HELP!! Kitchen Help - cooking without a kitchen (merged)

furrypig

Thanks everyone for all these top tips!!

I now have no kitchen BUT they left the cooker for me to use whilst the floor is drying out!!!! Yipee not as difficult as I initially imangined. (Does that mean all the fantasy camping games etc etc are off??)
The garage is rather full with food/ crockery etc but it all seems to be working out (this is only the first day though!!). I think the kids will have to be banned from the kitchen for the next few weeks as there are only a few boards down for us to get across!

Thank goodness I came to Ol style before this happened as 1) you helped me find the problem and 2) I have not just been buying 'any' food but trying to budget and menu plan, thus I didn't have loads of food to store!!

Thanks everyone and looking forward to more fun and games chez furrypig!

Marmiter

We're having our kitchen/dining room re-jigged starting Monday 20th, so we won't have a kitchen for 2 weeks.

The fridge, freezer, microwave and kettle are being moved into the lounge, so apart from that cooking is going to be tricky!!
But I want to avoid microwaving in the lounge too much cos it might be a bit stinky!

Does anyone have any suggestions for evening meals?
We might BBQ a few times, but I expect the novelty will wear off, even if the good weather holds out!

Also, to make things more complicated, I'm a veggie!!!

Thanks guys

squeaky

We had a thread about coping without a kitchen a little while back, so I'll see if I can find it for you.

In the meantime I'm sure a whole bunch of good tips will come flooding in any time now

Edit: I found the other thread. To see it Click Here.

KTFrugal

Been there, done that, what a palaver.

Top kitchenless tips:

1. Slow cooker heaven - pre fry and freeze an onion, garlic, celery mix which you can then use in soups. Uncooked onion always tastes a bit strong to me in a slow cooker recipe.

2. Serve veggie stews with nan bread which you will have stocked up your freezer with.

3. Lakeland has toasted sandwich bags with which you can make toasties in the toaster if you don't have a fancy panini grill. Lifesaver at lunchtimes.

4. Try using the bbq as a gas ring, by cooking with your cast iron frying pan over it. This way, you can do frying pan pizza (scone dough cooked on one side in the pan, flipped over, add sauce and cheese, cook again), fried eggs, pancakes etc. Hope for good weather.

5. Non cook dinners eg couscous, which you only have to soak with boiling water from the kettle, then fluff up and add chopped tomatoes, cucumber, pine nuts, beans etc for a quick and tasty meal.

henhog

There is a brilliant book called Cooking in a Bedsitter by Katherine Whitehorn. I used it all through my college days when I didn't have a real kitchen as such. She covers everything, like how to make soup in a flask, recipes for when you aren't really meant to cook in your bedsitter at all, no cook 'cooking' etc. Here is the recipe for no kitchen risotto.
You need
1 tin of ready cook rice
1 egg
1 tablespoon of grated cheese
1 small onion
1 slice of ham
salt pepper

Finely chop onion, put that and rice and chopped up ham in a bowl. Beat egg. Boil up a pint of water. Quickly pour the boiling watewr on to the rice mixture and let it stand for two mins. Pour off the water. Add the salt, pepper, egg and stir. Finally add the chesse. Eat at once. This does work, or at least it used to back in the eighties when I needed to cook in this way!

Another money saving book I can recommend from the same era that I still use today is Grub on a Grant by Cas Clarke. Don't know if either of these books are still in print but if they are they are worth getting.

Good luck.

chika

I couldn't afford a fridge and cooker when i first moved out. I bought a cheap microwave and a george forman and I was given a mini deep fat fryer. Check your fryer - i used my mini one to cook pasta in boiling water, you can also do pasta in the microwave and make a decent sauce. Cook meat on the George Foreman, look for chicken breasts, and decent chops. I also bought loads of veg that could be done in the microwave.

It's amazing how creative you can get. Have fun!

Chika

Tianguis

Don't know if this helps but I can vouch for the results!
If using your slow cooker, the most important thing...I can't stress this enough...is to PREHEAT the cooker for at least 20 minutes; then put in your ingredient(s). The biggest mistake is to lift the lid before your cooking time is up, as this not only cools everything down rapidly but also wastes more energy reheating etc. I have an old style Cordon Bleu which cooks meat joints straight out of the freezer in 5 hours; together with great tender meat (even with the cheapest cut) I also have a great supply of meat stock with nothing added...bargain!
If spending a few pence less than £100 is worth the great results, then buy the 'Remoska' from Lakeland. It does everything from toasted sandwiches to roasts (chicken is truly unbelievable) and works only from 650W for the 'grand' Remoska. It is really worth looking on the Lakeland website to find the true value of this item. It is worth noting that I'm a new convert to the Remoska, but cannot find fault with it as yet. Despite not having a building problem with the kitchen, I am still saving lots of money by using this one device.

Edinburghlass_2

Thanks for that post Tianguis I have often wondered about the Remoska, now I know a bit more about it I might just consider it.

Welcome to MSE as well

Queenie

:hello: Welcome to MSE Tianguis, a very informative post too! Thank you

MissMoneysaver_4

On replacing the kitchen... Wickes have the best quality units at excellent prices - check out their showrooms which are very good. If they don't have a style that you like, try MFI which is also good quality at good prices. B&Q is not bad but definintelly steer clear of the Homebase kitchens. We've just redone our kitchen and spent 6 months researching this! Friends of ours put in a homebase kitchen that looked good for 6 months, but is now falling to pieces. Good luck with the building work!