Ramen soup. I throw baby Carrots and celery in the boiling water. Then add the ramen. When I add the flavor packet I throw in pre cookies chicken cut up
Too. I use 2 packets of ramen and 5 cups of water instead of 4 because of the extra added stuff. We have salmon once a week, Marinated in pesto, bake in oven. Serve with minute rice and steam in the bag broccoli. Chicken skewers from Costco, they’re cooked and just need heating. DD has hers with rice and tomatoes/carrots/cucumber and we have ours on salad ( bagged salad)

Anonymous wrote:The McCormick chili recipe (the one on the back of the chili spice packet):

You brown a pound of ground beef, then into the pan you dump a can of undrained diced tomatoes, a can of undrained kidney beans, and the chili spice packet bag. You give a few stirs and let it simmer for 10 minutes. It's actually really decent chili. Serve with shredded cheese, sour cream and corn chips. If you're willing to do just a liiiiiitle chopping, some scallions or red onion on top are nice too.

We do this, too! We often throw in an extra can of black beans and some frozen corn. At a pot luck it is as popular as the from scratch chilis

Meat pie. Sauté 1.5-2 pounds ground beef, minced garlic. Stir in salsa, chopped cilantro (or omit) and shredded cheese. I have bean hostile children or I would stir in black beans. Put in frozen pie crust and bake.

NP. Lots of these are great-- and I'm taking notes!-- but I was expecting more like "deceptively easy" or "seems complicated and fancy but actually takes 10 minutes." A loaded baked potato is a beautiful thing, but it's not that IMO. (I'm still using that idea, though!)

I suppose if you have fancy ingredients around, that helps. Like precooked lamb sausage or w/e.

Off the top of my head, I do have a more unique one that was given to me by a friend, but I think I modified it down the line for ease or something.

Orzo/Chick Peas/Goat Cheese Thing:

You need:

Orzo or very small pasta, but you can actually use whatever.
Baby spinach or regular spinach
Canned chick peas
Goat cheese (preferably crumbled)

Olive oil
Seasonings of your choice

Cook orzo on stove.

When it's almost done (maybe 1-2 minutes left), throw in baby spinach and rinsed/drained chick peas. (This might add 1 minute to your cook time for the orzo since you cooled down the water with the extra ingredients.)

Drain and mix back in the pot with some olive oil or butter to taste, mix in an herb blend you like-- like Badia Complete, or some herb mixture like Herbs de Provence or something-- some herby, maybe garlicky mixture with salt and pepper is good. Rosemary goes good with goat cheese, but so do lots of things.

Mix in goat cheese (chevre)-- it doesn't have to be crumbled, but that's easier to work with IMO.

Done.

Obviously figure out the proportions you prefer, but I like this because:

-It's easy to have most ingredients on hand. We usually have baby spinach at least for smoothies, and everything else is a non-perishable staple. You just might get in the habit of picking up goat cheese crumbles once in a while. They have them even at Aldi, which brings me to:

-Cheap! Quite cheap outside of the goat cheese, which is still as little as $3. I shop Aldi and Giant sales mostly, so if I did a pound of pasta, a can of peas, 5-6 oz goat cheese tub, some spinach... this is like $6-7 including olive oil, etc. and would make enough for 8+ individual meals.

-Vegetarian (we're not veg but almost everyone could benefit from eating less meat)

-Adults AND kids seem to mostly love it. My kid is not picky, but the kids of the friend who shared the "recipe" with me were pickier. It's almost like mac and cheese in a way, but it's kinda fancy-tasting, too.

-Actually doesn't use a bunch of prepared foods, except the beans are canned, I guess?

-EXTREMELY fast. It's basically all assembly, and total time is only as long as it takes to boil water, cook the orzo, plus maybe 2 additional minutes. So maybe 15-ish minutes, but like 5 minutes active time. You can unload the dishwasher and set the table in those 15 minutes.

-Pretty low dish use. Pot. Can opener. Maybe a colander/strainer for the chick peas. No knife, no cutting board, no additional bowls or pans.

-Versatile. Add chicken, change up the beans, maybe do feta instead of goat cheese, change the herbs...

---

Of course you can make it even better by sauteeing the spinach and/or chick peas, etc. but this is my lazy meal.

And I'm 99% sure I'm leaving out an ingredient my friend uses, for no reason other than I didn't have it the first time I made it and then forgot it existed. Jarred red peppers? I don't think that's it, but I can't remember, and anyway that sounds great.

trader joe's turkey meatballs, pasta sauce, and brown rice noodles (or noodles of your choice). Meatballs cook in the sauce. Could add a salad mix or steam or roast pre-chopped broccoli while this is cooking.

Rotisserie chicken from grocery store, steamed or sauteed green beans and salad.

Salmon with lemon and dry dill, or dijon mustard and dry dill, or everything but the bagel seasoning - roasted for 20 minutes. Could roast pre-chopped veggies at the same time. We also like the trader joe's french green bean, mushroom and potato mix from the freezer section.

Anonymous wrote:Clam chowder. Bacon, onion, potatoes, water, canned clams, heavy cream or evaporated milk, and a roux to thicken.

I also love a sausage/lentil soup similar to what PPs posted: lamb sausage or kielbasa, onion, garlic, lentils, can of diced tomatoes, shredded cabbage (or kale, chard, or whatever other greens we have on hand).

My fastest meal, though, is seared Ahi tuna. Literally 30 per side in a screaming hot cast iron skillet. Serve with a quick veggie, like steamed edamame or peas (microwave in bag ftw) or carrot sticks. I keep Ahi in the freezer for those real emergency nights.

I'm intrigued by this. Do you cook from frozen? Where do you buy your ahi?

Caccio et pepe. Stupid easy.

Homemade pizza. It sounds complicated but it's really not. We'll make a triple batch of dough in advance (takes almost no time and almost no ingredients), do a quick pizza sauce with just crushed tomatoes, garlic, red pepper and salt, and then chop up some toppings. The best part is that since it's mostly an assembly meal, kids can do most of it almost on their own.

Also, I do consider this "cheating" but do it all the time: rotisserie chickens from the grocery store, or the little fried chicken nuggets from the Whole Foods hot bar (we always get the buffalo chicken). It takes a couple minutes to shred or chop of the chicken, and then it's a salad, or a wrap. Or the rotisserie chicken can get tossed in with canned goods for King Ranch Chicken. It's so easy and it's not even expensive.

Anonymous wrote:The McCormick chili recipe (the one on the back of the chili spice packet):

You brown a pound of ground beef, then into the pan you dump a can of undrained diced tomatoes, a can of undrained kidney beans, and the chili spice packet bag. You give a few stirs and let it simmer for 10 minutes. It's actually really decent chili. Serve with shredded cheese, sour cream and corn chips. If you're willing to do just a liiiiiitle chopping, some scallions or red onion on top are nice too.

This is my "go to" chili. If I use more ground beef, I'll throw in a little extra chili powder, but the mcCormick's original is the best. (I have a distant family member whose chili won a cook-off with the packet some years ago. That's when I started using it.)

It is forgiving. I usually put in two cans of beans along with the tomatoes. Quick, easy, and really good.

I chop up onions along with shredded cheese to serve it. Like PP, I sometimes use sour cream and chips, if i have them. You can also throw it all over lettuce for a taco salad.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Pasta/Rao sauce + salad

Chicken breast/ side of pasta/ side of broccoli

Rice/Beans

Quesadillas

How do you prepare the rice and beans?

This is embarrassing with how easy it is but my kids love it and it's in heavy rotation --- rice in the rice maker; can of black beans into a pot, add cumin, a bit of garlic and some pepper. Nothing else. In fact, the less I add, the more they enjoy it. You could add salsa, sour cream and cheese as toppers.

My kids love bean bowls too! But I am even lazier, I do them with leftover rice. Drain a can of black beans. Add chopped tomato or salsa on top and a handful of shredded cheese. They ask for seconds. There are never any leftovers.

Similarly, can of refried beans + tortillas + shredded cheese = refried bean quesadillas. I just schmear the beans inside the quesadilla, add cheese and microwave. Lm

Or, scrambled eggs and toast and fruit. I had my daughter fooled for YEARS that this was a special treat

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The McCormick chili recipe (the one on the back of the chili spice packet):

You brown a pound of ground beef, then into the pan you dump a can of undrained diced tomatoes, a can of undrained kidney beans, and the chili spice packet bag. You give a few stirs and let it simmer for 10 minutes. It's actually really decent chili. Serve with shredded cheese, sour cream and corn chips. If you're willing to do just a liiiiiitle chopping, some scallions or red onion on top are nice too.

I am glad you shared this! I know the authentic chili defenders won’t be happy about it but I am excited to try it

I thought kidney beans really needed to be rinsed, otherwise they can make your stomach hurt. Is this right?

We have a rice cooker which we love, and I have made a bean seasoning in a shaker jar that anyone over the age of three can shake into beans while they cook (black, pinto, whatever). It's garlic powder, onion powder, chili powder, cumin, oregano, salt, pepper, cayenne pepper, and sugar.)

We often make rice and on the stovetop combine a can or two of beans with the above seasoning, a little water or broth if we have some open, an ice cube sized chunk of chipotle in adobo that I freeze for portioning.

Serve with veggies (spring mix, tomato, peppers, cilantro, frozen corn, avocado, whatever) and sour cream and hot sauce. Sometimes we have tortillas. If you have more time, make guac and caramelize onions and peppers.

Takes about 5 minutes of prep on the front and back end.

Anonymous wrote:The McCormick chili recipe (the one on the back of the chili spice packet):

You brown a pound of ground beef, then into the pan you dump a can of undrained diced tomatoes, a can of undrained kidney beans, and the chili spice packet bag. You give a few stirs and let it simmer for 10 minutes. It's actually really decent chili. Serve with shredded cheese, sour cream and corn chips. If you're willing to do just a liiiiiitle chopping, some scallions or red onion on top are nice too.

I am glad you shared this! I know the authentic chili defenders won’t be happy about it but I am excited to try it

Tacos- I buy hard shells, boil shrimp, cut up lettuce, shred cheese, add desired toppings, use jarred taco sauce. My husband loves these.

The McCormick chili recipe (the one on the back of the chili spice packet):

You brown a pound of ground beef, then into the pan you dump a can of undrained diced tomatoes, a can of undrained kidney beans, and the chili spice packet bag. You give a few stirs and let it simmer for 10 minutes. It's actually really decent chili. Serve with shredded cheese, sour cream and corn chips. If you're willing to do just a liiiiiitle chopping, some scallions or red onion on top are nice too.

Potato leek soup.

Brown a couple thinly sliced leeks in some olive oil. Add chopped yellow unpeeled potato. Add water to cover and simmer. Generous amount of salt and pepper to
Taste. Purée with immersion blender. Add some whipping cream before serving if you want. I add chopped parsley or watercress to bowls too