Help! Eating Healthy Without a Kitchen.

[too_spicy]

Hi all,

I don't normally post in the "what's cooking" forums, and I will tell you why. I physically cannot cook. I'm in a really weird living situation right now... I live with my boyfriend and his grandparents. His grandparents are very strict about the way they like to keep their house, and since I'm living under their roof I have to abide by their rules. Part of that is that I'm not allowed to bring home a lot of food. I can keep leftovers and such in the fridge, but I can't go grocery shopping. I'm also not allowed to use anything in the kitchen but the microwave, the toaster oven, and the Keurig. 

As such, my bf and I end up eating out 7 days a week. Lately, he's been nagging that I've been eating too much fast food. (I don't eat McDonalds or Taco Bell or anything like that, but I do enjoy a Chik-Fil-A grilled chicken sandwich and fries or a Chipotle bowl). I'm getting to a point where I really can't afford to eat out all the time and I don't want my bf to nag, but I'm at a loss for what my other options are.

Does anyone have any recipes that require minimal kitchen equipment and also minimal ingredients? Literally anything would help. Calories are no object, but healthy-ish recipes are appreciated.

[betpchem]

What kind of food do the grandparents eat? Can you eat what they serve? Can you offer to cook for the whole house, perhaps once a week?

Here's a site that gives healthy toaster oven recipes:  http://greatist.com/health/toaster-oven-recipes

[JohnRi]

Is there any way you can use some space in the freezer?  Or can you get a small freezer in your bedroom?  Green Giant as well as many others sell Vegetable steamer bags.  6 minutes in the microwave and you have some great veggies.  You can eat them straight out of the bag.  So no mess.  Also try breakfast Biscuits.  They are around 220 calories, and are a great option for breakfast.

I love the grilled chicken sandwich.  Health wise the medium fruit cup is a much better choice to the fries.  Money wise not so good...

[too_spicy]

@betpchem Thanks for the link, that should be helpful. I can sometimes eat what they cook... meats and rice are a staple in the house. However, there is a bit of a cultural gap with the cuisine that they make, and a lot of their foods are not to my taste. Also, a lot of the meals are fried or excessively fatty meats, which are again not to my taste. I know I'm a bit of a picky eater when it comes to greasy, fried foods, but they're also not really all that good for you. 

Like I said, me cooking is really not an option. I just can't keep the kitchen as clean as Mama would like, even when I'm just taking some rice out of the rice cooker. Let alone using pots, pans, bowls, and utensils to cook an enitre meal.

@JohnRi Thanks, I have thought about getting a mini fridge or something to keep upstairs. That might be a possibilty in the future.

[Annie-NH]

Lots of grocery stores have take and eat or pre-prepped foods,  a little more expensive than buying all the ingredients but much cheaper and healthier than eating out.  You can buy a bag of salad mix and some deli turkey, add dressing and you have lunch or dinner.  Lots of options with microwave.  Even Lean Cuisine is an option and you can often get them at  4 or 5 for 10.00

[betpchem]

Great ideas @Annie-NH

[Cynfilled]

My husband and I are in the same boat.  We got a mini fridge for our room, best 100 we ever spent. We also have a toaster (10 bucks), crockpot (15.00 from walmart) and a single cup mixer (8.00 from walmart)

Great meals we eat:

Salads

Sandwhiches on wheat bread

Toast and peanut butter with bananas

Cut Fruit 

Juices

The slow cooker allows for TONS of different food.  I just used Light Cambells Tomato Soup, Kidney Beans, and chilli spices to make a really good and easy chilli that was low in calories. (It is on their website, I just cut out the meat and onions so I could make it in room).

Even if we have to eat out (I have a spinal injury so sometimes I'm stuck in bed and I just want to eat and take a pain pill) we go to Subway, because you can go on their website and see exactly what sort of calories you are putting in.  

Our other issue is my Grandma loves eating out, and she needs to gain weight. She will not eat if we don't get her fastfood a lot of times.  We started getting the small dollar menu sandwhich.  ie Mcdonalds: Hamburger.  Then we eat a huge salad before and are satisfied. We don't miss out on the yummy bad for you fastfood, and we get really full. 🙂 

Wendys is really good, their salads are not really healthy, but they have baked potatoes. 

It is super hard though. 🙂

[Kittles]

I would suggest canned foods, good way to get veggies, fruits and proteins in your diet. Chunky Campbell's has a lot of different options, beef, chicken, veggetarian, and all you need is a bowl and a microwave. (Kind of high in sodium, but you can get the low sodium variety)
Or if you could have a small slow cooker and a mini fridge in your room the possibilities are endless!!

[AFChi]

I would get a slow cooker for your bedroom and a mini fridge. All you need is an outlet.  Eating out every day is disgusting, to say the least.

I used my slow cooker and mini all the time when I was in my smallll studio apartment.  There are countless healthy crock pot recipes.

[CreakyKnees]

If they won't let you use their kitchen appliances (like the stove/oven), maybe you could buy one of those NuWave induction burners.  I have one that I got for under $100.  It doesn't take up much space (frankly, after you're done you could store it in the trunk of your car).  It even comes with a carry bag with handles so it's easy to transport.  Many people use them on their boats, RV's or take them tailgaiting because they're so portable.  You'd just also need to get a skillet that was induction burner capable.  Then, a whole host of possibilities open up for you.  You can make anything you want.

Since you are allowed to store leftovers & use the microwave, you could set one day aside to cook the ingredients you've purchased and then freeze what you've made in individual,  Zip-loc freezer bags.  Then, each morning, just defrost that days foods in the refrigerator and heat them up in the microwave or toaster oven.  

This is what I do.  It's convenient and when you squeeze out all of the air fromt the freezer bags before you freeze your homemade frozen dinners they lay flat and don't take hardly any room in the freezer.

[SunsetRunner]

We recently bought ourselves a Philips Airfryer - best kitchen investment we've ever made.  The marketing says you can cook fried foods in up to 80% less fat, but it does so much more than just fried foods.  Yes, I've cooked fried foods in it (french fries, schnitzels, breaded fish, etc) and you do use a whole lot less oil, but I've also steamed fish, grilled chicken, you can even bake in it as well.  I even cook a roast in it - a small roast lamb with baby potatoes and carrots, takes about an hour all up.

What I like about the Philips over the other brands like Tefal, is that the Philips one has a basket that pulls out like a drawer.  The others tend to have a shelf-like design with a post in the middle to turn the shelf.  With the Philips one, the basket is quite deep and will hold quite a bit, but there's no post in the middle that you have to fiddle your food around.  The basket design is perfect for roasting - put a small roast in the middle for about a half hour to start cooking, then add your baby potatoes around it for 20 minutes, and then any carrots or other veg for the last 10.  Cooks all in the one basket, making for less cleanup. 

You can buy a rack that fits inside the basket if you wanted to do layers, two different depths to the rack depending on which side is up.  The rack also has dimples on the side to hold skewers, and it comes with 4 steel skewers, so you could grill some meat & veg skewers or do chicken skewers for a satay. 

The unit also cleans up like a dream, it's all non-stick inside.  My tip would be to get an xlarge size and in black - the white might discolour over time with the heat venting from the back.  It's not overly large though, would fit on top a small bar fridge well enough, and it's relatively quite.  I wouldn't be without mine any longer, I use it most every day now.

[betpchem]

That sounds great @SunsetRunner. I will investigate that myself. Thanks for sharing.

[Chess]

Bagged salad and pre-grilled chicken.  That one is a no-brainer.

[Rich_Laue]

For me I could live without a microwave before I could live without a slow cooker and a wok. They do sell electric woks. They are great for frying up leftovers, add some spices or  a little sauce and you can make it a different taste.

The wok can replace a frying pan, and cooks up the best eggs, pancakes, meats, or just boil noodles for that soup or stew that was cooked in the slow cooker.

Cut some meat and veggies up, add sauce, stir fry and serve over the rice that was cooked in the slow cooker. You have a complete meal with only 2 things to clean.

Oh heck,  let's go for only one put to clean up, add more liquid to the sauce, simmer cooking the rice right in the wok. I have one recipe like this that calls for half rice and half broken pieces of spaghetti, this definitely plays on the consistency and taste buds.

[jaimeculpepper]

You can eat salads with different dressings, sandwiches, drink shakes. Check on the internet, there are many microwave recipes which you can try.

[Ukase]

Why didn't I see this sooner? 

The truth of it is, you're living in some unusual circumstances. I get that the grandparents have their ways, but I am thinking that they would prefer you to move out than to stay. 

The suggestions of buying appliances - well, helpful with intent, not knowing why the grandparents have such strange rules, I don't think they'd welcome turning the bedroom into a second kitchen. 

I think if I were you, I'd stick to non-perishable goods and goods that don't require refrigeration. 

Fruit, soups, etc. 

Then, I'd go get a job and get out of that crazy place!