Three great meals that don't need cooking!

Broken cooker

So your cooker has broken down, but it's fine, because you're totally on top of it. You've located the source of the problem, Googled it, and ordered a replacement part from the Cooker Spare Parts team. No sweat!

Except...what are you going to do for dinner tonight? Even if you selected 'Next Day Delivery' and completed the order before 3.30pm, your cooker will still be out of action until tomorrow. You don't want to ruin your diet with a takeaway, and you haven't got the money for a meal out, so what to do?

Well, we can help on that score as well. Here are a few alternative meal ideas for those broken cooker evenings.

(N.B. For the sake of this blog post, we're assuming that your cooker is completely busted; that is, you can't use the oven, the hobs, or the grill.)

  • Salad
    If salad has only ever been a side dish for you, it's high time you upgraded it to the rank of Main Course. Start with the basics: cucumber, lettuce (or rocket if you're feeling fancy) and celery. Once you've laid the foundations, you can get creative, throwing in more or less anything you fancy. Peppers, croutons, walnuts, sesame seeds, chicken pieces, pine nuts...it's all fair game!

  • Chicken Wraps
    You may not be able to cook anything yourself, but you can buy pre-cooked chicken from most supermarkets. If you're reasonably easy to satisfy, just put some chicken, lettuce and mayonnaise in a tortilla wrap and tuck in! If, however, you want to add a little more flavour, you can add cashew nuts, chopped spring onions, and even grated coconut to the mix.

  • Boxing Day Buffet
    If you've got leftovers - chicken, cold cuts, salad, that sort of thing - then you've got yourself a meal, no cooker required. Just pretend it's the day after Christmas, spread all your leftovers out on the dining table, and make a buffet out of it. And if you don't have any leftovers...go out and buy some! Grab a French stick while you're there, too; nothing ties a spread together like a nice, crusty baguette.

Image Credit: Andrew Skudder