When You're Just too Pooped to Cook

Getting the energy to cook after a long day is tough enough for anyone and it can be even tougher when you are a caregiver. Here are some ideas that I hope you will find helpful when you're just too pooped to cook.

One of the things that I found that was the most helpful, while I was caring for my Mom and  for my husband in two different households, was when her friends brought over care packages of frozen food that they had made for her. Fortunately Mom had a small chest freezer for all the goodies and I was also able to snag some for the husband. It was so nice to be able to pull something out of the freezer and know that the food had been made with love, not too salty for her, unlike frozen dinners from the supermarket, and that all I had to do was pop it in the microwave or oven. One of my husband's best friends brings over sugar free baked goodies that his wife has made. This is something that you can have family and friends do when they ask what can they do for you when they come by to visit. If the person you are caring for has dietary restrictions, let people know what they are and I'm sure that they'll happily adapt their recipes. 

After my husband got out of hospital the last time, I was working occasionally and was worried that he would not be eating lunch as he was still weak and that he didn't have the strength to stand long enough to make himself something to eat. I solved that problem by making him a lunch box that could be kept near him with a frozen juice box , a sandwich and a dessert.  By lunch time the juice box had thawed (mostly) and the sandwich was still cold. I also keep snacks in the fridge that are easy for him to grab.

 Because I was worried,  the social worker at the hospital also gave me the number for meals-on-wheels and I was seriously considering getting the service. I went to the website for an agency that has the program for my area and looked at the menu. I discovered that the hot lunch program is kind of potluck, as in you get whatever they made in the kitchen that day and have no control on any dietary restrictions, but their frozen meal program has a range of meals for special diets such as gluten free,lactose free, renal diets and for diabetes. The meals looked really good and I was tempted to get them for myself, I didn't, but I was tempted. You can find a local meals-on-wheels by looking them up on the internet.

Slow cookers have also been a godsend for me. You plunk the ingredients of whatever it is you want in the cooker, turn it on low and, depending on what it is, between 4-12 hours later you have a hot meal. If you put in on in the morning, you have a hot dinner or, if you put it on in the evening, a hot breakfast.  I like making chili and stews but I have also made things like rice, pot roast, pork chops, scalloped potatoes and pulled pork. The next thing I'm going to try is bread in the slow cooker. I've looked at a lot of recipes, particularly from the All Recipes website, and am planning on trying many more. I'll be adapting the recipes I try for DH's dietary restrictions and I hope they'll turn out well.

 Slow cookers are also useful for freezer cooking. As there is only the two of us, I find that there are a lot of leftovers when I use the slow cooker even though I bought myself the smallest one I could find in my neighborhood (It's 4 quarts). I divvy up the leftovers into either freezer bags or those 1 lb aluminum containers from the dollar store that remind me of take out containers. I let them cool in the fridge and then toss them in the freezer. When I'm too tired to cook all I have to do is pull it out of the freezer, heat it up and I know that they'll work with the DH's diet, I'm saving money and eating healthier than the frozen meals from the supermarket.

Keeping meals ready in the freezer will help you and your loved ones eat well and healthily when you are too tired to cook. Eating well will keep you from getting sick and help keep you going.