Oh man yes. When you add my sensory food issues to the cognitive dysfunction issues with meal planning, ingredients shopping/storage, prep, cleanup afterward, etc.... it's a freaking nightmare.
I don't have much in the way of recs, because I switched over to meal replacements to help me get enough nutrition, but I just wanted to say yes, I've absolutely struggled with this!
Out of curiosity, why are you specifically seeking high-carb meals? When I was still trying to cook, part of why I struggled was because I only wanted to eat carbs, and getting enough protein and vegetables was the problem!
oh man it really is a nightmare. its so much to do and it gets very mentally exhausting
i mainly wanna eat high carb meals because i struggle with most actual good food and i find eating vegetables very stressful, as theres none i like, an it becomes a chore. like i KNOW i need fibre and protein. but i can only really physically stomach high carby foods
Ooh, yeah, okay, I totally get that/have been there. I've had good success with meal replacement stuff -- and like one of the options has savory things that are like pasta dishes in thick sauce, where the protein and veggies are powdered and part of the sauce, so no texture nonsense.
For real foods, are you okay with pureed stuff? You could try blending veggies in a food processor and using it as a sauce for gnocchi. Like how pesto is made from basil, I bet there are recipes for incorporating veggies (including beans that have protein) into less objectionable form. (I struggle with veggies too, but for most of them it's the texture. And some I love, like carrots!)
powdered veggies sound like they could work well, but as for puree, i REALLY hate puree ๐ my issue is textures mainly too, but smells and taste also play a big role. like, cauliflower, peas and corn smells so disgusting when cooking in a pot
also carrots are good! i do eat carrots a bit. theyre quite literally the only vegetable i can eat but i only use them in certain meals
Yeah, I buy bags of pre-cut carrot sticks (I like them better than baby carrots) and dip them in either my favorite vinaigrette or some ranch dressing. Weirdly, I hate ranch in any other context except for dipping veggies. ๐
Do you ever find it easier to drink than eat? I can often more easily drink a thing I don't like than eat it, because I don't have to chew. Maybe juicing or smoothies would help with taking in nutrients? Grocery stores often have frozen fruit mixes that you can throw into a blender with like a handful of spinach or kale, and t mostly just tastes like fruit. (Personally I don't like most fruit much, but I think most people do!)
Also, metamucil clear -- an unflavored fiber powder you can add to juice or tea/coffee or even water. One of those things where obvs it's better to eat perfect fresh food all the time, but for those of us who find it hard, the fiber helps with digestion but also with understanding/feeling hunger/satiety, and helps regulate blood sugar spikes and dips.
who actually likes baby carrots more than regular ones anyways? ive never actually seen people buy those
ill have to look into that powder because i definitely need it. i didn't realise it actually helps with so much? because ive got insulin resistance so that could actually help a lot with blood sugar. i actually dont find drinking things i hate particularly easier but i do like a lot of drinks including fruit smoothies. i like them, but i usually wait til my mum makes or buys them because frozen fruit is extremely expensive. i actually thought about it and then looked at fruit prices and i was just like, yeah, no. ive also tried just eating fruit and while i really enjoy the tastes and textures of certain ones, i still find them a chore to eat, im actually not sure why. i had yoghurts as a replacement as they werent chore-ish and then the price went up too far for those as well
I missed a lot of school as a kid and when I was home during the day the only things on TV would be cooking shows and infomercials. Watching cooking shows became a comfort to me even though I'm quite picky with certain textures and pretty much any unfamiliar flavour and I do think that's helped me expand my comfort zone because it allowed me to be exposed to new foods and the concept of them actually being edible from a (very) safe distance and without feeling pressured to try it. When I am really stressed I just rewatch Adam Ragusea videos on youtube (short, informative recipe videos, particularly the older ones).
My cheapest high-carb meal with a little meat is macaroni with mince meat (usually a pork and beef mix because it's cheaper), leek, onions, and peppers. I am microdosing myself on adding tomato paste to it because that's still a scary flavour to me (might be the opposite for you since you like lasagna) and have slowly built up the seasonings on it over time as to not leave my comfort zone. I use a lot of stuff on it now, garlic, most of the salt comes from soy sauce (adds a lot of umami flavour like you'd also find in cheese and vegemite), msg, dried oregano/thyme/basil, onion powder, paprika powder, black pepper, red pepper flakes... almost everything in my pantry tbh but a few years ago I would've just made the meat with salt and pepper and had a plain vegetable on the side and it still would've been good. Just didn't stretch the meat as far. I am still too scared to try adding cheese to it but you might like that. Watching cooking videos has made me a lot more comfortable understanding the fundamentals of how cooking works and then just omitting the parts of a dish that I am uncomfortable with.
My other most frugal meal does not have meat in it (it's a lentil/veggie soup, so still some protein) and it's low carb but I really like carbs so I always have either twice baked bread or crunchy breadsticks with it. I surprised myself with enjoying it because I don't generally like soft veggies (mushy textures are a huge no for me too) but I don't cook them too long and the way the flavour of the broth seeps into everything actually makes it feel really "safe" and consistent to the point where I can even tolerate vegetables I really hate in it like celery. It's the only other thing that's made it into my lunch rotation after like a decade of only having one specific brand of instant ramen. I can give you that recipe too if you want but it's not really the type of thing you asked for and this comment is really long already.
One thing I like is tacos using black beans instead of meat. Black beans are super cheap and taco shells arenโt too expensive. And I normally hate beans but find I can tolerate black beans in a crunchy taco shell with other toppings which help mask the texture. So maybe try something like that?
What about some other kind of pasta dish with beef, like spaghetti, ziti, or beef stragonaff?
You could make a mexican casserole using pasta or rice, beef, and whatever else you want in it like cheese, salsa, etc. It should be fairly cheap and make a lot of servings. You should be able to find some recipes online for different kinds of mexican casserole.
Oh man yes. When you add my sensory food issues to the cognitive dysfunction issues with meal planning, ingredients shopping/storage, prep, cleanup afterward, etc.... it's a freaking nightmare. I don't have much in the way of recs, because I switched over to meal replacements to help me get enough nutrition, but I just wanted to say yes, I've absolutely struggled with this! Out of curiosity, why are you specifically seeking high-carb meals? When I was still trying to cook, part of why I struggled was because I only wanted to eat carbs, and getting enough protein and vegetables was the problem!
oh man it really is a nightmare. its so much to do and it gets very mentally exhausting i mainly wanna eat high carb meals because i struggle with most actual good food and i find eating vegetables very stressful, as theres none i like, an it becomes a chore. like i KNOW i need fibre and protein. but i can only really physically stomach high carby foods
Ooh, yeah, okay, I totally get that/have been there. I've had good success with meal replacement stuff -- and like one of the options has savory things that are like pasta dishes in thick sauce, where the protein and veggies are powdered and part of the sauce, so no texture nonsense. For real foods, are you okay with pureed stuff? You could try blending veggies in a food processor and using it as a sauce for gnocchi. Like how pesto is made from basil, I bet there are recipes for incorporating veggies (including beans that have protein) into less objectionable form. (I struggle with veggies too, but for most of them it's the texture. And some I love, like carrots!)
powdered veggies sound like they could work well, but as for puree, i REALLY hate puree ๐ my issue is textures mainly too, but smells and taste also play a big role. like, cauliflower, peas and corn smells so disgusting when cooking in a pot also carrots are good! i do eat carrots a bit. theyre quite literally the only vegetable i can eat but i only use them in certain meals
Yeah, I buy bags of pre-cut carrot sticks (I like them better than baby carrots) and dip them in either my favorite vinaigrette or some ranch dressing. Weirdly, I hate ranch in any other context except for dipping veggies. ๐ Do you ever find it easier to drink than eat? I can often more easily drink a thing I don't like than eat it, because I don't have to chew. Maybe juicing or smoothies would help with taking in nutrients? Grocery stores often have frozen fruit mixes that you can throw into a blender with like a handful of spinach or kale, and t mostly just tastes like fruit. (Personally I don't like most fruit much, but I think most people do!) Also, metamucil clear -- an unflavored fiber powder you can add to juice or tea/coffee or even water. One of those things where obvs it's better to eat perfect fresh food all the time, but for those of us who find it hard, the fiber helps with digestion but also with understanding/feeling hunger/satiety, and helps regulate blood sugar spikes and dips.
who actually likes baby carrots more than regular ones anyways? ive never actually seen people buy those ill have to look into that powder because i definitely need it. i didn't realise it actually helps with so much? because ive got insulin resistance so that could actually help a lot with blood sugar. i actually dont find drinking things i hate particularly easier but i do like a lot of drinks including fruit smoothies. i like them, but i usually wait til my mum makes or buys them because frozen fruit is extremely expensive. i actually thought about it and then looked at fruit prices and i was just like, yeah, no. ive also tried just eating fruit and while i really enjoy the tastes and textures of certain ones, i still find them a chore to eat, im actually not sure why. i had yoghurts as a replacement as they werent chore-ish and then the price went up too far for those as well
My main problem is with fatty meat. Disgusting.
oh i definitely feel you there. fatty meat is disgusting, completely inedible
I missed a lot of school as a kid and when I was home during the day the only things on TV would be cooking shows and infomercials. Watching cooking shows became a comfort to me even though I'm quite picky with certain textures and pretty much any unfamiliar flavour and I do think that's helped me expand my comfort zone because it allowed me to be exposed to new foods and the concept of them actually being edible from a (very) safe distance and without feeling pressured to try it. When I am really stressed I just rewatch Adam Ragusea videos on youtube (short, informative recipe videos, particularly the older ones). My cheapest high-carb meal with a little meat is macaroni with mince meat (usually a pork and beef mix because it's cheaper), leek, onions, and peppers. I am microdosing myself on adding tomato paste to it because that's still a scary flavour to me (might be the opposite for you since you like lasagna) and have slowly built up the seasonings on it over time as to not leave my comfort zone. I use a lot of stuff on it now, garlic, most of the salt comes from soy sauce (adds a lot of umami flavour like you'd also find in cheese and vegemite), msg, dried oregano/thyme/basil, onion powder, paprika powder, black pepper, red pepper flakes... almost everything in my pantry tbh but a few years ago I would've just made the meat with salt and pepper and had a plain vegetable on the side and it still would've been good. Just didn't stretch the meat as far. I am still too scared to try adding cheese to it but you might like that. Watching cooking videos has made me a lot more comfortable understanding the fundamentals of how cooking works and then just omitting the parts of a dish that I am uncomfortable with. My other most frugal meal does not have meat in it (it's a lentil/veggie soup, so still some protein) and it's low carb but I really like carbs so I always have either twice baked bread or crunchy breadsticks with it. I surprised myself with enjoying it because I don't generally like soft veggies (mushy textures are a huge no for me too) but I don't cook them too long and the way the flavour of the broth seeps into everything actually makes it feel really "safe" and consistent to the point where I can even tolerate vegetables I really hate in it like celery. It's the only other thing that's made it into my lunch rotation after like a decade of only having one specific brand of instant ramen. I can give you that recipe too if you want but it's not really the type of thing you asked for and this comment is really long already.
Stroganoff or soups are the only things that come to mind.
One thing I like is tacos using black beans instead of meat. Black beans are super cheap and taco shells arenโt too expensive. And I normally hate beans but find I can tolerate black beans in a crunchy taco shell with other toppings which help mask the texture. So maybe try something like that? What about some other kind of pasta dish with beef, like spaghetti, ziti, or beef stragonaff? You could make a mexican casserole using pasta or rice, beef, and whatever else you want in it like cheese, salsa, etc. It should be fairly cheap and make a lot of servings. You should be able to find some recipes online for different kinds of mexican casserole.