What do you cook/eat when you are exhausted?

gratefulbean wrote: »

Hi everyone,
My mom has Hashimoto disease, Ebstein Barr Virus, and Cushing disease, so needless to say, she struggles with energy. When she is hungry, she grabs what she can find, which is not always enough nutrition for her. For her birthday, I want to put together something for her with recipes that require very little effort or energy to make, but something she could do when she's hungry and low on energy.
So here's my question to you all... what do you cook/make when you're tired and feeling low? What kind of snacks or meals are your go-to? Do you have recipes that don't require you to stand for long?
If you could share the recipe on here or a link to it, that would be wonderful.
Thank you so much for your help!
-Kat

I'm not in your mom's shoes - I'm older (63) and hypothyroid, but properly treated for the hypo - but I batch make simple things ahead for busy or low days. I always have cooked beans/legumes in the freezer for quick soups or tacos/wraps, frozen veggies for pasta meals, mini frittatas that are zap and eat. Sometimes i pre-prep slow-cook grains like rice or quinoa and freeze, too. In the past, I've made big pans of stuff like lasagna or enchiladas, and portioned them out to individual servings in tempered glass dishes with snap-on plastic lids to freeze for future meals.

If your mom has better and worse energy moments, maybe something like this could work for her.

You're being a really thoughtful child here: Hugs to both of you!

I'm a bachelor who works 12 hour days, plus drive time, plus training, plus life...I have minimal time to cook. In fact, it's been a good while since I even used my stove. I feel I am qualified to answer this.

My day pretty much looks like this:
Breakfast: Restaurant breakfast burritos I buy in bulk 2x a week
Lunch: pre cooked deli shredded chicken, minute rice, microwave steamed broccoli (prepped Sundays and wednesdays), also a shake made with raw egg whites, carb powder, and coconut oil.
Pre-workout snacks: Beef stick, protien bar, Gatorade. Maybe a piece of fruit.
Dinner: Cold, pre-smoked salmon (just open the package), or protien pizza with a chicken crust (microwaveable), Minute rice for the carbs, maybe some raw veggies or fruit. Occasionally I have time to grill a steak or chicken, but not always.
Pre-bed feeding: protein cookie, almond milk, cheese, almonds, cold turkey, Greek yogurt, beef stick.

It's not the best and your mum obviously would need less protein but when i started working 12s 5 days a week i had to redesign my diet plan to eat without cooking...maybe some of these would help. A typical day of like I outlined above is about 3500 cals.

It's pretty much the same day in, day out.

I often use my slow cooker on a Sunday and freeze a couple of portions for days when I feel lazy and keep some steam veg/rice around as an easy side.

Some of my go to recipes would include:

• Chunky Beef Chilli (throw it all in - pack of stewing beef, chopped onion, tin of chopped tomatoes, tin of kidney beans and any leftover veg I have in the fridge) with a little fresh chilli and a teaspoon of cocoa powder. I usually double this up so I have meals for the week and meals for the freezer for "emergencies"
• Thai Green Curry (2-3 Chicken Breasts chopped up, Thai Green Curry Paste, whatever veg I have around usually some green beans, baby corn and shredded cabbage with a tin of coconut milk)
• Chicken Curry (2-3 Chicken Breasts Chopped up, Chopped Onion, Tin chopped Tomatoes, 2 Tsp Garam Masala, 1 Tsp Ground Coriander, other spices to taste and whatever veg I have around and last hour add Tin of Coconut Milk
• Roast Chicken (Chopped Potatoes on bottom of crockpot, Whole Chicken resting on top and some chopped carrots dropped around the sides.)
• Lamb Stew -(Diced Lamb, Chopped Potatoes, 1 Pint Vegetable Stock, Chopped Onion, Chopped Stew Veg, Rosemary and a slosh of red wine).

All of these can be done on high setting in around 4-5 hours or can be left on low setting (better tasting IMO) for 7-8 hours. I also use a wifi plug so that if I want to prep the day before I can pop the ceramic crockpot in the fridge overnight and then put it into the slow cooker in the morning and schedule it to cook in time for me to get home so I have something hot to eat the day of preparing it.

You can also do these on the hob in a pan for a couple of hours, but IMO it's easier with a slow cooker, particularly if your mum is easily exhausted.

Another options would be sheet bakes - Throw some marinated Chicken Legs/Steaks (Fattier cuts of meat) into the oven with various veg/potatoes with some foil over on around 150c for around 25 mins, then take the foil off and roast for a further 20 mins. I'll often make marinades of Lemon & Honey or Thai Spices & Peanut Butter. They make for tasty meals that can be refrigerated or frozen to keep for longer.

Omelette and salad
Jacket potato and cheese
Mushrooms on toast
Chicken breast pre cooked frozen peas and couscous
Pasta pesto and salad

Ready bought stir fry with pre cooked frozen prawns

I made these honey chipotle chicken tacos in the crock pot the other day and they were delicious. You can make a large batch of the seasoning mix so that she only has to add a scoop of mix, some honey and chicken to the crock pot and let it go. You can substitute paprika for the chipotle if you don't want the spice and I always use half thighs and half breasts because the thighs have more flavor. It makes a large batch of shredded chicken that can easily be frozen. We ate them as tacos for dinner and the next day my husband made a quesadilla with the chicken for lunch and I had mine like a burrito bowl with beans and instant rice. The next day I made nachos with the rest of the meat and took them to a party and they were devoured. Very versatile and easy recipe.

http://withsaltandwit.com/slow-cooker-honey-chipotle-chicken-tacos/

Not sure what your mum's restrictions all include, so a lot of these may not work, but here goes:

Quick and dirty: poach some frozen, peeled, tail-off shrimp in lemon/pepper seasoned water, and a frozen veggie (I like mine pan fried in a little light oil). Almost as quick as going through the drive thru!

I also try to make a little extra and freeze some meals (there are a few tupperware-type containers that are great for that). Then, it's simply grab it out of the freezer, pop it onto a plate, and toss in the microwave. FASTER than going through the drive-thru.

I like to keep some "snack" foods around the house too that require no prep - a few pieces of fresh fruit; some pre-chunked, cooked meat; nuts; cheeses; olives; carrot sticks; boiled eggs; hummus....you can even pre-pack these into divided containers so it's just grab a container and sit down and munch away.

Some of the pre-packed salads aren't bad either, one or two of those in the fridge are super easy to grab.

I'm lazy