Throw your ideas at me, please!

EmptyPockets

Hello,

Well, this is my first week of trying to meal-plan, but I have a dilemma that is kinda holding me back: Our cooker needs replacing, and until we can afford it, I have no oven to use. It has stopped 'turning down' - you can have it on number 9, turn it down to number 2, but nothing happens. The flame doesn't go down, the heat doesn't change at all, and so anything cooked in the oven just burns to a crisp before cooking properly on the inside :rolleyes:

So, I would really appreciate any meal ideas you can give me that don't involve oven-cooking - I'm limited to hob, grill and microwave

This is the plan I've come up with so far, but would like some room for change and variation...

1. Fishfingers, mashed potato, baked beans
2. Pasta, pesto, mince, onions, carrots, canned tomatoes (sounds odd but is very scrummy!)
3. Scrambled egg, ravioli on toast
4. Corned beef hash, sausage, baked beans
5. Quiche, new potatoes, baked beans
6. Fishfingers, mashed potato, peas, parsley sauce

... as you can see... a bit limited, and everything seems to come with 'baked beans'...:rolleyes:

Thanks for reading, looking forward to your suggestions...

EmptyPockets x

P.S also just noticed that there is hardly any veg, either... We do buy the occasional ready-cooked chicken so we can do a Sunday dinner with veg and trimmings, but they are tiny and EXPENSIVE! (£3.89!!!)

boo81

You can cook yorkshire pud in a hot oven! You can have it with sausages or even with steak. Make big ones and you can fill with things like curry or casseroles.

How about grilled chicken breast, bacon, sausages. You could even do a fry up one night!
Scrambled egg
Pan friend fish
Stir fry
Carbonara
Spag bol
Jacket spuds with topping (cokked in microwave)

CLARABEL

chicken wraps....

cooked chopped chicken in pan, serve with yoghurt and cucumber dip, houmos HM, grated cheese and salad vegetables like lieaves and grated carrot, cherry toms....this is my kids fave dibner and so easy!

also so many pasta choices here, the list is endless

french bread pizzas made on baguettes and grilled

fresh fish pan fried (mackerel fillets are yum) with boiled potatoes and microwaved corn on the cob?

lots of choices!
HTH

Clara:D

angie_loves_veg

In July, a New York food writer, Mark Bittman wrote '101 simple Meals Ready in 10 minutes or less'.... it is a fantastic collection of ideas, few (if any) use an oven, all are relatively straightforward... (even if some of the ingredients are a little unusual - many are fine)

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/18/dining/18mini.html?ex=1342497600&en=e76301c448a572af&ei=5124&partner=permalink&exprod=permalink

patchwork_cat

Do you have a grill?
JAcket potato with any number of fillings . PAsta carbonara, mince and mash, corned beef hash, pasta with tuna and sweetcorn and sauce, chicken fillets with veg. Raman, stirfry, I really don't use my oven that much at all.Sausages.
The NY times recipes seem a bit odd or is it me? Perhaps I haven't moved with the times-Hehe.

newlywed

Chilli con carne and rice or wraps?

Risotto? You can add in lots of veg to this if you like.

Omelette?

Good Food recipe book does a turkey meatball casserole on the hob - basically use turkey mince, breadcrumbs and herbs to make meatballs, cook in a little oil till browned. Add loads of chopped carrotts and potatoes, and some stock and cook for about half an hour, add herbs/spices and 500g of passata and cook for another 20 minutes. I add extra veg (peas, sweetcorn) in too.

trying-very-trying

Thanks, Angie, I was just reading this thread, found your post and clicked to that link. It looks really good, I think I'll use a few of those recipes. The cous cous and sardines looked good. Sorry EP, I don't think I've got much to add to what's already been said, but you could make your shepherds pie, heat it up in the micro then grill with cheese on top. You could do the same with a fish pie. My lot'll eat anything if it's got roasted cheese on top.

squeaky

This thread may help... a bit

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

Basically, if you have a grill, microwave, slow cooker... (or any combination) you can make quite a lot of good quality meals without needing your oven, and I'm sure that one or two of the posts on the thread will give you an idea or two that you can adapt.

EmptyPockets

Aha! Thank you to everyone who has replied so far, there's some great ideas there - nothing I didn't really know myself, but sometimes you just get stuck in a 'food rut', I think, and can tend to eat the same meals week in week out, and forget to try anything different - does that make sense to anyone but me? lol!

Squeaky, I'm going to check out that thread right now, :A

I do omelette quite often, spag bol (not really keen on mince though, can never seem to find ANY that isn't just full of gristle), like the idea of pizza made with baguette to grill, too.

Wonderful, yummy! :j

HelzBelz

You could probably still use your oven for some things, as boo81 said, you can do yorkshire puddings/toad in the hole (you just grill the sausages first so they're cooked through as soon as the batter rises, and you could make stews/casseroles, put the oven on with the stew in it and after about 1/2 an hour turn the oven OFF an leave the stew to cook in the residual heat (I usually do this in the morning and leave it all day while I'm at work) then when you're ready for the meal turn the oven on again to quickly reheat, or reheat on the hob or in the microwave, it works a bit like using a slow cooker, because the oven is cooling down your actually cooking the meal on a very low heat for a long period of time, you can also do a nice lamb rogan gosh like this, just stewing cheap cuts of lamb with onions, a tin of tomatoes and a few spices.

newlywed

Yup food rut for certain!!! Every few months I go through the cook books and look for something different to cook and usually end up with a few experiment nights