Suggestions for ACTUALLY Quick and Easy Meals

[Fool's Requiem]

Yes, another food thread.

I swear, every time I look up similar subjects I get stuff that does not work for me for any number of reasons.

As much as I love eating out, I would like to save some money and eat at home. A big reason why I eat out so often is that the time, effort, and clean up is not worth it, and there are so many times where I just don't want to make something or even eat what I have. I've got so much frozen fish in my freezer just wasting away because it takes time to thaw, marinate, and cook fish so that it tastes good, and then I need to have something for a side.

Spaghetti is cake, but it requires three burners to truly make "quick", and I only have two and a crummy grill plate. It takes far too long to boil noodles to a doneness that I like, and there's a lot more to clean up than I'd like, and I also have to use an entire thing of sauce and pound of beef because no one else stuff that is smaller. I tend to have enough for 2 more meals and I do not like leftovers and even less so if I have to eat it a third time.

Another issue is that many recipes require a LOT of perishable ingredients. My stomach is fickle. If I don't have a hankering for something, I'm likely to not get anywhere near finishing it and/or I'll have no desire to make it. Hence why I have so much stuff in my freezer just getting freezer burn.

I want to see what meals you guys have made that was quick, easy, only requires one burner/cooking device, very minimal ingredients collecting, and chopping of ingredients. Hopefully, with ingredients that don't go bad in a week.

I have a rice cooker, and an instapot. I have an oven but no casserole style deep pan because one person making a casserole is dumb and wasteful.

I've made spaghetti, chili (takes forever), paprika (also takes forever), chicken yakisoba (use instant ramen for the noodles), steak, some fish, assorted frozen items that either just require popping in the oven or cooking on the stove for ~15 minutes.

Also, if it doesn't require milk and eggs, its probably better because I have a habit of letting them go bad and then not replacing them for that reason.

I saved a LOT of money during the pandemic just by diving into the frozen isle and sampling everything, but most of that stuff sucks.

 

[shortkut]

do you have an instantpot or ninja foodi?

My wife makes a mac and cheese in it that takes about 25 minutes or so to make but requires 5 minutes of effort

Summarized version:
- pasta with pressure cooker on high for 6 minutes (12 or so additional minutes to build pressure)
- once pressure and steam is released, put in cheese and mix so it starts to melt, then add milk and mix.
- switch to bake/air fry mode for 5-7 minutes and cook longer

She typically puts panko on top of the mac and cheese right before the final step, but I know some people don’t like it

 

[Fool's Requiem]

do you have an instantpot or ninja foodi?

My wife makes a mac and cheese in it that takes about 25 minutes or so to make but requires 5 minutes of effort

Summarized version:
- pasta with pressure cooker on high for 6 minutes (12 or so additional minutes to build pressure)
- once pressure and steam is released, put in cheese and mix so it starts to melt, then add milk and mix.
- switch to bake/air fry mode for 5-7 minutes and cook longer

She typically puts panko on top of the mac and cheese right before the final step, but I know some people don’t like it

I won an Instapot last year in a raffle. It allows me to make smaller portions than the massive slow cooker I have, but I've rarely used it.

I always hear about how easy it is to just dump a bunch of ingredients in a slow cooker or Instapot but I've never really had a solid idea of what to make, again, probably because so many "just dump ingredients into a pot and let it cook" recipes still require an annoying amount of prep work and time spent waiting for the food to cook.

I have tried to make real Mac'n'cheese (as in, not from those boxes, even though theyre cheap af), but i guess strong cheddar wasn't the best option, but I did it in a normal pot on the stove. Big fan of taking sausage and mixing it in with the mac n cheese.

I've also done jambalaya with those boxes where all you need to do is add water and a pound of meat (chicken/sausage/shrimp). Frozen chicken makes it super easy, frozen shrimp is a little touchy.

 

[shortkut]

I have tried to make real Mac'n'cheese (as in, not from those boxes, even though theyre cheap af), but i guess strong cheddar wasn't the best option, but I did it in a normal pot on the stove

We use anything from one to all of: extra sharp cheddar, mozzarella, Colby Jack, smoked Gouda. Haven’t had an issue with any of them failing to melt properly

 

[Fool's Requiem]

We use anything from one to all of: extra sharp cheddar, mozzarella, Colby Jack, smoked Gouda. Haven’t had an issue with any of them failing to melt properly

I messed it up, somehow then. Cheese seemed kinda grainy, if that makes sense.

 

[shortkut]

I messed it up, somehow then. Cheese seemed kinda grainy, if that makes sense.

All I know, is with this recipe, you don’t have to make a separate cheese sauce and can do everything in one pot without transferring to another container

 

[Fool's Requiem]

How much water and noodles?

 

[shortkut]

An entire 1lb box of pasta (we use shells a lot) with 4 cups water. Pressure cook on high for 6 minutes, then rapid steam release

Mix in however much fucking cheese you want

Add two cups of milk (whole probably better but we’ve used 1% and 2% with no issue)

Add mozzarella and panko on top (DO NOT MIX) if you want

Cook with normal lid at 385-390 for 5-7 minutes depending on how crispy you want the top

When it’s done let it sit for a bit so the milk gets fully absorbed. It will be liquidy when it first finishes but it will get better if you let it rest

 

[Fool's Requiem]

I only use whole milk. Though, I use A2 milk because it lasts almost 2 months in the fridge before going bad. It's supposed to be better on digestion. I don't know if that would have an impact on cooking.

 

[shortkut]

It doesn’t

 

[Benzine]

I will do my opinion as a family of 2 adults and 1 five year old who i am teaching to cook

What's quick meal? Why does it need to be so quick? Can't you do more than one thing?

A big reason why I eat out so often is that the time, effort, and clean up is not worth it,

This is your problem - you are bad at, or not keen on, cooking. My advice is lean into it a bit and give it more of a whirl.

Spaghetti is kinda quick but if you're not good at cooking you're not gonna be quick. Let's chuck lasagna (longer to cook anyway) in this too. You don't make it quick - you make a decent amount and then freeze it. Things like spag bol and lasagna free really well and re-heat super nice. If I were single and still had my nice freezer I'd be pumping this and it could easily be half the weak.

Burgers next. I like burgers because some of the ingredients are key to do with sandwiches which is good for lunch and so you're not wasting ingredients. Pre-made frozen patties in my neck of the woods are plenty good.

Curry next. It doesn't have to be special, find packets you like. We have a couple of packets, beef rendang is a key one. I do katsu as well as indian curries and the difference is i have to deep fry some chicken but i have a deep frying machine so different machine so not that bad.

Roast chicken. It's low amount of input but not quick. Afterwards you have sandwich meat ingredients - or soup ingredients (but i wfh and it's cruisy). But soup freezes and re-heats real nice too.

Steak and broc is quick.

I know it's not what you're after but quick meals just aren't it. Do slightly longer meals and get better at cooking. So long as you like nice food, cooking is the most accessible way to increasing the quality of life for the average joe imo.

 

[Fool's Requiem]

Lasagna takes a lot of time to prep and make, and I also don't have a casserole pan, as previously stated.

Spaghetti can only be as quick as the noodles and sauce cooks.

Burgers requires having multiple perishable ingredients on hand.

 

[shortkut]

Lasagna takes a lot of time to prep and make, and I also don't have a casserole pan, as previously stated.

Spaghetti can only be as quick as the noodles and sauce cooks.

Burgers requires having multiple perishable ingredients on hand.

Lasagna doesn’t take extra prep time because you don’t have to pre-soak/soften the noodles. It happens while it cooks in the oven

 

[Quagmire]

One-pot tomato basil pasta

Solve the weeknight dinner dilemma with one-pot tomato basil pasta -- a super-fast, healthy meal made in only 10 minutes.

www.yankeekitchenninja.com

One of my favorite quick and easy

 

[Spiner202]

I have a very strong dislike of cooking. While I don't mind the time it takes to clean up afterwards, I don't like spending a lot of time actually doing any cooking. But I live alone and am very cheap, so while I do like eating out, I try to keep it to a minimum.

Last week, I somehow started a fire in my toaster oven. I went out and bought an air fryer shortly after.

I've only used the air fryer twice so far, but it takes less time than my toaster oven to make the exact same things. I cooked a chicken leg in the air fryer and it took 25 minutes (and was probably done sooner than that because steam started coming out of the air fryer, but it was my first time, so I'll adjust as needed). When I used to do it in my toaster oven, it would take about 50 minutes. I'm going to test out doing chicken thighs/breasts next, but I'm certain they'll take 10-15 minutes.

The nice thing about the air fryer is that you can literally just take the chicken out of the package, put it in the air fryer, dump some spice on it, and then flip it over halfway and you're done. Also, the one I bought has a second basket so you can roast vegetables on the other side. It will synchronize when your food is finished so that you don't have to worry about timing different foods. Going forwards, I'm going to try and cook the meat in larger quantities so that I can just reheat it the next time and it won't take as long.

In my experience, a lot of the recipes that people say are easy, are not actually easy for people who are not good at cooking. If you're ok with chicken/vegetables/rice for most meals, I'd definitely go for an air fryer and then get a rice cooker. This is the air fryer I bought: https://www.ninjakitchen.ca/zidDZ201C

 

[dimmerwit]

Grainy cheese can be caused by several things, but it's mainly either using too much heat or the wrong cheese.

Mature cheddar isn't the best choice because as cheese ages the proteins form calcium lactate crystals that won't melt easily.

Likewise when cheese is added to an overly hot mixture it will fall apart, and not in the way you want.

Just be gentle with it, and if all else fails cheat and use sodium citrate.

 

[A Vaguely Ambiguous Username]

Former winner of the Great British Bake Off Nadiya Hussain had an entire show about this: https://www.bbc.co.uk/food/programmes/m0006w6t/recipes

She has a book with ~100 quicker and easier than average (but still good) recipes. It was mostly marketed towards moms with busy lives and small kids who can't spend a while cooking, but I suppose it could work for you. I watched a couple of episodes on a flight once and then made the Peanut Butter and Jelly traybake and one that isn't listed there (but is likely in her book) the day after I got home.

 

[Quagmire]

Former winner of the Great British Bake Off Nadiya Hussain had an entire show about this: https://www.bbc.co.uk/food/programmes/m0006w6t/recipes

She has a book with ~100 quicker and easier than average (but still good) recipes. It was mostly marketed towards moms with busy lives and small kids who can't spend a while cooking, but I suppose it could work for you. I watched a couple of episodes on a flight once and then made the Peanut Butter and Jelly traybake and one that isn't listed there (but is likely in her book) the day after I got home.

I 100% misread this as Former Game winner

 

[A Vaguely Ambiguous Username]

I 100% misread this as Former Game winner

I don't think she was ever a member but hey, you never know.

 

[Nae'blis]

Former winner of the Great British Bake Off

I read this as Forum Winner...

Hey @Spiner202 we could be roomies! I love the cooking part, but dislike the cleaning up bit! Plus you have great taste in music!

 

[dimmerwit]

Everybody's favourite chef Jamie Oliver also did the quick meals trend a while back. He started with 30 minute meals, then undercut himself with 15 minutes. Problem is, those time limits always feel optimistic.

He did do a 5 ingredients book though which is one of the few mass market cookbooks I have a copy of and it's pretty good.

 

[MC74]

Flatbread or naan bread pizzas are a solid foundation for making your own pizzas without having to put in an insane amount of effort into making the dough yourself.

 

[A Vaguely Ambiguous Username]

Flatbread or naan bread pizzas are a solid foundation for making your own pizzas without having to put in an insane amount of effort into making the dough yourself.

On that note, you can even get premade dough balls from the grocery store for pretty cheap. Cheese and sauce plus some spices (and maybe go all out and get mushrooms or something else) can save you a bunch of money on ordering takeout pizza. It's also mostly a set it and forget it kind of deal. Spread the dough, add the sauce and other ingredients, then plop it in the oven until it's done.

If you get used to that it's only a bit more work to add in making the dough yourself, but already it'll get you more used to making the food yourself, which is a big hurdle to get over.

 

[Kat]

I feel this so much. It's especially tough when you're just feeding yourself.

One thing which has helped me a lot is to find a quick thing I can make for breakfast from shelf stable ingredients. It's one meal I don't have to think about or spend much time on. For me, that's toast with peanut butter (freeze the bread to keep it from going bad). It's not overly tasty, but it's cheap, takes less than a minute of actual effort and less than five minutes total to prepare, is nutritious enough, and it's easy to always have the ingredients on hand. Plus it only dirties one small plate and a knife! Could you find something like that which you could stomach eating every day for one meal?

The easiest way to cut down on both time cooking and money eating out is to make multiple meals at once. You said you don't like leftovers; why? Is it the lack of variety? Does the quality on reheating suffer too much? Something else? If you can find even a couple of meals you can make in bulk, it'll make your life easier. To combat the variety problem, I make a few things in bulk in a row then switch between them when eating the leftovers, so I'm never eating the same thing multiple times in a row. For quality reheating, plan ahead: keep pieces separate that don't reheat well (e.g. don't assemble a burger two days before you eat it), maybe undercook the meat for the stuff to be reheated so it won't get overcooked when you do so, etc. I can probably give better suggestions if you're more specific on your objections.

My personal solution is to go to restaurants relatively cheap entrees with big portions, buy several meals, and eat them over the week. It works out to less than ten bucks a meal for me, and it does involve a lot of leftovers, but it also doesn't require any cooking or doing dishes.

 

[shortkut]

Reheating in an air fryer is a pro-level move

 

[Zell 17]

You need something quick and easy? Smoothies.

Frozen fruit/Banana + Peanut Butter + Milk + Protein Powder = 500ish calories of high quality food with good macros and takes less than a minute.

 

[dimmerwit]

On the meal replacement front I got given some Huel powder to try by a friend the other week and it wasn't nearly as bad as I was expecting. Needs a blender though.

 

[Fool's Requiem]

You said you don't like leftovers; why? Is it the lack of variety? Does the quality on reheating suffer too much? Something else? I

It's definitely a variety thing. I almost NEVER eat as much on the second go as I do on the first go.

There's also a "I don't feel like eating that today" thing and then it sits in the fridge gathering mold.

I know someone out there is like "Just eat it anyway" and forcing myself to eat something I don't want to eat is a fast track to getting fat. I have managed to stay skinny because I don't force myself to eat when I'm not feeling it. I'm not going to change that just so that food goes to waste. I'd rather just make less.

 

[Kat]

That's all totally fair. I mostly feel the same way. If you think waiting a week to eat the leftovers would help, I've found that turning my fridge down (mine's at 36F) makes leftovers easily last a week or two. But if you just don't like having to eat whatever is in there then I get it. I throw out a lot of my own leftovers for the same reason.

I'd suggest one of those meal kit plans because they will send you just a tablespoon of whatever, but they're all sized for at least two people, so it's still built-in leftovers.

Unfortunately I don't know of any recipes meeting all of your criteria. Maybe you can find easy sides (like bagged vegetables that are already seasoned and you just toss in the microwave, or instant potatoes, or whatever), have a variety of those on hand, and then you have something easy to go with the frozen fish? Another possibility could be getting something like a rotisserie chicken (which are usually sold as a loss leader so they're cheap), which you could turn into or add to a bunch of different things, so you can reuse without having to eat the same thing repeatedly.

Some tips I've found to reduce cooking or cleaning time:
- When you boil spaghetti, instead of using a big pot that takes forever to boil, use a saucepan and boil them horizontally in an inch of water instead. Stir it a few times and it won't stick together, I promise.
- Brown your meat then add the sauce to the same pan and finish cooking them together. Saves a pan and it's tastier IMO
- Go to the meat counter for your meat. You can usually get them to give you smaller portions if you ask. Same goes for steaks cut thinner and that sort of thing. Even grocery stores like Safeway/Albertsons and Fred Meyer/Kroger have this service. Some places will even season the meat for you for free!
- Get ceramic dinner plates. You can put them in the oven and then put them in the dishwasher, and they take barely any room (unlike giant pans).
- Use foil for easy cleanup. You can wash foil in the dishwasher then recycle it to feel less guilty about the waste
- If your tools suck then cooking will suck. Try to get at least one good knife and a couple good pots and pans

 

[MC74]

One quick meal that I do love making is mi goreng noodles. If you really want to be cheap, you can use the instant noodles as a base and add in the other ingredients (egg ribbon, green onion, cabbage, beansprouts).

 

[Fool's Requiem]

Meal kit plans supposedly use a lot of plastics to separate their ingredients and you're at the whim of what meals they're making available. My palette is more of "what am I feeling like tonight" thing. Yes, I could easily eat all my instant ramen and frozen burritos every night, but if I make them when I'm not feeling it, half of it will just get tossed into the garbage disposal.

Ceramic plates sounds like a good thing to look out for, but I already have too many plates and I'm hoping to think of ways to donate them without taking them to Goodwill or Savers as they aren't not-for-profit.

I got a highly recommended knife kit to replace my Target kit, so I'm good there. Got plenty of decent utensils, a veggie chopper that I use like once a year, a blender that almost never use, two different size cast iron skillets and a number of different sized pots.

What I need to do is find recipes that actually only involve dumping a bunch of stuff in an Instant Pot or a stove pot and letting it cook with minimal work an cleanup.

 

[Kat]

What I need to do is find recipes that actually only involve dumping a bunch of stuff in an Instant Pot or a stove pot and letting it cook with minimal work an cleanup.

There's got to be a thousand recipe books for instant pots. Find a big bookstore near you and try flipping through some, maybe? If you find a good one, I'd love to hear it.

 

[Kat]

One quick meal that I do love making is mi goreng noodles. If you really want to be cheap, you can use the instant noodles as a base and add in the other ingredients (egg ribbon, green onion, cabbage, beansprouts).

I don't know what that is, but I've enjoyed the instant noodles from an Asian grocer (not Top Ramen, actually good ones). Combine them with a bag of frozen vegetables and an egg if you have it handy, and you have a tasty, balanced meal with pretty much no cooking involved. Maybe you could toss peanuts or something on top instead of eggs for protein if you don't want to buy perishable stuff.

 

[MC74]

I don't know what that is, but I've enjoyed the instant noodles from an Asian grocer (not Top Ramen, actually good ones). Combine them with a bag of frozen vegetables and an egg if you have it handy, and you have a tasty, balanced meal with pretty much no cooking involved. Maybe you could toss peanuts or something on top instead of eggs for protein if you don't want to buy perishable stuff.

Mi Goreng is an Indonesian-style stir-fry noodle dish. They tend to be on the spicier side, but the flavor is amazing.

 

[Fool's Requiem]

Well, I chose to make a type of chicken stew with a bunch of veggies. Will see how it turns out. I definitely bought too much food.

Edit: Needs more seasoning. Should have tossed a bouillon cube with the chicken bone broth.

 

[Fool's Requiem]

Turned out pretty well. Sautéed a bunch of veggies and chicken thigh meat, with a bunch of spices, some chicken broth, soy sauce, and Cholula.

Zucchini, squash, frozen broccoli, frozen corn, celery, a green pepper, shrums, half an onion, a couple carrots, paprika, onion powder, garlic powder, a seasoning called "savory", chili powder, black pepper, some salt (just in case), and a tablespoon of butter.

Also, rice. ~30 minutes to make. Made far too much, had to transition from my smaller cast iron skillet, to my large one.

Edit: Not butter, margarine. And I didn't use it to cook, I used it as a seasoning. I used olive oil to cook.

 

[Ben]

You said you don't like leftovers; why? Is it the lack of variety? Does the quality on reheating suffer too much? Something else?

Personally, my problem with leftovers is that I never see them again. Literally. My perspective from 6'4" up means without crouching down I can't see shit on the bottom shelves of the fridge, so if I put Tupperware or something in there, it's effectively gone. Couple that with my general lack of appetite, and I just don't ever think "Oh I have that in there."

 

[Kat]

Personally, my problem with leftovers is that I never see them again. Literally. My perspective from 6'4" up means without crouching down I can't see shit on the bottom shelves of the fridge, so if I put Tupperware or something in there, it's effectively gone. Couple that with my general lack of appetite, and I just don't ever think "Oh I have that in there."

So maybe put them on higher shelves? I always put things that aren't going to last long at eye level so I'm more likely to remember them before they go bad. Grapes in the produce drawer may as well not even exist.

I have a small whiteboard on my fridge. I might start writing what leftovers are in there and the date they were put in on that.