My "Test" Kitchen
I continue to live with significant constraints on my ability to cook food. A stove is on order. Should be here any year now.
So far, cold prep ramen has proven to be the only reliable means to make myself a satisfactory meal without having to cook or get takeout. I sometimes eat it alone or, more often, as the main course supplemented with other foods.
I also will have cheese with crackers or potato chips sometimes as another cold prep main dish or in addition to cold prep ramen. I'm pleasantly surprised that I remain happy to eat cold prep ramen regularly and simply changing up what additions I use is sufficient to keep me from getting tired of it.
Veggies and other additions I use regularly:
I find that variety is less important than freshness and quality, so I try to buy one or two veggies at a time and use them up quickly while they are fresh rather than have a lot of different options on hand at one time only to see some go bad and end up in the trash.
I continue to look for some means -- other than potato chips and corn chips -- to have a non-wheat carb option as a main dish, such as rice, potatoes or corn. So far, I have found that "instant" rice dishes and ramen options that contain rice do not work well as cold prep options. The rice remains too hard and once I reacted badly to some shelf stable rice thing I bought and ended up throwing out part of it rather than eat it all.
I am willing to eat potatoes raw and have done some of that at times, however I'm not really feeling like that is a good basis for a cold prep meal. I can't imagine how I might use that as the basis, though I admit I haven't really tried all that hard either.
I do keep a wheat-based flat bread on hand regularly and sometimes eat it cold with steak. I'm not that fond of it though when eaten cold and if I'm eating it with steak, it means we are cooking steak, so it's not really a cold prep meal. I much prefer this flatbread as the basis for quesadillas and cooking quesadillas isn't always a viable option.
Prepared refrigerated salads using various types of lettuce and other ingredients was a staple of my diet for some months at one point. I only found ONE salad style I really like a LOT, a variety of Waldorf salad under two different brands, both of which have a spring mix of lettuce, walnuts, some fruity salad dressing and feta cheese with various other ingredients, depending on the brand.
More recently, I am okay with a salad option that uses iceberg lettuce, bacon and parmesan cheese BUT I usually throw out the chicken and never eat the dressing, which bothers me so I'm not thrilled with recommending it. I actually am willing to eat ALL of the ingredients of both Waldorf-style salads which is one reason I like them.
So far, cold prep ramen has proven to be the only reliable means to make myself a satisfactory meal without having to cook or get takeout. I sometimes eat it alone or, more often, as the main course supplemented with other foods.
I also will have cheese with crackers or potato chips sometimes as another cold prep main dish or in addition to cold prep ramen. I'm pleasantly surprised that I remain happy to eat cold prep ramen regularly and simply changing up what additions I use is sufficient to keep me from getting tired of it.
Veggies and other additions I use regularly:
- Broccoli with shredded carrots and beef jerky.
- Broccoli, shredded carrots or beef jerky alone.
- Mirepoix mix alone or with snow peas.
- Diced celery and onions, with or without snow peas.
- Snow peas alone.
- Crackers with everything or after there is nothing but broth left and I'm still hungry.
I find that variety is less important than freshness and quality, so I try to buy one or two veggies at a time and use them up quickly while they are fresh rather than have a lot of different options on hand at one time only to see some go bad and end up in the trash.
I continue to look for some means -- other than potato chips and corn chips -- to have a non-wheat carb option as a main dish, such as rice, potatoes or corn. So far, I have found that "instant" rice dishes and ramen options that contain rice do not work well as cold prep options. The rice remains too hard and once I reacted badly to some shelf stable rice thing I bought and ended up throwing out part of it rather than eat it all.
I am willing to eat potatoes raw and have done some of that at times, however I'm not really feeling like that is a good basis for a cold prep meal. I can't imagine how I might use that as the basis, though I admit I haven't really tried all that hard either.
I do keep a wheat-based flat bread on hand regularly and sometimes eat it cold with steak. I'm not that fond of it though when eaten cold and if I'm eating it with steak, it means we are cooking steak, so it's not really a cold prep meal. I much prefer this flatbread as the basis for quesadillas and cooking quesadillas isn't always a viable option.
Prepared refrigerated salads using various types of lettuce and other ingredients was a staple of my diet for some months at one point. I only found ONE salad style I really like a LOT, a variety of Waldorf salad under two different brands, both of which have a spring mix of lettuce, walnuts, some fruity salad dressing and feta cheese with various other ingredients, depending on the brand.
More recently, I am okay with a salad option that uses iceberg lettuce, bacon and parmesan cheese BUT I usually throw out the chicken and never eat the dressing, which bothers me so I'm not thrilled with recommending it. I actually am willing to eat ALL of the ingredients of both Waldorf-style salads which is one reason I like them.