What healthy meals can be cooked in 20 minutes?

[patmahe]

Hi All,

Busy job/life at the moment. As a result visits to take-away are becoming more frequent. This means I'm putting on weight I can't really afford to.

So I'm looking for suggestions for some meals I can cook very quickly in the evening. Healthy is good but needs to be tasty too. Links to recipes or written instructions appreciated, I'm a fairly poor cook

Thanks,
Pat

[eskidavies]

Potatoes 7 mins micro asdas

Mackerel kebabs asdas 2 mins micro

Salad out of box asdas

Colslaw asdas

The Branson bites were just in the fridge. So they went on

Call it 10 mins,obviously you got to go and buy it also,but that's what the OH done for me before she went out.

[eggchaser1987]

anonymous said:

[redacted]

I have this at home. Once you get the hang of the recipes they can be done in about 15 minutes. Some are very nice as well.

[Drive Blind]

stir fry's are a good starting point if you are no chef.

noodles or rice
chicken, beef, prawns
veg
sauces
fire it all together in a wok.
easy peasy

[Hoofy]

Couscous + salad inc leaves, red onions, carrots. 3 minutes tops. Throw in seeds for protein. Or open a tin of mixed beans.

[GrumpyTwig]

I'd look at planning ahead a bit as well, look at meals that can be prepped before hand and microwaved. Like chilli or currys, stir fries again are a favourite of mine to make the night before I'm back in and then it's an easy meal when I get in after a long day.

Sometimes cooking on the day is just too much effort...

[Wacky Racer]

Couple of baked potatoes in a microwave..(10mins) with baked beans.......

[Sarkmeister]

Not sure the first suggestion is particularly healthy (coleslaw, picnic eggs??).

Anyway, just look on the BBC food website, they have a healthy section. Plenty of recipes on there.

[CAPP0]

eggchaser1987 said:

anonymous said:

[redacted]

I have this at home. Once you get the hang of the recipes they can be done in about 15 minutes. Some are very nice as well.

I have the book. Good recipes but a lot of them are only 15 minutes if (a) you spend another 15 minutes preparing the kitchen first (he tells you to get this & that out of the cupboard, get that & this ready in advance, etc) and (b) you're a professional chef who can do things, such as chopping, extremely quickly.

[Hoofy]

Sarkmeister said:

Not sure the first suggestion is particularly healthy (coleslaw, picnic eggs??).

Anyway, just look on the BBC food website, they have a healthy section. Plenty of recipes on there.

Problem is defining healthy. There's a massive discussion on myfitnesspal at the moment about clean eating.

[IanCress]

You don't have to restrict yourself to stuff you can make in 20 mins, if you plan ahead.
You can prepare a big bowl of salad when you have time, and it will happily sit in the fridge for 4 or 5 days. Just take what you need and add to grilled chicken with a dollop of some kind of spicy sauce.

Home made meals like curry or chilli can be frozen in batches and reheated in the microwave when required. Add a bit of white rice which only needs 5 minutes in a pan of boiling water.

Frozen veg is also pretty good. Grill a chicken breast and add an instant gravy pot and you've got a mini roast chicken dinner in 10 minutes.

Even mashed potato can be frozen, so i've been told although i've never tried it myself!

Edit: I try not to get hung up on defining what healthy food is. Generally, stay away from processed food and buy fresh when possible. I tend to abide by the old saying "A little bit of everything is good for you".

Edited by IanCress on Wednesday 11th June 08:25

[craigjm]

Get yourself some decent freezer pots and set aside one day every two weeks where you cook loads of stuff like curries, chilli, pasta sauce etc and freeze it in individual portions that can be microwaved while you cook the rice or pasta or whatever to go with them. Once you get into this its really convenient, much more healthy than take aways, mounds of effort and washing up about once every two weeks but not much in between.

[Mr Roper]

I buy those ready-seasoned not stick sheets. Piri piri being my favourite.

Stick a chicken breast between the sheets and dry fry (no oil required) , 8 min each side depending on size.
Chilli cous cous takes 5 min. (just add hot water)
Loads of salad.

Probably eat this 3 times a week.

[trashbat]

20 minutes preparation, or 20 minutes start to finish? There's a big difference.

Lots of one pot meals you can prep in 20 mins and then set going for a couple of hours with little or no input.

[dave_s13]

eskidavies said:

Potatoes 7 mins micro asdas

Mackerel kebabs asdas 2 mins micro

Salad out of box asdas

Colslaw asdas

The Branson bites were just in the fridge. So they went on

Call it 10 mins,obviously you got to go and buy it also,but that's what the OH done for me before she went out.

Current trends toward processed food = work of the devil suggests that is not healthy at all.

[BoRED S2upid]

Drive Blind said:

stir fry's are a good starting point if you are no chef.

noodles or rice
chicken, beef, prawns
veg
sauces
fire it all together in a wok.
easy peasy

This. Buy a packet of sauce which is the only unhealthy bit stirfry veg of your choice add prawns or chicken. Healthy meal in minutes. If your too lazy to boil some rice you can buy it ready made in packs 2 mins in the microwave and onto the plate.

[HarryFlatters]

Mr Roper said:

I buy those ready-seasoned not stick sheets. Piri piri being my favourite.

Stick a chicken breast between the sheets and dry fry (no oil required) , 8 min each side depending on size.
Chilli cous cous takes 5 min. (just add hot water)
Loads of salad.

Probably eat this 3 times a week.

I've gone from 15st 8lbs to 13st 6.5lbs in a bit over a year, just by changing a few things in my diet.

Breakfast - porridge (proper porridge, not the sugar filled instant crap), with honey or special K and a low fat yogurt (I don't like milk).
Lunch - 2 ryvita or 1 Warburton's thin with laughing cow light and some kind of sandwich meat, with some rocket and tomato.
Dinner - Basically what Mr Roper described above... It's the same grilled piece of chicken/steak/lamb that I always had, with steamed veggies, but instead of the big portion of pasta or spuds, I'm having a big salad instead.

It probably adds up to no more than 1600 - 1800 calories per day, and I'm actually looking to cut it a bit more as I've plateaued. I don't feel hungry, and I feel like I've got a lot more energy.

Best thing to do is not to consider it as a diet, more of a change of lifestyle and eating habits.

[RizzoTheRat]

craigjm said:

Get yourself some decent freezer pots and set aside one day every two weeks where you cook loads of stuff like curries, chilli, pasta sauce etc and freeze it in individual portions that can be microwaved while you cook the rice or pasta or whatever to go with them. Once you get into this its really convenient, much more healthy than take aways, mounds of effort and washing up about once every two weeks but not much in between.

I wouldn't go as far as setting aside a day for doing loads, but when you do have time to spend longer just cook more than you need. Any time I'm cooking something like curry or chilli it hardly takes any more time to cook enough for 6 as is it does to cook for 2, and then bung the rest in the freezer. It is however quite important to portion it up in to tupperware at the same time as you plate up what you're going to eat or it becomes too tempting to go back for seconds I you've got a combi microwave you can do a baked potato in 20 minutes which goes well with chilli.

Grilled chicken breast with some mashed potatoes and veg should only take a bit over 20 mins, and can be unattended for most of that time anyway. Some Cajun seasoning or similar over the chicken before you cook it is lovely.

Pasta's simple but depends if you see carbs as being healthy enough or not, loads of recipes online for basic tomato sauces that can be knocked up in minutes, and I'll quite often bung in some peppers or mushroom too, and maybe some bacon.

Beans on toast with a bit of sweet chilli sauce in the beans and some grated cheddar on the top is actually a quite nice meal when you're in a hurry and takes me back to my student days

[vanordinaire]

I know it's the exact opposite of what you've asked for but have you considered a slow cooker? 10 minutes prep in the morning, leave it on all day and come home after work to a ready and delicious meal. Most slow cookers come with a simple recipe book.

[toon10]

I've just lost 7lbs in 2 weeks by changing my diet. Current favourite quick meal is get some shreaded beef and marinade it over night.

1/4 cup of soy sauce
1/4 cup of oyster sauce
grated ginger
little manuca honey
ground pepper
2 garlic cloves chopped
beef
1 onion
1 pepper.

Mix the soy, oyster sauce, ginger, honey, pepper and garlic in a bowl. Add the beef and leave overnight. The next day just dry fry some chopped onion and pepper and add the contents of the bowl until cooked. 10 minutes later, a good healthy and tasty meal.