Anonymous wrote:Were you doing your job at all when you WFH?

I love it when someone tries to take someone down a notch online and inadvertently reveals that they have absolutely no f-ing clue what they’re trying to talk about

Were you doing your job at all when you WFH?

Check out "Struggle Meals" on YouTube or peacock. The chef cooks in a minimalist kitchen using inexpensive ingredients.

Sheet pan meals. Spend ~2 hours marinating meat and cutting up veggies on the weekend. Then you (or even the kids) can toss things in the oven each evening.

Any marinade and any combo of veggies that appeals. I did this for years.

Black beans and rice (already par-cooked so took about 15 minutes) in a huge saute pan. Once ready add cubed baked tofu and a bunch of mixed frozen vegetables. No other seasoning as I'm sure the beans & rice are high in sodium and their flavor stretches to the bulked ingredients. All from pantry or freezer.

Google "freezer dump meals"

Casserole is your friend. baked ziti is easy af. Make two, freeze one for later.

If you don't already have an instant pot, get one. SO many easy, one-pot, "freezer to table in 30-minutes, hands off". There's a lot of easy air fryer recipes now, too. Look for things that let you be somewhere else while your food is heating/cooking so you can multitask.

Slow cookers are also your friend (when it's cooler outside). Chili, stews, braises... Make double, freeze half.

Get rotisserie chicken (however many you need to serve your family). Have chicken legs w/ a salad (bagged, ready to eat) the first night. Cut up the breast meat and have chicken and rice/beans another night. Make any leftovers into burritos or quesadillas after that. Make a big batch of meatballs. Freeze some, have some with pasta, have meatball sandwiches later.

Sardines are great protein and pretty inexpensive. Crack open a can over some rice and veggies, or put them on toast with a bit of cream cheese and capers and serve with a side of fresh fruit and some cucumber.

Breakfast for dinner is easy and quick. Breakfast sandwiches/wraps can be made ahead and frozen for easy reheating. Add broccoli and carrots to scrambled eggs and cook in a casserole dish. Cut into squares and add to english muffins w/ a sausage patty and some cheese, or a tortilla w/ beans and cheese. Freeze individually on a cookie sheet or wrap in foil.

Wash fruit and cut up veg on the weekend when you have more time to meal prep. Cook once, eat several times from what you made.

Anonymous wrote:There’s nothing wrong with cut up fresh fruit and veg for a side with every meal. Add meat and starch. Done

In the winter, baked chicken pieces with steamed or roasted frozen vegetables. It eliminated the veg cutting, which takes a long time.

One night a week could be takeout pizza night.

Frozen vegetables.
Canned beans.
Chicken tenderloin strips and boneless skinless thighs.
Mowi salmon portions from Amazon Fresh.
Rice.

Crispy skin salmon (10 min in skillet with cover) over rice and steamed frozen peas. Soy sauce or to be fancy white miso pate on salmon last 3 min.

Chicken strips, canned canelloni cooked together. Add broccoli. We aren't spicy but you can ad tomato, herbs, spices,

Chicken thighs. Broccoli. Microwave baked potato.

Monday - fish (grilled or marinated), steamed veggies and wild rice

Taco Tuesday- cook the meat, add rinsed can of black or kidney beans, can of corn, can of diced tomatoes, can be served over taco shells, in a tortilla, or over lettuce

Wednesday - chicken, veggie, potato (cook in the microwa)

Thursday, spaghetti, Costco meatballs, Raos sauce, steamed veggies

Friday - make your own pizza day on flatbread, or pre-made dough

Saturday, and Sunday, something more involved, that you double the batch of and either freeze or have for dinner again another night


And our 2 favorite go-tos on the nights where i just can't cook: breakfast for dinner, scrambled eggs and toast and whatever veggies is in the house OR, quessadilla, could be plain cheese, or cheese with leftover grilled chicken (or from a picked up rotisserie chicken), or, with spinach and cheese

Anonymous wrote:How about food that isn't ultra-processed, folks?

Are you OP?

Ooh 15-25 minute meals are my jam. I get home around 4:45, kids are aged 6-13, youngest goes to bed at 7 (ie done with teeth, pjs, bath, etc.) So we have a time crunch. I made some good things this week so I will share our menu:
- https://www.skinnytaste.com/one-pot-orzo-with-sausage-spinach-and-corn/ (25 minutes - I do the onion at same time as sausage)
-https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1025351-prosciutto-and-melon-salad with side of crusty bread (less than 15 minutes)
- sweet potato black bean tacos (microwave 2 potatoes until almost cooked, chop, saute in pan with taco seasoning. Warm up black beans). Serve with lime, sour cream, cilantro, cheddar (15 minutes)
- homemade deli sandwiches with lettuce, tomato, pickles with side of cole slaw and chips

On Sunday I made two trays of this (doubled everything except sausage for my crew):
https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1025733-crispy-gnocchi-with-sausage-and-broccoli
- it is more than 25 minutes but is just 10 mins prep, then hands off for 30 minutes. Then we had leftovers for lunches also.

We also love these quick meals:
-https://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/hummus-dinner-bowls-with-spiced-ground-beef-and-tomatoes (use store bought hummus and serve with naan rounds)
- this 10 minute skillet dinner: https://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/10-minute-sausage-skillet-with-cherry-tomatoes-and-broccolini
- mexican rice skillet- microwave 2pkg spanish rice, saute prepackaged fajita chicken strips, add jar of corn/bean salsa, can of black beans, cooked rice; melt cheddar cheese on top. Serve with tortilla strips. (Maybe 15 minutes)
- we do a salad night almost every week, e.g., 2 bags of caesar salad with steak. This is the kids' favorite night because we always have ice cream for dessert on salad night.
- breakfast for dinner
- Dice chicken or buy paneer, saute in pot along with chopped or frozen vegetables, throw in a jarred simmer sauce, serve with rice.
- Big pot of chili; repurpose leftovers the next week with nacho dinner. We add corn, chopped tomatoes, etc. to try to make it somewhat less junky.
- Lettuce wraps with premade sauce
- NYT sheet pan quesadillas (we load them on there - I think the recipe has like 6 quesadillas but we fold them first and fit a ton on). We do black beans instead of corn. Side of fruit or frozen vegetable or tomato salad (we just slice tomatoes and add some herbs/salt and sometimes some balsamic dressing)

How about food that isn't ultra-processed, folks?

This is my 12 year olds go to "quick meal" that he will make.

Tortilla wrap of your choice (he likes to use the thicker trader joes pita/tortilla things )Cover it in ground meat and seasonings of choice. Throw on pan until cooked then flip to crisp other side. Can throw some cheese on top. He likes to make an "in an out" type sauce and some chopped lettuce

Theres an instagram
Account for recipes using 5 items or less
From Trader Joes. Very fast usually

Air fryers with the baskets are fabulous, and it contains the mess and cleanup. You can marinate chicken, annd pork in the morning and put it in the fridge and put it in there. It’s also great for roasted vegetable side dishes, and you can get those precut if you want or those blends like TJs frozen potato and onion and pepper medley. Bag of salad or a bit of the TJs precooked frozen rice.

We also do pastas, and my kid likes when we boil a bag of pasta (can be the protein kind), throw in frozen peas (could do broccoli) a couple of minutes before the pasta is done. Drain but save a cup of the cooking water. Dump a decent amount of your favorite flavored butter (eg the TJs garlic Parmesan butter, Kerrygold has one too) into the warm pan and let it melt. Toss the pasta and peas back in and add some grated cheese. Add pasta water to loosen it up. You could also use pesto instead of the flavored butters.