Give me your VERY easy midweek easy dinners…

[tryingtotry]

And I mean VERY!
Like the dinners that doesn’t even involve any type of cooking except oven or microwave, maybe a pan of water! The ones you consider you’re easiest…the ones that are more what ready made items go well together…

e.g omelette, chips and salad
Sausage mash and peas
Cooked chicken and bread
Jacket, cheese and beans

Something I discovered recently was Bird eye grill steaks, I do them with skin on chips, rocket, tomatoes and mushrooms(basically a glorified burger but nice on a Friday as a pretend steak!)

What little combinations have you found that work for you!
I need some more inspo and I have no time to cook!

DIY wraps. Pan cook some chicken
Chop up some veg
Put some wraps/cheese/sauces/dips on the table.

Pasta Pesto with some sort of protein stirred through (e.g. tuna, salmon, chicken) and some peas/sweetcorn.

Curry using a Spice Tailor kit and some microwave rice.

Spanish omelette (shop bought) with salad.

Quiche with salad.

Pizza with salad.

Falafel, dips, breads, salad.

Cheese board

Beans on toast.

Little potatoes and parsnips/carrots cut in half and covered in oil and salt. Spread on a oven tray with sausages in the middle. Whole lot in the oven for 45 mins (turn half way through)

Ramen and gyoza. Packet of instant noodles, I like the kimchi nong shim ones, frozen itsu gyoza, one of those microwave steam bag veggies, crispy chilli oil. Can add eggs, meat or whatever but that's the most basic easy version

Loaded fries in the air fryer. Chuck in some frozen chips for 10 mins, then top with cheese, pepperoni/ham/mushrooms or whatever you want and bung in for another 10 minutes.

Pasta, pasta sauce, microwave lentils and pre grated cheese with cherry tomatoes

Jasmine rice cooked in chicken stock in the rice cooker. Stir in scrambled eggs, chopped spring onions, soy sauce and sesame oil. Yum!

Mushy peas with a fried egg on top.

Pasta with butter, partisan and black pepper.

Ham and cheese toasties

Shop bought quiche.
Salad.
And pan fried gnocchi. It literally takes 2 minutes. And lidl sell the most amazing herby gnocchi in the chiller.

Our quickest meal.and one of our favourites

Traybakes that involve a meat and veg all roasted together simultaneously.

Chicken thighs, chorizo, red peppers (anything else) + rice

Sausages, sweet potato, onion, broccoli

Just chuck it all in, no further action required. Maybe stir it round a bit if feeling fancy.

I agree with traybakes. Just shove things in at intervals - need a timer - & the oven does the work.

Tinned mackerel in tomato sauce stirred through pasta.

I make cous cous. Just have to pour boiling water over it and put a plate on top for 5 mins.

Fork through and add anything really, tuna, sweetcorn, sundried toms, chickpeas, ham…

Chuck a bag of rocket on top, drizzle of olive oil or dressing. That’s it.

Frozen roasted veg and feta thrown in the oven. Add garlic powder andixed Italian dried herbs Stir in spinach at the end Serve with wholemeal pitta.

Boil pasta add frozen basic mixed veg and spinach near the end. Mixed the pasta with (per person) 50ml greek yoghurt, half to third tin of tuna, about 15mg/tsp pesto. Make twice as much use over several days.

Chat gtp is awesome for this.

I find omelettes stressful for more than 2 people tbh - and you can't all eat together.

Higgidy quiche / new potatoes roasted in the oven / salad - or with jacket spuds, salad and coleslaw

Cook pasta / mix in pesto plus chopped red onion, red pepper. some olives and some feta - like a mish-mash of pasta and Greek salad

Ready made pan-fry gnocchi from the chilled aisle - put in one side of a roasting pan with some oil / on the other side put chunks of red pepper, red onion, mushrooms, courgettes if you like them. Top the veggies with a whole pack of feta and drizzle honey over, plus chilli flakes and thyme. Roast. Mix it all together to eat. I like the gnocchi to get nice and brown, hence keeping it separate to the other stuff.

Cook tofu in the air fryer. Fry some vege in a wok. Add Thai paste, coconut milk and the tofu. Eat with microwave rice.

Stew. Throw in your choice of meat and vegetables, smother it in gravy, and voila! There's enough to eat for about three days!

Alternatively, some form of fish, chips, and whatever vegetables can be chopped up and thrown in the acti-fry with the potatoes.

We had jacket potatoes with tuna mayo and salad this evening.

Also, scrambled eggs on toast with salad/broccoli/asparagus is a very nice quick dinner.

Or cook twice as much curry/pasta sauce/chilli/stew etc when you have more time, and put half in the freezer to be heated up.

Lamb kebab- mix raw lamb mince, salt, pepper, spoon of lazy chilli, spoon of lazy garlic and some jarred herbs in a bowl. Squish into a ball. Put into the slow cooker on low for 7 hours. Take out at tea time and serve with pitta breads and a salad.

Waitrose sell a feta and spinach pie in the freezer. This with a jar of giagantes butter beans, salad leaves and some homemade tzatziki is one of my favourite lazy meals.

Pasta pesto bacon (pancetta even easier) cheese

If I'm making a curry or rice dish in the week I double up the rice and make fried rice with packet of cooked prawns, peas, sweetcorn, whatever leftover shredded meat we have and a fried egg on top for the next day. The kids love it with curry ketchup and a packet of those supermarket prawn crackers.

Salmon in the oven with new potatoes and veg. I parboil potatoes then crush them with the bottom of a cup, put butter salt and pepper on them and put in oven with the salmon

There are lots of ideas in the Rukmini Iyer books such as The Green Roasting Tin, they are basically recipes which are complete meals cooked in one tin. They involve various amounts of chopping/prep but most are minimal, it's more about interesting combinations that you might not have thought of.

Snap! The Rukmini Iyer Roasting tin books are very good.

I swear by her books. Also chop up a red pepper, a courgette, some new potatoes, throw in a few cherry tomatoes and some chopped halloumi, if I have it (and anything else knocking about) top with chicken thighs add olive oil, salt & pepper and oregano and chuck in the oven for 45mins.

Quesadillas, these are totally inauthentic but the family like them, heat 1 tsp oil in a large frying pan, put a wrap in, cover one half of the wrap with grated cheese (could get ready grated) and mashed tinned tuna, wait a few seconds, fold the wrap over the filling, then turn til both sides golden brown. Serve with veggie sticks. They cook really quickly so I cook them all and keep warm until I have enough to serve the family.

Also pitta pizzas, toast and half pittas, put on any filling you like (tomato purée, tuna, grated cheese, chopped spring onion, mashed tuna, pepperoni) and heat under the grill for a couple of minutes. The DCs love them.

Boiled eggs and toast fingers.

Hummus, cheese cubes, grapes, cucumber and carrot sticks, toast

Yes to pitta pizzas. So easy and you can put anything you want on top - pesto and artichokes for me, please!