Disposable Meals

My dishwasher recently stopped working. He wanted more money. Ha ha. This lead to a simple equation: Dishwasher on the fritz + hating to wash dishes = devising a way to eat three meals a day without having a mess to clean up afterward. First off, I used plastic forks, knives, spoons (that I conveniently discovered unused and lurking in the cupboard from a party last year!), paper plates, and a roll of paper towels for napkins. Liquids were in disposable cups, drank from water (or beer) bottles, and boxes (such as Vita Coco not wine). Perhaps not so eco-friendly, he wrote cautiously, but dishwashers do use a lot of water anyway, so I suppose it was bit of a trade-off. But do note I used plastic ware that I already had on hand and of course there are many disposable products out that are very eco-friendly! Armed with a fully stocked and carefully thought out refrigerator and larder, please read on to see how I met the daily challenge. Use anti-bacterial, disinfecting cleaning wipes on counter tops, etc. as you go, of course.

P.S. I was able to finally schedule an appointment with the dishwasher repair man for this week! 

MONDAY

Iced Coffee every morning with milk, no sugar; rinsed out the glass, stirred with disposable straw
Breakfast: Fruit smoothie with kale every morning made in Vitamix (or blender) and poured into disposable plastic cup; read here and here for my recipes; rinsed out Vitamix, sometimes power-washed Vitamix on high with a little dishwashing liquid and about a cup of water—cleans perfectly, just rinse out bubbles

Lunch: My tuna with elbow noodles on pita and sprouts went in sandwich bag to office; serves four resulting in leftovers. Individual Fage peach yogurt snack, disposable spoon. Communal Ghiradelli chocolate squares from office.

DAMAGE: 1-a pot to wash that elbow noodles were boiled in; 2-a strainer; 3-a big bowl holding leftovers to later wash

Dinner: I went out for Cuban food at Cuba!

TUESDAY

Iced Coffee

Breakfast Smoothie

Lunch: All went in sandwich bag to office: Leftover tuna from Monday with pita and sprouts. Slice of co-workers birthday cake on office paper plate and plastic fork

Dinner: Left over grilled salmon with coconut rice and black beans from Cuba! Frozen chocolate covered banana from freezer.

WEDNESDAY

Iced Coffee

Breakfast Smoothie

Lunch: Leftover tuna from Monday on pita with sprouts, with hummus straight from the plastic container, with chips for dipping; individual cup applesauce with plastic spoon

Dinner: My Pete-tatouille found here. I sauteed onions and garlic in a pan, stirred with a spatula. Foil went over a cookie sheet and vegetables were roasted and added to pan—foil thrown out and cookie sheet stored away.

DAMAGE: 1-pan to be cleaned later as leftovers were wrapped, remained, and refrigerated; 2- spatula

THURSDAY

Iced Coffee

Breakfast Smoothie

Lunch: Worked from home. Sandwich with peanut butter banana and honey on Pullman’s loaf bread (keep in the freezer but quickly thawed on countertop), Almond “Milk” Smoothie and Nutri Grain apple cinnamon bar

Dinner: Leftover Pete-tatouille with Uncle Ben’s boil-in-a bag rice—no strainer needed, kitchen shears to cut open bag, rinsed! Pita with hummus, tahini, sprouts as a snack later

DAMAGE: 1-hand-washed ice coffee glass; 2-pot used to boil rice; 3-knife

FRIDAY

Iced Coffee

Breakfast Smoothie

Lunch: Worked from home. Pre-packaged egg salad on Pullman’s loaf bread with sprouts; chips; individual cup applesauce with plastic spoon

Dinner: Taco Night! Lightly toasted taco shells on foil—could even use foil for another use! Browned meat in pan, drained, stirred in seasoning mix with spatula, topped with salsa packet and shredded reduced fat Monterey Jack cheese

DAMAGE: 1-pan; 2-strainer; 3-spatula

SATURDAY

Iced Coffee

Breakfast Smoothie

Lunch: Leftover taco beef on over easy egg, topped with low-fat Monterey Jack cheese, low-fat sour cream, crumbled taco shells and chopped scallions (cutting board easily rinsed)

Dinner: Two ears roasted corn on the cob, in the oven on foil-wrapped cookie sheet, quickly devoured; fresh-made purchased lobster ravioli in porcini broth, leftovers put in sealable plastic bag

DAMAGE: 1-pan for egg; 2-spatula for egg; 3-knife for scallions; 4-iced coffee glass pot to simmer broth, then reserved in disposable cup once cooled—I used same pot to cook ravioli

SUNDAY

Iced Coffee

Breakfast Smoothie

Lunch: Part of a can of cheese soup with skim milk over broccoli, rinse microveable dish used for broccoli; frozen chocolate banana

Dinner: Leftover ravioli, reheat in rinsed microveable dish used for broccoli; oven-roasted zucchini and squash (on foil of course), drizzed with olive oil and served with low-fat sour cream, roasted pepper, parsley and chive sauce made with Vitamix—power-washed Vitamix on high with a little dishwashing liquid and about a cup of water—cleans perfectly, just rinse out bubbles

DAMAGE: 1-small pan for soup; 2-microvable dish for broccoli and later ravioli; 3-vessel for herbed sour sauce with roasted pepper, to be washed at a later time.

Whew! Not bad!

Thanks to thisnext.com for the snap! 

Pete-Tatouille!

I created this dish, my own version of ratatouille, to readily dispatch some of the vegetables I had still cooling in the crisper. There aren't any tomatoes in this and I added a jolt of sriracha sauce to the mix--it was absolutely delicious. The Pete-Tatouille can be served as a side dish for four or dinner for two, piled on top of a bed of yellow rice. To be perfectly honest, I was so tempted that I ate much of it right out the pan!

Pete-Tatouille
Serves two for dinner or four as a side dish

Ingredients
2 medium squash, thinly sliced and salted
2 medium zucchini, thinly sliced and salted
1 large sweet onion, thinly sliced
2 cups frozen okra, cooked in microwave
2 cups porcini broth
1 TB anchovy paste, adding to taste
2 TB minced garlic, adding to taste
1 TB unsalted butter
2 TB olive oil
A lashing of sriracha sauce, depending on how hot you like it--some do!

Method
Slice the onion while the other vegetables rest in salt. In a large pan, melt butter and add olive oil over medium-medium low heat. Sautee garlic and anchovy paste briefly, until fragrant. Toss in the onions and cook until slightly softened and yellow. Working in layers, add squash and zucchini, lightly salting and adding fresh ground black pepper to each layer. Add cooked okra. Scrape up good brown bits by deglazing with a decent splash of beer or white wine, if you happen to be drinking it at the time. Or crack some open. Pour in half the porchini broth, reducing, and continue to add the rest of the liquid, slowly simmering down to a slight pool. The luscious vegetables should have all but fallen apart, relenting to the porcini broth. Swirl in the spicy sriracha and adjust seasonings. Do enjoy!