As the title suggests I am after quick/easy meals.
DH and I work from home and at the moment we are busy busy busy and DH 'needs' alot of food to keep going so I need some meals (lunch & dinner) that are quick and easy as we are both interrupted alot throughout the day.
So please tell me, what is your favorite 'can't be bothered meal?
Cold meat and salad, no cooking involved at all unless you want an egg with it.
Toasted sandwhiches.
Spag Bol is my ultimate favourite meal anytime, make it as basic as you like, takes only minutes really.
Sachet of French onion simmer soup mixed with apricot juice, warm it on a pot til simmering to help thicken (literally takes two mins) then pour over chicken cut of your choice in a casserole dish, put it in the oven on 180 and forget about it for 40-60 minutes.
Have it with those ten minute maggi rice stuff, salad, steam veg etc..
It's not quick to cook, but prep is super quick and easy.
Nom nom nom.
I second spag bog. Not only is it easy but you can seriously throw so many vegies in it too. Carrot, spinach, zucchini... If I can grate it, it goes in spag bog!!
pasta- carton of thickened cream, pasta, frozen vegies, tomato paste and diced ham/bacon or a tin of tuna. also great if you forget to take meat out of the freezer!
usually my "I can't be bothered tonight" ends in takeaway
Gawd, I think all our meals are can't be bothered meals!
I do a lovely creamy potato bake that takes about two minutes to prepare, then an hour(ish) in the oven and we eat it out of the aluminium containers I cook it in... Tacos are also fun...
Besides the usual baked beans, canned soup with toast sambos or baked potatos I have a slice recipe that is basically eggs, zucchini, cheese, ham & carrots all thrown together. If we feel like it we'll also have chips or more veggies with it but it's quite filling on it's own!
burritos
nachos/wedges made with left over burrito mix lol
salad wrap made with cold chicken (this is staple lunch on work days - we just change the "flavour" of the chicken we have the night before)
pasties
home made pizza
stir fry (cheat and grab noodles and packaged veg in the supermarket, throw it in with whatever meat and sauce you want - if you want meat of course!)
chicken kievs and veg
bubble and squeak
when we're going through a phase like this we tend to cook in advance (slow cooker or other bulk means) and then just put it in the freezer in meal sized portions to either heat in the micro or bake in the oven...
We do baked beans/tinned spag on toast or ham/cheese/tomato toasties, tinned soups with buttered bread
But for a quick 'whole' meal:
Quick omlette, add what ever you like- ham, chopped left over/bbq chicken, corn, mushies, chopped tomato/capsicum, grated cheese, asparagus......the list is endless. Add a garden salad if you want a bigger meal. If you have tuna/ham/cold chicken/bbq chicken, make a salad plate, with beetroot, tinned corn/asparagus, cucumber, lettuce, tomato.....
Mince Chow Mein
500gms mince
1 grated carrot (I often add grated zucchini too)
beans (I use frozen baby beans)
about 1-2 cups shredded cabbage
2 min chicken noodles (I usually use 2 packets)
curry powder (to your liking, I use 2 tbsp or so)
I usually also add 1-2 chicken stock cubes
About 2-3 cups water
Cook mince, then add carrot, cabbage 1-2 cups of the water and the curry and stock. Cook until veggies soft. Add noodles and flavouring sachets, add water as needed while noodles cook (you want it to be a bit watery/saucy, but not drowned!) and in about 10mins, you have a relatively healthy yummy meal ('cept for the salt!), my kids love it and I cook it about 1/fortnight.
Last edited by MrsFabuloso; December 28th, 2010 at 05:31 PM.
Erm... most of them!
Barbecued anything and salad....
if you can find time to make a big batch of bolognaise sauce, freeze it in tubs and defrost as required, for an easy no-think pasta meal (DD eats this for dinner 90% of the time!)
Pasta is easy to do with a quick creamy sauce - I like to fry some bacon or ham, throw in some leeks, sweat down for a few minutes then add cream and gorgonzola cheese or just plain grated cheddar is also fine - the sauce takes about as long to make as the pasta does to cook. I do these for DD as the Bear is on low carb so no pasta dinners for us.
Other quick meals - lemon and basil chicken - throw a jointed chicken in a roasting dish, season with salt and pepper, pour in a glug of olive oil, the juice of a lemon, the lemon shells and a couple of whole cloves of garlic, cook at 180-200 for 45 mins to 1 hour (depending on your oven) pull out and chuck on some torn basil leaves, cook for another 15 mins then put on the stove top and pour in a glug of white wine, let it bubble over the heat for about 2 mins and serve with nice fresh salad leaves (no dressing required as the sauce is lovely).
Great suggestions, thankyou! I should have added that my husband will not eat anything from a microwave or a tin so re-heated meals or spaghetti/baked beans are out *sigh*
You have given me some good ideas though...
CheezelMonster - any chance you might like to share your recipe?
We quiet often have steamed vegies, rice and a meat but I am sooooo over rump steak! I am not a big meat eater.
I think I may need to utilise my slow cooker more, at least the prep time is quick and easy, I don't mind that it takes ages to cook, the prep time is the key for me.
Ohhh and omlettes, quiches etc are a great idea as we have so many eggs now our chooks are steadily laying
ETA: Pixie that Lemon and Basil chicken sounds divine!
Brown the chicken in a frypan with some oil. Transfer to the slow cooker. Add the other ingredients to the frypan and bring to the boil. Pour over the chicken and cook on high for 4 1/2-5hrs, basting occaisionally.
**I don't put any of it into the fry pan. It all goes into the slow cooker straight away. I have also made it without the chutney, sometimes replacing it with some orange marmelaide, or not replacing at all. I haven't made it with a whole chicken, I use legs all the time, they turn out really yum!
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What is you quick/easy/can't be bothered meal?
or a potato in jacket done microwave style
just thought of pumpkin soup too 20 mins no worries
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