Meals that’s don’t need an oven or hob!

[moodymary]

Apologies if this has been asked a lot - I couldn’t see any recent threads.

We will be without a kitchen for about 10 weeks during buildings work. I will have a temporary set up - microwave, fridge etc, and a bbq.

Please hit me with your meal ideas that don’t need a conventional oven or hob!

We are not slow cooker fans, but I’m not averse to buying an air fryer or George Foreman grill type thing if need be!

No dietary requirements to factor in. DD is fairly fussy but I’m used to adapting dishes to suit.....

www.huel.co.uk

All you need is a shaker and a tap!

Don't forget your microwave will give excellent results for fish, two or three salmon fillets in something like a pasta bowl, add a knob of butter & a splash of white wine, cover & cook. Delicious!

Some ideas for meals that don't need cooking or have elements that can be microwaved....
chicken Caesar salad with bought cooked chicken
salade Niçoise (leave out the hard boiled eggs)
cous-cous with pre cooked chicken or fish
asian style soup with noodles or gyoza cooked in microwave
use puy lentils or mixed beans (microwave sachets or tinned) instead of potatoes

Buy a Ninja Foodi. Since having mine I barely use my oven and/or hob.

There's no compromising of meals and you can cook practically what you cooked using oven and a hob.

Ninja Foodi multi cooker

Get a pressure cooker. Ours has also saute function so can use like hob to fry things too. Great for legumes, meat becomes succulent, you can do rice in it too. Highly recommended it.

www.gasproducts.co.uk/campingaz-camping-chef-folding-double-burner-grill.html

When we were in same situation we had microwave and slow cooker. Slow cooker is your friend!

I'd get an air fryer, as that will do anything you could oven and more, as well as an instant pot. I believe there's actually a model of instant pot that does air frying too or one of the Ninja Foodie models does too.

If you have a toastie maker and your toastie plates aren’t wrecked you can make small omelettes (in triangles, obvs) in your sandwich toaster. Just take care not to overfill the wells or it will overspill during cooking.

We have a fancy rice cooker & you can do a bunch of stuff in it, though I’ve only used the rice settings in ours. I’ve steamed salmon fillets in foil in the steamer insert over the rice during the rice cycle successfully, and on a different occasion carrots. We have the Yum Asia Sakura. yum-asia.com/uk/

I second just getting a plug in hob thing - our local Library of Things has one you can borrow, so might be worth looking into that, if you have one in your area?

Here is a link to a very similar thread from yesterday:
www.mumsnet.com/talk/property/4567387-surviving-a-kitchen-refit

I was going to suggest one of those mini ovens with 2 hotplates on top. Or an electric frypan and/or air fryer.

Microwave chicken stew (going out of season but you should still be able to get leeks)
Cut 2 large potatoes, 2 large carrots and 2 leeks into 1 inch cubes/slices (you could add swede too if you like it)
Make up 500ml chicken stock (I use a jelly stockpot)
Put veg and stock in a large microwaveable dish with lid and cook on full for 8-10 mins, till veg are nearly cooked.
Meanwhile chop 3-400g chicken breast (or thigh if you prefer) into chunks.
Add to veg mix and cook for 4 mins
Add 2 tablespoons double cream, or 2 tablespoons full fat crème fraiche plus 2tsp cornflour mixed with cold water to thicken. Add a handful of chopped parsley. Cook till thickened and check chicken is cooked though. Serve with bread or pitta bread, if you like.
Serves 4

It's the only meal I cook entirely in the microwave (apart from batch cooking from the freezer)

You have a BBQ, so all meats are easy and can be grilled. Get a plate to roast veggies.
Rice pouches can be microwaved.
I'm sure noodles can be too.

And I'd be tempted by a slow cooker of some description.

You can cook pasta in the microwave if you're desperate- Ive had to cook with calor gas bottles where I've lived for the past 8 years and they've often ran out at crucial points 🤣 couscous is good as you can just leave it stand - stir in some pesto ( the chilli pesto is good ) and add some feta cheese and spring onions. Can also cook meat on a bbq

Also second an air fryer as can easily cook chicken breasts, salmon etc in them

Sage Slo Pro Cooker. Best thing I ever bought for my kitchen. I rarely use my hob now!

I’d just embrace a lot of grilled meat/veg/salad/cheese/soup and crusty bread.

Definitely an air fryer! Can cook everything an oven can!

I asked this 6 months ago. MN told me to buy an air fryer. I was not disappointed!

We have a ninja 4in1 and a two stove hob. There’s not much I can’t cook - I doubt I will use an oven when we get round to installing one.

Only drawback is you have to think about meals a bit so your not doing batches ie. if steak pie is in air fryer then must be with something hob (like mash or new potatoes).

You can cook pretty much anything in a microwave -

Eggs - poached, scrambled, omelettes

Rice, pasta and noodles can all be cooked in microwave

All sauces can be cooked in microwave but you could easily batch cook so you can sauté off garlic, onions etc you don't need to freeze whole meals, just sauce bases would keep you going for ages

I'm veggie but my mum isn't and she cooks meat and fish in the micro all the time! Fish especially comes out lovely I'm told

All veg can be microwaved

There are TONS of tinned meals that can be microwaved even as a veggie there's various pastas, curry, chilli...

Cous cous and other very small pasta and even quinoa can be cooked simply steeped in boiled water

If you get toastabags for the toaster you can make not only toasted sandwiches but you can also use these to cook breaded items (fish or veggie fingers, nuggets) pastry snacks (I LOVE a cheese and bean pasty cooked this way), bacon, sausages (slice in half length ways to lessen thickness but yummy!)... all sorts

And as it's summer (checks outside window and calendar - they don't quite meet! ) yes salads, wraps, sandwiches, picnic/buffet foods (quiche, tarts, sausage rolls, mini scotch eggs, cocktail sausages, olives, cold hard boiled eggs are everywhere now!, anti pasti type items...)

You'll be fine

Oh! Also kettle based items -
Not for everyone I know but I quite like instant mash I just add plenty of butter and seasoning sometimes add other flavourings like marmite, pesto, ketchup, mustard, salad cream (loooove it with salad cream very moreish) and there's also pot noodles, pot pasta etc

You've had lots of recipe advice so I'll leave that, but let me just tell you what happened when we were without a kitchen for nearly 3.5 months.

I'd carefully prepared loads of batch cooked meals, bought sachets of microwave rice, instant mashed potatoes etc - then the fitter stashed all of his tools plus the new cabinets, appliances, pipework, tiles etc in the garage ... blocking my access to the chest freezer!!! Fuck's sake! So yeah, my top tip is to make sure that you are able to access the fridge and freezer, it makes life a whole lot easier!

(And of course now that mine is all done I'm absolutely in love with it!)

Good luck.

Perfectly do-able without a hob, imo.

Our renovation ended up taking 2 years, during which time we lived on site in our summerhouse without running water or proper electrics (had extension leads running from house to it).

Water was only accessible from an outside tap by the house and the toilet inside the house was kept working/accessible throughout, although we did have a camping chemical toilet for night-time use to save running up to the house.

We managed very well with just a combi microwave, kettle and toaster, although a sandwich/panini toaster may have been useful.

Still managed to make roast chicken, jacket potatoes, pulled beef/pork, cooked bacon, poached eggs, etc. Even cake.

I didn't want to buy things I'd never use again so I stuck with what I already owned and it worked for us.
We ate plenty of variety and very few microwave ready meals, although they have their place.I used to make a lot of traybakes with different veggies, potatoes, herbs/spices and meat.

It was really useful that my microwave had a grill and oven feature though, but even a basic microwave can do a lot.

Here are some links for microwave cooking inspiration: www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.insider.com/easy-meals-made-in-microwave-2020-3%3famp
www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/collection/microwave-recipes/amp

get an air fryer

Salads (don’t have to be boring! Look on Pinterest)
frozen food - obviously not all the time but bathcook or things like chips and chicken nuggets, fish fingers etc I think is fair enough in the situation
you can do toast beans etc in microwave and toaster
jacket potatoes with various fillings

roast veg, meats can all be done in the air fryer so anything that consists mainly of them will work. You could do pittas, wraps, fajitas, flat breads for example. With side salad. Koftas, chops, steak (though I wouldn’t waste an expensive steak on it) chicken wings, breast, Burgers, whatever
you can do homemade wedges or frozen items or bread in there.
even chickpeas turn out ok in the air fryer
microrice / microlentils / micro quinoa would also be a good option here.
Sandwiches / bagels
you can do boiled eggs in the air fryer so eggs on toast
cous cous just needs boiling water
shop bought no cook things - deli meats and cheeses, crackers, ready meals, dips like hummus salsa etc and chips / pitta
I think you can do noodles in the microwave so you could feasible make ramen too

if you get a slow cooker then you can have stews and soups too

…we are on month 4 of no oven

Re think on the slow cooker, you can do a whole chicken or a joint in one, I also use mine to make steak and mushroom pudding - a couple of inches of water, put a folded tea towel in the bottom and a Pyrex dish on top with the pudding in.

Do you have a rice cooker? An electric steamer? A toaster?

You can cook pasta by putting it in a bowl / pan and covering with boiling water.

How do you feel about tins and packets? You can make a sort of cottage pie with a tin of minced beef in gravy and instant mash then warm up in the microwave.