I need your cooking skills 😋

[SallySour]

Hello!
I'm writing from my couch, I finished work and now everything hurts too much and I am too tired and my head hurts, yay.
I am also very hungry.
I was thinking.. what are recipes that I could cook on Sunday and stil eat on Friday? I have no microwave or organizing mental skills so freezing is not really an option if it has to be defrosted.
I have to say I am eating following the fodmap restrictions for now, so I will substitute a lot of ingredients (no wheat, no milk, no onion or garlic, a few vegetables).
I would love to prepare something that I can just eat cold or just warm up.

 

[SallySour]

(it's still a complaint I am literally crying and laughing because I am both hungry and unable to move lol)

 

[JayCS]

... Sounds like trying to square a circle...
My wife likes to keep wholemeal rice and veggies for 3-4 days, cos we keep it in our cellar or in the winter on the balcony, but 5 days? She mainly buys freshly ready cooked menus that just have to go in the microwave. - Something I'd never do, but then I'm always "a bit" different...
Now with MCAS / histamine problems anything over 24h would have too high histamine for me.
I mainly eat my veggies plus apple raw, plus nuts/pumpkin seeds instead of carbs. Takes me 10 mins to cut & wash. It'd be the same for cooking, and if it needs to be done in 10-20 minutes: broccoli, sweetheart cabbage and quinoa are quick and healthy. Whilst that's steaming I can start with something raw or rest. I haven't been cooking at all the last months, all raw, but I want to start with the cruciferous veggies (kale, cabbage etc.) again that Berg recommends for "detox".
In the meantime whilst my jaw was pained I ate green beans out of glass, cold, sometimes with yogurt, and/or herbs and oil. Olives and artichokes out of a glass. Apple sauce nice 'n' cold, soy or almond or oat yogurt with blueberries, or natural with monk fruit extract as sweetener (new, antioxidant).

 

[sunkacola]

Hi SallySour, I think if it is at all within your means, it would help you a lot to get a microwave. If money is tight you could get a gently used one, perhaps. I find that the microwave is my saving grace, because I very often find myself in a situation in which I need to eat but am much too fatigued to fix something.

On a good day when I can, I will make up a whole lot of a stir fry, for instance, and then freeze it in portions, with the rice included. then all I have to do is microwave one of the packages. It is instant meal but very healthy and I know everything that is in it.

Basically if food takes longer than 15 minutes to prepare I won't do it, so everything has to be very simple.
Meals I do without using frozen/microwave: gluten free pasts with pesto sauce and a salad, rice noodles with whatever is in the fridge on top,
rice bowls (put rice in a bowl and add whatever veges you have, cooked and fresh, and some legumes and seasoning), and sometimes I eat "breakfast for dinner": scrambled eggs with veges or leftover cooked potato and so on.

I also find that not all my meals have to be what one thinks of as a meal....it could be a plate of fruit and cheese or veges and cheese or apple and peanut butter or a huge salad, maybe with hard boiled eggs in it.
Salad is a great thing because it is fast, fresh, and healthy. You can add anything to a salad: cooked meat, cheese, legumes, and so on.

If you look online you can find "quick easy five minute meals" and that sort of thing, although of course you have to dig through them because many if not most of them will have unhealthy ingredients you do not want like pre-packaged stuff, campbell's cream of something soup and so on as shortcuts and that's not helpful..

You can keep cooked rice or quinoa or beans in the fridge for many days, and just add different things to them each day for variety.

 

[cookiebaker]

what she said

cooked rice (white or brown) is easy to keep handy, and like has been mentioned, you can add just about anything to it for a quick and easy meal but beyond that.. salads are great.. have not looked into a FODMAP diet so no idea what is/isnt allowed, but i like things like white meat chicken or lean ham, fresh mushrooms, cheese and hard boiled egg in a salad.

and i could not live without a microwave.. it is a huge life saver!
when i am up to actually cooking, i usually make enough to feed an army so there is plenty left over for future meals..
a brand new, smaller microwave can be had for under $100, some as low as $50-ish...

 

[Cutiegirl]

I am still working through an elimination diet, so I have to keep things the same except for one change. I have been making smoothies for breakfast and lunch: 1 scoop of plant protein powder, 1 tbsn sunflower lecithin, 1 tbsn ground flax seed, 1 tbsn of hemp oil or flax oil. For breakfast I add 2 Tbsn raw cocoa, 1 tsp ceylon cinnamon and 1 tsp ginger, 2 Tbsn coconut milk and 1 cup organic coffee. For lunch I add chlorella, cucumber or celery, and apple or berries, and sometimes avocado. For supper, I make a big batch of soup that I eat throughout the week. Snacks include bitter jiggers, veggies, sauerkraut, pickles if I am craving sweets. Thursdays I change one thing and by Saturday I know if I tolerate it or not. The soup is saving me.

 

[cookiebaker]

for me, the Birdseye Steamers Rice & veggies have been a huge blessing.. no preservatives, additives, or artificial flavors.. just rice and various veggies.. pair that with some of my own seasonings & a lean protein - chicken breast, fish, etc, and instant meal

 

[JamieMarc]

I make a big 3 QT bowl of trail mix every week and keep it in my fridge, though it does not necessarily need to be refrigerated. Trail mix is great because it holds up well, it's pretty healthy, convenient and customizable. I typically put in a variety of nuts, seeds, dried legumes, dried fruit, rice crackers, pretzels, etc. I love it and I never tire of it.

 

[JamieMarc]

I love the bird's eye mixtures as well. I always have some Birdseye protein blend and vegetables in my freezer.

 

[JamieMarc]

Recently I started drinking golden milk. I pre-make the turmeric paste and store it in the fridge for convenience. You probably know that turmeric has been proven to reduce inflammation. Whenever I want a mug, I simply warm up a mug of unsweetened coconut milk and stir in one teaspoon of my paste.

 

[sunkacola]

I make a big 3 QT bowl of trail mix every week and keep it in my fridge, though it does not necessarily need to be refrigerated. Trail mix is great because it holds up well, it's pretty healthy, convenient and customizable. I typically put in a variety of nuts, seeds, dried legumes, dried fruit, rice crackers, pretzels, etc. I love it and I never tire of it.

You eat dried legumes in the trail mix? Aren't they a bit hard for that? Or do I have something to learn here?

 

[EzbG]

I completely understand your issue - in too much pain to eat, but because I have hypoglycemia - the opposite of diabetes, in that I produce too much insulin - I HAVE TO EAT!! If I don’t the resulting migraine makes it nearly impossible to function, AND cannot eat!
My solution - I keep organic protein shake mix on hand. I grab a glucose tablet to get the sugar up, then the shake to provide the protein to maintain the glucose level. NOW, I’m safe until I can cook something later. Fortunately, hubby can fend for himself with heatables. I depend on left-overs.
Left-overs can be managed in a weird way - put them into single serving containers, and put 3 (of 5) into the freezer. Take them out the next morning, and put them in a stack together (keep them cold longer) in the cold section of the fridge. I reheat left-overs by using a steamer pot set, bringing the water to a simmer, making certain the food is HOT!
This left-over process still works even with hunny home all day (he recently semi-retired), because he stays out of the left-overs, knowing they are critical for me.
Now - to teach him to cook! No - he cannot cook, only re-heating in the microwave. But, he’s learning!

 

[JamieMarc]

@sunkacola They're not too hard for me but they might be for others. Primarily I use lentils, chickpeas and peas. But sometimes the dried peas are hard to find.

 

[cookiebaker]

lol, i can not eat nuts or other "hard" things (no teeth - had them all pulled & i hate my dentures, so)
I can manage most anything else, but nuts, or anything similar is a no go.

i would be interested in more info on this turmeric paste, however...

 

[JamieMarc]

lol, i can not eat nuts or other "hard" things (no teeth - had them all pulled & i hate my dentures, so)
I can manage most anything else, but nuts, or anything similar is a no go.

i would be interested in more info on this turmeric paste, however...

It's called Golden milk. I make the turmeric paste myself, and when I want a mug, I warm up some unsweetened coconut milk, add one teaspoon of the turmeric paste and sweeten it with maple syrup and give it a good stir. It's good for you, it's good for us, I believe, and it tastes good too. It's very comforting. I would be happy to share my recipe for the turmeric paste with you if you're interested. Just let me know how to get it to you. You can also look up recipes online and most of them will vary somewhat. I skipped the cardamom in my own recipe because it's just too pricey.