everything from a can chicken noodle soup: 1 can chicken broth, 1 can of peas and carrots 1 can corn, one can green beans 1 canned chicken chunks ( i like the ones from costco but not everyone can go there, so up to you) 1 bag cheap noodles (not spaghetti, horrible for soups) bouillion for taste and color, add garlic, basil and dried onions if wanted, otherwise season with salt and pepper. Directions: boils noodles, drain noodles but save some water to add to broth. boil chicken broth, bouillion (if added), add a bit of water from each of the canned veggies (add more of the water from the corn if you want a sweet broth) and the water from the noodles. Add seasoning (I hate adding it last because the flavors arent absorbed...). drain water from canned chicken, add chicken (maybe want to shred), add veggies, heat until boil then turn off heat and add noodles. let cool and enjoy! seems like a lot...buts its easy and filling and depending on how you portion it, can last 3-7 days.
Quick sauces you can prepare while the pasta cooks: 1. Canned tomatoes + bacon/sausage (throw bacon/sausage in pan, let it fry a bit in its own fat, add 1 or 2 cans of tomatoes, season with black pepper, a dash of cinnamon and anis if you have it). 2. Broccoli + butter (lightly steam or cook broccoli, when pasta is done throw pasta, broccoli and a bit of butter in a frying pan, season with pepper and curry 3. Cream cheese + canned tomato (self-explainatory) 4. Cream + cheese (melt the cheese in the cream, tadaaa!) Can you tell that simple pasta dishes are my low-spoon go-to? OH YEAH ALSO: none of these have added salt. Zero added salt. I generally don't add salt to what I cook, because I eat out a lot and restaurant food is often oversalted so I make up for that at home. I season with pepper, curry, cinnamon, basil, rosemary etc, but no salt.
Frozen spinach. In the UK I buy it in bags with the spinach frozen in little amounts, like a handful. Drop one or more handfuls in a sauce of whatever else you're making. Frozen peas can be treated the same way but have more of a texture. Which might be good or bad. If you have a toasted sandwich maker, you can put in the bottom slice of bread, crack in an egg, then put the top slice of bread on top and close the lid and cook it until the bread is toasted and the egg will cook through. Omelettes. Tray-bake: start oven heating to 180 degrees Celsius. Cut up veges that bake well such as potatoes, pumpkin, courgette, onions, peppers (or use frozen ones), put in an oven-tray, add in sausages (chopped if you like), or lamb or beef chops, or basically any meat with some fat on/in it that's in smallish chunks. Drizzle over some olive oil, toss in some rosemary if you're feeling fancy, stir it around a bit to mix in the olive oil, bake in oven until meat and potatoes are cooked. In the UK I can buy ready-cook Udon noodles, just make a stir fry then toss the noodles in at the end and stir a bit to coat with the sauce. Chickpea curry: fry chopped onions (I use frozen, pre-chopped) for about 5 minutes. Toss in a spoonful of curry powder (depending on how hot you like it), let fry for a minute. Add in a can of chickpeas and a can of tomatoes. Heat. Serve on couscous. (This recipe makes foodies weep, and not in a good way). If you use chilli powder instead of curry and a can of kidney beans instead of chickpeas you get an equally unauthentic Mexican chilli you can serve on corn chips.
We've got frozen stir-fry bags in our stores here, so I generally have a few bags of that in my freezer, so I can dump in half of a bag into the pan and let it thaw & fry, same with frozen pizza. I tend to buy when they've got the one extra pizza in the carton going on. I think I survived my first year of university on instant mashed potatos (milk+butter+potato flakes, I never put water in because making it with water makes it taste weird) and fish sticks, heh. I don't know if those are in any way affordable wherever you guys live, but I also tend to have a few off-brand instant food cups around, and little bags that are basically toss into a pan with water and oil, wait until the water has evaporated and then stir a bit. I sometimes throw in eggs and soy sauce.
omg omg omg i found FRENCH TOAST BATTER IN A CARTON. it's so easy to make from scratch but i just *can't* with the effort sometimes but. but. french toast batter. in a carton. this reminds me that you can also gt little bottles of pancake batter. add water, shake, pour. done.
let us not forget those liquid scrambled eggs then too (though in all honest, those taste absolutely disgusting... bluh)
There are also the SPRAYCANS OF PANCAKE BATTER. Completely premixed and everything. Quality ingredients too. Not super economical but sometimes money isn't the limit, spoons are, so ...
This thread is making me realize I really should get into shamelessly buying low-spoon food more. I have some weird fleas about that, apparently! Everything must be made from scratch as much as possible to prove my worth or something.
Pre-shredded cheese and jars of pre-chopped garlic are huge helps in terms of how many spoons does actual cooking cost for me.
@Lissiel I have a thing that looks like a big salt-shaker filled with pre-fried chopped garlic! It's awfully handy ^^ Another fave: pre-shredded CARROTS oh my god cheese at least is soft but shredding carrots is soooooo awful
disgusting mush that has little nutritional value absolutely still counts as food if you throw some seasoning at it until it tastes like food also: garlic and onion, chopped and frozen and bagged a thing of beauty if only every store carried them *sigh*
@Lissiel @wixbloom technical question, how do you store the pre-chopped garlic and cheese so that they don't mold? I've got the problem that stuff in my kitchen molds quickly (even though I have eliminated some of the sources)
Cheese, in the fridge. Garlic, well, the kind I have is pre-fried as well so it's p much completely dried. I imagine there are ways to dry it at home! In the oven maybe?
I keep both in the fridge, and they last for ages for me like that, so. How have you been keeping them, if you dont mind my asking? I used to live in a tropical climate and had that problem somewhat (also bugs. Omfg i hate bugs) and keeping most everything in the fridge helped a lot with that. Airtight containers help too with some things.
Something I make that costs medium spoons upfront and then almost no spoons for several days after: Soup. Take one big slice of soupmeat, the kind you simmer forever to make it soft and yummy, and any vegetables and spices you care to have in a soup. For me that´s carrots, mushrooms, potatoes and or sweet potatoes and cauliflower. Throw meat, spices and plenty of water in pot and bring to a boil while you chop things. Then add the things that need to cook for a long time and turn down the heat and let simmer, adding ingrediences according to cook time. Other than ingredient adding and checking for water level, you can pretty much ignore this recipe. Does require been home for a while though. Results in one hugeass pot of soup you can eat from for days.
The great thing about soups and stews like that is they're often better the second day. If you have a slow cooker ("Crock-Pot" is the common brand name), these are excellent for this.
I'm doing this thing lately where I'm buying Ready-Pac salads from the grocery store. It's Romaine, chicken, parmesan, croutons, and Caesar dressing. It's only about $4, and it's a very filling dinner for very few calories. It's maybe half the price of getting the same thing in a restaurant. Dump chicken, cheese, and croutons in lettuce, spread dressing, toss, et voila. Dinner. With protein, which I usually forget. It's so low spoons and I feel so healthy. Also, Power Bars are great for snacks, but can get expensive. I recommend keeping some around for emergencies, especially if you take some sort of bag with you everywhere. They're filling and full of protein, so they can keep you going for a long time. The most basic kind are around a dollar. The better ones are around three. Lowest spoons possible: open wrapper, receive foods. And you kinda feel healthy, because healthy people eat Power Bars.
My best low spoons kitchen friend is a george foremen grill. It makes all sandwhiches and quesadillas 500x better, and is a lot easier than cooking them in a pan. My favorite things to toast are quesadillas (cheese, black beans, sometimes chicken if I have any around, and taco seasoning if its around)
I can't deal with most kinds of fresh fruit when low-spoons (biting into fruit is gross, sorting berries for ripeness/lack of mold is effort, cutting fruit into adequately small pieces makes dishes), but single-serving half-cup containers of apple sauce are fine. I'll admit to being weird and gross and sort of slurping/licking them to avoid dealing with a (non-metaphorical) spoon. Getting the single-serving kind also means you don't have to worry about the opened jar going bad.
Reminds me of when they served applesauce in inpatient. I taught everyone there a trick I'd learned in elementary school, about how to fold the foil top into a scoop. (You have to try to peel it off in one piece, and then fold three of the edges in to make the end squarish, and then pinch the other end so you have a place to hold it with. I don't know if this makes any sense described in text, sorry.)
