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?

Oo! The tortellini sounds delicious.

I’m useless at all things cooking. What are you doing to the spinach?

6 P's
Prawns Parmesan pasta pesto(red) & peppers
Sauté onions & peppers & chorizo(call it pepperoni!) while pasta is cooking, add in prawns for a few mins
drain pasta mix together with jar of pesto and grate Parmesan on top

Caesar salad with leftover roast chicken from the Sunday the day before, a pre chopped bag of iceberg/baby gem, Parmesan, croutons from the freezer I make with bread in extra virgin and garlic/herbs before it goes to waste. Throw some bacon in if you can be bothered. I just use a nice Caesar dressing from M&S.

Chili con carne from the freezer with a sweet potato microwaved jacket spud or a rice pouch. Quickly mash up avocado to add more goodness - with a chopped tomato, chilli (flakes fine too), onion, lime, coriander for a guacamole if you have the ingredients there.

Salmon fillet with a quinoa/grain pouch. Any veg you have leftover or avocado again. Green beans and tenderstem broccoli works well.

For those who do a Nando’s style chicken, their macho peas are so easy to recreate with chilli flakes, dried mint and a bit of olive oil and/ir butter. We add garlic too.

Fishcake and a posh M&S salad is my go to on a busy night also. Can also add microwaveable new pots in butter and herbs.

Ooh forgot about pasta, leftover chicken or prawns, pesto and spinach/rocket. With some Parmesan.

I always amazes me how quick it is to cook fresh fish. Usually serve sticky rice (literally add hot water and leave) and some green beans (frozen)

Quick cook, use frozen spinach, zap in the microwave. A bit more faff fresh spinach wilt off in olive oil and squeezy garlic (you can use frozen spinach for this too, but it takes longer!)

Steak and red onion cooked in olive oil with salt and pepper for a few minutes, take it off the heat and stir in grated cheese until it goes all melty. Toast a ciabatta, add butter, mayo, English mustard and the filling. I tend to serve it with home made chips as I have a chip cutter and an air fryer so prep time is low and it takes minimal effort to make them.

I like the nadiya Schwartz kits, they go down well and are super easy.

Lurking.

Bubble and squeak

Fry off left over Sunday dinner veg until its crispy, throw in some lazy garlic, chilli, or whatever you fancy, eggs when it's nearly ready, then grater cheese on top.

Chop an onion (red or white, whatever you have) and a bell pepper, garlic and anything else you have in the fridge like a courgette or some mushrooms if you have them. Cook in a saucepan with a little bit of olive oil to start with, then add tinned tomatoes and chuck in some mixed herbs. Homemade pasta sauce.

Not sure if this fits the brief but it's the meal I fall back on when I need to do food shopping/use up veg, as I tend to always have tinned tomatoes and dried pasta in the cupboard.

We have all the ingredients for this and the only reason I haven't cooked it is because I keep forgetting to defrost the prawns. Your post makes it sound like I could just put the prawns in from frozen or am I wrong?

Thanks x

I always put my prawns in frozen. I chuck the lid on a bit to steam them. Heats them up a bit quicker.

Chicken souvlaki. You just marinate cubed chicken in a dish with the herbs and oil. They go on skewers under the grill and you can do rice and salad or flatbreads with them.

I don't have any, but shamelessly place marking.
It's a pet peeve of mine that a lot of "quick and easy" meals still require several pans, lots of chopping and effort.
I'm here for the throw everything together as is and shove in the oven type meals

A massive salad.

Pulled pork - throw it in the slow cooker in the morning , put in on some nice batches in the evening, next day throw it on some tortilla chips with salsa and have nachos

gammon joint in slow cooker, serve with fried egg and chips, gorgeous fresh ham for sandwiches for a few days

Cheesy beanos. I always forget how much I enjoy them.

Jacket potato, cheese, beans, salad, ham.

If you want to make a salad look super fancy, sling in tinned green lentils (rinsed), pomegranate, chunks of blue cheese and red apple slices (or red onion slices if you prefer savoury).

Nigellas sweetpotato and halloumi traybake is fab for this - sweet potatoes, halloumi, peppers, whole garlic cloves, red onions and cherry tomatoes. I add a tin of drained chick peas. It takes a bit of time to cook but you can get on with things whilst it’s in the oven and you can speed it up by chopping the pots small and steaming them in the microwave for a few mins first, just drain well.

omelettes or (cooked) breakfast for dinner or savoury French toast, roasted or grilled tomatoes and avocado or mushrooms on the side

leek and potato soup is quite quick

nachos - chop a head of cauli into small pieces, toss with S&P and olives and roast until caramelised. While it roasts grate some cheddar, chop an onion and some tomatoes. If you like and have on hand, julienne some spinach or kale. Remove cauli from the baking tray onto a plate. Dump 2 large bags of plain tortilla chips onto baking tray. Cover with the roasted cauli, a tin of rinsed black or kidney beans, sprinkle over the veg then top with a generous layer of grated cheese. Grill or bake until the cheese is melted. Add other toppings like sour cream, avocado, salsa,
pickled or fresh jalapenos etc. to serve.

Like the sound of the halloumi tray bake. But I think I'd have to sub the sweet potatoes for new potatoes. I aren't a sweet potato fan.

Really quick and easy one here:

Chop up chorizo (I use half a chorizo sausage between two) and chuck in a hot pan. Once it starts to ooze oil, crack in two eggs. Stick a bag of Mexican style rice in the microwave, and slice an avocado. Put the rice on the plates, chorizo on top, then an egg, avocado on the side - done.

Hunters Chicken, cover chicken with BBQ sauce stick in the oven for 30 minutes, fry some bacon, grate cheese then put together and stick under the grill till cheese is melted. Serve with chips

How are you all affording salmon? I'm sick of chicken but salmon always so expensive. DS would need 2 portions. The teeny slices in m and s were 7 pound last time I looked

@spspanieleyes22 I buy the half side of salmon from lidl/aldi, I think its 500g for around £8, and portion it myself. I'm greedy, so I get three portions, but you could definitely have four

Salmon is usually on the 3 for £12 offer on Ocado. I usually do that deal twice - 3 lots of salmon, 3 lots of prawns - but there’s always mince, sausages, burgers, other types of fish, veggie options and breaded chicken type stuff to choose from. It’s the prawns we go through more quickly, DD could eat a packet to herself.

I know Ocado can be seen as the expensive option but honestly I don’t find I spend any more than when I shop at Aldi.

Might be worth looking to see if they’re still doing the vouchers + free delivery for new customers if you haven’t used them before, because for quite a while there we were getting some real decent money off combined with them having some really good offers.

Having said that, my last shop everything had really crap short dates so I wasn’t as impressed, if that happens again I might rescind my recommendation!

I’ve also bought the half side of salmon from Aldi that @PurpleFresias mentioned - well worth it! Does a meal for the 3 of us and usually something left for a salad/ sandwich/ stir into pasta the next day.