Cooking for one (Mark Two)

Glad

caronc wrote: »

I've just been very "brave" (and ruthless) and gutted my "tupperware" cupboard as it was an absolute mess. It was a jumble before the festivities but beyond manageable afterwards:eek:. For someone who seldom eats takeaways I'm unsure why there were so many of the plastic tubs......:eek: I've also culled a load that were warped/ missing lids and a load of spare lids without corresponding bases:D. Now "rewarding" myself with a Saturday night glass of wine before I prep my dinner....:o;)
I'm definitely a bit of a "hoarder" so next challenge over coming months will be my wardrobes, I have loads of "office" clothes so the older stuff can go, though I'll keep a couple of pairs of trousers and tops. I can probably cull suit jackets as well. I've also loads of skirts unworn for a couple of years. Due to needing to wear very sensible shoes these days I much prefer trousers and I think the last time I wore a skirt/dress was my son's Graduation in July 2016! It's going to be a big job....

I think plastic boxes and lids breed when they're shut in a cupboard :rotfl:
and then the plastic fairies pop in at night and run off with the boxes but leave the lids

PasturesNew

With the takeaway boxes, I was keeping them all from takeaways and quickly realised that was useless as the lids were tricky to get a match.

I then binned the lot and bought 8 identical ones in a pack. I stuck to that until I started buying the occasional takeaway again (about once a quarter) - and now I do keep those boxes, but I keep those ones in the cupboard with the lids fitted as they're a different size. I only have about 2-3 of this different size at the moment, from the same shop... if I get more then I might find a new system of nesting those together with the lids, separate from the other 8 that match.

PasturesNew

I've been up 1½ hours, on my second coffee - after I'd lain awake and turning for 2 hours and then just gave up.

Yesterday's meals ended up being:
2 chocolate biscuits (Xmas biscuit box)
2 sausage rolls
2 sausage rolls
2 chocolate biscuits (Xmas biscuit box)



There's probably under 1000 calories in that lot though! So that's the chocolate and sausage roll diet for you in a nutshell!

I think I'll have a big toasted bread roll for breakfast, topped with scrambled eggs and beans.

I've still a freezer of food to eat my way through, to free up space. It's so easy to fill it; so hard to then address the issue of eating what's in there

And I've still many Kg of spuds I bought in the run up to Xmas. Three 2.5Kg bags in total. Bought bag 1 as they were cheap (29p) in Tesc0.... then bought bag 2 because they were Maris pipers and cheap (29p) and it was Xmas .... and then bought bag 3 on the final day of 4ldi's special price of 29p "because it'd be daft not to".

Maybe a jacket spud and cheese/beans could be cooked later.

moneyistooshorttomention

Ditto here. I've been lying there awake for a couple of hours - and, for a quiet area, noticing the sound of a noticeable number of planes flying overhead nearby:mad:

Have the feeling I shouldnt have tried watching the start of that new mini-series "Hard Sun" yesterday - think it was the scene of all those M*5 men "on the chase" after "normal people" (ie the two police) I found unsettling. Daft of me to watch it - after carefully avoiding watching the McM*fia mini-series...:cool:

Time to head for breakfast myself in a minute. Last year's fruit harvest from the garden is still giving - I hauled some of the berries out of the freezer to top my porridge for the next few mornings.

Grins a bit each time I chuck things like seeds and fruits on top of my morning porridge - as I know just what Pastures would be likely to say about doing things like that:D:rotfl:. 'Morning Pastures...:)

PasturesNew

moneyistooshorttomention wrote: »

Grins a bit each time I chuck things like seeds and fruits on top of my morning porridge - as I know just what Pastures would be likely to say about doing things like that:D:rotfl:. 'Morning Pastures...:)

It's very "Upstairs, downstairs" as I'd call it .... I see all these modern fripperies and ways very much the domain of "the wealthier than me" leading lifestyles I can't even imagine

I had porridge once, nasty, nasty stuff - it was cheap oats. I was on a school geography trip and went down to breakfast and there was this "stuff lurking at the bottom of a dish of grey water" and I asked what it was and they said "porridge" and I'd never had it, so I asked for some. They stuck the spoon in, stirred the grey water into this white mass and glooped out a dollop. Then I took a spoon of it .... didn't have a 2nd!

I've never been one for berries. An overpriced "frippery" in my little world; an overhead in logistics of using things up and making room for another item.

moneyistooshorttomention

You might decide to plant some berry bushes in your garden Pastures? If they can survive in my windy garden - then they should be okay in yours I would have thought.

Anyways - on another topic and there's a map online of the spread of the Aussie Flu and it was just as I anticipated to date - going nuts in my home area and not a trace of it here (so far - fingers crossed).

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5242051/H3N2-Aussie-flu-strain-hits-five-UK-towns-day.html

Already realised not much point ringing my elderly mother and advising her not to go "out and about" in it (not that she can very often anyway - as my parents are both pretty housebound these days:(). I know her well enough to know she'd totally ignore me at best and deliberately try to mix with people at worst and she'd actively be hoping she did get it and that would be me ending this winter minus two parents (I also know my father rather well too). We all know just how vulnerable she is to respiratory problems - and so I'm keeping my mouth shut and not going to mention it - in order not to put any ideas into her head about deliberately going out.

[Deleted User]

my mind is always thinking and I can talk to myself easily when I have a problem to discuss, I usually get to the solution though if I sleep on it, I often wake up with the answer.

I am still in using up mode and had the last two tofu (tasteless) sausages with small tomatoes and an egg for breakfast. I have one nice ready meal to use and some berry compote, various veg and so on and maybe just a bit of cheese left to melt on hot sd toast for last meal. I finished my veg soup last night. As soon as I am down to a bare fridge and used up all the ready frozen stuff like cooked ham, then I will contemplate making a nice casserole in my pressure cooker. I think I will make a small loaf in my bm later, I feel like a ham and picallili sandwich, probably tomorrow

moneyistooshorttomention

The "sleep on it" thing has virtues and sometimes works - and it's always worth trying to think how to deal with a problem/take a positive attitude it can be resolved at the outset.

One of the downsides of getting older though imo is the realisation that there are problems that just can't be solved whatever one does. Not just the big things - you know world peace etc etc. But, at a personal level, the fact that sometimes it boils down to a "best case analysis" of what can be done to ameliorate a situation that can't be completely "binned/forgotten".

Me - I tend to giving myself time to "hear myself think" in quiet (and notebook taken with me when going for a walk - as sometimes things surface then whilst the mind is otherwise not that preoccupied) and be prepared to fight harder than many expect a woman and/or someone who'd like to "fit in" if possible to do (but has higher priorities if fitting in translates into being walked over).

I'm a great researcher of facts about issues of concern to me and find them out as best I can and then work out the odds of succeeding with whatever-it-is I've realised I've got a fight on my hands about.

The virtues of "switching off" when one has done all the research/planning/etc one reasonably can about any issue aren't to be under-rated either. Current personal favourite - and yep...I know it's mindless:o - being watching detective tv programmes.

moneyistooshorttomention

Apji - you're probably right re the gym being a "hunting ground" for 20's/30's - though I've never been a gym-goer myself.

Just seen one advantage to being a woman there - exercise classes tend to have women as the majority participants in them and we're definitely going for the exercise and a "bit of a laugh". There aren't many men at all going to any of them - but maybe you'll strike luckier at trying something like yoga classes (as people there tend to be really going for the exercise and they're more mixed-age normally and some men going - if still predominantly women).?

What else? Tai Chi? Chi Gong? Pilates?

EDIT; Walking groups - now that could be your best bet...

PasturesNew

MrAPJI wrote: »

A few years ago I remember eating yorkshire puds (in Yorkshire) which were filled with meat. They were absolutely delicious - has anyone tried cooking those?

Although I can make my own Y puds, most of the time I buy frozen. The reason for this is that the small quantities I require and the dishes I have don't work well with the batter ratio.... for a giant Yorkshire I'm prepared to put up with the fact "it's not quite right, but close enough".

I can cook them .... if I'm making a biggun that serves 4. Under that it can get a little underwhelming

When I do make my own Giant YPs I'll fill those with whatever's the current food I'm using up/cooking etc ... sometimes beef, sometimes chicken.

I like Yorkies to have a "pudding base" by preference, that was how we all liked them in our house. A thick base, with the sides that rise up ... and to get that I need to make more batter .... so I cut the quantity down and make a giant Yorkie without a pudding base as that really needs a much larger/wider/deeper dish than I use to make a Yorkie for one.