Cooking for one (Mark Three)

Brambling

Farway said:

Frightening energy costs Caron & Brambling, I don't have smart meter but assume my costs will be similar, especially as the CH has clicked on during the night for the last couple of days as temperature has plunged overnight. I'm very glad I bought  a heated throw last January, very cosy under that watching rubbish TV

Mine is coming in approx £1 per hour for heating that's at 18 with both spare bedrooms turned down to the frost symbol. I never have by heating on at night as I can't sleep I prefer to burrow under a extra blanket 

Still suffering from the lurgy and sleep was a little up and down due to coughing and nose blowing although I didn't stay in bed for so long this morning. My peak flow has dropped so I've upped the inhalers 

Ive not been hungry today so I've picked at food without eating a proper meal

Farway

Heavy overnight frost, but it's a beautiful day outside, ideal for well wrapped up walks

My lurgy plods on, eyes still itch & water, plus coughing a bit but generally not feeling too bad with it and scoffing food like it was running out.

Caron, your toms have done well this year, always nice when they last a while.

Bin day today, had to get out & check lid is not frozen shut because message from Council, frozen lid wheelie bins will not be emptied!!  Actually I did have more to bung in there as it happened, and it wasn't frozen either

Finalised my W8rose online delivery for next week, the pre-ordered one, went in and removed the "placeholders" of spirits & turkey, and my personalised offers were dosh off mince pies & Christmas pud, so took that offer up, the pud will be surplus this year, but I'll put it by for 2023. I have a LO 2021 one for this year

Early start on dinner with a beef stew in the slow cooker, ideal weather for it. I used Asda Essentials braising steak chunky diced by me, yet another nice bit of steak requiring minimum fat trimming. I'll add dumplings in later this afternoon

Lunch, maybe a cheese + pickle sarnie ?

caronc

Good morning everyone,
That's similar cost to my heating Brambling and it soon ramps up!
Lots of snow round about but none here so far, it has actually nudged above freezing but underfoot is still very icy and slippy. From the local FB page reports there's been a fair fall and few car prangs on black ice this morning. DS2 has warned me not to step off the deck!
After a couple of rough days his lurgy is easing. LFTs negative so looks as though just another nasty bug, my cold drips on....
Tesco due soon and then it's a day of voluntary admin. I'm hoping get everything I need to do for that this year done and dusted by tomorrow evening and then I can get organised for Christmas. DS2 finishes up today until the new year.
Chicken casserole was excellent, just as well as huge one as I bunged in lots of lurking fridge bits so lots of LOs. Some will be had for lunch and I'll freeze the rest. Dinner tbc, DS2 fancies something spicy so we might get or cook a curry. 

justkeepswimmimg

No smart meter here so I have the excitement of waiting for the bill after reading m6 meters 😬

Still cold here, wrapped up but had the heating low to take the chill off during my wfh day. Definitely feels a bit more pleasant this evening (not worrying about bill until after Christmas). Popped out to the post office at lunchtime, absolutely gorgeous day 🌞

Avocado and scrambled eggs on toasted sourdough for lunch. Made chorizo and chickpea stew tonight, served with broccoli and toasted pitta.

Very glad it’s Friday. Looking forward to a chilled weekend, need to do the tree and all the wrapping 🎄

Brambling

I'm still feeling sorry for myself 🤧😐 I coughed so much during the night that it now hurts I'm assuming  I've strained muscles   I did lay in bed wondering on the strange noise and realised it was me wheezing 🙄 the boss and I crossed texts this morning him saying it's quiet have another day off so I didn't feel guilty in saying I needed another day    However I did get dressed today 

my sister popped some milk around this morning to save me going out and I forgot to give her my Christmas cards to post (some have second class stamps so I'll blame the strike when they arrive late) I left it until 3.30pm to go out but still had to clear the car so not a good idea in the cold (don't tell my sister ) it did make me feel ill and made me realise i hadn't eaten much over the last few days so I'm hoping that why I felt a little spacey 

I had a bowl of porridge about 11am with a banana and some blueberries. When I came back in at 4pm I had a couple of pieces of toast.  A late dinner was toast with marmalade.  Tomorrow I'll make some soup as I have vegetables sitting in the fridge needing eating  

Farway

Hope you're improved a bit today Brambling, I think it may have leaked over the border, my eyes are still itching, and a cough has started, plus a bit of food despite me being OK before. My slow cooked beef stew was OK but not as nice as before, maybe just my lurgy?

If I don't fancy it tonight, I can see LO in the freezer soon

Now trying hard to think of something appetising & warm for today, I may borrow the scrambled eggs on toast for lunch from JKS

Dinner, LO beef stew if I feel like it, otherwise ????

caronc

Good afternoon everyone,
Hope you feel better soon Brambling and Farway.
Had a rare lie in today and was loathe to get going when I did rouse myself. Lurgy continues to lurk but DS2 is feeling much better. He's definitely had a more fluey bug than I have. 
Above freezing here but the wind is making it feel much colder than it actually is. It's lovely to see the back of the ice.   
DS2 is going to get a Christmas tree today, we like a real tree but just want a small one this year which seem to be much more expensive than standard sized ones so we may end up with a bigger one and just keep our fingers crossed Hector doesn't destroy it. Thankfully he's never shown any sign of leg lifting!
I got all of the voluntary admin done so unless anything urgent comes up next week I can put that away until the New Year. Christmas cleaning now commences and need to finalise my food shop.
LOs for lunch and HM burgers with AF chips and salad for dinner.

justkeepswimmimg

Bored of the cold now, very glad the weather is due to change from tomorrow. Mostly stayed inside today, all the presents are wrapped 🙃

Went into town to run a couple of errands and do sainsburys after lunch, which included the last Christmas bits (oh, except cheese which is a farm shop trip, maybe tomorrow?)

Posh fishfingers and gherkins in pitta bread for lunch. Strictly final tonight so baked Camembert, crusty bread, crudités and artichoke hearts with 🍷 in front of the telly 😉

Brambling

I was happy with the strictly results 😁 although I did like Helen as well 

I needed to go into town to pick up a order from M&S and return a jumper (people should not admire something before Christmas and then go back and treat themselves 😡🙄)  I needed to clear the last couple of small presents so foolishly only put a hour on the car park   not a good idea even at 3pm it was busy and it seems m&s have a glitch on their system which meant they were emailing people to collect orders but weren't sending them 🙄 they offered to reorder but would be 30th and they would need to call someone?  it started to get complicated.  Eventually a supervisor came over and said if you don't collect after a week we will give you a automatic refund up to 5 days later. So basically by not collecting a parcel they haven't sent by Wednesday they'll refund me! I did feel sorry for the two girls trying to help me.  By the time I got a few bits of food and queued I just got back to the car in time with out my presents. I'm working all next week and refuse to shop Christmas Eve so I rethought gifts and finished my shopping via Amazon 🙄

Still not that hungry so lunch was toast and dinner jacket potato with cheese and HM coleslaw using the last of my red cabbage.  i noticed today you can buy ready shredded raw red cabbage in M&S at £1.25 a bag 😬 it looked quite chunky and was drying out, at that money I'll stick with buying a whole one and using my slicer. I know some people buy pre chopped as they have difficulties chopping it but i eavesdrop on a couple putting three bags in their basket as it would save time I think if that was the case I would be tempted to buy it cooked or to make in advance 

Farway

Frost free this morning, but very dark & gloomy with rain on the way from West, could come down as snow first allegedly, something to do with weather fronts. Looking out, snow would not surprise me, looks like that

I woke this morning and suddenly realised it’s Christmas next weekend, nothing wrapped of course but at least the cards have been posted even if they won't get there I have done my bit. I've not received any cards yet, the only post so far is from the Water company, Farway No Mates!

My lurgy comes & goes, eyes still itch, nose still drips, cough still coughing and food is odd, not hungry for good nourishing food, but biscuits and greasy spoon café food is fine, with a fry up for breakfast this morning. Made an overnight loaf in the Panny, so lunch will feature that, but maybe just bread & jam?

Dinner, I still have LO beef stew but don't fancy that, could be Bread & Jam version 2.0