What is your ultimate lazy food shortcut?

[HopelesslyHopeful87]

I have just discovered frozen mashed potato and it's revolutionary!

I was dubious and thought surely it's full of added crap but it's not. It comes out so creamy and fluffy and tastes lush. No more peeling potatoes for me! I bought a bag from Iceland for about 90p. There may be some fancier versions and mash made from actual potatoes may be more cost effective but I don't care!

What's your ultimate lazy food shortcut?

www.tesco.com/groceries/en-GB/products/272423694
Frozen jacket potatoes

I know what you mean @TinklyLittleLaugh - but if it means I can literally walk in through the front door, turn on the hob and start cooking then it’s worth it to me. It makes mince dishes weekday dinners rather than weekend only ones.

Powdered coconut milk/cream.

What? Where do you get this?

I'm forever realising I don't have coconut milk/using half a tin, swearing I'll use the rest and then having to chuck it.

I've started buying lazy garlic, ginger and chilli, which are a revelation.

I prefer tinned mushrooms to frozen (the latter seem to disappear to nothing once cooked).

Great tip re the mushroom soup as a sauce.

Frozen chopped onion and squeezy garlic in a tube is the basis of 95% of my meals.

Not as lazy as it gets but I do a lazy roast:
Cheap chicken portions (thighs/legs)
Frozen mixed veg
Frozen roast potatoes
Frozen Yorkshire puds
Plus a bit of Bisto

...and that's a treat for us! I'm going to try the frozen mash potato. I usually buy the microwaveable portions which is obv the expensive way. However I'm also interested in trying the new Idaho powdered mash too see if it's any good? Has lots of different flavours.

I will not peel garlic. It makes my hands smell for days.

I buy ready peeled. I’m not ashamed.
I don’t care what anyone else thinks. I am defiant!

Tuna pasta thing.
I tin condensed mushroom soup, mixed with one tin of tuna, flaked, warmed up together, then mixed with cooked pasta.
Served with frozen peas. 5 mins prep. and exceedingly tasty.

Lazy garlic and ginger!

My cheese sauce solution is that I don't make a roux. Just get flour (optional mustard), add milk slowly stirring to a paste and then a liquid then boil to thicken and add cheese.

Creme Brûlée -

Mix 50/50 Full fat Greek Yoghurt and posh custard from the chilled section in the supermarket. Put sugar on top and grill / blowtorch.

Amazing quick posh pudding.

Nice with a few raspberries under it too.

Noone has mentioned the holy grail. Frozen carrot and swede mash. It's amazing..a complete revelation. No chopping swede!

Love this thread.
Knorr 'touch of taste' liquid beef and chicken stock, so easy to add to anything for ompf.
Colemans chili con carne mix is better than my own and zero faff.
Box cakes that only require egg, water and sunflower oil (ie no messing around with butter) - I always stock up on Berry Crocker ones when they're on deal.

Only time I tried frozen mash it was horrible and watery. Which brand is best?

Frozen food is very safe and good for you too. Far better than fresh spindly bits of this and that wilting and waiting for a solution!

Frozen mash is the business. I am sorry I usually make my own but on occasion just buy it in the s/m.

I don't think S/M mash is bad or watery. It is magic!

And I will now do one hundred lines for my sins!

By explaining how to make your own Passat a, I think kateandme might have missed the point of this thread.

I'm forever realising I don't have coconut milk/using half a tin, swearing I'll use the rest and then having to chuck it.

You can freeze coconut milk. I quite often do that with the leftover half a can.
Cooked pulses can also be frozen and used from frozen.
I make my own soffrito buy chopping loads of onions, carrots and celery in the food processor and freezing in portions. Not quite a convenient as buying ready made but cheaper and convenient.
I love garlic and ginger puree, either in jars or frozen in lumps. It makes a great base for stir fries and curries. Although I do also keep a lump of root ginger in the freezer too - you can grate and use from frozen.

I love my freezer!

Ground coffee.
Just can’t be arsed with grinding my own beans, and anyway I like to keep the grinder for spices so not tasting of coffee.

Ground coffee can be portioned up and put into the freezer too. I saw my aunt do this in the US. They all do it there.

Cue those in the US and here saying NO, never. But anyway.

Microwaving onions to cook them then freezing in batches for use in slow cooker.

But I've just seen the soffrito mix post so I'm off to find that!

I make a white sauce the way my mum did - cornflour and water mixed together then add to the warmed milk, butter added if needed.

I didn't make a roux till home economics lessons at school and wondered why something so simple was being made so complicated and prone to lumps.

I do the same as WomblingThree and Itold - get the (world's oldest) food processor out and freeze the resuIts. It's miles cheaper and uses every scrap up.

I grate blocks of cheese, onions, celery and carrots.

I use the blade attachment for hard cheese like parmesan.

I freeze left over roast/ mashed potatoes, yorkshires, stuffing, rice, pasta, anything.

I grate ginger and garlic and freeze them in icecube trays with a bit of olive oil.

I freeze chillis and grate them from frozen.

Basically my shortcut is to waste nothing; if it's in the fridge it goes into the freezer.

Individual quick trifles - Use tinned mandarins (cheaper broken pieces are fine) with some juice over 2/3 chopped Jaffa Cakes, then add tinned custard then layer of whipped cream. Decorate with few bits of mandarin and grated chocolate round edge. Can add sherry instead of juice, of course, but always popular anyway.

Properly good lazy beef stew. No browning, minimal chopping, stick in the oven for a few hours

Soffrito mix - in the pan with some (ready cubed!) pancetta and oil. I add some chunks of carrot and whole mushrooms to bulk it out
Add bay leaves and fry for a bit
Add ready diced stewing beef (500g ish), a tablespoon of plain flour and stir
Tip in a tin of chopped tomatoes, about 500ml ale/stout/wine, oxo cube, dash of lea and Perrins and some black pepper
Stir, bring to boil, stick lid on and in oven for a couple of hours. Take the lid off about 30 mins before the end if you CBA
Take the bay leaves out!

Mini chopper is probably my favourite lazy gadget, easy to clean too