Well I am not usual a fan of these but had fortunately bought a pile of them in my local discount store this week just before my Jab.
Whilst it was completely unplanned, I realised an unexpected benefit. When you are unwell or don't have your Worzel Gummidge thinking head on, they are perfect! Virtually zero instructions, just boil water, pour in pot, stir. Not that difficult to get wrong even for us but there is plenty of scope!
Unlike "ready meals" with the initial hunt to find the instructions, then fit your bionic eye so that you can read them, then try and remember what category microwave you have or even if it is the same one list with the product, remove packaging, stab film, cook, peel back film, stir, cook some more, stand on the counter top.
All the time your thinking stab several times could be interpreted in two ways depending on your mood as for stand on the counter top, surely the manufacturers are mocking us for our inability to cook?
Just wish there could be more healthy things inside the pot but still so handy
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sospan
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A the mind of the brain injured whom know what random subject will come into our heads and at any time. .....
Honestly, from Wednesday morning to last evening all i had to eat were 3 pot noodles and some biscuits. I couldn't cope with anything else.
Fortunately, over the last two years I have developed the same shape and physical characteristics of a seal. So no danger of me wasting away in a few days!
Shape of a seal, I'll have to remember that one, no hang on, who am I kidding, remember?
I often stand in the kitchen, fridge and freezer open, cupboards open, just staring blankly, trying to get my mind to organise a recipe of some sort, only to resort to a packet of biscuits.
I used to be able to walk into any kitchen, and I have done that many times in my previous life, and produce a meal for twenty + people out of what ever I could find.
I baked a cake the other day, the recipe said prep time 20 minutes, baking one hour.
Two hours later, my kitchen resembled a war zone, and I spent the next hour wrestling with baking paper, attempting to line a square tin.
By the time I had managed that, it was getting on to midnight, the cake mix had given up hope of rising, and it was only the mess I had to clear up, that gave me the will to bake the blooming cake.
I wish that the faceless geniuses at the DWP would realise that that process was initiated two month before I started, four shopping attempts to get the ingredients, three days of staring blankly at the recipe trying to organise the brain cells to process if I had everything, and which order to do things, three hours (total) prep time, umpteen mini nervous breakdowns, I lost count of the profanities, and the clearing up took longer than the baking time 😉. Who needs sleep?
On the bright side, it's a carrot cake, so it counts as one of my five a day 😂
I too struggle with the meals, I am left alone. I wouldn't cook only ready meals.
This the thing that all the people like the DWP, politicians and especially dieticians miss. As you say cooking for lots of people not so much of a problem but when it just you, quite hard. We just aren't geared up to single person eating in the UK especially if you have some limitaitons.
We don't have the same cafe culture as the rest of the world, where if you want a meal, you could get something cheap in a small cafe. Most importantly going by yourself is quite normal so people tend to make acquaintances and chat more easily.
In the UK we have so many lonely people from teenagers to pensioners and the days of a cheap meal are limited to a few pub chains whom will do a meal and a drink for under £5. Hence, we have the obesity issues in the UK with people eating convenience food and snacks on the couch and don't even get the walk to a cafe.
I couldn't cook for any where near the numbers I used to.
I think the last meal I cooked was about three years ago, that was for some relatives, and you guessed it, war zone. Luckily they just started clearing the mess for me.
That took months to organise.
At the assessment if you cook one meal, they assume that you are ok. They don't account for the planning, and the mental effort required. In fact if I remember right if you can turn the oven on, let alone put something in the oven, you are considered able to cook.
I can remember the assessor just continually asking, why I couldn't do x, y, z. If I had the answer, perhaps I wouldn't have a problem.
The assessor made a point of the fact my walking sticks were not NHS issue, what the heck does that matter.
Apparently I was desheveled and aromatic at the assessment. In other words I was scruffy, and my hygiene wasn't great. It doesn't help being double incontinent. But apparently I could take good care of myself. I thought I was relatively well dressed and clean, but obviously not, so how can the conclude that I can I could take good care?
One word, Atos! Luckily I had just been assessed by a ministry of health Dr which completely contradicted Atos.
In the early 80's I used to work in a place where there was only about 10 of us and we all lived fairly close together. Saturdays used to be at local pub then back to someone's house.
The men used to congregate in the kitchen and with the beer munchies start cooking. Several blokes, many beers and all trying to cook or contribute to the ingredients it surprising no body was killed let alone poisoned !
Hang on Sos .....You're making extra work for yourself. I had a craze on Pot Noodles when I was working but I'm sure they don't need microwaving. Just pour on boiling water to the first level - add the soy sauce (I always added extra sauce and a few frozen peas) - stir then add more boiling water as level drops. No stabbing or cooking required !
I'm presently eating avocado on toast with salt & white pepper---- simples !🤗 x
Oh that need for an instant supper when brain fag is at its worst...
I've recently stumbled across a partial solution with this craze for batch cooking. In principle, I'm cooking meals for four and freezing them individually when I'm feeling ok, to eat in the evenings when I'm not. I stumbled upon it after I broke my finger on my right hand a few weeks ago - and luckily had the Batch Lady recipe book out from the library - because a lot of the recipes use ready chopped veg (I couldn't prep veg with my right hand for a while - and using my left was positively dangerous).
The batch lady does propose cooking several meals at a time though - that so wasn't going to work 🤣
Anyway I suddenly realised I was eating better than usual, because I wasn't just grabbing at things from the fridge - and cooking them badly in the evenings. It was a pleasant surprise!
(Though being able to follow a new recipe has been a relatively new development fir me - quite thrilled how much I've improved on that front over the last year - I think some of it is a welcome spin-off from lockdown, because I'm not so fatigued ).
There was quite a bit about this in the Leon cookbook a few years back. Make a basic tomato sauce and then over the following days use it for pasta, chili etc.
One thing I am constantly amazed is how our grandparents and the previous generations many things right without knowing why - eat your greens, apple a day, fish for brains, cod liver oil when you are poorly eat chicken soup and fruit.
The problem for us is when we are at our lowest point, getting these is one of the most difficult things.
Yes - what I hadn't twigged before looking at these batch cooking books though is that it's perfectly feasible to make a double batch of sauce and pasta, and just freeze the pasta in the sauce for an emergency supper another day.
Let's face it, sometimes even boiling pasta can feel like a big deal. The times when you can hardly move really are a pain when you need to get something to eat.
Earlier on particularly I was eating really late in the evening, because I needed to rest enough before I could cook - the physio coaching me on fatigue said to minimally grab something like a cereal bar to sit down with, to reduce the time to recover from the fatigue slump. Does seem to work. The neuropsychologist also worked out with me that taking a rest break at around 5pm means I've got some stamina for supper - and I'm not just doing that staring at the fridge thing - and thinking 'does not compute' ....
I think the only thing that gets me through a lot of the time, was that I already had a range of quick 'real' food for when I fell off the commuter train at night - particularly if there were problems on the line, and I got home really late. Hence the scrambled egg in a cup in the microwave routine... and I used to make a large stew/casserole with a lot of root veg, meat and dumplings, on a weekend and freeze it direct into individual freezer proof soup bowls - so I could microwave them straight from frozen when I got in if I needed.
My other go to "recipe" is the chop and chuck salad..... Usually just look in the fridge and chop whatever is reasonable for a salad :spinach,chickpeas beetroot, tomatoes, cucumber, sweet corn, hard boiled egg, olives,walnuts, apple, carrot, spring onions, mango, hummus..... Add anything else you have leftover.... Rice, pasta, cold potatoes, piece of cheese...... (I'm vegetarian so no meat or fish in my fridge).Add a drizzle of mayo, olive oil or dressing.
People are sometimes genuinely jealous of my lunch at work (when we went out to work)
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