Cooking for one (Mark Three)

PasturesNew

Farway wrote: »

...holiday season is coming to an end so short term lets should be at more realistic prices soon

Yes... I did "worry" when I got the offer at the beginning as I thought it'd complete at the beginning of August. There are a number of places that are specifically let as holiday accommodation in the summer, but do a winter let in the winter.

But then it gets complex. Ideally I'd like a 1-bed, so I could use the bedroom to store all my belongings instead of storage (saving £200/month), but - if it's a winter let it's fully furnished, so might not be room.

So, in addition to a struggle with what's available/where/at what cost and under what sort of arrangement, there's the price juggling to decide whether to go for a studio + storage, or a 1-bed and no storage.

CFO:
Well, I had eggs on my list, so went off for eggs. I put "choccies" on the list too, for good measure - and had a thought of "fizzy pop as it's Bank Holiday".

I came home with eggs, a 9-pack of dark/mint kit-kats, a bag of my favourite choccies and 24 cans of fizzy pop (good price).

Today's food's been:
Breakfast: 2x toast, baked beans, 2x scrambled eggs.
Lunch: 1 kit kat, the final caramel trifle I bought the other day.

I've still two sausage rolls, so I'll most likely have those for tea.

caronc

Farway wrote: »

Good buys on the meat Caron, my fingers crossed next week. Trouble is my supplier seems very hit & miss, sometimes have item, sometimes not.. Bit annoying but I've not yet found a practical alternative for local ethical meat stuff
I'll bear in mind the winter SC items, good idea duly nicked

I think it's par for the course when choosing local/ethical as supplies are limited. I got everything I had on my list but did notice that some of the breed choices weren't available.
I follow Simon Hopkinson's technique for boiling eggs. Room temp egg (if straight from the fridge add a minute) in a thin bottomed pan just covered in water, pop lid on bring to a simmer rather than rolling boil then switch off. Leave for 1 min for very softed boiled (too snotty for me!), two for soft boiled (just right;)), three for just set yolk, 4 for quartering, 5 for hard boiled. If not eating hot, plunge in very cold water once cooking time is up. It always works for me:)


PN - I hope you find the let that suits you and your stuff.


I spent most of this afternoon on two phonecalls, mainly on hold but thankfully folk were really helpful when I did get through. I couldn't believe the time it was when I got finished! Meanwhile clouds had gathered and it looked as though it was going to tip it down (still does) so I decided it possibly wasn't the best move to get stuck in with the weedkiller especially as tomorrow is supposed to be nice and sunny. I contented myself with a bit of tidying and picked some more beans and toms. My freezer bean stash is growing nicely.:)


Lunch was a really yummy salad - chopped baby gem lettuce, cue, celery, toms, artichokes, spring onion, feta and a lonely slice of parma ham found lurking in the fridge topped with a drizzle of ceasar dressing. I decided it could to do with a few croutons but didn't have any and had no suitable bread to make some so crunched a couple crackers over the top. It was blooming lovely and I'll be having re-rerun of similiar tomorrow. :DI'm going for the easy option of a mainly from the freezer meal tonight - smoked haddock fishcake, oven chips, peas and beans from the garden.

Brambling

PasturesNew wrote: »

Few people are in touch with the cost of cooking, turning on that oven... so many times I've seen people "save money" and cook cheap food, and I think "cost of running that oven's more than the food cost"

My BIL has always been [STRIKE]tight[/STRIKE] "careful" of fuel bills, it just made him worst :cool: my sis like me will try and fill the oven if it's on for any length of time

Caronc if I put my fingers over my ears and hum I can't hear anything about drs

It was my last day in the office for a couple of weeks today and it felt like the gods were conspiring against me as I tried to finish work more emails kept coming in :eek:. I was the only one in my team in today and there was only two of us in the office so we both left lunch time to work from home is afternoon .

Lunch was the last of some lurking seafood sticks with mayo and sweet chilli sauce on some crackers with salad stuff. Dinner was a hot cross bun and some fruit finished by some bread sticks which needed using up

caronc

Happy holidays Brambling and get your fingers out of your ears:rotfl::rotfl: (If for no other than reason that there is a degree of uncertainity re med availability post 31/10, if Boris gets his way, so I'm working on the premise that if you have a long term health condition you want to be as stable as possible by then and if additional treatments are needed they are established;))

I do think unless you are really skint, when of course every penny counts, that getting too hung up on the cost of fuel to can be self defeating compared with overall cost/taste/nutrition, but I'm always mindful that if I pop a recipe on here to try and include factor in the cooking costs if they are more than a few pence. While I will try and maximise oven use where it suits me it doesn't stop me, as I have tonight, popping one tray into bake which will add 25p to my just over £1.50 ish dinner as the fishcakes were on SO, the chips & peas pennies and the beans homegrown. Still so much cheaper than nipping to the chippy:D

Brambling

Good point Caronc especially as I've just fished out my last inhalers to take away on a Sunday.

A few months ago I went to the chippy in the first time in years and was shocked how much a small cod and chips was, they were generous with the chips but as there was just me they were wasted there was enough chips for two.

candygirl

Thanks for reminding me, about the possible drug shortages after bloody Brexit.I'm going to Goa for a month in early Nov, so need to well n truly get organised, as i'm on quite a few meds :eek:

[Deleted User]

Not cooking dinner tonight, have l/o from yesterdays carvery, roasties mainly (love em) and some meat, so will manufacture dinner from them. Got rice pudding in SC and will make some bread rolls in BM later, I prefer to make rolls nowadays as I can freeze them easily than slicing and then freezer a loaf. Not sure about lunch, may sacrifice one of the roasties to make potato cake or similar.

caronc

Good morning everyone,

Looks as though it's going to be a glorious day here, I intend to spend most of outdoors:). Lunch will be another "use up" salad and dinner tonight will depend on how I feel after gardening. I've finished my current meal plan, I must have a think for next week as the plans I made for the past couple of weeks have worked really well for me so I'm trying to stick to being a little more disciplined again rather than deciding on the day.

PasturesNew

Scorchio here. Not going out/anywhere.

The PC's indoors, there's nothing outside for me.... sitting out there, staring at a brick wall... when I could be sitting on a comfy sofa with a PC

If I had a conservatory I'd be sitting in that, with the doors open.

It does get a bit breezy here, you don't get a breeze in a conservatory, you just get the light/sun

I bet I end up never owning a conservatory.... it's high on the wish list though. Buy a house, fit a conservatory... but if there's £0 left over after buying a house that can't happen.

Wednesday2000

I've had my usual toast and the last of the yoghurt.

I only ate half the veggie pizza yesterday so I have the other half to eat today and the last few cherries.

I will make a tofu and veggie stir fry tonight.