Cooking for one (Mark Three)

caronc

Good evening everyone,
I must be unusual in CFO land as I can usually get through a loaf and a bag of spuds without too much problem! Well seen I have Scots/Irish background:rotfl:. As with most things I don't pay too much attention to BBE dates and I'm not overly keen on frozen sliced bread so try to avoid that. I'm quite happy to resort to toasting it if it's beyond being fresh enough for a sandwich. I do have toast nearly every day for breakfast though and tend only to have cereal if I'm out of bread.
Egg and cucumber bagel was changed to an egg & lettuce one with cue sticks & radishes on the side. I decided that bagel+sliced egg+ cucumber + messy me was just going to be an untidy disaster:eek:. I'm very much looking forward to my home grown cucumbers being ready as this one seemed even more tasteless than usual though it was nice and crisp. I have 8+ babies on my plants when I had a cursory count yesterday. I like to pick them when they are small and usually manage a whole one at a time and love that they actually are tasty. There are also two courgettes that are maybe a week or ten days away from picking:D.

Farway I'm afraid I couldn't have eaten a snotty egg, I love a runny yolk but the egg white has to be fully cooked or else I just can't face it. I cooked a couple of eggs so hard boiled egg will feature again in the next couple of days.
The forecasted wind & rain arrived with bells on though the wind has died back now thankfully leaving a wet & rather chilly evening. I'm debating lighting the stove..... Needless to say no gardening/lean to clearing was done! Instead I spent ages dealing with my (fairly new but hardly used) printer which was failing to print for no apparent reason. Eventually found out that it needed more ink but because only the black cartridge had run out the low ink light hadn't come on. I then had a battle trying to clear the print queue as I didn't want to use up the new cartridge with my attempts to get the thing going. Still I'll know next time:cool:.
HM pizza just needs some veg chopped for the topping and flung in the oven.

Brambling

I also like variety when eating and cooking which is why I kind of menu plan, it means I can plan to use left over ingredients and cook something slightly different. However it does lead to LOs and on a bad day I've been known to eat the same for BLD two days running :cool: I find cooking relaxing especially on a none work day and I like to browse cookery books or google for ideas on using up ingredients. There are days when I CBA to cook but I have HM RMs in the freezer or I can throw something together quick and easy, I don't see why just because I CFO I should have a boring diet. Unfortunately if I didn't enjoy my food so much I wouldn't have a constant battle with my weight . I eat very little bread which means I tend not to buy a loaf or I'll eat it and then regret it :cool: I do have issues if I buy a bag of spuds unless they're jersey royals so I choose the more expensive option of buying one or two loose at a time.

Farway _pale_ re your boiled egg I'm another one who has to have a completely set white however it's cooked

I made the most of the sunshine tonight and spent a couple of hours in the back garden after work until I started coughing and wheezing and was attacked by brambles and the japonica :eek: I did manage to fill my garden waste bin, I like to get my money's worth :rotfl: and it will be collected Friday full it's forecast heavy storms the next couple of days

Lunch was the some of the crustless quiche I made yesterday with salad. Dinner was LO vegetable lasagna with runner beans and broccoli easy to ping after gardening I thought there was only two portions left but there are three, one is already in the freezer and I'll have to rejig to fit the other if i don't want it tomorrow night

caronc

Brambling wrote: »

I don't see why just because I CFO I should have a boring diet.

Completely agree, it's just trickier to manage without excessive waste or massive bills as a CFO. It is doable though, for me anyway, within my budget if I'm savvy. I enjoy the challenge. I'm definitely a "live to eat" rather than "eat to live" person, I could probably save a small fortune if it was the other way round and I didn't like red wine & gin:rotfl::rotfl:.

Brambling

caronc wrote: »

Completely agree, it's just trickier to manage without excessive waste or massive bills as a CFO. It is doable though, for me anyway, within my budget if I'm savvy. I enjoy the challenge. I'm definitely a "live to eat" rather than "eat to live" person, I could probably save a small fortune if it was the other way round and I didn't like red wine & gin:rotfl::rotfl:.

That about sums it up for me as well Caronc, I to enjoy the challenge . I eat well and manage to do so within my budget. I can plan to eat cheap one day for example my vegetable lasagna is made from all the odds and ends in the veg container plus YS aubergine and courgette and made four portions it means I can have steak or salmon another day especially if I buy it YS . I will admit it does help that I can cook and I know my way around the kitchen

pattypan4

we`re all different, me I spent 60 years producing fantastic meals, money saving all the way while eating very well. My life changed and to me now time spent cooking is time wasted when I could be doing other things. I eat lovely food that I enjoy but they are simple foods now, no more cooking complex meals. Foods that don`t need much processing, veg rates very highly and I love delicious puddings but try to make them healthy puds. I don`t think of cost any more always try to buy organic, don`t eat much meat at all and just a bit of fish

Having said all that, I have no idea for today, have to go babysit this afternoon, 2 hour round trip, so it will be basic veg with a couple of poached eggs on top. Then berries, yoghurt and some granola when I come back. Will defrost a scone and a roll, both hm as no doubt will be wanting some mouth satisfying carbs

Wednesday2000

I had cereal with sliced banana and soya milk for breakfast.

pattypan4

energy levels are good and main meal is sorted. First I had protibrick fuel for breakfast, later melon and matcha. Soom will be aeropress coffee. Lunch is a mix of courgette, red pepper, shallots, cold halved potatoes, all coated in olive oil and fines herbes (smells like pizza) and all in the remoska ready to switch on. I only fancy 1 egg so that is out ready to put on top of the veg shortly before serving to myself. LO spinach has to be used so a side of spinach. Then I am driving


Easiest for me to eat well in the morning but I am controlling myself pm by stopping all eating by 4. I used to do that but slipped because of stress and so the gerd came back. 5 days of finishing by 4 is under my belt, no gerd on any of those nights and slept all through. Silent gerd used to wake me every night. Stomach is now used to it and no evening cravings. I must have that roll and scone out because I know I still get afternoon cravings. I lash the real butter on and top the roll with hm jam, better than cake and it is spelt so better for stomach

caronc

Good morning everyone,

On a day to day basis my cooking/meals are fairly straightforward and that was the case when I wasn't CFO. I'm a great believer that good food/eating well needn't be complicated or expensive. Yes it's lovely to push the boat out from time to time and spend a lot of time and effort on a fantastic spread, but it's certainly not how I want to eat on a daily basis even if health & budget permitted.
My HM pizza last night worked well and there's a piece and some spicy tomato sauce LO. Lunch will therefore be pizza and salad and I'll use the sauce up this evening on HM sweet potato wedges/roast veg. I've a chicken thigh defrosting which I'll roast with the spuds/veg. Breakfast was sliced hard boiled egg & tomato on toast. It struck me when I was making my toast that I had used most of the loaf I bought on Friday which seemed odd. A quick check revealed it was 600g not the usual 800g so that would explain it. I am enjoying it though, it's got sunflower and pumpkin seeds through it but I'll need to add bread to the bits & pieces my son is picking up for me on his way here on Thursday. Still works out at around 7p a slice which is fine by me:). I could make a sourdough but I'm not sure what our plans are for the weekend so don't want it to be wasted and I know my son will want some "normal" bread for his lorne sausage sandwich that is a must when he's up home.;)

Farway

Back to rain this morning, with current thunderstorms over France promised on way to us later

Big shop in L's this morning, stuff I'd run out of and I had time to spare to look this morning.

No YS but did get packs of salmon & cod in crumbs.

Plus crackers, I was ordering very posh cheese from local farmer place yesterday so needed crackers to go with it. In the event my order basket has vanished before I've checked out, so I have crackers and bog standard L's Cheddar:( First world problems;)

Lunch was use up last of HM bread as base for cheese on toast with piccalilli topping.

I'll start another loaf later today ready for tomorrow

Dinner is more use up, I'll nuke last of the savoury mince, maybe use last stale crust in lieu of dumplings

PN I've a nuker boiled egg thing, with same problem of stabbing egg first, so never use it. I may try boiled egg again, this time probably leave it simmering overnight:D

I burnt a pan once where the water boiled off sometime between egg boiling and dozing:o

I also had an egg slicer thing, like set of cheese wires set in egg shaped holder. Useless, wires bent & egg squashed:mad:
similar to this https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Egg_slicer#/media/File:Eierschneider.jpg

PasturesNew

Today I've had a few chocs (as I didn't eat the entire packet yesterday, but they are all gone now).

Then I had hash browns, scrambled eggs and baked beans, that used up 2 hash browns from the freezer, but they're not a difficult thing to use up.

Re budget, I'm looking forward to getting the State pension as, finally, I'll have a huge disposable income that's going to arrive week in, week out, without fear. I'll spend more on food after that. It's about £156/week now I think.... arriving "by magic". A marvellous concept.

For your whole life you live on the basis that the least income you can be bringing in is £0..... then, suddenly, it's £156. A game changer.