Dinner Ideas Needed.. Temporarily have no cooker!

[Dubchick81]

Hi all... I need you help.. I need meal ideas that are yumtastic, low syn, and can be cooked without a cooker...
I have the use of George Foreman, a halogen oven, a microwave and a slow cooker.. So its not as awful as it sounds...

For those who I've not chatted to before, myself and my BF bought a house in December.. Its an old house (built in the 50/60's) and in need of some renovation.. Main one being the current kitchen extension needs to be pulled down (it was built badly and is pulled away from the house and in a bad state of repair) and rebuilt.. Work begins on Monday so I'm without a proper kitchen for a few weeks.. But determined to not use it as an excuse to eat badly and gain back any weight I've lost.. I am determined to reach goal in the first half of this year so I would appreciate any meal ideas...

I can cook most meals with what I've got, but its the rice/pasta to go with them.. There's only so many ways to have a potato before I get fed up!! And I enjoy rice and pasta so don't want to go without if I dont have to...

Thanks in advance for you help/ideas

 

[breeza]

Hi

What about the microwaveable pouches of rice and pasta? I'm not sure of syn values but they are quite low.

 

[Happy Holidays]

I've cooked rice in the microwave before and the pasta sauce in a packet which works out ok.

 

[Dubchick81]

I can't eat white rice/pasta n as far asi kno they don't do wholemeal pasta pouches.
Hav just learned how to do rice in microwave

 

[bc201]

I have a plastic rice /steamer for the microwave I use it a lot for pasta and rice as well as veg it was less than £5 and it's also very useful to save leftover portions of rice and curry or pasta in the fridge ready to warm up the next day! Definitely a good buy not something that sits in the cupboard

 

[bilsat]

Make a chilli con carni in the slow cooker! have you looked in the slow cooker section on this forum? lots there.
We have one of those 1 ring gas burners with replaceable gas cylinders, they only cost around £10-00 and the gas is about £1-00 a can, usually sold in packs of 4, they burn for over 1hr on full heat so usually last for several meals.......
One word of advice! However many sockets you think you will need in the kitchen, think again and double it! It's a lot easier when it's being built then adding later. In our kitchen there is one twin socket every 12" apart around all the walls and several below the work surface for appliances, and we sometimes run out!
(follow my link for my recipes, Index on page 60)
Pete

 

[Dubchick81]

Make a chilli con carni in the slow cooker! have you looked in the slow cooker section on this forum? lots there.
We have one of those 1 ring gas burners with replaceable gas cylinders, they only cost around £10-00 and the gas is about £1-00 a can, usually sold in packs of 4, they burn for over 1hr on full heat so usually last for several meals.......
One word of advice! However many sockets you think you will need in the kitchen, think again and double it! It's a lot easier when it's being built then adding later. In our kitchen there is one twin socket every 12" apart around all the walls and several below the work surface for appliances, and we sometimes run out!
(follow my link for my recipes, Index on page 60)
Pete

Thanks Pete.. We were going to get one of those 1 ring burners but I thought they'd be rubbish?? My Dad used to have lotz of them as we went camping allot..
For cooking the main part of meals I think I'm covered.. Its my rice n pasta i'm worried about.. Got my tips for cooking rice in the microwave.. So now just pasta I need to learn!! I can't do packet pasta as as far I've seen (and yes I've been looking!) they only do white pasta in the pouches and I can't eat white carbs
Do you brown your mince before putting into the slow cooker Pete? I usually would.. But without a ring burner.......
Have you ever used (can't believe i'm considering this!!) frozen mince??

BC201 would you mind posting a pic of your rice/steamer?? I think I may have one.. But there was no mention of rice on the box so just wana be sure its the same thing before I go burning the house down.. lol

 

[bilsat]

Hi There.
I have sometimes browned the meat before cooking in a slow cooker, other times I haven't, it doesn't seem to matter when you are cooking for several hours!
When I buy my extra lean beef it's when there are offers in the supermarket, "3 for £10-00" , then I split the packages into 2 making 6 portions, which I bag up and freeze! So I do use "frozen meat"!
I usually remove the day before I need it and leave in the fridge, it's ready to cook then.....
This is a pic of the type of Gas cooker I have, last year I cooked 115 pancakes on one over 4 hours and still had gas left in the first canister!


Pete....

 

[bilsat]

I think Lakeland do microwave dishes for all sorts of food, there must be a rice cooker! I have a small microwave saucepan that's great for veg or doing baked beans, it has a lid on it to stop any splashed and it has slots in the lid so that you can turn it upside down to drain any water from it.