Cooking for one (Mark Three)

Novice_investor101

Evening, all! I hope everyone has had a good day?

Well, I failed at doing any CFO today - lunch was a supermarket sandwich meal deal at work & tea has just been a Mr T chicken jalfrezi curry for one ready meal jobbie. HP at £1.75 in Mr T (I went in after work for bread & milk).
My latest trick when I "pop in" to a large supermarket for a few bits is to not take a trolley or pick up a basket - then I can't carry much.

Have to say, the curry is quite nice, lots of chunky chicken, rice, Bombay potatoes & an onion bhajhi. Definitely a treat tho.

I also looked at sharwoods curry paste jars to see if it was as easy as bung some paste in a pan, chicken, half a tin of tomatoes & it's all done. The instructions said all about adding ginger & garlic & onions, coriander etc etc. So basically it's the same as making a curry from scratch but all the dried spice powders are pre-mixed into oil to make a paste.... I already have the dry spices so I'll just keep doing it from scratch - it takes seconds to measure them out & it's so much cheaper per curry portion than the £2.25 jars that will make 3-4 Curry's at best. I thought they'd be the convenient option, but clearly not. I just need to get some frozen coriander so I've got all the ingredients when I do fancy making one.

The RM curry has taken the chill off a cold tho, quite spicy....

caronc

Wednesday2000 wrote: »

I had a walk in the much colder weather, I managed an hour and 15 minutes.:T I'm recovering from Fibromyalgia. That is why that is an achievement for me.:)

Managing that must have given you a real boost:D

Novice_investor101 wrote: »

Evening, all! I hope everyone has had a good day?

Well, I failed at doing any CFO today - lunch was a supermarket sandwich meal deal at work & tea has just been a Mr T chicken jalfrezi curry for one ready meal jobbie. HP at £1.75 in Mr T (I went in after work for bread & milk).
My latest trick when I "pop in" to a large supermarket for a few bits is to not take a trolley or pick up a basket - then I can't carry much.

Have to say, the curry is quite nice, lots of chunky chicken, rice, Bombay potatoes & an onion bhajhi. Definitely a treat tho.

I also looked at sharwoods curry paste jars to see if it was as easy as bung some paste in a pan, chicken, half a tin of tomatoes & it's all done. The instructions said all about adding ginger & garlic & onions, coriander etc etc. So basically it's the same as making a curry from scratch but all the dried spice powders are pre-mixed into oil to make a paste.... I already have the dry spices so I'll just keep doing it from scratch - it takes seconds to measure them out & it's so much cheaper per curry portion than the £2.25 jars that will make 3-4 Curry's at best. I thought they'd be the convenient option, but clearly not. I just need to get some frozen coriander so I've got all the ingredients when I do fancy making one.

The RM curry has taken the chill off a cold tho, quite spicy....

Thanks for the feedback on the RM, I was going to get one then forgot good to know it was tasty:).
The only curry pastes I sometimes buy are the Blue Dragon Thai pots for two, they are good amount for CFO or the Mae Ploy Thai green paste which lasts pretty much forever in the fridge. I tend to mix some curry powder with some oil, let it sit for a bit and then use like a paste.


On the subject of fridges, mine is all clean & tidy:D but frustratingly it's taken most of the day to do. It's one of those jobs I find a challenge too bendy & stretchy! I disposed of a number of very (several years:o:o) OOD ends of jars but also discovered some lovely Maille Honey Mustard my son brought me. A dollop of that went nicely on my lunch time BLT:D. I do seem to have a lot of spuds, carrots, parsnips and sweet potatoes so tomorrow I'll make a big pan of root veg mash. Some I'll use and the rest can be frozen or turned into soup.

Apart from the fridge cleaning I spent most of the time sorting grocery orders in preparation for the catering for next week's engagement bash. Oh my poor bank balance but compared to spending £500 on a sandwich buffet it's really good value and hopefully everyone will enjoy a proper hot meal:). Over and above that I have all the kids home plus 4 extras next Saturday night:eek::eek: so I need to make sure that there is plenty of stuff in for a cooked breakfast on the Sunday to help "cure" any hangovers.;):rotfl:


I thought I had a small tub of tom sauce in the freezer I could use on my pizza but nope it's scored off the list so I've used it. Never mind I'm sure some tom puree mixed with sundried tomato pesto, & some water will work just as well. I've defrosted a couple of skinny frankfurters (LO from a bbq I think?) to chop over the top with some cherry toms, spring onion, mushroom and mozzarella hopefully it will be tasty:).


PS - it's blinking cold here, there's a frost shining already.:eek: I do hope my decision to hold off putting on the flannel bedding wasn't a mistake.:cool:

moneyistooshorttomention

Well - if the summer bedding still being on the bed does turn out to be a mistake - there's always the hairdryer trick.

I keep an old hairdryer plugged in by the side of my bed and, if the sheets feel a bit too cool for me initially, give them a quick blast with the hairdryer to warm them up.

So, if anyone ever wonders just why I have two hairdryers plugged in at opposite sides of the bedroom these days - ie a posh "all singing all dancing" one I've recently bought on one side and a little travel hairdryer the other side = yep....the little travel one was my only one and it seemed like a good idea to keep it plugged right in there, so that I could still use it for bed-warming purposes.

Novice_investor101

caronc, I'm still braving the summer duvet for tonight. It's been fine with a folded fleece blanket on top these past few weeks, but I think with temps dropping to 1c/2c these last two nights it's definitely time to get the winter one out tomorrow.

I've used £50 of Argos gift cards to buy a little handheld hoover for the car & a push on to the taps shower attachment that are being delivered tomorrow. I've an electric shower, which is great in summer when the mains water is warmer, but slows to a pitiful trickle in deepest winter. I want to see if using the combi boiler delivers a better water pressure & higher temp shower. If it's better, I'll stump up to get a proper shower tap thing put on the bath (the type where you pull the button up) .

After 5 years of hot but not very powerful winter showers, I've had enough. I'm hoping using gas instead of a 10kw shower will work out cheaper too.

caronc

moneyistooshorttomention wrote: »

Well - if the summer bedding still being on the bed does turn out to be a mistake - there's always the hairdryer trick.

I keep an old hairdryer plugged in by the side of my bed and, if the sheets feel a bit too cool for me initially, give them a quick blast with the hairdryer to warm them up.

So, if anyone ever wonders just why I have two hairdryers plugged in at opposite sides of the bedroom these days - ie a posh "all singing all dancing" one I've recently bought on one side and a little travel hairdryer the other side = yep....the little travel one was my only one and it seemed like a good idea to keep it plugged right in there, so that I could still use it for bed-warming purposes.

Oh good tip - I'm seldom without my wheat pad which is toastie after 2 mins in the microwave but that could be good for heating up the bottom of the bed:)

Novice_investor101 wrote: »

caronc, I'm still braving the summer duvet for tonight. It's been fine with a folded fleece blanket on top these past few weeks, but I think with temps dropping to 1c/2c these last two nights it's definitely time to get the winter one out tomorrow.

I've used £50 of Argos gift cards to buy a little handheld hoover for the car & a push on to the taps shower attachment that are being delivered tomorrow. I've an electric shower, which is great in summer when the mains water is warmer, but slows to a pitiful trickle in deepest winter. I want to see if using the combi boiler delivers a better water pressure & higher temp shower. If it's better, I'll stump up to get a proper shower tap thing put on the bath (the type where you pull the button up) .

After 5 years of hot but not very powerful winter showers, I've had enough. I'm hoping using gas instead of a 10kw shower will work out cheaper too.

I moved to my 10 tog one a few weeks ago and so far so good. I do have a 13 tog so if it gets really cold for a spell I'll upgrade. Being of a "certain age" I find getting too hot rather than cold in the early hours is more of an issue.....
I do find flannel bedding really works in the very cold weather, well worth the spend and even during last winter's very cold spell I was warm with 10 tog and no heating on overnight. I find if I get into a warm bed I'm fine but if I start off chilly I can't heat up no matter how warm the layers are!

Brambling

wort wrote: »

Thanks brambling, I'm having the whole room done. I wanted to take the bath out and replace it with a shower of the same size as the bath, so all across the wall .I'm getting a new sink and toilet combo which has a cupboard under the sink, so I could get rid of the open shelves. I like quite minimal and easy to clean but like traditional or quirky things that makes it different to what everyone else has.

Wort I had my bathroom and toilet knocked into one about 10 years ago, the amount of times I use the bath I probably should have had a walk in shower put in instead :cool: I found it didn't come together until the tiles were on the wall and grouted I still love it, I let my Polish builder guide me in some decisions, he has a good eye for interior design

Wednesday a hour and 15 min walk is an achievement without being ill :T:T well done

Its been very cold today, with a frost first thing I walked to town with my sister and she complained all the way in. We needed to get a birthday present for my other sister and had a panini in cafe Nero for lunch as I had a bogof voucher unfortunately they had no boiling water so no cup of tea. She popped to mine to pick up half a cauliflower (it's too big for CFO) and left with various other things from my fridge and cupboard :cool: including the sweet potato I intended for soup, not sure how that happened :think: it seems it saved her going to T Express which is situated half way between us :rotfl: I've also been talked into doing some sewing for her and handily enough I have some fabric which would do :cool: it's just as well I love her :rotfl:

I worry about flannel sheets, as I'm also a lady of a certain age my problem is hot legs but cold feet :cool:

Dinner was a naan bread pizza, it started off vegetarian but then I remembered some Serrano ham which needed eating. But that it on the bread front I've eaten far too much this week back to bread free for a bit a my joints among other things are complaining

caronc

Flannel sheets are fab when it's really cold and with a duvet you can always "air" any hot bits as needed:cool::D
We definitely share a sis - arrive, chat, leave with stuff, get you do random stuff and repeat(and repeat, and repeat) .....;)

Brambling

caronc wrote: »

Flannel sheets are fab when it's really cold and with a duvet you can always "air" any hot bits as needed:cool::D
We definitely share a sis - arrive, chat, leave with stuff, get you do random stuff and repeat(and repeat, and repeat) .....;)

If the temperature falls as much as they threaten I may give them a try . I think our sisters know we are a soft touch :rotfl:

moneyistooshorttomention

Re cold feet - it's surprising what a difference a pair of bedsocks can make. I rarely resort to them - and it's bare feet or, for wearing around the house, normal type socks.

But wearing a pair of those fluffy type bedsocks for occasional use in bed/around the house and it does make quite a difference.

Trying not to think about a supermarket visit in a moment. When I was out doing some voluntary work yesterday it was surprising just how the temperature had shot down in between start and finish of that and I decided not to "brave the elements" any longer in a raincoat/no gloves/no scarf. Winter had set in all of a sudden in a matter of hours. Hence I wasn't going to stay out long enough to go to the supermarket afterwards as per plan.

PasturesNew

caronc wrote: »

On the subject of fridges, mine is all clean & tidy:D but frustratingly it's taken most of the day to do.

Mine takes 30 seconds... open the door:
Are the salad cream, ketchup, brown sauce jars lined up/neat?
If there are two squash drinks bottles, are they lined up/neat?
Straighten the marg tub, cheese and any other 1-2 items in the fridge.

Close the door