Dinner ideas that are quick/low effort but not junk

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We've recently started a business which means we spend a lot of weekends travelling around the country (from either Wednesday or Thursday - Sunday typically) attending trade shows and country fairs etc.

We are both struggling to think of things to have on a Sunday night when we get home - we'll be working on the Sunday daytime, and will get back after the shops have closed at about 6ish or later.

When we get back, there's also lots of work to do (unhitching the trailer/unpacking bags/putting stock away etc) so want something we can just put in the oven or can be ready quickly.

I should add, we only have a small freezer so pre-making a lasagna or something isn't really an option, and we won't have chance in the day to go to a shop as we'll be working. We also don't want to rely on fast food and takeaways as stopping at the services with our trailer etc is a bit of a nightmare!

My current ideas are:

• Chicken burgers
• Ravioli pasta with a sauce
• Pizza and salad

Wraps or flatbread are an easy base for any meal (albeit the bread is upf for purists).

1. Fry halloumi, peppers, cherry tomatoes and courgettes in a pan. Pile into the wrap with a spoon of greek yoghurt mixed with mint sauce or sweet chilli sauce or mango chutney, and a bag of salad leaves on top for crunch

1. Tinned kidney beans or chickpeas, sprinkle of fajita spices, peppers, onions, grated carrots. Wrap with grated cheese, a spoon of greek yoghurt, chopped tomatoes and sliced avocado

1. Start cooking a thin omelette in a big frying pan, top with grated cheese and stick a wrap over the top. Then flip and cook the wrap bottom side up for a couple of mins before rolling or folding to serve with green veg or salad. You can fry mushrooms or tomatoes to the pan before adding the eggs.

Baked cheese sandwich- cheese sandwich per person, in a baking dish, pour over 1/4 pt milk beaten up with an egg and a half teaspoon of mustard, salt and pepper per person: bake 25 minutes. Pumpkin seeds on top before you bake it is nice and extra cheese.
Good with salad.

The roasting tin books, when you get back make it up and put it in the oven, then unload and it'll be ready when you are. The baked gnocchi is our favourite.

but basically any traybake is my go to for this sort of situation.

I make Jamie’s hit ‘n run chicken. One roasting dish, cut up veg (onions, courgette, tomatoes, peppers - you can even get these pre chopped), good chug of balsamic vinegar, while slightly crushed garlic cloves, olive oil and hot and smoked paprika. Stir it up and lay chicken thighs on top (two per person, three if bigger appetite). Oven for 35 minutes. Serve with rice.

Grilled salmon fillets are my go-to quick meal. I marinate mine in sweet soy sauce & honey whilst oven grill heating. I serve with chips and salad for my DS; just salad for us. We eat our salmon medium, so still pink inside, so they grill in no time at all.

A cold option but super easy (our lunch today!):
Blitz raw cauliflower, add tinned tuna, avocado chunks, tomato chunks, olive oil and lemon. Done!

It's good to have things like lao gan ma or gochujang in the fridge to flavour things.
Sometimes I fry lao gan ma for a sec, some veg, add beaten eggs and then once it gets solid ish I stick a slice of sourdough on top. Spicy omelette sandwich.

Wow, some great suggestions. Are people steaming the vegetables or flavouring them? And when people have salad is it lettuce/tomato/cucumber or a bit more creative?

For a quick dinner i make a spicy rice, so onions, peppers and some spices fried then add rice and stock, add frozen peas and/or sweetcorn a few minutes from the end then whilst that's cooking butterfly a chicken breast and grill and serve on top.

About 15 mins from start to finish

https://www.facebook.com/share/r/18FhPeJiSV/

We make this a lot its quick and super tasty. We have a ricecooker so rice on then prep and its all done around the same time.

No cook dinner - hot smoked salmon fillets, pack of ready cooked lentils from Merchant Gourmet, bag of salad, sliced fresh tomatoes.

That sounds lovely, @noclingfilm - do you put any dressing on the lentils?

Stir fry ... whatever you have in, veg, salad, add bacon, ham, chicken pieces... serve with oven chips or pasta, quick and simple.

Chicken thighs with a lot of za'atar seasoning. Brown them in a pan and then bake until done. Another idea, I buy bags of dry stuffing, and when mixed with broth, scallions, garlic, butter, canned clam bits, whatever, makes a seafood type dressing. Put handfuls on a tray and white fish (tilapia? Flounder?) on top and bake. We like to pour a hollendaise over. Fast meals. When I buy Chicken breasts, I slice them into thinner cutlets and freeze them flat, sealed in bags. They take up very little space and thaw very quickly. In a sink of tepid water, they will thaw in about 10 minutes. Season and pan fry, slice and put over salad greens. Here in Florida, we have avocados cheap, cheap so usually add that to the salad, too.

If you want to cutbyh the cooking time by over 75%, cook on the hob instead, either fry or steam

Our easy meals tend to be bone-in chicken pieces (thighs/legs) with seasoning of choice, rice or baked potato and steamed veg. Bung it in the oven and leave. Rice in the rice cooker and leave. Veg in the steamer and leave. Carry on with whatever I'm doing.
If it needs a sauce, I add boiling water to the dish I cooked the chicken in and thicken as necessary. Can do that whilst serving.

• I like to cook some high quality sausages in a tray with some potatoes, peppers and other veg. Bit of paprika, salt and pepper - always goes down well.
• I make a pasta with pancetta onion parsley, a tin of tomatoes and a load of paprika
• Thai curry rice - cook rice in coconut milk and curry paste and a bit of stock. Add whatever protein/veg you want.
• Can’t beat a good old fashioned stir fry

Make a batch of fresh pesto, it keeps for a couple of weeks in the fridge and is great with salmon/cod/chicken/steak with new potatoes and green beans or broccoli, but also lovely stirred through pasta with some chopped cherry tomatoes and basil leaves.

Pasta generally. Freezing individual portions of bolognese takes up far less space than freezing lasagne and is so good to come back to after a long day.

Scampi tacos with tortilla wraps and a load of salad

Vietnamese rice noodle salad or a spicy Thai green papaya salad (which can be made with cucumber if green papaya is not available) are great with meat or fish.

the bags of birds eye (other brands may be available) frozen rice and veg are ok with a piece of chicken or fish
a bag of stir fry veg (if the BB4 date is good enough to buy before you go away), cooked prawns or chicken and microwave rice or noodles with a splash of soy sauce, chilli and garlic
chicken & broccoli pesto pasta (you don't need a recipe, the clue is in the name!)
a filling soup e.g. one with lentils or something like chicken broth with barley in, and those oven bake crusty bread rolls / baguettes
fish finger or falafel wraps (falafel with hummus and beetroot is really nice and salad
new potatoes in to boil, sausages in the oven / airfryer, unload the van, microwave some peas or broccoli, ready made yorkshire puds in the oven, instant gravy and you've got a sunday "roast" in under 30min
the BBC food website has easy dinners and 30min dinners Easy family dinners recipes - BBC Food

Omelettes with frozen veg.
or can you time a supermarket delivery? If you have good takeaways near you then you could get something healthy if that’s possible.
another option is a hearty lunch and beans on toast with some salad.

A stew, chilli or spag bol or similar would keep chilled in the fridge for that long. Make it the night before you go, chill it down quickly and reheat well when you get home.

As you do have a freezer, albeit a small one, would it be worth emptying it and just using it for a lasagne or some ready meals? If you can cook fresh stuff Mon - Wed, you don't need a freezer full of things you aren't there to eat.

I mix a tin of tuna with onion, cucumber, salt and vinegar - add whatever you like, obviously - leave that in the fridge then have that with a baked potato (just microwave them).
Baby potatoes are also great; take salmon or whatever fish you like out of the freezer and also microwave some frozen peas.

These are great suggestions, quick and easy. Some posters have forgotten the OP isn't there in the morning or the night before and has a very small freezer!

Miso ramen soup. Really quick and easy and you can put in whatever veg and meat/fish you fancy. I usually opt for prawns and then top with a boiled egg or two.