u/The-Brilliant-Loser

Hello everyone!

I'm looking for some inspiration for some mealprepped vegetables to keep in the fridge to add into quick meals! I've been doing broccoli/cauliflower , zucchini, eggplant, but that's getting a bit old!

The catch is that I want my spouse, who's got quite a few dietary difficulties, to be able to enjoy them too. They're trying to eat more vegetables, and don't have a lot of time to cook during their lunch break so ideally I'm searching for something that's pretty neutral, keeps a few days, and can easily be thrown on top of potatoes/rice/pasta whatever.

The general parameters:

• They don't like orange vegetables. Carrots, sweet potato, pumpkin, etc.
• They're sensitive to garlic and onion (Infused olive oil is fine, I also have a low FODMAP garlic powder I can use) and chilli, and kale/cabbage/sprouts.
• Most legumes are out. Green peas are fine, edamame is fine, small amounts of chickpeas and black beans are ok but not ideal.
• It can have moderate amounts of fat, but anything too greasy will make them feel ill.
• Lacto-ovo vegetarian

Vegetables they tolerate well:

• Zucchini and other squash
• Capsicums/Bell peppers
• Celery
• Tomatillos
• Fennel
• Corn
• Eggplant
• Asian greens (Gai lan, bok choy, choy sum, etc)
• Tomatoes
• Spinach and Silverbeet/Chard
• All leafy herbs (Dill, cilantro, parsley, mint, the tops of green onions, etc)
• Lettuce
• Asparagus

Plenty of others too. Basically as long as it's not garlic/onion/chilli or particularly cabbagey.

They love acidic flavors like vinegar and lime juice, and we frequently make stir fry, but that isn't the most neutral in flavor.

I've been sauteing capsicums/bell peppers with lime and oregano and salt, roasting fennel and eggplant and zucchini with parmesan and lemon, roasting broccolini, even making a salsa they can tolerate, but I wanna branch out! Please share your best veggie meal prep ideas!

Thank you!

I love reading these posts, so I thought I'd post my miniature win today. :)

For context, I used to live in Texas, hence my desire to learn Spanish, but immigrated to Australia a few years back because my spouse is Australian.

I don't get the opportunity to practice as much as I used to.

I work at a large supermarket, and last night I was on register. Did my usual pleasantries with a customer, asked her if she had any plans for the weekend, and she responded, polite but fairly rote, no, she wants to rest, she's pretty busy this time of year. She asked me if I had anything coming up, I mentioned I returned to university as a mature aged student, so exams are coming up, and listed a few, including a Spanish class I'm taking as an elective.

She brightened up immediately, mentioned she teaches Spanish, and asked me how mine was.

Six months ago when I tried to speak Spanish with a customer I blanked on a word and panicked.

This time I was caught slightly by surprise, but didn't blank, instead started chatting nervously.

I said (In Spanish) while I obviously don't speak fluently, I can communicate more or less, and understand pretty well. We chatted a bit about how there's relatively few Spanish speakers here compared to the US, how I missed the opportunity to practice so I started taking a course, and made other small talk. All the while I was interspersing the conversation with the standard cashier routine ("Do you have a [Store] card?"), telling her her total, asking if she wanted the receipt.

Finished the transaction, wished her a great weekend, [This one, I actually nailed. Correct subjunctive, correct level of politeness. I'm so happy I didn't mess this one up.] and she told me she hopes I enjoy mine, waved goodbye with a "chau" and a big smile.

The opportunity absolutely made my day. :')

Looking back I used present tense automatically in my nervousness rather than preterite / imperfect for some things, but the whole thing was...remarkably coherent, with no pauses or hesitation.

Feels good yall.

Hello! I've been studying Spanish for about 6 months now, through a combination of self study, a bit of in person tutoring here and there, and a university class. At the end of this university class I'll be roughly A2, officially speaking.

Practically speaking, I can make it through Spanish language chapter books aimed at grade school ages fairly comfortably, and generally understand documentaries and the like, though I'm sure I miss some details.

My speaking ability lags somewhat behind this-- I can generally make myself understood, and usually have enough words to convey a subject, but my passive knowledge of conjugation and grammar structures is...not there on the fly when speaking.

Is A2~ ish enough to go for a conversational class, or should I keep grinding a bit longer and seek out more 'structured' tutoring?

Thanks!