The easiest best two to three days of food for one person I know of. A flexible modular recipe. This is going to sound high work at times due to how broadly I am writing this, it is not as bad as the vagueness and intentional broadness makes it sound signed a person who has frequently accidentally had sleep for dinner after being unable to make it too damn much.

Rice cooker needed.

Ingredients:

Rice (any), lentils or beans optional (one or two cans), frozen vegetable mix (any and in as much quantity as you want, I like potato, carrot, peas, and corn you like what you like)

Sauces (teriyaki sauce and kewpie mayonnaise is what I swear by because of how easy they are to manage and pour and how well they compliment the food and each other but use whatever you own and can stomach or nothing at all, extra points for one having some fat), seasonings (curry powder and salt is my standard, really the salt is enough) Oil

Additional protein (tuna, cheese, ham, chicken tendies, shredded chicken, tofu, more beans, egg, mushroom, setian, nutritional yeast, you do you, two seperate sources for the different days useful)

In to the rice cooker, put two cups rice with water in proportion, one or two cans lentils or beans if using (strain and quickly rinse them if you can, if not just pour out as much of the liquid as possible and dump), and a lot of frozen vegetable mix in whatever variety you have on hand/like. It's going to look like a lot. That's because it is. This is good. Add more vegetables. Two cups of rice makes more than you think so it's very hard to add too many vegetables to this if you're at least neutral on vegetables. Let the rice cooker cook. It's going to take a while so do whatever.

This is now a mostly complete meal if you add fat and salt, so the teriyaki and kewpie in my version. The additional protein will make it more filling and better in general, so adding a low effort one

Turn off the keep warm on the rice cooker and dump out the leftovers on a plate or something. Or not and just put the whole pot away. Leave in fridge overnight.

If you're ambitious/need variety reheat by frying with a different seasoning and secondary protein source #2 for best results. It's all already cooked so you just need to add the extras and to have it be warm. If you want to then use the fried rice in multiple meals, it reheats in the microwave better than the unfried. If you're not, reheat in the microwave with extras and enjoy that yesterday you making food for today you really helped out today you.

This provides two days of main meal food that are both very presentable and flavoursome, and are sufficiently different to each other it takes a long time to get sick of/makes it easier to feel like you're "doing well". I have had friends compliment me on how nice I am eating despite being in states that would usually leave me struggling to make myself food that mildly disgusts or concerns them. It dirties the rice cooker bowl and paddle, one eating bowl and utensils, one plate (optional), and a frying pan (optional). Most of those I just rinse out or soak not wash properly tbh, it's not like it has cheese to scrub off if you don't use it. This whole process takes about five minutes of active prep and clean up both days. The worst pitfalls I have found with it are getting too ambitious on the secondary protein for day 1 and eventually just having nothing, which I fixed for me by switching to canned tuna or shredded chicken, forgetting or otherwise failing to empty or turn off the heating of the rice cooker, and getting overwhelmed having to use the stove at all day 2 and avoiding the nice but optional upgrade.

I hope this is helpful for someone out there, I know how often most of these from around the place sound "oh my god you think that's simple??" But, and I say this as one of you, the backbone of this is having the machine that boils carbs boil a bunch of carbs for you and cramming as much of a "complete" or "fancy" meal's prep in to that process as possible then finishing with stuff you just pour, drop, or slice in.

one pack of mi goreng noodles, cooked, drained and seasoned with included packets

one flour tortilla, spread with peanut butter (I use extra-salted crunchy)

scramble an egg or two (optional. I use the microwave because Nietzsche was right and no one will make me answer for my sins)

slap it all together and wrap it up. no plates or bowls to wash, can eat it one handed or on the go, tastes not the worst.

My go-to easy is stir fry.

I get "steam in the bag" rice and veggies in the frozen section, so it's already easy to microwave.

Add seasonings, and then toss it in a frying pan.

You can add canned chicken for easy extra protein.

The best part is, if you don't have spoons, this can easily be microwaved, and doesn't need to be cooked in a pan.

coconut rice and beans, simple way- use 1 cup any kind of rice, 12oz can coconut milk, 12oz can kidney or other beans. throw all the ingredients together (including the bean water) in a pot and bring to a boil, then simmer. add water as necessary. option add ins: sauteed veggies, soy sauce, bullion cube, lime juice (fresh or bottled). you can switch out the coconut milk for regular milk or another plant milk, but the coconut milk comes in a nice easy can. nice high protein meal with lots of healthy fat from the coconut milk, cheap and makes a few servings

microwave rice recipe, for convencience and ease. it tastes just like regular rice, i promise. i didnt notice about this for most of my life and its a lifesaver because i love rice

take a glass bowl or a bowl that can survive in the microwave. put in as much rice as you would like to eat or however much you normally make, and wash it out like normal. now put in cold water, above the rice level so that when you put your pointer finger in, tip of your finger touching the top of the rice (NOT the bottom of the bowl) it goes up to your first knuckle. put it in for 22 minutes on 700 or 800 watts and you dont need to check on it, it comes out good and tastes like any other rice, its just a lot better for low spoons cooking.

you can also leave it in for a mimute or two after your microwave dings that its done and it makes it stickier of you like it that way

Heinz and Birds Eye have these single serve "steam fresh" microwaveable frozen veggies. Really easy, really quick - just put into the microwave for the correct time and then shake it and then in again

And fresh, warm veggies! Not a full meal but very quick and easy way to eat vegetables. I like the birds eye one with cheese. I eat it with deli meat as a meal

Take a packet of instant noodles, throw away the flavour packet. Make your own flavouring by adding a vegetable stock cube, some soy sauce and some sesame oil to the hot water, then cooking the noodles in that mix. Throw in a handful of vegetables and maybe an egg, and you've got delicious, cheap "ramen" that only takes 5 minutes tops.

also. if you can boil some cauliflower just throw some cream of celery on that shit. absolutely delicious. have it with some rice and maybe chuck a protein in there idk. cream soups make great sauces is what i'm saying. try them on pasta too! way cheaper than a can of alfredo but scratches the same itch for me

oh this is an old favourite of mine: Mush. you need packet of uncle bens 90 second microwave rice, whatever flavour u want (i like the long grain and wild chicken ones), can of corn, can of green beans, can of cream of mushroom soup. squish the rice a bit, cut the corner and microwave for 90 seconds. drain the canned veg and put in a bowl with the mushroom soup. microwave for a few minutes\until hot. add rice. stir. very easy and tastes better than youd think. can also add some cheese if u want

my go-to basic recipe that can be easily altered for cooking intensity

-a pot of pasta (enough to last you multiple days)

-heavy cream

-a protein, I usually go for bacon or chicken (for minimal intensity something pre-cooked that you can just throw in)

-a vegetable (canned green beans work great if you can't chop/cook etc)

-little bit of grated cheese

-salt, pepper, garlic powder, paprika, chili flakes (or whatever you feel like)

and then just throw everything into the pot and mix together, every protein-vegetable combo I've tried has been delicious so just pick your favorites. personal favorite is ground chicken, baked beans and broccoli

are links ok? there's an a depression meal recipe i go back and use all the time on low spoon days, and i'm just wondering if i can link it or if i should transcribe the recipe (the article itself is funny and relevant too)

Egg drop soup....

-Desired amount of broth

-Desired amount of egg

Scramble egg while you bring broth to a simmer (you can tell bc the bubbles are smaller and take up less surface area than a rolling boil)

Once broth is simmering, start stirring in a circle in one direction. Pour scrambled eggs in slowly, so the pour looks more like a stream while stirring.

I usually wait just a bit until the soup starts bubbling again bc my partner is afraid of undercooked eggs, but the thing is the ribbons are supposed to be so thin they cook immediately when they hit the simmering broth.

It's very easy to add spinach or tofu or onions whatever afterwards, but add it afterwards so it doesn't interrupt the flow of the eggs.

If you pour too fast or have the temp too low or high dont worry, all it's gonna do is mess with the look of it and maybe the texture, but not by much.

It's my favorite to make when I can't do shit and there's nothing in the fridge. It doesn't really come out like restaurant egg drop soup, I dont know how to do that yet, but it tastes good and has protein and I can make like 5 gallons at a time so I have microwave soup later. Also it looks pretty nice and makes me feel fancy to make even if it's 2 steps lol

This likely has been brought up before as a slow cooker recipe but one of my fav things to eat has always been rice, with chicken broth, frozen veggies and then some chicken breast on top. Can always add some soya sauce, minced garlic to the pot before you toss it on to cook depending on how you like your stuff flavored.

Another favorite of mine is to cook a big pot of macaroni and beef with whatever sauce I like and then when I'm taking the leftovers out over the course of the week to put in the microwave, I'll add curry powder or something to mix in to change up the flavor so it's like I'm not eating the exact same thing every night. Cheap and easy too.

Hey were you gone for a while or did I just miss your posts? Either way welcome back I hope you’re well <3