Hit me with your easy but not beige dinners

[Oncewassmith]

Sorry if this isn't a true AIBU but I've been diagnosed with breast cancer and I'm facing a double mastectomy (plus reconstruction) - so I need some go to super quick dinner ideas for the family (me and DH, DS6 and DD4).... so what do you go for when you need a quick, low fuss dinner?

Alternatively: quesadillas

Black beans in a food processor with Tom paste, oil, splash of water, coriander, cheese. Whizz. Put on half a tortilla, fold it over and pan fry on both sides.

Chop in half and eat.

4 Tbsp ketchup
1.5 Tbsp vinegar
2 Tbsp muscovado sugar
Garlic
Tinned pineapple chunks
Chicken

Sweet and sour chicken. Serve with rice.

Sloppy joes. Basically Spag bol or chilli in a soft bread roll with (optional) melted cheese

Frozen jacket pots with any filling are game changer.

Omelettes

We have smoked salmon and scrambled egg for easy dinner sometimes

Kids also like shop bought pancakes, which freeze, with fruit on top. They think it's a real dinner treat!

Fresh pasta tagliatelle fry some frozen peas up with butter add the tagliatelle with the peas add three egg yolks stir until coated and cooked. Add sliced smoked salmon on top and serve with lemon wedges and some salad and herb bread.

Very best of luck with your treatment!

Following my Mum’s mastectomy she couldn’t lift a half full kettle nor a pan of water for quite a while, so many “quick and easy” meals weren’t applicable. A lot of her meal planning went out of the window. I was fortunate enough to be able to batch cook her a raft of meals to help - have you got friends or relatives who would be happy to help?

I know 6 of us did 2 family meals apiece for a neighbour who broke her legs (yes, both - Yikes!) last year; people are often happy to help out because they care.

For the first fortnight or more I honestly recommend the Pierce Film school of cooking. Perhaps coupled with the X On Toast approach. No one will starve and you save your energy for what matters - healing. Ready meals, instant noodles with microwaved veg and soy sauce stirred through, fresh tortellini/ravioli, things you can bung in the oven from frozen and ready prepared veg.

There are many excellent suggestions here for when you can lift pans. I’d add Puttanesca - the sauce cooks in the time it takes pasta to cook. Olive oil in a sauté pan on low. Add sliced garlic and dried chillies to taste. When the oil has infused (say 5 minutes) turn it up slightly and add 4 anchovy fillets. As they start to dissolve, add a tin of tomatoes and let the excess liquid bubble off. Stir in a handful of chopped capers and black olives. Lift the cooked pasta out of its water and add to the pan (tongs or a slotted spoon). Toss together, and if you’re feeling chef-y, top with fresh chopped parsley and grated Parmesan.
But who feels chef-y following surgery?

I wish you all the very best.

So many good ideas here that I don't have much to add but want to wish you good luck. If it were me I would be ordering Deliveroo. And stock up on Waitrose prepared meals...

@Doomscrolling - love your puttanesca recipe. You make it sound so easy and delicious. Think I'll have that tomorrow.

You don't cook for starters. DH will need to pull his weight here. I had a partial mastectomy in 2012 and mine did the cooking. It was all I could do, to do my exercises. Not to mention poxy drains!

Last year my implant failed so I had a further op to take everything away and again my left side was pretty much useless so DH took over again.

If he can't cook, get him a basic cookbook and point him towards YouTube.

Whoever cooks the meals (and I really do hope that the people around you rally round and make sure that isn't you), you might find an Instant Pot is a good investment. I'm a single mum with a 60 hour a week job, and I use mine for nearly every meal. I made paella the other day - took about 5 minutes of prep and cooking and then it did the rest. Same with risotto. Also great for stew type dishes.

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So sorry you are facing this. Don't worry about a bit (or a lot) of beige food if you keep packets of green veg in the freezer to go with it, like peas, green beans, spinach, ready cut up onions etc: much less hassle than preparing raw veg, just bung in microwave on its own, or add to pasta, omelet, risotto, curry, whatever might be in a pan.

Tenderstem broccoli, spread out in a roasting tin, drizzle with soy sauce and olive oil, put in a v hot oven for about 5 mins. Ideally edges scorch a bit while middle is just cooked, but any outcome will be delicious. Goes with everything.

Grilled fish. Baked fish with pesto. Pasta with pesto. Fry up with fried onions plus anything else in the fridge.

@robotcollision it really is that simple. It’s one of the few things my student son cooks for himself, and if he can do it anyone can!

Can you afford to throw money at this problem? If so, I would be using a mixture of the rapid Hello Fresh-type meals and the pre-prepped bung-in-the-oven stuff (eg salmon en croute plus a foil tray of oven roasted veg). In the very short term I would get nicer ready meals. However, I quickly find I need food with more freshness and texture, so I couldn't manage more than a few consecutive days of those.
I haven't been in your situation (although sadly saw my DM suffer through it), but the above is how we managed after DC2's arrival and I was recovering and healing from the quite dicey birth.

My friend's husband can't cook, he has never cooked, so when she went into hospital with covid he had no idea how to feed his family, and whilst I don't think much of him for being so useless, I thought of the easiest possible meals to get him started, wrote it all down, and shopped for it for him:

Bought quiche with microwave mash and bagged salad/frozen veg microwaved

Bought wraps spread with hummus and filled with bought cooked chicken and salad, black olives etc.

Half decent frozen or chilled pizza with actual vegetables on.

Ready prepared veg and something - such as Mediterranean roasted veg and quinoa/bulgur wheat, rice or pasta and hummus.

Ready prepared stir fry veg with bought in sachets of sauce and 3 minute noodles

Sausage, microwave mash, frozen or ready prepared veg and gravy

Good quality bought in chilled soup and a peanut butter sandwich

Burgers in a roll with all the trimmings, side salad and oven chips or ready prepared sweet potato fries or similar

Any potato you can eat with the peel still on - jacket/new with bought in quiche and baked beans

Cheese, cherry tomatoes and black olives on toast.

Plus, kinder women than me dropped him off casseroles etc.

All best wishes for your recovery OP.

Make sure the kids have school dinners, and then if you are feeling really ropey they can have a “packed lunch” dinner. My kids love it when they are allowed to make their own wraps and picky bits from the fridge.

Good luck with it all

As you've been through chemo once already and I know you are just asking for easy meal recipe help, which has been wonderful to see so many MNers provide - you may already know this re possible hair loss options if you don't fancy the free head or head scarf options

But my close friends who survived two lots of breast cancer and treatment swore by these adult women hats when they started losing hair from chemo. They are £10.99 on Amazon. And cotton so your head can breathe. And they cover quite low. They prefer these for everyday going out than wigs they were given as less sweaty on their heads. Baker hats rock for those days you don't feel up to going bare headed when out

If you run out of money because of sick leave etc and impact of COVID on DH and your jobs, OP, please do remember that school/college and Macmillan nurses may have access to apply for discretionary hardship funds

You don't have to pay for things school ask for as voluntary donations for anything including trips and as your diagnosis is over 6 months old you can apply for PIP of it's affecting your ability to walk far or to manage your own essential care needs.

In fact you can contact your local adult services to ask for disabled support in managing your care needs and those of your DCs as you are responsible for parenting them whilst DH is at work . Ask for direct payment options

Adult services don't usually pay for housework or cooking help but in such a situation you can get care act assessment and identify your DHs long work hours if that's the case, to get potential support of a number of hours. Even if it is for 6 months and then reviewed

People don't realise they can ask

I can't say more but you can DM me

Sorry to hear this Op
You need the batch lady she has 2 books and a website full of inspiration

Very easy meal made in one baking tray:

• Chicken thighs coated well with oil, thyme, oregano, garlic powder, onion powder and paprika
• Potatoes cut into big bite sized chunks
• Bell peppers cut into big bite sized chunks
• Onions cut into big bite sized chunks
• Courgette and / or aubergine cut into big bite sized chunks

All vegetables get coated with oil, lemon juice, crushed garlic, thyme and oregano.

Place all vegetables on baking tray with the chicken thighs on top of them. Bake until the chicken is cooked and the vegetables are tender. Add melted butter on chicken skin and crumbled feta cheese on top of the vegetables and bake for 5-10 more minutes - then serve. Preferably with fresh parsley and lemon juice (optional) sprinkled on top. Could also be eaten with rice on the side, but there's already potatoes in the tray bake.

Oh OP sending good wishes with the surgery ❤️
Pasta, tuna, sweet corn and mayonnaise mixed in is super quick and tasty 😋

Someone further up the thread mentioned the Green Roasting Tin cook book. I ordered it along with another from the series and have to say, fantastic easy recipes . I currently have covid so required minimum effort cooking even though I enjoy it.
Wishing you well OP.

Cheese and greens frittata/ pie thing

Wilt mixed greens( spinach kale whatever is hanging about the fridge ) fry garlic and spring onion mix with eggs and ricotta, spoon into a sheet of puff pastry fold it over and shove in the oven