@Misfit Toy - I can't cut things much either, but we buy pre-chopped meats and little bags of cut vegetables so I can slowly prepare safe meals in the slow-cooker over the course of the afternoon and evening. Pre-chopped does cost more, but not much ... and it's always cheaper than getting delivery
Potatoes are also perfect for slow cookers. We buy little ones that could go in whole, or I slice them once or twice to make them bite sized. Dutch grocery stores also sell bite-sized chunks of peeled potatoes, which could work even better if I'm not up to washing normal potatoes, but those little naked potato balls still creep me out too much.
Noodles work well, and I often throw in gluten free corn-based noodles half an hour before dinner, or skinny rice noodles 15 minutes before dinner. Rice should always be cooked separately - I've experimented with rice in the slow-cooker at great length, and the results were always between "barely edible" and "complete disaster".
I usually use fatty canned coconut milk as the liquid, though sometimes tomato sauce, beer, wine, or even plain water. Then I add extra water if I'll be throwing in noodles later, and dried spices to recreate whichever cuisine works with the ingredients I have. Then I rest for an hour or two while that's heating up, and add meats, then rest another hour, then faster-cooking veggies and noodles. Then another half hour of rest and dinner's ready! Everything can move at my pace, which makes it a lot easier, even when I'm in pretty bad shape.
So pre-chopped foods and a slow-cooker have basically been a godsend for us. We were eating delivered food 5-6 nights per week before we got it. My fiance didn't really understand what it was, and that slowed us down getting one, but now he loves it I also usually cook enough that I'll have left overs for a day or two ... and if you're just cooking for yourself, it might be pretty easy to store up enough left overs that you don't need to cook every night, and have something easy to defrost or nuke when too sick to cook.
Some of my regular meals:
Anyhow, it's basically the same process every night, which makes it easier to remember what to do, and it works extremely well as a paced activity. Plus ... variety! But it also makes it easy to avoid any foods or additives I don't want to be eating currently, since I have several starches and many types of veggie mixes or other pre-chopped veggies to choose from.
Potatoes are also perfect for slow cookers. We buy little ones that could go in whole, or I slice them once or twice to make them bite sized. Dutch grocery stores also sell bite-sized chunks of peeled potatoes, which could work even better if I'm not up to washing normal potatoes, but those little naked potato balls still creep me out too much.
Noodles work well, and I often throw in gluten free corn-based noodles half an hour before dinner, or skinny rice noodles 15 minutes before dinner. Rice should always be cooked separately - I've experimented with rice in the slow-cooker at great length, and the results were always between "barely edible" and "complete disaster".
I usually use fatty canned coconut milk as the liquid, though sometimes tomato sauce, beer, wine, or even plain water. Then I add extra water if I'll be throwing in noodles later, and dried spices to recreate whichever cuisine works with the ingredients I have. Then I rest for an hour or two while that's heating up, and add meats, then rest another hour, then faster-cooking veggies and noodles. Then another half hour of rest and dinner's ready! Everything can move at my pace, which makes it a lot easier, even when I'm in pretty bad shape.
So pre-chopped foods and a slow-cooker have basically been a godsend for us. We were eating delivered food 5-6 nights per week before we got it. My fiance didn't really understand what it was, and that slowed us down getting one, but now he loves it I also usually cook enough that I'll have left overs for a day or two ... and if you're just cooking for yourself, it might be pretty easy to store up enough left overs that you don't need to cook every night, and have something easy to defrost or nuke when too sick to cook.
Some of my regular meals:
- Seafood chowder (coconut milk, 2-3 types of seafood, japanese veggie mix with funky mushrooms, bacon, potatoes, herbs)
- Italian white sauce (coconut milk, extra garlic, chicken, noodles, italian veggie mix, basil, pepper)
- Italian red sauce (tomato sauce, strong italian spices, olives, italian veggie mix, noodles, beef)
- Stroganoff (coconut milk, tiny can of tomato paste, marjoram, onions, garlic, noodles, veggies)
- Brothy soup (water, bay leaves, yellow curry powder, ginger, garlic, celery, french parsely, slow-cooking beef, noodles or potatoes, any vegetables)
- Chicken noodle soup (coconut milk, water, same spices from Brothy soup, chicken, any vegetables, noodles)
- Thai curry (coconut milk, curry paste, additional spices to strengthen the curry paste, thai veggie mix or spinach, any meat, fish sauce, rice cooked separately, optional peanut butter)
- French onion soup (bottle of sweet beer with high % of alcohol, slow-cooking beef, thyme + other herbs, onions, noodles or potatoes or bread broiled with grated gruyere)
- Mac & Cheese (coconut milk, curry paste, pepper, chicken, grated cheese, onions, leeks, paprika)
Anyhow, it's basically the same process every night, which makes it easier to remember what to do, and it works extremely well as a paced activity. Plus ... variety! But it also makes it easy to avoid any foods or additives I don't want to be eating currently, since I have several starches and many types of veggie mixes or other pre-chopped veggies to choose from.