Healthy 'emergency' meal ideas

[babyworry2018]

I have a non-sleeping Velcro baby and a husband with a brutal commute which means cooking is impossible. I'd love some ideas for healthy 'emergency' meals - either v quick or things that can be shoved in the oven.

We're vegetarian and have mostly been living off oven pizza and garlic bread, baked potatoes and beans and faux burgers and chips with hummus. I'm craving vegetables, and because I'm breastfeeding worried about getting enough protein and vitamins into baby.

My pre-baby healthy 'emergency' meal was roasted veg and tofu with a microwave lentil and grain pouch, but now I don't seem to have time to chop all the veg.

Any idea/inspiration would be great.

I'm not a vegetarian do hope this is helpful.

I used to chuck a few vegetables (mushrooms, tomatoes, broccoli) into a flexible silicone cake tin and add 8 beaten eggs and dust with cheese. Cook in the oven for 30-40 minutes and let it cool. Chick in fridge for whenever.

Pasta and pesto with frozen peas.

Pasta bake- cooked or fresh Pasta and passata cooked in the oven with garlic, frozen veg and cheese .

Aldi has good ready pouches of cooked wholegrain rice. Cook for 5 minute stir fry's with garlic and whatever veg and an onion if time. Add soy , honey and a tsp sesame oil.

You could find a few pulse based easy slow cooker recipes? A tin or two, some veg and leave all day?

Omelettes?

Linda McCartney sausages in oven with baked potatoes and roasted veg.

Could you buy the pre chopped mixed or single veg, eg, for stir frys, stews, etc. Depending on the veg within you could use them for tray bakes, frittata, etc.

I also used to like to make for my teens a massive container of tomato sauce when I had time.

Lots of fresh tomatoes or 4-6 tins
Purée
Garlic
onion
A splash of red wine or tsp sugar
Oregano (dried)
Olive oil

Fry 2-3 large onions and some garlic, 5-10 minutes

Add the tomatoes and purée. You could add sun dried tomatoes if you have a few.

Cook for an hour

Season to taste.

Cool and divide into plenty of takeaway containers.

Defrost as needed in microwave and throw over pasta. Add cheese. My teens used to use these lots if I was out.

Things to supplement chips etc -
Carrots - just raw with the ends chopped off.
Bag of Salad leaves with a bit of mayo.
Microwaved (with silicon lid) broccoli with soy sauce.

Shakshuka is my current favourite quick dinner.
I stir the egg in and chuck a tin of chickpeas in too.
You can do most with one hand.

Pasta!
I cook some frozen veg and pasta, then drain, mix with sauce/pesto/cheese etc.

Microwave baked potato. With hummus and salad, beans and cheese, etc.

Get pre cut roasting veg, in a tray dash of oil and in the oven. Just add some haloumi or goats cheese.

Baked chickpeas. Literally just shaken with oil and whatever herbs or spices you fancy.

Aldi do some great veggie burgers and falafel that are cheap and tasty

Velcro baby wise I got a flat fabric sling with a wrap cross carry and could cook OK while velcroed to a baby

Have you got a slow cooker? When you have 10 mins you can throw it all in and leave it all day. I like black bean chilli, or soup.

Also frozen, chopped onions are so useful when you don’t have much time, also purée garlic, frozen veg.

One more idea - I used to chuck a load of frozen Mediterranean veg in the oven with some veggie sausages, plus couscous

cook some penne or rigatoni
toast some pine nuts
cook a good amount of broccoli
mix it all together with a good amount of veggie parmesan and a dollop or two of creme fraiche

soups are also good - we do pea & mint and leek & potato

Bags of frozen veg are a must for me since i had DS. Carrots, peas, peppers, spinach, mushrooms, sweetcorn, butternut squash etc can all be kept in the freezer and chucked into whatever youre cooking

Tins of chickpea dahl with added frozen peas, served with sachet of precooked wholegrain rice.
Frozen veg is your friend...
Frozen mixed roasted veg cooked in the oven, stirred into pasta
Frozen mash and veggie sausages.
Brown rice noodles stir fried with frozen veg and marinated tofu pieces.

Frozen butternut squash and spinach, cooked with red lentils, canned chopped tomatoes, stock and spices makes a great curry.
Butternut squash, sweet potatoes , coconut milk, canned tomatoes and spices also.

Chickpea curry, throw in two tins of chickpeas (protein) and some kale (green veg) jar of curry sauce or tinned tomato and curry paste

Pop in onion if you’re able to chop

Place in oven with two sweet potatoes

Serve with potato or packet rice

This uses frozen peas which I always have in the freezer www.deliciousmagazine.co.uk/recipes/pesto-gnocchi-with-peas-and-pine-nuts/ and gnocchi which is much quicker to cook than pasta. Only takes 10 minutes.
This recipe is easily halved to serve two www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/4404/easy-stuffed-peppers. It takes 15 minutes from start to finish and uses minimal ingredients. I often use mozzarella instead of goats cheese.
This takes 10 minutes www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/11690/10minute-couscous-salad It can be prepared whenever you’ve got a spare few minutes as it doesn’t need to be eaten hot.

I just thought - I've started using leek instead of onions because they're so much quicker to chop

No time to chop veg? No worries! Buy frozen chopped Mediterranean veg mix and tip into a roasting dish with a splash of oil.

Have a look at other frozen meal options, amazingly there are risotto, paella, pasta type meals that can be ready in a few minutes with little or no prep.
You won't be eating them forever, just to tide you over till you get more organised.

Although you are eating a "vegetarian' diet ATM it doesn't seem very interesting or healthy, so anything for a bit of variety would be good. As you get more organised you can plan for meals like cauliflower cheese, pasta primavera, pasta puttanesca, aubergine parmigiana etc etc.
You will soon get into the swing of it, though it seems daunting at first. Lots of luck!

Omelette pasta - 15 minutes

Put pasta on to cook. Drain once cooked.

Chop and fry up peppers, onion, mushrooms or any other veg you have around.

Add cooked pasta to pan.

Crack 1-2 eggs into the pan and stir/scramble to coat the pasta and veg. Like a poor man's carbonara.

Top with cheese.

you an get frozen peppers etc.
tinned veg for casserole
chickpeas.pepper.stock.tinned carrots,pre cooked squash maybe some paprika makes great stews.get yourself some garlic bread and use that as a topper.
get some ready rolled jus roll pastry,great for making pies easy.
and also for using for pizza slices so you can bung on top whatever you have in the fridge.just pesto tomato and cheese is nice.
lentils in a tin.make great dishes

Pre chopped stir fries
Those pre prepared packets of Mediterranean roasting veg with chickpeas and some hallumi thrown in
Pasta with jarred sauce, add some fried mushrooms and spinach.

A bag of frozen mixed veg, some rice and a tin of curry sauce.

If you don't already have one get a rice cooker - put the rice i that, put the sauce and veg in the oven for 30-40 mins. Or defrost the veg and put them in a slow cooker.

In your new fancy rice cooker (£10 from argos) put some rice, shake and then add some coconut milk form a tin, add frozen peas, sweetcorn or fresh mange ou and baby corn. switch on, it will cook n about 20 mins but stay hot for 10 hours.

I often do the coconut rice one but I add a salmon fillet, you could do the same with something like quorn or tofu for protein.

Do you eat dairy? cook some pasta then get another pan and a pack of soft cheese, put the cheese i the empty pan, add a couple of desert spoons of water from the pasta and stir - you will end up with a thick creamy sauce. If you have chance then you can start with mushrooms before the cheese and add spices or herbs.

And this is going to sound strange but have a look at your local council's 'meals on wheels', my council (Wolverhampton) has opened the service to anyone in the city. OK it's no good for meals for you and your dh in the evening but if they do them near you then you can guarantee a hot nutritionally balanced meal for yourself.

Pierce a bag of fresh spinach. Microwave 2 mins. Put in processor with ricotta / cream cheese. Pour over pasta or a slab of puff pastry and bake.

Sainsburys do prepared butternut squash with onion. It’s meant to be a soup mix but I use it for curry with tinned chickpeas, frozen spinach, curry paste and tinned coconut milk.

Quooker that sound good - the prepared squash and onion 🙂

I love a microwaved sweet potato with houmous and a massive salad (you could get the bags of salad if it's easier.)

A good way of preppeing fresh veg. is to scrub them and steam them whole, you peel and chop them them after they're cooked, it's easier than peeling before you cook them and the vitamins are just under the skin.

I cook a lot of onions and garlic with olivee oil and some of the stock from your steamer, then you can add curry spices or the herbs you like before making a veg dish by continuing to cook slowly with the stock from the steamer. So you can have a stew or soup , or both, with a hand held blender. Then freeze the extra.