Planning My Home Menu Now... Now THAT'S Optimism!!!

Just thought I would share... :D I found some frozen (real not instant) mashed potatoes at Safeway that come in these little blobs of about 1T each, paired with gravy in a jar (boosted with some Gerber meat & veggies) it could be a quick meal for those times when we don't feel like cooking. And... did you know that if you put a cup of dry rice in a blender you can make instant rice mush? Put 1 T of ground up rice into a bowl and pour a little boiling water over it, cover and wait a few minutes and hey presto! Rice mush! Gotta be better than baby rice cereal! Also... Marlene's Health food stores have things like dehydrated soups in bulk that can be blended to a powder and reconstituted at will with a little boiling water. I have some black bean soup that I tried out that way and while it was a bit pasty it tasted pretty good. You can get things like dried eggs too for take along protein. It is amazing what you can find dehydrated or dehydrate yourself (I have a dehydrate)! Cottage cheese, yogurt, meats (buy this, don't try to do this one yourself unless you have experience with it), fish, veggies (even beet powder! BLEAH!) and fruits. You can put all of them through the blender when they are dry to powder them for 'instant' rehydration. Fred Meyer's has an egg and milk protien shake mix that can be used to boost protien in food without added taste, it comes unflavored and is very bland. I have been known to dry lettuce, spinach & cabbage and crumble it into soups, tastes pretty good that way and you don't waste that bag of salad you just can't get to before it spoils. Cous Cous and pasta can be put dry into the blender to give you the wheat taste of pasta in things if you want something like spaghetti, mac & cheese or stroganoff. Although cous cous may be small enough to eat without the blender part. You can dehydrate spghetti sauce if it does not have meat in it. I am working on a dry mac & cheese mix recipe. I already know I can dry cheese but I want to get the flavor right. I have found that putting things through the blender dry and then reconstituting them is easier than putting them in wet there is LESS MESS to clean up and you don't have to plan a day to cook and freeze. I just don't have time or patience for that kind of thing. I have also discovered that Cash & Carry has individual servings of lots of items that can be taken in your purse for quick meals on the go without refrigeration. I found them looking for a safe way to send salad dressings and meat with my husband to work. Trader Joe has the best prices on protien bars & protien drinks that I have found so far. Anyone have any other ideas? I am not a great cook and I seldom fix meals from scratch, I am way too busy and my husband and I sleep different shifts, and while I do try to make some meals each week for him I seldom bother for myself so 'instant' fix stuff is best for me. Carol waiting....... 335/310/150