Moving In and Hungry
Dear Corduroy,
I’m getting ready to move into a new apartment and (of course) I’m not looking forward to the process of packing and unpacking. One of the worst parts as far as I’m concerned is arriving at the new place hungry and tired. I won’t want to do much but curl up in the corner—and after the expense of moving, I’d like to avoid ordering in if I can. Do you have any suggestions of easy and quick meals I can actually make after the ordeal of transporting my life to a new city?
Harried and Hungry
Harried–
This is one of the few times when I think that convenience foods make a lot of sense. Really, who wants to go through tthe ordeal of making an elaborate meal when most of your kitchen is still packed in boxes? If you can get to the basics, though, you can have a decent meal without much trouble with a couple packs of ramen noodles and some tuna helper.
There’s no need to limit yourself to what comes straight out of the packages, though, if you don’t have to. Make an effort to get a potato or two, a couple of carrots, and a head of broccoli. These are all vegetables that travel well and can withstand a bit of abuse along the way. Cut them up to fairly small pieces so that they’ll cook quickly. Boil the potato and carrot in the water for your ramen noodles until they’re soft (probably about 5-10 minutes, depending on how small you cut them) and start your tuna helper by sauteeing the broccoli briefly in the pan before following the directions on the box. The end result should be a fairly easy meal at a fairly low price, and only two pans to wash.
Have a question about cooking or food? Email me, and I’ll try to answer your question in a future post.