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Meal ideas carers can manage

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M00minMama
M00minMama Posts: 57 Forumite
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in Old style MoneySaving
Ok

I now have carers in for my lunch and teatime. Effectively they have 15 minutes to make a meal.
I am getting fed up of cheap ready meals, microwaved jacket potatoes and scrambled eggs.

Really I need a meal plan to be able to budget as money is so tight. I have to avoid pulses and legumes for health reasons so the usual cheap options of beans on toast are no longer available:(
Some carers have very little understanding of how to cook.
What cheap and quick meals are there. I'm desperate for something tasty now. I'm hoping you guys can inspire me with ideas
«13

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  • Farway
    Farway Posts: 13,229 Forumite
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    Would you be able to prep somethings prior to carers arriving? I am thinking of perhaps peeling spuds, cutting carrots etc?

    As you are aware with only 15 minutes start to finish, including prep, cook & clear away you are really going to be limited to ping it meals unless yo are able to do some of it yourself

    There are better quality ping meals from the likes of Marks / Waitrose but these may be beyond your budget
    Eight out of ten owners who expressed a preference said their cats preferred other peoples gardens
  • tessie_bear
    tessie_bear Posts: 4,898 Forumite
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    why cant you do on toast if you dont mind me asking ? you can buy bread that is gluten free if that is the problem and freeze it so you only use a couple of slices

    a salad with some sliced meat or tinned fish and some nice bread

    soup of your choice and bread/toast or sandwich to dip

    i like jacket pots but if your bored could you try different fillings ?

    m and s do nice tinned meat steak'/mince/curry not cheap but no waste and lovely quality

    hth good luck xxx
    onwards and upwards
  • Mojisola
    Mojisola Posts: 35,557 Forumite
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    Have you got any friends or family who will do an occasional bulk cook for you and make up one-meal packs for the freezer?
  • fuddle
    fuddle Posts: 6,823 Forumite
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    Cold salads with ham/chicken/mackerel fillets or tinned tuna/ham corned beef
    I'm reading it that you can't have legumes or pulses but can have bread - toasties - corned beef, cheese and onion...
    Soft boiled eggs and soilders.
    Porridge
    Crumpets
    Bacon lettuce tomato in a wrap with a bit of mayo
    Fried egg sandwich.
    Quiche (ready made) side salad
    Fruit salad, yoghurt, granola

    Having been a carer and never having to experience a 15 minute 'care' package I know how difficult it is to do a good job in 30 minutes let alone anything less(sorry, a bit jaded by 'care') but hopefully there's some ideas above to give you and your girls and guys a start. Maybe communicate with the carers as they may have ideas of their own that they do elsewhere?
  • M00minMama
    M00minMama Posts: 57 Forumite
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    Thanks for these ideas. The carers have 30 minutes but by the time they do the other things there's only really 15 mins to cook.

    I can't prep anything myself anymore although I could buy pre cut veg.
  • LameWolf
    LameWolf Posts: 11,234 Forumite
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    What a pain to have to avoid pulses/legumes, as baked beans are such a good standby. :(

    Would scrambled egg be an option? That can be done in next to no time either in the micro or in a pan on the hob. If you have some dried herbs available, they can liven it up, too.
    If your dog thinks you're the best, don't seek a second opinion.;)
  • spadoosh
    spadoosh Posts: 8,732 Forumite
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    Just the one visit?

    Depend on time but you can just get them to chuck stuff in a slow cooker and collect when ready. Are you ok serving the food?

    Millions of slow cooker recipes and normally doesnt require too much prep work, just peeling and chuck in. Easily done in 15 minutes.

    Say you have a 7pm visit make it midday and get them to make your tea then.
  • PasturesNew
    PasturesNew Posts: 70,698 Forumite
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    edited 19 September 2017 at 2:46PM
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    Most of my cooking (for one person) is of the type you speak of.

    One quickie involves using frozen mince.... and a microwave.
    If I pare it back to "absolutely cutting every corner", here's shepherd's pie:

    200g frozen mince into a lidded microwave container, with a drained tin of mixed peas/carrots, splash of Worcestershire, big squirt of ketchup, small handful of ready chopped frozen onions.

    Make up some instant gravy with a teaspoon of Bisto granules and a splash of boiling water and toss that in.

    Nuke 5 minutes, stir, microwave 5 minutes.

    Serve.... with half a tin of tinned potatoes.

    There are loads of variations to this. e.g. using frozen peas/carrots, or adding in a tomato or two. For potatoes, serve with frozen mash or micro chips, or oven chips, or instant mash.

    You can also buy, say, Aunt Bessie's dumplings to go with that... frozen - just nuke one.

    I made/ate something just like that this week.

    Making a curry can be as easy as opening/emptying an entire 500g pack of cubed meat into a slow cooker, with a whole jar of sauce ... turn on and leave it for 5-6 hours. Serve with pouches of micro rice.

    Ditto with chilli con carne: whole pack of mince, drained tin of kidney beans or complete tin of baked beans, handful of frozen chopped onions, tin of tomatoes with juice and a sachet of chilli con carne mix (~30p at Lidl I think).

    Kebabs can be bought, frozen, too - nuke those for 2+2 minutes and serve on a pouch of rice.... ditto meatballs, loads of frozen ones from supermarkets.
  • strawberryfield2233
    strawberryfield2233 Posts: 99 Forumite
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    A couple of meal suggestions:
    Walls or similar ready baked sausages (can microwave) ready made yorkshires in oven only take a few minutes, microwave some new potatoes peas or similar frozen veg or preprepared with some instant bisto with water from kettle.
    Steamed rice you can buy in packets which can me microwaved or stir fried along with some ready cooked chicken stirfried with sliced mushrooms, tinned sweetcorn and ready sauce in a jar or packet or just abit of soy sauce or sweet chilli or sweet & sour. You can buy egg noodles instead of rice the ones that are ready for pan (i mean not dried).
    If budget allowed then a tower steamer (electric) would allow preprepared fresh vegetables, thin pieces of meat or fish, ditto sticed vegetables to be cooked whilst your being cared for then served near the end of time to get away from microwaved taste.
    Soup (tinned or chilled) with a few extra veg/ meat added along with a roll or two warming in the oven might be nice.
  • PasturesNew
    PasturesNew Posts: 70,698 Forumite
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    edited 19 September 2017 at 3:21PM
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    strawberryfield2233 wrote: »
    Walls or similar ready baked sausages (can microwave)

    These are scrummy - I had some a few years back, but they are very pricey for what you get.... gorgeous as they are.

    They are also hard to find in a lot of shops. What I do instead now is buy ready cooked cocktail sausages as they're in every shop and cheaper/100g.

    A typical pack is, say, 40 for £1.60; I figure that 5 of those = 1 proper sausage.

    I nuke them and I freeze them. I use them a lot in baguettes and hot breakfasts.... and random nibbles cold from the fridge.
    M00minMama wrote: »
    I could buy pre cut veg.

    There's lots of it - if you've got the freezer space it's just as good. Also, these days, you can look online to see what shops actually sell.

    There's all sorts for sale in some supermarkets! Others are not so great, but they tend to be the shops that don't deliver.

    How do you get your food into the house?
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