Low Spoon Cooking Resources

I don’t keep fresh produce in the house (it goes bad before I eat it) except for romaine and maybe carrots. So I try to get my veggies/fiber via frozen or canned versions instead.

I’m looking for recipes that involve things like:
- adding 1-2 pantry ingredients (spices, Rotel tomatoes & peppers, cream of something soup, microwave rice)
- adding jarred stuff from the fridge (garlic, onions, kimchi, olive brine) or long lasting ingredients like sour cream or a block of tofu
- ready-made sauces (example: jarred curry plus canned chickpeas, frozen cauliflower, microwave rice)

To qualify as a low spoon “recipe” for me, the max amount of cooking is something like steakhouse mushrooms - you drain a can of mushrooms and sauté with butter, Worcestershire sauce, and garlic powder. This is easy, fast, and doesn’t require fresh ingredients or chopping things.

But if it doesn’t require pans or the stove, that’s ideal! I genuinely love eating a can of corn with Cajun seasoning and that’s it. Another good easy recipe is a block of silken tofu, slice it in the box (so the sauce can penetrate), add soy sauce, sesame oil, and chili crisp, then dump on a plate. No cooking required.

(Disclaimer: I know you can buy pre sauced frozen veggies like Asian green beans or buttered peas or cheese sauce broccoli. But doing it myself will be more flexible and cheaper. I’ve also tried the pre-seasoned canned veggies and beans from Glory, a southern brand, but they’re all too salty and often have an artificial smoke flavor I’m not into.)

These days I had time to prepare myself for bad days. I had some pre cooked veggies in the freezer and cucumbers in the fridge

Salad, smart ones fettuccine & brocolli w. a roll. Not ideal, I know.

It comes together so quickly and I have had so few spoons lately.

I just keep reminding myself, at least you are eating!

I've been making this for dinner and days I don't feel like making food to bring for work. Simple enough in the sense it's just chopped ingredients put inside a bowl.

Couscous 200-300gr, feta cheese chopped into cubes 200gr, 1 chopped cucumber, handful of walnuts, 5 chopped dried tomatoes, 1 tablespoon olive oil, 2 tablespoons of honey.

I have a YouTube where I make neurodivergent cooking and stargate and sci-fi content. On your low spoon days, how long do you spend making or focusing on making your meal and how long for high spoon days?

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This is a combination of left over chicken stock, a coin stock and some water.

Snipped off the bottom of a stalk of xiao bai cai (translated: small white vegetable).

A block of silken tofu and an egg.

And a cake of dried shaved noodles.

Everything dumped into a pot and cooked over a stove.

Added some fried shallots post picture :)

It's raining here and perfect for the weather.

Hi, it's me again. You have been so helpful last time I vented so I come to this community again.

Do you have any meal ideas for me with the following restrictions:

low spoons (ideally nothing more involved than a microwave)

no beans, lentils, onion, garlic, cruciferous vegetables, leeks, scallions, chili, wheat, corn, bell pepper, raw vegetables, mushrooms

plant-based

The only thing I can come up with is

tofu/tempeh + microwavable rice pouches + frozen veg

peanut butter on bread

oats with soy milk and fruit (banana, mandarin oranges seem to be ok, not so sure about apples)

instant mashed potatoes with tofu/tempeh

Do you have any ideas what else I can eat? Is such a diet even nutritionally adequate? If I were to include animal foods that would open up meat, eggs, fish and dairy to me, but I don't want to bc the animals suffer so much 😔

Thank you so much for any ideas and tips!

I had a meal plan for tonight, but 2 pm me was writing checks 5 pm couldn't cash.

Sliced and fried summer sausage. Pretzels are bread! Marinated artichoke hearts are veggie and dressing in one.

Hi all. I have various ailments. I'm excited that I just found this sub and looking for suggestions.

There's a few exceptions but I try to do almost no sugar or simple carbs, except rice which I can have a lot of. A little fruit or starchy vegetables are ok sometimes, or a VERY small amount of honey or some sauce w/ sugar as part of a big recipe might be ok.

I avoid cold/raw stuff, I avoid too much dairy(some is ok, depends on what it is), and I try to get green/fibery veggies in as much as I can. I can do plenty of meat as long as I'm not eating super fatty every meal.

Oh, and I can cook more high effort stuff sometimes, so you can throw those in too if you want, but I really need some easy low spoon stuff that's still kinda healthy to have around for those hard days so I don't keep resorting to frozen pizza and other junk.

Any ideas?

EDIT: I'm running out of spoons tonight to respond to everything, but this is super helpful. Please keep em coming!

Dealing with stinky person brain. Anything could help 🙏🏼

Five minutes. Trader Joe's refried beans are fluffy and don't have that weird "canned refried beans" taste. I just doctor the beans up with a drizzle of olive oil, s&p, garlic and onion powders, plus some taco sauce, stir well and microwave until hot. Layer the nachos and microwave again until the cheese is melty, then top with salsa.

To the person who shared their chicken, pineapple, and rice the other day, thank you. I made mine with teriyaki-flavoured rice, chicken and mayo in a can because that's all I had. Added seaweed sheets.

This is my new lunch every day. I think it's delicious and it was so easy for me to make, bar opening the cans. My hubby opened them for me before he went to work.

AuDHD and with chronic illness, but also struggling with cholesterol and trying to fit more veggies and fiber in.

Do y'all have incredibly simple salads (only 1-3 major non-dressing ingredients) that fit my sensory and spoon criteria?

I can do a little prep and chopping/minor cooking if necessary. But I try as much as possible to limit excessive chopping, because that angers the arthritis in my hands.

I really dislike leafy green vegetables. It's a sensory thing, I guess. I hate chewing leaves. I prefer a salad that is composed of another vegetable/s, like a beet salad, cucumber salad, or tomato salad. 1-2 major salad components preferred.

Most recipes I see on Youtube seem to have like 5-6 things you need to prepare and chop and I'm already exhausted just seeing the video.

I need some crunch to be interested. Hate squishy and mushy for sensory reasons.

I also really don't like buying things that spoil really quickly in the fridge. With limited spoons, I can get overwhelmed and forget, and then they're rotten and the shame spiral starts. I like to buy things that can easily sit for 5-6 days in the fridge without rotting.

Two salads that have worked for me so far: chickpea-tomato salad (crunchy juicy cherry tomatoes, chickpeas from a can, 1-2 chopped radishes. Olive oil, salt, pepper, balsamic). Also a green bean salad (lightly blanched green beans so not raw but still crunchy and juicy. Dressed with olive oil, mustard, salt pepper, chili flakes, lemon, fresh garlic, and sesame seeds).

EDIT: Thank you all for the kindness and helpfulness. This was wonderful. Don't usually have wonderful experiences on Reddit :D

Amazon Kitchen butternut squash soup microwaved with some frozen peas & carrots thrown in. Grilled cheese is already about as easy as it gets but I pre-assembled a few half sandwiches the other day and keep them in the fridge (uncooked) until ready to use.

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Mashed avocado topped with an egg, just add toast for a simple low effort meal with little prep - suits me.

You are the only people who understand the struggle. I have MDD and it's just obscene how much of my energy it takes to cook a simple meal. I made pumpkin, carrot and zucchini soup today and after cleaning up the kitchen, I had to legit lay down for an hour because I was spent. It makes me seriously not want to cook anymore at all and I have a little anxiety around the ingredients in my fridge which need to be cooked before being edible, because of how exhausted I feel afterwards. It seems like it's not even worth it. I mean the soup is fine and all, but instead I could have just gotten some canned soup and saved myself the hassle.

This is a vent, I guess.

Low spoon chili cheese fries, crazy high spoon chili.

I spent all my cooking spoons this weekend making this fantastic chili with lots of leftovers. So today is as low spoon as I can make it: frozen fries, leftover chili, shredded cheese, sour cream, and green onions I also chopped this weekend.

image: sautéed broccoli and diced eggplant in a stir fry sauce, served with white rice, in a white bowl

Toss a piece of breaded chicken in the airfryer and an egg in a pan. The 2 take roughly the same time to cook.
Sometimes I feel adventurous and add ketchup between the chicken and the egg. Not today though

A really low spoon food.

Frozen edamame, microwave, (or boil, according to packet directions).

Serve, eat out of microwave bowl. Add salt if desired.

If you have never had them before, you pop the beans out of the pods, with fingers or teeth. 😁

Wash up one bowl.

Nutrition & Benefits

• Complete Protein: Contains all nine essential amino acids (roughly 18.5g of protein per cooked cup).

• Fiber & Vitamins: Rich in dietary fiber (8g per cup), folate, vitamin K1, iron, and magnesium.

Pods can go in compost, so not wasted if you are a gardener.