Easy but tasty unprocessed food please… stuck in a boring processed food rut.

[WishfulThinkingToday]

I am so bored with my weekly shopping!

Everything is processed, and fast catering for a busy house of 7. Including goujons, quorn fillets, pizza, chicken wraps, pies, tacos, pasta and sauce, lentil soup (the only non-processed thing I love to make).

It would be brilliant to have some good inspiration for next week’s shopping please. What can make this shop healthier and more interesting? I feel like we have fallen in a food rut, and this rut is getting more and more expensive every week.

Following as I’m the same. So sick of food shopping.

Casseroles! Just bung so many healthy ingredients into a pot/slow cooker.

Stir fry, healthy and quick.

Roasted veg... tray in oven, seasoning.

Sticky Thai pork mince with rice in lettuce cups?
chicken fried rice?
carbonana with salad?
salmon stir fry?

longer cook but make in bulk - spag bol/chilli
chicken curry made with coconut milk and a very simple basic homemade paste?
omelette, salad & homemade oven chips
homemade goujons or fish fingers, chips and peas
creamy chicken with mash and greens

happy to share any recipes but these are my easy go-to weekday meals

Oooh Casserole sounds lovely! I might have to make a veggie one to include myself and daughter.

The stir fry idea we have had in the past, and the funny thing is that we have such fussy eaters that I have to make the noodles, the vegetables, the meat and the vegetarian alternative in different sauce pans like a buffet for it to work! I works ok though. I might do it again.

Love roast vegetables. Good idea.

You can certainly make versions of what you are buying, but it really depends on how much time and effort you can put in. Also are you all sitting down for meals that you have time to cook every night, or busy in the week with teens feeding themselves/ after snacks? We are the latter so I will do a load of cooking at the weekend. For example, I make a large batch of bolognaise type sauce with minced beef, freeze in small portions and my DC can then defrost some and make a wrap/ taco/ add to baked potato that they’ve done in the microwave. I’d look for small changes like your soup. Pizza bases are still processed but if they are plain and you are adding tinned tomatoes with herbs, then a variety of toppings and salad thrown together, then it will be healthier. Instead of the goujons, cook a load of chicken in vegetables and add rice/ potatoes - really easy non upf meal

This all sounds amazing! I forgot about fried rice (I used to make mushroom and bean fried rice).

My husband makes the bolognaise (when he has time) and is training the teenagers to do it. That is on the shopping this week.

So if you like pasta then I’d start with that.

1. Make a big spag bol - onion, carrot, celery, mince, handful of green lentils, passata, tinned toms, stock, lots of herbs, sugar and seasoning and cook for 3-4 hours in the oven.
2. carbonara - mix parmesan and 3 eggs in a bowl. Fry pancetta/bacon garlic and onion, add cooked spaghetti mix and remove from the heat then mix in the egg/cheese mix. Add parsley & season well
3. Fry onion & garlic, add some white smoked fish, lemon zest + juice & cream cheese. Add pasta with some cooking water to loosen, add fresh parsley and serve with lots of black pepper.
4. prawns fried in onion, garlic chilli tossed with linguine.

I serve all pasta with either salad or a portion of green veg like asparagus or broccoli.

Lentil Dahl is easy and nutritious , a roasted ratatouille , jacket potatoes stuffed with cheese with M&S cheap baked beans which aren’t too bad as beans go , fajitas made with a fajita spice mix ( Sainsburies fo one in the spices section) Crosta Mollica wraps , veg and tofoo or chicken

My first thoughts:

Daal - slow cooker or on the hob, so incredibly easy
Chicken and chickpea curry - we usually use thighs, often a shop-bought paste if in a hurry, a can of coconut milk and a tin of chickpeas
Frittata - great for using up stuff in the fridge
Roasted tomato soup - halved tomatoes and/or cherry toms and/or drained tinned plum toms olin a massive roasting tray with halved head of garlic, a halved onion and some celery sticks, then blended smooth with some stock
Rice pilaf - Nigel Slater's is popular here - very comforting and simple, good with e.g. grilled salmon as a side
Puff pastry tart - shop-bought sheet of pastry brushed with mustard, covered with grated gruyere or parm and then whatever sliced veg is in the fridge - usually tomatoes, courgettes, aubergines
Pulled pork - I mix up about a tbsp of black treacle with a good squirt of ketchup and cumin, smoked paprika, ground coriander, oregano, and some dark brown sugar. Slice the fat off a shoulder of pork and rub it with the mixture. Slow cooker for about 8hrs or low. We have it with soft white rolls, coleslaw, apple sauce, stuffing and salad.
Thai curry - I buy a big pot of paste from the Asian supermarket and mix some with a tin of coconut milk. Add sliced veg to a big pot (I like courgettes, carrots, peppers etc) and soften, then add spice paste/coconut mixture and simmer til cooked. I also buy big bags of frozen gyoza and add these towards the end. You can actually also do it all in a big roasting tin in the oven, covered.

My other top tips: the Rukmini Iyer roasting tin books are great for feeding a big family without too much faff.

I am also never without a massive batch of homemade concentrated tomato sauce, frozen in big ice cube trays in the freezer and decanted into ziplocks (and the same for homemade chicken stock).

Convenience-food-wise - frozen gyoza, frozen green beans, frozen spinach, tinned potatoes and tinned chickpeas, coconut milk, good curry pastes, frozen pitta, feta and halloumi. If I have all those things I can always make dinner!

I also always have wholemeal fusili, red lentils, orzo, pearl barley (good for adding to anything cooking with some liquid in a roasting tin), chopped toms obvs.

Thanks for the reply,

Yes, I have three (almost four) teenagers, and they are good at cooking easy meals for themselves. One is an excellent cook (especially meat), the other is brilliant at making bakery things. That is one reason we have the easy cook meals, but I have had enough of the same foods.

Good idea to batch cook at the weekends. I never thought of doing that, and having people around at that time helps with my very active toddler.

I think trying to change everything in one go can sometimes be too much, so you could start with some simple swaps?

Eg chicken wraps doesn’t sound too bad - you can get the crosta and mollica wraps/ flat breads which are non upf as the ingredient are literally flour, water, salt, olive oil. Or you could have a go at making your own flat breads just with flour and yogurt - lots of recipes if you google. If you’re bored of doing it with chicken, try with beef - Sainsbury’s sell beef skirt which is a cheap cut and if you cut it really finely it’s good for fajitas or stir fries. Add veg and your own seasoning - we had this the other night and it was delicious - we used sour cream and grated cheese on them too.

If you all like pasta there’s loads of really easy pasta dishes that don’t rely on jars of sauce too. We like lemon prawn orzo (cook orzo, add peas to the water for last 5 mins or so, meanwhile cook prawns in garlic oil, once just cooked add in some butter, juice of a lemon and parsley (frozen is fine) then combine it all together). Also a creamy leek pasta - finely slice leeks, soften them in garlic oil and butter whilst you’re boiling your pasta, every now and then splash a spoonful of the pasta water into the leeks to help them soften. Once all soft (by the time the pasta is cooked) add cream or soft cheese or both, lots of black pepper, combine with pasta and top with Parmesan.

We’ve been using a lot of pork mince lately as it’s cheaper than beef at the moment. Makes a great chilli and quite a nice bolognaise - both fairly easy to do.

If you have a slow cooker, this recipe is a favourite here - I’m pretty sure 3 tbsp of curry powder is a typo or her curry powder is much milder than mine! - but adjust to your preference - https://www.tamingtwins.com/slow-cooker-chicken-curry-recipe/?gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=22442534049&gbraid=0AAAAA_Wg1taz6HyXWHnCSm9tRTAqiC0yi&gclid=CjwKCAiAlMHIBhAcEiwAZhZBUgcMkdliyIqqylEuupt6iaV0n1ShsRAsJQTeUbUTH54VbmbthUU05BoCD1gQAvD_BwE Also we tend to use chicken breast but use whatever suits

Baked salmon in foil parcels with lime, coriander, chilli, garlic, bit of ginger if you like - then serve with a packet of stir fry veg and noodles

-Stir fries
-omelettes/ frittatas
-creamy garlic mushrooms with rice or couscous
-tray bakes

Brilliant! I love these! Will be making most of these soon.

Only the white sauce is a big no-no (for some reason) in our house. All the children are haters (but I love!). Also, the non-fish eater.

I have long accepted, that our house is more fussy than others. But I try and make alternatives (or toast).

What’s wrong with boring meals? Just do meat/ tofu and vegetables.

It’s the faffy, multiple ingredients that crank up the bill. Everyone knows what Thai/Korean/Italian is these days but theres no need for it every night.

I cook a chickpea and sweet potato curry dahl sometimes, and this is the only thing the children agree on (but might just be the naan bread and poppadoms, tasty but expensive!). I buy the sauce though, but should try from scratch one day.

I love jacket potatoes, but only one child would eat them (fussy).

Fajitas are brilliant, so much so that we have made them too much! I am on a bit of a break from them. I think we go a little crazy and splash on salsa, guacamole and avocado and salad from the shop.

I like the slow cooker recipe, it will be interesting to try ginger. The non-veggie children would love it.

The pasta ideas are great, would like to try the prawn pasta. I have a spicy harrisa version but the toddler misses out, so this one would be better,

Thanks.

I love things I can put in the oven and can serve as kids arrive back from clubs etc.

So a shallow roasting dish with onions, peppers, diced chicken thigh, basmati rice (uncooked), add in seasonings (I use paprika, garlic powder for a Spanish chicken), add pasatta and chicken stock cover and put in the oven for 45 minutes. Take the foil off for the last 10 mins or so to dry up any left over liquid. At this point I add some chorizo and black olives.

Same principle but different seasonings for a rice based curry - curry powder, garam masala, turmeric and chilli. Finish with coconut milk.

Its an easy, no watch dinner, change the protein and seasonings for variety.

I know what you mean. It is so expensive to shop for 7 already (not counting the super hungry teenagers that eat all evening)! But I am hoping that some of these ideas will be cheaper than the huge meals we buy.

Boring meals are also good - I have been leaving the cooking a bit more to the teenagers lately and we haven’t had meat/tofu and vegetables in a while. I has all been breaded and easy to pop in the oven. So this in itself is a good idea. But you have to have Yorkshire puddings, or (my 11 year old would say) there is no point.

Totally get you, mixed eaters here too! My vegetable lasagne is loved by all, I prefer it to the meat one, also with salmon is delicious 😋 xxx

That sounds amazing! I think I will try this. What temperature do you use for the oven?

Fingers crossed, it sounds so easy, but I have been known to burn things (even pasta). I told the kids that it is good they have low food standards, they will always be pleasantly surprised.

Here’s a tip for you- split the week up into two parts. Monday-Thursday and Friday-Sunday. Prep and cook whatever you can ahead for the first part of the week, doesn’t have to be the whole meal, if you’re having spag bol
for example, make the sauce on Sunday and cook the pasta on the day you’re having it. Much easier to think about and prep 4 meals than 7.

Give yourselves the day off on Friday (pizza, takeaway, pre-prepared meals from the supermarket, whatever) and prep whatever meals you’re planing for the weekend. If you’re having a stew, prep it all up ready to just stick in the oven. Make a large bowl of curry and let it bloom til Sunday, stuff like that.

I know it sounds a bit obvious but I only started doing things this way in the last few years and it makes me feel less overwhelmed by it all. I was cooking every day at one point and it was just miserable and inevitably we fell back on highly processed foods too often.

Thank you - that is a good tip.

I might even rope the teenagers to help on prep days (with a little whinging).

Vegetable chicken and lentil soup.

Throw everything at it, carrot celery onion swede chicken wings, red split lentils, tins or overnight-soaked chick peas/beans, plenty of water, season, throw in chilli flakes and a stock cube if you have one, let it bubble away for an hour. The red split lentils plump up and thicken the soup.

Pick out the chicken bones and you have a delicious cheap meal.

I like tray bakes. Tonight I put chicken breasts in with cherry tomatoes, roasted for about half an hour then topped with basil and mozzarella for the last 10 mins. I did this with a tray of skin on new potatoes in olive oil with dried rosemary, salt and pepper (just chucked whole on a tray for an hour) with a side of veggies.

I use 160 on a fan oven, it helps that rice is pretty forgiving so if you need a bit more liquid you can add it and if it sits for 10 mins too long it’s ok.

You can also do similar with pasta, my DD14 last night made a prawn pasta by putting penne pasta in a tray with onions, peppers, a tin of passata some chicken stock and a round of Boursin cheese, garlic paste, salt and pepper. Let that cook covered with foil for 20 minutes, added frozen prawns and pop back in for 10 minutes and give it a good mix. It was really good, though the pasta could have done with less time.

It might be a bit trial and error to get the pasta/liquid ratio right but again easy to chuck together and tasty.

I like Rukmini Iyer's Roasting Tin cookbook series - some great flavour combinations that basically involve putting a tray of ingredients in the oven and taking them out later ready to eat. With different preferences you can just make up separate trays so there's minimal extra faff.

My other tip is always to make double quantities and freeze the surplus in individual portion sizes, then it's really easy to do a quick meal or cater to someone who won't eat what everyone else is having. E.g. my son loves chilli but not fajitas so if I want to do fajitas I'll serve him up a portion of defrosted chilli to go with the wraps etc that everyone else is having.