8 Cheap & Easy Meals for the Chronically Ill/Disabled

I know that for disabled and chronically ill people like myself, getting nutritious meals that are affordable can be a big challenge. Here’s some quick and easy recipes that I personally resort to. Most of these were taught to me by my Mexican mother who has severe mobility disabilities and chronic illness so they’re all quite minimal effort. Look to the bottom of the post for some more general cooking tips.

Oatmeal with fruit
Ingredients:
-Oatmeal
-Water
-Agave or Brown Sugar (Optional)
-Bananas, Apples, or other fruit of choice

Directions:
Boil water in a kettle and pour over oatmeal in a bowl, add enough boiling water to cover over all the oatmeal. Place a plate over top the bowl for 3 minutes to let the oatmeal steep. Uncover, and add brown sugar, agave, and fruits like banana slices! Ready to enjoy.

“Mexican Eggs”
Ingredients:
-2 or 3 eggs
-Green Cabbage
-Salsa (optional)
-Corn tortilla chips (optional)
-Olive oil

Directions:
Chop cabbage, or use pre-chopped cabbage, and add a handful into a frying pan with olive oil lightly drizzle on. Start pan at a medium heat, and once warm crack 2 to 3 eggs onto the pan. Use spatula to mix with cabbage until the eggs are solid. Serve with corn tortilla chips and tomato salsa, or alone!

Classic Quesadilla and a side salad
Ingredients:
-Flour Tortilla
-Pre-shredded Monterrey Jack (optionally with jalapeño inside)
-Apples or pears or fruit of choice
-Arugula and or Spinach

Directions:
Spread cheese into one side of a tortilla and fold in half. Place folded tortilla on pan and cook on the stove on medium heat for approximately 5 minutes or until lightly brown on each side (flip over at the halfway mark). You can make multiple tortillas at the same time depending on the size of your pan! Wash the greens and serve with vinaigrette as a side OR place washed greens inside an already cooked quesadilla. That’s it, you’re done!

To make a Sincronezada, just add in pre-sliced chicken breast cutlets before cooking on the stove for extra protein!

Guacamole (really it’s a meal)
Ingredients:
-1 or 2 avocados
-Salt
-Lemon juice

Directions:
Slice the avocado in half around the pit. Take knife (be careful with this) and hit it into the pit, twist until the pit is released. Slice the avocado both horizontally and vertically until it’s in rectangles, be careful not to slice the knife through the skin and into your hands. Scoop the avocado out into a bowl. Mush into a paste using a fork. Add lemon and salt to taste. Serve on toasted whole wheat bread, or with corn tortilla chips.

Grilled cheese sandwiches and eggs
-whole wheat bread
-your choice of cheese
-2 eggs
-Ketchup (optional)

Place cheese inside whole wheat bread and cook in a toaster oven until browned. Or on a pan on the stove at medium heat until lightly browned on each side. Scramble or cook eggs overhard and place on top or beside grilled cheese. Serve with ketchup and you’re good to go!

Rice with veggies
Ingredients:
-White rice
-Frozen vegetables

Directions:
Rinse rice and cook in a rice cooker (if you can afford it, they’re very cheap, and this saves a TON of energy) or in a pot. Microwave frozen vegetables, mix together, and you’re done!

Refried beans on tostadas
Ingredients:
-1 can of refried beans
-packaged tostadas

Directions:
Open the can of beans, and dip tostadas into the can! That’s it. Really! If you want to save it for longer, scoop out some and save the other half in the fridge for a maximum of 5 days.

Simple Spaghetti (can be saved for later)
Ingredients:
-Pasta
-Parmesan cheese
-Tomato sauce

Directions:
Cook pasta according to the package instructions. Drain and pour the sauce onto the pasta. Mix together and you’re done! Place cheese on top of each serving individually.
To save pasta for later, place scoops into ziplock bags and store in the freezer. For best results, transfer a serving from the freezer to the fridge the night before you want to eat it and then reheat the serving (with the bag removed) for around 2 minutes on high or until fully warm. Add cheese and you’ve got a meal!

Variations:
You can make so many meals with just rice, bread, eggs, and cheese. I recommend investing in a toaster, or better yet a toaster over, and rice cooker, both can be bought for cheap.
-Toast with peanut butter, jam, avocado, or sunflower seed butter is an easy option.
-Rice can be served as a side, alone, or mixed with rotisserie chicken. I really enjoy rice with avocado slices, and it’s very nutritious.
-Cheese can be easy alone, melted onto pasta, made into a grilled cheese sandwich, or served on crackers.
-Add eggs to rice, grilled cheese sandwiches, or as a side for extra protein.

Clean-up advice:

If you’re low on energy cleaning can be tough. Try to use as few plates/bowls etc. as you can in the cooking process. I suggest serving food on paper plates if you’re really struggling. Guacamole and refried beans with tostadas have the most minimal clean up. When you’re done eating guacamole wipe the bowl with a paper towel and then wash quickly in the sink with soap and water.
For quesadillas, the pan only needs to be rinsed! Toasters and toaster ovens spare you from a lot of mess, so if you don’t want to clean you can try making a toast variant and then use plastic/paper utensils you can dispose of.