How to make a bowl of happy: take 3 packets of strawberries and cream oatmeal add milk add strawberry jelly microwave for two minutes stir SNAAAAAARF Recommended ingredients that are nice but not necessary for your personal bowl of happy include: honey almonds, cashews, filberts, etc chocolate chips nutella dried fruit of your choice fresh fruit of your choice brown sugar Feel free to experiment! If strawberries aren't your thing, go with whatever your favorite jelly flavor is and mix it with your favorite oats. I've never actually made the stuff before, but I had a friend make their own happy bowl with canned pumpkin and brown sugar before and it turned out AMAZING, like something that would cost twenty dollars at some fancy breakfast restaurant. Another nice thing about this stuff is that you can make a bunch of it and then put it in your fridge overnight to either heat up later or eat cold--it's nice either way, and it saves on morning spoons. :D What do you like to do with oatmeal? I've peeked at savory options before but the idea of it still makes me a bit cringy even if the recipes sound nice. I want to like it, I really do...
I used to eat that! It was weird though because everyone at my neighbourhood grocery store knew I didn't have children lol. But I didn't even care. It hit the spot and I was capable of making it.
Fun fact: You don't actually need to cook ramen to eat it. The noodles have already been cooked. Just eat the dry noodles out of the bag. Obviously, this is a bad idea to do on a regular basis because ramen's pretty low in nutritional value, but if you're staring at your low spoons food stash and going "...but what if I could make it even lower spoons", it's totally possible!
Ok I have a recipe! I's basically just grilled cheese but uh >.>; You need: English muffins (or just bread is also fine) Cheese (idk whatever cheese you like?) Dukkah What you do: Turn you oven grill on Place aluminium foil on a baking tray Toast your English muffins in your toaster Slice up the cheese of your choice (if it's pre-sliced or shredded then obvs just skip this) Put the cheese of your choice into the English muffin Place the muffins onto the baking tray Sprinkle dukkah on top of the cheese (do this when it's on the tray because otherwise dukkah will go everywhere) Whack that under the oven grill thingy and cook until the cheese is all melty and bubbly Eat it and revel in the deliciousness
...apparently adding ingredients im unfamiliar with, even if its just "open bag, sprinkle on stuff", pops a recipe into 'no cannot' territory for me when im low on spoons. Useful information!
My boyfriend calls this "sauer sausage" because it's fakey low spoons German food. You will need: 1 package smoked sausage or kielbasa (usually about a pound) 16-20 oz diced potatoes (I get the Simply Potatoes brand but it really doesn't matter) Sauerkraut Sour cream A deep skillet with a lid Slice your sausage, add a generous handful of sauerkraut, and brown over medium high heat, stirring occasionally. Set aside. Cook potatoes in sausage grease according to package (you may have to add a little veggie oil or butter). Cover while cooking. Mix with sausage in a large bowl. Add sour cream and sauerkraut to taste (more is better). Super filling, makes 3-4 meals.
i might actually try this, i'm trying to Cook For Myself now that i Am An Adult and this seems really good! i miss kielbasa a lot. right now i'm living off a bunch of stuff mom and i made in the slow cooker that made about 12 servings each, and then we froze them in individual servings. she e-mailed me all the recipes and i will probably post them here, because when you do have spoons it's nice to make ahead so that when it comes time to actually eat the thing you're not scrambling and you can just thaw/microwave the portions you froze earlier when you made the things! so i have recipes for fiesta chicken (tastes like chili, but with chicken and less liquid), chili (with beans, so... not technically chili), meatloaf, and what we call 'sunday chicken,' as well as her pot roast. all but the chili is made in a slow cooker. just. someone poke me about this. it was so easy even i could do it and i fucking hate cooking because it is a spoon drainnnnnn.
Bananenquark / banana curd 2-3 bananas 250g curd cheese/quark (you can probably substitute yogurt if you can't get quark? ima try that tomorrow) cut the bananas into a bowl and mash them. add curd, mix. spoon out of bowl.
the other day, seebs and i discovered a new Acceptable Food! spicy chicken ramen (we like the annie chun stuff with the fresh noodles and paste flavoring, but the instant stuff works too) frozen breaded chicken breasts bake the chicken as directed on the package. make the ramen. cut the chicken into chopstick-able slices or chunks, and serve it next to the ramen, with soy sauce or teriyaki sprinkled on it. slurp noodles; dip chicken in broth. we split one ramen between the both of us, and i would split one chicken, but seebs likes lots o' chicken. anyhow, something about this combo turns the boring old ramen and boring old frozen chicken into CHICKEN KATSU MEAL and makes it not sadfood.
So my brother made a thing today, I was not making it, so not sure of exact quantities, but basically an oversafe dish (casserole dish) an oven Some* shredded potatoes Cubed chicken Enough shredded cheese to cover the top of your oversafe dish spice package of instant noodles(or whatever spices you want) Mix shredded potatoes, cubed chicken, and 2/3 of spices dump in casserole cover in cheese sprinkle on spices put in oven at 400 degrees cook, checking to see when the potato is completely cooked* *I assume you could adjust the quantity for as much or as little, he was cooking for 3, and filled a pie tin size around and like, 1-2inch deep dish *bro cooked it for 20minutes, potato was undercooked, everything else was good
Hey, I found a resource a couple days ago that I thought I should share! Introducing the $4 or less cookbook! The cookbook itself is free in PDF form, and it was designed for people who use food stamps. I've read through the cookbook - lots of great ideas in here. Some of them are higher spoons than others, but they are all super cheap, and I thought others might get some mileage out of it!
that cookbook actually looks pretty good and sensible! there was one going around tumblr a while back that had a similar mission statement, but the recipes were all fluff, and it was pretty clear that the writer had not actually attempted to live on food stamps. like 90% of the ingredients you couldn't get in a food desert (such as most poor neighborhoods) and a lot of the rest were things like coconut milk, which doesn't keep long once opened, so unless you're cooking for 4-6 people, you'd have to eat the same dish three or four times in a row to avoid wasting food. and then on top of that it was all so low in calories, fat, and carbs, that if you tried to work a ten-hour cashier shift on it, you'd be fainting left and right. it made me legit mad. this one has stuff like hot pot and pulled pork and fried rice, solid stuff that will fuel you through hard work and that keeps fairly well. so i totes endorse it.
My spoons have been too low to cook for the last couple of weeks. I finally cooked last night and I was SO hungry for something really good and satisfying. I nearly cried over stuffed homegrown peppers and a baked potato. So. Good.
This is a recipe I shared in a thread about kale. I really, really like salad but there's just too many steps to it to make it the way I like it, so this is the main salad I make. I guess some people don't like kale, and I am told the lemon dressing really helps, so there's that, too. You need: -kale -lemon/lemon juice -olive oil -shaved parmesan (you might be able to use shredded, but the big shaved flakes are better I think) -slivered or slice almonds (optional) Directions: If you got it in a bunch, wash and dry the kale and tear it up into bite-sized pieces. If you got it in a bag, idk they are usually pre washed and torn up so dump that in a big ol' bowl. Don't be like me and pick a bowl that's too small or else it's hard to mix later. In another bowl (read: a mug), add 1/4 cup of olive oil and add lemon juice to taste. Usually I get 1 largish lemon and juice the whole thing and that ends up about right. Mix that shit up good and drizzle it over the kale, then mix that up so the dressing coats the kale well. Stick it in the fridge for ~30 minutes and the lemon will soften the kale. You can leave it for longer than that, too. Do not worry about your kale getting limp, that is not a thing you have to worry about with kale. When you are ready to consume, dish up however much you are gonna eat in a sitting and then put the shaved parmesan and optional almonds on top of that. Other comments: I've had success leaving the kale-and-dressing mix in the fridge for about 3 days, but it always got eaten by then so idk how much longer it'd be good for. I wouldn't recommend letting it sit with the toppings, though, 'cause the cheese will get moist and not as good. Also, if you get kale in a bunch, please do not skip washing it, unless you like to eat dirt? If washing leafy greens is a spoon drain, get it in a bag. It's a little better fresh but it's not a huge difference. The original recipe I modified this from called for pine nuts and lemon zest, but pine nuts were pricey and lemon zest = work. Also if you don't like kale I won't fight you, I will just eat your kale for you. You can eat my bland lettuce that isn't even green if you want. Kale is like... the heartiest of leafy greens. It's so chewy and flavorful? And other "greens" are like if water were solid but not ice. I just love kale.
Ok so I have no idea if this counts as "low spoons" food, because for me I get some serious cognitive issues in my depression episodes and "low spoons" means "anything more than making spaghetti and putting butter and shredded cheese on it" so this is spoon intensive to me but you can make a pretty good salad with: -salad greens -tomato -chunks of avocado -a can of black beans -shredded cheese (best imo is quesadilla/mexican cheese without taco spices in it) -a spoonful of salsa (or more) *optional ingredient: cilantro. I think it tastes good in this salad but I know to some people it tastes awful and it'll probably taste fine without it. if you wanna have salad dressing on it than Ranch is the best. Boom. Tasty vegetarian friendly salad packed with fat and protein that should keep you satisfied for awhile and doesn't taste like rabbit food. It should also last a couple of days but be careful since it's a pretty "wet" salad it might be sketchy past 3 days or something. Though it tastes pretty good and once you've sunk your spoons into making it makes a pretty good meal and all you have to do is scoop tasty thing into a bowl and boom you have a meal that isn't pasta or soup so it may not even last 3 days. I like eating salads but 80% of the spoon usage goes into "I can't pick the ingredients there are too many choices not all of the things I like taste good together and any time I ask people what to put in a salad they give me non answers like "anything you want!" fuck my liiiiiife this is too hard why are there so many steps and shit I'll just eat pasta" so hopefully this list of ingredients will help someone.
Keep a bunch of cans of your favorite beans around, as well as some other bean types for variety. 1. They're cheap. A can of beans is like 80 cents at Aldi, holy cow. 2. When you have super low motivation, you can just eat them from a can. 3. When you have a normal amount of motivation, you can throw them in a bowl with minced garlic and seasoning salt and microwave the bowl. Personally I keep my minced garlic and seasoning salt on the counter instead of in the cupboard because I use them so much. 3. They go with a lot of stuff when you have above average motivation. Like cook some rice in vegetable stock and a bit of vinegar and lemon juice as well as some garlic powder and seasoning salt and then insert the beans near the end and it's fantastic. 4. Beans are pretty healthy I think. Full of protein. 5. They work if you're vegetarian/vegan.
Beans also go in salad! Premade salads are thing, but tend to be heavy on the green and light on everything else. Throwing beans at them might help.
This is one of my go tos when I need carbs and sugar and stuff. Someone's probably already posted something similar so I apologise if this is basically a duplicate, but here goes. 1 can of cream of tomato soup. I use Heinz, or Campbells if I'm feeling fancy. Pasta of your choice. I go for penne. Using spaghetti might be kind of messy, try to go for something that is small shapes rather than big long noodles. Lots of grated cheese. I like mature Cheddar, but Gruyèr is also good if you've got it. Cook the pasta for as long as you like. I go for al dente. Lightly salt the water because usually cream of tomato soup lacks enough salt to give the pasta enough. I make the water just salty enough to resemble the tears of your enemies. (I should add, remember to drain your pasta before sticking the soup in) Then dump your can of soup in there, let it bubble and reduce for a couple of minutes (cream of tomato is such a basic soup flavour that boiling it a little doesn't change it's flavour much, imo. Your opinion may vary) Heap a bunch of cheese in, stir until it's just melted. PUT IN YOUR FACE HOLE. If you're feeling adventureous/healthy you can plop some frozen veggies in while you're heating up the soup, or some tinned beans can sometimes be nice.
