Cooking for one (Mark Three)

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!!!

PasturesNew

I think part of the lunch overspending issue is Meal Deals. I hate those words.... oh how I hate those words.

A meal deal ... sounds like you're getting a great deal.

When I see those I think to myself "what did I really come in here for?" - the answer would usually be "to have a bit of food to tide me over, to pick up a cheap sandwich to keep me going".

In many supermarkets that cheap sandwich might be found at 90p to £1.10. Egg/cress, cheese, maybe tuna if you're lucky.

90p to £1.10

Then people spot the meal deal.... For £3 you can have a sandwich AND a pack of crisps AND a drink.

Fact is, you didn't go in for a drink or crisps. If you're habitually in there for crisps/drink why not buy a multipack (especially when on offer) and a multipack of crisps?

A drink in a multipack might be, say, 30p/can or bottle. A pack of crisps from a multipack might be 20p/pack.

So if I wander in and get that cheap sandwich, £1 .... and grab a six pack of drinks (£1.50) and a 6 pack of crisps (£1) ....

For a week that's £5 on sandwiches and £2.50 for the other, £7.50 instead of spending £15/week on a "deal".

Yes I know the other sandwiches sound more exciting.... but, with the cheaper drink/crisps you could treat yourself once a week or on payday to the "nicer sounding sandwiches".

When I see "deal" I see "selling you stuff you didn't want or need, wrapped up to sound like a bargain, when, in fact, you didn't come in here for any of that".

caronc

Brambling wrote: »

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!!!

24 here with the16% rate and not long after a baby on the way.... Broke didn't even start to describe it!!

PasturesNew wrote: »

I think part of the lunch overspending issue is Meal Deals. I hate those words.... oh how I hate those words.

A meal deal ... sounds like you're getting a great deal.

When I see those I think to myself "what did I really come in here for?" - the answer would usually be "to have a bit of food to tide me over, to pick up a cheap sandwich to keep me going".

In many supermarkets that cheap sandwich might be found at 90p to £1.10. Egg/cress, cheese, maybe tuna if you're lucky.

90p to £1.10

Then people spot the meal deal.... For £3 you can have a sandwich AND a pack of crisps AND a drink.

Fact is, you didn't go in for a drink or crisps. If you're habitually in there for crisps/drink why not buy a multipack (especially when on offer) and a multipack of crisps?

A drink in a multipack might be, say, 30p/can or bottle. A pack of crisps from a multipack might be 20p/pack.

So if I wander in and get that cheap sandwich, £1 .... and grab a six pack of drinks (£1.50) and a 6 pack of crisps (£1) ....

For a week that's £5 on sandwiches and £2.50 for the other, £7.50 instead of spending £15/week on a "deal".

Yes I know the other sandwiches sound more exciting.... but, with the cheaper drink/crisps you could treat yourself once a week or on payday to the "nicer sounding sandwiches".

When I see "deal" I see "selling you stuff you didn't want or need, wrapped up to sound like a bargain, when, in fact, you didn't come in here for any of that".

I do every month or so order the Tesco £3 lunch meal deal and get a prawn pasta salad bowl + scotch egg + "posh" juice. It is a treat but more or less covers two lunches as I have the pasta and half the juice one day and the scotch egg/rest of the juice the other. But I agree £3+ every day for a basic lunch soon mounts up, but as an odd treat it's lovely:) .

PasturesNew

caronc wrote: »

24 here with the16% rate and not long after a baby on the way.... Broke didn't even start to describe it!!

I do every month or so order the Tesco £3 lunch meal deal and get a prawn pasta salad bowl + scotch egg + "posh" juice. It is a treat but more or less covers two lunches as I have the pasta and half the juice one day and the scotch egg/rest of the juice the other. But I agree £3+ every day for a basic lunch soon mounts up, but as an odd treat it's lovely:) .

I think when they first came out, too, they were confusing (to me) as to what they were actually offering, which sandwiches were in the meal deal, where are the crisps? where are the drinks/which drinks? It wasn't always laid out side by side, you had to hunt for things and work out what they were saying... and, to some extent, I still think there's a lot of confusion (for me) and ambiguity as to what the deal is and what it is not. Often it's not all drinks, all drinks in the cabinet, but one of three they've picked, which they've then tucked away at the back.

I need simple instructions in order to be able to follow what's going on.

In short: For somebody like myself, with limited brain processing capacity, they're too complex. Additionally, the technical term is "executive function", I lack the executive function, which means I struggle to make decisions.... too many sandwiches and I don't know which one to choose, so opting for a £1 egg/cress is easier.

Brambling

Actually I lied Caronc I was also 24 just trying to knock a year off

caronc

PasturesNew wrote: »

I think when they first came out, too, they were confusing (to me) as to what they were actually offering, which sandwiches were in the meal deal, where are the crisps? where are the drinks/which drinks? It wasn't always laid out side by side, you had to hunt for things and work out what they were saying... and, to some extent, I still think there's a lot of confusion (for me) and ambiguity as to what the deal is and what it is not. Often it's not all drinks, all drinks in the cabinet, but one of three they've picked, which they've then tucked away at the back.

I need simple instructions in order to be able to follow what's going on.

In short: For somebody like myself, with limited brain processing capacity, they're too complex. Additionally, the technical term is "executive function", I lack the executive function, which means I struggle to make decisions.... too many sandwiches and I don't know which one to choose, so opting for a £1 egg/cress is easier.

Yes it's a minefield though easier online

Brambling wrote: »

Actually I lied Caronc I was also 24 just trying to knock a year off

Actually thinking about it so did I was 23 and 11 months :rotfl::rotfl:

Farway

Welcome greenappleandmilk:hello:

Into town for the Thursday mooch, the jackpot YS turned up in Iceland, half price @£3 gammon joint, not ethical product but it was super YS and should last some of the weekend:money:
Rest of shopping was mundane but necessary stuff, one thing I did want was more split peas, seems they have gone out of fashion in my town, plenty of quinoa & puy lentils to be had:mad:

No doubt I'll find them somewhere as I CBA to go in every shop

Brambling wrote: »

Farway I think you may have to make your own jam, I've heard you can make it in the bread maker

Great minds;), making my own was just what I thought, in fact I was looking for YS strawbs, but as is often the case, loads when not wanted. I don't think my BM can make jam, but I've no problem with jam making, especially with a dishwasher

Brambling wrote: »

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 hate that, borrow me, grrrr, :mad:

When I started work lunch was a cream doughnut from the bakery opposite, the same one I used to spend my school dinner money in, plus a Rotham's splurging my new wealth and starting my life long healthy diet:p

After I left that job it was a Civic / ex British Restaurant for lunch, showing my age here

Lunch today was cheese & cuc sarnie
Dinner, ham in there somewhere. I've popped the YS ham in the cast iron pot in a low oven, so could be anything that goes with pot roast ham

greenappleandmilk

Thanks for suggestions, and welcome - veg roasting for dinner and tomorrow's lunch right now!