low energy/mobility food suggestions that aren't ramen for chronically ill and disabled people, taken from my personal recipe book:
- meal replacement shakes my beloved holy shit seriously. keep some around for when you are too sick to move, cook or eat, be it in powder form, or the already made shakes. walmart and other places have generic slim fast and ensure shakes that are way cheaper and just as good. there is also carnation instant breakfast, though they are owned by nestle so if you dont want to support them, avoid that brand.
- boxes of individual sachets of cream of wheat and oatmeal that can be microwaved. no lots or pans just a nice filling meal. cream of wheat can be prepared savory or sweet also!
- stir fry. very simple concept, take whatever vegetables you actually like eating, frozen veggies work great they make stir fry veggie kits, grab a bottle of sauce and whatever protein if you want any. one pan meal unless you also plan on adding rice or noodles, those will bulk it out and make it last for longer, but making rice without a rice cooker is very intensive. this also requires being able to stand or at least be seated in front of your stove for about 20 minutes on average.
- garlic bread or texas toast with cheese. take a thick slice of bread, put some butter, garlic and shredded cheese, place in the oven on a low temp (~350° F depending on your oven) for a few minutes. violá
- tuna, turkey, ham, etc melts. prepare your favorite sandwich like you would normally, add some cheese, butter the bread on the outsides and cook like grilled cheese. makes you feel way more satisfied than you would with a cold sandwich, makes a good low effort warm dinner (great with soup!)
- hummus. keep hummus around if you like it. you can use it as a spread on sandwiches to give them extra protein and you can also just have hummus with bread, bagels, chips, veggies, etc. it's versatile, low energy to prepare and it gives you good energy
- potato salad, macaroni salad, mashed potatoes, coleslaw and any other large "family" side dishes that can be bought from the deli at a supermarket. very filling, zero effort and they last a while
- have one type of bread for sandwiches and a nicer type for toast. trust me on this one. toast is a great meal, but you want your bread to not be sandwich bread. get a loaf of italian bread, sourdough, rosemary bread, or any other cheap large loaves of bread. toast that for just a few minutes in the oven/toaster oven. you will understand the difference when you do.
- canned baked beans or my favorite, canned yams. these will both fill you right up and make you feel like you're having a holiday dinner, baked beans are good at room temperature too if you have no spoons to cook. canned yams/sweet potatoes can be microwaved and have butter, and sugar if you like thrown on top. I've eaten just this as a meal so many times. cans of refried beans are also a blessing to have around
- cheese of all kinds, especially cottage cheese. sometimes I can't figure out what to eat so i just eat some damn cheese and it works. yogurt is also really good to keep around, if you like it, as it also requires no preparation for the most part unless you like to add stuff to it
- keep a box of granola bars or fruit bars around. having a hearty filling snack for when you can't find the energy to do much will save you. loose granola is also a real banger
