Emergency - microwave recipes!

Frith

No cooker/hob for the foreseeable future after my (40 year old) one went bang at the weekend. :-(


We are now down to 1 microwave and 1 wood burning stove. And a bread maker.


Does anyone have any recipes suitable for either for 1 adult and 2 teenagers? We eat anything apart from offal and mushrooms.


I would add we have loads of eggs at the moment!


Thank you.

PasturesNew

It'd be worthwhile you looking into picking up a small toaster oven, or one of those glass bowl/light on types.... the small cost (£30-40) will be recouped soon enough just because of the fuel savings you're making by not having your oven/hob on the go.

I don't use my oven/hob at all .... but I only cook for me, so stumped to know where to start without knowing you and what you like/hate and how you normally cook.

Are you a chicken stew kind of person, or an organic hand reared heritage rare breeds meat person?

Frith

We're on a budget of less than £30 per week so very little meat eaten.

Frith

Typical meals are pizza (base made in bread maker), curries, chow meins, pasta and tuna, veg chilli and hm soup. Broccoli cheese is a favourite with left over ham from lunchtime sandwiches.

*Margaret*

Oh no, that's such a shame about your cooker. I've just bought a slow cooker and mine was only £9.99 so maybe that's an option? You'd be able to do chilli, curries and so on in that. If not then the food blogger Jack Monroe did a series of posts with recipes using just a microwave, so might have some tips and ideas or things you can adapt.
https://cookingonabootstrap.com/category/microwave-cooking/

Anne_Marie_2

Firstly, really sorry about your oven and hob, you poor thing.
Is your microwave standard, or does it have a grill and/or oven, as would give you a bit more scope?

Have a look at this thread re cooking on wood burning stove.
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/1197879
I don't have one, but they are very popular here, and the locals cook stews, soups etc. on the top during the winter months.

I often do a red lentil dhal in the microwave, takes about 10-15 mins.

I've never done pasta in the micro, but have cooked rice very successfully, always turns out nice and fluffy.

Baked potatoes with some kind of a topping....I can never see past grated cheese and onion, but beans would be good and easy.

Always do scrambled eggs in the micro with a bit of added cheese. If you do it in a flatter dish, suppose you could do an omelette if you didn't stir it as much?

Always make white sauce in the micro too, so you could still have your broccoli or cauliflower cheese, albeit you will have to cook them separately and then finish off together in a dish.

Easy to make a tomato pasta sauce using tinned tomatoes or passata, onion, garlic, some herbs, tomato puree. Add some veggies if you like and serve with pasta and/or crusty bread.

Transformers

Join your local Freecycle / Freegle group and local Facebook buying / selling groups and post messages asking if anyone has a cooker / portable hob that you can have.

Explain that you've got two teens and no money - someone might be able to help.

I've gotten rid of a lot of stuff that way. It saves me having to ditch the things and someone else gets the benefit.

If you've got around £20 you could get something like this:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Duronic-HP1BK-Stainless-Portable-Warranty/dp/B0108JM596/ref=sr_1_25?s=kitchen-appliances&ie=UTF8&qid=1484693312&sr=1-25&keywords=hob

suzeesu2000

As you have access to the internet, look on youtube for mug menu / meal.

There is a really easy egg thingie, you cook in a mug in the microwave and then add to a muffin - even nice with bacon. Cook bacon in microwave on a couple bits kitchen towel, lay bacon single layer cover with another piece of kitchen towel and it helps to make the bacon crisp up a bit as well. Only takes a few miinutes.

If you have a blender, cook veggies in the microwave, add to a blender with some good stock and season to taste, blitz and you have fresh soup.

Omelettes are dead simple in a microwave as are scrambled eggs, search youtube as a picture is worth a thousand words here.

Also echo the posters advising you search Freegle/Freecycle in your area. Loads of folk give cookers away - even if its only for a short time while you budget for a brand new one.

And, would be worth contacting your electricity supplier to see if they can help you. My DH was very ill when ours blew and SSE replaced it with a brand new one and two years insurance.

Good luck!