Hit me with your easy but not beige dinners

[Oncewassmith]

Sorry if this isn't a true AIBU but I've been diagnosed with breast cancer and I'm facing a double mastectomy (plus reconstruction) - so I need some go to super quick dinner ideas for the family (me and DH, DS6 and DD4).... so what do you go for when you need a quick, low fuss dinner?

The three P's.
Pasta, pesto, peas.

Spaghetti carbonara

-Put your spaghetti on, and 1 onion and a couple of cloves of garlic to fry in a bit of olive oil. Add some bacon lardons if you fancy it.
-beat 2 whole eggs and 1 extra yolk. Add a pinch of salt, some black pepper, some grated Parmesan and some fresh parsley.
-drain pasta and tip back into pan, add your fried stuff and tip in egg mixture and stir with a spaghetti spoon /tongs until everything's mixed. The heat of the pasta will cook the egg.

Carbonara

Pan of pasta, another pan with all the 'bits' (garlic, chicken, bacon, peas, onions of whatever) and add whisked egg yolks with parmesan. Take about 10 mins and dead simple. Take the other pan off the heat, add pasta and a bit of the water plus the egg yolks and stir until creamy.
Simply and yummy!

So sorry to hear your news.

This always works and is no hassle.
This is for 4.
Fry 2 onions (thick slices) in olive oil. Add 2-3 garlic cloves. Chop a chorizo sausage (the uncooked type - peel off the paper) and add. Add a little lazy chilli. Fry a little. Add two tins of tomato and a bit of water , cook until onion soften. If wanted Add paprika (remember some in chorizo) and bit more chilli. Sometimes I Add a big of lemon juice. At the end Add a tin of butter beans and warm through.
Serve with chunks of bread.
It's easy and no hassle. Mine love it.

Jamie’s 5 ingredient meals is a great book, and you can adapt it to add extra stuff when you feel like it. Definitely recommend.

My go to easy stuff is Coleman’s sausage casserole, one dish and you chunk in the seasoning for an hour in the oven with some sausages and peppers etc. Serve with rice/ pasta/ mash if you can manage it.

Chicken wrapped in bacon (add pesto or mozzarella). Easy oven meal and serve with salad.

Could you afford to do hello fresh/ Gousto some weeks and get your husband to cook with the kids?

Wishing you all the best.

Easiest meal ever, boil some chicken thighs in chicken stock (I just use low salt cubes) throw in 2 nests of egg noodles and any green veg you have in the fridge. Take the chicken out and shred put back in, share between 4 bowls.

A steak salad Lettuce, cucumber, tomato, cheese shavings topped with slices of a medium rare fillet. If that's not filling enough, I sometimes add some baby spuds, delicious and simple!

For filled fresh pasta tortellini things, lidl often have really nice ones when they have Italian week, I had some lovely mushroom ones from there.

Also the lidl frozen salmon en croute is amazing, I just serve it with some green beans and it's a whole meal.

Also for mashed potato, frozen mash is really good and nicer than smash, and frozen cauliflower cheese works surprisingly well!

www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/kale-tomato-and-lemon-magic-one-pot-spaghetti This is a staple of ours. Tastes delicious

I had BC two years ago. I just want to say good luck to you and go easy on yourself. Lower your standards, the children just need to eat, don't try to hard. People will ask if they can help, accept and ask for freezer meals, or let them come and help around the house.

So sorry to hear that you are going through this horrible time! Wishing you well 💐

Don’t be afraid to cheat once a while, but ready made tortellini and last sauce with garlic bread slices.

A simple roast chicken is very versatile. Lovely salad with onion rings, coleslaw etc. Or wraps with crunchy salad. You could pop some spicy sauce on to liven things up a bit.

Then throw the carcass in to make a soup. So easy, lots of veg and seasoning.

Cheats roast dinner - good sausages with the works. Sounds weird, but so easy and everyone loves it. (Yorkshire’s are a must - made or bought!)

Jacket potato with feta cheese, olives and sun dried tomatoes and a crisp salad (adults, beans / tuna etc for the kids.

Tray bake - chicken thighs or drumsticks, on a bed of chopped veg / diced new potatoes, quarters of lemons, bay leaves. All cooks at the same time - very easy.

I batch cook a lot. Spag bol / sheps pie mix / lasagne / chilli. I make 6 litres at a time and freeze portions.

Tuna pasta bake / meatball pasta bake with loads of finely chopped veg within the sauce. Waitrose do a great diced med veg mix - perfect to sub half the meat out of in any dish.

Hope this helps xx

Some lovely ideas

My offerings are
Flash fry a venison steak add a bag of wilted spinach
Salmon fillet roast in the oven, broccoli and bag of flavoured express rice
King prawns, chorizo, sundried tomatoes, broccoli and pasta
Smoked salmon fried, add tomato pasta sauce with a dollop of creme fresh. Service pasta and green veg

Best of luck OP XX

Don't be embarrassed to cut corners in the kitchen op - ready-made mash, frozen chopped onions/peppers, microwave rice, fresh pasta have all saved me headspace recently. Also (maybe for the really tough days) paper plates and picky bits on a picnic rug on the floor. Takeaway when you need to, without the guilt. Love the Hello Fresh idea (but it's not cheap) and there are lots of 'just like home-made' places popping up nowadays.

I assume you've already covered this but is there any possibility for your dh to reduce his hours slightly when you'll be needing more support?

Filled pasta and a tomato sauce (both from the supermarket chiller cabinet) served with garlic bread and / or salad.
Cartons of fresh soup, with lots of fresh bread.
Rotisserie chicken, bagged salad, tubs of coleslaw / potato salad / etc.
Hummus and roasted veggie wraps (any combo of peppers / onions / cherry tomatoes / courgette / aubergine / squash that you like).
Similarly, hummus and falafel pittas and veggie sticks (we like carrots, peppers, cucumber, maybe cherry tomatoes or thinly sliced red onions).
Quick stir fry with sliced chicken or beef, a sachet of sauce, bagged stir fry veg, and either straight to wok noodles or ready cooked rice. (M&S do a good stir fry meal deal with all of the above).
Ready made lasagne.
Posher beige! Chilled breaded fish or chicken is nicer than frozen.. you get goujons or kievs or those nice filled fish cakes, chips or wedges, and microwave sachets of frozen veg.

Carbonara. Spaghetti, bacon (I added grated courgette too) eggs, hard cheese like parmesan. Mix. Add some green beans or broccoli. 30 minutes most for a full meal.

Best wishes for all your procedures op.

It's not necessarily mega quick, but very easy is veg chilli as quite tin-based.

Chop 1 onion and 1-2 garlic cloves and sauté in oil. Add: tin tomatoes, tin lentils x2 or lentils + other pulse, tin kidney beans & tin sweetcorn. Add liquid from tins as required, so sauce isn't too runny. Spices are paprika & cumin (about 2 tsp each), and cayenne (about 1/2 to 1tsp according to taste). Add decent level of salt and about 1tbsp treacle. Cut up a red pepper into 1/2-1 cm width by 2cm batons and add. Add a good squeeze of tomato purée.

Reduce down until nice and thick. For meat - remove 1 of the tins of lentils/alternative pulse and replace with 400-500g beef; brown with onion. All the rest is the same except I omit the sweetcorn too. Obviously taste and adjust spices if you like.

Sorry to hear that op. Tonight I made pasta then mixed in a jar of pasta sauce I used chilli and garlic spread on tray loads of cheese until bubbling took 20 minutes with zero mess aswell. Good luck

@Fancymice yes, the Lidl porcini mushroom ravioli is lush, just add a tomato sauce. Cheap as well 🤫

So sorry to hear about your diagnosis.

Ours would be
Jacket potatoes with any filling you like, can add a garden salad to side.
Beans, beans and cheese, beans and poached egg, on toast
Steak baguette with some green veg on side
Fish fingers, baked beans and bread and butter
Salads like parma ham, mozzarella and grapes or rocket, blue cheese and walnut with pear. Or lettuce, cheese, ham, egg, spring onion, sweetcorn.
Avocadoes with prawn mayo
Croque monsieur with garden salad.
Pasta with ready made tomato sauce or with spinach and blue cheese with garlic bread.
Pizza
Soups
Kebabs and couscous or veg
Smoked salmon and potato salad with garden salad
And lots of takeaways.

I would not want you lifting heavy pasta pots or big pots after a mastectomy, so tray bakes and oven/ pan meals better.
Quick fried rice.
Beat 2 eggs together.
Heat oil in a pan.
Cook eggs as omelette and set aside, cut up.
Packet of microwave rice broken up with hands and into the pan, add some protein such as left over roast chicken or cup up ham.
Add frozen peas and corn and a splash of soy sauce.
Put cut up omelette back into the pan and heat through.
Ready in about 5 minutes.
Good luck 💐

Frozen mashed potato . Two minutes in microwave and done.

Frozen spinach

Frozen fish cubes

Ready made white sauce.

Grated cheese in packet.

Fish, spinach and sauce. Potato on top. Grated cheese in sauce and on top.

Fish pie.

Sausage sandwiches with chopped veg and a dip - kids love, feels like a treat. Can add an egg if you need and it covers ALL bases.

Have potato waffles In the freezer at all times- they are good beige! And you can toast them (toaster on high, run through twice). So an easy and quick carb to add to meals you might want to microwave (chilly/Bol leftovers from freezer, etc). Also really good for a snake if feeling nauseous as heavy enough to absorb stomach acid etc

Anything on toast - sometimes it's not about a balanced healthy meal, but getting everyone fed.

Cheese on/beans on/egg on/avocado on/spaghetti on - keep an emergency loaf in the freezer for quick teas.

Soup (though my kids don't eat the stuff)

Jacket potatoes - fill the oven with spuds, fridge in foil after, then reheat in the microwave and add your toppings.

Freezer Pizza with as many extra toppings as you can squeeze on

My go-to quick meals at the moment are:

Pancetta and cherry tomatoes fried, added to fresh pasta and stir in pesto. Plus lots of Parmesan and a salad on the side

Pre-cooked chicken breast, coleslaw, potato salad, salad and nice crusty bread

Fried halloumi slices, wrapped up in a flatbread with hummus, falafel, chilli sauce and rocket

I’d be asking your husband to be batch cooking curries or whatever, freeze into portions, then just take what you want out the freezer as you go. In the early days post surgery, you won’t want to be lifting heavy pans and might not feel up to standing and cooking. Get a few decent microwave meals in too, M&S are nice if you can. Get some good snack type foods in too, that the kids can just grab it for you to pick at - if you’re having chemo/radiotherapy that can leave you pretty tired along with post surgical recovery, so I’d suggest eating little and often, and whatever you fancy. Good luck, and I hope your DH has managed to get some time off work in the early days.