Tell me your simple, delicious meals because I am totally useless at cooking a decent meal

[Urghears]

I'm basically atrocious. I buy crap such as breaded chicken, fish fingers and chicken nuggets. Usually with either baked beans or steamed veg. I just can't seem to get the energy or enthusiasm to get a decent meal. I don't like spicy food. Hate rice. Mash spuds are all I can do.

This is really simple and my teens often cook it.
www.aldi.co.uk/slow-cooker-chicken-curry/p/000000314549700

Agree with the pasta bakes. I usually have frozen bags of spinach, they come in little balls and pop them into the pasta bake as well.

If you like mash potato then you can make champ. There's so many recipes. I chop a couple of spring onions and put into warm milk, about 50ml and add chopped parsley and a dash of white pepper. Don't let the milk boil or get too hot. Add to the mashed potatoes with butter. Serve with anything!

Thank you!!!! This looks like an amazing site

This is one of the easiest recipes I know, found on Mumsnet years ago! My kids love it and you don't even need to
chop an onion:

Fry a pack of chipolatas in deep frying pan or wok until browned.
Add 2 tins of mixed beans in spicy sauce (they aren't spicy at all, I promise!) and 1-2 tins of tomatoes
Add pinch of salt, pepper and a sprinkle of herbs (I use basil or oregano)
Bring to boil, lower heat and simmer for 20-30 mins
Job done! I usually serve with rice but you could do pasta instead.

This is also very easy:

Slice peppers and fry till soft.
Add chopped garlic and some chopped bacon.
Meanwhile,'cook pasta according to pack instructions.
When pasta is done, drain it add the peppers, garlic and bacon. Then add a few spoonfuls of pesto and some crème fraiche. If you like you can also add sweetcorn.
This is my go-to comfort food! So delicious.

@coodawoodashooda @Proudbitch I'm sure some people think I'm paid to advertise for him but I found him on Instagram
Cooked my way through the site as part of my "try a new recipe once a week" and they've always been good

I like a jump to recipe button and the cook mode and quantity slider is genius

I made the lasagne for my dad who claimed ready meal lasagne is "absolutely fine" and he just sat there and said "how did you learn to cook like that?!"

Bored of lunch on IG is one I use for slow cooker stuff

Just look up some simple recipes. Google 'easy shepherd's pie', 'easy macaroni cheese' etc. BBC recipes usually come up.

DS16 likes to whisk a couple of seasoned eggs and pour into a med hot frying pan, immediately cover with a tortilla, cook for a minute or two then flip over, cover with chopped red onion, chicken, grated cheese then fold in half so the fillings are inside, cook for a few mins, turning once, then serve (you can fold it again if you like)

I put it in with a ladle to save burning fingers

Thanks @Duh and @DiscoBeat

Cottage pie!

Today we had lemon and garlic salmon with rice, steamed asparagus and veg sticks for the kids (carrots, peppers, cucumber ls). Yesterday we had super easy grated courgette, pea and lemon pasta (grate 2 courgette, add a bit of garlic, bit of nutmeg and creme fraiche, then add frozen peas and a veg stock cube if you like those). Tomorrow will be either lentil Dahl or chicken stir fry with bok Choi and peppers with noodles (sauce is 2-3 tbsp soy sauce with 1 tbsp honey, garlic and powdered ginger)

I haven't had that for ages but went through a phase of it for lunch, it's so quick and you can put anything in it

Two easy midweek meals here:

Chop up chorizo and add to a hot pan. Once it’s oozing oil and cooked, crack in an egg per person. Serve over microwave Mexican rice, with sliced avocado on the side

Get a chicken breast for each person eating, cover in a good squeeze of garlic puree and bash in with a fork. Add black pepper and Parmesan. Bake in the oven for about 25 minutes. Serve with jacket potato and either salad or steamed veg (could do sweetcorn out of a tin or frozen peas even).

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Chicken thigh tray bakes are great
Pasta bake with tuna or salmon and veg
Mashed potato topped pies
Oven baked risotto
Gnocchi

Salmon and homemade fries or sweet potato wedges with any veg you like

Tuna pasta with veg throughout

Fried beef or chicken pieces with veg stir fry.

season for your meat and veg - paprika, all purpose seasoning, garlic and onion powder are some of my usual - it doesn’t make it spicy it just adds nice flavouring.

Rukmini Iyer's 'Roasting Tin' series of books are great. Very low effort and generally very tasty (though I had some disasters with the pasta/rice type things until I got an oven thermometer and realised the temperature of my oven was way off). As well as recipes, there are guidelines on how to put together your own combinations.

I usually borrow recipe books from the library and then if I find them really useful/want to keep cooking from them, I'll buy my own copy. That might work well for you if you haven't previously cooked regularly.

Easy chicken and mushroom pie. Heat up a can of Campbell's condensed mushroom soup. Add chopped mushrooms, diced cooked chicken. Leave to cool then put in pie dish, cover with ready made puff pastry. Have with potatoes and veg. Easy and delicious!😁

Also, Delia Smith's book, How to cheat at cooking has lots of good tips and recipes in!

OK so you can make mash, open a tin and steam veg so start there.

YOu need the right equipment, at a minimum a good cook's knife and a chopping board.
Mashed potato is used as a topping for cottage / shepherd's pie and fish pie.

The easiest way to make cottage pie is to buy tinned mince and onions. Open the tin, pour it to an ovenproof dish and top with mash. Add a few dots of butter. these will give you those crispy bits, bake in a hot oven (200 - 240 degrees) for 20 mins.

You can also use mash as a basis for 'pancakes' not traditional crispy ones, something more like a fishcake.

For fish buy some salmon trimmings and mix in to the mash. You can add chopped spring onion or chives, salt and pepper to taste. Use your hands to form patties and either fry them until golden or stick in the onion. Serve with a dollop of mayo or creme fraiche.

Instead of salmon you can use grated cheese, dried or fresh herbs, crispy bacon, peas (frozen), sweetcorn (frozen or tinned). Have a look what you have in.

My favourite super easy meals:

Honey soy sauce chicken - mix 3tbsp honey, 3tbsp soy sauce, pour over skin on chicken thighs (skin facing up), drizzle more honey on top of the thighs and then bake at 200°C until cooked (around 30-40 minutes). Bake in a deep dish and pour the sauce on top of the chicken to serve. You can add other things to the sauce like Chinese 5 spice, oyster sauce, rice wine, vinegar and garnishes like spring onions.

Salmon - salt salmon, fry skin side down in butter for 10 minutes then flip and cook for another minute. Spoon the butter on top to serve.

Bacon pasta - I use guanciale but bacon is nice too. Chop and fry about 100g bacon until brown and crispy, add a couple of cloves of minced garlic and fry for a minute, add a small glass of white wine and cook for a few minutes, add a tin of tomatoes and leave cooking on low heat until you're ready to eat. Before adding pasta stir a lot of parmesan into the tomato sauce.

Oh I forgot my super easy mac and cheese - just combine butter, cream and cheese in a saucepan and let it melt together. It'll become thick and creamy with no need for flour or constant whisking. Add to pasta, top with more cheese and breadcrumbs and bake.

I normally do this with BBC good foods pulled pork on the bottom and maybe a layer of tomatoes on top of the pork.

A simple one which barely counts as cooking, op.

slice or crush a clove of garlic, warm it gently in some oil, not so hot that it browns, you just want the oil to be flavoured with garlic.

Then empty a tin of drained cannellini beans into the pan, followed by a drained can of tuna in spring water. Stir and simmer in the pan until well mixed and warmed through.

Serve with a salad. Warm, comforting, healthy, tasty, fast. 🤗

Sounds yum - can you share the recipe please?

You say you don't like spicy - is that ANY spice at all or just hot and spicy?
What flavours do you like?
Do you like veg and salad?