Cooking for one (Mark Three)

caronc

Good morning everyone,
Chaos rules! The heating folk arrived just after 7.30am and I'm now holed up in the dining room to keep out of the way. I have my laptop, tea making stuff, my kindle and a packed lunch so hopefully the time will pass fairly quickly. They are aiming for it to be a one day job but may be here until late to get it done. Dinner is tbc - probably pizza or breaded haddock.

Farway

Morning all, at least it's under way Caron and not left wondering if or when they'll turn up, hope it goes well

Bright & sunny again, it's very pleasant in the sun & sheltered, the first BBQ of the year yesterday by neighbours a couple of doors down, not complaining, nice neighbours and he volunteered unasked during lock down to collect my prescription & shopping

Not much planned for today, more watering the front pots, it's so dry

Lunch, thinking of pate sarnie maybe?

Dinner, the very last of the LO roast chicken, this time with salad, yesterday LO chicken was with steamed veg, very underwhelming & forgettable

caronc

Good evening everyone, 
Phew it's been a tiring day but boiler, radiators, new linked smoke alarms and an additional carbon monoxide detector all fitted by mid afternoon with only one hitch with a damaged radiator which they managed to get replaced mid morning. Nice and tidy workers but inevitable dust and mucky floors. Tackled the worst of the muck but the putting back to rights will be done over a few days. Just need to fathom out the timer etc. 
AF breaded haddock, baked spud, peas and green beans for dinner. A glass of red while catching up on "Line of Duty" sounds very tempting. 

Brambling

That's very impressive Caronc  I bet you're glad it's all done

 
Another sunny day here which is annoying when you have to work 😐 not that I'm wishing bad weather on anyone 🙂. I'm not sure why because it's warm but my knee has decided to play up   usual joint stuff and will go when it's ready to, hopefully the other knee won't come out in sympathy 

w8itrose delivery arrived with no subs or missing items, I just need to work out what to do with the large chicken it seemed a good idea as it was on offer half price it's a cook in the bag one and I'm not sure whether to open the bag and cut it in two and freeze separately so it's CFO or freeze whole for the next time my sister and nephew come for dinner.  I'll think overnight before I make a decision 🙂


Lunch was a chicken salad, I cooked some thighs when the oven was on for the beef.  Dinner was a beef and vegetable stir fry with plenty of garlic, chilli and ginger using LO beef from yesterday. I need to thing about either a LO roast dinner tomorrow night or I'm toying with the idea of cauliflower cheese with the beef, it depends on what time work finishes and if I CBA to. Are the cheese sauce

Any ideas what to do with half a bag of bean sprouts?

Farway

Another sunny morning, all plants moved out in the sun hardening off ready for May planting

Brambling, hope the chicken sorted itself, I tend to cook in bag then portion the cooked chicken up, hence my LO chicken meals over the last few days

caronc said:

Good evening everyone, 
Phew it's been a tiring day but boiler, radiators, new linked smoke alarms and an additional carbon monoxide detector all fitted by mid afternoon with only one hitch with a damaged radiator which they managed to get replaced mid morning. Nice and tidy workers but inevitable dust and mucky floors. Tackled the worst of the muck but the putting back to rights will be done over a few days. Just need to fathom out the timer etc.   

That's good it's over so quickly, timers can be tricky, especially now it's Summer Time, I have to scuttle down stairs to over ride it should I get up earlier

I'm mulling over getting a clever remote one fitted at next boiler service, mumble "turn heating on" from my bed and bingo, job done

caronc said:

A glass of red while catching up on "Line of Duty" sounds very tempting. 

I think a bottle would be better, it's lost me and I'm thoroughly confused now

Taken some sausages out to defrost, they've been lurking since June 2020 so time to use up, plus lack of ideas

Lunch will be sausage sarnie

Dinner, bangers, mash & open a tin of beans

The mash is because I've surplus of spuds now and they'll need to go to Specsavers unless I use them quickly

caronc

Good morning everyone, 
I'm just about coping with "Line of Duty" Farway, I'm enjoying how it's linking to previous plots and characters but it's definitely not one to semi-snooze to or nip to make a cuppa without pausing it lol.

Chap from the Warmer Home Scheme phoned first thing to ask if I was happy the install and could he come to do the post-install check today while he was in the area and get the job fully signed off. While government schemes don't always get the best reputation, I have to say I've been really impressed from day one. I think the fact they use smaller firms all over the country who rely on their reputation probably helps. 

It was raining quite heavily first thing but it's dried up a bit now, just grey and damp. When I got up next door's cat was waiting on the deck to get in, he was not all impressed that "his" chair wasn't where it usually is, complained very loudly and stalked off.     
Sarnie or toastie for lunch and dinner is tbc, I'll see what I cba making later on but probably a chicken & veg tray bake of some description.
Right need I another cuppa before I tackled re-filling the under sink cupboard!

justkeepswimmimg

Good evening everyone 

I am really enjoying LOD but, yes definitely one to fully concentrate on!

Was with my support bubble at the weekend so first lunch out for ages yesterday and then was sent home with something for my tea 😊

Office day today so lunch was a tuna and sweet corn filled pitta bread with some cherry tomatoes. Just made bubble and squeak potato cake with crispy bacon and poached egg.

Baptiste for me tonight as I can’t binge LOD 😂

Brambling

The whole chicken got put in the freezer although I think it's too big for CFO  the smaller ones I usually buy do me four or five meals plus soup so I'll probably save it until I next invite my sister and nephew for a roast

Another blah work day but at least my knee is a little less painful, I'm still coming downstairs one at a time but going up the proper way 🙂

lunch was another chicken salad with some HM coleslaw and potato salad. Dinner was LO beef and vegetables so a nice and easy pinged mini roast I skipped the potatoes as there was plenty of LO veg.  There is one more portion of beef left for tomorrow dinner just not sure what I'll do with it yet 🤔

FrankieM

Hi

I've been reading back trying to get a few ideas of how best to cook for one person.

I could do with some pointers cause how I've been doing it isn't really working for me anymore!

I used to cook for a family of 6 so thought I would continue doing that and just portion and freeze but, to be quite honest, I don't really want 4 or 5 portions of things in the freezer. I think with everything that's going on, I'm requiring a little more variety in my diet than that offers.

How do you guys manage it? Or do you find you eat a lot of the same meals? And I do I get it to not cost me a fortune?

Farway

Hi Frankie, as you're finding CFO can be awkward because shopping packs etc are not geared for just one, on the plus side of course as a "one" there are no set meals, so cold pizza for breakfast or a sarnie for dinner is perfectly acceptable if that is all you fancy or require

Repetition is a factor at times, buy a cauliflower and you have it for life, or so it can seem

Pre Covid days a lot of my CFO was find reduced items and use that as basis for meals, because with CFO you choose what to eat & cook, so YS ham for instance is dinner that day

I think flexibility is the key with CFO, and a freezer, or two

Sun's out again, another ciabatta in the Panny which may be lunch sarnie, cheese & pickle sounds about right

I'm defrosting a salmon fillet, pan fried in EVO plus salad, with HM AF chips

last night's bangers & mash was good, plenty of LO mash and a corned beef hash is pencilled in sometime soon