How to make nice food every day

[Smoothie]

How do you get the energy/time to make nice, healthy vegan food every day? i'm cooking for me and my boyfriend, and it's really important to me that i can serve a (somewhat) healthy meal every day. but when i get of work (i work in a kitchen where i cook organic vegan food from 9 am), i'm soo fucking tired, and i just DON'T wanna cook anymore. and if we had an oven, i could make a hell of a meal every day, since it's so easy, but it's always three pots and a pan and ten different veggies. sometimes i DO make a pesto-pasta, or just unfreeze something (i usually make enough chili or stuff like that to freeze a portion), but i really think it's important that my boyfriend gets a nutritious meal - and it's just perfect if he can get some for lunch too.

so i was wondering: do any of you guys have some well-freezing recipes, that are high on nutrition, but low on time? or maybe just something that only requires ONE pot, so that i sould make two or three freezable dishes in the weekend, and then un-freeze'em on the though days? any help will be appreciated:D

THANKS:D

[foxytina_69]

you should look into getting a crockpot! all you do is throw the ingredients in, and leave it set. once you get home, itll be cooked and ready!

heres a thread about it:

http://veganforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=5924

in the search area, type in 'crock pot' and see the results:

http://vegweb.com/index.php?action=search2

and here are some 'quick and easy' vegan recipes:

http://vegweb.com/index.php?board=153.0

[Risker]

I often make pasta sauce (tomatoes, onion, garlic, peppers etc.) and make more than I need, I then jar the leftovers and use it at a later date as either a salsa for spicy food, a dip for crisps or as sauce for another batch of pasta.

[fiamma]

How do you get the energy/time to make nice, healthy vegan food every day? i'm cooking for me and my boyfriend, and it's really important to me that i can serve a (somewhat) healthy meal every day. but when i get of work (i work in a kitchen where i cook organic vegan food from 9 am), i'm soo fucking tired, and i just DON'T wanna cook anymore. and if we had an oven, i could make a hell of a meal every day, since it's so easy, but it's always three pots and a pan and ten different veggies. sometimes i DO make a pesto-pasta, or just unfreeze something (i usually make enough chili or stuff like that to freeze a portion), but i really think it's important that my boyfriend gets a nutritious meal - and it's just perfect if he can get some for lunch too.

so i was wondering: do any of you guys have some well-freezing recipes, that are high on nutrition, but low on time? or maybe just something that only requires ONE pot, so that i sould make two or three freezable dishes in the weekend, and then un-freeze'em on the though days? any help will be appreciated:D

THANKS:D

Why don't you get him to cook for YOU, Smoothie?

Marinades are good BTW, for tofu and tempeh - soy sauce, garlic, lemon juice and fresh ginger. I love eating tofu cold - that takes no cooking at all! Or chop up the tofu and add to cooked mushrooms, along with a bit of the ubiquitous soy sauce and turmeric. I do sympathise tho - the last few days I just can't get up any enthusiasm for food or cooking.

[vegan1969]

Here's a great book:
http://veganbooks.safeshopper.com/3/6.htm?159

[Tigerlily]

Very simple! My mom cooks. :P

[kriz]

- stir fries
- pasta dishes, one of my favorite is chopped tomatoes, garlic, olive oil, and basil. Another one is a creamy sauce - coconut milk with vegetable broth, different types pf mushrooms and parsley.
- cook lots of brown rice for the whole week, and always keep different cans of beans in your cupboard.
- make a small salad to each meal, it's an easy way to get some additional vitamins.

[moonshadow]

my husband and i share cooking. sometimes just me, sometimes just him, but usually it's a family affair.

we have our days when we pop something premade into the oven, but we usually manage to actually cook.

we find it's far easier to do when we've done prep at the weekends (which we haven't done in ages, and really need to get back in the habit of). pre-cook a load of beans, frozen in 1 or 2 cup sizes (easier to defrost just what you need).

menu planning helps a lot, too. sit down on the weekend (or whatever your day off is) together and sort out what you'd like to eat. use vegweb or a cookbook. i find it is easier to stick to one cookbook per week.

lots of luck!

[Hemlock]

It is as big problem. My view on life is if you don't have time to cook at least one decent meal every day then something in life needs to be changed. Me and John changed our jobs/lives when that happened and are living simpler, cheaper lives. Now we both refuse to commute, I have a local job and his is localish but he's looking for more local.
I'm sick of this 24 hour lifestyle where we are all expected to work round the clock, long hours and have no time for each other. It totally sucks.
We are not cogs in a corporate wheel, we are human being with needs!

[Hemlock]

Smoothie, cook extra food at work and take it home in tupperware;)

[vegan1969]

I'm sure you've seen the vegan food pyramid but here it is anyway:http://www.nutrispeak.com/veganpyramid.htm

As for cooking, I like to cook a lot on one day of the week and freeze portions to grab through out the week. I also prep my fresh veggies so I can grab them for a quick wrap.

[Cherry]

Smoothie, cook extra food at work and take it home in tupperware;)

Now there's a plan :)

Chilli and curry are both good one pan freezing options. I used to always make a lentil or chickpea curry AND a spinach curry but these days I tend to just shove a load of spinach in with the main one to save on washing up :D

[Mystic]

Some people can't take things from work - the chef at my work isn't allowed to take leftovers home, even though it is a big waste if the children don't eat it.

[Roxy]

So what happens to the left overs then?

[Mystic]

The garbage bin gets to eat it :(

[Tigerlily]

Yes, I think most restaurants do this. I think it's because they don't want to give the impression that they give away free food. Because everyone (all the workers) will want free left overs and the chef will make more food to give away.

My dad's a manager at a restaurant, I'll ask him why exactly.

[DancingWillow]

I think it has to do with liability. If someone takes food and gets sick, they can sue the restaurant. I remember hearing that a while back and I was really upset that such massive amounts of food go to waste. For those reasons, restaurants and catering services can't donate even unused leftovers to homeless shelters :(:mad:

[Smoothie]

well, the reason my boyfriend don't cook is that 1) i work from 9 am 'till 2.30 pm and he works from 7.30 am 'till AT LEAST 4 pm. usually it's more like 6-ish or 8-ish. so it would be really unfair to demand him to cook. (he do the dishes instead), and 2) he's an awful cook! i mean, i'm trying to learn him how to make some different dishes, by waiting to start the cooking 'till he gets home, and then telling him how to chop the veggies, in which order to put them in the pot, but he's really bad at it, and there must be a limit.. well, sometimes i get leftover foods from my work, but usually everything is eaten:D

thanks for all the great advise:D

[Wishin986]

I think it has to do with liability. If someone takes food and gets sick, they can sue the restaurant. I remember hearing that a while back and I was really upset that such massive amounts of food go to waste. For those reasons, restaurants and catering services can't donate even unused leftovers to homeless shelters :(:mad:

The Good Samaritan Act was put into place so that restaurants could donate food to homeless shelters. However, theres a lot of regulations and its hard to find containers and drivers etc. The act is good though because it basically makes it pretty impossible to be sued for liability issues. As long as the food was given in good conscience and there was no harm intended if people get sick you arnt at fault. The annoying thing is that big corporations still site liability as the reason they wont do it when thats actually not an issue at all anymore.

[Haniska]

This isn't a freeze meal (maybe it could be!) but something that I do which is really simple:
1 can tomato soup plus any of the following:

Spaghetti sauce or Seasoning
Pasta or any type of grains
Any type of beans but I like peas for flavor meshing
Tofu, seitan, tempeh, tvp etc. You don't have to use much.
Any type of vegetables including canned tomatoes
I say no potatoes but that is just me, I don't like tomatoes and potatoes together in general. Then again when I was younger I used "mixed vegetables" which contain potatoes and lima beans.
I call this spaghetti soup:) Which is silly because it doesn't have spaghettu and does necasarily have spaghetti sauce :p I also call it peas in a pod when I use shell pasta.

[Roxy]

All that food from restaurants and child cares going to waste!! Bloody hell - there are poor people starving to death in our own countries AND in 3rd world countries, and all these places and throwing away perfectly good food :rolleyes: Stupid!

[Mystic]

I get cross too. All this legal shit. People are horrible

[herbwormwood]

We like rice salad.
This can be cooked in advance and put in the fridge.
Cook brown rice, add frozen peas and sweetcorn and any other frozen veggies you like near the end of the cooking time.
Drain rice and veggies and put in a large bowl.
Allow to cool.
Mix in whatever salad veg you like such as chopped fresh tomatoes, herbs, cucumber, courgette, lettuce, basically whatever you fancy, plus some nuts and raisins, seeds, etc. Then mix in a dressing and some Engevita flakes. I use lemon juice, oil, cider vinegar and shoyu. This is really nice in hot weather and is quick and easy to prepare. Variations can include tofu, olives, mushrooms, and you can do the same by replacing the rice with quinoa, barley, millet, or cous cous.
If you are at work during the day you can cook the rice and frozen veg the night before so all you have to do when you come home is do the fresh salad veggies and mix the dressing in.

[Haniska]

Wow, now that sounds good!

[chickendude]

All that food from restaurants and child cares going to waste!! Bloody hell - there are poor people starving to death in our own countries AND in 3rd world countries, and all these places and throwing away perfectly good food :rolleyes: Stupid!

Dumpster diving! Most of the food they throw away has been neatly packaged and wrapped and is perfectly suitable to eat :) A great (albeit illegal) way to save money on shopping :P