Dinners

Gillyx

Things I tend to keep in the freezer are batches of pasta sauce and pizza dough. I use 3-4 tins of tomatoes to do the pasta sauces and freeze them and 1.5kg of flour to do the pizza dough and separate it into 3 different portions.

Leave them out in the morning and all you have to do it whack a bit of sauce on the dough with toppings or cook some pasta and whack the sauce in to it, even oven baking it with cheese for a bake. Both of which can be served with garlic bread/salad.

dancingfairy

In terms of quick and easy meals:
pasta and sauce
beans/spaghetti/eggs on toast
soup
chicken? I had a cajun chicken burger last week - fry chicken, add seasoning and add salad in with the bun. Dead simple.
Roast veg and cous cous.
Sausages/pies or anything you can bung in the oven. Not necessarily quick but you don't have to stand over them. You can get changed, chill out etc whilst it's cooking.

My plans for when I start my new job soon is to rely on some of the above, ready meals and also I have been trying to stock the freezer. So far I have made a chicken and mushroom pie, stew, pasta sauce in a big batch and am making stroganoff to go in there. I live alone so am making enough for 4 and eating one portion and freezing the rest. You can always do the batch cooking at weekends?
You can always get a slow cooker and do stews/casseroles whilst you are at work?
Best of Luck
df

RancidM

Rice cooker + rice.
Chicken and Spice in the bag things
http://www.maggi.co.uk/Range/So-Juicy/

win win win.

Takes all of 10 mins to prepare and in the 45 mins it is cooking i make the pack lunches for the next day.

Once the chicken is done i will pour the juice from the bag into the rice and mix it in.

onlyroz

Quiches are easy things that can be batch cooked at the weekend and then warmed up during the week.

You need a block of shortcrust pastry, which can be rolled out thin and used to line three 20cm quiche tins. Once the tins are lined with pastry cover with baking parchment and fill up the tin with marbles or ceramic baking beads. Bake for 15 minutes at around 200 degrees.

Once the bases are part-baked fill up the tin with whatever you like, e.g. chopped bacon, mushrooms, tomato, brocolli, salmon, peppers etc etc. Then top up with beaten egg and grate some cheese over the top.

If you're eating them immediately bake them for 30-35 minutes. If you're going to be re-baking them later on then bake them for long enough to set the egg (20-25 minutes) - then when you want to eat them bake them for another 25 minutes or so to heat them up and finish off the baking. Once they're cool you can take them out the tin, wrap them in cling-film and freeze them.

newcook

do a big spaghetti bolognaise one night then the following evening throw in some kidney beans, chili powder etc for a quick chili!

Gillyx

Another quick thing is baked spuds, not exactly haute cuisine, but tasty, filling and nutritious with the right filling. I do mine in the slow cooker, and then finish them off in the oven for 10/15 minutes to get the crispy skin, so they can be left all day

paulineb_2

I make sweet potato fries and wedges, easy done. Im not a meat eater so cant help you there, but I make a thai curry and you could add meat to that, takes about 20-30 mins, good way to use up leftover veg, I also make a lot of soup. Risotto is also quick and easy.

fake_smile

onlyroz wrote: »

Quiches are easy things that can be batch cooked at the weekend and then warmed up during the week.

You need a block of shortcrust pastry, which can be rolled out thin and used to line three 20cm quiche tins. Once the tins are lined with pastry cover with baking parchment and fill up the tin with marbles or ceramic baking beads. Bake for 15 minutes at around 200 degrees.

Once the bases are part-baked fill up the tin with whatever you like, e.g. chopped bacon, mushrooms, tomato, brocolli, salmon, peppers etc etc. Then top up with beaten egg and grate some cheese over the top.

If you're eating them immediately bake them for 30-35 minutes. If you're going to be re-baking them later on then bake them for long enough to set the egg (20-25 minutes) - then when you want to eat them bake them for another 25 minutes or so to heat them up and finish off the baking. Once they're cool you can take them out the tin, wrap them in cling-film and freeze them.

I'm into Quiche at the moment, only I buy the ready made bases in the supermarket for 80p

onlyroz

fake_smile wrote: »

I'm into Quiche at the moment, only I buy the ready made bases in the supermarket for 80p

Well a block of short-crust pastry should cost about £1 and should do 2-3 large quiches.

Alisha2008

We've had a bit of a challenge lately while having no kitchen and being on a diet! (so no takeaways or ready made meals!). Some of the things we came up with:


- Salmon (cooked 2 min in the microwave)+ new potatoes and veg (also microwave)
- Slow cooker (lots of ideas on the slow cooker thread, all cooked from scratch with raw ingredients while we are in the office!)
- Jacked potatoes (with baked beans/cheese or tuna/sweetcorn). Done in the microwave.
- Rice salads (Rice, sweetcorn, red pepper, chicken/prawns/mackerel, hardboiled egg, watercress)