commodorified | Observation

There is nothing much wrong - and quite a lot right - with the occasional meal of Cup-of-Soup, or other insta-noodle concoctions, especially late at night when one is Poorly.

If you add 1/4 C frozen peas or similar to the mix and give the results 1 minute in the microwave the nutritional situation improves further, with nearly no extra effort. Some people also swear by the Egg Drop approach, and while I've never been able to get that to work for me in a cup, I will not deny its basic soundness.

Following this up with a large quartered apple covered with a half cup of blueberries and cooked on high for 3 minutes puts you well into the highly nutritious with a side of luxury class of insta-meal, as far as I'm concerned.

Somewhere buried in all the stuff under this tag - originally made for some friends with their first apartments and no real experience feeding themselves on a daily basis - is something resembling a philosophy of food, though I remain uncertain as to what it might be.

It strikes me as mildly significant that a lot of the meals I get very excited about and spend a whole day making are tasty and fancy but not the sort of thing you'd want to try to live on, wheras with the 5 minutes or less ones, I'm much more focussed on getting a lot of fruits and veggies in unfussed condition in there while making the results comforting and appealing. But then, that tends to be when I'm noticing the need of them the most, and is probably for the best.

It also strikes me that once you know how to make some basic dishes, in this case chicken soup, if you keep a fairly well-stocked[1] kitchen you can pretty much design your soup based with a fair degree of exactness on how many minutes you want to spend on it.

[1] Mind you, I was raised by people who lived through two World Wars, the Depression, several bouts of Locally Poor Economic Conditions, and a number of natural disasters of the No Electricity For A Week kind. My definition of "well-stocked kitchen" is many people's definition of Worryingly Close To Hoarding, i.e. I think that at any given time I could keep us in nutritionally balanced meals for about three months without warning and without buying anything, if I had to.

Crossposts: http://commodorified.livejournal.com/397114.html

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

From:

jumpuphigh

I got a ton of rice noodles packets that had flavorings included. Adding a heaping handful of pre-shredded cabbage was, for me, a great solution to the "this is not a balanced meal at all" dilemma.

From:

commodorified

*nods* That works. Whatever one has, and therefore presumably likes, works, really.

From:

jumpuphigh

Another thing I do, in the "I'm cooking - but not really" pattern, is buy packages of lavosh bread and stick it in the freezer. They become my "pizza crust" and then I just pile whatever I have on them and bake them for a quick and tasty meal. I keep telling myself that I'll get some premade dough from a pizzeria and stick it in the freezer instead but as of yet, that's been too much to handle. I used other types of breads as well on occasion, like bagels or English muffins.

From:

tei

As a person, as you say, with my first apartment and no real experience feeding myself on a daily basis, I would just like to here mention my appreciation for the "cooking for people who don't" tag.

From:

commodorified

I am delighted to be of help; I should go back and tag the lj side entries from before tagging and possibly import them to here.

Go forth and cook, sticking an enquiring fork into everything that interests you as you go :)

From:

tei

:D I will do that with my enquiring fork!

From:

ranunculus

One thing that I do is to purchase whole chickens wash and stick them in a pan in the oven at 375 or 400 degrees for about an hour or hour and 20 minutes. If you have an "instant" read thermometer you can stick it in the chicken in a really thick part and see if the chicken is up to 160 degrees F (do NOT leave an instant read thermometer in the oven). Once the chicken is cooked it is good for a meal of roast chicken. Pull the rest of the meat off the carcass and store it in small containers in the freezer. Then you have an ingredient that can go into any fast meal. If you are adventurous you can throw the bones in a pot with onions, celery and carrots and cook for a while to make soup base (divide that up into meal sized portions and freeze too). Otherwise discard the the bones.

Yup, this takes a little while to prepare, but then you are set with meat for a while. I have a big freezer so I cook two chickens at a time.

From:

tei

I don't eat much meat, but the next time I feel like chicken I will definitely try his, thank you!

From:

commodorified

The cook-cube-and-freeze trick is very good for the occasional omnivore, as it lets you get decent prices on your meat of choice by buying bulk.

For stock a good quality low salt organice etc chicken broth in a tetra pack may suit you better if you don't have much call for whole roasted birds. I do the carcass thing, but I cook for groups.

You cam split a one litre box of broth - veg or chicken or whatever - into 4 or so ziploc-y containers for freezing, too. This = the basis of soup for one.

From:

commodorified

Also, do you mean you eat meat rarely, or in small doses? I do a fair number of 'meat as a flavouring' meals, fewer meatless ones, but most of what I post can be made meatless fairly simply; if you see something you fancy and want conversion advice drop me a comment, or if it's a bean dish try 1) veggie broth 2) dried mushrooms, chopped small 3) debydrated veggie flakes 4) all three in place of the meat, making sure also to add a bit of some kind if good fat to carry the flavours; a tablespoon of olive or other tasty oil will do nicely in a meal for one and your brains and nails and hair will thank you, too :)

Dried mushrooms of both Asian and European types, chopped small and sometimes powdered, are my best friend ever for making veg bean meals taste as complex as ones with some meat in them do without adding salt, etc.

Edited Date: 2011-11-20 05:24 am (UTC)

From:

ranunculus

A vegetarian dish that I like is:
For one person chop up about 1/4 of a head of cabbage. Pieces can be as large as 2 to inches square or even a little more. This dish keeps well in the refrigerator (not the freezer) so you could make extra.
Put a little oil (1 to 2 tablespoons) in a big frying pan (or any largish pan, helps if it has a heavy bottom). I like to use olive oil, but you could use safflower or any other highish heat oil. Corn oil or butter might burn.

Heat the oil and sprinkle in some mustard seed. Yeah, I know, exotic ingredient. I don't measure, for one person I'd use 1 about a teaspoon.
Add a pinch of Cumin seed if you have it.
Let the seeds sizzle for a minute. They might pop like popcorn. This is ok but only cook it for about 30 seconds at that high a heat.
Throw in the chopped cabbage.
Drizzle a little water over it the object is to get the surface of the pan a little wet so the cabbage can steam. If you want to be fancy use white wine.
Turn down the heat to medium, you want it to cook gently and not burn.
Salt and pepper to taste.
Cover and simmer for 15 minutes or until the cabbage is cooked through. Tough old cabbage might take an extra few minutes. The cooking will make the cabbage sweet. Serve. I often throw cooked chicken into this dish to make quite a hearty meal. You could use tofu or potatoes or...
Try a squeeze of lemon or lime over it as a change, and/or a little dry or fresh grated ginger.

From:

xinef

Oops, didn't notice that I wasn't logged in.

I love the packets of noodly soups, and often add frozen veg (usually peas) or if I'm cooking on the stove, an egg. However, be warned, virtually all of them are REALLY REALLY loaded with salt.

From:

commodorified

Well, this is why none of them are regular parts of the diet, though if I am honest I probably add enough salt to my bowl when I make soup from scratch that it makes little difference or none.

From:

redbird

That's what I was going to say, not even from a nutritional viewpoint but just that as packaged, they always tasted too salty for me. But I suspect adding peas or such would help with that, too.

From:

ranunculus

I agree that diluting the salt by adding bulk is good, even though it doesn't actually -reduce- the salt...
My nit-pick with those packets is that they are loaded with the Monosodium Glutimate form of salt. Eating a lot of that is a good way to make your body allergic to it, especially if there is any predisposition to allergy.

I love to suggest that people look at labels and choose foods with the fewest ingredients.

From:

commodorified

In Canada it is becoming rarer in prepared food each year, actually.

I plead guilty to actually owning a shaker of msg, like my mother and grandmother before me, though at current use-rates I expect that the one I bought 5 years ago will last out my cooking career.

From:

ranunculus

I can understand why people use it - it does give a specific taste.
Most bottled sauces here have some MSG content, but as you say, more and more companies are phasing it out.
Took me a long time to realize that I'm moderately allergic to it. Enough so that the little packets that come with Rammen Noodles are something I avoid at all costs. It has improved my cooking no end!

From:

commodorified

Yeah; it's also a tenderizer. I keep it for meat I am about to broil and for the rescue of the odd dish which ten minutes before the Hordes appear suddenly turns out to taste of boiled sock. As nobody in my family is allergic and we mostly eat quite carefully, I have no shame of this. :) It's loading everything with it and so getting by on mediocre ingredients and indifferent preparation that's disastrous, IMO. (Mind, if you're dead broke or in crisis and mediocre is what you can get... As MFK Fisher says of the stuff in 'How To Cook A Wolf', it does give a fleeting appeal to what must, because you can get no better, be choked down somehow if people are to stay healthy.)

From:

ranunculus

Laugh: some meal that turns out to taste like boiled socks.
That SO describes a meal I made last week that had perfectly fine ingredients!

I have a fairly comprehensive herb selection for seasoning, and then I look at my use patterns and realize that I use the same 8 things all the time (it would be 4 except that I now make my own curry mix, it's easy and way nicer than the store bought ones - most of the time).

From:

commodorified

Having grown up with dangerously *low* BP, and in a family of gleefully corner-cutting cooks and heavy smokers to boot, I am a terrible salt fiend. Trying to reform, now, but still. I make a point of 'undersalting' nearly everything and adding some if I want it so that my friends and family don't suffer.

From:

redbird

That makes a lot of sense.

I am somewhat similar with ginger and black pepper, though there's no health issue there as far as I know, just that other people will find my cooking too ginger and/or peppery if I'm not careful.

From:

tree_and_leaf

What is the egg drop approach? (Dumb question is dumb).

From:

redbird

If it's the one I've used, you take a raw egg, beat it lightly in a bowl, pour it into the soup, stir. You get lots of long, thin bits of cooked egg.

From:

tree_and_leaf

Ah, I see! A new one on me.

From:

ironed_orchid

I just crack an egg into the mostly cooked noodles and water, which ends up being a poached egg.

From:

commodorified

See, if I'm feeling rough I can't be doing with that much yolk in one lump; I'll do without and have the egg the next day as a fried egg sandwich.

From:

zillah975

I am buying Cup-Of-Soup, apples, and blueberries the next chance I get. This sounds delicious and easy - my two favorite things!

From:

amorettea

Since my husband and I are on low sodium diets, those cup o' anything are out these days but when we were young, poor and had no health issues, we lived on a cup o' something with a handful or two of veg thrown in.

I have a deep freezer, a walk-in pantry and live in a cold, rural climate. EVERYONE I know stocks up for blizzards.

From:

commodorified

Low-salt or no-salt commercial broth, frozen into individual servings (4/tetra pack, ish) serves the same basic purpose. Toss them out of the Ziploc container and into the saucepan, melt, boil, carry on with whatever noodles and fixings one desires. Can get quite posh; is still nearly instant.

From:

amorettea

My husband makes all our stock so it is no salt. It really never occurred to me, though, to get JUST the noodles and make our own version. Weird how the mind works. Or doesn't work, in this case.

From:

commodorified

Serious laziness requires a certain level of committment that I find most people lack :)

I think also when one has home-made stock it seems vaguely sacreligious to do anything 'instanty' with it; but it's not any less healthy than slow soups, it may even be moreso due to the quick cooking, and it's damned handy in cold season, let me tell you what :)

From:

wordweaverlynn

I come from the same school of food availability. Happiness is a full pantry.

From:

ranunculus

Me too. Especially if a lot of it is home canned!

From:

ironed_orchid

Egg drop and peas are my usual additions. Sometimes tofu and broccoli, depending on what I have in the fridge at the time.

From:

maevele

I've found that if I don't have enough food on hand to keep the whole clan fed for at least 2-3 weeks I feel food insecure. admittedly, by week 2.5 we'd be eating rice and creamed corn, but we'd still be eating.