Really quick and easy meal ideas needed please.

[hotchocolate86]

Hi me and my family have been living off ready meals for the last few weeks as I’ve been in and out of hospital with Hyperemesis. Now I’m starting to feel a little better id like to start preparing a few meals and getting a bit better nutrition in us all. I’m seriously lacking in inspiration though. I need really quick and easy meals that take very little prep or standing over. Can anyone suggest anything?

I have a slow cooker I can use as well.

When I'm on my own I make a big omelette with loads of veg in it, put some cheese on the top and finish it off under the grill. Needs cooking on hob then grill because it's normally really thick. Really fast to cook and healthy. Can heat up leftovers or eat cold.

I sometimes make big soups, you can do it in your slow cooker. I like my soups a bit thick, I then use the leftovers as a pasta sauce too.

Hope you feel better soon and well done for soldiering on through your sickness, it must be really tough.

Stir fries
Fajitas with the kits
Pasta with tomato sauce and salad
Baked potato with fillings
Omelettes
Nothing wrong with egg and chips

I have a repertoire of pasta dishes that are done in the time it takes the pasta to cook - would a few of them be of interest?

Apart from that, these are some of my favourite quick dinners:

www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/7192/gnocchi-and-tomato-bake
www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/1813671/pork-green-bean-and-oyster-stirfry
www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/1708/lincolnshire-sausage-and-lentil-simmer (this one isn't super quick, but you don't have to do much while it is cooking)
www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/13139/onepan-chicken-couscous
www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/1897678/lemony-prawn-and-chorizo-rice-pot
www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/fish-mappas

And while I'm not totally in love with my slow cooker, it does make hands down the best pulled pork ever - chuck in a pork shoulder joint, and pour over a couple of bottles of good quality BBQ sauce, then leave it on low for 12 hours. It is amazing!

Hi yes pasta recipes would be great please @FizzingWhizzbee I’ll have a look through those recipes you’ve posted as well.

Jacket potatoes would be good. I’ve overdone cheese and beans recently but I can look up other easy fillings. Tuna would be a good one I’m sure.

Slow cooker soups are also a really good idea.

Thanks for all the suggestions so far.

Courgette pasta
Serves 2

Ingredients
Dried pasta of your choice (shapes are best)
2 tbsp olive oil
2 cloves garlic, crushed (more or less to taste is fine)
2 Courgettes, grated
5 tbsp grated parmesan

Method
Bring a large pan of water to the boil, and cook your pasta according to packet instructions.

Heat the oil in a frying pan on a medium heat, then add the garlic. Fry gently until just golden, then turn up the heat to medium-high, add the courgettes. Cook until soft, wilted and pale green. It should take about 5 minutes.

Just before the pasta is cooked, scoop out half a mug of cooking water, then drain. Return the pasta to the pan. Add the courgettes and 4 tbsp of parmesan. Mix well, then add enough of the cooking water to make it ‘saucy’. It will probably take a few tablespoons or so.

Serve topped with the rest of the parmesan.

i Can pull a fair veggie chilli together in less than 15 mins prep. Then just leave to cook down a bit. In your situation I’d also be open to using a few shortcuts. Frozen ready chopped red onion. Canned chilli beans etc.
The benefit of this chilli being, you can serve it in loads of different ways, so despite eating the same base it doesn’t feel like exactly the same meal on repeat. Serve with rice, on a jacket potato, in tacos or wraps,, even just thrown on top of tortilla chips with some melted cheese.
Also if you mix with cooked pasta, pour into an oven dish then top with cheese and breadcrumbs it makes a really good pasta bake.
Other quick things are butterflied and grilled chicken breasts, just dust with paprika, Cajun spices or whatever you fancy. Similarly fillets of fish with herbs and spices wrapped in foil and baked in the oven.

Broccoli pasta
Serves 2

Ingredients
Pasta of your choice (shapes are better than strands for this)
1 head of broccoli
2 tbsp olive oil
3 cloves garlic, crushed
1 tin anchovies in olive oil, drained and chopped
½ tsp dried chilli flakes
5 tbsp parmesan, grated

Method
First prepare the broccoli. Remove the florets from the stalk and cut into small, bitesize pieces and set aside. Then trim all the woody bits, gnarly ends and skin from the stalk, and chop as finely as you can manage.

Bring a large pan of water (big enough for both the pasta and the broccoli) to the boil, and cook the pasta according to the packet instructions plus 1 minute. Add the broccoli florets 7 minutes before the end of the cooking time.

Heat the oil to a medium heat in a frying pan, then add the broccoli stalk, chilli flakes, anchovies and garlic. Cook, stirring frequently, until the anchovies have collapsed, and the broccoli stalk is soft - about 5 minutes

When the pasta is cooked, reserve half a mug of cooking water, then drain and return to the pan. Stir in the anchovy/garlic/chilli/stalk mix and 4 tbsp parmesan, plus enough of the reserved cooking water to make it coat the pasta - probably a few tablespoons.

Serve topped with the rest of the parmesan.

This one sounds a bit weird, but I promise it is delicious!

Oh, and this is another good one:
www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/wordofmouth/2014/sep/25/how-to-cook-perfect-pasta-puttanesca-recipe

Whack a tray of veggies (carrot, onion, celery, mushroom, peppers, courgette, fennel, garlic, butternut squash) in the oven on a high temp drizzled in olive oil and sprinkled in dry italian herbs. Cook a pan of pasta, stir some pesto through it and tip the tray of roasted veg into the pan. Let it rest for a few seconds, serve with garlic bread and salad - boom. We live on that in the winter if I've not had time to cook a proper meal .
Veggie chilli is really good in a slow cooker - bung in lots of veg and some tins of tomato and beans. Served with rice and salad, super easy.

Thank you so much everyone. These ideas are brilliant and I’ll definitely be trying a few of them out.

One dish chicken tray bakes. Take about 5 minutes to prep, an hour to cook. We do peppers, tomatoes and chorizo with chopped garlic, fennel/tyme rubbed onto chicken pieces the most often. But you can play with the recipe a lot. I used to do a quick tomato sauce based marinade (ketchup, oil, lemon juice/white wine vinegar), garlic and herbs rubbed all over the chicken but a quick google will bring up 100 ideas. Make in bulk as the chicken works brilliantly the following day too.