Cooking for one (Mark Three)

dreaming

Can I ask what other single people do about condiments please? Despite living on my own for over 20 years I have never thought about it - just kept opened bottles in the fridge as I'm sure most people do, but they can sit there for quite a while as I don't necessarily use loads. However, my present fridge and freezer (separate under counter ones) are both a bit ropy and I have been looking at smaller 50/50 fridge freezers. I looked at ones of 150 cm height but have an idea to put the microwave on top and free up a bit of worktop and think it would too high to use comfortably. I'm not that tall and have some mobility issues, which is another reson to go for a fridge freezer as I struggle sometimes to reach the back of the undercounter fridge shelves (which is why I have the sauce bottles etc. in a basket). So I have found a couple at 143 cm height which seem to still give a reasonable sizes for both the fridge and freezer compartments. I no longer need full size ones as quite honestly I find myself buying stuff just to fill the freezer up and my fridge looks bare most of the time. It's usually just cheese, butter,a few fresh veg. (although I tend to use frozen) - and whatever I have taken out of the freezer to defrost. But then I have a the basket of opened sauce bottles - ketchup, brown sauce, barbecque, mayo, pesto plus 2 or 3 jars of chutney which seems to take up most of one shelf. I realised that the smaller size fridge I want may end up being taken over entirely by sauces, even though I always buy the smallest bottles available. I'm not sure they would all fit in the door shelves.  I did try using  the sachets (bought in bulk off the internet) which I could store in the cupboard but I wondered if there is another solution as I'm not sure how cost effective the sachets are? Apologies if this has been covered before but I have never seen anyone disuss this. I guess I could just stop using the sauces entirely but they are nice to have sometimes.

justkeepswimmimg

Re. condiments, @dreaming, I have tried to minimise what I use now I have a smaller fridge but it helps that I don’t really use ketchup/brown sauce. I often have redcurrant jelly as it goes with multiple roast meats plus works as chutney with cheese. Pesto can be frozen in small pots of individual servings.

Very cold here today with snow this morning. Had a short walk at lunchtime to get a couple of bits from M&S f@dreaming

Scrambled eggs and avocado on toasted bagel for lunch. Chinese pork shoulder steak with stir fried veg and noodles tonight. I cooked two pork steaks so LO one will appear tomorrow 🙃

Brambling

I do keep small bottles of tomato and brown sauce in my cupboard and they last months as I don't eat much of it but somethings like bacon or scrambled eggs need it 🙂 Sometimes I menu plan so if I buy a small jar of something I can use it up within the week or ten days.  Definitely a disadvantage of cooking for one is buying smaller jars or bottles even if they work out more expenses per 100g. I can live without fruit on meat but I do like horseradish, chilli jam or tartar sauce. I make my own sauces when cooking so keep gherkins, capers, anchovies in my cupboard and herbs in my kitchen window.

We had a snow storm this morning but as it followed rain then sleet even the big flakes didn't settle, his lordship was not impressed but nor was I when he wanted to sit in the open doorway and watch.  He does have both a cat flap and a litter tray so I wasn't being mean 🙂. I popped out for a hour at 7pm and it was very cold so I'm assuming a frost tomorrow. Pictures on Petworth FB shows the snow did settle for a bit, we often get sheltered by the Downs here.

I forgot I had a 'quiche' left in the fridge unfortunately the base was soggy so I picked a little then had cheese and crackers instead.

Stirred fry some tofu for dinner with some vegetables and noodles. 

dreaming

@Brambling - thanks. I was considering how often I use them and whether to just reduce what I keep in, or maybe go back to using sachets. I'm still pondering as I need to have a kitchen unit and the worktop moved to accommodate a fridge freezer and finding a decent handyman to do a small job is difficult I find.

caronc

Good morning, 
I love my condiments but have really scaled back how many I have on the go but they still take up a large chunk of my fridge never mind the oils, vinegars etc. in tubs on the counter. I tend these days to have more of as basic line and add to it myself rather than say have various flavoured mayos on the go. 
Cold and dry here. I'm CFO for a couple of days as DS2 is off to Newcastle until Saturday. My sis is popping round soon for a cuppa and apart from that I'm for a pottering about couple of days. LO pasta with spinach salad for lunch. Savoury mince with loads of veg through it, savoy cabbage and tatties for dinner.

Farway

Blue sky & sunshine after yesterday's snow, which never settled, frosty though & bitterly cold

caronc said:

I love my condiments but have really scaled back how many I have on the go but they still take up a large chunk of my fridge never mind the oils, vinegars etc. in tubs on the counter. I tend these days to have more of as basic line and add to it myself rather than say have various flavoured mayos on the go. 

Snap, loads of half opened sauces, pickles etc on top shelf of fridge, as caron, a basic line, nothing exotic or "fancy" 

Made a smoked mackerel pate earlier, ready for lunch, horseradish from the half opened jar in fridge 

Also fresh loaf in the BM 

Lunch, smoked mackerel pate + salad bits sandwich

Dinner, the remainder of the smoked mackerel, plus boiled new spuds + salad

Wednesday2000

I have a small fridge so I only keep condiments I use a lot like tomato ketchup, balsamic glaze, apple cider vinegar and usually a jar of mayo, at the moment I have burger mayo.

I had a sandwich this morning and I might just have some fruit or a smoothie as I'm eating out late afternoon. I have had tea too as it is chilly. I had mint tea this morning and now I'm having green tea.

dreaming

Thanks for your thoughts everyone. I am reconsidering a few of my shopping/eating habits, not just condiments. Since being ill a couple of years ago I can no longer drive so rely on grocery deliveries so stock up on basics (to reduce the delivery charges to once a month) and still seem to think I am cooking for a family . In fact I rarely cook for more than just 2 (occasionally) now, and although I hardly ever waste food, I always seem to have loads of stuff in the cupboards as well as the freezer (not so much the fridge - see earlier post) but often feel I have nothing I want to eat. It doesn't help that I am a bit restricted in what I eat (partly by my conditon but partly I'm just a bit faddy). More thinking/planning/eating down the cupboards as well as the exhausting search for a handyman. Thankyou all,

Need2bthrifty

Another day for staying home; a good amount of snow fell overnight and there’s quite a few road and school closures. But the wind chill is so nasty with the “feels like temp” -4c at the moment going down to -8c overnight, I’m at the point where I’m thinking I don't care how much it costs I will be warm.

Grilled cheese on toast for lunch.

I’ve got the SC on the go (it adds extra heat in the kitchen ) with a sweet and sour chicken for tonight.

Dreaming, I’m living without a fridge at the moment and am thinking I will never buy an under-counter sized fridge again. I keep most condiments in a cupboard but freeze individual portions of things like pesto and other foodstuffs that tend to have a short shelf life once opened. Even milk gets frozen in ice cube bags and small containers.

dreaming

Need2bthrifty, It's taken me ages to work out what size f/f I want, I don't want to go too small on the freezer as I do batch cook and use frozen veg. plus bread and a couple of pints of milk in winter, so I ruled out the sort with just a small freezer compartment on top of a normal size fridge. I also don't want to go too small in the fridge bit (e.g. a table top size) but equally don't need a full size one so I have narrowed it down to a 50/50 split f/f  around 143 cm high. This means I can put the microwave on top (and still reach) thus freeing up a little bit of worktop space - although I will need to have about 20 cm of worktop removed to fit it in. There's actually a very limited choice which I find surprising as I thought single person households were increasing. I found it hard to visualise "my" food in a the compartments even when looking at them in a shop. My daughter suggested we bring a bottle of sauce to see if it would fit upright . My washing machine is also on it's last legs so my brain is completely frazzled looking at those as well. To be honest I keep giving up comparing models and going to read a magazine instead.