What to cook with just a microwave?

[oxcat1]

My niece has just started a long treatment in hospital for a brain tumour. Her mum is with her every night, and my brother there until 'closing time'. However, they are getting increasingly concerned about the cost of eating out all the time.

Please can you suggest meals that can be cooked with just a microwave, and exceptionally limited access to a fridge or any proper implements.

I have introduced them to Ilumi meals and the very similar Look What We Found meals that don't need refrigerating but are longlife.

Jacket potatoes?
Ideas for microwave rice and/or lentils perhaps?

So sorry to hear about your niece - hope she makes a full recovery. For microwave, yes, jacket potatoes work, but you can also do pasta (for two people is c.150 grams, just cover with water, add a drop of oil, stir and put on high for five mins, stir and then back for another five mins. Add whatever you like (tinned tuna or pesto is good).
If they have access to a kettle they could bring couscous either - boil kettle, pour over enough water to cover couscous and leave for five-ten mins. Can be eaten with fairly much anything (hard-boiled eggs, tinned corn and some butter will work if they can't store too much).
Scrambled eggs will work too.

I've just found this website and tomorrow I am off to buy some corn syrup to make the peanut brittle because it looks amazing.

Hope your niece recovers.

Hope your niece recovers soon OP.

The packets of rice that you microwave in a couple of minutes are good - you can use them as a base for lots of things. Stir in a small pot or two of philadelphia (the individual portion sizes so won't take up much space in the fridge) and you have a basic risotto; add whatever you fancy to it to make it more interesting. When I was pregnant I used to just add chopped mini plum tomatoes and a bit of grated cheddar as that was all I could stomach but it's also good with chopped ham (or any other meat from the deli counter to save worrying about cooking raw meat) in, sweetcorn, any veg they have around - if they could bring just enough in, ready chopped and in a bag to pop in. It's also nice if you then stir a beaten egg through it and cook again to cook the egg (start off slow so they don't over cook the egg; much easier to add more and more 10 seconds than take them away!). Comes out a bit like a cross between an omelette and a fritatta but with rice rather than potatoes - again pop in whatever you have to hand.

I use the microwave for cooking all my veg - new potatoes work well and I think are nicer than doing jackets in them if you don't have access to an oven to crisp up the skins. But broccoli, peas, carrots, courgettes, mushrooms, green beans, asparagus, pretty much all veg that you would normally cook in boiling water on the hob cooks much better in a microwave and in much less time. You just need to work out the timings for the microwave you are using and the quantities of veg you are doing. I typically do enough for 4 people to eat and find that 3 minutes is a good start time for most things apart from petit pois (not that I often have them but sometimes they are cheaper than peas or peas are out of stock).

And of course there is the mumsnet chocolate cake in a mug in the microwave, look for the recipe in the recipe section. I think there are plenty of other variants of it, including one recently that there is a video on here for to promote the new MN cookbook that was a sponge pudding. There are also cookies to cook in a minute in a microwave. All might be quite fun and tempting to cook with your niece...

good luck!

Thank you so much for these - all good! Please keep them coming!

Any lentil recipes? We often stir some crumbled up feta, chopped tomatoes, chopped salad onions/round onions, fresh herbs into one of those ready-to-eat packets of lentils, slightly warmed through in the microwave and then with a zingy vinaigrette poured over.

Others?

Thank you!

Thank you so much for these - all good! Please keep them coming!

Any lentil recipes? We often stir some crumbled up feta, chopped tomatoes, chopped salad onions/round onions, fresh herbs into one of those ready-to-eat packets of lentils, slightly warmed through in the microwave and then with a zingy vinaigrette poured over.

Others?

Thank you!

Well, I haven't tried this one (hate lentils!) but how about Dhal?

Wishing your niece a full and speedy recovery.

We were without a kitchen during building work last year, and relied on a microwave a lot. Uncle Bens express rice in packets serves 2 and takes 2 minutes to cook in microwave. You can buy dolmio stir-in sauces (meant for pasta but work just as well with rice) and some tinned sweetcorn or other veg.

Are you near to them? Would it be possible for you to cook a meal at home and then take it over to them once or twice a week? If you are further away, would it be possible for you to organise a rota of friends who are nearer who might be able to do this?

Scrambled eggs. You need a kind of plastic version of a McDonald´s drinking cup without its lid, i.e. tall sided (I use a measuring cup). Pop in 2 or 3 eggs, beat lightly with a fork, add a splash of milk and / or a small knob of butter, (salt and pepper if you wish). Grated cheese, little pieces of cooked or smoked ham optional. Microwave for 30 secs., take out and beat with the fork again, repeat until the eggs are cooked to your liking (should take 60-120 secs. of microwaving in total depending on egg size and microwave strength).

Serve by themselves or with bread or with smoked salmon or with baked beans (also microwaveable).

Look for Spanish recipes for lentils and chickpeas. The style "a la abuela" (meaning grandmother´s recipe) is pretty easy to make and well liked.

Make at home in a big vat, then take to the hospital in plastic or glass microwaveable containers and just re-heat.

Ditto soups and casseroles with things like beans in.