Making meals

I eat a lot of salads & sandwiches when I’m too tired to cook. You can get a great variety of already mixed salads at any grocery store. You can also get already cut up veggies to add to the salad to make it healthier & to save time. I will sometimes add cut up lunch meat to the salad too & that will be a meal.

When I was working full time I would cook meat on Sunday to use during the week. All I would had to do was heat up the meat & add whatever seasonings/sauces I wanted. A small George Foreman grill is perfect for this! 15 minutes of cooking on Sunday would provide meals for the rest of the week. Can’t beat that!

Also, Green Giant makes individual servings of microwavable veggies that only take a few minutes to cook.

Another good idea is to make soup on Sunday to eat for the following week. Chicken noodle soup is super easy & healthy. Also, veggie soup is really quick to make. I use frozen veggies, beef stock, & tomato juice. I just throw it all in a pot & let it cook. Can’t get any easier than that!

My husband comes home during his lunch break at 7pm everyday for dinner. I’ve had years of trying to figure out how to make making dinner faster & easier because I had to not only care for a small child but also have dinner done at 7pm on the dot every day.

Have you checked into any of Rachael Ray’s cooking ideas? She has a ton of 30 minute meal recipes.

Kelly

I recently bought a book called “Don’t panic, Dinner’s in the Freezer.” It has lots of recipe ideas that you can make ahead and then put in freezer bags to thaw and cook at a later date. Since it is just two of us at our house, a recipe that serves six can be divided into three meals — we eat one and I freeze the others for days when I am too tired to cook. Kind of like those “Dream Dinners” places where you put all the meal ingredients in a bag and take them home for your freezer. Also nice to make and share with a friend. You might be able to check out a book like that at the library and see if you like it. I also use my crockpot a lot. A roast, chili or beef stew all are great after a day of slow cooking. I have a cookbook called “Fix it and Forget it” with a bunch of those recipes. If all else fails — cold cereal is a favorite at my house!! 😀

Sue,

Is there an M & M store near you?

They have some wonderful meals that are cooked, you just need to reheat them. they have a website as well.

[url]www.mmmeatshops.com[/url]

i found the website more helpful to decide what to buy.

I am also very tired at the end of the day!
Just got back from having angiograms and 2 stents put in heart due to blockages, resting this week but still very tired!

Let me know if this works out

Rhonda from Canada;)

Hi Sue,
I don’t work anymore, but I still feel too tired/weak to cook! Like you said, it’s not just the cooking it’s the washing up afterwards that has to be done as well. I do try and make an effort for dinner as I still have a son at home – but if it were just me at home, I would probably have tinned baked beans or spaghetti on toast (I love them). I saw an occupational therapist who suggested I sit down while preparing meals (to save energy) so I do this and I avoid frying foods as the heat from the pan makes me feel worse too.
I tend to buy packaged pre-cut veges too, so I don’t have to waste enery chopping – I doubt if I’ll ever be able to cut up a pumpkin again!
Best wishes,
Kazza (CIDP)

Sue, the authors of the freezer cookbook are Susie Martinez, Vanda Howell and Bonnie Garcia. It is so important to eat well — no matter what method you choose to get there!! Happy cooking (and eating)! Hope you are having a VERY good day!

Well…here goes! Recipes from a guy. Actually I enjoy cooking, probably due to my chemical engineering background. But cooking for yourself is not fun, so it has to be easy and nourishing.

When I have to cook for myself in winter, sometimes I buy a packaged soup, like Knorr Swiss, and then I add stuff to it. For example, in a cream of asparagus soup, I dump in a bunch more asparagus. Or you can add some chunks of ham to a soup, etc. Great with some fresh bread and a beer.

Then in summer, you buy the already cooked BBQ chicken in the grocery store and add it to a salad with dressing. Great with fresh bread and wine.

I know…they are not very creative recipes, but still, they taste good and they fill you up and it is not junk food.

Bon appetit.

Andrew

[QUOTE=suewatters1]I hope you had a good business trip.[/QUOTE]

Thanks Sue…it was not without some minor difficulties. I tried to leave Toronto on Saturday in the snowstorm. When I got to the airport, I realized that I had forgotten my passport at home, so I called my daughter and she drove it out to me (wonderful girl!). Then all flights were cancelled and I had to take a taxi home. They told me that the next available flight would be Tuesday. So I booked a flight out of Buffalo and drove there on Sunday for a 6:30 am flight Monday. The airport was packed and planes were delayed so I barely made my connection in Baltimore. Unfortunately my suitcase did not make it. It got to New Olreans the next day. Finally I made it back to Buffalo last night a bit late and then drove home. Nice to be back although the warm weather was a welcome break.

So for tonight I’ll give you my recipe…One frozen pizza cooked on the middle rack for 23 minutes…serve with olive oil and balsamic vineger for crust dipping and some red wine.

Bon appetit
Andrew

OK, I’ll get in on this thread but only because I have to be the laziest person in the world when it comes to cooking – not to mention the fact that I don’t like to eat… however, I do have a husband and I don’t want him to starve to death so here are my standards:

Pork Roast – get one that fits in your crock pot/slow cooker. Stick it in the cooker on high for 3-4 hours (until it’s done and almost falling apart on it’s own.) No work so far… then let it cool enough so that you can handle it – wash your hands really well and drag the entire thing over to the table so I can watch TV while pulling apart the pork. Then I just sit there with two forks a plate and the crock pot and shred up the pork. It doesn’t take long but it’s kind of boring so I watch TV at the same time. Then I take half the shredded pork and put it back in the crock pot with BBQ sauce (HB likes Open Pit) and turn it back on to low for a couple of hours. Let it sit in the crock pot as long as you want – it will get more tasty and tender the longer you let it sit there. Take the other half of the shredded pork and plop it in the freezer – when you are ready for pork again, pull it out and use sweet and sour sauce or something else – or you can make the whole thing BBQ and just freeze half of it. Keep some rolls on hand (if you don’t make them hamburger rolls work fine) and you’ve got an easy sandwich anytime you are hungry. Doesn’t take much to make, doesn’t take much to eat – and if you are really healthy you can put some coleslaw on the sandwich too.

Chicken – I take the entire package of chicken breasts (usually 4) and cook them at 350 for 50 minutes (or until totally done). Then one breast gets shredded (as above w/ BBQ); one gets cubed for chicken salad; one gets eaten by HB w/ sauce of choice; and one goes into chicken soup. All of the chicken I don’t plan to eat within two days gets stuck back in the freezer, cubed, shredded or whatever.

Hamburger Meat – cook it all, take half out and reserve for spaghetti sauce, cook the other half as sloppy joe mix (which is really the same as spaghetti sauce but don’t tell my HB).

My basic philosophy is to make more of the basics than I need for a single meal so that I’ve got precooked yet unflavored meals that don’t take much for me to prep for dinner.

Veggies – well HB doesn’t eat veggies (I know, I’ve been trying for 15 years…) and I don’t eat enough to warrant buying fresh veggies often. However, my dogs LOVE veggies and so I get bags of frozen veggies and we split them. I use those steamer ziplock bags, shove in a half cup of frozen veggies, throw in some spices and nuke it for 3 minutes – poof, instant veggies. I also use the frozen ones in my soups because it’s just too darn convenient not to – but I try to make sure the frozen veggies don’t have any added salt. I had to start looking at this a long time ago when one of our dogs had urinary tract issues and couldn’t have extra salt so now we only buy veggies w/ no added salt (good for all of us).

Fruit – I also keep a bowl of fruit on my table and force myself to eat a piece of fruit every day. I’m not a huge fan of apples and oranges but they are good for me so I force myself to eat them. I love bananas but they rarely last the week so I usually have to eat them the first couple of days.

And then there are the baked goods – sigh – a weakness… I got a bread machine for a birthday present 4 years ago, little did I know how much that would end up helping me! I used to just let the machine go it’s whole cycle and make and bake the loaf of bread, but it’s difficult to slice fresh bread – the whole point being that it’s nice and soft – and HB wouldn’t eat the crusts. (what can I say, he’s a kid when it comes to food) so I started setting the machine on the “dough” cycle, then you pull it out and just start twisting. It’s less work than you would think as you just keep taking the ball of dough and twisting it in half until you’ve got a clump of dough about the size of a golf ball. At this point anything can happen – they can go in the oven to rise just plain the way they are – or I might roll them in cinnamon sugar – or stuff the inside w/ parmesan cheese and spices – or brush the top with butter and sprinkle on garlic… the possibilities are endless. They even make cute little mini pizzas if you smash them down again before baking. Rolls can be frozen quite well as long as you let them thaw out in the fridge, otherwise the moisture collects in the ziplock and they get soggy. Oh, and in case you think I’m sitting there measuring out flour etc – NAH – we buy the premixed boxes at the grocery store which makes it even easier. If you consider the cost of a loaf of bread and I calculate how much of it went to waste vs. the rolls we’re actually saving money this way. AND the house smells terrific every Sunday!

That’s about all I can think of right now but if I come up with anything else I’ll add more. I’m hungry now :p

Julie

P.S. I use the wheelchair when I’m going back and forth in the kitchen. It’s not tall enough that I can stir things on the stove but it gives me a place to sit in between and I can scoot back and forth to the fridge/counter/table etc.

Julie,
Now you have made me hungry…….I have got to jump into this one !

And………. Sue,
……..How are ya, girl??
What a great thread you have started……..even got me interested
I think that I am am pretty good chef (cook) :)………I roasted some vegetables last night……….emptied the refrigerator …..potatoes, squash, onions, asparagus, green onions, cabbage. Tossed in olive oil, salt, pepper and roasted in oven for about an hour……….. pretty good.
I have a whole lot more cooking ventures I can share.(if I can remember them….I just add and make up as I go along) 🙂
But, no time now.
Check back with ya’ll later. Hope you are doing well.

Per

Julie…your husband is a lucky guy. Like Perry said, I’m getting hungry just reading your post.

I’ll throw in another quick easy dish here too. Every so often pork tenderloin goes on sale really really cheap. I can’t understand why because it is lean, tender and tasty. You can get it fairly inexpensively from Costco too.

I cut it into pieces and fry it up in olive oil with some added sauce later on like BBQ sauce or Teriyaki sauce.

Same time you cut up some green peppers and red/yellow/orange peppers and some mushrooms and zuchini. Throw into a stir fry pan with hot sesame oil or olive oil. Add some fresh vegetable noodles and a few other vegetables if you want. You can also sprinkle in some of the stir fry suace you buy in the chinese food section. And water chestnuts are good.

Then when the veggies are done, throw in the pork tenderloin and you’ve got a feast. You can cook some rice at the same time too. May as well make a ton of rice all at the same time and keep for later. Its easy to reheat or fry it up too.

I’ve probably left some things out, but you get the general idea and it is nourishing, tasty and quite inexpensive.

Enjoy with your favourite Chinese beer.

Bon apetit!
Chef André

Great idea for a thread, Sue! As you said, there are lots of us who find cooking tiresome, for many reasons.

Sorry to hear you are feeling low lately. Hang in there. You are a very creative and resiliant person, so I’m sure you’ll find ways to make things better.

Suzanne

Sue,
The better question is what you should be eating. When I had my GBS, I ate from the bottom shelves of the refrigerator. Of course, I closed the door while I ate on the floor because it was too much effort to crawl back into the dining room where I slept. Funny, now. I am now eating right for my bloodtype and doing Atkin’s. Protein is the most important thing that you can put into your body for healing. I have gotten into a routine that makes my meals easy. I am finishing reading a book on autoimmune diseases which I shall put on a thread as soon as I finish. I would recommend getting rid of wheat and sugar – carbohydrates. I think this is the key to stopping autoimmune diseases – of which there are 100! If you cut out the carbs, you will have more energy and less blood sugar spikes. If you happen to be an O, then you could microwave a hamburger and wash off the fat. I eat a salad with it of red leaf lettuce and red peppers. I make my own dressing which has no high fructose in it. Voila! No carbs which would normally stop the protein from being absorbed. I do this all in five minutes and it is healthy. I am giving my body every chance to repair itself.

OK now I need your help!

Having CIDP is a challenge in itself but I can’t be normal so lets throw in Diabetes for fun.

Making meals with no sugar enjoyable???

So last week I was rushed to Vancouver (12 hour drive away on snowy roads)
to find out my heart was 80% blocked in the main artery! Doc had to put 2 stents in and balloon several times! Yes ,I am 42 years old

Now for menu ideas…?????

No sugar, no cholestrol, not allowed much starch such as potaotes, noodles, pasta. Well I am allowed 1/4 cup of starchy item for a meal.

Rhonda from Canada

Any suggestions for me?

Rhonda,
I’m far from an expert but I had to go on a gluten free diet for awhile to rule out a digestive disorder and it sounds like you might be able to eat that diet maybe with some small modifications. I can’t find the little pages they gave me with the microscopic receipes on them but I’m sure you can find stuff on the internet. The only other encouragement I can give you is that you will eventually get used to going without sugar and fat, or salt, we are highly adaptable and within a few months of your new diet you may even look at a greasy cheeseburger and shake and feel nauseated. :p

Julie

Rhonda,
I know it is hard to give up sugar and other carbs and I could not do it either until I read why sugar is SO bad for us. It causes inflammation. From recent research they believe that this inflammation is what causes heart disease – there is inflammation in your arteries and the body tries to cover it up with fat/plaque. So the fat you eat is not the culprit as we have been lead to believe. It is the sugar which starts the problem. It is also reasonible for your diabetes and autoimmune. Once I learned this, I was able to cut back on sugar. It is now five months. ONe can see the inflammation in their redness/ruddy skin. The first few days of cutting out all refined carbs are tough, but after that, it is easy. You will feel better and will not have cravings or sugar spikes. I found it best to give up all carbs except those in my salad – yes, they are there too. Plus I dropped 26 pounds and didn’t exercise. You can eat as much protein as you need so you won’t be hungry. YOu will have more energy. I have gotten my friends doing this and they agree. Hope this helps. I bet that alot of your health problems will abate.