Cooking for one (Mark Three)

PasturesNew

SunnyGirl wrote: »

Today I am making corned beef pasties and it makes sense to use the whole tin of corned beef, some potatoes, carrots and onions and make one batch of pastry which makes 8 pasties. I'll eat one tonight and freeze the other 7 for future meals

The issue I have is two-fold. How often do I want to eat XYZ + a small freezer.

I do love a good pasty ..... but ... there's a limit. I'd probably say I eat 1-2 corned beef pasties in 3-4 years.

I like variety....

And, while those 7 spares aren't being eaten, they'd be cluttering up my smallish freezer.

If I liked them so much I was going to eat one every week, it'd still take nearly 2 months to get through them... and they, along with everything else in the freezer, would become the omnipresent food I didn't fancy.

Even a pack of 15 fish fingers, which is slim, can be a pain in the butt that loiters and lurks for 2-3 months as I slowly get round to them.

I'd take that corned beef and make, say, 1 pasty and have the rest as corned beef hash, which I'd eat over 2-3 meals or so without freezing any of it.

PasturesNew

I'm back to "food overload" again, from my little jaunt last night, plus what I already had in the house.

Last night I bought 400g beef cubes and 500g of carrots - brain said "that'll be a beef stew". Trouble is ... having come home, I then thought "I should make a goulash .... but then I've got the carrots to think about as they don't go in a goulash"

I've still got plenty of spuds and onions .... and those 3 bl00dy apples I bought before Xmas....

I bought 6 crumpets, half price, so I can eat two of those today, but the rest then need tossing into the freezer ... unless I eat four today and then two tomorrow.

I bought a punnet of tomatoes yesterday, got them out of the bag last night and realised I still have three salad tomatoes from last week I've not eaten.

And I bought a loaf of bread ..... I think I see many many tomato sandwiches for the next 3-4 days.

So that seems to be it: crumpets and tomato sandwiches will dominate my menu I think I need to (begrudgingly) freeze that beef.... I didn't intend to freeze it (else I'd have bought the other/2nd pack on the shelf that was half price), but I don't think I should be cooking/eating that and am undecided whether to do a stew or a goulash in any case.

What I really fancy .... is a bought, hot, Rowe's Cornish Pasty from Asda ... but I don't think they sell those where I live any more; they used to sell those 8 miles away just inside the door, but stopped. They're just £1 in Asda/Cornwall, more like £2 up this way in Asda/8 miles away the last time I saw them (a concession/stall in the entrance way). I blame SunnyGirl for making me think about pasties.

SunnyGirl

Pastures Sorry for putting pasties into your mind :rotfl:

My freezer isn't huge it's part of an upright fridge freezer with the split between the two equal with two vertical doors if that makes any sense I won't eat the pasties 7 times on my own I don't think or I'd get very bored. I'll probably take 3 up to my parents one evening for tea and my son and his boyfriend like them when they come for tea so that's 6 gone.

I've currently got portions of minced beef base, chicken curry, lentil soup, a sausage pasta sauce and a sausage casserole frozen so will eat my way through them along with egg and cheese based meals over the next few weeks while I've 3 essays due by the 20th March :eek: There is also a bag of peas, a bag of sweet potato chunks, a bag of frozen sliced peppers and 16 rashers of bacon frozen in little bags of 3's. Plus half a loaf and that's my lot. I am determined to find room for ice cream soon as I need it to help brain power obviously :rotfl:

PasturesNew

SunnyGirl wrote: »

Pastures Sorry for putting pasties into your mind

My freezer isn't huge it's part of an upright fridge freezer with the split between the two equal with two vertical doors if that makes any sense I won't eat the pasties 7 times on my own I don't think or I'd get very bored. I'll probably take 3 up to my parents one evening for tea and my son and his boyfriend like them when they come for tea so that's 6 gone.

Ah, it's just me. Only just me. Nobody else to force feed

If I have it, I have to eat it.
If I cook it, it's me that has to eat it all.
Nobody ever comes to tea, or anything...

PasturesNew

Did I mention crisps? No ... I omitted to mention those. Yesterday I grabbed an own-brand pack of 6 crisps.... not really sure why as they're never anywhere near as good as Walkers.... but I got them anyway.

Ate two bags of those last night; hidden the remainder in a cupboard for now.

So far today I've eaten two crumpets with marg - and I just made up two rounds of tomato sandwiches. Those two rounds mean I've used up two of the three salad tomatoes I had loitering (only one left now) - and the first four slices of the loaf (only 14 and 2 crusts to go!).

Where I go wrong: I think of great meals, and I think "I should make that" .... then I completely forget. Some of those things need me to buy new ingredients, few do though .....

I need to have a way that works for me to remember those meals. I've got "ways to mark them" and "ways to note them" ... but no way to remember to look.... I have all my recipes in an online "book", all I have to do is tag them to be cooked.... and I do. But then I never revisit that tag and think "what's here that I can cook tomorrow"

I've also just bagged/frozen that diced angus beef I bought yesterday (half price sticker/best before today) .... there's no way I fancied anything I could make with that today ... so, rather than "waste" it by just making a stew ... I froze it. At least if I defrost it in the future and make a stew, I'll fancy it then.... not like now when I'd be eating it irrespective of any enjoyment.

[Deleted User]

Had soup + toasat yesterday but in eve CBA so did bacon, egg, mushrooms and b beans which meant I had last of soup + spoonfull b.beans + toast for lunch today. Just have 1/3 b.beans to use up now plus some l/o ys cooked roast chicken breast to have tonight, expect I will have mushrooms again, bought a punnet yesterday and may do a jkt pot and then last of the rice pudding and half tin peach slices and some Elm.e cream. Am out for lunch tomorrow and out for eve dinner on Thurs so do not want any l/o (if I have carvery will no doubt bring some roasties home).

Wednesday2000

I would eat out everyday if I could.:D

I've had a sandwich so far and lots of water.

I might make a casserole later with the leftover veg and potatoes I have in the fridge.

elona

I am chuffed that I used up the two blackening bananas by adding beaten eggs and some flour and turning them into drop scones which I had as a late breakfast.

Some home made soup has been taken out of the freezer and I plan to add some butter beans to it and cook a little more to reduce it. I took out mince with veg for tonight and have some roast potatoes from Sunday to use up so will have a couple with the mince and maybe turn the rest into chips tomorrow to have with an egg and maybe beans.

I only have four eggs left in the house but am trying hard not to go shopping till Friday as it is too easy to nip to the local small shop and spend over a tenner a time several times a week and have nothing to show for it. I gave one dd a portion of beef and mushroom pie to take home with mash and veg and did the same for another dd as well as taking a home cooked meal out of the freezer for her when they came round on Sunday.

Pastures

Could you cook the tomatoes with onion and herbs to make a pasta sauce, pizza topping on french bread etc? There was a book called "Cooking for one" by Shirley Goode which had some really good ideas like using a four hole yorkie tin and pastry to make one meat pie, one small quiche, one apple pie and one pasty that only used the oven once and gave variety.

I remember the days when DDs used to look in the fridge and say there was nothing to eat and be shocked later when I produced a home made pizza, Spanish omelette or soup and a home baked loaf. I would like to get back to that inventiveness and remember DH saying that when I was economising we ate better.

Farway

Hi Kev2009:hello:

I'd eat out everyday as well if I could, but even that would get repetitive I reckon, but at least no prepping or clearing away

Not everyone's choice but the more expensive, like Marks, not £land, ready meals are OK for a change, and certainly easy

Frosty start but now lovely & spring like

L's turned up YS trumps this morning, mince & onion slices, 20p pack of 2, mac cheese, 70p, plus fresh pineapple chunks, 20p

Also 30% reduction on smoked haddock

Dinner & freezer top ups sorted

Lunch was cold lamb & mint sauce sarnie, with last spoonful of LO HM spud salad

caronc wrote: »

Hope you enjoyed your cold lamb Farway - I'd of happily taken the rare stuff off your hands.

This one was so rare, it needed a tourniquet:eek:

A quick spot of gardening, more pruning & bunged some muck on the roses, the apricot buds are very pink now, if this warm spell continues they'll be open, in time to be nipped by overnight frost:( I may bung some fleece over if frost seems likely

Dinner should be easy choice with my YS haul but umming & ahhing, I've decided to use the smoked haddock fresh, I rarely have it because it normally is silly money but may as well live life on the hog this week, roast lamb & smoked haddock in same week;)

I'll make wedges, rustic chips, "country style" or chunky chips [delete as appropriate] in Actifry using skin on Maris Piper

Then the fresh pineapple chunks, with some of the XCFO posh ice cream, toffee one I think

caronc

Good evening everyone,

Brambling - hope your "wonky donkey" has gone back in it's stable?
SG HM pasties - yes please and Farway if you have "spare" smoked haddock it makes a great pasty filling mixed with cooked spud and cheese sauce:). (PS- hope you didn't nuke the fish or you will be back to square one in the whiffs department:rotfl::rotfl:

PN - yes Walkers crisps are the business but I find the "Tesco Stockwell" ready salted ones really decent and at 10 x 25g for £1 good value. Much better than the usual SM own brand ones IMHO:)

I was back to the dentist this morning which turned into a bit of "hard one", the "wonky donkey" was unamused and it seems due to a med side effect I have exceptionally sensitive teeth because the med leaches the minerals from your teeth! The scale & polish had to be abandoned as I was shaking with the pain:( and I've got a prescription toothpaste to use to try and combat it.:) I had noticed my teeth were more sensitive but put it down to getting older and also knew about the mineral loss as I get blood tests a few times a year to check my calcium levels etc. due to bone weakening risks. But as the test results have been ok I didn't connect the two. I've to go back in a fortnight for another go.:eek:
Needless to say I was glad of a soft lunch of soup & an egg mayo sarnie and then I headed to bed afterwards to appease the wonkiness.
I've curry sauce left from last night which I'm going to use up tonight in curried sausages with veg/pulses and chopped up charlotte spuds mixed through. I've a chickpea/lentil/veg mix in the freezer which will do nicely as the veg element as I really cba cooking anything very much. :)