Cooking for one (Mark Three)

PasturesNew

Self control .... I think many of us suffer from a lack of that.

"I have it, therefore I'm going to eat it" is my problem. I think carefully while in the shop about what I've eaten recently and what I have in the house and what's in the basket today ... and I leave some foods in the shop if I think I've been too piggy recently.

It is hard though ... once it's in the house it has to be eaten, so my best method of self-control is to leave it in the shop....

Farway

Welcome Halogen. I can't offer much advice but woudl a slow cooker, or maybe a pressure cooker help? One to bung on before you go out, other to speed things up once you get in

Snow has settled in for the night, blowing everywhere, it is the powdery sort not big flakes

I had a the C & B chick & veg soup for lunch. It was OK but I was not keen on the smell, too leeky. Not one I'll buy again

Mid afternoon I toasted a couple of crumpets, topped them with blue cheese. Nice of course

That ruined my appetite for dinner, I just had the last of my Linda M pie and managed to burn it despite following timings. I ate it, which is about all I need say really. I was given them, but will not be buying anymore

Had a message, my SIL now has the date for his Channel swim, July 2020. Good for him, less than ten years ago he could not swim. I never knew you had to book way in advance, but makes sense once you think about it, don't want you bumping into tankers etc

pineapple

halogen wrote: »

I can't be bothered/don't have time for cooking during the week and even if I could, I can't be on my feet for longer than 10-15 mins before the back pain kicks in so long cooks and prep times are tricky. Also I'm starving when I get in from work so it's 1st edible thing in mouth and I've yet to be able force myself to wait until I've cooked something.
I don't do ready meals though, other than occasional frozen pizzas and that's usually a weekend thing as they take too long to cook.
I have tried batchcooking at rhe weekend but that just results in me eating it all on Sunday.

I used to have similar issues. Solution was to have a standby - something like cheddar on crackers or digestives when I got in. That satisfied the immediate need for 'something' plus cheese is quite filling anyway. I had my proper meal later.
If you batchcook then immediately freeze into daily portions/containers you will be less tempted to binge eat it all at once.
But also a basic meal can be rustled up quickly without much prep - ie some boiled pasta with fried bacon and mushrooms. Plus you can cheat a little - say fried or grilled sausage with some baked beans or a nice bacon butty. Or maybe something like an omelette - which doesn't need much effort. I find that one of the positives of living alone is eating what you want when you want!
I don't have much convenience food (though I'm partial to an oven chip dipped in mayo) but I do like flavourings - such as sesame oil, peanut butter, chilli dip - even garlic salt (bought online). Plus I have various spices in stock. I just love 5 spice powder for example - it transforms fried cabbage, pork etc.

caronc

Good evening everyone,
:eek::eek: to running out of gas, though better than the electric going off I suppose. Either way I'd be heating and hot waterless. Though thankfully I have an electric shower & an electric fire in the front room so I would neither freeze or stink:).
Another one here trying to resist constant nibbling today, it is unlike me so I am blaming the cold weather:cool:

Welcome to the thread halogen, I'd echo what pineapple said re having something quick to eat when you get in and considering freezing HM batch stuff. A banana is quite satisfying and I find a cuppa soup good if I want something hot and very quick. I get the not being able stand for ages so either home made "ready meals" or "something" on toast could be an answer. Would part-cooking or prepping work for you? Most veg once prepare keep ok in sealed/bags in the fridge for a few days, spuds can be par boiled and again either kept in the fridge or frozen so can be done when you have more time. A quick spray with oil and a hot oven for 15/20 minutes and they are done. Baked potatoes can be cooked in batches and again frozen. A quick nuke in the microwave and topped with beans or cheese or whatever makes a quick meal. Some of the supermarket chilled soups are pretty decent and quite often on offer, a plate of soup and sandwich is quick and filling. Don't forget the CFO stand bys of crumpets and fish fingers (not necessarily together:rotfl:).Re self-control not a clue, I'd be a rich (and no doubt thinner) person if I had the answer to that.

No more snow here but it is windy and baltic. I had to laugh at the forecast, it showed -1C all day and overnight but with a "feels like" -7C, so basically the same as the last few days where the forecast was for -5C but "feels like" -7C.:eek:

I managed to clean around half of the doors/white goods in my kitchen. A proper clean rather than a quick wipe so pleased to get it done. I ran out of "bendiness" after half so the rest can wait until tomorrow. I'm not even attempting the kick boards as I suspect while I might get down ok to clean them it might need the fire brigade to get me back up:o.

My soup from the freezer at lunch time was chicken & corn which I had with an egg & cheese mayo sandwich. It could have done with being more cheesy but I was using up the end of a bag of grated I defrosted at the weekend and CBA grating any more:).
Lamb chops are marinating in tandoori spice, yoghurt and lemon juice so just need popping in the oven. Ratatouille is ready to nuke and the greek pita just needs warming. A nice easy meal which I'm glad of as I used more of my "balance ration" than I thought going to the Drs and then cleaning so I'm a tad unsteady on my feet this evening.

Here's to the weather warming up and getting out of hibernation - it can't come soon enough:)

wort

The wind is a howling here now! Just heard a dustbin blow over. My living room is usually the warmest room, but I can feel draughts, I think the wind direction is different to usual.
Not much snow o the ground here in nw England, but that wind is bitter, I've been to work this morning, I wear 7 layers at work, so the walk to work also included my long feather and down coat, shawl type scarf wrapped underneath, hood up and snood made from chunky wool over that , just my glasses were visible.
I was glad to get home it's so cold in work. My heating been on all afternoon. And I've got a blanket on and hot bean bag on my feet.lunch was a gfree prawn thin with garlic mayo.

The silly cats gone out again, I keep telling him to stay in!!!!

I've had gf chicken pie,with sliced potatoes and onions cooked in stock, out of the freezer, and I used up the other half of the mushy peas.
Totally stuffed myself by warming a piece of lemon drizzle cake to have with extra thick cream.

wort

Does anyone else think it's ironic that we are being told to stay indoors etc. Then you turn on the telly and the news reporters and weather people are stood outside on location to tell us that the weather's bad!!!!

moneyistooshorttomention

The 60's - I would have been a teenager still - and feeling very restricted from being brought up somewhat differently to my sibling (on the grounds he was a boy - and I wasn't:eek::eek:). At that point - all 4 of us in the family had "moved up the ladder" to a semi-detached with garden and garage. It was single-glazing back then and my mother wouldnt use the heating enough (courtesy of it took her quite a while to go back to work again and start bringing in some extra income:cool:) - but there was no ice on inside of windows and I remember she did have a twintub washing machine/fitted carpet - but was very resistant to my commenting all my friends had phones in their houses (so we didnt have one). Thankfully - we were down South - as one of the consequences of my mother taking a long while to go back to work again (ie my brother was a teenager before she did so - and then just part-time) was that our bedrooms were unheated. One room in the house was heated (ie the sitting room) and the tv was always on in it. Looking back - we had a degree of "role reversal" in attitudes of my parents. My mother wanted me to "be a 'woman' " and my father wanted me to go to University/get a career/make lots of money - yep my father was the feminist in that household, whilst my mother was about as "unliberated" as they come:rotfl:. Even at that point in time - I could have done with my mother being similar to my father - thinking of the warm house/healthier diet/generally better standard of living we would have had. Never mind the effect thereafter...

PasturesNew

We were in the East, where the winters often came directly from Siberia. Single glazed and we had ice on the inside of the windows in the winter. There was a fire in the living room and that was your lot!

Mum always worked, she saw that as "her money", she didn't like the idea of having to be reliant solely upon somebody else to provide "in case". In her mind dad's role was to pay for the house, bills, food. Her money was to pay for our caravan holiday, clothes and household furniture that she bought with Provident loans. If mum wanted something, such as when we had new blankets for our beds in the late 1960s, then mum wanted to feel able to say "I want those" without having to ask/beg for the money. "I've paid for ... with MY money" was something important to her.

Back then jobs were more "man/full-time" and "women with kids" hours.... so if you were female and wanted to work around school times/holidays I think it was easier back then to do so. Today employers seem to want people on call any/all days at any random hours they rota you into.

Mum had a little job in the local village firm, in the office, typing up credit notes.

caronc

Lady*Muck wrote: »

And ice on the inside of the windows

moneyistooshorttomention wrote: »

The 60's - I would have been a teenager still - and feeling very restricted from being brought up somewhat differently to my sibling (on the grounds he was a boy - and I wasn't:eek::eek:). At that point - all 4 of us in the family had "moved up the ladder" to a semi-detached with garden and garage. It was single-glazing back then and my mother wouldnt use the heating enough (courtesy of it took her quite a while to go back to work again and start bringing in some extra income:cool:) - but there was no ice on inside of windows and I remember she did have a twintub washing machine/fitted carpet - but was very resistant to my commenting all my friends had phones in their houses (so we didnt have one). Thankfully - we were down South - as one of the consequences of my mother taking a long while to go back to work again (ie my brother was a teenager before she did so - and then just part-time) was that our bedrooms were unheated. One room in the house was heated (ie the sitting room) and the tv was always on in it. Looking back - we had a degree of "role reversal" in attitudes of my parents. My mother wanted me to "be a 'woman' " and my father wanted me to go to University/get a career/make lots of money - yep my father was the feminist in that household, whilst my mother was about as "unliberated" as they come:rotfl:. Even at that point in time - I could have done with my mother being similar to my father - thinking of the warm house/healthier diet/generally better standard of living we would have had. Never mind the effect thereafter...

Ice on the inside of the windows, no phone and heating only in the main living room sound very much like my 1970s childhood. Didn't feel hard done by as everyone I knew was the same:). We did have a car though, mainly because my great Aunt stopped driving due to her age/health so we got her old Ford Anglia. Many a happy holiday was had in that:D (2 adults, 3 kids, luggage and a box of groceries all wedged in). The car is still on the go - a local collector bought it for "scrap" from my Dad in the early 80s and restored it. My folks didn't give into central heating until the late 1990s as my Mum thought it was "unhealthy" - yip and a baltic house isn't!!! They never did get double glazing (though could have afforded it, another of my mum's "not healthy" things. My Dad has both now thank goodness:). My Mum loved her twin tub and always said she rued the day she got an automatic as she hated the time it too to wash stuff "waste of good drying weather" was her mantra. No tumble drier so needless to say in wet weather washing took ages to dry on the hanging "maiden" in the kitchen (and tended to smell slightly of dinner:eek:).

halogen

[QUOTE=caronc;73958787

Welcome to the thread halogen, I'd echo what pineapple said re having something quick to eat when you get in and considering freezing HM batch stuff. A banana is quite satisfying and I find a cuppa soup good if I want something hot and very quick. I get the not being able stand for ages so either home made "ready meals" or "something" on toast could be an answer. Would part-cooking or prepping work for you? Most veg once prepare keep ok in sealed/bags in the fridge for a few days, spuds can be par boiled and again either kept in the fridge or frozen so can be done when you have more time. A quick spray with oil and a hot oven for 15/20 minutes and they are done. Baked potatoes can be cooked in batches and again frozen. A quick nuke in the microwave and topped with beans or cheese or whatever makes a quick meal. Some of the supermarket chilled soups are pretty decent and quite often on offer, a plate of soup and sandwich is quick and filling. Don't forget the CFO stand bys of crumpets and fish fingers (not necessarily together:rotfl:).Re self-control not a clue, I'd be a rich (and no doubt thinner) person if I had the answer to that.

[/QUOTE]
Some good udeas in there. Though I don't eat bread as it plays havoc with my IBS. The only carb i do really is instant mash, everything else takes too long for me to be able to wait and end up going and eating something quicker instead. I usually do tuna slag once a week. Tin of tuna, packet of instant mash and maybe a tin of sweetcorn. Add some favouring and hot water. Stir. That's about the extent of my cooking durjng the week! Most things otherwise i eat cold or raw, unless i can microwave it in less than 5 minutes.
I get the cheese and biscuits thing but i usually end up eating the whole packet of cheese.:-).
Once summer kicks in it might be a bit better as i can have salad veg as I know i don't get my 5 a day.