Need help with meals, broken toe! Help

carlih1

Hi all,

I was most unfortunate to break my toe and my daughter's communion yesterday, now i am 'supposed' to be resting but i need to paln the weeks meals for me my other half and two little ones, does anyone know of any cheap and esy meals so that i don't have to get dp to go out and buy ready meals for the rest of the week?

Thanks

Carls

angelavdavis

Sorry to hear of your predicament.

I guess it depends what you have in and what your OH's ability is in the kitchen, but I would have thought preparing some meals like spag bol, that can be heated in a microwave might be the answer.

In addition, baked potatoes, risotto, tuna pasta bake, chicken casserole, stews, savoury mince, etc should be easy to reheat/prepare.

Nicki

First of all, I'd love to know what you could have been doing at a communion to break your toe! Seriously though, I hope you feel better soon. Toes seem to hurt significantly more than any other part of the body for some reason.

Back to the question though, I'd go down the slow cooker route. Have someone set your slow cooker plugged in at the kitchen table for you. You can then sit at the table to prepare the veg and meat with bad foot up on a chair, when the food is prepared, just slide it into the sc off your chopping board, then hobble back into the living room to put your feet up on the sofa with a nice cup of tea!

Take care until it mends

carlih1

lol, it was actually at home afterwards i as rushing about after everyone and cracked my toe on the corner of the sofa, it made one hell of a noise and yes it does hurt...quite a lot. The slow cooker thing is a great idea. My other half is less than useless in the kitchen and so his capabilities only extend to reheating (just) or conveinience food, which i hate!

Could i have some recipies for the slow cooker and also for the recipies you mentioned above angela

Many thanks

Carli x

Nicki

Oh poor you! That sounds excruciating.

There is a great slow cooker recipie thread in the mega index which will give you recipies coming out of your ears. I've tried a good few of them, and have yet to come across one which doesn't work. In your place, I think I might go for all in one dishes where you don't need to prepare separate potatoes, pasta or rice to make the meal. Some ideas (hope they are kid-friendly enough) are stew with dumplings, moussaka (use grated cheese or cottage cheese rather than making a cheese sauce as you are incapacitated), irish stew. You could also do a chilli and serve it with taco shells and salad instead of rice, which would save a bit of time on your feet boiling and draining rice. You can apparently also cook a lasagne in the slow cooker, though I confess I've never tried this, and again you'd need to use cottage cheese not sauce.

carlih1

Thank you Nikki will have a looksie, x

angelavdavis

My recipes:

Spag Bolognaise

Brown mince, chopped onion, chopped bacon*, garlic, celery* in a pan in some olive oil.
Add a tin of tomatoes or passata, dash of red wine* chopped courgettes*, mushrooms*, bay leaf, oregano into mince mix and lower heat to a simmer.
Put lid on top and simmer for 30 minutes to 1 hour gently.

Instead of simmering on the stove, you might want to use the slow cooker and leave cooking on low all day.

Serve with spaghetti or allow to cool and split into portions to freeze.

*these ingredients are optional. I add more veg to bulk out recipe.

Defrost - either defrost overnight in fridge or in microwave.
Reheat - in microwave, stirring halfway through heating time.

Shepherds pie

Brown lamb mince, chopped onion, celery, carrots in pan.
Add stock and simmer gently for 30 minutes to 1 hour (or use SC as above)
Peel potatoes and boil. Mash when cooked and place mince in serving dishes (I make up single portions for OH) topping with mash

Allow to cool and then freeze
Defrost overnight in fridge and place in oven for 20 mins to heat through.

Risotto

Cook chopped onion, celery, peppers, handful frozen peas in oil with a little butter added.

Add one of the following - ham, prawns, cooked chicken chopped, browned mince

Add risotto rice (not essential to use risotto rice but it becomes more creamy if you do), mix well with other ingredients so oil/butter coats rice. Add chopped mushrooms, dried herbs and bay leaf.

Add 1 and half pints stock, bring to boil, stir through then lower heat so bubbling. Cook for 20 minutes or until all liquid is spent. Put lid on rice and then leave to sit while getting plates ready or cool and reheat in microwave when required (keep in fridge until required).

Baked Potatoes - can be cooked in oven until slightly undercooked, cool and keep in fridge for up to two days, reheat in microwave adding beans, cheese etc as a topping.

Tuna Pasta Bake - make up white sauce (sweat onions in butter, add flour and gradually add milk and then grated cheese and season to taste), cook macaroni or penne until just cooked, drain and place in ovenproof dish. Open sweetcorn tin and drain and put some in dish with pasta. Open tuna tin, drain and flake into pasta. Mix well adding handful of frozen peas. Pour over white sauce and top with grated cheese. Can be kept in the fridge until required and just put in oven to warm through and brown top.

SC stews - put chopped onions, carrots, potato, celery, and other veg into slow cooker, add meat (chicken, lamb, beef) and top with stock (to match meat) and a handful of broth mix (pearl barley, dried peas, lentils,etc). Add bay leaf and herbs as required and leave to cook all day on low. If feeling adventurous - add half wine instead of stock (red - beef or white wine with garlic - chicken).

good luck and get well soon;)

Ytaya

Ouch, poor thing!

Got any leftovers in your freezer? This might be the time to dig out all those spare lasagnes and cottage pies and spag bols. Also, budget permitting, there's no shame in sending Mr Carli to the chippy if you really can't face it

Oh! How about pizza? Get Mr Carli to buy a couple of plain bases at the supermarket if you don't have it in you to make your own. You can sit at a table and construct the toppings (or get the kids to do it - make a game of it!), then whack 'em in the oven and voilá.

carlih1

I wish i did, had a big clear out recently, can't have too many take aways one it costs too much and two i have bad kidneys need to be partially healthy! x