OK, starting Thursday the 8th I will be house-bound for at least two weeks, maybe 4 weeks and likely somewhere in between. I need to stock up on easy, low-prep meals. I will be able to get around the house some, but will not have a lot of energy or ability to move well.
So far I have tons of Tuna. I have Mac and Cheese. I have eggs. I have other canned meat products. I have plenty of oatmeal.
Any other ideas?
Do you have any diet restrictions, or is it just that you need low-fuss dinners?
Off the top of my head, I’d suggest stocking up on some marinara sauce of your liking & pasta, and a bunch of Progresso soups.
Start cooking now and fill your freezer. That’s what we did before Mr. S’s surgery. Soup, lasagna, etc.
Frozen veggies are easy to nuke. Rice is easy. Pizza. Cereal. Cheese & crackers. Baby carrots.
We like La Choy (Chicken Chow Mein with extra water chestnuts thrown in) for a no-brains meal.
There’s always frozen microwave dinners. When I know I’m gonna be too busy to cook, I’ll pick up some Lean Cuisines.
Takeout! (If you have local delivery.)
Pasta with sauce–spaghetti sauce with/without meat, mushrooms, cheeses, etc. on pasta of various shapes.
(It’s high on my list of things I eat too much of).
frozen pizza.
The freezer is your friend. There are lots of frozen meals that are quite good (Hormel, Tyson, etc.) Just nuke and serve.
Soups - Have plenty of rice and pasta on hand, and toss a handful into soups for a variation on a theme.
Frozen pizza, as mentioned above.
Cheap and easy French Dip sandwiches. Get some hoagie rolls, provolone cheese, some thin sliced roast beef, and a packet of au jus powder mix.
Boil some water, add the au jus mix, drop some roast beef in for a half a minute, pull it out and put it on the roll and add the cheese immediately so it melts on.
Dip in the au jus.
Black/red beans and rice. Two cups of cooked rice, 1 can of black/red beans (rinsed and drained in a colander), salsa. Mix together the beans and rice and add salsa to flavor. The rice should heat everything up. If spicy foods are a no-no, then plain chopped tomatoes are a good addition or you can just leave it out entirely. Black beans and rice are tasty all on their lonesomes.
I third or fourth the frozen meals; they’re very tasty and many of them have goodly helpings of veggies, which you’ll need if you’re recovering.
At this time it I am not aware of any diet restrictions.
Frozen Pizza is a good one, I’ll have to get a half dozen of those. I would live on Take-Out if anyone delivered to my area - I’m pretty rural.
(wait, the other suggestions are good too, I didn’t mean to imply otherwise!)
Get basic frozen pizzas, then top them to your liking. Variety is the key to getting through a few weeks on just what is around. The odd mushroom, pepper or sliced tomato can turn a blah frozen pizza into a not-so-blah one.
I mean, it’s pretty cheap and crappy, but I’ve always like just sprinkling a bunch of cheese over a bunch of tortilla chips, microwaving to for a minute (or to taste: I like my cheese made crusty, but ymmv), pouring a little salsa over it, and eating the result. Takes like three minutes to make.
Add refried beans if you want.
Also, even more junkier: Totino’s Pizza Rolls! MMMMMMM Yummy.
-FrL-
You can make meatless spaghetti pretty quick. Either just buy it in a jar and heat it up, or, if you’re a little adventurous, combine:
1 6 oz can tomato paste
1 12 oz (or is it 8 oz? The next size up) can of tomato sauce
1 12oz/8oz (whichever it was) can of petite diced tomatoes. (You might just want to use a portion of this, though.)
A generous amount of basil (I just use dried basil flakes)
A less generous but still generous amount of oregano (again, I usually just use the dried flakes)
A half or whole clove of minced garlic, to taste.
I sometimes use dried onion powder, or else, finely chop a quarter of an onion.
Three or four shakes of a salt shaker
Eight or nine shakes of black pepper from a shaker
A teeny tiny bit of sugar
And you’ve got potentially a fairly tasty sauce. Takes maybe ten minutes to prepare, though if you chop the onion it may take a little longer.
I stronly suspect a finely chopped bell pepper (red or green or both) would be great in this recipe, but my wife can’t stand them. 
-FrL-
Chili. One pan, serves for a couple days, and it’s filling.
I like to fix double stuffed potatoes for the freezer - easy to nuke!
4-5 baking potatoes
butter
sour cream
shredded cheese
real bacon bits
salt and pepper
Bake potatoes at 400 degrees for 1-1/2 hour
Cut potatoes in half lengthwise and scoop flesh into a bowl, leaving thin rim of potato in skin
Mix remaining ingredients together with potato innards until all the cheesy goodness is melted throughout. Spoon mixture back into potato shells.
Flash freeze (put on cookie sheet until frozen - a few hours at least) and then wrap in either foil or plastic wrap. Return to freezer.
Zap in microwave for 1-3 minutes on high.
Enjoy!
Do you have Giant Eagle grocery stores in your area? Their store-brand self-rising frozen pizzas are on sale this week for $4 - you could get 2 or 3 meals out of them and they are so yummy.
Also if you aren’t feeling too well and really don’t feel like making ANYTHING, but find you have a lot of rumbling in your tummy, nothing beats a spoonful of peanut butter to fill you up for a bit.
If you have a microwave, do some salmon filets. Defrost. Nuke 5-10 minutes. Top with whatever you like: lemon juice, butter, dill, garlic salt. Lish.
Zatarain’s jambalya mix is pretty good. I make mine with turkey sausage and shrimp. You basically add the jambalya mix (and whatever meat you like) to boiling water and simmer for 25 minutes.
I agree, the Zatarain’s mixes are really good, and easily doctored up to seem less “boxed”. I like the Jambalaya, and Dirty Rice, and also the Chicken Creole, but our local store stopped carrying that one.
Another idea would be a take on the previously mentioned easy/doctored up sauce dishes…stock up on frozen rav’s or tortellini. After cooking the pasta, combine in lg casserole w/ sauce, and top w/ mozz, then bake. You could even throw a layer of ricotta in there as well…how could that hurt?
Finally, cans of nourishing soups, if you’re unable to whip up an easy batch, and make sure chicken is included…for healing power. I’ve sworn by Garlic Soup for years, and if unable to make a “scratch batch”, am even happy w/ sauteeing some fresh garlic (buy a jar of chopped) in olive oil or butter, then adding chicken soup…either canned or dried, like Lipton’s, which I used to crave as a sick kid. When cooked or heated through, scramble a few eggs, and slowly add - med heat - let sit a few minutes, then stir. FYI, I only do the quick dr’ing when I’m too sick for anything else!
I have a George Foreman grill, so ymmv, but buy a bag of frozen chicken breasts and/or some frozen burger patties. If you get something to marinade the chicken in you can toss a breast or two in the fridge overnight in a ziploc bag of marinade. Grill meat, nuke frozen/canned vegetable - meal! (Add some noodles or rice or something if you want.)
Boil up some thin spaghetti.
Saute some onions and garlic in a pan.
Add a can of italian seasoned tomato sauce.
Add a pinch of red pepper.
Thaw out some shrimp and throw it in.
Add parmesan cheese and voila!