Cooking for one (Mark Three)

PasturesNew

Farway wrote: »

There is an exposed element, with fan blades above it. But this is not visible or accessible without removing drawer & deliberately tipping the machine backwards

But, potentially, cooking steam and fatty spray could get up in there, gunking it up.... steam carrying natural fats away would seep up there and the fan blades would become brown and sticky over time.

And, if you've got sticky/fatty residue up there... it's got the potential to catch alight at an unspecified future time and date of its choosing....

... no?

Farway wrote: »

Frying an egg

I was thinking more: Spray oil on a container/shallow dish/something just big enough to hold an egg.... add egg.

Not 1/4" of hot fat sloshing about.

An indiscernible quantity.

PasturesNew

Big haul from Mr T's peasant ranges

Frozen dinners I bought: Spag bol, sweet/sour chicken & rice, chicken curry & rice, lasagne, beef slices in gravy, 10 fish fingers.

Sweeties/similar I bought: Pack of wine gums, 2 individual toffee cheesecakes, a 12-pack of chocolate buns, a bar of chocolate.

Also got: Salted peanuts, instant mash, 4 Mr T Pot Noodles, tin of peas (it was those peas I ate the other night/cold from the tin and enjoyed, so got more).

Didn't get chips as they didn't have the ones I was after and I CBA to try a different one as I had plenty of food in my basket.

Total cost £9-something, under £10 anyway.

Ate some wine gums on the way home, ate a cheesecake once I got in.

So, I have plenty of instant dinners in the freezer and in my room now

The Mr T Pots were 27p, so cheaper than L1dl's 36p ones, that's why I bought four.

caronc

Good evening everyone

Farway wrote: »

The one I bought was this The 3.2L version, went for this one as it had removable basket, and OK for dishwasher & variable temperature plus a timer [30minutes] It was £47 on Amazon & took about 4 days to arrive despite being Prime.

I've not tried washing it yet, dirty dog:D, but looks easy enough

I've found the basket a bit tricky so I remove the whole drawer and go from there rather than have hot "stuff" on the floor

Thanks Farway not a brand I've heard of but the reviews seem good. Definitely some BS re the whole chicken unless it was a tiny one though;).
I've decided that at the moment I'm erm well undecided :rotfl:. I need to have a ponder before I splash the cash and pin down what I want it cook and how often :think: . I have a slight concern that getting one may lead me to cooking more pre-prepped/beige food especially on cba days, not a habit I want to fall into and it seems like a fairly big spend not to use it often so I'll want one that is big enough to be fairly versatile. I can feel a pros/cons list coming on :cool:.
Glad you got your tax return done PN
It's got very cold again now it's dark probably because it's calmed a bit and the skies are clearer. My sis popped by for a chat - she's getting a new boiler after all as her current one, although not that old, needs some expensive work done and even then it's likely to cause her further problems so better in the long run. Her current one is a cheaper makes with far too many glitzy features hiding less robust fundamentals, the engineer (local & trusted) reckons the previous owner got it done on the cheap then never had it serviced.....:mad: I'm going to need a new one soon as mine is 20 years old and parts are becoming more difficult to source, it has absolutely no "glitzy" bits which is no doubt why it has lasted so long....
Pasta tonight using up lurking fridge bits before I get a delivery tomorrow, I've not had a proper shop since 17th Jan, just a couple of very small top ups of basic fresh stuff so it's well needed though I did have to add some wine to meet the minimum basket price;);):rotfl:! It's mainly boring stuff like shampoo etc. as my cupboards and freezers are well stocked but I've treated myself to a couple of bunches of daffodils for a bit of winter cheer :D.

Brambling

PN My AFs workings are the same as Farways by the sound of it I've checked and not manky after a couple of years, but I'm don't use a lot of fat and in some cases no additional fat at all. I've never fried an egg in it but wouldn't as for me (and I know not for you) it's quicker to put a frying pan on the stove to fry one. And i definitely wouldn't get a whole chicken in

I've book my boiler service for next week with the guy who fitted it 14+ yrs ago. (Touching wood) it's only ever cost me the annual service and a new controller (timer) 18 mths ago, he tells me they are good boilers and he very rarely gets a call out for them, however they don't make them anymore :cool: he's fitting me a new heated towel rail next week as the coating is coming off mine so it needs replacing, this time chrome to avoid it.

I think my lurking lurgy is getting really to pounce at the weekend :cool: so I've removed the chicken carcass from the freezer to make soup tomorrow. There was three of us at work comparing symptoms today which were aching muscles and sniffles and blaming my poor colleague who was ill last week :rotfl:

Lunch was HM minestrone soup from the freezer and dinner a simple pan fried salmon, new potatoes and green veg

caronc

Hope your lurgy increasing is a false alarm Brambling - mine has moved to the "not gone and could re-appear stage" without ever fully developing and I'm hoping it stays that way;)

PasturesNew

caronc wrote: »

.... pin down what I want it cook and how often .... may lead me to cooking more pre-prepped/beige food especially on cba days, not a habit I want to fall into and it seems like a fairly big spend not to use it often so I'll want one that is big enough to be fairly versatile. I can feel a pros/cons list coming on ...

Knowing what you WILL cook in it is critical before making the investment in time, money and kitchen space.

As I don't use a hob, I'd use it for things most people would use a frying pan for.

It'd do a nice little cooked breakfast, on a timer, instead of standing over a spitting pan of any combination of eggs, sausages, hash browns ..... so I'll be adding that to my list of things I could cook in it. Get the timings nailed and it's just a question of opening the drawer and tossing in the next thing ... all on a timer.

It's a waste if there's not going to be a genuine need though.

I'm confident that, one day, I will make the decision to buy - and make my choice - and acquire it. But that list and being honest with oneself is critical.

I did it before I bought the SC and the mini oven, although the mini oven was almost a no brainer as I got that in order to do Xmas dinner

The AF would do a jacket spud. At the moment I nuke those and serve ... because I CBA to then get the mini grill out of the cupboard and put the spud in there to "crisp up" as that bit's really just an added extra. Given an AF where I could toss a spud in I'd definitely use that instead of nuking.

Also: chips. I'd be most likely to give up frozen chips and just cut my own most of the time with an AF. They are tastier....

P.S. There's nothing wrong with beige food.... stop beige shaming

PasturesNew

Brambling wrote: »

....the coating is coming off mine so it needs replacing, this time chrome to avoid it.
...

I'm not well travelled and I've only ever had one of my own, but I have NEVER seen a chrome one that wasn't "rusty".

Maybe if one's careful from new they don't go rusty... when I bought my last house the one there was 4 years old and already rusty.

caronc

PasturesNew wrote: »

P.S. There's nothing wrong with beige food.... stop beige shaming

Absolutely no beige food shaming intended- I just need to watch how much processed food (which a lot of the tastiest beige food is ) I eat because of the high salt they tend to contain and (for me) life is too short to sacrifice cheese, ham and other salty loveliness to avoid agitating the dreaded "wonky donkey". :eek: Life would be so much easier if I had a sweet, rather than savoury palate;).

Brambling

PasturesNew wrote: »

I'm not well travelled and I've only ever had one of my own, but I have NEVER seen a chrome one that wasn't "rusty".

Maybe if one's careful from new they don't go rusty... when I bought my last house the one there was 4 years old and already rusty.

My sister has a chrome one the same age as mine and it hasn't rusted, mine has a white coated on and where that has flaked off it is starting to rust

Wednesday2000

I ate so badly yesterday, pizza for breakfast and then my husband went to an appointment and bought me 2 Gregg's vegan steak bakes and the new Subway vegan meatball sub!!

I ate it all!:rotfl:

For breakfast this morning I had porridge with berries, soya milk and hemp seeds. Back to healthier food choices.:A

I have leeks and onions in the fridge. I think I am going to cut them up and freeze them.

I have quite a few potatoes as well so I think I will do something with them later. Maybe baked spuds or wedges.

I was supposed to see my psychologist today but she had to cancel as she has the lurgy now. There's a lot of it about at the moment.