Not sure how anyone does it w/o TJ's. Mandarin chicken, lasagna, enchiladas... as a temp kitch for 6 mos vet, TJ's rocks. It also helps living in a big city where takeout is readily available!

Definitely, TJs, Whole Foods, etc. Also the local heart healthy Chinese delivery. I didn't have anywhere to even make a salad. The first few months were fine. The last few (artisan delays) were miserable. If you have a freezer, putting up as much home cooked as will fit ahead of time (not just enough for what you expect the duration to be).

Something a friend did, but is probably only available in the biggest cities, is "fresh delivery". That's where they leave you a customized day's worth of top quality, balanced meals (the three majors and two snacks). I looked into it, but it required more dishes than I was in a position to deal with. Compared to other prepared foods, it wasn't as pricey as it sounds.

We have an old door laid over two work horses that works as a "prep" space/dining table. Lots of take out, grilling, I do have my speed oven up and running but not much to prep/prepare with in terms of pots, pans, utensils. Plastic and paper is a life saver!

we ate bfast at home every morning and then takeout or went out every night. i gained 5 pounds! not only did we eat a lot of burgers but we found a great local bar with amazing burgers and stella artois on tap...no wonder i gamed 5 pounds.

I had a wok set up out in the garage with a work space much like remodelfa described. We ate lots of stirfry (I did use the precut veggies in the produce section) and I splurged on a rice cooker. Other than that we grilled a lot too on our old charcoal grill. We rarely did any take out. We used lots of plastic utensils and paper plates though!

All I can say is that my family will never eat rotisserie chicken again!

Just a suggestion - large cutting board over washtub? We got one from ikea that had a counter edge lip (so it couldn't be pushed off).

Our very long time in purgatory (turned out to be 7-8 months when originally guestimated as 2-4 weeks) was mostly over the cold months, so zero hamburgers here. Vegiburgers, on the other hand, microwave fairly well. Rotisserie chicken, bagged salads, frozen veg, occasionally nice entrees from nice delis that just needed reheat, carryout, eat out. I got a lot of experience in everything you can make in one pot at a time. Stews, braises, etc. I had a portable induction plate that was a life saver.

So, think of the easiest way to make meals. Buy bottled dressing, premixed salad and forgive yourself later. Cook the entire bag of potatoes and refrigerate the leftovers so you can just heat in the micro on demand.

Maybe think of it more as camping... And consider that the cost of an electric griddle or whatever you miss having most is less than dinners out.

I kept staring at this thing from camp chef. dh kept telling me it was for outdoors - introduced a little bit of sense for which he got some rather pithy stares. Both the slight fantasies that you can buy something that will give you the ability to be normal during the remodel and the raw edges of stress poking out in unaccustomed ways might also need forgiveness.

The grill and the crockpot were our salvation. You can do a roast with potatos and carrots in the crock pot and not have to dirty anything else. And chili -- lots of chili! And as bmore said, lots of rotisserie chickens.

To answer your original question, I had 4 Big Mac's once while in university. Could have had 5. So, I guess the answer is 5?

I second the crockpot--plus, whatever you make in it usually lasts a couple days for leftovers. I found this blog and it's been great for finding new recipes:

Here is a link that might be useful: crockpot recipes

DH loves to grill frozen pizza. He uses my pizza stone, preheats the grill to 400 degrees (watches the themometer) and away it goes. It comes out with a smoky flavor, unusual, but good.

I bought a 1 burner induction plate that plugs into the wall. We also have the microwave set up and hooked up a stand alone utility sink where the old one used to be. So I do spaghetti, soups and other one pot meals. The unfortunate thing is that the induction and microwave are on the same circuit, so if I forget and run both at the same time, I trip the circuit.

Our kitchen has been out of commission since late May. We have 3 kids, ages 9, 7 & 5. During the hot summer months when I didn't feel like cooking, DH loaded up all the kids eat free or almost free restuarants in my outlook/iphone calendar, so on any given day we could look to see where we were going to eat.

A couple of weeks ago, DH got the oven cabinet in & hooked up. We're eating out a lot less now and it has greatly improved and expanded our meal options.

Hang in there (that's what I keep telling myself)!

Bought a $12 electric burner. Our basic rice cooker got used as an 'electric saucepan' - you can boil pasta water in it perfectly, while the sauce gets made on the burner. Or actually used it for rice, and cooked the stir-fry stuff on the burner. Or used it as a crockpot. Made a lot of soup in it.

We're lucky to have a proper sink in our basement, and I put tall legs on an old tabletop to use as a counter. Two Rubbermaid containers below held essential pans, and a few plates. Real wine glasses are essential . . .

TJ's "just the pasta" penne, with a variety of sauces (Cibo Naturals pestos in various flavors from the natural food store, marinara from the grocery store, etc)

Camping recipes -- 6 can soup or chili, made in the crock pot.

Salads were our main vegetable -- I couldn't make decent veggies in the microwave. Salad-in-a-bag was the way to go for us, alternating between lettuce mixes and baby spinach. TJ's garlic croutons and various ready-cut veggies.

Breakfasts were from the toaster - raisin bread or bagels. Cereal. Instant oatmeal and hot chocolate. Sunday mornings were special with just-add-water pancake mix and the waffle iron, but too messy to do more often. Fresh fruit.

My kids will never eat turkey sandwiches again.

bmorepanic, that camp stove/oven looks like it would really help during a remodel and at $300 would easily pay for itself by making take out and dinners out not as much of a necessity. Did you have to use it outside or could it be used in a garage (I'm thinking it has to be used outside since it uses propane)? Thanks!

For anyone looking, the camp stove/oven can be had as cheap as $170 from Amazon. Might be worth it.