Cooking for one (Mark Two)

PasturesNew · 22 August 2017 at 4:11PM

I've just scoffed that big yorkie, with stuffing, mash, carrot/swede mash, peas, gravy ..... and it tasted very nice, but was WAY too big. I can hardly move now!

Freezer's getting used properly ... just one basket being used and food in it being eaten...

I made the mash fresh and used packet stuffing - everything else came from the freezer.

Farway · 22 August 2017 at 6:58PM

Finished up with binning the smoked mackerel because I was a bit dubious about it's freshness / colour tinge once I opened the pack and really looked at it, better safe than sorry when a onesie

Standby tin of corned beef opened and used some in a salady baguette, with stewed apple & Greek yoghurt to follow, now quite full even no cooking involved again

caronc · 22 August 2017 at 7:34PM

Good evening everyone,

Kittie & MTSTM - shame about the blight hopefully most of your toms can be rescued.

Lunch ended up being roll mop herring with a big plate of salady bits mainly from the garden and a little mayo. I really enjoyed it and didn't feel too bagged up afterwards:). My pork chop is just defrosted so that's tonight with a variety of green veg again from the garden. I'm going to take it hard when the growing season ends.:(

Tomorrow I need to meal plan for the rest of the week as I have some bits to use up though nothing that desperately needs eating or freezing:). The forecast is a mix between humid/warm and tipping it down so it's hard to know what will work best. I'm CFO at least until Friday then my son is home again. I think he'll be late on Friday night so will eat enroute and on Saturday he's cooking curry for his mates (and me:D). I've promised a "proper" Sunday dinner, though it may well end up being based around the bag of turkey & gravy from Christmas

[Deleted User] · 22 August 2017 at 8:42PM

money, ferline and strillo tomatoes are both good at blight resistance. I use a tomato ring standing on 1/2 a black bucket of compost and plant the tomato baby in the ring, stake it and pinch out th egrowing point when 4 trusses have formed and you also pinch out every side shoot

Its not only meals with singles is it, also keeping up with maintenance and cleaning. Today I have been putting a coat of cuprinol on a shed, yesterday was oil on a garage door and another wooden area and cleaning out a large water butt and tap that was clogged. Two days ago I replaced two rollers on a shower screen. It would not half run away with the money if you had to get workmen in for these sort of jobs. Singles work much harder than one half of a couple imo, no wonder food has to take a back seat sometimes and turns into cba picking

I found a mutton stew recipe that I have used before, makes a lovely meal and I think I need to get some ready meals in the freezer again. Hope I can get at the mutton that I think I have in the freezer. Got to plan ahead for cba or busy days

caronc · 22 August 2017 at 8:55PM

kittie wrote: »

Its not only meals with singles is it, also keeping up with maintenance and cleaning. Today I have been putting a coat of cuprinol on a shed, yesterday was oil on a garage door and another wooden area and cleaning out a large water butt and tap that was clogged. Two days ago I replaced two rollers on a shower screen. It would not half run away with the money if you had to get workmen in for these sort of jobs. Singles work much harder than one half of a couple imo, no wonder food has to take a back seat sometimes and turns into cba picking

Absolutely it's everything from diy to cleaning to maintenance et al........

ETA - where do you get your mutton it's like hen's teeth round here and on-line seems very dear for what used to be a cheaper cut than lamb?

PasturesNew · 22 August 2017 at 9:06PM

I don't do maintenance because .... I hate it, I'd be rubbish at it ....

I just accept that some things don't work properly and then I find a little man to fix critical things.

I did do all the wood preserver on the fence and half the shed.... I'll continue next year and complete the job. That was easy though, but the weather's not been right.

Cutting the grass is my big hate. When I cut it, it has to have been dry for 2-3 days - and I have to know I'll take the cuttings directly to the tip, else they'd fester and turn nasty. It needs doing again.

I've not got round to buying new lightbulbs because one lot are "funny ones" you have to buy online ... and the others are four spots in the kitchen where 2 have given up the ghost, but they've given up the ghost since before I moved in. I've never had a bulb in the living room, the downstairs hall bulb blew over 2 years ago and the top landing light bulb blew about 2 years ago too.

When the hard wired smoke detector needed new batteries I put up with the beeping for a week before I got round to it.

I've a ton of gardening to do at the front, that I'll not now get round to this year - hate gardening.

I need a curtain pole fixing .... but that can wait.... and I need blinds on some windows, that can wait.

I just do the bare minimum really as it's actually very soul destroying and isolating.... and I'm bound to c0ck up things if I try to fix anything.

moneyistooshorttomention · 23 August 2017 at 7:00AM

Kittie - you are so right on it's harder work being single. You've seen this from both sides now and it's reassuring to me to have you confirm what I've always suspected on that.

I've always been single - had plenty of boyfriends in my time (but never been married or living together). So "being single" is all I've ever known basically and one does wonder if it's your imagination that it is so much harder work being single. Even though you know house refurbishment and upkeep still is going to be exactly the same amount of stuff to do etc.

I'm now experimenting with changing my To Do list to having two lists stuck up on the fridge:
- a "to do" list
and
- a "sodding" to do list

The "to dos" are standard/fair 'nuff things like cleaning the kitchen, cleaning the bathroom, hoovering, ironing

The "sodding to dos" right at this moment include, for instance:
- chase up garden furniture manufacturer about the defect that has emerged on my garden table/chairs
- retouches of paint
- clean up paint a "professional ?!" decorator splashed outside house

(ie all the things that shouldnt need doing - as they shouldnt have happened).

I'm going to try and get myself to do up to an hour worth of stuff from the To Do list and/or Sodding To Do list every day that isn't a "long day". "Long days" being ones when I'm either out socialising all day or going to a bigger town for something (which turns into an all-day thing in this area - infrequent buses on windy routes going around everywhere means it pretty much takes all day to do 1-2 hours worth of things elsewhere).

I'll see if that system works on me. I find I start feeling distinctly down at the thought of doing the "weekly" housework type stuff all at once. I know that 2-3 hours isn't much in the grand scheme of things - but forcing myself to do something I don't want to do and will only need re-doing in a week's time is probably not the best way to make myself do it:cool:. So, if I divide it into 1 hour chunks and think "I'll just do this today and then just do that tomorrow - and the rest of the day I can do what I want" then maybe I'll be better able to make myself do it iyswim.

Re DIY tasks - yep...I do just end up "throwing money at it" and paying a workman to do them for me. Hence I either save a few of them up and get them done at once by one or tack them on the end of another task (like asking the plumber when he comes in to do yearly gas service how much he'd charge to "just do this little thing" as well if it's within his capabilities).

Yes I do wonder just how much easier life would be if I had A.N. Other Half and was back living in a city (yes...I know it would be way easier!) and had normal Councils (yes...I know it would be easier than the bl**dy-minded ones I've got now).

[Deleted User] · 23 August 2017 at 7:46AM

I am quite good at diy, unless something is too high or too heavy but it is so draining sometimes, however I know that I can often do a job better and with more knowledge than a man eg I re-rendered a low corner of my house with specialist lime render. If something needs doing then I don`t put it off, I get it done right away or at least I order what I need right away. Yesterday I did the exposed outbuilding end with coloured cuprinol, it could have waited but I slept easier last night, knowing that It does not need doing for another four years. I had to unscrew stuff and put it back up but( haha) not the four large hinges supporting the very heavy door

Money I have a to do list on my table but I only put daily tasks on it, like allotment picking, washing the floor. I never have onerous stuff on a list, anywhere, as that sort of list is depressing. If I can, it is easier in winter, I finish daily tasks by lunchtime and the rest of the day is for leisure stuff. If I cannot think of a daily task, I don`t look for work, then I will go and do a bit of kondo somewhere so that I get a positive feeling about making a bit of space with all eyes on a potential future house move in the next five years

Caronc re mutton, all my meat is expensive as I only ever buy grass fed organic, however lamb and sheep are grass fed for the most part and free ranging. I do buy organic though because I will not touch halal. I live in a country yokel county, lots of suppliers here and I can get locally grown food via a special suppliers website, they sell mutton from a named farmer

I am glad we are veering off just daily eating, talking about the challenges that singles face in living on a daily basis

Farway · 23 August 2017 at 8:34AM

Up early again, and seeing the porridge often mentioned on here I [STRIKE]made[/STRIKE] nuked a nice bowl of it, with yoghurt & honey. A healthy start at least, may go downhill from here though

I may have a blokey advantage on DIY, I can & have done the lot, from stripping down car engines, fitting exhausts, renew brakes, oil changes, rewiring houses, central heating installing, shower fitting.

Sadly all in the past now due to bendy & balance problems, Some stuff I can still do but it is frustrating knowing how to do the job but physically not able to do it. Luckily, in a blokey world, there is sometimes a bloke who knows a mate who can do it at mate's rates

Off into town, still fighting the mobile phone, getting [STRIKE]on my t*ts[/STRIKE] up my nose now :mad:

meg72 · 23 August 2017 at 8:54AM

kittie wrote: »

depends on the humidity and temperature money. If the tomatoes are a decent size then harvest them, put them in a bowl with an apple and put something on top to make it dark. Wales will have more blight chances than where I live but I am keeping on top of picking my small tomatoes, already bagged some for the freezer as they are nice with a cooked breakfast. Blight comes on a breeze, out of the blue and an awful lot of people don`t cut and bag blighted stems off potatoes

I treated myself to a solid, ie expensive mini breadmaker, although it was cheaper than my varifocals, so it is relative as I cannot eat my specs. It came today and my larger panny is now in the outbuilding for storage. The new one makes 1 lb loaves, cake and jam, it came today and I am making cake. apple, raisin, cinnamon and vanilla. It is in there now. It does it all, I only needed to scrape flour down and add the bits

oats, I use jumbo organic for porridge as I cannot eat slimey mush but I like pinhead oatmeal if I set the rice cooker on for morning. Normal rolled oats are best really for creamy all night soaked oats with no cooking. I usually add something like cranberry, figs, apricots

I`ll have to get my arris in gear to sort a saald for lunch but not too early as I had half a tin of sardines on toast earlier

Love the idea of a smaller breadmaker can I ask which one you have please.

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Cooking for one (Mark Two)

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