Need help with evening meal prep/ideas. New job longer commute

[Livinginacatdictatorship]

I will be starting a new job at the end of the month which means money will be a bit tighter as I will be short around a weeks wages from my previous job due to when I finish and how much holiday I have accrued v how much I have taken this year.

As the commute is longer I also feel I need to be a bit more organised when it comes to meal prep, so I have something planned that won't take long to make when I get in or to utilise a slow cooker/batch cooking element.

Can anyone make any (cheap) meal suggestions or suggestions in general to help? I would like to avoid falling in a rut of eating a set of 5 things on rotation 😊

A stir-fry is my first thought - needn't be boring with different meat, veg & sauce ingredients.
I used to "cook double" at the weekends - I don't like the phrase "batch cooking".
So anything that is a casserole type of dish (curry, ragu, cassoulet etc) I'd make double quantity & freeze half.

Soup with rolls, nice bread, sandwiches or toasted cheese.
Pasta, pesto, peas or broccoli.
Macaroni cheese and tomatoes.
Things on toast - eggs, beans, cheese.
Tuna and bean salad - mix together a tin of tuna (drained if in brine or water, if in oil you could use it for the salad), thinly sliced onion (red ideally, or use spring onions), tin of cannellini or borlotti beans (drained), chopped parsley, salt, pepper, lemon juice, extra virgin olive oil if you have it in already and aren't using the oil from the tuna tin. Eat with some decent bread. Maybe add tomatoes, lettuce, leaves, rocket etc.

A bag of shredded veg to put in stir fry or ramen - Kikkoman do a decent concentrate for ramen broth and there are so many instant noodles. Use quick sources of protein like pre-cooked chicken or pork you can slice, salmon fillets you can microwave or tofu you can fry in an air fryer or wok. About 20 minutes in all.

I used to make a chilli and a curry (alternating weekly) on the weekend for "one in the week, one in the freezer". They are better tasting when the flavours have developed anyway.

Quick pasta dishes with side salad - lemon linguine, prawn and chilli linguine, puttanesca, cacio e pepe, macaroni and cheese (with optional added veg like peas, broad beans and broccoli) or broccoli and blue cheese penne. They all take no more than 15 minutes.

This Ottolenghi chickpeas and pasta dish is a maximum of 20 minutes, absolutely delicious and utterly unlike other pasta dishes. Plus it uses pulses so is cheap and nutritious.

There's nothing wrong with the odd fish finger sandwich or baked potato dinner. Start the spud in the microwave then spray with oil and put in the air fryer to crisp the skin.

I made that Ottolenghi chickpea pasta tonight and agreed it’s delicious! We have a rotation of about five or six pasta dishes that are quick and easy so that’s one night a week.

This week we have also had chicken katsu curry (chicken was M&S breaded breast steaks, sauce was batch cooked and from the freezer so I just made rice in the microwave and stir fried some broccoli); sweetcorn and red pepper curry with frozen paratha (we usually have one quick veggie curry mid week); home made pizza (but I buy ready made pizza dough) and jacket potatoes.

Certainly for the first week I would do slow cooker every night so that the drain of starting a new job is minimised as much as possble.

Stirfries
Nice sandwiches
soup and sourdough
quick pasta dishes
Avo and mushrooms on toast with hallumi

Things on toast, omelette and salad. I often make something after dinner for the following day. I’ve just made soup for the next couple of days lunches. It’s easy to chop up veg to roast and put it in while I potter about. Then the following day I just make up bulgar wheat and stir it in, good with falafel.

Fresh filled pasta - takes 3 mins in boiling water

Stir fry with pre chopped veg and meat/prawns

slow cooker dump bags (I use Taming Twins website) if you’re out early I also suggest a smart plug so you can put everything in when you leave and set it to turn on at the right time. Maybe only ok when it’s not summer/hot though.

Frozen jacket potatoes take 5 mins each in the microwave, various toppings

leftovers combined with quick sides eg frozen jacket potatoes or microwave rice

in summer months it’s something and salad (quiche, leftover bbq meat, leftover roast meat, burgers done in the air fryer)

Some great ideas, thank you! Can double up with pasta for lunch the following day as well.
The suggestion of using the slow cooker for the first week could be a good shout (the route im taking is completely new as well and even with sat nav I have a horrible sense of direction.) The smart plug sounds like it could be sensible as well.
Definitely going to make a list of stuff from here and check out those dump bags, im intrigued by those!

Congratulations !

Great thread. Another vote for those 5 min spuds you can store in freezer.
I know it's not popular but don't forget yr oily fish. A weekly must. Salmon ir tinned sardines/mackerel. Hope it all goes well for you x

I've been struggling with this myself in a new role. I'm a bit less sensitive to cost at the moment so that has helped in that a few times we've done things like - steak, chips and veg or salmon, pre-made salad and noodles, which are very quick and very easy, but, admittedly, expensive. - but here are a few that have worked well for us:

Pork shoulder tacos. I put this in the slow cooker for at least 10 hours. Then, when we're ready to eat, shred the meat, fry it quickly to make it a bit crispy then pour in some of the cooking liquid to caramalise. I usually do some sort of fruit/tomato salsa to go with it, some avocado if I have, and a bit of sour cream.

We've also done quite a lot of pasta sauces as I can usually whip these up in the time it takes the pasta to cook. They're also great as even if you're using meat, you can usually be quite stingy on the amount, keeping costs down. So, for example, I often use sausages to create a pasta sauce (creamy or tomato based) and can get away with 1-1.5 sausages per person, even in a house where DH and DS eat INSANE amounts as a combination of a LOT of exercise and ADHD! Bacon or Chorizo work well in pasta sauces as well, and again, go far. Left over chicken, ditto.

Another option is jacket potatoes. This works especialyl well if I'm working from home as I tend to microwave them at lunch for 10 minutes. Then stick in the air fryer for 25 minutes while I'm getting myself together. But you could stick them in the microwave as you leave th ehouse, then in the air fryer as soon as you get home and then aim to eat with whatever you're sticking on top within 30 minutes.

Fresh filled pasta (Rana or supermarket ones) add sauces to go with it. I also like shell pasta with tuna, tin tomatoes and cheese sauce.

Baked potatoes are nice, the McCains ones are good for speed. You can fry hamburgers and leave in fridge.

Fajitas and any of the old El Paso meal kits are nice too.

Pork shoulder tacos sounds delicious @SpaceOP I really like pork shoulder. Have you ever used those stand and stuff soft tacos... I could have got that name completely wrong but i think its that 🤣 I thought that could save some time.

The ideas on this thread have been really useful so thanks everyone and im all ears for any new ideas 🙂

No, I just use little round corn/wheat ones that I cook in a frying pan for 30 seconds each side, then add spur cream, meat and salsa. I like doing it with the slow cooker as I literally throw it in with spices and liquid and then do the quick fry for crispiness at the end.

Would people say its worth spending a bit more on a slow cooker or would it be a waste of money and they all work more or less with the same results?

I know a few people who have got there's at lidl or aldi and are very happy wjth them. So i dont think its a problem to get a cheaper one.

Thanks @SpaceOP I didnt want to shell out £80 for aomething i could buy at £30 for no reason!

I did years of getting home at 8pm @Livinginacatdictatorship.

We usually have spag bol, cottage pie, chilli con or a beef stew/chicken stew, fish pie,on a saturday (not in summer). I usually make enough to freeze ahead for two weekday meals to serve three. One gets used Monday to Thursday; sometimes two, but not the same.

Other dinners are:

Curried chicken if we have a roast chicken on Sundays

Omolettes or pizza with salad one night.

Lamb (or pork) chops with greek salad

Fridays are always fish: sea bass, salmon, fish cakes usually with asparagus, roasted veg, and peas (for dh)

Gammon, egg and chips

I'd do stir fries but DH not keen.

Chicken thighs left overnight with salt/pepper/garlic/lemon and/or paprika - just bung in the oven and serve with salad and cous cous (left over thighs afe good for lunch).

Helpful stuff:

cook a big bowl of new potatoes (portions can then be halved and fried up instead of chips, bunged in the microwave with a bit of butter, made into potato salad.

Microwave bags of rice, although ot's no bother imo to cook the rice whilst making a salad.

Bagged salad leaves - no need to peel cucumber - help get a salad made in about 2-3 minutes

Good luck with your new job.

The sticky beef burritos on the Gousto website are tasty and very quick, especially if you substitute boiling the rice for microwave rice.

As for slow cookers, I think I have the Sainsbury’s basics one and it’s been going for over 20 years now. This sausage casserole is good.

Dahl is pretty cheap too. I wouldn’t make it the first week but you could maybe cook it at the weekend and eat it in the week?

And don’t forget about tray bakes. I like them as they usually take about 5 to 10 minutes to prepare then you can do everything else you need to do in the evening and by the time you’ve done that, tea is ready