Kitchen Remodeling and Microwave Food

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CountryBoy
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Kitchen Remodeling and Microwave Food

Post by CountryBoy »

We will very shortly do a total kitchen remodel and have bought a microwave (mw) to eat while our kitchen is gutted. Being a good BH means thinking carefully and planning and so far we are testing mw food and don't find much out there. Does anyone recommend any line of mw food that is good? They certainly have one awful lot of calories.....

Thanks.
livesoft
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Re: Kitchen Remodeling and Microwave Food

Post by livesoft »

Oatmeal is a good microwave food. Here's how to cook it: viewtopic.php?p=2242092#p2242092

I eat mostly fresh food, so tonight was a salad which needed no microwaving. Added were salmon and fresh asparagus both of which were cooked. They could've been cooked in a microwave easily. I don't need to eat bread, pasta, rice, potatoes, so I don't need to cook them.

So I am not quite sure what you mean by microwave food. Microwave food to me is re-heating leftovers from take-out such as Chinese, Thai, Indian, Mexican, Pizza. All of those are great re-heated in a microwave the next day.
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CountryBoy
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Re: Kitchen Remodeling and Microwave Food

Post by CountryBoy »

Many thanks since we too enjoy and "eat mostly fresh food."

We prefer to have as healthy a diet as possible during this 8 week downtime of our kitchen, so any suggestions for eating using a microwave/convection GE oven are appreciated.

Thanks for the recipe.
texasdiver
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Re: Kitchen Remodeling and Microwave Food

Post by texasdiver »

corn on the cob and baked potatoes are both extremely easy and excellent when prepared in a microwave. Especially the corn.
Austex1
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Re: Kitchen Remodeling and Microwave Food

Post by Austex1 »

If you are looking for frozen foods to prepare in microwave, I like the LUVO line of frozen meals. They are low calorie and the ones I've tried are quite tasty. They also seem to have quality ingredients.
island
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Re: Kitchen Remodeling and Microwave Food

Post by island »

We steam all our fresh veggies in a micro. Little water in the bottom of a covered glass casserole. We also do "baked" potatoes, corn on the cob, and reheat leftovers.
Don't eat much prepackaged stuff, but frozen lasagna works well. I think you can make things like packaged rice and Stove Top dressing in the micro. Nuking Lean Cusine and frozen burritos seems to be popular with my coworkers at lunch.
If you have a grill, crockpot, Nesco roaster, toaster oven, electric fry pan or stand alone burner or griddle you can make a lot of meals without a range.
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patriciamgr2
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Re: Kitchen Remodeling and Microwave Food

Post by patriciamgr2 »

I love to microwave seasoned fresh or frozen fish (fillets work best) in packets made out of parchment paper; the fish gently steams. I've cooked chicken parts in the microwave (drumsticks cook best when arranged in a circle, with the bone facing in); add sauce at end to make up for no color. I cook mini meatloaves in silicon baking cups (again arranged around edge of turntable).

Any chance of firing up the grill during construction?

With summer salads & fresh veggies on their way, there's no need to rely on frozen dinners. Even Healthy Choice has a fair bit of sodium. Your remodeling will take longer than you expect & may raise your blood pressure on its own--deep breathing relaxation techniques & healthy eating are your friends. Good Luck on the remodel.
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bottlecap
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Re: Kitchen Remodeling and Microwave Food

Post by bottlecap »

How about a grill? A microwave isn't good for much but leftovers.

JT
Seattlejo
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Re: Kitchen Remodeling and Microwave Food

Post by Seattlejo »

I second the grill idea. We've done that in the past and ate very well during our remodel.
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Watty
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Re: Kitchen Remodeling and Microwave Food

Post by Watty »

bottlecap wrote:How about a grill? A microwave isn't good for much but leftovers.

JT
+1

Many vegetables BBQ very well. I have not done it yet but you can also cook things in cast iron on a BBQ.
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GerryL
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Re: Kitchen Remodeling and Microwave Food

Post by GerryL »

bottlecap wrote:How about a grill? A microwave isn't good for much but leftovers.

JT
Huh?
Sure, a microwave is good for reheating leftovers, but I cook plenty of fresh meals in mine. You can cook up a pot of rice, although I find it easier to do on the stove -- good, Japanese-style sticky rice. And I keep a bag of boneless, skinless chicken pieces in the freezer; you can cook one at a time. They nuke up great. A plate of brown rice, broccoli and chicken was a go-to meal when I got home from work. You can also poach a piece of fish. Instant mashed potatoes. Just about any kind of steamed fresh veggie. Not fancy dining, but more than reheated restaurant meals.

The question is, in addition to a microwave, will you have refrigeration?
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Chicken lady
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Re: Kitchen Remodeling and Microwave Food

Post by Chicken lady »

We used a microwave, grill, and an old-fashioned electric skillet. Not sure what the electric skillet is formally called in stores but there was little that could not be done in this device that would have been done on a burner. Handy.

Good luck!
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CountryBoy
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Re: Kitchen Remodeling and Microwave Food

Post by CountryBoy »

We have no outside grill but will have a refrigerator to store precooked food in.

Thanks for the assistance.
dolphinsaremammals
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Re: Kitchen Remodeling and Microwave Food

Post by dolphinsaremammals »

Amy's frozen stuff. A lot of it is organic.

Buy a NordicWare microwave egg boiler. They really work, once you figure out the length of time for your microwave. For mine, it's nine minutes (for 4 eggs). They have omelet and egg poacher things, but I haven't tried those - https://www.nordicware.com/store/catego ... WRxZqYryXg

You can heat up soup, hot chocolate, and warm bread.

I strip the husks and silk off fresh corn, rinse the ear, wrap the ear loosely in a couple of damp paper towels and microwave for 5 minutes (your time may vary.)

I see the post above about instant mashed potatoes. I just bought Idahoan instant mashed potatoes a few weeks ago, out of curiosity. Instant mashed potatoes used to be horrible way back when, but these are indistinguishable from "real" ones. I have only made them on the stove (bring water to boiling, remove from heat, add potato stuff, mix for a minute or so) but this should work just as well getting the water to boiling in a microwave. Be careful not to burn yourself. There are several flavors, one or two are too bland for me.

Uncle Ben's Ready Rice, cooks in 90 seconds, lots of flavors.

Oreida microwave French Fries.

Morningstar veggie burgers and veggie sausage.
carolinaman
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Re: Kitchen Remodeling and Microwave Food

Post by carolinaman »

Toaster ovens are also useful and not expensive. We use ours regularly and it works great.
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bottlecap
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Re: Kitchen Remodeling and Microwave Food

Post by bottlecap »

GerryL wrote:
bottlecap wrote:How about a grill? A microwave isn't good for much but leftovers.

JT
Huh?
Sure, a microwave is good for reheating leftovers, but I cook plenty of fresh meals in mine... They nuke up great.
It's just a difference of opinion. Rice and skinless chicken breasts in the microwave would do if I was dying of starvation or running from the law, but honestly, I don't even do leftovers (from the oven or grill, not restaurant) in the microwave.

I'd much prefer chicken and vegetables on the grill.

CB, you may not have a grill, but you don't have a microwave, either. My point was you could spend a few hundred on a microwave and survive for a week, or spend a few hundred on a grill, eat quite well and learn a new skill...

Good luck,

JT
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CountryBoy
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Re: Kitchen Remodeling and Microwave Food

Post by CountryBoy »

Uncle Ben's Ready Rice, cooks in 90 seconds, lots of flavors
We do eat rice often, so with a MW do I buy instant rice? 90secs. is pretty fast.
texasdiver
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Re: Kitchen Remodeling and Microwave Food

Post by texasdiver »

dolphinsaremammals wrote:Amy's frozen stuff. A lot of it is organic.

I strip the husks and silk off fresh corn, rinse the ear, wrap the ear loosely in a couple of damp paper towels and microwave for 5 minutes (your time may vary.)
.
No....do it like this: Much easier and better

http://www.simplyrecipes.com/recipes/th ... n_the_cob/
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Hayden
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Re: Kitchen Remodeling and Microwave Food

Post by Hayden »

CountryBoy wrote:
Uncle Ben's Ready Rice, cooks in 90 seconds, lots of flavors
We do eat rice often, so with a MW do I buy instant rice? 90secs. is pretty fast.
How about buying a rice cooker. They are easy, and you can use it to make rice, oatmeal, quinoa, and other stuff.
texasdiver
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Re: Kitchen Remodeling and Microwave Food

Post by texasdiver »

Hayden wrote:
CountryBoy wrote:
Uncle Ben's Ready Rice, cooks in 90 seconds, lots of flavors
We do eat rice often, so with a MW do I buy instant rice? 90secs. is pretty fast.
How about buying a rice cooker. They are easy, and you can use it to make rice, oatmeal, quinoa, and other stuff.
Yes....and/or a crock pot. There are whole cookbooks devoted to cooking with rice cookers and crock pots. Rice cooker would be better if you want food relatively fast though.
dolphinsaremammals
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Re: Kitchen Remodeling and Microwave Food

Post by dolphinsaremammals »

texasdiver wrote:
Hayden wrote:
CountryBoy wrote:
Uncle Ben's Ready Rice, cooks in 90 seconds, lots of flavors
We do eat rice often, so with a MW do I buy instant rice? 90secs. is pretty fast.
How about buying a rice cooker. They are easy, and you can use it to make rice, oatmeal, quinoa, and other stuff.
Yes....and/or a crock pot. There are whole cookbooks devoted to cooking with rice cookers and crock pots. Rice cooker would be better if you want food relatively fast though.
Is a rice cooker as fast as ninety seconds? Pull the strip off the top of the Ready Rice pouch, nuke it for 90 seconds, there you go. I think the "family size" is something like two to three minutes.

I would truly have to be starving to eat oatmeal.
miles monroe
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Re: Kitchen Remodeling and Microwave Food

Post by miles monroe »

if i was going to be without a kitchen for 2 months i'd buy a roaster oven (costco about $30) and a 2 burner coleman stove (camping supply store about $40). the coleman needs to be used outside.
NoVa Lurker
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Re: Kitchen Remodeling and Microwave Food

Post by NoVa Lurker »

We did a full kitchen remodel last year. We lost our stovetop, oven, and built-in microwave for 4 weeks (they had estimated 5 weeks, and the work ended up taking almost 6 weeks, but they put in the appliances before the kitchen was completely done, so we could start using them again).

OP, eight weeks seems like a long time for your kitchen appliances to be unusable. We have a pretty big kitchen, and it was completely gutted. The only things we kept were the existing lighting and some of the appliances, so it was a lot of work, and most of it was done by only two guys.

We have an outdoor grill that we use about four times a week for half the year, but the remodel was in November-early December, and it was unseasonably cold most of the time, so I only grilled once. Leading up to the remodel, we did not eat out or do takeout for about a month. Then we got a ton of take-out during the remodel. It was mostly Thai food, or Mexican, or pizza. Not very healthy, but it was also not really more expensive than our usual grocery budget for dinner, since we tend to cook with fresh, high-quality ingredients. We mostly used the microwave to heat up leftovers. We also did a few meals with cold cuts + bagged veggies heated up in the microwave. The four weeks flew by. We probably gained a few pounds from all the takeout, but it was not a big deal in the scheme of things.

If we had planned better, we would have done the remodel in the summer and grilled a ton, along with some eating out. In that case, we would have barely missed the oven and stovetop for 4 weeks.

Good luck.
dolphinsaremammals
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Re: Kitchen Remodeling and Microwave Food

Post by dolphinsaremammals »

texasdiver wrote:
dolphinsaremammals wrote:Amy's frozen stuff. A lot of it is organic.

I strip the husks and silk off fresh corn, rinse the ear, wrap the ear loosely in a couple of damp paper towels and microwave for 5 minutes (your time may vary.)
.
No....do it like this: Much easier and better

http://www.simplyrecipes.com/recipes/th ... n_the_cob/
I tried that some time ago, but it has the downside of holding the hot ear of corn and losing the "corn handle."
texasdiver
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Re: Kitchen Remodeling and Microwave Food

Post by texasdiver »

dolphinsaremammals wrote:
texasdiver wrote:
dolphinsaremammals wrote:Amy's frozen stuff. A lot of it is organic.

I strip the husks and silk off fresh corn, rinse the ear, wrap the ear loosely in a couple of damp paper towels and microwave for 5 minutes (your time may vary.)
.
No....do it like this: Much easier and better

http://www.simplyrecipes.com/recipes/th ... n_the_cob/
I tried that some time ago, but it has the downside of holding the hot ear of corn and losing the "corn handle."
Well, we use a kitchen towel to grab the hot ears of corn to cut them and use the little stick-in corn holders to eat with. http://www.amazon.com/Zyliss-71388-Corn ... B0000XOBDE
Mingus
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Re: Kitchen Remodeling and Microwave Food

Post by Mingus »

bottlecap wrote:How about a grill? A microwave isn't good for much but leftovers.

JT
Some might argue that a MW isn't even good for leftovers.
Rebecca_S
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Re: Kitchen Remodeling and Microwave Food

Post by Rebecca_S »

Consider getting a kettle to boil water and an outdoor grill. You can make hot drinks with a kettle of course, but can cook several things by placing them into boiling water. Noodle dishes, instant rice, soups, blanched vegetables.
mhalley
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Re: Kitchen Remodeling and Microwave Food

Post by mhalley »

I would suggest a slow cooker and perhaps a sous vide immersion cooker. This one is relatively inexpensive as these things go.http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00UKPBXM ... ref=plSrch
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CountryBoy
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Re: Kitchen Remodeling and Microwave Food

Post by CountryBoy »

Many thanks to all for your suggestions.
Mudpuppy
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Re: Kitchen Remodeling and Microwave Food

Post by Mudpuppy »

CountryBoy wrote:
Uncle Ben's Ready Rice, cooks in 90 seconds, lots of flavors
We do eat rice often, so with a MW do I buy instant rice? 90secs. is pretty fast.
The Uncle Ben's Ready Rice is precooked, so the reason it's ready in 90 seconds is you're just heating it up. Trader Joe's also has frozen pre-cooked rice that heats up in 3 minutes in the microwave. I prefer the Trader Joe's Rice Medley (brown rice, red rice, and barley) if I go with the ready heat rice option (e.g. when I don't feel like cooking up rice on the stove).

And I would second the recommendations for using a crock pot/slow cooker. You can do soups, stews, roasts, etc in a crock pot, then store the leftovers for later reheating in the microwave. This is likely going to be more cost-effective than eating prepared frozen meals for 8 weeks.
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watchnerd
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Re: Kitchen Remodeling and Microwave Food

Post by watchnerd »

Pork nuggets are a great microwave "food".
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