Cooking for one (Mark Three)

Brambling

Drizzle first thing followed by light rain this afternoon, not very heavy but a deterrent to doing any gardening 😁 so a day for getting indoor jobs done and to finish my book

JKS Not sure how the BBC manages to stretch their introduction episode for so long 😐 I recorded and flicked through quickly over lunch, just to see who's got who


lunch was some LO fruit salad.  I roasted a beef joint for dinner and found some red cabbage and cranberries when I fished it out of the freezer, I was feeling too lazy to make Yorkies so had it with the red cabbage, roast parsnips, HG beans and broccoli. Whilst the oven was on I made ratatouille to make use of the oven being on and to use a large courgette, it will do for lunch as there is LO beef to last a while 

justkeepswimmimg

Wet and miserable here this morning so went and did my food shop and have then pottered at food prep for the next few days plus a bit of ironing. Did dry up later but couldn’t get motivated to start any big DIY tasks, went for a walk in the sun instead.

Lunch was quiche with salad and coleslaw. Made roast loin of pork and new potatoes with chimichurri sauce tonight, served with carrots, green beans and broccoli.

Farway

Yesterday's dull did turn to rain, which meant I got on with stewing some of the apple haul harvest.

I expect freeze a lot of that later today, I have loads of apples left uncooked but will steadily munch my way through them for a bit until they get past it & need cooking PDQ

While rummaging in freezer for sliced mixed peppers for yesterday's omelette thing I found a snack pizza from 2020 which is now defrosting for today's lunch

Dinner today is the LO ham medallion rounds from Iceland, which are actually not too bad if you don't examine the ingredients too closely. I'll have them with fried eggs & HM AF chips, very unadventurous, maybe add some baked beans?

I had an e mail from Asda, they are missing me and want to press a tenner in my paw if I spend over £80 in one hit before the end of Sept.

Not an amount I would normally spend but I just maybe doing that anyway this time having nearly run out of occasional "stuff" like rinse aid, instant coffee, Oxo, Marmite & deodorant, one hitch could be the "Item not Available" which seems to plague them lately and hence me going off to W8rose

One fly in happy ointment is my fixed gas price comes to and end next month, and of course it is going up in price , just have to eat less sirloin I guess

caronc

Good morning everyone, 
My plan ends in November Farway but I'm going hang fire for a bit before deciding what to do next to see what happens. Having had a look yesterday at the moment the variable rate is the cheaper option and most seem to be offering 24month fixes rather 12 month ones. 
Roast lamb dinner planned for yesterday ended up getting postponed until today after the DIY DS2 was helping DS1 one ran over and they ended up ordering pizzas to have while they kept on working. Instead I had a steak & haggis pie from the freezer with a baked spud, baked mushrooms and a corn cobette. 
Grey and chilly here today, don't think it will be long before the central heating will be needed for a bit first thing if the temperatures don't perk back up. 
Voluntary admin will keep me occupied this afternoon.
Lunch is going to be oatcakes & pate with salad and grapes.

justkeepswimmimg

Turned into a nice day here but there was a definite nip in the air when I left for the office early this morning.

Lunch was harissa and chickpea couscous salad with coriander, cucumber, cherry tomatoes and flaked almonds. Tonight, I made a traybake of chorizo style sausages, sage, butternut squash, onions and mushrooms, which I turned into a warm salad and served with some more of the chimichurri 😋

Brambling

I'm glad I'm not the only indecisive one today 😐 my power provider informed me they were putting the cost up approx 12% (variable rate) however if I want a two year fix with them it will be a approx 34% increase so i'm really not sure what is for the best. 

My business must be more important than yours for Asda Farway 😁 I only have to spend £60 for a £10 voucher if used by 13th Oct.  I don't need a shop until the end of the month and currently have due to the fore mentioned indecisiveness a ordered for Asda and Waitrose (I MUST remember to cancel one 😁) as previously I'm not sure if I trust Asda not to cancel half of it, but Waitrose seem to have a lot less offers than previous months so definitely more for my money at Asda but I've had to make it up to £60 with marmite, large pack TP etc etc of course I could always go shopping, Lidl put me off slightly on Saturday as I was in the minority wearing a mask 

Easy food day for me lunch ratatouille made yesterday with a sprinkle of feta cheese, dinner was another roast dinner using LOs from yesterday and pinged 

Farway

Sunny start this morning but "looks" a bit chilly out even though I've not sampled it yet

I decided on a 2 year gas fix in the end, but one without a cancellation fee so I can jump ship without penalty if it all changes, my sums show it'll cost £16 extra over two years versus £30 cancellation fee, a bargain, very MSE with a saving of £14 if I change , wasted £16 if I don't , just can't win either way

I see today's ecowheeze is road pricing, again, allowance of 3K miles before it's hand in pocket time. I should get a rebate with my mini mileage but of course it will not work like that

Brambling, good to hear about Lidl and masks, I never ventured into mine because I had an idea your experience would be similar to my Lidl.

Nearly finished my Asda list, more decisions to be made on a delivery day now, plenty of slots but I just need to choose a day and see if baked beans return in stock. I may just start a new list at W8rose as back up

Food today,

Lunch toasted cheese on stale bread toast, with piccalilli

Dinner, more fish, I think I'll defrost a lump of smoked haddock, or maybe cod if I can't find the haddock, with steamed broccoli, mega huge donkey carrot, bit of Savoy cabbage, frozen beans & boiled new spuds

Plus stewed apple for pud if fancied, or cheese & fresh own apple maybe later?

RecoveringAndy

Picked the solitary pumpkin from the garden at the weekend 8kg (17lb 10oz).   Turned that into 4L of soup and I've still got about 3/4 of the pumpkin chopped up in the freezer. I'll probably have to give some away to make a bit of space.

Good timing at Tesco, meant I got some reduced chilli & lime mackerel fillets from the fish counter for about 35p each. 7 of those now in the freezer. Then 10 yellow sticker chicken thighs for £1.50. Those have also gone into the freezer.

Everything is portioned up appropriately. Should be able to get through the next 4 weeks I reckon by just keeping topped up on fresh veg. 

I'm starting to question my use of freezer bags now though. I have bought them from IKEA so they're ok value wise but I get through twice as many now that I portion food up for 1 rather than 2. Reusable options don't look very practical.

caronc

Good morning everyone, 
Hello Andy, that's some size of pumpkin for a CFO. I do wash and re-use freezer bags where practical but have massively reduced my use of them. I have loads of tubs, I save and reuse any from things like spread, any takeaway as well as an assortment of cheap "tupperware" in various sizes. Tesco and I presume the other supermarkets often have offers on these which I've taken advantage of over the years. I find the recycled tubs are usually good for a dozen or so uses before they get brittle and break. 

Yes it hard to know what to do for the best just now Brambling. Who did you go with in the end Farway? All my options seem to involve a fair hike in costs so far Octopus looks like an option purely because there's no exit fees but I'm unsure if they are one of the ones that might go under. I'll continue to scout around but it feels a bit Hobson's choice at the moment. 

Joining you in the smoked haddock department tonight Farway, I'm making a pot of bacon, smoked haddock and corn chowder which we'll have with garlic bread. Autumn is definitely coming.

LO lamb with salad in a wrap for lunch.

greenbee

Primrose - I wash and reuse plastic bags for the freezer. The Ikea ones are particularly good for it as they're pretty robust.