Really Need Help, Allergen Free Cooking with Microwave Only!

[Shelsi]

We just moved across the country. We left on Sunday and drove for 4.5 days to get here. Before we left I made dd and I a ton of food that wouldn't spoil easily (cuban rice and beans, fake mac n cheese, etc). Well it's 1 week later and tonight we will be eating the last of our food.

We have an offer on a house but it's being built and won't be done for another 2-3 months. It turns out there are more people than housing available right now in this town because of a huge influx of people. There are NO rentals. We're looking like crazy but it's a small town and there is just nothing. There are friends going in together on buying houses because there is nothing for them to rent. It's nuts. We almost got one rental but it was posted for all of 10 minutes and someone got to it before us.

Right now we're living in a hotel with a small fridge and a microwave that doesn't seem to have much wattage. I'm really worried about food. Oh, and there is only one "health" food store and I say that loosely because it's about 1 aisle of extremely over priced food and the rest is vitamins.

What on earth can I make with just a microwave?

We are corn, dairy, egg, soy, gluten, peanut free. We're free of a few other random things like avocado, peaches, and peas as well.

[Wugmama]

Do you have a rice cooker you can plug in? It might be worth buying an inexpensive one if you don't have one, because you could still use it when you move.

when I was a kid my mom used to make Hawaiian meatballs which was a recipe that she got out of a cook book and it may have even been the one that came w/our microwave. I have that recipe somewhere and can definitely find and post it here for you if you if you are interested. It had meatballs that you put a pineapple in the middle and the sauce was like sweet and sour, it was made with ketchup, sugar and pineapple juice. An old college friend I recently re-found on facebook told me she makes those for her kids now and I was the one who taught here. You may have to have them go longer if your micro is weak. Having that recipe though that is specifically for the microwave may give you some other ideas about what to cook and for how long.



Tracy

[Wugmama]

I'd get a steamer too if you don't have one so you could have veggies in the steamer, rice in the cooker, and something in the micro. And you really need a crock pot, or course. You can often find these items at the thrift store. I got a brand new ice cream maker for $5 at the thrift store, which made sense to me because we let our brand new, wedding gift ice cream maker go in a garage sale years ago after it sat in a cupboard for several years (and I still haven't used the one I bought at the thrift store 6 months ago)

~Tracy

[mamafish9]

I agree - hit a thrift store and buy all the plug in appliances you can find - crock pot, electric frying pan, steamer... You could also get a camp stove and do some cooking outside. However, I am hopeless with a microwave, others may be better!

[kjbrown92]

Bob's Red Mill Cream Buckwheat cereal can be done in the microwave. I agree about the slow cooker and the rice cooker though; that would make things a heck of a lot easier. Are there any efficiency hotel type things that might offer a little better? Where did you move to -- maybe one of us can help you out! I mostly re-heat in the microwave, not cook, so I'm not much help there. Though certainly there are alot of veggies you can steam in the microwave. And you can do fresh fruit without cooking.

Breakfast:
Rice cakes with almond butter
Creamy Buckwheat Cereal
Cream of Rice cereal
cold cereal (Puffed millet, Crispy Rice Cereal, Rice Chex)
Bacon (put it between two sheets of paper towel; but I can't remember how long)

Lunch:
Cold cuts (if you can find the allergen-free kinds) rolled up

[Shelsi]

A crock pot! : of course! That will help a ton. Thankfully dd has been able to tolerate small amounts of corn lately so we should be able to buy just regular meat from the grocery store.

I'm in the middle of nowhere, Clovis, New Mexico. There is sort of a health food store but I checked it out the other day and it was very very disappointing. More vitamins than anything else, 1 small freezer that didn't really have anything in it we could eat, some over priced rice milk ($4/box!), and a few boxes of cereal. The closest town to us is Lubbock, TX and it's a 2 hr drive, or there is Amarillo which is also 2 hrs from here. Yes, this is a special diet nightmare out here.

We've been doing bacon every morning and cereal with rice milk ($1.49/box at Walmart thankyouverymuch lol).

I think I'll buy some of those steam bags for the microwave to steam veggies. I wonder if I could figure out how to cook my rice in the microwave too? I'll have to check the bag and see if there are any instructions. Thanks for the tip on the buckwheat...I have a different brand and it didn't have any microwave directions.

I'm also hoping to find a park that has grills so I could make a bunch of hamburgers and steak but I haven't found one yet. There are very few hotels and none of them have kitchens. We've got some leads for rentals that we can check out tomorrow. Right now I'll take anything that isn't is a super horrible area of town.

[Ruthla]

You can make grains in the microwave. Hot cereals cook up in a minute or two, whole grains cook up in about 20 minutes. Vegetables and fruits can be eaten raw.

IMO, microwaved meat has a horrible, rubbery texture. I suggest you buy yourself a crock pot (or any brand of slow cooker) and make a lot of soups and stews, meatballs, etc. A nice thick stew in the crock pot (chock full of meat and veggies), along with some rice cooked in a microwave or rice cooker, can make for a very tasty, satisfying meal.

I'd suggest skipping the health food store and going to the supermarket for the majority of your foods. You should be able to get raw meats and fresh produce, plus rice and beans. Maybe check out the HFS for other gluten-free grains (simple raw grains) such as millet or buckwheat, or make your life simpler and just stick to rice for now.

[stephienoodle]

I did allergy cooking for myself and my dad in a microwave and toaster oven for a while when his range was broken. A toaster oven works great for meat and fish in small quantities.

[Shelsi]

I wonder if it will be OK to have these appliances going in the hotel when we're not here? Or I guess I could cook stuff in the crockpot at night. A toaster oven would be great but I'm thinking they may not allow it?

[tinyblackdot]

The company that makes the steam bags of veggis, has steam bags of brown rice too! We keep them in the freezer for quick meals.

Also you can get chicken nuggets, steam veggies of all verieties, chicken breasts, hotdogs.

All kinds of soups, we get the pregresso light, chicken and rice. DD loves it.

What about things like chicken chilli? Is there a Cosco near you? They have a lot of quick fix dinner things that are organic and allergy friendlier.