quick meal ideas for a loner!

[sidekickdmr]

Hi

I work away from home Monday-Friday so its just me and a flatmate!

I try to make healthy filling meals every night but I’ve fun out of ideas!

I tend to make:

bacon + avocado salad

Fajitas

Taco's

stir-fry’s

pizza/salad

chilli/meatball pasta

pesto pasta

ect



So it needs to be fairly cheap, no 3 hour preparation or long cooking times and if i can take leftovers to work for lunch then great.

Any ideas?

[Puff Puff]

Jacket potato; very versatile, can fill it with almost anything. Takes just a few minutes in a microwave.

Edited by Puff Puff on Wednesday 25th February 16:54

[Vipers]

Buy a cheepo steamer. Put your chicken, or chop in with the spuds and veg, steam for 30 mins, done. Very healthy as well.

[Romanymagic]

Ok, purely on the basis of your requirement outlining cheap and quick (some of the below I would normally make on a more complex/high quality ingredients basis, but for simplicity listed as is for ease and speed) and working on the assumption that you have and understand basic cooking skills:

Corn beef hash (see other thread on here)
Gammon, egg, chips (pineapple ring optional!!)
Lamb steaks, new potatoes, petis pois, mint gravy (mint sauce combined with beef/veg stock and gravy granules)
Sausages (cut into quarters) and bacon (lardons) pasta with basic tomato sauce (chopped onion, tin of tomatoes, dash of worcester sauce, salt/pepper)
Lasagne with leaf salad
Jacket potato with beans/Jacket potato with tuna and sweetcorn
Sausage, mash, onion gravy (onions, gravy granules, gravy browning)
Chicken kiev, new potatoes, peas
Omelette (add anything to taste, i.e. onions, peppers, bacon, mushrooms etc.)
Battered cod and chips, tinned mushy peas
Beef burger, sauté potatoes, leaf salad
Beef medallions, mash, create basic au poivre sauce (butter, brandy (flambé brandy) add beef stock, cream, salt, pepper), serve with buttered spinach
Carbonara (loads of recipes throughout the internet)
Pork Chops (marinade for 5 mins) mix balsamic vinegar, djion mustard and garlic together (marinade), score pork on both sides and add to the marinade), cook pork on griddle pan till cooked through, pour marinade into pan with chopped pitted black olives, pour any pork juices into pan and heat through, serve with pork chops and pasta.
Smoked salmon and avocado salad
Mushroom risotto

The list goes on. I guess a lot will be based on your likes and dislikes!

[DeadMeat_UK]

Roast veg. Cut up random root veg into 2cm squares, include some herbs and mushrooms or toms and pour over a bit of olive oil and mix it all round. Into an oven for 40 minutes. Do quick cous cous or even just crusty bread with it. Some sweet chilli dip goes well as condiment.

Random Stew. Brown any meat with flour, add various root veg and either water and a stock cube or a tin of toms. Oven for 60-90 mins.

Random curry. see above, but start with onions and add some pataks and simmer on the stove).
Random "exotic" curry. As above but with coconut milk.

Quick pastas:
Onions, mushrooms fried up in a bit of olive oil while pasta cooks. Stir it all together with some pesto.
Saute leeks, bacon in some olive oil. Stir in half fat creme fresh. Serve with pasta.
Any random combination of herbs, onions, peppers, garlic, broccoli, bacon, chicken, prawns sauted then dump a tin of toms and simmer while pasta is cooking.

Non fried chips: cut up potatoes skin off or on into chip shapes. Salt n pepper, bit of olive oil mixed over, oven for 30ish minutes.

[BAHN-STORMA]

Slight variation from your existing menu - Calzone. Using folded pizza base with chilli/bognese/meatballs/whatever inside.









or Beans (the ones with the little sausages) and cheese on toast

[Mobile Chicane]

Invest a few hours in making large quantities of stew / casserole and freeze it in meal size portions.

[neilsfishing]

Pot Noodle

[Anna_S]

Lots of good suggestions here... just an idea but you could make some friends and cook big meals


just joking.. i can take the piss because i'm in the same position, i'll keep posting up any new meals for one i come across

[parapaul]

When I was single I used to cook once a week, make mammoth quantities then freeze and reheat

Chilli, bolognese and casseroles work particularly well, tomato and onion based curries are OK too. Creamy sauces are a failure

[sidekickdmr]

good idea's will have to try some of them

Not a big fan of the make lots of stew and freeze it idea because A. i dont like stew/cassorole to much B.would be a bit to much of the same after a while

[tuscan_al]

I love for quickness chilli garlic pasta with anchovies.

Cook the pasta while frying of some garlic and onion and chilli in some good olive oil, add the anchovies and fresh herbs you might have lying in the fridge. Toss the pasta into it and a tsp of the pasta water, then enjoy

[Silent_Assassin]

neilsfishing said:

Pot Noodle

too flavourless, you're better off with the microwave burgers from Tesco or a Cup a Soup..

[neilsfishing]

Silent_Assassin said:

neilsfishing said:

Pot Noodle

too flavourless, you're better off with the microwave burgers from Tesco or a Cup a Soup..

Cup a soup is only any good if used with 1/2 the amount of water, Hay you could always add a cup a soup to a pot noodle

[Davi]

tuscan_al said:

I love for quickness chilli garlic pasta with anchovies.

Cook the pasta while frying of some garlic and onion and chilli in some good olive oil, add the anchovies and fresh herbs you might have lying in the fridge. Toss the pasta into it and a tsp of the pasta water, then enjoy

I was just about to suggest that - also very nice if you add some thinly sliced mushroom and ham.