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[quote=Anonymous]I do these things mostly for convenience and time.  While I do cook from scratch when I have the time, that days it happens less and less.

1. Quick snack, I take a packet of Cup-of-soup chicken noodle, put it in 3-4 oz of boiling water.  Then heat minute brown-rice.  Mix and it makes a quick snack.

2. Doctored spaghetti sauce.  I cook onions until translucent.  Add garlic.  Set aside.  brown beef, add a few tablespoons of tomato paste, add onions/garlic back in.  Add Salt-free Italian seasoning blend.  Add jarred tomato sauce, heat until hot, serve over pasta.  Although I know that it's easy to make tomato sauce from tomatoes, it takes time that I don't want to spend.  This works for us and saves me a lot of time.

3. Beef Gravy.  Make a roux of whole wheat flour and butter.  Add 1 packet of Beefy Onion soup mix and 1-3 tsp of Better than Bouillon beef flavored.  Add water/milk/canned beef broth to get the consistency of gravy that you want.

4. Hot Sandwich rolls.  Take a roll of refrigerator pizza crust.  Unroll and layer lunchmeat and cheese of choice,  Roll into a log and bake according to the package instructions.  Slice disks.  Optional, you can spread a thin layer of tomato sauce/mustard or condiment-of-choice on the pizza crust before rolling.  I just recently started using the Pillsbury Artisan whole wheat pizza crust.  Still works great.  We get lower-fat lunch meats and for the kids, I get the nitrate-free turkey-based lunchmeats.

5. I make Zatarain's Jambalaya and doctor it up.  Brown meat of choice (I usually get some sort of flavored sausage like a chorizo or andouille), then brown other meats (chicken and shrimp frequently) in the flavored fat.  Meat is optional here, FYI.  I take out the meat and then add the package of zatarain's, a cup of brown rice, and a little cajun seasoning, and brown the rice slightly.  Add a can of diced tomatoes.  Then I add the water suggested on the package, plus 2 cups and cook as directed.  When  the rice is close to finished cooking, I add the meats back in.  I've been told by several people that this is the best Jambalay they've ever had.  Once upon a time, I used to make Jambalaya from scratch, but since the reception from friends and family to this is so good, I just do the easy way now.

6. Easy shepherd's pie or pot pie.  Brown beef with Beefy Onion soup mix.  Add in frozen veggies of choice.  Toss in oven-safe pan.  Cook refrigerator mash potatoes (from the deli section at the local supermarket) about 75% of the suggested times, then add to top of pan.  Brown in the oven.  You can also make this into beef pot pie.  Brown beef with Beefy Onion soup mix, make a little of the gravy above (#3), add frozen veggies of choice.  Either get a refrigerator/freezer pie crust or I make a boxed crust (Betty Crocker pie crust works well) and pre-bake the bottom crust about 75%, then top with the filling and  then the second crust and bake.

Just a few ideas.  While I agree that it would be good to avoid the processed food, it's hard to do with two WOH parents, and a busy weeknight schedule, so I cook from scratch on weekends and fill with these types of easy meals during the week.[/quote]

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