Cooking for one (Mark Three)

Wednesday2000

Brambling wrote: »

Today having spent some of lunchtime with the 22 year girl in the office I now officially feel old :cool: i bit my tongue as she complained about having no money as January as a long month and we were paid early in Dec as she ate her LO takeaway which cost £20 last night but when she said she would have to ask her mum 'if she would borrow her some money' I found myself correcting her . I can only hold my tongue for so long:rotfl:

I was like that in my twenties. I remember working in an office in central London after uni and going out to buy my lunch everyday and then going out for drinks and dinner almost every night!:eek:

I looked at (often older) people in the office bringing their lunch in from home and thinking it was weird behaviour.:rotfl:

Wednesday2000

I have been feeling rough. My "hangover" from last weekend turned out to be a horrible cold.:(

I have to go out today even though I still feel ill.

I have had two cups of tea so far. I have been having porridge for breakfast but I don't fancy it today.

I think I will have mashed avocado and sliced tomato on wholemeal toast with some of the Cornish sea salt and pepper on top.:)

PasturesNew

I think when you first go out to work it's easy to buy food at lunchtime because for the first time in your life possibly you've got money in your pocket that is your money - and can now buy all these exciting things that your parents wouldn't have ever bought for you or funded you for.

Until you work and get your own money, there's a world of exciting looking foods that you've been itching to try, but have never had money before.

It's normal to overspend as you get paid every month and there are no financial calamities you can see....

You only rein things in when you hit an unexpected buffer one day.

Also, when you first work, you assume that your pay will go up, soon - and up and up ..... and nothing matters as you get paid every month.



After a few years many discover this is nonsense and you've actually started your "50 years of financial grief and strife" period.

When I first worked I'd had full-time holiday jobs before, taking home about £27/week. I had to buy clothes with that money and, later, some lunches when at secretarial college.

When I worked full-time in a job finally ... I was taking home £184/month. A fortune! I'd buy a 30p samosa on my way to work - and have a pot noodle for lunch

Brambling

I can turn a deaf ear (literally) to the no money talk as you said she is still young, however it was the phase she would "ask her mum if she would borrow her some money" what grated!! you borrow they lend :cool: it's like people sending work emails in text speak :mad:

PN i'm sorry if it was me paying the rent i would use the kitchen and the washing machine, even if it means dashing in putting on a load and dashing out again.

PasturesNew

Don't quote, will delete.


Right... had to break cover, find out what's going on ....

So I went to make a coffee when I knew she was there.

She IS going.... next week, for 3 weeks.

I then had to speak to her; hate speaking to people, pretending to be "normal", hiding my peculiarities That's exhausting.

Having broken cover, it's easier to "pass each other" I guess in the future.... but I'd rather just be left alone to be quiet and peculiar on my own

greenappleandmilk

Hi -

My mother gave me two steaks she didn’t get round to having (the Sainsbury’s vacuum packed kind with pepper sauce).
They expire tomorrow - can have one for dinner tonight but am working a thirteen hour shift tomorrow.

Any inspiration on how I can have a cold lunch or dinner tomorrow with other? Can’t reheat. I have tomatoes, onions, sweet potato, garlic, orzo, wholewheat fusilli, rice in the cupboards plus usual condiments. Trying not to shop until Monday if I can!

Thanks 🙏

PasturesNew

greenappleandmilk wrote: »

Hi -

My mother gave me two steaks she didn’t get round to having (the Sainsbury’s vacuum packed kind with pepper sauce).
They expire tomorrow - can have one for dinner tonight but am working a thirteen hour shift tomorrow.

Any inspiration on how I can have a cold lunch or dinner tomorrow with other? Can’t reheat. I have tomatoes, onions, sweet potato, garlic, orzo, wholewheat fusilli, rice in the cupboards plus usual condiments. Trying not to shop until Monday if I can!

Cook them both.... once cooked the 2nd one's good in the fridge for 2-3 days... or can even be refrozen

You could even cut up that 2nd one and turn it into a pie with gravy and veg if you didn't fancy a 2nd steak in one week.

caronc

Good morning everyone,
Even from a young age I usually brought a packed lunch to work, it what most folk I worked with did so it didn't feel odd and there wasn't really the choice on offer for takeaways that there is now. The exception was Friday's when I bought something usually because I was heading out to the pub straight from work but that was a tradition I kept throughout my working life though the heading to the pub disappeared when the kids came along. :rotfl: In my last office there was a group of folk (not youngsters) who were always moaning about being skint but bought lunch every day and several takeaways/expensive RMs each week. It was a struggle not to give them a piece of my mind when they would snark about "rich" managers when they must have been spending £100s each month in pre-made food!
Shame you didn't get the "home alone" you wanted PN
It turned very foggy last night, unusual for here, but it had cleared by morning and it's a fairly clear & bright day. Colder than yesterday but still quite mild.
I have had a reasonably productive morning so far the bathroom has been given a thorough scrub out and a load of rubbish/debris picked up from the front garden. I'm just grabbing a quick cuppa before heading to the kitchen to prep a pan of swede and pop some sliced red onions in the baby SC to carmelise for onion gravy.
Lunch will be LO pasta and tonight it's cumberland sausage, mash, swede, peas and onion gravy when my son arrives.

caronc

greenappleandmilk wrote: »

Hi -

My mother gave me two steaks she didn’t get round to having (the Sainsbury’s vacuum packed kind with pepper sauce).
They expire tomorrow - can have one for dinner tonight but am working a thirteen hour shift tomorrow.

Any inspiration on how I can have a cold lunch or dinner tomorrow with other? Can’t reheat. I have tomatoes, onions, sweet potato, garlic, orzo, wholewheat fusilli, rice in the cupboards plus usual condiments. Trying not to shop until Monday if I can!

Thanks 🙏

Hello greenappleandmilk
I'd cook both today like PN suggested, slice the second one thinly and use it to top an orzo and roast veg salad for your lunch. Mixed with the juices from roasting the veg any spare pepper sauce would make a nice dressing for the salad.

Brambling

Hi greenappleandmilk, Caronc has just beaten me as I had the same suggestion if you are going to do this i would probably cook the steak medium / medium rare

I had my first mortgage at 23 at 16%+ so the habit set in early to take my own lunches, we were broke :rotfl: but i do have to bite my tongue to the complaining about being broke and spending £5+ a day or more on lunch and snacks, i don't care if you want to always buy lunch just don't seem surprise and complain about being broke :cool:. The feeling old also came from explaining how banks work!!!