Are you getting a takeaway tonight?

But you could have a pretend take-away, Ian.

Buy some ready meals or ‘dinner-for- two’ boxes [you can probably get them on-line and Yodel will deliver them for you], heat them up, put them in a big cardboard box, strap them to the back of a motor-bike and ride around for half an hour, fall off in your drive, then ding-dong the doorbell, and hey presto! you have a gorgeous take-away.

Not recommended on Wedding Anniversary night.

Yodel might even save you the bother of putting them in the bin. 😭

Wonderful! 🙂

And thats more likely if it was Hermes -voted worst in Britain along with Yodel in survey after survey of the British public Alfa.

I used Yodel as the example as I had read Ian’s opinion of them and knew it would get him excited.

My goodness Mr Ward. That sounds like trawling – fishing for an emotional response. 🙂

It’s Mr Deliveroo and his ilk that puts us off the whole experience. We have occasionally had a take-away from a very good Indian establishment that only does take-aways because it is on an industrial estate and has no passing trade. The food has been excellent, and service and delivery by van very good – and it’s cash on delivery which is good as well. If we want fish & chips it has to be Thursday evening between 4:30 and 6:00 when the van turns up next to the church and community centre. It’s only a five minute walk but we rarely use it.

We used to do that, but then found we were not very good at inspecting the contents of our freezer, so food got overlooked until too late. We have now become more lazy.

alfa, assuming you buy the coleslaw this, like many meals, is simple and relatively quick to prepare. We cook our steak in a very hot pan, but use a mesh cover to contain the splattering, and a cooker hood to remove the fumes. Oh, and a dishwasher afterwards, otherwise washing up can detract from the experience.

Our Beef Stoganoff (delicious) last night took 10 minutes to cook but we (mrs r) did cook rice. If we’d been really lazy we could have bought a microwaveable pack.

Never tried microwaveable rice. Seems to go against the grain…

Sometimes we make the coleslaw but we can get a very nice dairy-free M&S coleslaw at a local garage so M&S usually wins.

A very hot pan is the trick of a good steak. We bought a table top grill when we didn’t have a kitchen and still use it for steak. A wipe with kitchen roll when it is hot then wash the griddles next day (when it has cooled down is my excuse) and the rest in the dishwasher.

Jacket spud in the microwave, then put steak and spud on rack over tin to catch drips in low oven for 20-30 minutes to brown/rest/check out the wine and yes, a tasty meal (better than any restaurant steak) with very little work involved.

We get the Tilda (steamed) microwavable rice, handy to have in the cupboard, usually £1 on special offer, lots of flavours and one pack is enough as I don’t eat a lot of rice.

Coleslaw turns up in unexpected places and I hate it. I’ve been served a ‘ploughman’s lunch’ that included coleslaw. I doubt that any self-respecting ploughman ate coleslaw with his lunch.

Please explain “portions”, Vynor. This would be an alien concept to me. If it comes out of the oven it goes on the plate and is consumed at once. I don’t think I could cope with “portions”. It would be too distressing to see something put in the freezer. What if . . . No, I won’t go there.

If I make a stew or cook up some mince, I always do a big batch and freeze some for further quick meals. Same with a roast, make enough gravy to freeze some roast meat in it for a quick meal.

Not exactly sure what there is to explain John. I thought a portion was an individual (or in my case two or three) meals-worth of food, separated into packages and frozen for later use. Am I missing something here?

But…but you’re cooking Shepherds?

I have a vivid image of you, Alfa, labouring over a huge cauldron on a vast open fire…

Only in portions John. I was trying to hide our cannibalistic tendencies. A good shepherd takes some beating. And that’s another ambiguous statement if ever there was one. Cannibalistic with sado-masochistic tendencies. I’m doing well here. Not sure about the cottage though, unless my name happened to be Hansel.

Thanks, Vynor. I understand the literal meaning of “portion” but I find it hard to come to terms with cooking something and not eating it all immediately. I am a gourmand, rather than a gourmet; or pig if you want the technical term for it.

I find that, generally, a batch cook tastes better than a small cook, designed to be eaten all up. More ingredients and a better combining in the oven. Also if enjoyed straight from the pot, one can anticipate the next one from the freezer, without the effort of cooking from scratch. If one makes a mistake, however, this might be one that stays in the freezer for a while so it pays to be careful. Likewise a whole chicken may be too much to eat at once and it can be carved and frozen for use with a tasty sauce or as a pie. The carcass is then ready for soup/stock. This too can be frozen in ice cube trays and used for gravy. One would cook quantities for a dinner party too.
I’m reminded of a wacky sci-fi story by Saki I think. Food came in the form of a small tablet. When added to water it produced a delicious dinner for six. On one occasion the tablet was left unattended and the dog ate it…… I think it’s time for bed.

I used to enjoy lamb pasanda in a local restaurant but it changed hands and the version produced by the new owners is pretty average. At least it is helping me to explore the many other alternatives on the menu. My own efforts at pasandas have not impressed me either.