Meal preparation when energy is short

Cook once, eat three times

• Batch one pot on your best day of the week and freeze in single portions.
• Label with the date and the contents — treatment brain forgets by Thursday.
• Keep an emergency shelf: tinned fish, beans, tomatoes, eggs, rice, frozen vegetables.
• Accept shortcuts: frozen chopped onions, tinned pulses, ready-cooked rice, rotisserie chicken.

Meals that need almost nothing

• Eggs on toast with grated cheese.
• Tinned beans with tinned tomatoes and a fried egg on top.
• Sardines mashed on bread with lemon.
• Porridge with milk powder, honey and nut butter.
• Instant mash with butter, milk and tinned tuna or minced meat.

Let people help

When someone asks what they can do, ask for food that freezes in single portions. It is the most useful gift in a household with illness in it.