Need very very quick & easy recipes

8pnoodles · 7 November 2005 at 4:29PM

I need some really easy and very quick meal ideas please. (Obviously must be cheap.)

So far I have:

Pasta with egg broken into it, and bits of chopped up fried bacon and onion
Pasta with herbs and tinned tuna
Spag bol obviously

I'm reverting back to various ready meals if I can't find stuff I can cook. Oh and it needs to be very minimal washing up too.

I'm ill at the moment (it's a chronic illness I've had forever but it's starting to look like this particular flare up could be long term) and serious fatigue is part of it. The whole thought of cooking is exhausting and standing up in the kitchen (or anywhere) for any period of time is painful.

I guess rice stuff is quite good because I can let it cook while I go sit down.

Im finding myself eating junk food because I'm craving the energy but I'm too exhausted to prepare anything. I'm skipping breakfast and taking stuff in to work because I can't face my stomach giving me grief on the way to work, I'd rather it did it when I'm at the office. I think I need to buy a ton of bananas for snack food.

Oh and dairy is, as per usual, not an option.

PS. At the weekend we had our own garlic bread, it was much cheaper than shop stuff and tasted so good our shop bought pizza tasted horrible next to it! lol When I'm better I want to make pizza next.

catznine · 7 November 2005 at 4:34PM

One of my favourite easy recipes is Chaos Pie from the pennypinchers book:

1 tin corned beef cut into large cubes
1 tin baked beans
1 tin new potatoes

Put into large pan and heat through, easy and fairly cheap too.

Another is packet of wholewheat spaghetti cooked and drained then tip in a jar of pesto and some tuna and heat through.

hth

squeaky · 7 November 2005 at 4:46PM

Any casserole (or soup) you like - prep all the veggies and things sitting down somewhere comfortable - then bung them in the dish and into the oven. Better still if you have a slow cooker.

Same goes for simple chillies and simple curries...

..and always make extra to freeze so that on really bad days you've got a home cooked ready meal, or several, easily available.

jack92 · 7 November 2005 at 5:41PM

Omelettes are really quick to prepare and cheap too - you can use whatever you have left in the fridge - ham, cheese, mushrooms, onions, peppers, bacon, etc. Also, cooking a small, whole chicken would last you a few days and you can use the leftover cooked meat to put with a ready-made sauce, or mix with pasta, etc.

..and always make extra to freeze

I want to second that.

Nicola

8pnoodles · 7 November 2005 at 5:47PM

I freeze a bit now but I don't have much room (the joys of sharing a freezer with housemates!).

I like the omelette idea, I forgot I used to have them. I always associated them with cheese, I forgot about ham as a filling. Might do myself a bacon and onion omelette this week though cos I've got a ton of bacon sitting in the fridge.

kbarty · 7 November 2005 at 6:09PM

I used to make baguette pizza's. Buy a baguette chop it in half and as long as you think you'll manage

stick some tinned toms on top and whatever else you fancy and then some grated cheese. Grill till the cheese has melted.

*edit* sorry didn't see the bit about no dairy!

Trow · 7 November 2005 at 6:25PM

I know you have pasta already, but pasta and pesto is really quick and tasty - cook pasta, drain, add pesto, stir till heated through. You can add whatever you like to it - some bacon or sausage, veggies, whatever.

I sometimes make a cheats pizza, use a slice of bread or pitta or crumpet- whatever, and toast one side. Spread on the untoasted side tomato puree or tomato sauce, add some herbs, chopped onion, sweetcorn (can be added frozen) chopped peppers, sausage - whatever you fancy - and grill till cooked. My dad always has pizzas cheese-less so I can't see why this can't be!

If you need something really quick, instead of going for junk, why not have weetabix or cereal of that ilk? With soya or rice milk?

Sometimes when I am not feeling like a meal I will have something like fruit and custard - alpro do a really nice soya dessert that would suffice.

And then there is always beans on toast!

Ticklemouse · 7 November 2005 at 6:30PM

If you want a 'proper' meal, then one of the easiest I know is 'Porky Potatoes'.

Put seasoned pork chops in the bottom of a casserole dish. Add sliced potatoes and chopped onins over the top. Add stock/gravy, bung in the oven for 1 1/2 hrs. You can reduce the cooking time by par boiling the spuds.

If you make lots of spuds and gravy, then leftovers are great heated up with a fried egg the next night.

MrsB_2 · 7 November 2005 at 6:30PM

Or if you want to be truly terrible in the nutrition dept but scrummy in the taste area there's my own personal favourites of...

Chip Butty (with oven chips)
Fishfinger Sarnies (with fishfingers

)
Fishcake Sarnies (go on guess what with

)

You can whack any of them in the oven and leave them for a good 10 or 15 minutes, then all you need to do is sort the bread.

Sorry - I do realise how totally nutritionally pants this is, but sometimes it's more important to eat something than to bust your butt doing something 'perfect'.

nabowla · 7 November 2005 at 9:36PM

HM stir fries are v. quick and easy. Keep an eye out for fancy packs of pre-chopped chinese veggies that are marked down to silly prices at the end of the day. Fry veg, add shellfish/seafood (the fish counter is v. good at the end of the day - e.g. large pot of king prawns for 50p). Add Chinese spices and soy sauce. Takes 10 mins max and no chopping/preparing at all. You'll end up with enough for at least 2 meals.

Numptie · 7 November 2005 at 10:38PM

Wraps! Cold with ham, cheese, salad etc, etc or hot with onion, garlic, peppers and chicken with lots of paprica. Or gently heat a wrap in a dry frying pan, layer cheese, ham and a splash of sweet chilli sauce (optional) put another wrap on top and brown both sides. Slice into four, lovely snack!!

PLEASE READ BEFORE POSTING

Need very very quick & easy recipes

Comments

Categories

Get our FREE Weekly email full of deals & guides - and it’s spam-free