Ingredients and shopping

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  • posted by Teapotcosy
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    I find that the recipes in the book are typical of recipes written by someone who a) lives in the south of England, b) already has a store of esoteric ingredients and c) is feeding an entire family the same menu. Cooking for 1 is a big problem when fresh ingredients cannot be frozen. when a recipe call for 1/4 tin cannellini beans or sprigs of this herb or that herb when you are not in a position to “eat things up before they go off”. I am sure that avoiding waste is a major contribution to overeating.

    I have reconciled to the fact that it is not practical to do a varied menu, but eating the same meal for a recipe for 2 people twice a week on alternate days is doable. Breakfast – Yoghurt and frozen compote (different flavours), Lunch – Tuna and spiralized veg or hummus and crudités, – This means shopping 2x per week for 2 different evening meals and eating them A,B,A,B,C,D,C . This allows a different and possibly more experimental meal on Saturday. This avoids waste and minimises the ingredient list.

    I remember once writing a shopping list for the Carol Vorderman detox diet. One quarter of the ingredients were unavailable and others used a teaspoonful of an expensive 500g pack which said “once opened keep in a dark place and consume within 2 weeks – Not suitable for freezing” . The book went to the charity shop the next day.

    That said – I have had harissa chicken and Courgetti prawns (twice) without the added fresh herbs and both were delicious.

    Just about to eat lunch on day 4 and this mornings weigh in shows an overall loss of 4.4lb (from 200). No hunger or serious cravings but I do have a spaced out headache today so replenishing fluids.

  • posted by Cookiemonsta
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    I agree with you. I spent over £100 on bits and bobs for the diet on Monday and I’ve had to eat similar meals on consecutive days in order to use them up. I haven’t stuck rigidly to the meal plans in the book but I think they give us a general idea of what changes we need to make to our diets. I intend to use the recipe ideas as a guide and adapt them according to my lifestyle and budget. I was brought up on very traditional fare and whilst I do enjoy salads and vegetables I am beginning to feel like I’m morphing into a rabbit!
    I don’t have diabetes nor am I pre-diabetic but I am very keen to make changes to my diet. I haven’t found this week particularly easy, despite the fact I was already sticking to around 1000 cals/day before I embarked on it. I feel quite tired and grumpy and I have been craving chocolate (I’ve allowed myself some small pieces occasionally) but I am determined not to cheat and to stick it out.
    Good luck. I had the Harissa Chicken as well this week and whilst I didn’t love it, it was ok. My daughter really liked it so it was what I call a success!

  • posted by Ingenue
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    I must say I haven’t found this diet expensive, shopping at Aldis for cheap veg , fruit, salad, low fat plain yoghurt, tuna, sardines, cottage cheese,eggs, and nuts, hummus etc it’s cost me less than my normal diet , now not buying bread, snacks , cereals etc not eating a lot of meat as tinned fish, feta, hummus, eggs , chickpeas are a good source of cheap protein. Good luck folks x

  • posted by Audleytom
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    hello Teapotcosy i too thought about cooking for one so if you have overcome some of theses problems i would love to hear them

  • posted by RozyDozy
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    Hi Teapotcosy, and Audleytom,
    I feel your pain! I also cook for one & often wish more recipes were for just 1. I remember years ago seeing a recipe (for 4) and one of the ingredients was for 1/8 teaspoon of some spice – totally ridiculous – when I made it I reduced the quantities and missed out that particular ingredient completely! I only have small freezer capacity (currently taken up with booty grown at the allotment) and I’m sure I eat slightly larger portions to use things up. It sounds like you have worked out a solution to get best use out of your ingredients/space – so long as you can keep variety in your menus you should have no problem keeping things interesting.
    Recipes for 2 I quite often make as they are and I have the 2nd helping the next day (saves work the next day).
    Recipes for 4 (or 6) I experiment with reducing quantities/cooking time.
    Other times, I adapt recipes, sling some things in a pan, change some flavourings & see what happens. Vegetable stir fries are great for using up any veggies in the fridge.

    It’s shopping for stuff in the first place that can be a problem (I live in the south of England, you are right, availability isn’t too bad here 🙂 ) but you need to think carefully before buying – what I mean is plan your menu and only buy what you might need. I saw a recipe in the book (for 2) requiring 1/2 a red cabbage, so I reasoned if I had another recipe requiring red cabbage (and I found one) then the cabbage wouldn’t go to waste. It means making the two recipes in the same week so I’m hoping I won’t get all cabbaged-out!!! I didn’t buy lots of new ingredients for this diet – rather I selected a few, tried them in several recipes (mercifully, most were acceptable to me), then I gradually tried others. It’s worth just buying the smallest quantity to test out something you’ve not had before. I’ve gradually built up my cupboard of ingredients – when I finish one, I don’t always replace it straight away, rather I try something else to keep the variety in my meals.
    Planning is everything, sounds like you have your plan worked out! Good luck.

  • posted by Teapotcosy
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    I have reconciled to the fact that it is normal to have the same / or similar thing 3 days in a row. Thai curry is my current favourite. (After all Thai folk eat Thai food all of the time!) use some fresh veg each day but vary the type of pepper and add a few peas on one of the days. Use a different texture of courgette each day (tiny cubes, spiralized or mandolin sliced.) split a tin of low fat coconut milk into three, use 1 and refrigerate the rest, plop 1/3 of a blue dragon Thai curry paste into each of the saved coconut milk and use 1/3 (stops it drying out). Or freeze the paste and have green one day, red another day and massaman on another. I use raw king prawn as the protein. Recently managed to half my metformin dose.

  • posted by Mixnmatch
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    Congratulations on halving the dose 😀 if you look at my diary this week in Fast 800 it looks like I lived on chicken, spinach and salad, but I tried to change things at every meal, different seasonings and flavourings, hot or cold. Variety is the spice of life, but that doesn’t mean it needs to be a problem if you eat the same thing a few days running, particularly if you like it.

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