Cooking for one (Mark Three)

Wednesday2000

I had lentil soup again for breakfast. I cannot believe how much that fills me up! I feel stuffed. Much more filling than my usual toast.

I'm about to go for a walk. It's still quite nice weather here.

caronc

Good morning everyone,
I do like the "How to Eat" column mainly for the BTL comments:rotfl:
The rain has just returned after a dry start to the day. I had a letter to post so nipped out while it was dry, the wind is baltic:eek:. I think Autumn has arrived:cool:, mind you now it's September I won't baulk quite so much at lighting the stove and/or putting on the heating. I have over 3 months of no heating needed which is good for here.:)
I must do my finances today and some more adminy bits. Once I get these out of the way I'll see what the weather is doing and if it's stll miserable might do some ironing. I've a huge pile of it but think I'll concentrate on the the less summery items. The tomatoes I roasted last night also need skinning and pureeing.

Scotch egg and salad for lunch. I might have a mug of HM soup with it as there's a small portion of courgette & potato in the freezer. I think, looking at the weather forecast, more soup making will be on the agenda this week.
I'm not sure about dinner tonight either mince & tatties or steak dinner. Something beefy either way.:) I'll see how the day goes and decide from there.

AndyCF

AndyCF wrote: »

I made an interesting discovery the other day regarding tins (well I thought it was!) but the story will go into the 'cooking for one' topic tomorrow when I am awake plus I need to get a picture for that post too.

Quote from another topic (the Brexit Foods one) just so this post makes a bit of sense. I'd not normally post a pic of said item (hope it is not against the rules, its not advertising honest , or not intended to be, purposely not mentioning brands by name at all) , on my random shopping trip around I stumbled upon something that I thought the company stopped making and/or no longer existed either:



Anyway slightly taken aback by what I saw, I picked a tin up to check both for excess rust :rotfl: (that is a joke btw!) and ideally a use-by date after something like 1982

The use-by was actually 2020 . The price was half reasonable at 11s 0d so I decided to 'risk it for a biscuit' as they say and get a tin. Actually two as there were not many there and I had a vision of never seeing them again! I've to confess here: I have yet to try them.

However, I did grab a tin of those 'French branded' "Petit-pois and baby carrots" as they were 50p figuring will go nice with the pots perhaps. Said veg appears to have very good reviews generally upon a look around.

I was not able to find *anything* at all review wise (even a picture was very difficult hence I took my own!) of said tinned potato's. A Google did only turn up something about them making tinned sausage rolls at one point in the 70's and they had good memories too, but I am not old enough to recall these.

[Deleted User]

Left sausages in freezer but made a heap of onion and potato mash, added cheese, opened a tin of Pek, sliced some and had that for dinner, planned on 2 meals but ate all of it. Have taken a ready meal, Indian, out of freezer plus a coupl of hm bread rolls, had 1 with the ham and sliced courgette for lunch, will have same tomorrow, was small tin. Want to make some freezer space as I am placing sm order and will include 6 packs of frozen blueberries, have just opened last one from freezer and noticed that it was £2 for 440g but the previous one, bought recently, was £2 for 300g, both Iceland. The ones I am ordering now are £1,65 for 350g hence the bulk buy (have every moring for brekkie). Dont like hoarding but........

Farway

It's like "All our Yesterdays" on here:D Smedley tinned veg & PEK meat, I remember them both

I had a quick not Google search turned up Smedley history & one surprise
http://letslookagain.com/2015/08/yes-we-can-a-history-of-smedley-of-wisbech/

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tvandradio/bbc/8562266/Millionaire-hotelier-Peter-Smedley-named-as-man-whose-Dignitas-assisted-suicide-was-filmed-by-BBC.html

After my cheese & piccalilli sarnie lunch I cracked on with mowing the grass, just in time before nearby started pongy BBQ, good day for one if that way inclined, and working during the week

I also picked half a carrier bag of apples, not weighed them but I'd hate to have to carry them home on a bus
Too many for me really, I expect I'll give some away to other volunteers who live in garden-less flats

Once my meat arrives Wednesday I can judge freezer space & maybe stew & freeze from then on

Pie & chips still planned for dinner

unrecordings

AndyCF wrote: »

I was not able to find *anything* at all review wise (even a picture was very difficult hence I took my own!) of said tinned potato's. A Google did only turn up something about them making tinned sausage rolls at one point in the 70's and they had good memories too, but I am not old enough to recall these.

You can still get tinned potatoes in Tesco. I keep a couple of tins in because I love them

a) they remind me of a wonderful xmas dinner sometime in the 1970s when we had roast AND mashed AND tinned - heaven knows why but it was fantastic

b) by the 80's there was some kind of Vesta chilli, and since we didn't have any rice, we'd have tinned potatoes instead

I still have tinned potatoes with left over chilli. Thing is though, in the last couple of years, they've swapped from brine to water, which means you have to brine them yourself for half an hour before using

AndyCF

unrecordings wrote: »

You can still get tinned potatoes in Tesco. I keep a couple of tins in because I love them

a) they remind me of a wonderful xmas dinner sometime in the 1970s when we had roast AND mashed AND tinned - heaven knows why but it was fantastic

b) by the 80's there was some kind of Vesta chilli, and since we didn't have any rice, we'd have tinned potatoes instead

I still have tinned potatoes with left over chilli. Thing is though, in the last couple of years, they've swapped from brine to water, which means you have to brine them yourself for half an hour before using

Oh I know. I normally get the 'Batches' brand though as they are 60p for a large tin if memory serves (with a bit of hunting)

It was more a case of "I did not realise these had been made in -this brand- since the late 70's or early 80's at all"

I still can't actually. Tes's don't do them neither it seems to any supermarkets. Twas a chance purchase I suspect but digging shows their primary parent (actually grandparent) brand is the infamous two letter sauce manufacturer.

I found pics of the Beef Risotto packs, was Vesta. Although it seems twas poundyland that last had some in years back. I may need to search for a modern equivalent at some point.

unrecordings

That's me not paying attention again...

Did you find this ?
http://letslookagain.com/2015/08/yes-we-can-a-history-of-smedley-of-wisbech/

The only Smedley stuff I remember was the mixed vegetables, which staight out of the tin looked like cold vomit. The supermarkets are pretty much locked into their own brands these days, the treasures of the past are pretty much confined to wholesale/bulk purchasers & independent shops

caronc

Good evening everyone,
:wave:Andy nice to see you posting, did you by chance get the spuds in Farmfoods? It's only place I've noticed the "Smedley" brand in recent years.
Welcome to CFO unrecordings, yes wasn't the tinned mixed veg gruesome still makes me shudder thinking about it _pale_. Tinned spuds seem to be a bit of a CFO standby, handy if you don't use lots of spuds but like them every so often. I like them tossed in oil and herbs and roasted or sliced and fried but I'm less keen on them just warmed through.
whmf - I have an tin of PEK in my cupboard, I like it chopped through nasi goreng or singapore noodles. I was less keen when my Mum used to make us a quick dinner of that, the dreaded tinned mixed veg and tinned or instant potatoes. I used to always hope she'd open baked beans instead of the veg:). I used to like it or similiar in sandwich when we got them in our packed lunch, usually towards the end of the week when the fresh stuff had run out. When I was at school you could usually narrow down what day of the week it was by what was in your pack up.:rotfl::rotfl:
Good haul with the apples Farway, I keep meaning to ask one of my neighbours if I can scrounge some of hers as they're always left to rot and few stashed in the freezer are always handy.:cool:


I finally got my finances done and my monthly budget balanced:), I had a browse at savings accounts but nothing was jumping out at me. I think for the time being it will go in my BS account as the interest is marginally better than what the Nationwide offer now is.

The rain dried up and I did some tidying in the garden, no veg picked today but there are more tomatoes heading towards being ripe. I could really do with cutting back the toms a bit but tbh cba this afternoon. I've pinched the growing tips off as I don't want anymore flowers appearing at this point in the year. My courgettes are looking pretty sad after all the wind and rain, they've not been great this year but I might get another two or three, however the cues are still going strong with lots of babies and flowers. The plants look quite happy so fingers crossed I'll get some more before they die back.

I've decided to keep my steak dinner until next weekend. I'll get the unopened pack in the fridge split up and frozen tomorrow. I cba cooking tonight, I'm really tired for no apparent reason, so an easy dinner of savoury mince and mash from my "here's one I made earlier" freezer stash and I'll nuke steam some savoy cabbage to have with it.

PasturesNew

AndyCF wrote: »

...

I remember the Smedleys brand.

I shop 95% of the time in 4ldi/L1dl, who don't have brands and am happy enough grabbing their spuds when I need to. I get through about 2-3 tins a year on average... although I've got two lurking at the moment. I nearly opened one the other day, but, having thrown a tin of soup into the slow cooker ... and chopped 2 onions and 5 small peppers ... and made 32 sausagemeat meatballs, I'd run out of enthusiasm for cooking, so put the tin back in the cupboard. Plan A had been to open/drain the can, then slice each spud and toss it in with the other ingredients.... but disinterest got the better of me

Tinned spuds are good for: tossing into assorted stews/casseroles, making a quick spud salad, slicing thinly/frying, or even roasting. I just use them for tossing into the SC and for spud salad.

But you have to fancy them and be bothered to get round to opening the can, which is the bit I fail at.