Easy meals for when you just don't want to cook.

[caseydog]

We all have those days. You want to eat something good, but just don't have the energy or motivation to cook. What is your go-to meal on those days?

This is mine, Takes fifteen minutes. A pre-baked pizza crust, some sauce, shredded mozzarella, a drizzle of EEVO and some fresh basil from my garden (when available). Twelve minutes in a 400F oven. What's yours?

CD

 

[Andy M.]

i almost always have some frozen meal-sized containers of pasta sauce. So in the time it takes to boil water and cook pasta, I have a meal. Sometimes that pasta is store bought ravioli.

Spaghetti alla carbonara is also a quick meal.

Breakfast for dinner.

 

[dragnlaw]

Cheese, crackers and a bottle of wine.

and/or peanut butter and _____ sandwich.

 

[caseydog]

Spaghetti alla carbonara is also a quick meal.

Breakfast for dinner.

Both of those are easy meals. Thanks. Carbonara when I have the ingredients. I have had breakfast for dinner many, many times.

CD

 

[caseydog]

Cheese, crackers and a bottle of wine.

and/or peanut butter and _____ sandwich.

Another good selection. It is midnight here, and I'm feeling a bit peckish. A PB& strawberry jam sammy is sounding rather good right now.,

CD

 

[Badjak]

Noodle soup..
Bring hot water to a running boil.
Add Thai red curry paste and/or pad prik pao.
Sliced onion, quartered tomato and whatever else you fancy (still hard boil) + fish sauce or soy. Bitof lime juice if you like.
Maybe an egg.
Then 2 minute noodles, cover, turn of hear and let stand for 1 or 2 minutes and done

 

[taxlady]

Cheese, crackers and a bottle of wine.

and/or peanut butter and _____ sandwich.

Another good selection. It is midnight here, and I'm feeling a bit peckish. A PB& strawberry jam sammy is sounding rather good right now.,

CD

Between the two of you, the power of suggestion overwhelmed me. I just went downstairs and made myself a snack. Stoned Wheat Thins crackers - Boursin, the garlic and fine herbs one on three crackers and Danish blue cheese on one cracker.

 

[taxlady]

I have several easy meals for when I'm uninspired or too tired. What I choose will depend on what I have to hand. It could be a simple omelette with scallions and feta or other cheese and toast. It could be "bachelor surprise", which is ground meat or already cooked meat stir fried with veggies from the freezer. Usually I just pick several kinds among what's in my freezer. Sometimes I'll have an "Asian, stir-fry mix" of frozen veggies. If I happen to have cooked rice in the fridge or freezer, I'll add some of that. There will almost always be tamari, fish sauce or Worcestershire sauce, and toasted sesame seeds. There might be hot peppers tossed in with the veggies or hot sauce. It gets particularly easy when I happen to have ground meat cooked with onion and then frozen.

 

[Aunt Bea]

These days, I usually have steam in the bag mixed vegetables in the freezer, six minutes in the microwave and dinner is ready.

Usually with salt, pepper, and a pat of butter other times a bit of sesame oil and a squirt of soy sauce.

When I was young and broke it was thin spaghetti tossed with butter or a raw egg, grated cheese and freshly ground black pepper.

and when all else fails!

 

[Andy M.]

Another good selection. It is midnight here, and I'm feeling a bit peckish. A PB& strawberry jam sammy is sounding rather good right now.,

CD

I used to snack on PB&J on an Eggo waffle. Better than bread.

 

[msmofet]

Between the two of you, the power of suggestion overwhelmed me. I just went downstairs and made myself a snack. Stoned Wheat Thins crackers - Boursin, the garlic and fine herbs one on three crackers and Danish blue cheese on one cracker.

I love stoned wheat thins. I like Brie and blue cheese on mine.

 

[CharlieD]

For me it's a cold cuts sandwich.

 

[blissful]

Tortilla pinwheels are pretty fast and easy. No cooking just cutting and assembling.
I used hummus and mashed baked sweet potatoes (microwaved actually) but other options are cream cheese in flavors, or anything that is flavorful and spreadable.
Chop up into thin match sticks or spears, pickles, carrot, yellow and green zucchini, cucumber, red yellow orange sweet peppers, marinated seasoned baked tofu, pepperoni slices, ham slices folded, lettuce or spinach, cheese in thin sticks....when you have a mishmash of available things in the fridge.
The bigger flour tortillas or whole wheat or spinach tortillas work well.
Spread a thin layer of some spreadable on the tortilla, line up veg, cheese, meat, pickles all lined up vertical, roll up horizontally, slice and enjoy. Mr bliss likes them with a mix of ketchup and stir fry sauce. I like them plain.
(if you use hummus or sweet potato the tortillas will get soggy the next day, so they are best eaten right away. if you use cream cheese they don't get as soggy the next day.)

 

[dragnlaw]

To me an easy meal is one where you don't turn on the oven or stove. Usually a minimum of 2 to max 4 items. If I have to fetch more than that it is no longer easy but effort.

 

[blissful]

To me an easy meal is one where you don't turn on the oven or stove. Usually a minimum of 2 to max 4 items. If I have to fetch more than that it is no longer easy but effort.

'épi de maïs'
2 corn in husks, microwave 8 minutes, take the husk off, brush with lemon juice, salt and chili powder or curry or not.
That was a meal for each of us yesterday. It was delicious.

 

[LPBeier]

When I feel like cooking, I big-batch perogies, calzones, chili, etc., and freeze them in meal-sized batches. I always have the extras and can easily assemble a dinner for one, two, or however many.

 

[HeyItsSara]

it was a very hot summer in NYC and I ate up all our emergency food too early.
With brownouts, we can't even turn the oven on. So, a cold dinner would be: tuna, green salad or lox/bagel/cream cheese, cut up tomatoes.

or, as Charlie said, packaged cold cuts with either wraps or slaw from the bag.

 

[Badjak]

What's a brownout?

 

[blissful]

What's a brownout?

Electricity stops being available in parts of a city, or electric is rationed, or electricity is limited partially. The electric company may decide to request that customers don't use it for AC for instance in half the city, then on other days for the other half of the city.

 

[dragnlaw]

To me a "brownout" is when you don't quite lose the power altogether. But it 'flickers' or dims - just enough to have to reset all the digital clocks, printer restarts, etc.

Often happens when there is a storm with lots of wind and the power lines are 'wiggling and waving'.
Not the big tower lines, just your city street lines, or the grid for them.