Need help cooking for one.

arkonite_babe

ceridwen wrote: »

Also try looking up website of another writer (Fiona Beckett) - as she has useful info (including recipes) on there. Its at

www.beyondbakedbeans.com

I can recommend this website highly, I have one of her books (beyond baked beans green) and it's fab.

This website - love food hate waste, will also help you to reduce what you use and help cut down on wasted food.

Clockwatcher

Martyn
a student cook book is a good start I picked one up for a pound in a bargain book shop, they often have all the basics like how to chop and how much constitutes a serving.

Bulk cooking all always good, and it means you only need to actually cook once every couple of days as you can just microwave the other portions.

good luck.

moon-pig_2

My friend was penniless for a while and existed on roadkill animals and berries. He had moved on to spearing fish the last time I saw him. Most impressive.

Benthosboy

moon-pig wrote: »

My friend was penniless for a while and existed on roadkill animals and berries. He had moved on to spearing fish the last time I saw him. Most impressive.

Funny you should mention that..........:D

Martyn.

Stephen_Leak

stefejb wrote: »

That's if you have a freezer - what kind of facilities will you have on your motorhome

Don't discount canned food. Canning food may be 200 years old, but there's a simple reason for this: it works. In fact, some things, like canned tomatoes, are actually better for you than fresh: the canning process concentrates the antioxidant, lycopene.

As for portion sizes, I reckon that for things like rice (get basmati: its more 'forgiving' to cook) and pasta (the 'value' spaghetti is perfectly OK, if you like it soft and not "al dente"), 100 grams is a good serving. I'd recommend investing in some small, cheap kitchen scales (check the local charity shops?). They should pay for themselves in the long run, by ensuring that you do get 5 meals from a 500 gram bag of rice or pasta.

PS. Don't knock good old baked beans (altho' I obviously wouldn't advise living on them). Hmmm, jacket potato & baked beans for dinner tomorrow?

ali1972

I've posted this elsewhere but these things get buried:

BBC Good Food "Meals for Two" is an excellent book because you don't end up eating the same thing for 4 days - I don't have a freezer (other than an icebox which I keep berries in) so I really appreciate any recipe book which contains recipes which make a smaller amount. It's really easy to half the recipes and most of them are really quick and things you can do under the grill. I also got "One Pot Dishes" from the same series which is also probably quite handy for your circumstances, although some of them tend to make bigger batches. Both were from Waterstones and are just dinky little books so they won't take up much precious room.

Given the other thread we had running a while back about singles cooking I would say there's a market for Delia to update her "One is Fun" recipe book. Should we all send her a letter? After all, she must be running out of ideas if she's writing books on how to cheat at cooking! ;-)

On a serious note - maybe it would be a good idea for us to set up a thread where we just post our favourite recipes for meals for 1? There are certainly enough of us singletons without freezers to come up with a good lot...

ali1972

Ta daa!! :j

Delia has updated her "One is Fun" anthology, only these days you don't buy it in book form, you buy it via her website for £4.95 and acccss it with a password and username. There are 40 recipes there and they will stay on the website indefinitely according to her blurb. I'll probably give it a whirl.

www.deliaonline.com/premium-content/cooking-for-one/

Stephen_Leak

Benthosboy,

Try the following recipe. In honour of your username and it's probable derivation, I've re-named it Benthic Pie. It should make two, maybe even three, filling and warming portions.

INGREDIENTS

375g of old potatoes*
250ml of water
½ a teaspoon of salt
6 tablespoons of milk
1 small onion
250g of fish (cod, coley, haddock or hake fillet, some smoked, some dyed**)
100g of frozen pre-cooked prawns
½ a tablespoon of dried parsley or mixed herbs
½ a tablespoon of butter
½ a tablespoon of milk
Freshly ground pepper to taste

METHOD

Put the frozen prawns into a bowl to thaw out.

Peel the potatoes and chop into quarters. Boil in a saucepan with the water and salt for 20 to 25 minutes until soft.

While the potatoes are cooking, peel and chop the onion. Put the onion, fish and the 6 tablespoons of milk into a saucepan and cook gently over a moderate heat for about 10 minutes. Drain the fish and onions. Break the fish into lumps, and throw away the skin and bones. Add the prawns and herbs.

Drain the potatoes and mash with the butter and the ½ a tablespoon of milk until it is smooth and lump free. Season the mashed potatoes and the seafood mixture with the pepper.

Put the seafood mixture into a casserole dish. Level off the surface. Put the mashed potato on top. Spread to cover. Make artistic swirls in the mashed potato. This increases the surface area and makes the top crisper. Cook in a preheated oven at 200°C, 400°F, gas mark 6 for about 30 minutes until golden on top.

ADDITIONS & ALTERNATIVES

Omit the prawns or substitute them for 100g more fish. Sprinkle 50g of grated Cheddar cheese on top of the potato, or even into it as it being mashed. Add a chopped hard-boiled egg to the seafood mixture.

* New potatoes make awful mashed potato. Use old ones like King Edward’s or Desiree Reds.

** Use the cheapest fish available, but including some smoked fish makes it taste better and including some dyed fish makes it look nicer.

For those who are wondering, benthic is the scientific term for "on or in the ocean floor". In the James Cameron film "The Abyss", the oil company was called Benthic Petroleum and the surface support ship was called the Benthic Explorer. He also used the same company name for the exploding petrol station in the second "Terminator" film.

Benthosboy

Stephen_Leak wrote: »

Benthosboy,

Try the following recipe. In honour of your username and it's probable derivation, I've re-named it Benthic Pie. It should make two good portions.






For those who are wondering, benthic means "on or in the ocean floor". In the James Cameron film "The Abyss", the oil company was called Benthic Petroleum. He also used the same name for the exploding petrol station in the second "Terminator" film.

Err, is it me or have I lost something I had a lot of computery gobbledygook and now that's gone.

Incidentally, that's exactly where my username comes from, and I'm a diver to boot :cool: Joint fave film of all time, with Aliens. Love the "Russian water tentacle" :eek:

Zazen999

Hi
I second the student cookbook book, for those wanting to learn how to make smaller meals.