pre cooked dinners that taste good after being microwaved

magpye

hi,
I've finally found a job after 22 months unemployed and I'm working evenings (3-midnight). The company dont have full canteen facilites but they do have a few microwaves and I'm looking for some tasty dinner receipes that I can cook before I go in and reheat at dinner time. I worked 3 days last week and just brought in pasta that I mixed with pancetta and courgettes that I fried. Ideally I'm hoping not to eat pasta everyday but I've heard you shouldn't microwave cooked rice. Don't know if thats true.
Anyhow if anyone has any suggestions I'd appreciate it greatly. Thanks,

kneemos

Stews microwave nicely as does spag bol.I always find when reheating if you put it on a low setting it heats more evenly and does'nt dry out.

Hande hoche!

I find a nice Chilli microwaves well. You could try lasagne also.

Cienciano

Leftover curry is great from the microwave

hefferboi

Lasagne!

magpye

kneemos wrote: »

Stews microwave nicely as does spag bol.I always find when reheating if you put it on a low setting it heats more evenly and does'nt dry out.

Cheers for the reheat tip. I've always found microwaving food dries it up. Never considered just lowering the temp

magpye

Thanks folks, chilli and curry seem like a good idea but whats the story with rice. Is it safe to microwave?
Lasagne I love but have never made it. No better time to give it a go I guess.

Stheno

Rice is fine to microwave

kneemos

Stheno wrote: »

Rice is fine to microwave

It's the reheating the op was concerned about and apparently it should be kept in the fridge after cooking,if it's left lying around at room temperature bacteria can grow.Probably a lot safer than crossing the road either way I'd imagine.

Faith

Cook the rice, cool it quickly, and put it in the fridge as soon as possible. Don't allow it to be at room temperature for longer than absolutely necessary. Then reheat thoroughly, and it'll be fine.

That's as far as we can go with food safety advice here.

magpye

cheers for the advice on the rice. it rhymes.

EZ24GET

sometimes it's the way you reheat things. Bread can't be microed long before going hard, but you can take out the filling and do that and then reunite and micro just 10 or 20 seconds to warm bread. Sometimes ( as in baked potatoe it just seems to work better in waxed paper or even wrapped in paper towel. I must mention though the very least popular folks in our cafeteria were the ones who brought in fish, smell lingered and seemed to taint what ever was nuked next.:(:D

bnt

With cooked rice, I find it helps to add a little water before reheating in a microwave, since it seems to me that rice absorbs water even after cooking is done. The steam circulates & heats it.

Bassfish

I think most food heats reasonably well in the microwave, the only things I can think of that don't are chunks of meat like chops or steak, like eating the sole of a legionnaire's boot. Stews, curries, mince based things all come out perfect.
Congrats on the job btw

Fromthetrees

Well done on finding a job after so long.

I love rice, so when I'm super lazy I get the microwave in a bag rice, it's only a euro in supervalu and aldi as well, it also turns out lovely and fluffy.

Yummy rice, I'm gona eat me some later.

kneemos

Little or no nutritional value in rice and pasta for what it's worth.Good for filling the pit though.

livinsane

Congrats on the new job. I bring leftovers to work a lot and find the "wetter" the dish, the better it reheats. My normal leftover lunches are:

Curry
Casserole (I make a very simple chicken thigh and sausage one)
Fish pie (more of a casserole) (recipe in cooking club - (simple to prepare and cooks in 30-45 mins)
Stir fry

Sometimes I just re-heat boiled spuds, melt some cheese in, and have a salad with it and some coleslaw/relish.

magpye

Just a note to all to say thanks for the congrats on the job and mostly to thank you for the advice. Last Sunday I was feeling brave so made lasagne and it was surprisingly easy. With some salad on the side it lasted till Wednesday. This Sunday I'm gonna go with a thai curry.
Thanks again.

Tipperary animal lover

Everything made from minced meat is good to go in the microwave the next day lasagne, chilli, meatballs, savoury mince ... Etc, homemade soups, curries...... Goggle microwaved homemade dinners .....

EZ24GET

I love pork roast cut up with the roasted veggies that cooked around it -carrots, potatoes , onions mixed together and heated in micro the next day. Think it would make a great lunch. Pork is always better next day when fat has drained a bit and vegetable flavors have melded. You'll need a bit of the fat but not much. Cover micro safe plate with plastic wrap and poke some holes in plastic to vent, heat till just warmed through.If your micro doesn't have a turn table you should turn it half way around halfway through heating. Any over cooking in microwave will result in hard dried out food. Better to put it back in for half a minute than to dry it up. I like a good deal of black pepper on this sort of "wet" hash. Yum.

pickarooney

Strangely, the longer the meal takes to cook initially the better it reheats quickly.

jokettle

Jambalaya is a great one for reheating. I made a giant batch last night and am munching away on a portion right now

rubadub

Microwaves are all about water, as people have said stick to wet things. The water readily absorbs microwaves and then in turn heats the food. e.g. if you put in dry flour in a microwave it doesn't really heat well.

Ice does not conduct microwaves well, this is why if you defrost a burger you often get a brown cooked spot on it while the rest is still frozen. The moment a section defrosts it becomes water which readily absorbs microwaves. As the section is so small lots of power goes into it and it cooks and goes hard. So if reheating stuff like pasta or rice it is best to rinse it with water first. Or run a burger under the tap.

magpye wrote: »

Cheers for the reheat tip. I've always found microwaving food dries it up. Never considered just lowering the temp

Most microwaves have a constant power, when you lower the power setting it usually just breaks up the power into on/off intervals, this is why you often hear different noises from a microwave on low powers. At 20% power it might be on for 2 seconds off for 8sec, and then repeats.

If the microwave is on full power you can get hot/cold spots in it, the microwaves concentrate on one wet spot and heat it to death and can dry it out. If you have it on low power it heats this spot, but then the surrounding food has time to conduct this heat away from the hot spot. This is why manufacturers making frozen ready meals often tell you to cook for 3mins, let stand for 2mins, and go again for 4mins. I always stir it in between too, and give it a few more breaks, or set it on lower than they say.

pickarooney

jokettle wrote: »

Jambalaya is a great one for reheating. I made a giant batch last night and am munching away on a portion right now

Mind if I ask for the recipe? I've always wanted to make jambalaya but don't know where to start.

jokettle

Certainly! I'm not a huge fan of seafood so this recipe only has chicken and choizo; it wouldn't be too difficult to add in shrimp or something. Also, usually jambalaya has celery but I never have it in the house so I've substituted with other greens instead.

1-2 chicken breasts cut up
Half a ring of chorizo- take off the paper skin because I think it tastes nicer this way! It is usually edible though, as far as I know
Long grain rice, allow 3 oz per person (I use brown rice, and I don't measure.....just chuck it in!
500 ml of chicken/vegetable stock
Tin of chopped tomatoes
1 onion (optional, but it adds a nice flavour)
1.5-2 peppers
Cut up half butternut squash
Brocolli florets (fresh not frozen)
Any other veg. Asparagus tips are nice, as are frozen peas. Don't overload it too much though!

Need to use a big frying pan.

Fry the chicken and cut up chorizo in a little olive oil (with chopped onion, if using) until browned
Add the tin of chopped tomatoes and all the veg and simmer for 20 min
Add the long grain rice and chicken stock
Simmer for another 15 mins stirring occasionally
You can add some paprika if you like a little more spice; sometimes I put in a bit of turmeric too. It really depends on the flavours you prefer, but sometimes the stock can add enough flavour for people.

If you're using brown rice, start cooking it in the stock just before you cook the chicken and chorizo. Once the tomatoes and veg have simmered for about 15 minutes, add the rice and whatever stock hasn't evaporated, and simmer until the rice is fully cooked.

This should give you 3 generous portions, 4 adequate ones

pickarooney

Great, thanks. Red or green peppers?

jokettle

Whatever you prefer! I usually use red and green, just to keep in sync with the green veg and the red of the tomatoes. It might be nice to use all yellow as well, to keep it colourful, but tbh the flavour of the peppers is overshadowed by the tomato and herbs in the stock so I don't think it matters too much which peppers you use.

christmas2012

Tesco do great thai curries that are microwavable with saffron a very rare spice and its expensive to buy alone..

They have done a great curry selection of late,they seem to be getting better and better!