Somewhat expensive, but if you're low on spoons and dying of summer heat, frozen fruit is good. Maybe not too frozen, maybe microwave for 30 seconds to a minute so they're a little softer but still freezy. My housemates have a wholesale club membership so every now and then I get a giant bag of mixed frozen fruit for ~$12.
Put somme in the fridge ina bowl or mug or whatev, leave it to thaw with some sugar or splenda on it. Ooh or combine it with yogurt, more cold food and also filling. My own low spoons thing i tried recently: can of herring and tortilla chips. Downside is that you have to wash the can or something to stop it from smelling once you put it in the recycling
This one does require enough spoons to chop an onion, but is otherwise pretty easy: variants on this stuff. You take one of those 4 1/2-cup containers of broth, a can of diced tomatoes, an onion chopped into a manageable size, a big blop of garlic, some oregano, a LOT of basil (the original recipe wanted fresh and the amount is vague; using dried, I've found that it's best with at least a tablespoon and a half), and a drizzle of olive oil, throw them all in a pot together, and set it boiling. Once it's boiling, you dump in an entire box of pasta and set a timer for however long the box says your pasta needs to cook. You'll probably want to stir it around a couple of times, because there won't be enough liquid to cover all the pasta. By the time it's cooked through, most of the liquid will have absorbed or evaporated, so you don't have to drain it. The original recipe says to put the pasta in from the start, and that's also an option, but from experience the pasta is very likely to be very overcooked if you follow their instructions to the letter. You can also toss greens in if you happen to have some lying round. I did that once when my mom gave me a bunch of kale I didn't know what to do with.
spoon saving tip: at least at my local grocery store they have bags of pre diced frozen onion. Also frozen mirepoix aka yr favourite onion carrot celery medley
Unfortunately, frozen veggies often taste like nothing to me. Especially onions. It's decidedly inconvenient.
i've definitely seen fresh mirepoix in the fridge section of the vegetable aisle before, but most of those veggies don't really last in the fridge more than a few days, so it's a question of what drains more spoons.
With the pasta specifically, it's not like you need to fully dice the onion. Just quarter it and slice the quarters vertically, or something like that.
I don't know if this belongs here, but, I have an onion-chopping technique that takes fairly few spoons: 1. chop stem end of onion off 2. chop onion in half, through middle of root end 3. peel off outside bits of onion 4. cut onion into wedges, except don't cut all the way; leave the ends of the wedges attached to the root end 5. make series of cuts perpendicular to wedge cuts, until you run out of onion
"Feel like you're eating a healthy and balanced meal" dinner Ingredients: 5. Dishes: 4. Cook time: 8 minutes Spoiler: greens and gyoza 1. heat SOME FORM OF COOKING OIL in a skillet 2. add FROZEN GYOZA 3. leave alone for a couple minutes 4. add SOME KIND OF GREENS, plus SOY SAUCE and HOT SAUCE(optional) 5. apply lid to skillet, leave for another couple minutes 6. serve
peanut butter and butter sandwich margirine also works peanut butter on 1 side of the bread, butter/margrine on the other pop in microwave for like 10 seconds to make it melty
sausage. just get a sausage yu like to eat (w/ or w/out ketchup). keep in freezer. heat for 2 mins in microwave when u want to consume. consume.
Might not be super low spoons, depending, but i find it an easy way to get some food in me when i have extra time in the mornings and might not have spoons to eat later: pancakes for one 1/2 cup flour (use a quarter cup to measure) 1 Tbsp sugar 1/4 tsp salt, baking powder 1/4 cup water 1 egg Put a small pan on medium heat, add ingredients to mixing dish, mix well with a fork or something. Use 1/4 cup measuring utensil to spoon batter onto hot pan. May need some oil. Cook till bubbles start popping on the top of the 'cake, flip, cook through. Makes about 4 pancakes. You can just wipe out the table and teaspoons you used, because all they had was some inoffensive dry stuff, so no need to wash those. Rinse the mixing dish, the 1/4 cup measure, and the mixing fork immediately after finishing to make washing those easier. The pan should be okay to use for another purpose without washing, usually. Same with your spatula or other flipping tool. These are really filling and I think they count as low spoons even though there's a bit of work involved because after having these for breakfast, I can usually get by with no lunch/minimal lunch. YMMV, of course.
Lately I've been eating this for breakfast, by which I mean, 'putting it in a jar and running out the door, then eating it at work later with a spoon.' Couple tablespoons peanut butter pour in some edible seed mix (could probably also use flaxseeds or chia or w/e) pour in some oatmeal couple tablespoons honey screw lid onto top of jam jar, go.
Idk if other people know this, but I didn't so I figured I'd add: If you dice potatoes up (or, like me, peel them and then dice them with the nicer dicer) they take about 6 minutes in the microwave, so you can have some potato-y goodness in minutes without having to do much to it. What I like to do is just throw some frozen spinach in there and mash them up with a fork when everything's done, if you have creamed spinach it's very mashed-potato-y. You can also throw an egg along in there for protein. Also you can make an easy soup-thing for cold days, just take a microwaveable container, dice up potatoes and throw those + some frozen veggies (I like green beans, peas, carrots), add enough broth to cover the veggies + tato and nuke for 6+ minutes, depending on how you like everything consistency-wise. Ofc you can add in some protein that can just be nuked. Like maybe leftover chicken would be great! General: I looove my nicer dicer, you still have to peel sadly but otherwise you just put the stuff in there, throw down the lid and you're done. It's also super easy to clean up!
^posted this in the other thread, realized it can probably go here too. Also, for when you have the spoons to chop a ton of vegetables but thinking is hard: Have a pile of veggies. I've been using two potatoes, two red onions, and 3-4 carrots, because root vegetables keep for ages, but you can use almost anything. Chop the veggies. Don't need to bother dicing 'em up too small. Put veggies in pan. Preheat oven to 400F (~200 C). Apply some melted butter or olive oil, some salt, and some pepper to veggies. Stir around. Put pan in oven for an hour. Remove pan from oven. Eat. Be proud of yourself for eating a VEGETABLE, which might even contain AN ENTIRE VITAMIN.
i got some cinnamon creamed honey and I 100% recommend it as a low spoons toast topping. delicious. also yesterday i discovered that grilled cheese is really low spoons and i'm thrilled
leftover rice, frozen broccoli (or other veg), a little chicken stock or better-than-boullion mixed in for flavor, garlic powder, pepper, paprika, cheddar cheese, and leftover chicken if u have it. Combine and microwave. Best filling low-effort dinner and most of the ingredients are optional so if you're missing one or two then you can still make a delicious meal. Another option: mix all these things plus an egg or two together in a baking dish, put more cheese on top, and then it is a single-dish casserole and there will be Leftovers later
