This post isn’t as depressing as it sounds. I struggle quite a lot to come up with cheap, imaginative, healthy dinners for myself, and as such, my meals in comparison to the girls at work are perceived as pretty random. We’re all obsessed with food therefore always discuss what we ate the night before or what we’ll be eating for dinner that evening. My colleagues usually come up with delicious sounding food stuffs such as stuffed peppers, amazing combinations of salad with feta cheese, sausage casserole, mezze plates etc etc, you get my drift. The interesting thing is, that these people all cook for more than one person. The contrast between their meals and mine are huge. I just cook for little old me every evening you see and my problem is that by the time I get in from a hard day’s work via the gym, I’m absolutely ravenous. I therefore tend to nail a slice of seeded bread as soon as I get in before my stomach eats itself.
I like to cook something thats healthy, cheap, and made from scratch, with minimal fuss. I will also NEVER touch a ready meal. They just make me feel sick with their processed meat (please note I do not look down on you if you consume such meals, rather this is a personal preference). I also find buying food for one is pretty expensive. for example, five chicken breasts works out cheaper per portion than a pack of two. But who has that need to consume five chicken breasts before the sell by date? It’s not as if freezing it for in a couple of weeks time is an option – our miniscule freezer is as jam packed as a bunch of Eskimos in an igloo.
See my problems?? Due to the above I usually end up consuming one the following combinations for dinner:
- Half a carton of lentil/tomato and basil soup with a boiled egg
- Half a carton of lentil/tomato and basil soup with a side salad
- Half a carton of lentil/tomato and basil soup with corn on the cob
- 2 egg omelette with side salad
- 2 egg omelette with broad beans
- 1 or 2 fishcakes with side salad with half a slice of seeded bread (if it’s half a slice then it’s as if I haven’t had it.)
Anyway, it was around my fourth night in a row of having an omelette when the girls at work insisted enough was enough – I had to broaden my horizons. That day I made a vow to be more adventurous with my ways and that very evening made a Spanish style omelette as suggested by the girl that sits opposite me. I microwaved a sweet potato and chopped into small wedges. I then whisked two eggs with a dash of milk, peas and seasoning. I then made an omelette and half way through cooked added the sweet potato. It was delish and very filling – much more than my usual omelette options.
Since then I’ve tried to be a bit more adventurous with my salads too. E.g. going for little gem lettuce instead of iceburg, and also mixing with broad beans and peas (with balsamic and olive oil) to make a yummy warm salad. The other night I even had some sweet potato and smoked haddock flavour soup. It was equally as delicious as the Spanish style omelette and much more exciting than lentil flavour. See, times are changing. The News of the World has closed, Rebecca Brooks has been sacked, I’ve eaten haddock soup and now have warm salads in the evenings. The next thing you know I’ll be eating rocket* instead little gem.
* NB I’ve always had a huge hatred of rocket
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