Easy Peas Recipes

It’s no fun being sick. I was recently home ill for over a week and my energy level was below zero. Luckily, my husband cooked for us (He’s a pretty good cook!). If he hadn’t helped, we would have probably eaten bread-and-butter sandwiches all week. That’s how miserable I was. But, this isn’t a pity party for me (wait, are there presents?). I’d just like to share with you some tips, some ideas, for how you can still have nutritious meals even when you’re down.

Note: If you are ill (coughing, sneezing, fever, etc.), you should not be cooking, if at all possible. If you absolutely must prepare food, I suggest that you wear a face mask, wash your hands often, cover your face when coughing or sneezing, and wear disposable gloves. Wipe down tables and countertops with disinfectant spray or wipes after preparing food and wear gloves to set the table.

Call in the cavalry.
You may be Wonder Woman or Super Man in your household, but when you’re sick, you can take off that super hero cape! Like I mentioned, my husband cooked for us when I was sick. He actually cooks a lot, especially when my work schedule is busy. This is a real blessing. Family members are your best allies. Maybe you’re lucky enough to have your mom or dad nearby who can bring dinner over – or a friend, a church buddy – whoever can take that burden off of you while you recover. Don’t be shy to call in the cavalry. They can set the table, serve food, clean up and do dishes, too.

Plan and prep
This goes along with The Three P’s; Plan, Prep and have Patience. Well, if you’re in bed sick, you don’t have a choice but to be patient, right? So, let’s talk about planning and prepping.
We all hear about setting something aside for a “rainy day.” Why not set aside a prepped dinner in the freezer for a rainy day? Or, a runny nose… Ready-to-heat-and-eat meals are perfect for days when you’re down. If you prepare them with good quality, whole ingredients, they will be better for your health as you recover, too. Consider making a meal “kit” – a set of raw ingredients that can later be thawed and cooked to create a dish. Insert a recipe card with the cooking instructions into a sandwich baggie and package it with the meal kit.
Disposable aluminum pans are a good way to store frozen meal kits and casseroles. The whole pan goes from freezer to oven. Just be sure to include cooking instructions – either from frozen state, from thawed state, or both.
Of course, this means that you need to do some planning and prepping before you get sick. Since we can’t always know when that will be, it’s a good idea to always have a couple meals in the freezer, ready to come out and save the “rainy” day.

One thing that I will add here: What I’m talking about are dinners that are made specifically to freeze right away for eating later. Leftovers don’t really fall into this category, unless they are frozen on the day the meal is made. You should not keep leftovers in the fridge for more than three or four days. After that, they should be discarded. Don’t freeze leftovers that have been kept in the fridge for more than a few days – freezing food does not kill bacteria. So, if you make too large a quantity of food, follow the proper procedures to package it and store it that day so that you can safely eat it at a later time. By the way, food that is packaged properly and is not spoiled can last three to four months in the freezer and retain a reasonable quality of taste and texture.

Get creative with convenience foods
I have a problem with this idea for quite a few reasons. One is that convenience foods tend to have added salt, sugar and ingredients that I can’t pronounce, like Butylated Hydroxytoluene. But, there are going to be days that convenience (pre-packaged or factory-frozen) foods can keep you from eating bread-and-butter sandwiches when you have no other options. Just be aware of a couple of things when you shop.
1. Check the labels – less ingredients and more words you know (like potato and carrot) are better options for a meal .
2. Also check salt content – look for less than 600 mg of sodium per serving. Check for added sugars, too. Less than 10% of the total daily calories in a food item should come from added sugars.
3. Pack in vitamins and fiber – Choose healthier convenience foods and prepare them with fresh ingredients. For example, consider vamping up a convenience food (steam bagged brown rice) with another convenience item (canned tuna) and a little produce (celery, tomatoes, broccoli). Add herbs for a little zip. Mixing fresh and convenience ingredients can take a ho-hum dinner to A-Ha! In fact, this option is the way many of us normally make our weekly dinners. There’s nothing wrong with that, but remember that healthier meals are made with whole foods.

Getting rest, drinking liquids, and following doctor’s orders are paramount to getting well. Don’t forget to eat the healthy food that your body also needs to recover. Now is the time to prepare some rainy-day freezer meals and have a plan for when you’re down.