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Cooking for one (Mark Three)

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  • caronc
    caronc Posts: 8,091 Forumite
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    PasturesNew wrote: »
    The other week I stupidly bought a bag of frozen chicken breasts.... and now have to eat them all. Well, they won't get eaten if I just think about them, so I've just popped one into a plastic takeaway box in the fridge to defrost.

    Tomorrow I will be having a chicken dinner... no idea what yet. There will be chicken, yorkshires, stuffing, gravy and some mixed veg I also bought at the same time as the chicken. I've got 3 spuds, bakers, so one of those might become mash.

    I've really got food overload, hard to work your way through everything - and to stop yourself buying more food when out ... because once things are at home and/or in the freezer they're "out of sight, out of mind".

    One bag of frozen chicken breasts can live in the freezer for a year as a CFO slowly gets through them one breast at a time....

    Selling the house, I need to clear down the freezer entirely - and, house sale position depending, then just buy little to go in there, or revert to ready meals so nothing goes in there.
    Sounds like a challenge to use one or two a week - like a sort of countdown to moving. If it's a quick sale (fingers crossed) then hopefully it's not too big a bag.....:)
  • Brambling
    Brambling Posts: 5,131 Forumite
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    moneyistooshorttomention wrote: »
    LOL at the cat - he knows which side his bread is buttered - or his cat food bowl filled to be more accurate:rotfl: What a hussy - transferring his affections so readily :rotfl:

    He's not a hussy Money it took him all of 24 hours to forget to be frightened :rotfl:

    Good luck on operation freezer empty PN i remember doing that to move 13 years ago and the only time the freezer has been empty since is when my old one died about 10-11 years ago :o
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  • Living_proof
    Living_proof Posts: 1,921 Forumite
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    Help please - a bit of brain fog going on here. I have been given about 14 plums of two different varieties. In the old days of having a family to cook for one crumble for immediate use would have been made and one for the freezer, but now it's just me. How many single portions will that make and should I freeze the halved plums whole or stew first and add to a crumble later? The other change in my life is that I am now vegan, so have to look into the best way of making a crumble.
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  • caronc
    caronc Posts: 8,091 Forumite
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    Living_proof wrote: »
    Help please - a bit of brain fog going on here. I have been given about 14 plums of two different varieties. In the old days of having a family to cook for one crumble for immediate use would have been made and one for the freezer, but now it's just me. How many single portions will that make and should I freeze the halved plums whole or stew first and add to a crumble later? The other change in my life is that I am now vegan, so have to look into the best way of making a crumble.
    Hi - if that amount would have made a 4 person crumble x2 it would suggest 8 portions depending on family/portion size . Personally I'd cook, stone etc.and see how much you have, might be less than you think (or more depending on plum size). I'd then divide in 2 tablespoon portions and open freeze in blobs or small tubs. That way you can use up as you like be it crumble or in porridge etc.:)
  • Living_proof
    Living_proof Posts: 1,921 Forumite
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    caronc wrote: »
    Hi - if that amount would have made a 4 person crumble x2 it would suggest 8 portions depending on family/portion size . Personally I'd cook, stone etc.and see how much you have, might be less than you think (or more depending on plum size). I'd then divide in 2 tablespoon portions and open freeze in blobs or small tubs. That way you can use up as you like be it crumble or in porridge etc.:)

    I had forgotten about open freezing and yet I do it all the time! I have a beko freezer which has a shallow drawer ideal for this sort of thing. I don't know why I didn't think of this, but as I said, brain fog. I will gently stew with cinnamon and orange rind and put blobs on my tray for future use, just as I do for guacamole, etc. I think at harvest time if you are on your own the preservation process is really hard work, especially if combined with the growing process!
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  • caronc
    caronc Posts: 8,091 Forumite
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    Living_proof wrote: »
    I think at harvest time if you are on your own the preservation process is really hard work, especially if combined with the growing process!
    Couldn't agree more:D
  • moneyistooshorttomention
    moneyistooshorttomention Posts: 17,940 Forumite
    edited 4 September 2018 at 8:45AM
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    An article of interest to us I'm sure - from one of the two online newspapers I read (adds - the other one is "the Guardian" - so the views balance out).

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6128553/From-holidays-gym-membership-2-000-hidden-cost-single-revealed-new-study.html

    Has someone woken up and realise we exist at last? - all 7 million or so of us in this country.

    A point I didn't note there was the unquantifiable one that a couple get to share skills/possessions/etc with each other and that is also financially helpful. I admit that one of the ways I'm pretty "traditional" is I'm just not into DIY and any couple I was in would probably split along pretty "traditional" lines in that respect. Him doing the bulk of the DIY and me doing the bulk of the cooking (though he'd better darn well share the housework:rotfl:). So - as someone pretty "traditional" in that sense - that means I end up paying someone to come in and do DIY type tasks for me (as well as the more typical tradesperson type tasks). So that's another aspect where being single is dearer for me.

    (We won't even mention the cost of paying a mortgage/rent on one's own.......though I'm reminded of it every single time my mother goes "But why did you move over there?" and can't get the fact that a detached house to a couple would have meant I could have stayed put, but a detached house being paid for only by one income meant moving to a cheaper area).
  • flubberyzing
    flubberyzing Posts: 1,386 Forumite
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    Morning all,

    A banana and yoghurt for breakfast. I haven't been impressed with the current bunch of Tesco bananas. All them have had the last third very bruised and brown. Oh well. It's the problem with soft fruit!

    Well done caronc for the weight loss. These past few months my weight has crept up again! I do tend to yo-yo around the same stone and a half. I am generally quite good at getting it down again though.

    So far today I've cancelled my NOW TV subscription. I had it on a cheap £3.99 deal these last 3 months, but it was due to go back to £7.99 a month tomorrow, and as I barely ever watch it, it needed to go. I still have Netflix, but I watch that a LOT.

    I have a work meeting at 11:30, and google maps says its only 7 mins from my house, but I'll factor in 15 for getting out to the car, getting the sat-nav going and parking at the other end. I'd ALWAYS rather spend 5 mins waiting in the car, than risk being late.

    Not sure when lunch will happen today... Probably be a late one. For dinner I was thinking of doing my "pesto rice" meal, which I invented. Some rice, tomato-ey pasta sauce, a large dollop of pesto and a can of tuna. All mixed together it makes this lovely soupy meal! One of my favourites!
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  • PasturesNew
    PasturesNew Posts: 70,698 Forumite
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    moneyistooshorttomention wrote: »
    ....
    Only those in the situation will ever understand.

    Few people spend their lives alone/single, interjecting with their "2 weeks alone" stories!

    Extending the skillset - couples are more likely to know other couples, who are available/willing to help out with things that need doing or moving.

    If you say that everybody has an income of £1k/month - and it costs one person £850 to pay rent/mortgage/basic utilities/get to work ... that leaves them £150 over. Add in a 2nd person and you've got that £150, plus about another £850 "going spare"... and the couple with £1k/month "to spend on what we like" can't understand why the single's worried about spending a penny of their £150 "in case something needs replacing". Even a new boiler would take 2 solid years to save for, -v- a couple's 3 months. You're sitting indoors for 2 years saving ... they're out and living it up again just 3 months later.

    You can't "recover from necessary expenditure" at anywhere near the rate that couples can save.
  • caronc
    caronc Posts: 8,091 Forumite
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    Good morning everyone,

    Yes single living is definitely more expensive. I could reduce some expense by down-sizing to a more CFO sized house but tbh I really don't want to, it would be to me loss of quality of life without enough of a financial gain to justify that. I used to be ok at basic DIY but rely on others these days so again another expense:(
    I used to get inwardly annoyed at colleagues who earned less than me who assumed I was "minted" forgetting that in the main they were in 2 income households where as I was supporting myself & 2 kids on one wage.....
    Pesto rice sounds good flubberyzing I do enjoy bowl & spoon meals- one of the perks of CFO:D.
    My chinesey rice last night was really tasty, more a congee (rice porridge) or dare I say it a "savoury rice pudding" than I planned:rotfl::rotfl:. There's LOs for lunch:D. Tonight I think will be meatballs and pasta. It's another sunny day so I plan to get more done outside as the forecast is not great for the rest of the week.
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