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!

Have you got one of those gadgets you can chuck stuff in a little compartment and push a button type thing down and it chops it up for you? My mum has MS and she uses hers to chop up veg when she's sat on her sofa too. Also if you boil skin on potatoes and then put them in cold water you can pretty much rub the skins off if that's any good for you? I'm trying to think of all the tricks we used before she got too bad, I'll come back for you when I remember some more

I shop at lidl so all ingredients from there-
Penne pasta
I chop some mushrooms into quarters and gently soften in the pan with a spritz of oil. When nearly soft add some salami or pepperoni (I cut it up with scissors but left whole works too)
You're just making it warm so really takes no time at all.
Drain the pasta and keep in the hot pan.
Add the hot mushrooms and meat.
Stir in half a jar of pesto.
Put lid back on to keep everything hot.
Optional - chopped or grated mozzarella cheese added to the pan and mixed in or Parmesan sprinkled on top.
Anything left can go in the fridge until the next day hot or cold.
It literally takes 10 mins.

Baked eggs done in the oven with Worcestershire sauce and a dash of cream with steamed asparagus—only needs ends trimming, so not much standing. Or you could do it on a tray in your lap?

Smoked salmon linguine - cook linguine, tear smoked salmon into pasta, add handful of cooked garden peas. Stir through some creme fraiche, season with black pepper, dill and squeeze of lemon.

Minute steak and salad. You can probably get the pre cooked pre cut potatoes with Herby oils on for the microwave/oven too.

www.budgetbytes.com/

I use this website a lot. So many simple but tasty ideas, and it has the ability to scale the recipe which is always helpful.

Rice with salmon and peas

cook rice by the Delia method: stir white rice in a hot pan with a little butter or oil for a minute, add boiling water (double the volume of water than rice you used). Bring back to the boil, stir just once then put on the lid and turn down to just simmering. Set timer for 15 minutes and it should be perfect.

Cook a salmon fillet in the same pan by putting one in either as you put the lid on (if frozen so it cooks for 15 mins) or if fresh add it 10 mins before the end. At 4 mins to go add frozen peas and a few prawns if you fancy.

Then the salmon just falls off the skin which can be chucked and stir it all together.

It's good as it is but also nice with soy sauce and/or mayo. You might find you fiddle with the hob a bit if using frozen stuff but it really doesn't need you to stand over it at all.

One of my favourites is pasta & pesto with vegetables. Boil pasta in a pan with some veg - broccoli and/or peas go really well IMHO. I usually put the veg in about 3 minutes less than the pasta. Drain it all together, add pesto. If you have any leftover chicken, that is an especially nice addition.

Haggis and salad

I would buy a soupmaker.

Put good fresh ingredients in, and have excellent soup in half an hour, with hardly any work.

Cook a bit of pasta vermicelli and add that for something more substantial.

There have been a lot of threads on this subject in the past few days!

You need a perching stool!

For dinner tonight I had
Quorn meatballs (20 mins in oven from freezer)
Homemade sauce: lazy garlic out a jar, peppers, onions, mushrooms, spinach (all frozen and chopped) Tin of tomatoes, squeeze tomato puree and teaspoon of sugar.

Stirred in the Quorn balls and served over spaghetti.

Very easy, quite healthy and yum

I really like Lloyd grossman pasta sauces . Bit of pasta with some cheese on top. Add cooked chicken if you like Pre chopped veg ..- always a winner here..
same with pesto pasta ..
A nice creamy curry with condensed chicken soup , add cooked chicken ( deli section) and add curry powder and peas .. serve with rice .. easy
Jacket potato with cheese/ beans / whatever you fancy

All the supermarkets do meal kits now for example Chinese chicken stir fry, Chicken tikka etc, it's all in one pack and the chicken is already diced and the veg chopped. It even comes with a sauce and are less than £3. I use one between two of us, the stir fry I make with rice or noodles ( just stir it in at the end) and the chicken tikka we have in a wrap or naan. There are even green Thai curry ones and more. They really are simple and quick. Worth a try.

Link groceries.asda.com/product/simple-to-cook/asda-simple-to-cook-chinese-chicken-stir-fry-kit/1000017525402

Oh those meal kits sound fantastic!

Haggis is a bit random 😁 not sure we can get it in Wales?

I will definitely ask my OT for a perching stool.

I love soup and asked DH for a soup maker but he reckons it won't work. Does anyone have any recommendations? He read reviews where the contents burn on easily.

Any sort of pasta, easiest one I make is linguine, king prawns, chilli flakes and lemon juice. If you buy fresh linguine it takes less than 10 mins.

Frozen veg and cook from frozen quorn, curry sauce jar, brown rice.

Pan of ragu, mince, ready chopped onions, lazy garlic, passata then just add bits depending on what you are making turn it in to spag Bol, chilli con carne, cowboy hash etc

Stir fry is easy but I hate it.

Omelette is easy but I don’t like that either.

Soup is easy, plenty of ready prepped soup veg in veg fridge at supermarket.

Fried or scrambled eggs, baked beans, and oven chips or toast

Pasta, jar sauce, either frozen veg chucked in with the pasta for the last few minutes or the pre-chopped prepared veg in packs that you can microwave or similarly add in. If you can't use a sieve, get the packs of microwave pasta and sauce instead. Top with cheese, you can get packs of pre-grated if you can't grate (or cba, I love these).

Pasta bake - add in some deli meat like ham, pepperoni. Serve with salad (ready-made pack and cherry tomatoes if you like).

Stir-fry. Tesco and M&S have an offer on noodles, prepared meat/ prawns/ tofu (cooked, just need heating up), prepared stir-fry veg and a sachet of sauce, sure other supermarkets also do them. So quick and easy.

Jacket potatoes with beans and/ or cheese, or tuna mayo, etc and salad

Salmon fillet cooked in oven or grilled (can get ready cooked so just need heating or raw), stir fry veg, rice (microwave packs if you want or need), stir-fry sauce on veg and if you want to go the extra mile, bung a bit on the salmon when it's nearly done for the last few minutes. Or make your own sauce - soy sauce, honey, ginger, chilli, garlic. Ready-chopped tubes or jars of garlic etc are your friend.

Pasta, cook until almost done (to taste, avoids overdoing so it's sloppy), drain then return to pan or do microwave packs. Tuna, tinned tomatoes and garlic or tomato pasta sauce from jar or packet, tinned sweetcorn, whatever tinned veg you want, simmer for a few minutes. Top with cheese.

It's absolutely outrageous that you have to pay to make your own kitchen accessible to yourself! Fuck sake this country really treats wheelchair users disgracefully.

I've got a proper Japanese style rice cooker - you can do full meals in it, or just the rice (easier to clean!), and it can also steam meat/veg while the rice is cooking.

Cold roast chicken torn into bite sized pieces, tin kidney beans and one of sweetcorn. Chilli sauce, I used pili from Waitrose. Then just heat it together. I used it to make enchiladas (bloody faffy). Next time I will serve it with wraps.

Carbonara - great recipe on BBC food

Salad with boiled eggs.
Toasted or grilled pitta with ready chopped carrot sticks, cut up some pepper sticks a f have with hummus.
Layer nachos, jarred salsa and grated cheese, pop in oven. Yum!
Wraps with diced meat and Iceland do frozen mixed chopped pepper mix.
Prawn stirfry.
Ratiouille - you can buy this frozen.
Mincebeef and onion hotpot with Frozen veg in. Just have to slice potatoes!

Great ideas here! I get a couple of handfuls of new potatoes and slice them thickly (3 or 4 slices for each). Then microwave until soft... About 3 mins. Whack on a baking tray, spray couple of squirts of oil on and sprinkle a little onion powder, garlic power,and salt and mix up. Then arrange so all lay flat. Down the side of the baking tray I put a bit of foil with 2 salmon fillets on. Spread about half a teaspoon of mayo over top of each one,sprinkle some breadcrumbs and some lemon thyme or flavouring you like (jerk is awesome too!!). Bang in oven for 15_20 mins on about 180. Near the end of cooking microwave some frozen peas and sweetcorn. Lovely!!