Cooking for one (Mark Three)

PasturesNew

AndyCF wrote: »

.... I'm off for my A1di 'adventure' , I have a vague list from looking online (just in my head) and I'm bound to see a lot more than I could possibly buy or carry! Just my 'internal list' is a few bits I must try! Some of them have been recommended on here too.

Just trying to think what I get from there -v- at L1dl.

I like soft baps.... and my current accessible preference is for their Oven Bottom Baps, sold in packs of four for about 49p.

4ldi Oaties (chocolate covered oat biscuits) at about 51p are, to me, preferable to the L version as they're not quite so hard/brittle to bite into.

Eggs, 10 large for about 90p, are fine.

They do a £1.49 cheap trifle, serves 3, if one's ever in the mood to eat a whole one over 2-3 days

Look for their 20p tins of creamed rice, they're passable for the price.

If you like meatballs and use a SC, try the tomato/basil soup at 39p - in a tin, not the fresh/carton. Just toss the meatballs and soup in the SC (or a saucepan'd work if you prefer stove top) ... and it's an instant tasty tomatoey sauce for lazy bones. If you can get onions/peppers/whatever to toss in, that's a bonus. Only thing with that soup is - it does seem to get "everywhere" when it comes to the washing up stage. It's a bit of a clinger.

The 4ldi ~£1.25 quiches are nice for the price. They have a brand name of Crimp & Pring and weigh 400g! Two flavours, quiche lorraine & cheese/onion. They're a bit "creamier" than similar cheapo quiches. They're definitely about £1.25 or so and a white-ish box. Not the £1.45 ones on their website in the green and pink boxes.

I tried the "chinese chicken" chilled ready meal once at 4ldi, didn't rate that, wouldn't recommend it. I've not really bothered with their ready meals as they do seem a bit pricey these days for what you get.

If you spot a deep, family sized, steak/gravy pie, they're good; avoid the chicken ones though.

4ldi 4-packs of baked beans, 98p, are what I buy, they're not runny.

If you can find them, not always there, the Mixed Beans (tinned) near to the kidney beans/baked beans/cannelloni beans are nice tossed into a chilli as you get the variety, there's about 5 types of beans and some chickpeas in there. They're about 54p/can.

The 4ldi frozen chicken breast joint, at £2.50, in a foil tray with a cardboard sleeve are tasty. I've had 2-3 of those. I put in the fridge to defrost, then remove the tray/sleeve and pop into the SC on a bed of raw chopped veg for 4-5 hours or so (timing from memory).
They do two. One stuffed, one not. I accidentally got the stuffed one the first time - and it was super tasty.... I'd have expected the stuffing to fall out and go mushy and I was kicking myself, but it didn't.
https://www.aldi.co.uk/basted-chicken-breast-joint-/p/052806200200301

PasturesNew

caronc wrote: »

.... going away for a few days, ... I'm wary ....

Good thing.

It's why I don't start asking where people've disappeared to if I spot they've disappeared as there's nothing like highlighting it

Glad you had a good time!

caronc

PasturesNew wrote: »

Glad you had a good time!

Thank you - it was truly wonderful:D but I feel safer erring on the side of caution re publishing my whereabouts, the internet is a big and often scary place;)

Brambling

Looks like you had a great time Caronc your Saturday dinner sounds like my type of food I knew I should have booked that plane ticket . It sounds like you and your sister have trained your boys well :T.

AndyCF

@CaronC , great to read you had a nice time. And yes understandable about posting 'away' , something I used to see on FB actually but I've not looked at that place for well over a year now. Seems a bit silly to 'advertise' an empty house etc for all and sundry.

@PN, thank you for your comprehensive post, I appreciate that. :T

Frozen goodies are likely off the initial visit though. You do raise some good items, I used to adore the very small Sain's cobs (the 8 packs for pennies) as they were freshly done in their bakery, so I will look for bread produce as I'm currently out, I did not feel like buying a small wholemeal loaf today so it may be a blessing in disguise as such.

Tomato's are out I'm afraid so that sort of rules out beans = tomato sauce. Never been a fan of tomato at all. This does limit my soup choices actually as generally if its in the top three ingredient list its off the menu, if its further down its OK with care. Interestingly I can't find Haricot beans locally at the moment. I did 'rinse off' some regular 'beanz' and pop them into a soup and they were OK like that.

Cheese is also something I can't really tolerate that much. Sad but true.

The chicken with stuffing sounds excellent however!

Some nice biscuits as well as say half a dozen 'different things to try' tins and 'something sensible in a packet' are on the shopping list. I'm also interesting in trying their instant mash too, not online unless I missed it but I could of sworn I'd seen half a dozen varieties of it previously.

Starting to wish I'd not spent that £1 today on those 'Herit' chips, mind you they can have a holiday in the freezer until I'm ready for them. :rotfl: Could not find any reviews on them either, not easy to spot that brand it seems unless you look 'wholesale' , that reminds me I must attempt to sort the costi-card out at some point, only had it about 12 years oops. Long story!

caronc

Brambling wrote: »

....... I knew I should have booked that plane ticket . It sounds like you and your sister have trained your boys well :T.

If you had landed at the "wrong" airport someone would have picked you up.
Yes - me & my sis are proud "mammies" none of our kids or their partners are scared of hard work or mucking in and all have/do mucky/hard jobs to fund their way through further study/promotion as my sis & I did. One of the best bits is that all the "youngsters" were happy to be there, no sense of obligation or under duress, we've managed to "let them go" mentally if not physically (my nephew is still at home) and they have their own lives but happy to come back together. The "banter" (teasing/chat) was constant - so many laughs but you do need to be pretty thick-skinned .:eek:
No way are we a perfect group but no family is - we wouldn't do well on Instagram:rotfl::rotfl:

Brambling

Perfect is boring Caronc well that's what we tell ourselves. :rotfl:

good company, good food, laugher, reminiscing, someone accused of cheating and maybe a glass[STRIKE] or two[/STRIKE] of alcohol and as you say thick skinned enough to give and take the teasing :rotfl: - typical family gathering for us, probably why my quiet BIL pales at the hint of a family get together unless we can keep him topped up with Guinness

Wednesday2000

I'm hungry but I don't know what I fancy...

AndyCF wrote: »

Why not. I see they have a large range (just glanced) of various brands. A tad more pennies than locally (here at least) but that was expected.

I did order a couple of pot noodles. I will have one for lunch.:p

PasturesNew wrote: »

I'm officially moving. So sitting "stunned" at the moment. I could/should be doing something, or packing, or sorting, or something, but as this has dragged on so long I think I am just in temporary shock/relief.

Wow, good news, it does seem like a long time you have been going through the move!

caronc wrote: »

Good evening everyone,
That good news PN - yes packing is daunting but I'm sure once you've had a chance to sleep on it, it will all come together.:)
Welcome to the thread Dundee Doll, I've not had a chance to catch up properly but will come back to your "randoms list" though you've had some great suggestions already.
Well I'm back to CFO-land tonight, tired but extremely happy with life.:D:D What I didn't disclose last week was that our family gathering was actually going away for a few days, something I've not managed since 2014!. I'm wary of posting too much online as it would be quite easy to work out who I am in RL and didn't want to advertise an "empty";). Earlier this year, for my birthday gift, my family conspired together to book us a "me friendly" long weekend away and my did they come up trumps. I'm just back from three lovely nights in the East Neuk of Fife where they had rented a massive house - 5 bedrooms, three baths, two lounges and a kitchen you could fit most of my house in.:eek: Although from the outside it was very "Grand Designs" inside it was a comfortable, family friendly home and very well appointed with a bedroom/bathroom on the ground floor which as ideal for me. On Friday night we had an easy meal of pizza, salads etc. before a very brutal game of Pictionary (my team won). On Saturday we had a lazy brunch of bagels, eggs, bacon, avocado and various pates and that night the kids cooked up a seafood banquet of oysters (raw & grilled with garlic butter & breadcrumbs), HM bisque, prawns & langoustines, lobster, scallops, moules marinere, HM aioli, patas bravas, Arbroath smokies, hot smoked salmon, crispy kale and salad. It was an absolute joy to eat and my sis and I got to sit back with a glass of wine and "supervise". As you can imagine we were all stuffed afterwards so it was a laze in front of a DVD and the kids[STRIKE] picked at[/STRIKE] demolished a tub of chocolates. Just as well that in the afternoon we had a wander round Elie beach & harbour to work up an appetite. My word the wind off of the North Sea was cold:eek:. Yesterday we had a wander round St.Andrews (lovely but baltic & busy), shared chips with salt & sauce for lunch before heading out last night to the local pub for dinner. The pub was lovely & friendly with great service but quite pricey for what we had, most of the food was excellent but there were a couple of mediocre dishes. Not bad and perfectly edible but just not completely hitting the mark. Though in fairness we set a pretty high bar cooking wise and it wouldn't put us off going back. I picked well with cullen skink followed by cod & smoked cod fishcake on creamed leeks all of which were lovely.

Today was much more mundane with a M&S sarnie (very nice) as a late breakfast/early lunch on the way back and some fruit mid afternoon. I brought some Arbroath Smokies home but they have been frozen for future enjoyment. Since coming back I've not done much, watered the garden & greenhouse, unpacked, done some laundry, set the stove and picked some runner beans. Everything else will wait until tomorrow as I'm shattered and cba doing anything else today. There's lots of ripe toms to be picked, more brambles and the basil plant has gone on the rampage (again!) so it must have been dry & sunnyish while I was away. Dinner tonight is a my go to "bung it in" of chicken thighs, baked spud, roasted toms and some nuked garden beans. I reckon I'll sleep well tonight.:)

Sounds like you had a lovely time.:A

caronc

Good morning everyone,

The sun is shining so I'm hoping to get a bit done in the garden, if nothing else at least pick brambles and toms. I'm a bit unsteady this morning, to be expected after all the extra meds over the weekend, so it will be a pottering about day rather than anything too active. I need to post a card but the post box will be as far as I go.

Meals for today remain undecided, I need to go through the fridge and make a meal plan. I've a grocery delivery booked for tomorrow as I've pretty much used up my fresh staples and I'm nearly out of decaff coffee and running low on tea bags!

Brambling

caronc wrote: »

.............. and running low on tea bags!

:eek::eek::eek: