Mastodawn

Kalvo Apr 17, 2024

Need help with cheap simple meals without a microwave

Need help with cheap simple meals without a microwave - lemm.ee

Hello. My microwave died in spectacular fashion today. It was the lifeblood of my kitchen. I’ve had it so long I’ve forgotten how to cook without one. And I can’t afford to buy a new one. I was going to post in eatcheapandhealthy but that place looks as dead as my microwave. I don’t know what I’m going to do. Jamie Oliver often went on about cheap recipes… that required 30 ingredients and a bunch of equipment I don’t have. These are not helpful. I need recipes that are cheap to shop for, cheap on electricity usage, easy to prepare with limited equipment, and it would be a bonus if they are healthy and tasty. I know I’m being picky, but I don’t have much to work with. I figured this would be the community to ask because to cook well, you need to know stuff that a bad cook wouldn’t know. I hope I can get a few useful ideas. Thanks.

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GregorGizeh Apr 17, 2024

I recommend a rice cooker, they are fairly cheap and very handy. Rice is really cheap in bulk and neutral enough to work with almost any dish. With a cooker you can make quick low effort carbs (filling) to accompany whatever else you have at hand. Dump it in a pan with some veggies, heat and stir. Perhaps add an egg or two, seasoning of course. A quite healthy and cheap meal, which is also very easy to make and can be adjusted to your tastes no problem.

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BearOfaTime

Rice cookers are a waste of space and money, plus they’re largely a unitasker. For that money I could add to my general kitchen utensil collection that could be used for many things.

While I don’t fully agree with Alton Brown’s “no unitaskers in kitchen”, it’s a great starting point, especially for new cooks with few tools. Today I tolerate a few unitaskers because I already have a full complement of general purpose tools.

I can make rice in one of my pots in the same time a rice cooker takes - there’s no magic bullet, rice takes the time it takes. And for a new cook, learning to pay attention instead of offloading to a tool makes for great practice.

Simply put water and rice in a pan, turn on the heat, and set a timer. Of course, I had to figure out the heat and time, but that only took watching it a couple times.

I made some last night, while the rest of dinner was in the oven - because I saw the recipe had a 45 minute oven time, I knew that would be the perfect time to make the rice. Easy-peasy.