What is your overlooked low effort, high-ish impact weekly meals

[Polir]

Do you have any meals you make that are next to no effort but go down a treat and make it look like you have your shit together with your family.

So for me it’s a roast chicken. I’ll either do it with salad and bread, Nando’s style using frozen wedges, rice (occasionally in a bag when I’m truly lazy) coleslaw, baby potatoes in a bag etc. You name it really. Kids always really happy when I begin to carve up. Maybe involves 10 mins of work, if that. Literally the same level of effort as some beige frozen food meals we have when desperate.

What is your version of this that you think is overlooked?

Im talking 10 mins of work and no faff.

Another one is noodles - use pre chopped veg, fresh noodles and frozen prawns. 6/7 min job.

Tray bakes, lob veg in, put in protein, sprinkle over herbs or chilli or balsamic - let it do its thing for 40 minutes. (If using fish put it in for less time).

Hot smoked salmon with salad and a pouch of mixed grains.

Prawn curry, curry paste, tin of tomatoes, cook down, add veg and some creamed coconut - put in prawns have with micro rice (or in rice cooker).

slow cooked Chinese beef.
2oz ginger (I use jarred)
couple of teaspoons of jarred garlic
one onion whizzed up

2oz light soy sauce
2oz dark soy sauce
2oz dark muscovado
few teaspoons of 5 spice
tomato puree
sto k

braise the beef, then the onion ginger and garlic, then the tomato puree

put everything in the slow cooker, cover with beef stock.

serve with green beans and rice

DS works in a supermarket and gets the yellow sticker stuff that no one wants, so we sometimes get a treat like fresh salmon or lamb chops. Those are always the easiest ones - fry the salmon or grill the chops while you do the veg.

Another easy one is marinated pork or chicken stir fry. Portion the meat into freezer bags, add the marinade and freeze. It will marinade while its in the freezer. I use grated orange zest, soy sauce, 5 spice, ginger, a spoonful of red miso, and a spoonful of dried mushroom powder. I don't use oil or sugar, its similar to char sui.

Yes to traybakes! We often do a version of Nigella’s chicken chorizo tray bake with a side of microwaved green beans. Sautéed if being fancy.

Have you ever tried this with chicken? Sounds good but I only eat fish and chicken.

YABU ffs.

I’ve done a five spices chicken thigh traybake. That was well received. The beef dish is super rich, I can’t see why it wouldn’t work with the chicken. Although I’d probably reduce the sugar content (I’m not sure why, just feels the right thing!)

Minced beef orzo

Just fry off onion and couple of cloves of garlic, brown mince, add orzo and stir for one minute, add tin of tomatoes, two cups of stock, pinch of nutmeg and cinnamon, tsp cayenne pepper or paprika and oregano. Mint if you have it. Cover it. Simmer on low heat until liquid is absorbed and while I get on with other things in the kitchen.

One pot Greek chicken and lemon rice - marinade the night before and it just takes chopping and frying an onion and browning the chicken. Oven does the rest. Super impressive flavours for such an easy meal. Chicken thighs make it cheap too, but the marinade means they stay moist and tender.

www.recipetineats.com/one-pot-greek-chicken-lemon-rice/

Chicken breasts sliced in half and pounded for a minute under some baking paper. Spoon some ricotta in the centre, sprinkle some herbs over the cheese, and fold them back then wrap in prosciutto or pancetta. Throw a ready made arrabiata sauce from a jar into the bottom of a baking dish, lay on the chicken breasts and sprinkle with parmesan and breadcrumbs (I always keep my old breadcrusts crumbled in the freezer). Bake for 35 mins until cooked through.

A steak round (or a mince round) from the butcher, with mashed potatoes, whatever vegetables I fancy, and some extra gravy.

A lot of our week day dinners are super quick, they’re on the table in 30 mins with minimal prep-

salmon with soy and garlic cooked in air fryer with tenderstem broccoli (also chucked in air fryer with spray oil) and rice (sometimes micro otherwise quick boil in the bag basmati), frozen wedges or packet cous cous.

gammon steaks with jacket potato (5 mins in micro then 5 mins in airfryer) usually add an egg or salad.

Creamy paprika chicken - quickly fry chicken pieces with paprika and oregano, add in some tom purée and 200ml chicken stock then leave to simmer, stir in a few big tablespoons of Philadelphia cheese before serving with basmati boil in bag rice.

Sticky Asian beef - fry lean beef mince with onions, garlic, soy sauce and a bit of honey - simmer for 10/15 mins while either rice or noodles boil away, serve with an asian slaw / side salad or tender steam broccoli.

Thai basil chilli chicken - fry chicken, fresh chillis, onions and garlic add in sauce (soy, oyster sauce, water and sugar) add in vegetable of choice, we use mangetout, simmer then add in Thai holy basil a few mins before serving (or normal basil if you can’t get Thai holy), I usually serve with rice and top with a fried egg.

I think the usuals such as spag bol, chilli con carne, meatballs etc can all be thrown together quite quickly too, I usually get on with other chores while they’re simmering, so it doesn’t feel like I’m spending a lot of time cooking every evening.

5 minute dahl (not quite five minutes but it is quick)

https://thehappypear.ie/5-minute-dahl/

Roasted veg pasta - roast a bag of baby peppers, cherry tomatoes, garlic and red onion in the oven for about 15 minutes, cook pasta for ten minutes, add frozen spinach and fresh broccoli with four minutes to go, cannelini beans 2 minutes before the end. Smoosh up the roasted garlic, mix all the veg and pasta together with some oregano, olive oil, salt and pepper and put in a baking dish with loads of grated cheese and bake for about 20 minutes until the cheese is melted and going brown slightly.

For an extra win, take leftovers in for lunch- I also added a bit of salmon for my lunch.

I like Happy foodie chicken Shawarma.

I double all the spices but half the cayenne and the salt.

I wanted to add a link but there's an error on the website.

Roast chopped onions, courgettes, peppers, broccoli etc until nicely golden. Mix a few tbsp Greek yogurt with a few teaspoons of miso paste, pour over, stir and serve.
Works with more or less any veg. Add garlic and ginger to the roasting tin for a change.

This - quite a lot of recipes from the Rukmini Iyer roasting tin cookbooks have become firm favourites in our house that look and taste as though they took far more time to prepare than they did.

Jamie Oliver's salmon and pesto parcels. Sheet of foil. Layer of green beans - fresh or frozen. Salmon fillet on top, then pesto, then drizzle olive oil. Wrap it up, on a tray and in the oven for about 25 mins (normal salmon cooking time). He suggests serving with mash - I buy the frozen packets. Or new potatoes would work. Takes five mins of prep and it's so yummy.

I have started making (every Friday) roasted chicken thighs or chicken legs. I smear on olive oil then liberally sprinkle garlic salt, sweet paprika, turmeric, mixed dried herbs, cinnamon and a splash of lemon. I serve this with rice that i have mixed with raisons and cooked in chicken stock.

This goes down incredibly well with my entire family - even autistic DS1 who generally does not like 'spice'. I've been doing it about 4 months or so.

Mild chicken curry
dice and fry chicken breasts, add two tablespoons of mild curry powder, add a tin of coconut milk, add a tin of lentils, add some peas and sweetcorn straight out the freezer and into the pan, simmer till ready. Microwave rice and done! Nicer than it may sound and a way for me to make sure kids get some veg!!

Yes I second this! ^^

Tray bake chicken with baby new potatoes, olives, cherry tomatoes, lemon slices and chunky mediterranean veg.
Or tray bake salmon with asparagus, fennel, spring onions.
5-10 mins prep, max.

@ALovelyCupOfNameChange what kind of beef do you use? Sounds yummy, I love 5 spices.

@Polir

https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/chinese-chicken-curry

tried this one, really nice but a bit bland to me. Chicken in cornflour is really tender and juicy. I will try this recipe again but with my own seasoning (probably 5 spices)

I like the sound of this!

Simple cauliflower cheese, the sauce is just a packet white sauce mix with a strong mature cheese added, then topped with the same grated cheddar, served with creamy mash and carrots.

Simple and easy to make but never fails to get the thumbs up.

Add sesame seeds on top of this and it makes it even better!

I’m mostly place marking. Meal planning is the bane of my life. On veggie adult, the other doesn’t is trying to increase protein and doesn’t eat fake meat and fussy kids. Definitely the worst chore.

I second roast chicken with salad for the ultimate easy dinner.

My other go-to is fish parcels. Fish and a few chopped vegetable cooked in a foil parcel.