What's your go-to 'can't think' dinner or tea?

[BabyLlamaZen]

Would love some more ideas especially when I've had a day of it and baby brain.

Mine are:

• Jar of pesto and pasta (with salad if have any leftover in fridge)
• Baked potato with beans and/or cheese (again some salad)
• Dig out some leftovers from the freezer e.g. batch cooked curry
• Quorn escalopes with some frozen veg

Toast pizza.
Bread (preferably white crusty) or pita. Make a tomato topping with passata, olive oil, salt, pepper. Toast one side under grill, turn over, add tomato topping, toast a bit more, add whatever cheese you have in the fridge, melt cheese. (plus capers/olives/anchovies etc)

Easy paella.
Fry up some finely chopped onion, chorizo, peppers, whatever you have in. Add a handful of paella rice, stir it round to soak up the flaours. Add half a cup of chopped tomatoes and half a cup of vegetable stock. Stir round then put on low heat. Add more stock if its getting too dry. When the rice is sticky and plump eat from a bowl.

Chickpea aubergine salad.
Chop and salt an aubergine. Fry with an onion and some garlic. Add the chikpeas, some cumin and paprika, maybe a little water (or wine) until chikpeas are nice and soft. add to a bowl of salad leaves, toss in. Maybe add some olives.

Fast potato curry.
Gently fry an onion with some fresh coriander if you have some growing. Make sure onion and herbs are nice and soft. add some smallish chopped potato, maybe some cauliflower or courgette. Add a tablespoon curry paste, stir in. Add some coconut milk. Simmer for 30 mins.

I'm hungry!

Spaghetti, half teaspoon of marmite & knob of butter with grated Parmesan

I keep a stash of emergency can't be arsed to cook meals in the freezer:

Fishcakes - cook in oven and serve with salad

Soup - defrost and reheat

Cooked meatballs - make tomato sauce, add the meatballs and simmer until the meatballs are hot. Serve with pasta.

Frozen stir-fry veg - make stir-fry, adding fish/meat/tofu, noodles, and sauce from the jar in the fridge

Garlic bread - serve with soup or fried eggs or omelettes.

Cook a bunch of fine beans in a very hot wok with some veg oil until they're almost burnt, then throw in two or three packages of Samlip udon noodles, stir around, and add a dollop of oyster sauce, some soy sauce and mirin. Stir fry until combined. Delicious and takes 12 minutes.

Chippy tea!
Hard day at work today, so this is my solution.

Pasta mess. Never the same twice but always good.

Same sort of deal with eggs, leftover veg, any kind of protein, can of tomatoes and potato, or pasta or rice.

Same again but as quesadilla, if I have any wraps in the freezer.

Basically it involves rooting through the fridge and freezer, seeing what is there and adding it to whatever storecupboard stuff I have. As we freeze back lots of leftovers its always something nice!

Spaghetti and meatballs. Ikea or Costco frozen meatballs, spaghetti or other pasta, Loyd Grosman or other nice jar sauce and some sort of cheese, parmesan if you're lucky, any salad that needs using up. We almost always have these in.

Falafel and halloumi wrap with salad, gherkin or other pickle.

Cheats fish tacos with fish fingers, wraps cut into quarters and lettuce, chilli sauce or whatever.

Breaded chicken with frozen steam fresh mediteranean rice bags.

Thai curry - big pot of Mae Ploy paste lasts for ever in the fridge with coconut milk or cream and prawns, chicken, pork or veg and rice.

The above is more or less our weekday meal plan and we usually have everything in the cupboard and freezer to make it all.

Tortilla pizza. Tortilla wrap, sun dried tomato page, mozzarella (and anything else we have) under grill for 5 mins. Add basil (got a bush 🤣)

So easy and yum.

Mine are

• pasta and batch cooked sauce out of the freezer. Usuals are tomato sauce, bolognese and green sauce ( spinach and cheese based)

• frozen pizza with salady veg

• fish fingers with frozen peas and sweetcorn

• eggs and toast with broccoli

• plain meat and 2 veg (I keep various bits of meat like pork belly slices, lamb neck fillet and chicken thigh fillets in the freezer - does require enough advance thinking to get the meat out to defrost)

• stir fry with cheats - I use a pre cooked rice packet, pre chopped garlic & ginger in a jar, bit of soy sauce and sesame oil and ideally some left over cooked veg but if not then whatever cooks fastest

• other batch cooked freezer meals: casserole and cous cous, curry and rice, lentil stew with bacon or sausage.

I don’t use baked beans much as they seem to have them all the time at school...

Chicken tray bake. Chuck some chicken pieces in a roasting pan with a glass of wine and some quartered onions. Brush garlic paste or chilli paste or pesto or spices over them. Add chopped up veg that goes with the main flavour (cherry toms, baby potatoes and olives with garlic or pesto; sweet potatoes with spicy rub etc.) Goes in the oven for 40 mins while you get DC to lay table and have a glass of wine. Open a bag of salad and there's dinner.

And you have a glass of wine. Not DC, obviously

Pasta with fresh tomato sauce - fry some onion, add garlic, then cherry tomatoes and some basil.
Fajitas if you have the ingredients.
Stir fry of whatever veg is in the fridge, with soy sauce. Add noodles or rice depending on what you have lying around.
Agree with puttanesca!

I’m going to have to try that!!!!

Cheese and/or chocolate.

Spaghetti aglio e olio. Sometimes I add cherry tomatoes, fresh spinach and green olives a few minutes from the end. Super simple, tasty and just so happens to be vegan. www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/spaghetti_with_chilli_89628/amp

Something on toast (eggs, cheese, beans)
Something from the freezer (fish/fish fingers, chips and peas)

I usually have a tub of Bolognese sauce in the freezer (make double and freeze one...or more if you have space!) And then you are just booking pasta and slinging a garlic baguette in the oven.

Omelettes are my favourite. Usually with cheese, ham, scallions, tomato. So quick!

Fried rice - leftover neat from night before - we like gammon or chicken. Fry off onions, garlic, chilli, ginger, heat meat through and fire in whatever veg - we always have frozen peas and sweetcorn, sometime leftover mangetout. Take all that out when hot, throw in beaten egg and mix around a bit then add the rice and some soy sauce. Put meat and vegetables back in and stir through. We usually keep it quite mild for kids and then add sriracha to ours.

Jumbo fish fingers, baked beans and steamed frozen veg.

Beans on toast.

DH is vegetarian so it’s suit for him and we always really enjoy it.

Obviously I have a scrape of marmite on mine because that makes an awesome meal phenomenal. If I’m feeling flush, I grate a bit of cheese on top too!

Such an underrated dinner.

@doadeer pizza wraps are regular in this house! I always have some pepperami And jalapeño in just in case I get a sudden case of icantbefuckeditus 😁

[quote Legallyblondeee]@doadeer pizza wraps are regular in this house! I always have some pepperami And jalapeño in just in case I get a sudden case of icantbefuckeditus 😁[/quote]
They are so delicious! And so simple. I bloody love them 🤣

Chicken,lemon and Garlic with spuds and veg
One pot pasta with whatever is in the fridge
Chilli with nachos.
Chicken bake with ever veg i have.
Stirfry good food but doesnt take too long.
Spice bag chicken with chips,peppers and onions.

Tinned sausage and beans on toast with cheese and loads of black pepper

If I'm forced to cook well I always have a chorizo in the freezer chopped up. And always have loads of tinned beans, tomatoes and lentils.

So either chorizo pasta or 5 bean chilli with a bit of chorizo.

Pasta feckin pesto

Macaroni cheese

Fish, peas, waffles

Pizza & salad