recipes in between ready meals and cooking from scratch

Butterfly_Brain

I have loads of ready meals in my freezer - I just make double of everything and freeze one that way if I have a can't be bothered day I have a healhy home made meal ready to reheat

got-it-spend-it

I find filled pasta a good in between. Only takes a couple of minutes to cook, then I just make a simple sauce of tinned tomatoes and onions and peppers. I either serve it as is, with some parmesan on top or stick it all in the oven to melt the cheese. Lidl so a filled pasta for 65p a pack and it's really nice.

Sunnygirl_2

I make this curry but I usually put any veg I want in it and cook it for the right amount of time. I've actually never made it with squash and mango but with any veg I've got in like sweet potato, peppers, sugar snaps, green beans, courgette etc. As the recipe uses half a can of coconut milk I usually double up the sauce and freeze it.

fran-o

i just had one of my fave quick pastas...

-cook pasta and drain leaving the pasta and a drop of the hot water in the bottom
-chop up olives and sundried tomatoes or fresh tomatoes while pastas cooking
-squeeze in to the pasta saucepan some tomato puree and garlic puree and mix
-stir in the olives and toms and some grated cheese
mmmm

I guess you could add peas or other veg to the pasta if you want to top up your greens. Will follow this thread for some good ideas!

want2bmortgage3

i notice a lot of things in an aisle with pesto/pasta/curry/thai sauces and also packet sauces eg colemans. what sorta things can i do with these? are these colemans packets basically just sauces that need re hydrating?

retiredlady

want2bmortgage3 wrote: »

i notice a lot of things in an aisle with pesto/pasta/curry/thai sauces and also packet sauces eg colemans. what sorta things can i do with these? are these colemans packets basically just sauces that need re hydrating?

Yes they are! If you read the list of ingredients on the back you may find you can make them up yourself at home for a few pennies.

want2bmortgage3

thats cool, well at the mo i just want a bit more convenience, but dont want to buy ready meals. i want to do a bit of work myself. i want to find more things i like first then later on start making them from scratch.

fran-o

we had pretz's sweet potato and chicken curry last night - was LOVELY and wil definitely have again!!

morganlefay

One of our favourites is easy but WICKED on the waistline. You cook bits of chicken, or pork (anything really - tho prob not lamb, don't know why) with a chopped onion on hob in butter until cooked through (don't get onion burnt). when meat cooked put it on warm plate in low oven, and add a big slug of single or double cream or creme fraiche to the onion in the pan and bubble it a bit to reduce it. You can add a bit of french mustard as well if you like. When the 'sauce' is quite nice and thick, put the meat back into it and stir so it's all coated in the sauce. Season and serve with rice or boiled spuds and a salad or green veg.