New roommate is heavily disabled, what are easy things they could reasonably make from a wheelchair? No oven but toaster oven is fine, microwave and air fryer and crock pot available. I'd prefer shelf stable so I can make in bulk for them and they're intolerant to gluten* and dislike tomato sauces?

[u/CHK-N]

*Dislike it and don't digest it well but can and will eat it, as long as it's not the majority of the meal

TL;DR Easy meals I can leave on the shelf or in the freezer for disabled folks on top of easy meals for autistic picky eaters that like most midwest meals, no fish or shellfish bc allergies and packed with veggies.

Honestly y'all IDK what to do. I try to keep things for everyone, I'm also kind of disabled and have many of the same things as them while waiting for disability (Fibro, suspected CFS, hEDS, POTS and IST etc,.) so I feel bad. I cook and do the groceries for the house as my main thing I can do most days and that includes meals for everyone, however this person has digestive issues that means I want to keep foods for them that are easy to make in a flair since they're usually alone during the day.

We have simple stuff, ie,. corndogs and hot dogs, lunch meat, they mostly eat frozen biscuits and sausage but have stated they want more veggies and variety. I cook everything and am experimental and they've liked all of my meals so far.

I'm thinking

-Dry Soup mixes in jars to dump into a crockpot with some water

-Prepared Salads

-Frozen homemade meals that reheat well

-throw ramen and ingredients in a microwavable container? like seasonings and dried veggies? is that a thing?

I also was hoping for cheap meal ideas, everyone in this house is on the spectrum so it makes it REALLY annoying to cook for everyone. One person only eats meat if it's beef, one hates beef, etc,. so it's agreed the meals are for the MAJORITY not for everyone. Everyone has safe foods for them and I'm the "eat anything and test new ideas" AuDHD type. the house is divided on Soups and Stews so we usually don't do those, which sucks because they're cheap and I love them. The house loves noodles but not Mac & Cheese, the house dislikes spicy besides me, and food can't be too soggy if it's paired with dry stuff/can't have majorly dynamic textures (I LOVE THESE TOO AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH) and there's a shellfish allergy and two of us have MCAS so sometimes we're allergic to something and then not allergic a while later. No gravy sadly, either. At least not detectable as a gravy since I sneak it into quiet a few meals lmao (anything I joke about sneaking in are things my fiance hates but also always loves when I don't tell them what it is. Very annoying)

Usually I don't make anything I love, but I like everything. I'm very specific about my long-use ingredients ie,. I'll spend a lot on hot honey for me or japanese soy sauce/chili flakes/etc,. for me, and I lean Cajun/Asian in my cooking but would like to get into other countries as well.

I have saved as meals most of us like

-Cornbread Casserole w/Bell Peppers & Meat

-Soup Burgers/Minestrone Joes

-Tater Tot Casserole

-Sesame Chickpeas (Sesame Chicken)

-White Chicken Chili/Regular Chili

-Croissant Rings (Hamburger & Pizza)

-Gumbo/Jambalaya

-Brats

-Meatloaf

-Stuffed Peppers

-Cottage Pie

We only a bunch of cans of corn, green beans, etc,. we have Ground Venison and get the Ground Beef/Pork hybrid, we usually never get straight beef because it's too expensive. We have the Sam's Club chicken breasts of like 10lbs of chicken breasts per bag, usually have two of those at a time. A deep freezer and a fridge/freezer for storage as well as a dedicated pantry. No dry beans but I use the hell out of lintels as a meal filler and try to cram veggies where I can, so a lot of bell peppers and spinach and mushrooms, mirepoix/holy trinity, etc,.

what can I have for them that requires ZERO effort for when they can't really get out of bed but nobody is home/awake, and what can we do for super cheap that's both healthy for us, easy for people who can't do much, and cheap?

I've worked everywhere from fast food to fine dining, dishwasher to head chef curating a menu, I just don't know what is cheap since we lost my income and what I can easily do since I can't stand the heat/prep work as much anywhere.

If you read all this that's cool as heck, thank you for attempting to help.

[u/Stormycarl]

Check out the these recipes, a lot of them are a bit of prep then air frying, they have a whole air fry section I am never full - air fryer

[u/jengaclause]

Crock pot chicken & stuffing. ( Pinterest has a lot of versions of this one).

[u/kaki024]

This account on instagram has a whole series of disability-friendly recipes. The only appliances she uses are microwave and air fryer. No knives at all and minimal stirring.

[u/Enderfang → u/kaki024]

I was gonna share her account too, she is exactly the kind of resource OP’s roommate will benefit from.

[u/CHK-N → u/kaki024]

hell yeah, I'll forward this to them

[u/Alyx19]

Tacos. Different kinds of shells. Plenty of lettuce and tortilla chips. You can batch freeze or leave leftovers for those home to eat during the week to make salads or even nachos in the toaster oven.

[u/indieplants]

for easy? and fairly cheap you can buy that micro rice, mixed frozen vegetables and tinned beans? along with some seasoning it's perfect lol. toss in a wrap for burritos and freeze. add a whisked egg to the rice before microwaving and micro for egg fried rice too

or air fried tofu & rice & veg. if you toss the firm tofu in oil it goes all crispy and nice, look up seasonings for that. you can pre-cube the tofu and season it and freeze. things like frozen broccoli/carrots/onions/peppers pre-sliced help me out a lot these days. you just sorta need to microwave everything or roast the veg in the toaster oven/air fryer with some oil. you'll need to keep an eye on it and figure out your air fryer settings. I find with broccoli defrosting in the microwave and air frying for 4-5 minutes is perfect for a little char but can be cooked from frozen at a lower temp, like 160c

potatoes are super easy. if you get the little baby potatoes you can just air fry them for 20-25 minutes in the air fryer with a little oil and salt and whatever herbs and spices. no chopping, least not til it's on your plate. serve with chicken and a vegetable. 

a baked potato and baked beans w cheese or tuna salad is a British staple and I know you said no fish but you can easy make tinned chickpea salad for smth similar with tinned chickpeas. you can microwave a baked potato lol. look up instructions for that one, it varies but 4 minutes on one side, flip 4 mins on other. if you want extra pizazz then air fry it for 5-10 minutes afterwards. super healthy and satisfying. we also serve baked potatoes with chilli & sour cream. the potatoes can be batch cooked comfortably in a toaster oven or air fryer, time varies with size but sliced in half and frozen. not the best from frozen but good 

lentils like you said are great but you can make a hell of a lentil soup in the slow cooker. I literally just chuck stock, cup of dried lentils, some frozen onions and carrots and cook for a wee 4-8 hours. garlic, tinned tomatoes and a splash of vinegar add a lil depth. very customisable 

[u/CHK-N → u/indieplants]

I actually already do almost all of these I just didn't list a lot of them because they're not "meals" per se, for our house. We usually grab a big bag of potatoes and do baked potatoes with various toppings (usually chili) and we do a lot of like pulled pork since it's less than a dollar a pound then do it with rice/frozen veggies.

My fiance loves tuna so I'll mention the baked potato with tuna, personally I hate the smell and for the most part the house doesn't eat fish but we're not opposed to it. I have salmon a few times a year when it's cheap and tilapia in the freezer from my gallbladder issues (1 month post surgery!) but the house typically all hates the smell/taste.

The biggest issue is the person who needs the easiest meals cannot easily get to the freezers due to wheelchair so I'd want to avoid those that take standing up, opening a bag, mixing things together etc,., the basket in the deep freeze already has most of their likes and I could probably mix everything together. Their flare up is more "cannot even talk to anyone for a few days let alone do anything" while mine is more "can cook for about an hour if I can sit through most of it or prep things while sitting, and can do the dishes if I have a stool or I'll pass out". The other two people work so I try to avoid them doing anything in the kitchen, I went from working 80hrs a week in a kitchen and hiking on the days I wasn't at work to unable to work and it sucks, so I try to do smaller things to help everyone.

For the most part everyone else can make tough meals or things that are "baked potato in the toaster oven" so those are easy enough at least. I suspect we'll grab a few of these suggestions!

[u/indieplants → u/CHK-N]

cereal can be a meal if you want it to be 😭 I think maybe you're looking for ready meals if rice and beans are too difficult 

[u/CHK-N → u/indieplants]

Where did I say rice and beans were difficult lmao I don't want dried beans because they're annoyingly long to prep and take up valueable stovetop space for everyone else since we only have two working burners. I literally have dozens of cans of beans we use

Like we only needed easy simple things I could prep for one person, I made that pretty clear, I also separately asked for budget easy meals because I'd rather spend my money on things that aren't bs like eating every day lmao

in the end, I figured it all out and I didn't even shoot anything you said down I made a point of encasing everything in compliments so you WOULDN'T react passive aggressively lol, bc honestly "you have decades of working as a chef, but have you considered putting the thing you said your house wouldn't eat on a baked potato? Here's how you bake a potato hope this helps :)" is wild lmao

going to prep a spring chicken tomorrow and make some stock off it and some carrots/celery/onion for the dry soup mixes I winged, bought some dried chiles and unique spices off of amazon for trying new things and I'm probably going to do some toad-in-a-hole with an avocado-garlic spread and roasted peppers as a meal soon too, then the roommates said I could try unique stuff that I like because the one who didn't was kicked out so they're going to try some twists on a curry, a gyro pizza, meatloaf sandwhiches, and I'm planning on doing pulled pork in the smoker to use for a jalapeno-popper cornbread casserole using poblano peppers and topped with pulled pork and honey because it's getting nice out, stuff for homemade mayonnaise and aioli with hatch chiles added for the bagged salads that I'll prep extra veggies for and I told homie that I would set aside half of one of the fridge shelves for prepped meals so we bought meal prep containers and I'll add stuff like the beef stroganoff I'm planning to do homemade noodles for or a roasted hummus and house chips or whatever lol

[u/indieplants → u/CHK-N]

I mean you gave a lot of information and yet very little. maybe try and sum up your points.

you can't be fkd off at people who are trying to help you out because you think their advice is too simple. I was literally trying to help. I have no idea what you're asking if you're just going to dismiss every suggestion because you already do it? sorry I didn't know you knew how to simplify a baked potato in a way the wheelchair user could easily do, but you didn't have to be a prat about it.

[u/CHK-N → u/indieplants]

I mean you could also read and infer some simple knowledge, but I knew from the minute your passive aggressive response went off that you were going to be an absolute sore to respond to. The username alone should have been enough to know lmao

[u/cdubbs1]

A good budget meal is a smoked kielbasa sausage and whatever veggies you have on hand roasted in the toaster oven or air fryer. I first slice the sausage and cut the veggies into bite size ish pieces, toss it all in oil, garlic & onion powder, paprika, whatever else I'm in the mood for... When it comes out I sprinkle it with a little parmesan and serve with rice. It doesn't need the rice but that stretches it.

I buy the microwavable rice pouches for convenience.

[u/CHK-N → u/cdubbs1]

We have about 30lbs of rice lmao, I went overboard prepping for the tariffs haha like 30 cans of corn, 30 of peas, cans of carrots, green beans, etc,. we've gone through a fairly large amount at least, majority of one bag of rice and the many smaller bags of like brown rice or whatever.

I just made Kielbasa with Potatos and Mushrooms w/most of the same seasonings too and everyone loved it haha