Tips for simplifying cooking

[EcstaticMarmalade]

I’m looking for ways to make cooking a bit easier. I have a chronic illness which means I tire easily.

In the past I used to batch cook things a lot to make things simpler, but I find that too tiring now. I can and do often cook double portions, either the full meal or one element to use the next day, but I have tried and failed repeatedly to do much more than that.

I also have autoimmune conditions which are partly managed through diet. That’s fairly complicated but in essence, no gluten, no dairy, no eggs, no red meat, no tomatoes and no onions/garlic as can trigger a flare. This means I can’t easily rely on prepared foods or get a meal kit subscription.

So lately I’ve getting into a bit of a rut based round toasties or something stir fried with rice (either packet or in rice cooker).

Any ideas?

Hi OP, you might have already tried some/all of these but I’d suggest:

• pre chopped frozen veg
• tray bakes (very little prep/standing at stove time, the roasting tin books are good, or just go very simple, like chicken, new potatoes, peppers, some herbs/seasoning)
• do you like (gluten free) pasta? If so this opens up lots of quick and easy options and can be adapted to your diet - eg tuna pasta
• slow cooker/air fryer might be helpful
• jacket potatoes in the oven/microwave

Thank you. Tray bakes are a good idea
I haven’t explored yet. They might really work for me as I could go a wee burst of cooking and then have a sit down whilst they cook then another wee burst to plate up.

The other things I have tried with varying degrees of success. The air fryer and slow cooker are great options for me. Chopped, frozen and tinned/jarred veggies are also really good for me, but a lot of mixes etc add a bit of garlic or something else I have to be careful with.

I also have to be careful with pasta/baked potato as basing meals round carbs can unsettle the chronic illness a bit. But I could probably do each of them a couple of times a week, rather than once in a blue moon, if I got into the habit.

Thank you, you’ve got me thinking.

Could you afford a Thermomix? I bought mine paying over 24 months. I take meds that make me tired, mornings aren’t too bad (and yes I know I should really cook then for later) but by dinner time I am knackered. You can basically easily make meals from scratch so you know there is nothing you shouldn’t eat in there, alternatively I often use it as a kitchen helper to chop, saute, blend etc. In Winter I make lots of tasty healthy soups in half an hour or so as you can do it all in one pot. Only one thing to wash up is great too.

@Flatandhappy I probably could afford one, but it would be a choice IYSWIM.

I think my main question really is are the pieces dishwasher safe, and if so, do they wash well in the dishwasher?

In the past I’ve not always gotten on well with gadgets with a lot of attachments etc. For example a couple of years ago I got quite a high end food processor.’

So if you can genuinely just pop in an ingredients and some herbs/spices and let it do its thing it might work for me. Decanting and switching attachments might mean it wouldn’t.

Do you have a microwave? A 'perching' stool to use in the kitchen?

If so, a recipe like this might work (maybe using gluten free or rice noodles)

Microwave salmon noodles recipe - BBC Food

That recipe looks nice. Yes, I have both of those.

I just had chicken with a similar sauce funnily enough- soy, honey, sesame oil and rice vinegar. But this has made should think more about that kind of simple sauce to have with fish, I eat a lot of trout and seabass but tend to have them plain with a little bit of lemon olive oil. Going a more Asian route with fish would open up a lot of fresh flavours for me.

In my old kitchen (before I was ill) there was space for a kitchen table and I used to do a lot of prep sitting down. Another thing to bear in mind for the future.

A perching stool may help if you have space. I use a lot of frozen pre chopped veg and make a lovely soup in the slow cooker and put in a tin of lentils. Baked salmon is also a go to, with pre prepared salad. I meal plan and do the online shop for the week.

Highly recommend tray bakes as you can lob them in the oven and then watch TV while they cook themselves.
I have the whole series of The Roasting Tin books and they are awesome.

Hi OP I have arthritis so I'm in a similar boat.

Buy the best food processor you can afford and use it. Keep it on the counter. I know you said no dairy so this is an example of what I do. I get a block of cheese and grate the entire thing in the food processor and then freeze in single portions.

I also had a friend buy a knife for me in Japan, it is damascus steel and it cuts through root veg like my old knife went through butter.

I've just got a vacuum packer which I am hoping will stop me throwing food away.

Tray bakes as someone has already said, I would add to that use foil to line the tray and then you can just throw that away and use the tray again.

I know that's not great for the planet but you have to put your health first.

I also freeze food together as meals so if I make a chilli I will freeze a portion and in another freezer bag I will put a couple of flour tortillas. Again I know you can't eat these but it's just to illustrate the point.

I sometimes do this with uncooked food so chicken with veggies prepped for the tray bake. put in a freezer. Take the bag out the day before to defrost and then stick on the tray and in to the oven.

My local council do meals on wheels for everyone who wants one, it might be worth talking to your council.

You could also consider hiring a chef for a couple of days. Hiring a private chef is an option but expensive normally they are hired to cook a meal for a special occasion but it might be something you could negotiate.

I can recommend the RecipeTineats website (search under collections) for Asian meal ideas, also Nigel Slater's Real Fast Food

Both have recipes with a short list of ingredients which is why I like them! You will probably have to tweak things a bit though

@Richtea67 Soup is a good idea to make my toasties more of a meal/add some veggies. I’m a bit limited in what I could use (pulses have to be limited) but carrot and herb would be a good place to start maybe

@Princessfluffy oh that’s a good idea to get a book, I was struggling to think beyond chicken/potatoes/veggies and lemon!

@sashh sorry to hear about the arthritis. The foil lining is a great idea. I tried using foil trays for a while but it was too expensive. I sometimes use paper plates when things are really bad, partly for the weight of them and partly for the “no dishes” angle.

@Borek thanks for the website recommend, I will need to get some inspiration for Asian influence, I’m a bit stuck in a rut. You’re right I will need to adapt a bit but even as a first step I could start buying limes as well as lemons every week.

That looks delicious!

Try Simply Cook

It's brilliant. They send you recipes and 3 pots of flavour: stock/spice/herbs

You buy the dry ingredients. Usually five items or fewer

All meals can be prepped and cooked in 20 mins

Thanks @buzzlightyearsaway I wish I could use something like that but unfortunately it’s unlikely to work for me because I have to avoid so many things (gluten, onions/garlic, some spices etc)

Ah sorry! That's not going to help yoiy

I have an oval Pyrex dish with a lid which I use a lot instead of roasting tins/foil. Much easier to wash than a roasting tin, the lid can be used for roasting too, as a shallower tray. Plus together I cook stews/casseroles in the oven

Holland and Barrett sell Bay's Kitchen sauces which are low FODMAP - some have tomato in but there are curry ones too you could look at.

I second the Roasting Tin suggestion, very easy and adaptable for onion/garlic free etc.

Also, Delia's chicken pot roast is delicious and gives stock for soup the next two days. I add veg I can eat like carrots and parsnips, and you can get low FODMAP stock cubes made by Massell online.

@crumpet I have a lot of Pyrex type
dishes from ikea. Usually I use them with either a silicon to cook or a clip on lid for storage- I like the fridge/freezer to oven and vice versa aspect. Don’t find them any easier to wash than a roasting tray unfortunately!

@UniversalTruthThank you, good job spotting the FODMAPS! I also have trouble with some starches.

I do like Bay’s Kitchen quite a lot. I find their jars of chicken stock especially useful. The Katsu curry is suitable for me. I use it with M&S gluten free breadcrumbed chicken fillets for the Katsu effect. The gf chicken has chickpeas in it he coating but I use some FODMAP specific digestive enzymes to help with that.

I use the enzymes sometimes to increase the range of foods I can eat. There are a few that target different FODMAPS.

So Fodzyme helps with fructans, galactans and lactase. Quatrase Forte (galactans, lactose, fructose) or Fructase (fructose). Starchway helps with some starches.

They don’t help with polyols and I still can’t manage some items with fructans things even with these extra enzymes (garlic/onions and also brassicas, I think because of the sulphur content), although I know some people can manage those
too.

They are also quite expensive but I do worry about not being able to eat a proper range of foods anymore, especially fruits and veggies and nuts, so I do use them occasionally.

It’s also great to be able to eat things I really missed and love like mango, melon, passion fruit, asparagus, artichokes and cashews sometimes. Or not worry about stacking the FODMAPS in a meal from different foods. They’ve really given me a lot of room to manoeuvre.

Hi OP mini chopers are quite cheap. really help cut down the effort required.

I also have lupus which affects my joints and I prep a load of veg in one go for the week and then mix and match during the week with the chopped veg and fish/meat from fridge freezer

I also regularly poach a whole baby chicken (just water, celery and carrot - no salt or other seasoning) for an hour and half. it's lovely and moist and I use it to make various dishes eg. sandwiches/pasta/chicken fried rice or noodles etc. the broth itself makes a great stock for making soup/stews/pasta sauce. I freeze it in small boxes and use when needed.

rice out of packets is not nice and v expensive. cooking a big pot of basmati rice and freezing in portions can help make it easier.

@therealcookiemonster

Sorry to hear you have lupus, that kind of pain must be awful.

My struggle with batch cooking isn’t so much about dexterity, it’s more about time and overall energy spent rather than needing to avoid specific activities or movements.

I can still manage a knife pretty well and as long as I keep the quantities small, I manage that a lot better than gadgets- the assembly & disassembly & washing all the parts just tips me over the edge.

I use some Victorinox knives that I really like and just pop them in the dishwasher and really that is what works best for me.

Really, truly I have tried so many different variations on batch cooking over the years and I have come to an exhaustively thorough conclusion that batch cooking is not for me. I can cook an extra portion of something for the next day and really nothing else works for me.

For me, small simple cooks done frequently works much better than any type of batch cooking.

I’ve even switched to a very small rice cooker from a larger, fancier one which I do use when I’m not too overwhelmed or tired, although I do find that packets of plain jasmine rice are very acceptable at a push.

Just realising that maybe my original post isn’t clear. I am not looking for tips on how to make batch cooking easier.

I have spent nearly a decade trying to find a way to make that work for me and really I have concluded it just doesn’t work for me at all.

I’ve tried lots of gadgets, lots of different methods, lots of different dishes, batch cooking components rather than finished articles, freezing small portions etc.

Everything like that makes things worse for me and more difficult to manage not easier.

What I am looking for is ideas on ways to simplify cooking that do not involve batch cooking.

Take a look at Delia's How to Cheat book, full of great ideas.

OP have you heard of the Remoska oven?

I bought one as our oven broke and we couldn't afford to replace it at the time and I've had one ever since.

I've never had a bad meal from it. You put the ingredients into the pan and the heat comes from the lid.

It is the simplest thing, almost too basic. You bung your ingredients in, pop the lid on and leave it. Then when done, serve.

Batch cook soup. I use my slow cooker and throw in 'stems' ie the stems of broccoli and cauliflower that you don't put on your plate.

Onion, veg, seasoning and leave for 3 hours.

Use a stick blender to make the soup and then eat a portion and leave the rest to cool.

Put a sandwich bag in the dish you use for soup and ladle the soup into it. This means you will have exactly the right amount. Use other bags and do the same. Freeze the bags of soup.

I don’t know what your financial situation is.

But, have a look at your appliances, go through your recipes and figure out the steps to get the meal on the table and figure out what you can do.

So, seeing as it’s the activity itself that’s the problem, can you employ someone once a fortnight or something to help? Someone to do the prep and get it started or if you can get started, someone to do the end bit with the breaking up and putting into the freezer and the washing up? If you are able to supervise, a teenager studying food perhaps?

The price of a thermomix can pay for quite a few man hours if you already have a fair variety of appliances.