I've seen people making effectively their own pot noodles by putting stuff in a jar and adding water
So you basically start with your broth, then noodles, then veg and protein. Finally you make it to eat by adding hot water and letting sit for 5 minutes or adding cold, shaking it, and then microwaving it (without the lid)
The idea is to prep it earlier in the day and have it for lunch
Well I don't have big enough jars for that and also that seems difficult to handle once hot
BUT I have these cup/mug things with handles and lids that can go in the microwave that are nice and big
So I've prepped one of those for lunch time and put it in the fridge
Hopefully it works because it's relatively low effort (especially if the frozen veg works. I saw one lady use frozen and that's easier for me) and a lot more healthy then pre bought and less packaging waste
Okay so I had it for lunch and I needed to mircowave it an extra minute but it worked really well!
It was tastier then the store bought and it was actually really easy to make and set up
What I did was fill up the container in this order but you can do whatever you like. This is hardly an exact recipe:
Broth:
Miso paste - 1 tsp-ish
Garlic paste - 1 tsp-ish
Ginger - 1 heaping tsp
Chili - 1/8 tsp because I am white
Sriracha seasoning - 1 tsp
Soy sauce - measure with your heart
Sesame oil - measure with your heart
Noodles:
Dry rice or egg Noodles - 1 bundle
(I did pad Thai noodles because they were on sale but they worked and I really like pad Thai noodles anyway)
Veg:
Frozen stir fry mix veg - roughly 1/2 cup? I didn't really measure. I just did what seemed enough
Protein:
Two pieces of thick sliced deli chicken tore up into pieces
I'll probably use tofu or left over chicken from dinner next time but this surprisingly effective
Now as I said I only saw people making this in like mason jars and that looked kinda inconvenient to me
1. Breakable
2. Heavy
3. Would get really hot
And for my disabled self that didn't seem great.
But lucky for me I have a ton of these sistema microwavable mugs:
You can get off brand ones too but they last a long time and can be frozen or microwaved. This isn't an ad just something I use a lot and would recommend
They're quite big, light weight, and they got a little steam spout in the lid
Anyway that's what I made mine in and it really worked well
Last update
I prepped one last night for today because I only had frozen veg I wasn't sure how it would do which was a good idea because fatigue hit me hard this morning and I've been really struggling pain wise
Turns out it worked great!
Saying that I let it sit for 5 minutes after pouring in the boiled water from the kettle and mixing and then mixed again and ended microwaving it for two minutes to get it perfect
But! It was relatively quick and it was easy!
The tofu I used today fell apart a bit despite being extra firm but that's ok and I did expect it but if it bothers you keep it in mind
Anyway 10/10 would recommend
Especially if you can get someone to help you prep it
It was a lot more satisfying then store bought pot noodles and more filling and the effort really wasn't much more when it came time to actually sit down and eat
Most effort is in the prep and even then the most difficult part was prepping the protein. And if you have prepared protein it would probably go even faster. I just can't find a really easy protein that I like. I thought of getting like diced sandwich chicken from the lunch meat aisle but I personally don't find that very appetising and I actually quite like the tofu and tofu isn't that difficult to prep compared to other options
Anyway I just wanted to give a thorough review of how easy this is for someone dealing with chronic pain and fatigue and I would say it's a very good low effort food
Especially if you can get help with the prep