Cooking for one (Mark Three)

meg72

PasturesNew wrote: »

I used to always have copious amounts of free plastic bags.... my life was over-run with them and everything was "in a bag round here somewhere"... I'd use/re-use those plastic bags for all sorts of things and never took my own out.

When they said you'd have to pay for them I was horrified as my life relied upon free bags on demand

Then somebody gifted me a bunch of food from their cupboard during a clear-out and popped it into a 40p Sainsbobs orange Bag for Life... and I fell in love with them.... I discovered 4ldi do a whole variety of different colours/designs and became "addicted" to them to start sorting out stuff around the house. I use them for holding/storing all sorts of things at home, they're a handy size to picking up and moving about.

I now always have one in my bag when I leave the house to go food shopping, folded into quarters.... but if I'm out and unexpectedly find myself in a shop then I'll only buy what I can carry to the car by hand, or shove in my shoulder bag. I'd rather "go without" than pay 5p for a disposable bag.

The trouble isn't really a planned shopping visit - the problems with carrying shopping come when you unexpectedly are buying in a shop when you didn't expect to ... or you pick up more than you thought you were in there for.

I'd not make my own, as suggested by morsbags, because that's not my lifestyle.... I don't have a sewing machine, nor sewing machine skills, nor the desire to be making bags ... when I can buy sturdy/strong/re-usable cheery ones at just 40p. They suggest you use a bedsheet or an old curtain .... my bedsheets are still being used and I don't yet have curtains for every room Any "old curtains" I ever have will be repurposed as curtains for a window that doesn't have a curtain.

Oh bless PN wished I lived by you I could give you a sackful of curtains. A local CS practically gives them away last one I bought was £4 and contained 5 pair of really good quality, expensive type curtains, two really lovely table clothes. 8 pillow cases and loads of duvet covers towels and sheets. The curtains were much better quality than I had so I swapped two pair that were the right size and used mine to make bags.

I agree some of the Sainsurys and Aldi bags are cheap and cheerful but they are Plastic which I am gradually trying to eliminate.

caronc

Good morning everyone,
I'm a "bring your own bag" kind of girl though I don't make my own! I have a range (too many) of cotton and hessian ones I've gathered over the years that cover most things. My rollator also has it's own bag attached to the frame & a basket which is really handy, I can't think of the last time I bought a bag, it's well before the charges came in:)
Nice and sunny here again so hopefully will get a wee bit more done outside.
I'm looking forward to bacon, eggs and tomatoes for lunch:)

wort

:j happy palm Sunday everyone.
Just back from church where dgson took his first communion. It's a lovely Sunday day again if rather chilly.
I've had a crusty gfree roll with smoked ham and tomato. And a yogurt with a kiwi chopped in.
I've always had bags . I have 2 permanently in my hand bag, they get swapped from bag to bag with my purse and brolly when I change handbags. They take up no space hardly, 1 is an old m and s one yellow with twiggy on it, it's double layered, and holds loads that squishes Back into the integral pocket. The other 1 is a bagu I think, that folds and has a press stud fastener.
I work in a shop and a lot of people do reuse bags/bring their own..

wort

Hmm it might have been an envirosax not baggu. It's strong anyway and nicely coloured.

moneyistooshorttomention

meg72 wrote: »

Just a quick question if I may. I joined Morsbags sometime ago. http://www.morsbags.com/ and have just finished my 25th one. All given to family and friends.

Whilst shopping last week I noted that not many people actually used their own bag but bought the much hated plastic carrier bag. One man in front of me at checkout actually bought 5.

Got me wondering if people don`t like to carry a shopping bag or just forget to take them with them.

I always take my trolley and a couple of extra bags what do you do?

I think that Morsbags idea is a really good one myself. I can certainly find uses for several folding cloth bags easily. I'm not good enough at crafts (trans = I'm blinkin' useless at anything remotely crafty) to make them myself unfortunately.

I don't get it either why people buy plastic bags. I've been refusing them for years when they were offered to me - never mind buying them.

It takes a little "training" oneself to do so initially - but it's certainly easy for a woman to put a fold-up bag in her handbag and therefore always have one with her when required.

Can't speak for men (ie they don't usually have handbags) - but I see no reason why it shouldnt be perfectly feasible to have one in a jacket pocket or trousers pocket or something.

It annoys me when I'm buying what I can reasonably manage to loose at the fruit/veg bit in the supermarket and there's a man (it's always a man to date:cool:) picking up loose bananas at the same time as me and then picking up a plastic bag to put them in! Of course - if anyone looking for those plastic bags in Tesco to bag their stuff up in can't find them in their normal place - I couldn't possibly comment on whether they might have been accidentally on purpose moved;)

If I know I'm going to be shopping - then I've got a bag or bags with me (as well as my fold-up one). I could understand not doing so more in the past - when there didn't seem to be any stylish shopping bags around. It was distinctly offputting to have to take a "granny style shopping bag" or the like with me - because that's all I could find to buy and it probably did look odd to have "my" tight jeans and eye make-up of the time but be having to carry a "granny style bag" with it. But, these days, there are more stylish ones and one could always use a beachbag anyway.

caronc

Gardening plans are scuppered - it's raining:(, just (and no more) got back in the house from a trundle round the block before it started. Much as I love gardening I'm not that dedicated :cool:

moneyistooshorttomention

caronc wrote: »

Gardening plans are scuppered - it's raining:(, just (and no more) got back in the house from a trundle round the block before it started. Much as I love gardening I'm not that dedicated :cool:

Shucks:(

Thankfully - it's spring here today and sunny and even felt positively warm at times as I thought "Right then - walk it is" and headed off and walked to a nearby beach/tried my hand at finding a path-I'd-not-tried-yet and back again.

Is covered in mud - again - courtesy of that untried path. Oh well - I've done my 10,000 steps for the day - as I figure that was about 5.5 miles worth probably.

Now - what's for lunch...think it could be avocado toast, followed by fruit. Probably "bowl food" tonight.

bouicca21

I thought it was going to be a lovely spring day and planned to clean the patio but it's miserable, cold and cloudy, threatening to rain but not quite getting there, so I'm bingeing The Bridge on catch up instead.

Lamb steak, spinach and mange tout peas for late lunch. HM Sweet potato and chorizo soup for supper.

caronc

bouicca21 wrote: »

....so I'm bingeing The Bridge on catch up instead.

Have you been watching Modus?

bouicca21

Rats! I've totally missed that and catchup only has the last 4 episodes.