AIBU to ask for quick meals that aren't junk?

[CrazyCatNerd]

I'm disabled and can't chop and peel very well, or stand up for long. The cooker and work surfaces are too high for my wheelchair.

Most convenience foods are beige and full of crap.

What really quick and easy meals do you make that would be suitable for me to cook with minimal standing/chopping?

Thanks!

Bag of frozen veg, bag of frozen prawns. Sauce of your choosing. I'd have soy and sesame oil or something.

Stir fry where the veg is already chopped in a bag

Baked potatoes with salad and cheese

Omelette

Grilled halloumi with cherry tomatoes, basil and spinach

Chicken thighs on bone served with nakedness potatoes and frozen peas (micorwaved or boiled)

You can add all sorts to the chicken:

Lemon garlic and thyme

Tin of tomatoes, garlic, olives

Chickpeas, paprika oregano and tinned tomatoes.

Have you discovered frozen chopped onions?

My healthy and quick go to meals are fresh soups, baked potatoes, ready prepared salads with meat or fish, salmon and new potatoes, adding my own toppings to pizza bases, passata with added herbs and a tin of tuna over pasta.
Don’t forget you can buy frozen ready chopped onion, garlic, mushrooms and loads of veg.

Have you got a freezer? The only reason I ask is that so many vegetables are available frozen, chopped and ready prepared, which would save you having to do anything.
I will have a think re recipes and come back. However, a slow cooker might be useful (if you haven't got one), but does require some pre-planning.

Thank you everyone so far! I do have a freezer but it's quite small which is why I can't bulk cook. I haven't really used frozen veg before - it tastes OK then does it? I'm always wary it'll be horrible!

Unfortunately I can't eat skin on potatoes which is such a shame as I love them and it's so easy.

Frozen veg has changed out of all recognition! Try a couple of brands.

Ooh OK! I remember it when I was a child being bland and mushy. I live very near an Iceland and a Farmfoods so plenty of frozen food close by.

I do have a slow cooker - I sometimes put a ham or a stew in there.

Tinned tuna, tinned sweetcorn and mayonnaise. Add hot pasta and stir.

Can make it early, put in ovenproof dish and top with cheese and put in oven to reheat.

Can also be done with diced ham, cream cheese, frozen peas and pasta.

Frozen mash is actually really nice.
You can get a one person slow cooker and put frozen onions , frozen peas, peppers , jar of sauce ( or Maryland curry powder) in with ready diced chicken breast or mince.

I second frozen veg, I never buy fresh onions or garlic now. Yesterday we had tomato pasta sauce with orzo, the pasta is so small that if you put some chicken stock with the sauce the pasta cooks in the sauce. I added some left over chicken. A yummy meal that everyone loved, used up leftovers and took 10 minutes x

Sorry missed you had a slow cooker already, that’s good.

Frozen peas
Tinned sweetcorn
Ready made mash
Are all good

I had fishcakes (ready made supermarket fish counter) and watercress the other day that was v nice.

Are you on a budget? Pricey Charlie bighams ready meals are v v nice and if you look at ingredients they have what you'd use if making at home.

I love my steamer. It is really portable and could be plugged in anywhere. I find I can cram it with several day's food at once. E.g. new potatoes, chicken or salmon fillets in foil, eggs to hardboil. Leftover salmon fillets can be eaten cold, ditto the potatoes. Boiled eggs keep well in the fridge too. The steamer is great for rice and green veg etc. I cook rice fresh every time and also have a tiny rice cooker which can go anywhere. If you have a surface lower than the worktop maybe set up there so you can sit?

I have an insert for my pasta pot too, so I can strain the pasta without carrying it to the sink. It all helps. Totally agree about premade veg!

Have you looked in to getting your kitchen adapted? Colleague of mine got a grant to have their kitchen made wheelchair friendly, but I don’t know what the criteria was.

I like a traybake- skin on chicken thighs, halved new pots, quartered onion etc. This sort of recipe
www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/2411639/lemon-and-oregano-chicken-traybake

www.nigella.com/recipes/spanish-chicken-with-chorizo-and-potatoes

Easy to scale sown for smaller portion (we make for 2). Minimal chopping and washing up, bung in oven.

Ah sorry, see no potato skins! But peeled potatoes also steam well. Yes to premade pies. I have found some individual pies that I keep in the freezer for DH, they are sold at our local farm shop and contain "no nasties".

You might love frozen mashed potato then if you like spuds. Honestly, it's amazing what is available now.
As for quick meals, assuming you are a meat eater, chops or any small bits done in the oven and served with salad.
We quite often have the pre-packed fritatta from Tesco (or anywhere else) with a mixed bean salad (also Tesco).
Wraps, with lots of veg/salad.
Omlettes.
A duck breast roasted rare, sliced thinly and served on a mixed, dressed salad. You can do the same with a small good quality steak.
You could also use the slow cooker to make a (batch of) a sort of ratatouille mix (from frozen veg) and add this to cooked pasta.

Tomato Sauce 1

Olive Oil
Tomato Puree (as much as desired)
Medium Curry Powder (1 tbsp)
Salt and Pepper (to taste)

• tastes great with shrimps (as a shrimp curry), and you can bung in some ready-chopped veg with it as well. Whole meal takes 10 mins, and you can have it with some microwaved rice or naan bread.

Tomato Sauce 2

Tomato Passata (as much as desired)
1 tsp sugar
Salt and Pepper (to taste)
Garlic Oil
Onion granules (1tbsp)
Dried Basil (I'm generous with this!)

• this goes great with pasta. I often use it for meatballs (can buy ready made meatballs, or just roll up some mince meat)

Soy Sauce Salmon

Drizzle olive oil, a dash of soy sauce, and pepper over salmon fillet
Pop in oven for 15-20 mins at 180 degrees

• almost no preparation needed for this one, and you can pair with microwave rice. You can also pop some veggies in at the same time from frozen

Halloumi Burgers

Bread Roll
Guacamole on one side of bread, humous on the other side
Fry Halloumi in olive oil and put inbetween the bread
Fry some peppers (capsicum) in olive oil and add to the burger

Tray bakes. Get a pack of root or Mediterranean roasting vegatables (can be bought frozen, which is more cost effective), chuck some chicken thighs on top, sprinkle on some seasoning of your choice.

If you fancy a bottle of wine, I like the 2 for £10 meal deals in tesco for an easy to cook tea that's generally not as beige as ready meals. Obviously, it's not an every night thing, but if you were going to get a bottle of wine anyway it's not bad value at all.

Would really recommend frozen chopped onions/peppers/mushrooms. When in a sauce, they taste absolutely fine. I think they even do sofrito bases for bolgnaise etc.

One pan pasta dishes - this is my favourite:
www.happyveggiekitchen.com/tomato-mascarpone-one-pot-pasta/
We add chicken & Italian Nduja sausage to it as well - having it tonight.

Me and DP both have disabilities and a 4 month old so we're all about convenience, easy cooking.

For us, parcel pasta and the plastic tubs of sauce are amazing. One pack of pasta and one pot of sauce and a stick of garlic bread do us very nicely.

Also I second the stir fry suggestion! It takes minutes if you buy the pre-done veg, noodles and sauce. We love it with frozen veggie falafel.

Also we love pre-made pies, chicken Kiev's/steaks, pre-marinated steaks or chops and chips and a bag of frozen garden veg. The prepared soups and pizzas are also a big part of our diet. A pack of chilled mince, a jar of chilli sauce and two microwave packs of rice also cook quickly and there's zero prep.

And odd one but I make chicken nugget pasta to last me a few lunches. I cook about 20 chicken nuggets and some pasta. Mix mayo, garlic purée, chopped peppers and a tin of sweet corn. Add the pasta, cut the nuggets into chunks with scissors and it's not half bad. DP doesn't like it so it's often a few lunches for me.

And yes to the Tesco £10 deal! We're having one tonight (just the food, not the wine as I found it all in the reduced but) and they break it up. We've also found when we're both fed up and cooking feels impossible that crackers, soft cheese, ham and grapes aren't bad. Or (when everything's awful) we break out pot noodles and ice cream and give ourselves a break.

(To most this probably seems an awful diet but we also love fruit and veg and our issues make it hard to cook properly.)

Today I made cottage pie...

1 bag of chopped onions/celery/carrot
Thyme, rosemary, salt, pepper, cinnamon,
Fried it off for 10 mins put in slow cooker.

Same frying pan cooked off a pack of mince, added tomato ketchup, purée and Worcestershire sauce, then some red wine, flour and 200ml beef stock.

Shoved that in the slow cooker, cooked for 6 hours, frozen mash potato to top it off.

This thread is absolutely amazing, thank you! All these ideas are perfect. I'm going to have tuna, sweetcorn, pasta and mayo tonight.

Unfortunately to the poster above who asked, as I can stand for short periods, they won't adapt my kitchen. They've widened the doors so I can get the wheelchair in there, but wouldn't lower the worksurfaces. No room for a dining table, but I have been known to sit on the sofa and peel at the coffee table if I have to.

Could you use a perching stool op? An OT should provide one.

That is rather unhelpful of them! Shame there is nowhere for a dining table. Motorhomes have all sorts of temporary worktops which pull out and disappear again. Any chance of something like that being installed at a convenient height? Or, maybe an old fashioned tea trolley to work from near your sofa? You could totally channel your inner Victoria Wood! Best of luck ;-)