Since my work injury, I have done minimal cooking. The prep and cleanup always lead to shoulder/neck spasm then elbow and finger pain and finally severe posterior thoracic spasm.

Takeout food is cost prohibitive. Worker's comp payments leave my budget a few hundred dollars short per month than my normal working paycheck.

Any suggestions for easy to prepare healthy meals. I am tired of grilled cheese and cereal.

I was unable to prepare this years Thanksgiving dinner and Christmas dinner isn't looking to hopeful either. The only smell of baking Christmas cookies in my house this year is the Yankee Candle burning in the kitchen.

I have a recipe for chicken wings which I make in the pan. You heat up some oil and just fry them a little until golden, then add 1 cup of water and 1 cup of beer and cover with a lid. By the time all the liquid has gone down they will be very tender and crispy from the beer.

With that you can make roasted potatoes with carrots. I just buy the tiny potatoes that you just cut in half and the tiny carrots in the bags.

just pan fry(not deep fry)? No other seasonings? Covered on stove top, or uncovered. What kind of beer?

Totally forgot about roasted baby potatoes. I love them with garlic and rosemary. Has anyone tried using the jarred minced garlic? Seriously, just a short amount of chopping and reaching in the kitchen causes the whole neck/arm/upper back to spasm and then elbow finger pain follows

I am so fortunate that my teenage sons go grocery shopping with me...No cart to push, items to reach for, or heavy things to carry.

They are not too interested in cooking though

Yes, just pan fry, this is not a deep fry recipe, a couple of spoons of oil will do just to get the meat golden. You would use a lid in the beginning so that the meat can cook in it and then take the lid off. That would create the crust. You can use any kind of beer.

You can use garlic salt instead of real garlic. I don't use any seasonings with the wings, just salt and pepper, the beer will give them the flavor.

I also buy burgers from Fresh and Easy, not sure if you shop there and make curly fries with them. I just bake the curly fries in the oven.

Similar: Roast chicken or pork with potatoes, onion, carrots, whatever. Just have to clean the pan afterward.

pan fried chicken breast. salt, pepper, garlic powder, onion powder. rub in, pan fry in small amount of olive oil, cook about 4-5 minutes on each side. Slice and serve over salad.

Freash & Easy has some great selection of organic meat, pork loin is awesome there. We also get their thai red curry sauce, you just add the chicken strips, make some jasmine rice in the rice cooker and that's it.

I eat oatmeal in the morning, it's a nice variation from cereal.

If you can make a recipe into a one pot, skillet or casserole, that is about the easiest.
For awhile I couldn't even stir ground beef to brown it..

http://www.ivillage.com/30-easy-one-pot-meals/3-a-57563

Speaking of crock pot, you can also make chilli in it and it doesn't require that much work, you can buy most veggies canned.

I am at a point right now where prepping a roast isn't in the cards for me. Standing at the stove to brown ground meat, or standing or sitting to peel vegetables isn't working either. All of these start out pretty well, but end up with my arm/neck/upper back in spasm and elbow and hand pretty painful.

who would have thought that something as simple as peeling and slicing an onion could cause such distress? Well, if serving your family just a sliced onion for dinner was acceptable, then I would be fine...however they do like to have everything that goes with the onion, lol

Cooking is such a simple straightforward thing. It used to be such a relaxing part of my day. It just is not right that putting a simple garden salad together causes spasm.

I need simple simple meals...like the grilled cheese sandwiches that we have been existing...lots and lots of grilled cheese.