What are your "I can't be arsed cooking but I don't want a takeaway" go-to meals?

[Mangoesontherun]

I need ideas for those days when I can't be arsed chopping a load of veg and creating a nourishing meal from scratch please! Those days where there are no batch-cooked meals in the freezer, you're knackered, and you want something on your plate in as little time as possible. While ideally being healthy ...

Make an omelette with eggs and whatever you like. Put it in a wrap.

You can put the wrap on top of the raw omelette while it’s cooking then flip it over and heat the wrap. The wrap becomes part of the omelette.

There’s probably a fancy name for it.

My cheap and easy go to is Pork, Apple and Sage Casserole.

Ingredients
1-2 onions
6 Apples - any type is good red or green, depends on whats in the budget apple I like to use gala or braeburn
Pork -
Stock - any type either cubes or stock pots.
Sage - dried
Salt
Pepper
I use my circle apple corer and wedger to cut both the onions and the apples.

So basically you layer the ingredients
Start with the onion on the bottom, liberal sprinkle of sage, apples in the middle, sage again, meat on top, yup you guessed it more sage on top.
Season with salt and black pepper
Add enough stock to cover
6-8 hours in the slow cooker or 3 hours simmering on the hob. Bring up to boil first then turn down. You will need to check it regular on the hob and stir it or the bottom will burn.

NOTES
I tend to use a pack of 4 pork lorn steaks, put them in whole as they break up. You can use chops, leftover roast, diced pork - basically whatever you have in.
You can add all apples at the start or leave 2 to add half way through.
You can also sun half the stock for apple juice or cider.
If at the end you feel it is too thin you can thicken with a cornflour slurry towards the end of cooking.

Other people's "no effort" meals are like my effort meals on here 😂

Pasta with pesto, frozen sweetcorn and cheese for me.

Either that or Uncle Bens style Mexican rice with tuna and a dollop of whatever sauce I've got in.

This is where crumbed chicken breasts, fish cakes, chicken Kievs etc are super helpful as I can stick them in the air fryer from frozen while new potatoes boil then when they're almost ready, I add frozen peas and corn. Or in the case of chicken breasts, turn them into burgers with pickles and avocado!

Basic tomato based sauces are my super easy although can take a little longer.

bacon or bacon and egg sandwiches are popular options around here.

Beans on toast or if I feel I should make it a bit fancier, I turn the baked beans into a sort of stew with some chopped onion, chopped bacon/chorizo, a bit of extra stock, some oregano and a dash of balsamic vinegar. with a bag of ready made rice.

Pasta and chickpeas. Southern Italian staple, really quick, easy and delicious.

Cook a flat pasta - tagliatelle, mafalde, something like that.

Slice some garlic, add to a deep pan with some cold olive oil and heat really gently. Add a pinch of chilli flakes, a bit of salt and pepper. Add a tin of drained chickpeas, heat through.

Drain the pasta, combine with the chickpeas, check the seasoning. Serve.

I sometimes add a bit of marigold stock powder, some smoked paprika and a dash of truffle powder if I have it, for extra flavour, but it works fine without.

Or a quick noodle bowl - teaspoon of Tom yum paste, half a tin of coconut milk, bit of water, heat, cook a portion of noodles, at the end chuck in some frozen prawns, frozen peas and a sliced spring onion. Top with a few cashews or peanuts if I have any.

It takes about 8 minutes probably.

Anything that fits in the airfryer!!! Haha!

Beans on Toast. It's my favourite food, I'd have it every day if it was up to me.😁

My quick 10 minute family meals are fatjitas or spag bol.

Oh I do that too but due to my often odd combo's don't tend to share as people get judgy. If im honest it makes me feel a little ashamed as it stems from periods in life when I was well below the poverty line. Sadly some people just don't stop to consider that.
Sweet pickle (Branston) and grated cheese is my absolute favourite go to for mixing in packet rice. I've mixed in various bottled, jar and packet sauces from various cuisines as well as dips like salsa, blue cheese, guac, hummus and even cheese spread, cottage cheese or coleslaw. An thats not even counting random fridge leftovers or my thing for dicing bread or toast to throw in.

Angel Hair spaghetti with quartered baby plum tomatoes, St Agur cheese, chopped red chilli, fresh garlic and a bit of fresh basil mixed with olive oil, pine nuts and lots of salt and black pepper. I love it when my DH orders an Indian (which i dont like)!

What my friend calls Oeuf Et Frites 😂
Or jacket potato topped with salsa and cheese with sour cream on the side.

Hot smoked salmon, salad, bread.

Cheese, crackers and grapes.

Baked beans and toast.

Scrambled egg and toast.

Egg fried rice with peas.

Fish fingers, oven chips, frozen peas.

Quorn dogs, rolls and tinned sweetcorn.

Cooked roast chicken, frozen yorkies and pickled beetroot.

Pastrami, Swiss cheese, gherkin and English mustard sandwich with watercress.

Ham, tinned peaches and salad.

Salad, broad term, whatever veggies goes into a bowl, from cheap peas to peas, olives to lettuce, peppers carrots literally any veg, mix with any vinaigrette you like, for me is mustard, vinegar, olive oil, pepper and any herb I fancy, toss and ready to eat! Also you can add any sort of protein chicken, ham, prawns. Also cruttons and cheese... and now I'm going to go an make one myself because I'm hungry ☺️

Egg(s) on toast (usually fried or scrambled), chuck a couple of halved tomatoes under the grill for veg if wanted or fry some mushrooms.

Omelette. I like both the folded sort and also a flat Spanish-style one with whatever is in the fridge.

Pasta with any cooked leftover meat chopped small or a pack of small prawns, fried onion, butter, lemon juice, frozen peas/sweetcorn, chilli if liked, suitable herbs from freezer. Heat 'sauce' ingredients in a pan and add cooked pasta, mix well.

Quinoa salad - perfectly nice just with grated carrot, chopped tomatoes/cucumber and onion/spring onion plus any other suitable veg (frozen peas are good, red cabbage is really nice in this too). Chop veg, add olive oil and vinegar/lemon juice/seasoning, cook quinoa, mix together. Some feta crumbled into it or a tin of chickpeas adds protein. You can also do this with couscous or rice.

Tinned hicken in white sauce, hot buttery rice, cooked frozen peas. LOVE THIS. Guity pleasure.

Tinned salmon curry with a wrap or microwave rice. Fry plenty of onions, add curry powder, add salmon, break up and stir, add a little water and simmer for a bit. This is from my West Indian grandma and it is surprisingly good. You can add frozen veg to this before simmering too. I guess it would probably work with tuna too.

Fried rice always a winner here as well!

Chicken not hicken!

Cheese, grapes and biscuits, chutney

olive tapenade on sourdough (jar of olives, garlic clove, lemon - blended)

smoked mackerel and salad

eggs and toast

steak sandwich (usually have minute steaks in freezer)

whatever anyone else will cook for me!

Ravioli with some butter, Parmesan and maybe chopped cherry toms or Green beans

Just two adults here:
Good bread, cheese, grapes etc with a vegan pork pie if I’ve managed to find them

pasta pesto with pine nuts and spinach

bought pizza with peppers, onions and olives added and a rocket salad

M&S pasta deal

M&S cheese and onion bake things with jacket spuds and salad

mushrooms on toast or a quick mushroom stroganoff with microwave rice

bought pies with wedges, peas, gravy

eggs, wedges, peas

veggie sausages in baguettes with salad leaves (roast shallots or chunks of red onion cooked in the tray with the sausages if I’ve got any)

frozen gyoza with a quick stir fry

frozen feta and spinach pie with gigantes beans jar and tsatziki

Sainsburys prawn and chilli ravioli
Birds Eye steamed tomato and rosemary cod with buttered new potatoes and Tesco or sainsburys asparagus and tenderstem broccoli
Sweet chilli salmon fillets or diced pork with egg noodles, prepared pack of stir fry veg and lobbing in stuff from the cupboard (soy/fish/Thai sauce, chilli, honey etc)

One of those big oval pizzas or a couple of curries from M&S.

Tin of tomatoes, tin of sweetcorn, tin of red kidney beans in chillie sauce, handful of quorn mince, heat through in pan serve with whatever you have to hand - in wraps with cheese, over rice, with crusty bread, etc

You can add other veggies if you fancy - fry and onion, some peppers or roast veg.

Might add some smoked paprika also.

But the pure form above also works.

Or my favourite of just me: cereal

This thread is ace. I'm so glad I started it!

Tonight we had the egg fried rice suggested by PPs and I did salmon in the air fryer.

Total meal prep and cooking time: 12 minutes!

Sheesh.

beans on toast
scrambled eggs on toast

I like those frozen packs of marinated prawns you can get in Aldi. Thai red chilli flavour or garlic butter.

I will cook them up (pan fry) and have with salad; on a baguette with tomatos; serve with microwave rice and add coriander and sliced peppers; add to instant noodles to make a quick prawn ramen.

Otherwise I am queen of the scrambled egg. Sometimes if I have been to a pos supermarket I will top scrambled eggs with black caviar.