No kitchen for 2 weeks

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I need ideas please! We'll pretty much just have a microwave. What can we cook in it, other than microwave meals and heating tins of stuff? Any meals we can make (with veg and stuff)?

Scrambled eggs, done in the microwave, spinach stirred through, on toast
Have you got a bbq?

I'd recommend buying or borrowing a slow cooker or an air fryer, esp if you've got kids.

It meant they could eat chips and sausages / fish / chicken or we could do family meals like stew, curry, or meat in sauce (with microwave rice).

Thanks guys! Good shout on th bbq, but our garden is also part of the building site right now. And didn't realise I could scramble eggs in a microwave 🙂

But, love the idea of an air fryer! That might be just what we need.

We had our kitchen redone this year too. Some things that worked well:

• a giant plastic washing up bowl (so we had somewhere to easily wash any dishes)
• We used our Bbq a lot, but equally if you have a George Foreman grill or similar you could use that. Then lots of salads, microwave rice, that kind of thing; or use it to make burgers
• You don't mention if you'll have a fridge/freezer, but batch cooking in advance could work. Then heat up food in the microwave. If you don't have a kitchen sink or food prep are then you want to minimise how much you need to prep!
• We also set up a makeshift kitchen zone on our dining table with microwave, kettle, breakfast cereals, tea, coffee, bread, toaster, paper plates, wooden cutlery and a rubbish bin. It meant organising meals was a lot easier!

Same situation as you but for 6 weeks as there's plumbing electrical and flooring to be done before kitchen goes in. I bought a George foreman grill and between that and microwave I'm now questioning why I need an oven at all (well not really but George does so much).

Electric steamer for baby potatoes and any vegetables. We borrowed a mini counter top oven and warmed pies etc.

You can steam veggies in the microwave. An air fryer is your best bet really- great for chicken, frozen foods etc

You can buy the bags of prepped veg in the supermarket, stab the bag and cook in the microwave.

Slow cooker or better still Instant Pot so you can slow cook or pressure cook quickly, prepare a main dish and sides.

I pre made curry's/bolognaise etc and defrosted them. Reheated in micro.

If I could afford a whole new kitchen then I would be staying in a hotel while the work is carried out.
A few years ago I had all my windows and front door replaced and it was a complete nightmare, with the noise and all the rubbish and dust .I made a huge mistake by not going to a hotel for 2 nights but you live and learn.

Ikea plug in induction hob. It’s about £30-40. Can then good anything in a pan like usual. Then keep as spare for things like Christmas

@avamiah - ours took more than 2 months. At €200 a night for hotel for everyone it would have cost more than our whole kitchen. Even for 2 weeks that’s a huge % of kitchen cost. They always overrun.

@Caspianberg
I don’t know how you managed, but I bow down to you as I couldn’t hack it I really couldn’t.
I have been wanting a new bath/ shower for a while now but as usual nothing is simple is it as they need to replace all the tiles and there is a radiator backing onto the wall where the bath is so it sounds a nightmare and we would have to move out for a couple of days so it’s a No for now.🫣

Have you a vegetable steamer for the microwave? I bought one in Lidl about a year ago. It's basically like a tupperware bowl with a raised sort of tray with gaps in and you put about 30ml water in the bottom, then the tray thing and then the veg. The lid has a little vent thing for the steam to come out. There's some on Amazon or Argos. Poundland also used to sell microwave steam bags but they haven't been stocked there for ages probably because some idiot scalded themselves but they were brilliant. I've searched online for them since but they're very expensive on Amazon.

@avamiah - well yes it’s a pain. Ds was only 7 months for big house demo (3 months, full rewire, plaster, piping ), then 18 months for 2months kitchen ( and rewire there). It’s just life unfortunately and what you have with buying old house.

Someone round the corner from me is having a new kitchen. The major clue is the kitchen on wheels trailer in the front garden.
I haven't a clue where they hired it from but advert on the side says they also do bathrooms.

Thank you everyone! Some great tips - I didn't realise you could pierce frozen veg and cook that in the microwave! But I do think we'll get an airfryer - cheaper to invest in that for two weeks than rely on takeaway! We won't have a fridge/freezer for at least a week either, so will be buying food each day...

Re booking a hotel - This is the tail-end of a 6 week job. As someone predicted upthread - they've overrun! So we have been staying elsewhere this whole time, but now have to be home for the final two weeks. I don't think it will take any longer than this though - but I'm honestly dreading it!

appreciate all your tips guys, I'm gonna re-read them all now :)

Oh and the washing up bowl is also a great idea cus we'll have to do all our washing up in the bathroom! So thanks for that tip also 👍

If you don't want to cook a whole bag of frozen veg - just put some in a bowl with a teaspoon or so of water, cover with cling film and prick OR just put a piece of kitchen towel over the top. I cook all frozen veg this way. Regular veg too.

The air fryer is a great idea - am waiting for mine to arrive and looking forward to things like roasted veg etc in it.

Another idea if you don't have it already is pre-cooked rice bags. So convenient.

Also, hot smoked salmon fillets with spinach wilted in the microwave and some creme fraich, served with rice is easy, tasty and healthy.

Tinned curry (veg or chicken) and Uncle Ben's packet rice - blast in microwave was a great dish.

Also tinned beef chilli - they were surprisingly good.

We also had soups, jacket potato, tinned beans and spaghetti with toast for lighter meals.

We used paper plates to save on washing up too.

I would do a full meal plan for the fortnight. Perhaps two dinners would be takeaways and then the rest would be very simple dinners such as soups, stews, risottos and casseroles - anything that could be cooked in one pot. Scrambled eggs or baked beans one night a week. Ready meals that could be cooked in the microwave. Depending on your fridge/freezer capacity, cook meals in advance where you are currently living, freeze and then defrost in the microwave.

If so inclined you can make quite acceptable cakes and sponges in a microwave, too.

Sorry, just missed that bit about no fridge/freezer. Tinned veg is fine though.

@NotLactoseFree I've only just come back to this thread (thanks all for your suggestions) but that salmon dish sounds amazing!! I'm totally cooking that 😄