Trying some mixed seeds for protein, and they taste fine but the texture's a little off-putting. Anyone have any suggestions? I can eat them fine and I'll get used to the texture, I'm just wondering. Maybe I should try buying seed flour and making my own bread, but that's not exactly "low spoons" food.
Seed flour and biscuits/quickbread? Other than doing a waffle-iron prep-session on Sunday and Wednesday evening, there's probably something you could make with ground seeds... Maybe some sort of hummous-like spread? Maybe just mix the seeds with some nut-butter? Maybe give them a rough grind before mixing them to make a chunky butter?
Hey, now I need low-spoons ideas. I'm usually all for healthy and clean-eating, but sometimes that's just not possible. I have driving-access to a Sam's Club. My normal grocery store is about an easy mile-walk away, and there's a Trader-Joe's and Whole Foods that are closer. Freezer-to-oven food is spency. I'm a little out-of-touch with what my husband likes and what he will eat, but I don't think there are any fails beyond "fish that has been frozen or canned" and disappointment if the carb is bread. Standing and chopping is usually not an issue, it's more a mental thing or just lack of room because the counter is cluttered.
Rather than full frozen meals (because yeah, those get pricey) raw frozen in its base components are usually cheaper and don't take much longer to prep.things I like to get are the previously mentioned frozen veg and fruit, chicken thighs (tastier and usually cheaper than breasts) the 5 pound tubes of 80/20 ground beef and lots of box meals (hamburger helper and what not) Also, holy shit plain white rice is so cheap and just. Really, really satisfying. I don't know if anyone else feels this way but I fucking love just making a big pot of rice and throwing some furikake on it. If I want something hardier I'll season a a couple pieces of chicken and pop them in the oven for 20 minutes then chop and sprinkle.
Trader Joe's sells bags of frozen gyoza. Price-wise, I think they were $3 for a 1lb package in Boston. They have directions for making them stove-top. Follow those, but when it says to add water, instead add whatever greens you like (bonus of this: you are now not directly adding water to hot oil, so less risk of fire). Works well with kale, chard, spinach, etc, etc. Pour in some soy sauce and hot sauce to taste, and you have a reasonably healthy meal that takes one skillet and about 10 minutes to make.
easy stir fry made out of frozen stuff! frozen veg - easiest option is to get a couple bags of pre-mixed stir fry veg protein - easiest option is either tofu (requires cutting up) or frozen pre-cooked chicken (more expensive than tofu) ime stir fry sauce - either buy some or make your own with soy sauce, minced ginger and garlic (you can get these in a jar), a little brown sugar, and sesame oil (optional) plus chili flakes if you want spicy. Five spice powder is also nice if you have it on hand. If you want specific ingredient proportions you can just google "stir fry sauce recipe" canola or vegetable oil rice one pot with a lid for the rice, one large frying pan for the stir fry, and one spatula or big spoon for stirring Put the rice on to cook according to the directions on the bag. While it's cooking, throw the frozen veg in a big pan with like a tablespoon of canola oil. Put it on medium heat and stir occasionally until it's mostly cooked. Then add your stir fry sauce and protein and keep stirring and frying until everything is done to your satisfaction. Serve with the rice. This is easy to make enough of that you'll have a day or two of leftovers.
for easy stir fries with frozen stuff for me: veges, mince, soy sauce, and spices (ginger, pepper, chili, cumin, basically just add what smells good, garlic is Important but garlic powder works) do instructions as above except you add the protein at the same time as the veges to ensure it all cooks
Good ideas, peeps. I forgot about cook-from-frozen thighs, and the really good stir-fry veggies from Sam's come with sauce. My hubby would not appreciate "just rice" for dinner, but I could always send him to the freezer if he doesn't like the low-effort stuff. (He is anti-bluebox mac&cheese, but he did take some on a weekend where I made it for myself.) I also kinda pinballed into this recipe I used to make in college. I called it "canned good casserole" and it was a can of carrots, a can of corn, a can of greenbeans (definately drain that one, not sure about the first two), and I think a can of tomato undrained. Then it gets thrown in the oven with a topping of dumpling-recipe bisquick. I don't know what the cook-time is, something about having to wait for the vegetables to get warm before adding the bisquick. The easier version is to throw frozen stew mix veggies into a frying pan, get them warm, add a shot of ketchup and pour a thick layer of pancake batter on top. Let it cook for a bit, flip the whole thing, and topping with cheese is optional.
Gonna give the steam in bag veg a try o: little worried about the size tho? Seems more like they're meant to feed a couple people. Could put the rest away but my memory is a sieve so decent odds I'll forget and it'll go bad. :X
*runs to freezer* 12-oz bag of broccoli florets, steam in bag, 4 servings. An average person could probably eat 2-4 servings depending on how much they like veg. (2 with dinner if you're trying to force the veg, 4 as a meal if you're really trying to force the veg and want to "fill in the corners" with potato chips for fat and carb after you ate the veggies.) You could get a four-cup measuring cup, a ceramic plate or shallow bowl that works as a lid, and just cook half of the bag at once. Mostly "steam in bag" means you don't have to put it in a dish. Or there are dishes that already come with glass lids... check the thrift store for a ceramic micro-cooker? It's nothing fancy, just a ceramic dish with a lid and a handle.
An easy stirfry sauce we use a lot: about 2 Tbs water, 1 tsp corn starch, 2 Tbs soy sauce, 1 Tbs hoisin sauce. Stir, pour over stirfry at the very end of cooking, leave on a lowish heat until it is thickens up. Because of the corn starch, this will be a more thick and clingy sauce. We usually add garlic and ginger to the stirfry before that, so that's why there isn't any in the sauce, but you could add ginger or garlic powder to the sauce. Maybe 1/2 tsp? That might be too much.
et a package of steam-in-bag green beans with almond slivers! Worked pretty well and cooked through nicely (though the almond packet exploded when I tried to tear it open so rip to half the nuts :F) As I feared, the portion size was a bit large for one person- I was still able to consume it all cause I was pretty hungry, but it was pretty cold at the end, rip X) but overall a successful experiment! I also bought some similar packages of brussel sprouts, corn and peas, so we'll see if I can get this to be a Thing I Eat At Least Semi-Regularly
Quaker Oats make microwaveable porridge with added soy protein, if anyone else is struggling with that, and it's good!
done consuming the frozen veggie steam-in-bag things I bought to experiment. results: green beans with almond sliver: A+, will buy again, tasty and just the right size sweet corn: excellent, but it was a bit much for one person :F peas: ditto, love them but hard to eat the whole thing :F and they don't really have them in any smaller sizes brussel sprouts: perfect size, and I love brussel sprouts but.... that 'lightly sauced' thing... I did Not like the icky creamyness it added, and I couldn't find any 'plain' versions when I looked again today. rip. So my options are a bit constrained since I need smallish sizes and I can't do anything but the 'plain' offerings. also riced vegetables are why God has turned away from us. but overall a success!
A microwave-safe dish will help for the packages that are too big for one person. There's also my pea soup recipe that is pretty much throwing frozen peas in a blender with chicken broth and either a hot dog or some seasonings. Have you heard about my V8-based ramen-broth yet? Leftover fries are a slightly healthier option than ramen.
This is my go-to since we have a souse-vide. Obvs you kinda need the funds for buying kitchen gadgets, and I recommend bodging a digital controller for an analog crock-pot. Or an insta-pot with a souse-vide setting... that circulating wand is loud and gets louder because of evaporation. Cheap meat is awesome in the souse-vide. Frozen or not, just throw it in, set the temperature, and eat it about 10 hours later. Side dish is frozen veggies and whatever carb is handy. (The prep involves finding the cheap meat, vacuum-sealing it, ((that's the awesome part because making it ready-to-go also helps it survive the freezer,)) and owning the equipment.) Doing a pork picnic roast... you need to predict having a high-spoons day, but you get a bunch of pulled pork for freezing in quart bags... that's like 2 sammiches and a bit extra per bag.
Good low-spoons food: instant mashed potatoes (the kind you just need to add hot water to), mixed with whatever you might put on a baked potato--I generally mix it with ranch dressing and those veg bacon bits myself. Really quick to make and very filling!
I like roasted sweetpotato. You just stab them a few times so that they don'T explode and pop them into the oven until tender. half them, season them (and/or put cheese over) and you're good to go.
heck kumara (what we call sweetpotato here) is fine just plain roasted, just stab it with a fork so it doesn't pop but we might have different cultivars of sweetpotato than you
We got the one that's orange on the inside, but i cannot tell you for the life of me what the cultivar is called, it's just 'Süßkartoffel' in Germany.
