I have had a melt down tonight, I can not find quick easy meals?. I have cried into my kids

[willbealright]

dinner and am running out of ideas that are quick and easy for all the family,help me please{grin}.

Chicken breasts - a Mum's best friend. Stick 'em in a dish, slap some butter on them and then either...

Pour some lemon juice and dried tarragon over the top and stick them in the oven for 30 minutes.

Or put some bacon over the top and put them in the oven for 30 minutes.

Or stick some fresh basil and rosemary on the top and put them in the oven for 30 minutes.

Or mix up some breadcrumbs with tomato puree, spread it over the top and put them in the oven for 30 minutes.

Or spread Marmite over the top and put them in the oven for 30 minutes.

Or pour a tin of soup over the top and put it in the oven for 30 minutes.

Or make some quick cheese sauce, pour it over the top and put it in the oven for 30 minutes.

Or... well, you get the idea! Just slap whatever you can find on top of some chicken, serve it with some mashed potato and whatever other vegetables you happen to have lying around and voila! A bona-fide, cooked-from-scratch, Mumsnet-approved meal with virtually no effort whatsoever. Perfect!

Whois, it's great!

Proudnscary, my suggestions are used equally by dp and i. At the moment i do the bulk because I'm 8 months pg and unemployed while he works full time. When he worked from home, i was the one with dinner on the table every night and fewer household tasks

Another one: kedgeree! Cook rice, stir in flaked smoked mackerel and peas plus a tsp mild curry powder, top with poached egg :)

Pasta carbonara is quick and good. And you can make it in one pan!

Fry some chopped bacon bits in your pasta pan first, then give the pan a quick wash-out before cooking the pasta (don't add salt),

meanwhile mix eggs, cream or milk, cheddar, parmesan, chopped parsley, cooked bacon and pepper in a bowl),

drain pasta then replace in pan over very low heat and add the mix, let it cook just a tad, stirring, and serve with a salad or raw veggies separately].

For 4 people I usually do a 3-egg mix, just add what seems right by way of cheese etc, you will learn what you like best!

I've been back 4 months and still not 'there' yet. I use Jamie's Ministry of Food a lot. Also batch cook when I get the urge (buy lots of Tupperware and maybe an extra freezer?)

I've got Jamie's 30mm but didn't get anywhere with it. Having read this thread I can see I need to give it another go.

I think lowering my standards has helped a lot tbh , like accepting that its ok to sometimes just have beans on toast or egg and chips or cook a lasagne using a jar or something. Stir fries are great too and dead easy if you just buy the ready prepped veg and a blue dragon sauce.

Try this site,really easy quick and tasty recipes to be had. They are actually as quick and easy as they look. I've made a lot of stuff from this site

sortedfood

DP will cook for himself (he does 3 or 4 nice meals!) if I'm not around but he really doesn't like cooking, and I do.

I don't feel obliged to cook for him tho, often I'm not in or he's not in. If I can't be bothered I make something quick and easy for us both, just for me, or he pays for a quick meal out (loads of restaurants close to home).

He's a bit of a god send tho, I used to hate eating the same thing for 4 days in a row when I lived on my own. Now I leave left overs in the fridge and they magically disappear!

He was spoilt while I was on holiday last week - nice food for tea every night with left overs for his lunch. He looked a bit forlorn last night (I was out) when he had to fend for himself.

I've thought of another quick meal that is tasty and doesn't seem like a cop out.

Boil pasta.
While boiling chop up a big bunch of fresh paraly, olives, capers and anchovies. Mix with the cooked pasta and a bit of olive oil. Tasty tasty. Also v good with jarred artichoke chopped up.

Hello. Sorry to jump -but where can I buy frozen onions, peppers and chilli as mentioned by PP.

Thanks!

xxx

Our midweek staples all come from the freezer - I batch cook whenever I do have time. An ice cream tub full can be defrosted in the microwave in 5 minutes, to the point where you can chuck it in a frying pan on a lowish heat & break it up with a knife whilst your pasta/rice/potatoes are cooking.

This time of year, we alternate: pasta bolognese (veggie version with veg mince, lentils & tons of veg); curry (made using Pataks paste & more veg, chickpeas etc); chilli; sausage casserole, served with mash.

Once a week I try to find time to cook a nice fresh crunchy stirfry. & once a week I just say 'sod it' & do beans/scrambled egg on toast.

Every supermarket sells frozen onions and peppers and the ones big enough to have an ethnic food freezer section will have frozen blocks of garlic, ginger and chillies. Sainsburys and Waitrose also frozen garlic, herbs etc.

If you're wanting something just for the littlies, this is the quickest healthy meal ever: bag of steam microwave rice with veg bits in (the ones that come 4 in a larger bag for £1 - £1.50 in supermarket: Birds Eye or own brand) with: tinned tuna/salmon or fresh salmon microwaved for a few mins or one chicken breast stir fried for a few mins. If children are young, one bag of rice (25p) would do two children.

Fab tips here I'm marking my place. I menu plan too and stick it on the fridge door. Don't always stick to it but it helps me feel calmer to have a plan. I do feel your pain, thinking on the hoof after a long day and kids tripping you up is no easy task. Its all in the planning!

Most big supermarkets do bags of frozen onions, peppers etc Ready

And definitely, definitely double cook portions of things like chilli, curry, bolognese etc and freeze the extra portions. Just remember to label them though.

This site has tons of other great slowcooker recipes.

crockpot365.blogspot.co.uk/?m=1

I have 12 mo twins and work Tues, Weds and Thurs, get back home at 6pm and straight to bath/bedtime so can't start cooking until 7pm on workdays. Thankfully the DCs eat their tea at 5pm before I get back so i save leftovers for them for next day. I rely on advance prep and quick meals. So far this week we've had
Monday- Roast chicken, mash, roast root veg
Tues- chicken pie (Mondays leftovers made pie the night before)
Weds - salmon, jacket spuds, peas - very quick
Tonight - lamb hotpot from the freezer which I made the previous week from leftover roast lamb
Tomorrow - who knows, am off work so have all day to think about it!

I made tuna pasta for the first time in ages, must be the quickest and easiest meal going!

Pasta
Tin of tuna
Tin of sweetcorn
Dollop of mayo

Ds asked for seconds - he never asks for seconds!

I think quick meals are easy but it's looking for healthy stuff I found hard.
Mushroom cheese and spinach omelette
Cheese/olives/mushrooms/tomatos/onion/capers/pineapple etc on half a batch/ciabatta/tortilla wrap and grilled
Pasta/gnocchi pesto with pine nuts and olives. This can even be made the night before.
veggie burger with baked beans
stir fry noodles with peppers and quorn chicken and sesame seeds
veggie sausages with mash (we have a bag of frozen stuff in) peas and sweetcorn and gravy.
And I always have some bolognese and soups in the freezer that I've batched cooked.

They all take 5 minutes or less to prepare and 15 minutes max to cook.

If you go on BBC good food you can filter by time to prep and cook.

www.bbcgoodfood.com/search.do?filterItem=time2&keywords=

Batch cook and freeze is the way to go.

eg Lasagne, meatballs, fish pie, risotto, mashed potato, marinades for chicken

You can freeze cooked rice, but only if you cool it quickly & then ensure it's cooked until it is piping hot (to protect against Bacillus cereus bacteria)

salmon fish cakes (do the egg & breadcrumbs, freeze, shallow fry from frozen 4 mins each side, then heat through 45 minutes @ 120 degrees C),

Bangers, mash and baked beans can be cooked, frozen as separate meals in tupperware containers, defrosted and then microwaved.

Ready meals are fine for emergencies, some are healthier than others

"Family Meals for a Fiver!" - Good Housekeeping - this book is full of quite simple ideas that don't use hundreds of ingredients. No specific instructions for freezing.

tinned onions are good too, they come in olive oil so you just stick them in the pan and start cooking + add whatever else it is you want to add. i love them as I hate chopping onions and it's less washing up too!

Tinned ratatouille is good to keep a few in the cupboard too, for when you don't have time to buy any veg/chop it..you can add it to your mince/soya mince/chicken whatever with cous cous.

cous cous is great as it takes hardly any time, not even any cooking, big bowl with a plate over the top. Add a stock cube or some herbs + lemon juice etc if you find it too boring plain.

what others have said about making extra is great for the next day and helpful if you need to make packed lunches too.

If I do something like meatballs in tomato sauce with salad and rice or cous cous, then next days dinner or lunch will probably be a meatball subway..

if you have boiled or mashed potatos - do double and have it as a pie topping the next day over leeks and sausages/veggie sausages mushrooms and stock or fish in white sauce with peas or mince etc...

those prepard and chopped vegetables and salads in bags are expensive and they aren't washed properly. they blast them with chemicals. Which is why I prefer the tinned onions. And i dont think they taste too good. If you prepare vegetables chop up everything you have and shove it in sandwich bags in the fridge yourself. Takes hardly any time to chop 8 peppers compared to 4 and same amount of cleaning.

Once you've found a few quick and easy meals you like keep the on standby, don't eat them if you can be bothered to cook as the next day you will get held up, rained on, be extra tired and not want cous cous with tinned ratatouille for the second day in a row!

justmyview you have just reminded me how much I like fish cakes and how easy they are. Although I've always defrosted home made ones first. My fish cakes are probably 50:50 mash and tuna, do you think they would still shallow fry from frozen ok?

PurplePidjin frozen risotto is on the shopping list :-) DP ate the last batch of a risotto I'd frozen yesterday. Slightly annoying because he doesn't really like risoto particularly!

I get my bags of frozen veg from Sainsburys. Chopped onion, find fixed veg/soffrito mix, chopped tomatoes, sliced peppers, roast mixed veg, garlic, cubes of herbs... Brilliant. Also jarred chopped garlic and ginger.

My slow cooker is my best friend, I use it loads. I make bolognaise sauce in it - pack of beef mince and one of pork mince, browned, some frozen fine chopped veg from Sainsburys,couple of handfuls of red lentils, two large carrots and two courgettes, grated, two tins of tomatoes, two cartons of passata, garlic, rosemary, basil, black pepper , on Los for. 8 hours. Makes 3-4 meals worth, bag in Pour and Store bags and freeze. You can use a bag to make a lasagne for a change.

All manner of stews/casseroles. Chicken with apple and veg cooked in apple juice. Chicken with chopped chorizo, can if drained chickpeas, tin chopped toms, carton of passata, some smoked paprika. Italian beef, diced beef with some frozen peppers, onion, mushrooms, jarred black olives, passata. Morrocan beef, diced beef, dried apricots, peppers, celery, chopped plums, some ras el hanout spice mix, garlic, passata, some beef stock. Chicken in cider with veg and apples. Diced pork shoulder with veg and a can of ginger beer. Diced pork shoulder with canned mixed beans, passata, worcestershire sayce, lits of herbs and garlic. Sausages and veg or canned beans, sausages with lentils and lits of herbs and garlic.

Chicken thighs are brill in the slow cooker and half the price of breasts.

Pot roasts, brisket with Guinness, serve with veg, shred leftover meat into ready made curry sauce the next day. Gammon joint in water, serve with mash and peas and gravy, use the cooking water to make soup with some elderly veg and half a bag of yellow split peas. Shred leftover gammon into the soup once it's blended. Use more leftover gammon mixed with pasta, cheese sauce and microwaved frozen spinach. Pork shoulder cooked till its falling apart, mix with home made or bought BBQ sauce, serve in floury buns or wraps with beans and coleslaw on the side. Chicken, slow cooked, served with veg one day, leftovers into a curry, a risotto with peas and lashings of Parmesan, pasta and tomato sauce, fajitas, stir fry, millions of things.

Fish cakes, chicken nuggets etc - I make my own chicken nuggets (chicken thighs plus some carrot and apple in the processor coated in home made breadcrumbs) and Thai fish cakes (raw salmon and prawn, some red Thai curry paste, chopped spring onion) in massive batches, freeze them on a tray then tip them into bags.

Jumping on to mark my spot - great thread