Favourite simple meal

[NotMyCat]

My food/cooking inspiration has vanished
Easy meals required - I live alone and don't want to be really buying ingredients I won't use again. I eat anything except pistachios, offal and lamb and have a fairly well stocked kitchen!

I usually batch cook pasta bake, beef stew, corned beef hash etc but I'm fed up with food

Haddock cheese bake - cherry tomatoes rolled in olive oil , smoke haddock fillet (s) on top ( skin off) cover in a mix of mozzarella/ grated cheddar and bake for 20 mins .

Oh that is right up my street! I am doing an online shop so will add ingredients
I've seen chicken mince which looks nice but I can only think of complex Thai stuff to do with it

Plate of homemade hummus, halloumi, pitta or homemade flatbread if you’re feeling fancy, sliced avocado and tomato, vine leaves (you can get epic ones in tins in loads of places), olives, artichokes, sundried tomatoes. If I lived on my own that’s what I’d love off.

Dal and naan, make both. Simple, filling, comforting, suitable in all weathers.

Roast cherry tomatoes and mushrooms together with a bit of black pepper and garlic.

Add to cooked pasta and either red or green pesto. Little bit of cheese on top... bloody lovely!

Baked risotto.

Or any meal from the Roasting Tin books. Chuck it on a baking tray and pop it in the oven. Then scoff.

• I batch cook lasagne and shepherds pie and cut into single serves before freezing.

• Packets of those filled tortellini/ravioli are handy. Either I freeze the fresh ones, or get the longer life ones which can live in a cupboard till cooked

• I enjoy a baked potato when I can't be bothered making a large meal. Usually served with cheese, spring onions, bacon and pineapple.

Ideally I would live off cheese on toast and cake but I do like to eat the odd vegetable

Put spaghetti on.
Fry gently an chopped onion in butter until translucent - add a chicken stock cube and some white wine.

Reduce.
Add cup of spaghetti water and the spaghetti to the onion/wine mixture.
Stir in loads of grated halloumi.

If you're already going to have smoked haddock in.
I would make a kedgeree.

Haddock
Rice
Onion
Curry powder, turmeric and ground coriander (all last ages)
And eggs.

Really easy and delicious in my opinion.

I could quite easily live off that, beans on toast and cheese and onion sandwiches on crusty bread.

Carbonara.
Jacket potato with beans and cheese.
Chicken nuggets, chips and tinned spaghetti.
Stir fry with prawns and noodles.
Decent quality bought pizza with added anchovies, olives and capers.

Spaghetti with meatballs in spicy tomato & red pepper sauce with a grating of Parmesan. It’s a simple meal I will never, ever get tired of eating.

Oven baked Haddock and leek risotto is good as well and very simple . We also have salmon fillets with roast veg and spicy rice , again very quick especially if you use microwave rice .

Shove some chunks of onion and peppers in a roasting tin with cubed halloumi, oregano, pepper, maybe some chilli flaks and olive oil. Roast until done. Eat in a pitta with salad and chilli or mint/yoghurt sauce, or with pasta and pesto, or with a baked potato.

Shove some chunks of onion and peppers in a roasting tin (spot a theme here) with cubed paneer and Indian spices. Roast until done. Add a drained tin of chickpeas. Eat as is, with minty yoghurt and salad plus microwave rice if wished. Or turn into a curry with a ready made sauce (I like the Spice Tailor ones best) and bought naan.

Those Merchant Gourmet packets of quinoa/lentils etc are good for easy meals - add roasted vege/salad bits etc.

A super easy favourite here is roasted veg and veggie sausages. Iceland do bags of roasting veg that cook from frozen, and we use the Linda McCartney sausages that do the same. The M&S fresh roasting veg are marginally better, and of course you could chop your own but I am too lazy. (We also do the same thing with halloumi.)

Have you also thought about Hello Fresh? My kids swear by it for inspiration as well as convenience, you can just have 3 meals per week and it may just reignite the cooking spark in you again. I've photographed lots of their cooking cards to do myself as I was impressed with the 20 minute recipes . You can pick quick meals with ingredients you like until you feel ready to fly solo again!

Spice entice do great (and affordable) spice kits and the meals from the instructions on there are so lovely and really easy

@NotMyCat

Oh that is right up my street! I am doing an online shop so will add ingredients I've seen chicken mince which looks nice but I can only think of complex Thai stuff to do with it

Where can you get chicken mince, please?

I usually mince my own - which is a pain - & make meatballs with Italian or Chinese flavourings.

@Georgyporky it's the heck brand usually sainsburys have it
https://www.heckfood.co.uk/pages/mince

Pack of ready cooked salmon, large handful of spinach, cream and fresh tagliatelle. Takes about 5 minutes and is delicious 😋

Chopped broccoli and quartered mushrooms in a dish, tiny bit of water and a splash of soy sauce. Microwave for four minutes, drain, add a bit of butter, some grated cheese and black pepper, mix and eat.

on my knees, with ladle in hand, please o wise MN give me strength and wisdom to obstain from veggie pasta and chicken curry...(placemarking for later)

@Rina66

Have you also thought about Hello Fresh? My kids swear by it for inspiration as well as convenience, you can just have 3 meals per week and it may just reignite the cooking spark in you again. I've photographed lots of their cooking cards to do myself as I was impressed with the 20 minute recipes . You can pick quick meals with ingredients you like until you feel ready to fly solo again!

I used to have gousto but it's a bit too expensive at the minute I'm kind of in that mood where you walk into the supermarket snd go "meh" and then have cornflakes for dinner

Rice with sliced tomatoes , crumbled feta and basil with some olive oil.

Favourite simple meal
Sausage, egg chips, beans
Scotch pie, chips, beans
Potatoes and corn beef
😜😜
All severed with thick buttered white bread and a mug of tea.