Easy Meals For Visits

December 21, 2019 8:53 AM

I stay with my sister for a few days to a week every month or two when visiting home. I really struggle with what to make to eat. We go out to eat, or have family get togethers but I also do lots of individual meals and I like to save money by doing some cooking. I like to have one or two simple recipes to plan for but I'm feeling bored.

Things to know:
-my sister eats (mostly) keto and I don't so if using sugar or flour I need to bring my own or buy
-No dietary restrictions for me or things I can't bring to her place
-Like most cuisines but don't care for chinese. Fine with both meat and vegetarian meals.
-Avid cook but I like to keep things simple away from my own kitchen
-Limited small appliances and specialty equipment at her place and I don't want to bring any with me (she has a blender, microwave, pizza stone, decent knives)
-Want stuff that reheats well/good leftovers

I know I can just buy frozen meals and do sometimes but prefer to do some cooking. Also growing tired of rice/grain bowls. That's what I usually eat on my visits.

posted by Aranquis to Food & Drink (4 answers total)

I like sheetpan dinners for quick easy meals. Buy veggies you like (I like any combo of potato, sweet potato, broccoli, brussels sprouts, cauliflower, carrots, mushrooms, bell peppers, onions). Chop them small, toss with oil, salt, pepper, and any sort of additional seasoning (garlic powder, onion powder, any spice blend). Spread those out on a sheetpan and roast at 400 until mostly done. Slice the sausage in half lengthwise, and place it cut side down on the pan. Roast for another 5 minute until it's heated through.

I think this would be a keto-friendly meal if you want to share with your sister. Or it makes enough for leftovers the next day.

Another easy recipe: Buy a chunk of smoked salmon and a bag of salad greens. Chop the salmon into small chunks and add to the salad. Add a creamy caesar dressing or another dressing of your choice. Add any sort of salad toppings: carrots, cheese, nuts, dried cranberries, croutons. (For multiple meals, combine all the salad ingredients and only dress the portion you'll eat today.)

For both of these, if there's a grocery store nearby that has a salad bar, it's an easy way to get all your veggies (and more of a variety) with less waste.

Also, pouches of Indian food - just heat them up and add to a bowl of rice. Add naan if desired.

Trader Joe's has a good selection of both shelf-stable and frozen foods that are mostly heat-and-eat. Many are Asian-influenced flavors, but some are not.

Are you driving to your sister's? When you're cooking at home, you can freeze extra portions into single servings. Bring those with you and just defrost and eat at your sisters. This would work great for soup or chili - maybe add a salad to round out the meal.
posted by hydra77 at 10:34 AM on December 21, 2019 [4 favorites]

Assuming that the prepared meals you buy represent what you want to eat, then those are the dishes you want to make.

Think about a step-by-step approach. Instead of buying prepared meals, try buying prepared ingredients. For example, instead of an oven-ready pizza, you could get a refrigerated pizza crust (Yeah, Pillsbury), a jar of marinara sauce and some cheese. For a dish that requires cooked chicken (chicken salad, chicken soup), buy a rotisserie chicken.
posted by SemiSalt at 12:13 PM on December 21, 2019 [1 favorite]

If you have time to roast a chicken, it's really easy and once it's in the oven you can basically ignore it until it's done.

1 chicken, whole.
1 medium to large size onion, cut into chunks
1 lemon, in chunks. Two if you have small lemons.
Six slices of bacon
Some kind of fat - bacon grease, olive oil, coconut oil, some kind of paleo-approved fat is fine. Ghee. Butter. Whatever.
Salt, pepper.

I do mine in a dutch oven in the oven at 425. You can use whatever roasting/baking dish. Doesn't matter, but I love my dutch oven for this.

So 425, take your bird and make sure there aren't gizzards in it. Rub a couple table spoons of butter all over it along with salt and pepper. Stuff it with the onion and lemon. Spray your baking dish / tin foil/whatever, put the bird in. Nestle remaining onion and lemon around bird. If you are feeling froggy squeeze a little lemon juice on it. Take your bacon and lay it over the breast (which will be facing up) in a trellis pattern (some horizontal, some vertical) throw the bird in there for 20 minutes per pound (usually my birds need about 1.5 hours).
posted by Medieval Maven at 1:42 PM on December 21, 2019 [1 favorite]

Are these meals for yourself only or to share? If sharing, with how many people?
posted by CiaoMela at 7:05 AM on December 23, 2019