Cooking for one (Mark Three)

flubberyzing

Hello everyone!

Long time, no see!

I'm afraid I haven't been on here for at least 2 months... The end of July and most of August were a write-off for me. I was working at a kids summer camp from 7:30-6pm, 5 days a week, it was all pretty physical, and I was coming home exhausted and falling into bed by 8:30 every night!

Last week I was away in Wales with my mum, auntie and uncle, and we had a very nice time. Now I'm home and gearing up back into work. Only doing 2 and a half days this week though. And also starting back with the private tutoring.

A job I've got this weekend is to inventory and organise my pantry cupboard... Every September I go to the supermarket with £100 in cash (that's over a month of grocery budget) and really stock up on things like tins and jars, washing up liquid, laundry stuff, hygiene stuff etc, with a view to being able to "bed in" during the winter months if needed. Last year wasn't too harsh, but the previous years' "beast from the east" kept me shut in for quite some time.

So to do a huge shop (by my standards), I need to see what I already have, and make my list from there.



I hope everyone here has kept well over the summer? No dramas to report I hope!

AndyCF

Wednesday2000 wrote: »

Total rip-off. I might write a scathing review lol.

I would! I think the normal ones even at top-notch places are not going to exceed 1.50 max for a regular size one.

I had visions of you returning and saying it was a four-pack or something.

To be fair the 'well known ones' they do do some expensive flavours or did do, if I remember correctly. Its only the curry or chicken/mush that are both readily available here and cheap.

HB or BM are both good for these at a sane price if you did not fancy or have a supermarket to hand.

PasturesNew wrote: »

I kind of feel I've "earnt" a takeaway .... although I'm far far far far from seeing the end of things that need to be sorted/done/packed/etc....

.... trouble is, I CBA to go and get it.

Well if you think you've done enough then a small reward is fair I think. Does local not deliver at a sensible price ? I think ours do but you have a min order , mind you I don't eat takeaways anyway so I'd not really know! Neighbours occasionally order though.

Failing that perhaps something quick/instant in a bowl/mug in the zapper maybe ?

I'm unable to find any tubs of mash locally at the moment too all sold out, only pricey packets which I won't buy as they are £1 and I get a large tub for £1.30 to £1.50. I'll just knock some new pots about until they resemble some mash, failing that its peas or meatballs with pots later. Not really hungry yet.

On an unrelated note I was on about distance to Morrs in the other thread, I actually decided to get a quote for a taxi (comparison) cheapest one way was £11 something. Route planner suggest two buses+walk between (I knew that but not the numbers, did not check cost of it either) or 1.5 hours walk. Bus I know one of them will be £3 at least one way, expensive here.

It would be quicker to walk a different route but you can't really walk down a 4lane (without pedestrian foorpath) road ( ! ) so you have to take an alt route. I may have to save a bit then bribe a neighbour perhaps That might be a plan.

And there I was only earlier moaning about min order values and delivery costs! :rotfl:

flubberyzing wrote: »

Hello everyone!

Long time, no see!

I'll just say 'hello' + 'welcome back'

caronc

Good evening everyone,

Good to see you back flubberyzing - I've been doing similiar to you recently not as one big shop but adding a few bits of cupboard & household supplies to my order. I like the security of knowing that should online deliveries get disrupted I can manage until the weather clears.


Farway - the only song I can think of is the Harry Lauder one unrecordings has linked to. It was one of my Gran & Papa's favourites and my Papa used to sing it sometimes.



PN - a takeaway sounds well deserved. Hopefully you've either found the oomph to get one or treated yourself to a home delivery.


On the subject of oomph I think mine is still in Fife, I think my weekend away has caught up with me as I felt decidedly off kilter earlier and ended up sleeping for a few hours. Hopefully I'll get more done tomorrow. Slight change of plan for dinner as I cba standing to cook much so it HM pastitsio from the freezer with spinach. It was on my meal plan so I just at least that hasn't fallen by the wayside (yet!)

Brambling

Welcome back Flubberzing it sounds like busy summer

Hopefully the donkey will settled down quickly Caronc, at least it didn't join you in Fife

I apologise if my pacing last night kept anyone awake another night where I didn't get to sleep until after 2am so I'm feeling a bit blah. It will sort it self out until then I mustn't get too grumpy at work, not helped by a system that was so slowwww today two of us threatened to take our laptops on the roof and see if they bounced if dropped 6 floors :mad: by the time it opened the record I wanted I forgot why I opened it . I may have said the odd darn it :rotfl:

Lunch was a repeat of yesterday's HM chicken and veg soup, last portion tomorrow. Dinner was a cba thrown together gammon and cheese salad with a dollop of piccalilli and a bread roll. I must get back to[STRIKE]organised[/STRIKE] meal planning I slipped a lot this week :cool:

caronc

Sounds as though ovaltine and banana all round in CFO-land before bed are needed!
Yep - wonky donkey" was firmly locked in a cupboard for a few days thanks to vestibular suppressment meds I can take for for up to a week. Unfortunately not all the time and the aftermath ain't great, my consultant called it a "hangover" and the symptoms are pretty similiar (or so I'm led to believe;)) which take 1-2 times as long to go as I've taken the meds for . It was worth it though!
Thank goodness for a bit of previous batch cooking or easy put togethers when we're not feeling like cooking much.:)

PasturesNew

caronc wrote: »

PN - a takeaway sounds well deserved. Hopefully you've either found the oomph to get one or treated yourself to a home delivery.

Neither

I had a kit kat.

Home delivery's not an option. My order, which is below their minimum, is already enough for at least 2 meals, so I can't order even more, especially as I need to clear/flog the fridge.

Also, my house is tricky to find, so, if I'm expecting anybody, I can't relax as I have to keep an eye out and wave them in.... so I'd be upstairs with my nose against the window, trying to peer to the road I can barely see, so I can then rush down, through the entire house and into the garden and into the car park to try to catch them before they're walking all over the place trying to find it

AndyCF

As much as you might hate me suggesting it, perhaps a couple of 'noodle pots' for instant snack purposes ? I mean the 'pot just add hot water and hope it tastes edible' type.

I see what yo mean now about delivery, makes sense. There are quite a few local takeaway type places here although personally some of them I'd not want to even risk some pototo wedges or chips from. Having said that the local Chinese does awesome chips but very expensive (£3) , only thing I've ever tried from there. Neighbours seem to like it in general though, apparently won some awards for this/that. Not really into those kind of foods myself.

Some of these take-away places will do 'below min' delivery if you are within a certain range but they tend to want to add a fee, so it kind of negates the purpose of it all. I suppose you could say the same with some online supermarkets if its below x then we will charge more, so you're not really any better off unless you spend a while with the maths.

I was half thinking of suggesting a 'chilled ready meal' or something but if its chilled or frozen apart from the cost its taking up space + fridge content needs decreasing not incrementing, so I stuck with the 'instant pot of things' idea simply as there's no clutter / mess other than a fork/spoon to wash.

unrecordings

AndyCF wrote: »

As much as you might hate me suggesting it, perhaps a couple of 'noodle pots' for instant snack purposes ? I mean the 'pot just add hot water and hope it tastes edible' type...

...so I stuck with the 'instant pot of things' idea simply as there's no clutter / mess other than a fork/spoon to wash.

I know I keep banging on about the Nissin/ramen thing , but Andy is onto something here: I'm assuming the quality of the noodle base is going to be pretty uniform across brands & price points, so that leaves the flavouring, for pot noodle et al a dried powder maybe with dehydrated bits, for ramen (nissin, maggi et al) a dried powder plus a sachet of oil/fat based 'stuff'. So the trick is to replicate the flavouring
with bouillon/stock cubes/marmite/bovril/natex in a simple repeatable way without going down the homemade 'fresh' ramen route

unrecordings

and if you use twigs (as I've been known to do then no need to wash cutlery - they just go to Mr Peelings (aka the compost bin, although Peelings is a bit of an oxymoron as we rarely actually peel anything) - rosemary is good for this

AndyCF

I did try the 'Bat' branded pot ones but did not really like it, I suspect it was the flavouring, but its only the chicken/mushroom ones I can really eat as I can't have tomato or spicy things anyway.

It may not mean anything but I've never bothered with the flavouring sachets they sometimes include.

Realise the 'pack' ones are better value but for the purpose of the initial post (kind of) I though the fact there's "no clean up , no pan and no mess" would be the order of the day here for a quick snack provided you have boiling water. Empty pot into recycling and just a single utensil to wipe off. Job done.

Occasionally I dip a cracker or two into them too, just a plain one. Tastes reasonable. have tried breaking one into the 'mix' once but that did not work out well.