Ideas for quick dinners I can prepare the night before, leave in the fridge and bung in the oven while the boys are being bathed when DH and I get home from work

[hunkermunker]

Please

Am working mahoosive amounts after Christmas (and a fair amount before) and don't want to just eat pasta and jacket spuds (although do like both these!).

Thanks!

She's worth it. We were a bit too but have done so little for ourselves this year (cue violins ) that we've done it anyway.

Get casserole dish and layer (in this order) onions and garlic, braising steak, sliced fresh tomatoes and potatoes. Repeat until there looks like there's enough (don't know how much you eat!) and finish with a layet of potatoes. Bake in oven for about an hour. V yummy and healthy.

bash chicken breasts quite flat
cover with a pot of natural yog mixed with some good curry paste - leave in fridge overnight or all day.

grill for 15 mins (ok you can't leave it but it is quick) and serve with basmati rice mixed with a microwaved bag of spinach (lots of salt and lemon on the rice and spinach)

or bash chicken breasts quite flat
put in bag with olive oil and lemon - leave in fridge overnight or all day. Grill (pref on a griddle pan) then serve with sliced ripe tomatoes and couscous

Do you do vegetarian Hunker? It is a good way to reduce costs. Also atm I am making loads of soups. It keeps for several days and you can just warm a couple of bowls of it up in the microwave to have as a starter. Very filling so can have a smaller second course, plus great in the cold weather.

I'm back already, Marina - doing 9-5 Tuesdays and Thursdays atm and we're not quite breaking even at the end of the month We're hardly extravagant either - no holidays, barely go out, etc, etc.

[pulls self together]

Yes, do do vegetarian, CoV - and also make a fair amount of soup (do particularly love wintery food - proper hearty soups and stews - mmm!).

Scootergirl, that sounds gorgeous - will try that one!

Enid, ditto - keep meaning to cook more chickeny things - DH does a mean chicken curry too, which is fab.

Also would be good to have things I can take to work for my lunch the next day.

CoV just posted a lovely veggie chilli recipe, too, hunker that would be great in a slow cooker.

also lamb curry is great frozen and reheated
I put a bag of spinach in with it once it has thawed

I aim to please (Scootergirl curtsies...)
Can I also add my vote to the slow-cooker idea? You can chuck anything in and it tastes fab. Nice to come home to the smell of yummy cooking too.
You can, of course, fast-roast a chicken a la Delia in about 1 1/2 hours... depends how long bathtime takes

chicken legs/thighs
quartered new potatoes
sliced red onions
red peppers
garlic cloves
Rub these around in a bit of oo and seasoning
(and leave for 24hrs if necc)
Roast for 45 mins-1 hr

Sorry for being dense... but question to those that mentioned freezing dishes ahead of time... do you then bung said dish in the oven straight from frozen or do you need to defrost it first??

As a general rule I defrost it in the fridge overnight then take it out the next evening for cooking.

my all-time fave fallback meal

chicken breasts into dish - add: half cupful each of olive oil and wine, splash of wine vinegar, capers, olives, tinned apricots, prunes, garlic, bay leaf, oregano

add more liquid towards end of cooking if nec

serve on cous cous

ridiculously easy

Thank you ComeOVeneer.

2 (7 ounce/ 200 gram) skinless chicken breasts, scored
1 egg, beaten with 2 tablespoons water
1 handful dried porcini
9 ounces (255 grams) mixed mushrooms (field, oyster, and shiitake), torn up
1 large wineglass white wine
2 medium potatoes, peeled, sliced and cooked
3 large knobs (tablespoons) butter
1 handful fresh thyme
2 cloves garlic, peeled and sliced
Olive oil
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C).
Mix the mushrooms, wine, potatoes, butter, thyme, garlic, olive oil, salt, and pepper together in a bowl; add the chicken.

Using wide aluminium foil, make a bag by folding 1 large (about 3 feet) piece in half. Brush all four edges with egg wash and fold the foil in half again, creating a double thick bag with a closed end. Fold the side edges over twice, creating two sealed edges; and leaving one side open. Place mixture into the aluminium foil bag, including all the liquid, making sure you don't pierce the foil. Close up the final edge, making sure the bag is tightly sealed and secure on all sides, and carefully slide it on to a roasting tray.

Place the tray on a high heat on the burners for 1 minute to get the heat going, then bake in the middle of the preheated oven for 25 minutes

Remove from the oven, place the bag on a big plate, take it to the table and break open the foil.

that is for two people - obv half for just you

or 1 chicken breast, half 400g tin cannellini beans, 5 baby leeks/spring onions, 1 small clove of garlic, fresh marjoram/oregano if you have, small glass wine 70 ml double cream, salt and pepper.

blanch leeks for 2 mins, bung all ingredients in a bowl - squash handful of the beans to a pulp. Mix together and bung in a foil bag.

Cook for 25-30 mins at gas 7.

DH can take out fridge and bung in the oven when he knows you are on your way home...

Thank you VVV, that sounds fab (except...I hardly know how to say this...I'm a mushroom-refusenik...really sorry ). DH1 would adore it though!

That second one sounds great - I love beany things

This is a better version of that 1st recipe....

1 chicken breast, small handful dried mushrooms, small handful fresh mushrooms, glass of wine, large knob of butter, some fresh thyme 1 clove garlic.

slice garlic, tear up mushrooms, mix all ingredients in a bowl - chuck into a foil bag (jamie oliver style), cook in hot oven (gas 7) for 25-30 mins - again dh can take foil bag out of fridge when you are close to home.

Use tomatoes and basil instead.

The foil takeaway style trays are brilliant for stuff like this. Batch cook loads of stuff (I do shepherds pie, curries, lasagne, sausage casserole, chicken cass, etc) and freeze.

Simply pop the chosen option in the oven on a highish heat for about 30 minutes. Done.

Will have to get some foil thingys, StG - good plan!

Yep - i did that with moussaka this evening....