Meals with one ring and microwave only

Thank you SO much-I knew GN would come up trumps. We had a few days at DDs-it felt like "glamping"-I think. We had a couple of lovely meals, risotto type on the ring. I babysat one evening so had a "meal for one" from M&S. Now back at ours for a few days while work presses on-such bliss, an oven AND a dishwasher! And, even better, the fridge on the same floor as the temp kitchen!

Take with you/buy a slow cooker. Also get one of those camping gas hobs.

They come in a plastic case like a little suitcase and use gas canisters the size of an aerosol. Halfords, Argos, most supermarkets in the seasonal isle at the moment.

I've done all sorts on such a camping stove. Bolognese, chilli, chops, in fact it's all the things you usually would do.

Don't forget to take your favourite knife/ chopping board/kitchen implement. I find that other peoples things are never easy to get on with.
Also any spices or condiments that are must haves.

mrsmopp There was a series dramatised on R4x recently from the book called “Cooking in a bedsitter” by Katherine Whitehorn based on her own days learning to cook with a single ring in a bed sitter in the 1960’s?

buy an electric steamer ,you can do potatoes and veg in it all at once,boil eggs and use your one ring for meat or fish and your microwave for stewing fruit or making sponge puddings etc.Theres lots of choice .

This reminds me of my bed sit days in the 60s when all I had was a Baby Belling cooker which consisted of a tiny oven and one hotplate. It had its own cookbook but I can't remember much of what I did. No microwaves then of course!

Our next door neighbours have been having their kitchen refitted recently and without any cooking facilities or means to wash up other than taking it to her mums a few doors away. I've loaned them my halogen cooker which I use almost daily - cooks virtually anything. Hoping to get it back soon as the new kitchen was being done this week and I need it.

Veg in a sour cherry sauce sounds lovely!

We had a week with only a microwave when DH forgot to order our LPG and my cooker had no gas, I was surprised how well we managed and the amount you can cook from fresh in a microwave. Veg do well, rice is so easy I use the microwave to cook it in preference to hob now. This leaves your ring for meat or fish.

I'm a big fan of one pot cooking. I was telling a friend that when making curries I throw the rice in with the other ingredients (near the end) with some extra water. This seems natural to me as the rice absorb all the lovely flavours of the sauce. I'm not sure if this mean I am actually making a curry flavoured risotto. No matter. All I do know is that it's economical from the point of only using one ring and saves on washing up.

Microwavable ready meals.

Buy another portable gas cooker thingy they only cost around £15.00 ( we have 2 that we use when we have power cuts) that will double your options and can be kept in your shed when you go home.
Take your slow cooker with you, you can cook a chicken in that and have plenty of salads with it in this hot weather.
Take your steamer too.

A stir fry, make it on the ring and keep warm in the microwave, then cook noodles on the ring - three minutes

After moving back from abroad I had that problem for 4 months.
At first I just bought packets of eg rice and veg which can be heated up in the microwave. Plus packs of smoked fish , or meat. Plus salads.
Then ventured onto stovetop casseroles, mostly chicken and veg. Plus dumplings towards the end. You could make bolognaise sauce stovetop too. I have a large casserole pot.
I also cooked fish stovetop, either fried in batter, or steamed with some veg.
You can always cook your potatoes, pasta etc separately first and then warm up in the microwave.

Fajitas quick and tasty, stir fries, Caribbean curry on stove top, heat rice in micro, pasta, Spanish omelettes with crusty bread I do a lovely Persian curry with quorn meat balls, and veg in a sour cherry sauce. I cook most of my meals without the oven?
You could make a good Cassole with just a fry pan and lid served with steamed veg done in microwave to be honest the options are endless

Boil water in a pan on your single ring. Add long grain or basmati rice, a little salt and some eggs to boil in amongst the rice.

Just before the rice is cooked add frozen peas. When rice is just cooked and the eggs hard boiled, drain. and add the contents of a tin of tuna chunks.

Peel the eggs, slice and add back to the pan with a squeeze of lemon and some parsley.

Eat this tuna kedgeree hot and the leftovers can become a nice salad dish the next day with the addition of salad leaves and mayonnaise or vinaigrette.