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.

ISA glad the thread is helping. I don't have any illnesses thankfully, but one side of my family have ME so I know what it's like first hand. The recipes and ideas are great, I work full time with 2 kids and find I spend my life juggling. I'm totally in a rut food wise so this is very inspiring.

Re the slow cooker. I find this type of comment comes from getting in a rut with the slow cooker, using it for soups or stews all the time. They are hugely versatile and I use ours 2-3 times a week but always vary its use. They are great for full joints, either straight out or just finish off say a chicken in a very hot oven to crisp up. Cook big joints and then use meat for curries, wraps, paella, jambalaya type meals. Fab for risotto.

Make sure you keep in a lot of bags of tortellini, ravioli, gnocchi. I like Aldi stir in sauce, only takes 10 mins then onto table.

If you do have a bread machine they are good for pizza dough, I can make enough for two meals freezing the other half for another day.

And I think people forget that on bad days scrambled eggs on toasts with smoked salmon can be a dream meal.

Good luck. X

I am just astonished by all this. This is full of amazingness. Bought new potatoes today and will defrost salmon tonight for an oven meal tomorrow. Bit of sauce, few herbs, steam some frozen veg (did NOT realise this was possible, thank you) and voila! Or, more mumsnetty... TADA!

I am wondering about a cookbook now. 'Cooking for the chronically fatigued and/or lazy.'

Must find some nut-free pesto as it features so heavily in this thread.

And I am getting a slow cooker again. Thank you all so much.

Here's my cheat meal. 4 skinless chicken breasts. Shake over sachet of French onion soup. Pour over tin of apricots in juice. Cook in oven.

And bit embarrassed about this one - tuna, add oregano, ground pepper and olive oil. Heat and add to cooked pasta. My daughter loves this.

Argh, just typed out a recipe and it disappeared!

Anyway.

Me and DH’S fave camping meal = chicken pasta pesto.

Put pasta on to cook. Fry a diced onion and a red pepper for five mins. Add diced chicken. Cook through. Add jar of pesto. Heat. Drain pasta, mix in chicken pesto. Really good hot, but also awesome cold, as a ‘pasta salad’.

Chicken quesadillas:

Slice cold cooked chicken, tomato and feta or cheddar. Few spinach leaves. Spread one half of tortilla with squished avocado or mayo. Lay sliced ingredients on top of mayo/avocado. Fold over. Place in hot dry frying pan. Heat for 2/3 mins on each side, till tortilla is toasted and cheese is melted.

Mac n cheese. Cook pasta in milk (one cup pasta, two cups milk). Stir in cheese when pasta cooked. Add teaspoon mustard, salt, pepper. Uses only 1 pan too. Could add chopped broccoli/spinach/cauli

kitchen I've only made macaroni cheese the traditional way, making a roux then cheese sauce. Very interested in this method, does it really work?

LOVE this thread! Makes me feel all warm and fuzzy

Ooh, on the salmon front, I have two nice ones.

Salmon fillets (or a big piece), grease baking tray and bung in oven. A few minutes in, chuck in some green beans and cherry tomatoes. Lemon wedges if you have. Serve will boiled new potatoes (or you can cut them small ish and oven cook them too on the other shelf). Very simple, but gert lush (as us Bristolians say)

Or

Salmon fillets (or a big piece) oven cooked. When done, serve with a spoonful of pesto sauce. Pesto, plain yoghurt, black pepper.

Delia does a good baked risotto too. Ignore all the faffing with mushrooms. Just concentrate on the rice bit - fry off and then stick in the oven.

www.deliaonline.com/recipes/type-of-dish/risotto/oven-baked-wild-mushroom-risotto.html

If you used just normal pre-chopped mushrooms that would be good. Or peas and prawns can both be stirred through at the last minute (as long as you've defrosted first )

What about meatball soup ? A variation of Italian wedding soup , where I used to chop all the vegetables from fresh , then one day , thought 'fuck it , I can't be arsed '. And chucked half a bag of mixed veg in , result was exactly the same .

So , I throw in a bid of frozen chopped onion , ditto garlic , some of them little pancetta cubes or bacon lardons ( nice but not essential ) fry that up till it softens , put the kettle on , stick the ready bought meatballs in the oven to brown for ten minutes . Throw in any and all kinds of veg, usually peppers , mixed veg , swede , beans , frozen peas , whatever you like , add some stock from a cube and a carton of passata , cook for ten minutes Then chuck the meatballs in , throw in some random pasta ( I do vermicelli cos it cooks quick , or I bash up some pasta twirls and chuck those in ) cook for about another ten minutes or till the pasta's cooked through , and that's it . Easy peasy .

Nut free pesto from Ocado

Oh yes Maxi, meant to mention that you could def get nut free pesto on Ocado!

Could this thread be saved somewhere, I wonder?

I'd like to refer back to some of these.

YY this thread is too good to vanish. I'm going to report it to HQ and ask for it to be moved to Food and Drink/Recipes, if that's ok with OP.

Meanwhile I'm a bit worried though, someone up thread said you calculate how much meat to buy for a roast as one ounce per person plus a couple of ounces for left overs. That's a wee bit stingy surely? An ounce is only 28 grammes, I know a piece of boneless beef top rump needs to be at least 800g to feed three adults and leave enough for some sandwiches here at AlpacaLypse Towers! Also the larger the piece of meat, the better it cooks.

I'm in the lazy camp

I love frozen onions, garlic, basil, coriander, parsley, chilli, mint, ginger, Waitrose chargrilled Mediterranean veg, broad beans, peas, butternut squash and whole leaf spinach. Loyd Grossman curry sauces are good and if you brown some chicken, tip over the sauce, simmer until cooked and then turn the heat to low add some frozen spinach and frozen coriander, put the lid on the pan and ignore until melted. Waitrose do (raw) chicken tikka pieces that just go in the oven.

Waitrose do ready chopped soffritto mix. I love Tilda's microwave Basmati rice and it's really easy to stir a few of teaspoons of Belazu harissa or chermoula through it and bung in some (frozen) coriander. Most supermarkets do loads of fish and meat in oven ready trays with herb butter or spices. I search the Ready to Cook range and choose to order them by customer rating.

If I boil baby new potatoes I'll do twice the amount I need. The next day I'll microwave the spare ones then pop some butter and frozen mint onto them and cover until melted. Or toss them in olive oil and sea salt and bung them into a hot oven.

Fry shallot and veg (add chilli, courgette, brocolli, peppers etc - a not too oriental stirffy bag is a good bet). Stir in creme fraiche and pour onto pasta. Fresh pasta in a bag is v easy.

You get a nice flavour from the shallot.

I use quarter pounder burgers when choosing joints! A quarter of a pound is 113g.

Smoked mackerel fillets are v tasty and good for you. Bit of toast on side and have with a boxed salad from m&S or wherever.

For your soups, have you checked out the fresh, ready chopped veg selection available through Ocado? There are some ready prepared soup mixes.

I can't cook/won't cook but I alos use recipes from Jo Pratt's The Madhouse book like another poster mentioned. They're always easy, quick, healthy, tasty. Ideal!

Or take smoked mackerel/ trout/ hot smoked salmon (all cheap in Lidl and available elsewhere) and stick it in a food processor with a couple of tablespoons of creme fraiche, and lots of black pepper. Blitz and you have smoked fish pate.

Eat on toast with a squeeze of lemon for lunch or have as a dip with pitta

Bake salmon fillets in a foil parcel with garlic and chilli (those squeezy tubes are fine) and a splash of white wine. Have with green veg or salad and a baked potato.

If someone else is washing up then a roast chicken is really easy. Stick chicken pieces (or a whole chicken) in the oven with some garlic and fresh thyme, stick potatoes in the oven and serve with salad or microwaved green beans/peas

Sheet of puff pastry, top with red pesto, add mixed Mediterranean veg and olives, add crumbled goats cheese, bake and serve with salad. You can also add things like parma ham or do a version with just the pesto and cheese then add parma ham and rocket when it's out of the oven - cheat's pizzas

Brilliant thread. I'm 6 months pregnant and really struggling but DH can't really help much because he's busy rebuilding our house at the mo (long story). I've just written down a whole lot of these recipes and will give them a go in the next few days.

Here is my addition:

Homemade burgers (makes 4):
Largish Pack of Beef mince
1 or 2 finely chopped onions (fried in oil and allowed to cool)
A capful of dried Basil
A decent squeeze of Tomato puree
An egg yolk
A beef stock cube

Mix it all up in a big bowl with your fingers and squeeze it into patties. Grill or fry them off. Serve with oven chips, baps and a big bag of salad.

They are SO tasty and always go down a storm. You can wrap them in cling film and freeze them so if you make a few extra ones that's a winner. Also you can use the same mix to make meatballs, so (because I'm cooking for 2) I tend to make half the mix into meatballs instead of patties and cook them with a basic tomato sauce and pasta the day after.

*Sorry, meant to say finely diced onions. Dammit!

Isa thanks so much for starting this thread. I also have CFS (recently diagnosed so still v much getting my head around it) and I suddenly feel a bit less alone in it all. I think I need to try and make this shift too. Although I also think I need to try and eat as healthily as possible to aid my recovery. It's a conundrum.

Favourite super quick/easy meals here include:
egg fried rice,
tuna pasta (simmer tin of toms with some dried herbs while pasta is cooking then chuck in tin of sweetcorn and tinned tuna for the last minute or two)
pasta pesto with broccoli and/or peas (cooked in pasta water) and salmon (briefly microwaved)
omelette
fish finger sandwich
fish (eg trout) cooked in foil parcel in the oven with a big salad
scrambled egg (usually with peas or broccoli)

Apologies if I am repeating, I am too tired to read the entire thread in detail this afternoon.

I also totally understand about the superhero dh - I have one of those too