Go-to meals when your meal plan goes out the window

[pregnantncnc]

The kind of meals that you throw together when you either haven't been shopping so don't have much in, or when you've planned something for dinner but get back later than expected and just won't have time to cook it. OR what you cook for your children when you won't be eating as a family.

Ideally made of ingredients I can keep either in the freezer or cupboard so always have them available.

Bonus points if it includes vegetables and isn't beige freezer food (because my son seems to hate all frozen chips/waffles/etc and I'm looking for inspiration - nothing against a frozen waffle).

Our go-to is pasta and broccoli cut up quite small (or peas) cooked in water with half a stock cube, mostly drained then a dollop of soft cheese and a handful of grated cheddar added. Pesto or dill optional. Sometimes grill a pack of sausages with it.

I really, really need some variation here, because we're all getting sick of pasta and broccoli! TIA!

Falafels from the freezer (the Gosh ones are nice and cook well from frozen) in pittas with salad and hummus or natural yoghurt.

Gigante Plakis- basic butterbean stew with chopped tomatoes, onion and feta. Really quick to make and good with rice or cous cous for something filling.

Homemade pizza...
Tin of tomatoes
Onion
Garlic
Whatever veg is in the fridge which might vaguely work (bizarrely butternut works well)

Flour (preferably bread but any available)
Yeast
Tsp sugar
Bit of salt

Make dough
Cook sauce while dough is proving
Fry dough in pan, flip over, sauce on top and whatever cheese is about (we have had a 6 cheese pizza after Christmas!) then brown in oven.

Normally about 30 mins oven to table, extra pizza sauce goes in pots in the freezer - extra pizza is sliced up, frozen and then slices can be removed as needed for snacks (14 year old locust in the house)

If tuna is ok? I always keep in a few of the John West flavoured tuna tins in - they're expensive but no drain and nice flavours. Microwave rice, handful of frozen veg or salad and a tin of tuna.

Also keep some of veganricha's besan chilla mix ready made - I just add water and an egg or two to the mix (as I'm not vegan). They're good on their own or with cheese or anything really thrown in the middle.

Lazy Vegetable Bhuna using frozen vegetables!

www.spicepots.com/blogs/recipes/spice-pots-lazy-vegetable-bhuna-curry

Crepes, filled with wherever I can find in the fridge

@mildlymiffed

Frozen jacket potato (such a cheat!) beans and cheese, or tuna sweet corn mayo. Bonus points if there is some wilty salad in the fridge to accompany!

Are the frozen jacket potatoes nice?

Usually some sort of comfort food that involves baked beans

Monday night pasta
Fry a pack of chopped pancetta
Add lots of chopped garlic and a punnet of cherry tomatoes cut in half
Fry for a few minutes until the tomatoes start to break down and are soft
Add lots of salt pepper and basil

With pasta

Cheese on toast
Beans on toast
Scrambled egg on toast
Orzo with peas and pancetta/bacon
Fridge soup i.e. all the sad leftover bits of veg, plus any leftover bacon rashers. tin of tomatoes turned into thick veg soup.
Nasi goreng/stir fry (peanut butter, soy sauce and honey/mango chutney, plus chilli flakes = satay stir fry sauce)

Chicken savoury rice:

Fry up chopped chicken breast and onion/garlic
Add rinsed rice and a bit more oil to coat for 2 mins
Add chicken stock to cover + "sad veg" from fridge or frozen veg (peas, sweetcorn, broccoli etc ) + herbs

Cover and simmer til all stock absorbed (add more hot water if necessary) and rice cooked.
Stir through butter and or cream/creme fraiche & serve

Quesadillas. Wraps filled with cheese and whatever you have in the fridge; ham, bacon, chorizo, veg etc then grilled (we do ours in a panini press but they can be done in a pan or grill too). With salad and sour cream/salsa. Ready in mins!

We usually have a bit left over when we have Turkey tacos. I Chuck that in the freezer. On crazy days the kids have that with a pouch of Tilda kids rice, coleslaw & salad and wraps or tortilla chips.

If we have any home made tomato sauce left, that gets frozen too, then it’s just pasta and IKEA meatballs. I have aunt bessies mash, left over roast chicken and mixed frozen veg in too. A bit of instant gravy and that’s another meal sorted.

They like the standard beans on toast, mini pizza and crudités, fish fingers/ chicken nuggets combos.

Spaghetti, bacon snipped small fried in olive oil with crushed garlic clove, jar of red pesto (must be sacla), halved cherry Tom's or mushrooms. Don't drain the pasta too well it needs a bit of liquid. Enjoy x

Shakshuka

Tuna pasta. But healthy. So pasta, tuna, with peas, sweetcorn, pepper, cucumber and cheddar cheese (added whilst still hit so it melts). No Mayo! Ready in 10 minutes and Delish.

I also keep frozen jackets in the freezer. 5 minutes in the microwave, too with tuna, beans, cheese, chilli if you’ve batch cooked.

Beans on toast, poached egg on toast.

Coconut rice and beans: rice, stock cube, tinned beans of any type/chickpeas/peas, jerk seasoning, creamed coconut, a few cubes of frozen spinach/whatever veg you've got, stir, bring to boil then leave it all to simmer for about 20mins until the rice is done.

Chicken fried rice with peas, add an egg for DS

I always seem to have eggs,cheese and wraps so the following are my go to quick meals:

Omelette
Quesadillas
Breakfast burritos (at its most simple- scrambled egg with a bit of spice, some tomatoes and sweet corn if we have it and cheese, inside a wrap)

Also

Egg fried rice or noodles with whatever veg is in the fridge.

Spaghetti Amatriciana. We always have some type of bacon/ lardon in the fridge. And tinned plum tomatoes. Takes 15 mins

Cheesy beany crunch - think the recipe came from Blue Peter years ago, but it is a family favourite. Fry a chopped onion, possibly some mushrooms and garlic, add in a tin of baked beans (& a tin of mixed beans if you need to increase quantities) and some sweetcorn. Fry for 5 minutes. Put in an oven-proof dish, top with cubes of bread and cover in grated cheese. Cook for about 20 minutes and demolish.

Pasta, with homemade walnut and sun dried tomato pesto from the freezer along with pan fried salmon fillet and a salad or sautéed broccoli. Takes about half an hour

I usually have a box of stuffed pasta in the fridge so in an emergency can mix it with passata and plonk that in an oven dish, cover with grated cheese and serve with a side salad. I usually have some tomato and roasted veg sauce in the freezer though so can defrost it in the microwave and use instead of the passata.

Pasta primavera: pasta, frozen green veg + pesto.

All day breakfast. Eggs, hash browns, beans & sausages.

Omelettes or frittatas depending on leftovers available. + salad.

Go to hot food in a hurry - Really quick lentil & potato curry. Red lentils, chopped potatoes, tinned tomatoes & curry powder / paste. Simmer gently until potatoes are cooked & enjoy.

The easiest and yummiest cheese sauce you can make is just cremefraiche and cheese melted together in pan with generous black pepper. Then I do pasta, broccoli and peas in the same pan and mix with the sauce. Yummy

@londonmummy1966 do you mean the filled tortellini type of pasta ?
Do you cook them first , or just cover with sauce and then put in the oven ?