for what you get unfortunately.

Glad

I bought a wire spice rack and screwed it to the inside of a bottom cupboard door all are in alphabetical order and easy to get to

Hollyharvey

JackieO wrote: »

about a month ago I was lucky enough to snaffle a good sized stollen slab y/s to 9p at Morrisons I divided it up into 6 good sized chunks and froze it.

Last night I had a yen for something different so had got a piece out and defrosted it. 10 seconds in the microwave and it was warm and soft and smelt lovely (the marzipan had become like a very soft buttery texture)

I cut it in half sideways opened it up dribbled some grape jelly over it and a squirt of cream on top and it was delicious my bit of stollen cake I worked out cost me about a penny halfpenny with the grape jelly and a squirt of cream at most 4p in total

Very yummy and perfect for supper with my hot chocolate I went to bed warm,fed and slept like a top . No doubt why some food is called 'comfort food' probably not the healthiest snack, but at my age I fell I can have the occasional treat :):)

That sounds lovely Jackie. Stollen is my all time favourite. I warmed some in the microwave last week and had it with some cream and another slice with some custard. I think I will get another box tomorrow and freeze the slices .

PasturesNew

I've just stuck an egg on to boil .... once hard I'll mash it with salad cream and serve that inside a large white bap with cherry tomatoes

So that'll be scoffed in about 10 minutes' time.

I'll do the washing up while waiting for that.

EDIT: Made, scoffed.... I do love egg/salad cream in a soft bap. Had to add the cherry tomatoes as I bought a punnet a couple of weeks ago and I only use 4-5 each time.... there are still 13 left to go!

poppystar

Well, I survived the freeze - or at least my pipes did - I didn't get much sleep (flushing loo, running water and worrying!) so have been out of it most of the day. Learnt a lot from you helpful people, big, big thanks.:)

****

Resorted to ready meal tonight with added frozen veg. I bought a big mixed bag of frozen veg from MrT a few months back for about £1 and it is still going strong despite being used to add to meals, in omelettes etc. Seems very good value and may well repeat purchase.

I discovered that when cooking it with a ready meal simply wrapping a handful or two straight from the freezer in tin foil with an added knob of butter and putting it in at the same time as the meal cooks the veg beautifully (and with no washing up:D). You've probably been doing this for years but it is a new trick for this old dog:)

caronc

kittie wrote: »

I did my spices 7 years ago and had a complete re-think about their storage, I was getting fed up of bending into low cupboards and rummaging. I bought lined aluminium screw top pots from ebay after measuring the internals of a top drawer near the hob.

I'd love a spice drawer but I only have shallow kitchen drawers. Glad you've got your priorities sorted re the gin;):D

Glad wrote: »

I bought a wire spice rack and screwed it to the inside of a bottom cupboard door all are in alphabetical order and easy to get to

I have one of those on my wall, it's always nice and tidy. The cupboard is overspill though in fairness although I call it the spice cupboard it has other things in it too:)

Farway wrote: »

Now I want nuked stollen

Me too - I've been very, very good and not touched the lovely stollen lurking in the bread bin. I'm hoping to have enough will power to leave it until next week when I may succumb to piece after my son and I have [STRIKE]fallen out[/STRIKE] had fun putting the tree up:D

The cupboard clearing out turned into a bit more of a job than I thought, unfortunately although it's not high the uppper shelf is a bit of a stretch and my balance really didn't like it and faced with the option of get down or fall down I ended up having to sit on the floor for a good while before I could trust it to hold me up. As always after these attacks I ended up having to go for a sleep for a couple of hours so the afternoon ended up being a bit of a write-off. It's settled a bit now so I thankfully eventually managed to get the job done though I'm not completely happy with it, it will do until the New Year. At least everything is in date and better organised.

It's blowing a hooley here, still really cold and lashing with rain. I'm beginning to wish the sub zero temperatures were back!

On a plus - it looks as though my pension has finally been sorted up and I should have the first payment this week and the lump sum by the beginning of next week so fingers crossed:D:D

caronc

poppystar wrote: »

Well, I survived the freeze - or at least my pipes did - I didn't get much sleep (flushing loo, running water and worrying!) so have been out of it most of the day. Learnt a lot from you helpful people, big, big thanks.:)

****

Resorted to ready meal tonight with added frozen veg. I bought a big mixed bag of frozen veg from MrT a few months back for about £1 and it is still going strong despite being used to add to meals, in omelettes etc. Seems very good value and may well repeat purchase.

I discovered that when cooking it with a ready meal simply wrapping a handful or two straight from the freezer in tin foil with an added knob of butter and putting it in at the same time as the meal cooks the veg beautifully (and with no washing up:D). You've probably been doing this for years but it is a new trick for this old dog:)

Glad you survived the freeze, hopefully you'll get a better sleep tonight:). I've never tried frozen veg that way, though do sometimes do fresh if the oven is on. Thanks for the tip:)