Cooking for one (Mark Three)

caronc

Good afternoon everyone, 
Welcome to CFO Frankie, your dilemma is what prompted me to launch the topic here a few years ago. I'd second Farway's suggestions especially around as much freezer space as you can afford/house. I do still batch cook but as you've found the surplus can involve a lot repetitive eating, fine if you don't mind that but wearying if you do. I'm fine having pretty much the same thing for lunch so still make big pots of soup, use some for lunches for a few days then portion and freeze what's left. Then every few weeks I'll not make a batch and use up what's there. I do like stews etc. and still cook them but mix it up with stand alone things like stir fries, chicken thighs, fish, eggs and pork steaks where leftovers are minimal or easily used up the next day for lunch. For example yesterday for dinner I roasted a couple of chicken thighs, baby spuds, courgette and red pepper for dinner. I used  two peppers and large courgette so there's veg and half a chicken thigh leftover. Lunch today will be a roll filled with the veg and chicken mixed with a splodge of spicy mayo. 
I do still bulk buy meat or buy a whole chicken but portion it before freezing into CFO friendly sizes that way I'm not paying over the odds by buying smaller packs. Mince etc. I tend to freeze in 200-250g amounts which is enough for 2 or three portions of something be it burgers, ragu or cottage pie but gives a bit of choice. I'll cook a big batch of tomato sauce or mash and freeze it in small 1/2 or 1 cup portions, I save plastic tubs from cheese spread etc. to use for this so again I'm not stuck with a huge amount of something and can defrost as much or as little as I need for a meal. I don't have a huge budget for food per week but treat it as an annual amount so sometimes I spend more and sometimes a lot less so it works over the year. For me including drinks (not alcohol), basic cleaning and toiletries I allow £30 per week and I feel I eat very well on this. I could do it for less if I needed but this works for me. My son has been here due to COVID and we've been doing on well on £50-55 per week but he does buy his own toiletries etc. 

I had a bit of a disaster yesterday, the boiler guys hadn't put one of the kitchen shelves back up properly (I should have checked) and it fell off just as I was re-filling it!! Carnage and few breakages but nothing of any great monetary or sentimental importance. I did get a right fright as I was in front of it when it went but thankfully it missed me as it weighs a ton. My son will put it back properly when he's back later in the week. Despite that setback the place is more or less back to rights, just need to have a good hoover, dust and mop through. 

Noticed this morning that I have a tiny Tigrella seedling , it's come though several weeks after the rest some of which will need re-potted soon. Still only one cucumber though so I'll need to sow some more. 

Dinner is tbc probably spaghetti with the last of a bag of IKEA meatballs and some HM tomato sauce.

Brambling

Hi Frankie 👋 I think Farway and Caronc have covered it 🙂 I just regret not buying my second freezer earlier it was great for surplus garden produce last year and as it's a small black chest freezer I've been able to hide it in the dining room with a throw over it.  I do end up repeating for example this week I cooked a small piece of beef which ended up roast of Sunday, stirfry with veg Monday, LO roast dinner Tuesday minus roast potatoes and parsnip and tonight cold.  I do try a make changes if I don't freeze LOs spaghetti bolognese one day and LO sauce on a jacket spud another day.  The other thing I will say is if the oven is on try and fill it cooking for another day.  

Between two four hour meetings I got about 45 mins of gardening done, nothing too heavy just some gentle pottering, but lovely to get outside.  I planted courgette and cucumber seeds tonight although a phone call could mean a oops moment as I didn't label before the phone went.  Some are for my sister so could be interesting.  I'm trying a mini cucumber called goblin as well as the small ridge one I planted last year plus some bush courgettes which should take up less room I was given some round ones 'eight ball' so I'll give them a try with the midnight ones I brought.  I don't think I'll plant pumpkin or patty pans this year I'll use the space for something I prefer.  

Lunch was a quick chicken salad sandwich using the last of the chicken thighs, I didn't want to come in from the garden.  Dinner was the last of the beef, cold with LO new potatoes chipped in the AF and some broad beans and peas 

justkeepswimmimg

Welcome Frankie! As the others have said CFO involves lots of freezing, recycling main elements and for me, being organised and creative so that I use things up rather than waste. I lived without a freezer for 3 years 😦 so there was a lot of “rinse and repeat”, mind you that was in the pre-COVID days when popping to Waitrose was a nice trip out so frequent shopping was a solution too...

Lunch was quiche (portion of a large one from the freezer) and baked beans. Tonight I made pork and black bean tacos 😋. Pork was leftover roast in the freezer, black beans were half a tin I had frozen and tortillas were also from the freezer. Are you noticing a theme? 😂

FrankieM

Thank you for the tips. They are pretty much what I thought...make slightly smaller batches of things like bolognaise etc, get used to eating the same kind of thing and freeze, freeze, freeze!

I think I may also need to expect to spend a bit more. I was trying to do all groceries on £100 a month and I just don't think that's attainable - please correct me if I'm wrong!

I've bought a few Too Good To Go bags that I will be collecting today. I'm looking forward to seeing what's in them and if they are good enough value to get again.

Today is also the day That Aldi change their meat & veg Super 6, so I'll be looking on the app to see if there's anything worth getting.

I think I might need a larger or second freezer!

FrankieM

Sorry...another quick question...

Do you meal plan or just eat what you fancy/need to use up on the day?

Farway

Another sunny but cool start for the day but the wind seems t have dropped since I got up

I was up a bit earlier than usual, blooming fox yelping woke me and I never really dropped off again

FrankieM said:

I think I may also need to expect to spend a bit more. I was trying to do all groceries on £100 a month and I just don't think that's attainable - please correct me if I'm wrong!


I think I might need a larger or second freezer!

I've just done some sums, mine worked out around £125 a month for last 12 months but lots of items are bunged under that "grocery" label being Covid year, such as loo rolls, detergents, delivery charges, carrier bags, tin foil, bin liners etc, all the stuff from a supermarket delivery. No booze in there though

And it includes some posh [expensive] free range meat bulk buys a couple of times at around £75 each, plus for about three months if you recall beggars could not be choosers with the panic buying

I suspect if out shopping for yourself & NOT getting deliveries it can be done for around £100 a month averaged over the year

A second for a second freezer, another plus of CFO, only yourself to please where you put the second freezer

Food for today, a sarnie for lunch time, not sure of the filling yet

Dinner, toying with using up the LO mash in some sort of hash, but could just pop a CBA frozen pizza in [from second freezer ]

Wednesday2000

I had cereal with almond milk and a banana for breakfast.


I fancied having a salad baguette with pickle so I had to go out and buy it just now. It's quite chilly but warm in the sun. My heating was switched off yesterday.

caronc

Good afternoon everyone, 

Frankie, I think it depends on what you include in the £100 if it's doable or not. I spend a similar amount to Farway and could trim this if needed. Food preferences, time, where, how and when you shop all play a part in the cost. If £100 is the most you have or want to spend then yes it's more than possible and many people eat on much less. I'm a "live to eat" person rather vice versa which influences my spends. If you can it's helpful to look at things over a longer period of time and aim for £x per month/week on average. While generally not fussy re brands there are few things where I prefer a certain type. For example I like Kenco de-caff coffee it goes on special offer 3-4 times a year in Tesco where I shop. When on offer I always buy enough to last me until it goes on sale again so I never pay full price. Overall this saves me money over the year and I get the product I like but at the time it eats a chunk of that week/month's budget. I have plenty of storage space though which helps. Due to health issues I rely on online shopping so loose meal planning is helpful for me to make sure I don't run out of essentials or waste things but if you are someone who doesn't mind popping to the shops later in the day and seeing what you can pick up in the reduced section it might not work so well. Trial and error is the way to go to see what type of CFO works best for you. We're a real mix on here so there's no one "right" way.   

Glorious weather here after a frost first thing, one of my friend's brought her gorgeous 17 week old black lab pup round for a garden visit. She's just adorable but my she's "busy" just at that "life is wonderful and needs fully investigated" stage. It was lovely to see my friend so happy again, she had felt a bit lost after losing her elderly retriever at the end of 2019.
Apart from finalising my grocery order later I've not much planned for the rest of day. My son returns tomorrow and on Saturday we are having a garden get together for my DIL-to-be's birthday. I've a large gammon defrosting that was originally bought on special offer in January 2020 with a view to having it Easter 2020 but of course COVID came along and scuppered that. That with lots of different salads should do us nicely and I've promised to make some Coronation Chicken as well as my DIL-to-be adores it.

I ended up just having a tin of ravioli mixed with spinach and peas for dinner last night, my sis popped by while she was walking her pooch and as it was such a lovely evening we sat in the garden for ages nattering over a cuppa. By the time she left I really cba cooking so went for the quickest option I could think of. I might have spaghetti and meatballs tonight instead or make a frittata. 

FrankieM

justkeepswimmimg said:

Lunch was quiche (portion of a large one from the freezer) and baked beans. Tonight I made pork and black bean tacos 😋. Pork was leftover roast in the freezer, black beans were half a tin I had frozen and tortillas were also from the freezer. Are you noticing a theme? 😂

Hi
I wondered how you freeze the tortillas? I find the pack of 8 far too many to get through at once..

caronc

FrankieM said:

justkeepswimmimg said:

Lunch was quiche (portion of a large one from the freezer) and baked beans. Tonight I made pork and black bean tacos 😋. Pork was leftover roast in the freezer, black beans were half a tin I had frozen and tortillas were also from the freezer. Are you noticing a theme? 😂

Hi
I wondered how you freeze the tortillas? I find the pack of 8 far too many to get through at once..

I separate mine with greaseproof paper and freeze flat.