Very low effort meals needed

[IsaBisaBuildsaBoat]

I have ME/CFS and have just realised I need to be more strategic about time spent in the kitchen. I need to reduce effort as much as possible, basically. Shame, as I enjoy cooking (sometimes) and have resisted making this change for too long. I use a perching stool so I can sit while I chop but still, the lower effort the better.

I need to change my shopping habits to include more preprepared frozen veg, frozen steam rice, more family size ready meals, and incorporate more dishes that are like 'dump the jar on the chicken beasts and walk away for forty minutes'.

So, please share your low effort tips. I would really really appreciate it.

DS 5 and I made spaghetti meatballs tonight
Dump mince in a bowl with a beef oxo, salt and dried or fresh herbs. Scrunch. Make into balls. DS did this.

Boil water and cook spaghetti

Fry meatballs. Add posh passata, a little salt, a dessert spoon of sugar. Simmer. Serve.

10 mins. My 5 yr old can make this.

Throw some raw rice in bottom of a baking dish with a cup of water.You can add a can of red or black beans ( drained ) and some frozen corn too if you want. put chicken breast on top of that then pour over a jar of whatever salsa you like. Cover and bake about 1/2 hour till chicken is cooked, melt some cheese over the top and serve

Don't think I've seen it on here but fried rice is a quick meal and gets rid of leftover stuff.

Make an omelette. Set aside. Same pan, fry onion, pepper, any veg for five mins. Add leftover chicken /beef/pork / shrimp. Garlic, soy sauce. Heat meat through. Add cold rich. Heat through. Slice omelette into thin strips, add to pan, make sure everything thoroughly mixed. Serve. Kids love it too.

Cook once, eat twice. Make a chilli, served with rice or jackets. Then make chilli wraps the night after. Place a dollop of warmed chilli con carne in the middle of a tortilla, spread so it's from one end to the other, like for fajitas. Fold over. Top with grated cheese. Grill for 5 mins.

Add cold rice, obviously, not rich!

Will be trying these gorgeous recepies myself.
I know it might seem boring but I swear by how easy spaghetti bolognaise is to make.

Toffee's suggestion is great! I fry the rice and veg and then make a well for the beaten egg mix though wait for it to cook slightly stir through until cooked.Saves an omelette pan then!

I know you said about the slow cooker being mushy, O.P but I add my veg near the end of cooking if it is fresh and twenty minutes before if frozen it isn't mushy then

Just remembered my quick curry.

Open tin of Bombay potatoes
Add any frozen veg from freezer ( I find mix veg and peppers are nice)
Heat through
Tada curry.
I sometimes add left over meat or sausages if I can be bothered.

Oooh, morning everyone! More recipes! How brilliant.

I lol'd at Buttercup's 'Tada curry.'

Curry pastes are easy and cheap to make and can be frozen in individual portions. Making a curry is so quick and easy and you can add whatever you have around.

Yes to curry pastes being surprisingly easy. I'll probably keep making my own big batches of Thai curry pastes using my patented put another ingredient in every time I go into/past the kitchen method. Or this stuff has no artificial ingredients. Thai curry is dead easy once you have the paste - just fry some cubed chicken with the paste and some coconut oil for a couple of minutes, add some coconut milk then a few minutes later add whatever veg you like and simmer until the chicken and veg are cooked.

Jar of hoisin sauce or marinade.
Small carton of orange juice.
Chicken pieces - I use whole legs, but drumsticks/thighs are fine.
Chuck everything in a roasting dish. Cover, put in hot oven for about half an hour, then uncover and turn oven down. Leave until you're ready to eat! Cook rice.

It depends on how well cooked you like your chicken so as I like it falling off the bone, I probably give it at least another half hour. Check it from time to time to see if the sauce is burning.

Oh, and I do sympathise, as I have ms and am pretty exhausted by the time I should be cooking. If I'm doing something with quite a lot of prep (bolognese - lots of chopping) I try to start early, and do it in batches through the day or the day before. Also I try to involve other people as much as I can, so dh, dd and my bro can all be press-ganged into chopping, and often will do the actual cooking under my direction. DH cooks quite often too.

Very easy rice

Boil a full kettle.
Melt a dob of butter in the pan, and stir the raw rice about in it until all grains are covered. You can add things like turmeric and salt at this point and stir everything about in the melted butter.

Pour in as much just boiled water as the pan will hold, and boil for 10 minutes. Strain and serve.

I know people will be horrified at this! My mum was appalled at it every time I cooked rice, but it is so much less effort than measuring the rice and water and doing it the 'right' way when I would often end up with ampan of inedible burnt rice.

Buy a good kitchen timer! That really helps.

Can you put a comfortable armchair in the kitchen so you can rest when you need to ?

Op, I'm sorry you were upset - there is just no need for people to make nasty comments based on something they know nothing about. I find the whole cooking thing hard too as it was always "my thing" so I miss doing it, as well as having the guilt of my DH coming in from a long day and then having to start cooking. My DH does pretty much everything for us all plus working full time when possible and never ever complains. If someone said something bitchy about him I think I would want to kill them

On that note, dinner came from JustEat last night

While I am confessing - I buy frozen rice - sainsburys sell a bag of individual portions and they take 2 mins in the microwave.

But OP, so many of the ideas here are 'from scratch' - just maybe with a wee twist to make it easier for you. Packet rice and rice cooked from scratch - no difference, really. OK, home made pesto may be nicer/have a little bit less salt than jarred, but really, who does that? (I am a keen and competent cook but bugger spending £2 on fresh basil when all I want is a smear of pesto for the top of a salmon fillet).

So ditch the guilt, OK?

Could this be moved to recipes?

I love this thread. There are some brilliant recipes to try.

But ironically, I think it might die a death if moved to the recipes topic

Maybe keep it here until it dies out/gets full then move it to recipes?

Gnocchi works well as a bake, so cook it, dump jar of sauce on and cheese and bake. Could add chopped onions and sweetcorn and other veg

Supermarket hot counter - ours does belly pork, roast chicken, little pots of stuffing etc

Fish counter - get them to put it in an oven or microwave bag, that with some form of potato and ready prepped veg is easy

Beef stew - frozen onions, garlic, celery in a pan with some bay leaves and ready chopped pancetta/bacon and fry off. Add diced beef, carrots, mushrooms, tin tomatoes, can of beer or some red wine and a tablespoon flour. Stir well, add oxo cube/lea and perrins/salt and pepper/herbs, whatever you fancy and stick in the oven for hours. Take lid off halfway through
Easy because there's no browning the meat and it tastes amazing

Chicken breasts, dab pesto, cherry tomatoes, wrap in foil

Slow cooker shredded pork

Pork shoulder joint in slow cooker. Pour over can of full sugar coke, 1 cup (~250ml) barbecue sauce. Cook on low for 8-10h (or high for 4 and low for 2).

Take off fat and discard. Dump the joint in chunks in a large mixing bowl and shred with an electric whisk on low setting. Put meat back into slow cooker and stir sauce through.

Serve with coleslaw or bagged salad and crusty bread, goes really well in wraps or rolls for lunches for the week.

Traybake roasts are great - layer of frozen veg in oven dish, chicken pieces on top, chunks of garlic and drizzle of oil, bake at 200 for 40mins.

Spinach & 3 cheese pancakes
Blanch a bag of frozen spinach in a colander. Squeeze dry.
Blitz in processor with tub of ricotta and half a (small!) bag grated Parmesan, season with nutmeg.
Use a pack of ready made pancakes - put a wodge of mix in pancake and roll up. Place in roasting tray & keep going until tray full. Pour over jar of tomato & garlic pasta sauce, cover with more Parmesan and some grated mozzarella (again from a bag). Bake 200 30 mins.

I do a lot of stews in the slow cooker, it's easy to shove together in the morning and smells lovely cooking all day.

Also use the tubes of squeezy herbs and spices - Mediterranean mix is fab, as is squeezy garlic and ginger. Much easier than crushing or grating.

Batchelors savoury rice (or supermarket brand equivalent). Add water per instructions , add chickpeas, frozen veg and tinned tomatoes.
You could add cooked chicken, feta cheese, or anything else you fancied.
Easy nut roast - equal amounts of sage and onion stuffing mix and chopped mixed nuts. Make up stuffing, add nuts and bake as usual.

Forgot to say, with savoury rice, just cook as you normally would.

I second the recommendation of the Jo Pratt cookbook mentioned earlier. It has an spanish omelette style recipe using tinned potatoes so no boiling and slicing, vegetable soup using only frozen veg and lots of very quick pasta sauce recipes.
Also Delia's How to cheat has some good low prep recipes, this stew is delicious and if you bought frozen diced onions, diced pork and sliced chorizo, there is no chopping or browning, just bung it in a casserole dish. I also don't bother with the saffron as I never have any in.

We use a lot of frozen mash, so much quicker and easier. We also have a microwave rice cooker, was only a fiver from Amazon takes no effort.

Quick mac n cheese- pot of creme fresh, bag of pre grated cheese, half teaspoon of whole grain mustard, mix together then heat gently on the hob add to cooked pasta.