Cooking for one (Mark Three)

Farway

Dull & windy day, time to not do much except drink tea & maybe eat the occasional doughnut, the pack did make it through the night but is unlikely to see another dawn

Lunch, I'm going to use up the last of the ham in a salady sarnie

Dinner, using the date method of choosing from my replenished MFO RMs tonight it's the turn of Sweet & Sour chicken with egg fried rice.

PasturesNew said:

I saw a Pukka pies advert on the telly earlier, first time I've ever known them to advertise. 
They're not as good as they used to be.... the base pastry used to be more 'doughy', there were more chicken chunks and the white sauce was thicker.

When I used to buy one from a chippy I'd sit in the car and slice the top off with the wooden forks... then pick that up and eat it.  I'd then spear the chips and use the chips to dip into the chicken/sauce and scoop it all out. Once all the filling had gone I'd use two wooden forks to tear the pie case into about 3 pieces and eat them all. 

Agree, gone the way of FB, which is why I opted for the Veggie ones, they seem to be OK so far. Or at least the best of a bad bunch

No doubt with veggies being cheaper than meat the flexibility in manufacture is there if needed

I think veggie version is quite popular because even when I was going into shops it seemed to be the one OOS more often than not, and at least hopefully there will be no mystery chewy bits

Just checked & they do a Vegan one as well but I've not seen that about.

I may try one if I see one, the Linda McM pies are nice but pricey

PasturesNew

Farway said:

Dinner, using the date method of choosing from my replenished MFO RMs tonight it's the turn of Sweet & Sour chicken with egg fried rice.

The OOD warehouse was showing off some HUGE bottles of sauces yesterday, clearly catering ones, by Knorr. 
I did spot the s/s and wondered if it tastes like ready meal s/s or whether it was the same as chinese takeaway.  I know the answer, if I tried it, would be it's like RM versions (which are nothing at all like proper chinese) though. 
They have 3-4 of the Knorr, e.g. sweet/sour, katsu curry, BBQ.... priced at "2 for £2".  Look online and these tend to retail at £10 each. They are concentrated, so makes 2.2 litres. 
  
They also have Bisto bechamel, it's a large cube box of about 10" cubed - if I had my own house I'd be buying that, just for ease  £2 for 950grams. Full RRP is £10.  It looks like something you open once then use, so 1Kg of sauce is a big commitment (although it'd make lasagnes and mac cheese, you still have to use/cook it, then get round to eating it -or- that bugbear "freeze it").
.  

Approved Foods: I would remind people about approved foods, if you've not got access to an actual OOD place.  While looking up what these were/prices etc I saw they had been sold (out of stock now) on approved foods at some point, for these prices.... and approved foods sells them in smaller quantities. e.g. the Knorr, whereas my price is "2 for £2", AF were selling a single jar at 99p. 
AF delivery prices aren't mad either. 1 box up to 25Kg = £3, not too shabby when you compare it to the time/cost of even me driving to a local OOD warehouse.  

caronc

Good afternoon everyone
I'm seeing lots of "catering size" stuff turning up in OOD places etc. and even some SMs, I suspect COVID's impact on restaurants is having a knock on with suppliers.
It was very stormy overnight but although still windy it has dried up a bit now, blooming cold though. Before the rain came yesterday my sis popped over with new pooch, he really is a sweetheart and seemed very taken with my younger son.   
BLT for lunch and steak dinner tonight.

PasturesNew

caronc said:

I'm seeing lots of "catering size" stuff turning up in OOD places etc. and even some SMs, I suspect COVID's impact on restaurants is having a knock on with suppliers.

For me, I was surprised to think that caterers would use ready made things.  I'd have expected them to knock up a bechamel sauce from scratch to start with, even if they then froze/wrapped/distributed meals.  I know a lot of pubs etc do buy in meals (especially desserts), but I'd have certainly expected that meals started off with a big saucepan and not a pair of scissors!

The OOD this week are also selling two flavours of Knorr ready made soups - huge, sealed, see-through, plastic sleeves of soup.  They're about 6" wide and 15" tall and you can see all the soup in there, loose... literally just a pair of scissors, pour it into a jug, then nuke a bowl full on demand if ordered.  

Farway

PN No surprise about catering to me, maybe years ago but these days except for the really posh places it's minimum wage staff in the main

Plus many of the consumers wouldn't be able to tell the difference anyway, and I include me in that

I realised this way back when I was working away, one hotel said they'd run out of scrambled eggs, but I could have fried

Took a moment for me to to realise they'd run out of egg powder and obviously no one had the nous, skill or more likely, the interest,  to transform an egg into scrambled

I always tried to buck the system by asking for kippers or poached eggs for breakfast

Thanks for AF reminder, but every time I've looked there was nothing for me, bit like the "Special Offer" leaflets I get though my door

I'll have another look right now, just in case

PasturesNew

I've got a bunch of AF things to cook if/when I ever get one.  Just reminders, not recipes... just reminders and thoughts of what I could stick in it.  I use a database for these things, so can see I've tagged 134 things as AF originated ideas. 

In the main, of course, it's "just an oven + fryer", so no recipes are needed, it's just a question of reducing temperature and timings... but I'd do things "by eye" in the main as I know what food looks like and I know how it looks once I fancy it.  

Sometimes though, there might be things that'd be far too boring/long-waiting to do in an oven, that I can spot can be knocked out in 15 in an AF, which is why I've kept the ideas list really. 

For the record, allegedly, a FB pie takes 15 minutes at 200.... of course, one still has to time it in one's own AF on the day and note if that's a true timing.  And giant Yorkies should take about 15 minutes, so they're a bit quicker too. 

Sausage rolls, to, would be about 15 minutes, so just a speed bonus.

The AF is a speed bonus machine.... more than anything else.  Chips and sausages will be high on the list if/when I get one.   Egg fried rice is planned to be a favourite.  Toad in the hole, of course.  Roast spuds will be high on the list too.  And pies/quiche. That's pretty much my initial top of list. 

There are times when it's just not worth it, or CBA, for some simple things.  e.g. I love cheese/potato pie.... usually I'll make cheesy mash and leave it at that because it's then 'ridiculous' to transfer that to another pot, turn on the oven (even the toaster one) and stand, staring at it, for as long as I can bear, just to get a cheesy brown topping on it.  Yes it's much better grilled/browned and cheesy, but I do have to stand and wait for any appliance + I don't usually heat my kitchen.... so it's always just "no point, might as well just have this" and leave it at cheesy mash.  

Ditto for bothering to make/brown/grill any shepherd's pie.  I just plonk mince stuff beside mash on the plate and call it a day. Why extend that cooking time by all those extra minutes?  An AF will shave off enough time for me to bother more often. 

candygirl

Hi guys , long time no post 😋
Have been to a new food discount shop today, n got all sorts of slightly misshapen pizzas, pasties, samosas etc, all for £13!! My freezer's full now!
Having a veggie pizza for tea, whilst watching Strictly 😘

Brambling

A lot of breweries provide prepared food for their pubs which all seem to have the same menus, I once stood behind someone asking for no gravy on the Sunday roast who was told sorry the meat comes in a bag sliced with the gravy.  

My sister goes back tomorrow so i cooked a family meal tonight for her and my sister and nephew who live locally.  Nothing grand just roast chicken with four veg and Bakewell tart with custard and fresh raspberries.  Not sure I was happy at my sister voicing surprise as how light my Bakewell was 🙄

We went into town this morning before the heavy rain via my sister who fed us my nephew's HM chocolate cookies and borrowed my 'gardener' to prune her raspberries 😁 lunch was a cheese scone in M&S cafe.

PasturesNew

candygirl said:

....n got all sorts of slightly misshapen pizzas, pasties, samosas etc, all for £13!! My freezer's full now!

ooooh that'd be a dream... an OOD for bakery items!  You lucky thing!  Although, right now, I'd not be able to use a "case of X" of them, to be fair. 

Maybe I should google for similar in my area, although, for food production, I'd take a stab at your location being in the Midlands.  I've a sibling who lives in the Kettering/Northampton area and there always seemed to be vast swathes of discount warehouses, returned goods, factory wholesale sales etc going on.  About 30 years ago a well known plastics factory had a "sale by weight" event and you went round picking out bowls, drainers, bins, etc (mostly kitchenware) and you paid based on weight. 

PasturesNew

I've accidentally what could be termed a security flaw on Mr T's website. 
I'm logged into chrome on my PC, I never have to log in, I must be auto-logged in... and I save passwords to it. 
I've just been to the Mr T site to try to sign up for a clubcard as that's how they appear to be doing all their specials/discounts now *sighs*... so I went to there and had a choice of Sign In, or Register.  Out of interest I clicked "Sign in" and it auto-filled with my email and a hidden password, clicked to log in and it said it wasn't valid.  There was an option for "forgot password" there, but, as the email address it was showing is one I don't use/log onto it'd be a pain... I think it forwards to my gmail, but CBA.  

So I decided to re-register (as I've not bothered with Tesco/clubcard etc for >10 years) and clicked Register.  It auto-filled my older details ... and, beside the password box, was a button for "show", so I clicked that and it showed my (failed) password.  

Security risk would be superlow for this, but it exists as that old password could be a single password used for everything else .... but the point is, it exists. 

I am now wondering what's on that old account, so will actually click the "forgot password" and see if there are any points or something lurking in the account I've long left behind.... and, if it forwards to my gmail and I get in I can then change my email and address.

EDIT: No, that didn't work, it says I'm not registered under that old email.

EDIT2: Registered.  There was a button to get a card/keyfob that I pressed and it's on its way, takes 7-10 days.