A small grilled steak and a salad. Or an omelette.
Pasta + tomato sauce is pretty quick and easy, and plenty of things you might have on hand can be easily added as well.
Usually it’s some variant of spaghetti; we always have dry pasta of some kind, usually spaghetti, and we usually have a jar of sauce and either ground meat or frozen meatballs. Most of the time we also have frozen pesto from some past pesto-making session as well. And if nothing else, we almost always have everything for aglio e olio, unless for some reason we’re out of garlic.
I have a few, some more involved than others. Breakfast for dinner is nearly always an option in my house, I grew up eating it nearly every Sunday evening. Now it’s a rare day that I don’t have eggs, grits, bread, and some sort of breakfasty meat on hand for some variation on the theme.
Grilled cheese and tomato soup - also with a couple of variations depending on what’s in the fridge.
Pasta - I hate…LOATHE pasta with meat sauce but durned if it’s not super easy to whip some up, and I know I am in a very small minority. I’ll serve it to my boys, then throw some cheese and pepper on mine. Munch whatever salad-y veggies are in the fridge on the side.
If it’s just me? I am a grazer. I’m more likely than not to make a plate of cold cuts, olives, a bit of whatever cheese is in the fridge*, pickles, maybe some bread or crackers, and some good mustard.
*I don’t have a vegetable crisper. I have a cheese drawer.
There are tons of great ideas here, breakfast, pasta, grilled cheese and I’ve done them all. Sometimes I’ll just take some chicken, whatever pieces I have and toss them in some bbq sauce or whatever I have on hand, honey and garlic for example, throw them in a skillet and put them on the stovetop or in the oven. I’ll chop some potatoes toss them in some oil and seasonings and put them in the oven and boil, roast or microwave a veggie. I usually always have chicken and potatoes. Ramen noodles were mentioned and sometimes I’ll just do egg noodles as a side. Quick and easy.
Broken egg. Heat a bit of butter in a little pan, break in an egg and just swirl a fork a couple times. When it’s mostly set, flip and lay a slice of cheese on top. Put on toast or an english muffin with hot sauce, ketchup, or salsa.
Popcorn.
I suppose scooping out ice cream does not count, not least because it’s cold. But does pouring Hershey’s syrup on it count as cooking?
Beans on toast.
Pasta with garlic and oil. Fast and delicious and I can feed my whole family with it.
Easiest question in the world to answer. Canned refried beans, tortillas, cheese and hot sauce. If these aren’t in my apartment, then call 911.
Chicken breasts marinated in Italian dressing in my backup. Quick, easy, tasty, and inexpensive.
This, plus some capers, anchovies and chilli flakes, all of which is usually in jars in the store cupboard. If there’s any growing on the kitchen window sill I’ll lob some chopped flat-leaf parsley in there too.
Bacon, scrambled eggs. If there’s a little more time, I’ll make spaghetti carbonara.
Toast with egg and/or baked beans, if we’re talking really really lazy.
Pasta with jarred sauce and cheese, if I’m not in quite so much of a rush.
Oh, yeah, that’s a go-to for me too. I usually put lots of butter in it as well.
-
Ramen with some frozen veg, and chicken if there’s some laying around
-
Pasta with a simple tomato sauce or pesto
-
2-3 ears of corn on the cob (in season)
Poach 3 eggs and have on toast. Takes less than 10 mins.
Or bake a pan of cornbread. Takes 20 mins. Eat with a bowl of hot soup.
Option 3 is creamed beef over toast. Takes about 20 to 30 mins. If I have ground beef on hand.
Yep, a frittata for me as well. Quick, easy, and I can use up whatever produce or leftovers need used up.
Two athletic adults, a teenager, 8 y/o, and toddler to feed. Need lots of food.
Grab a pound of ground turkey out of the freezer, brown it. Cook a pot of brown rice. Mix those two and add cans of vegetables, beans, whatever. Or wilt some spinach in it. Maybe sprinkle on cheese.
Takes less than 40 minutes.
Or, brown the meat and throw together a red sauce and pasta. Even quicker.
Rice and Chinese sausage go into the Instant pot. Finish with soy sauce and sesame chili oil. Takes about 20 minutes to cook, but it’s only a few seconds of actual “cooking.”
If I want something faster than that, microwave some leftover rice in a bowl, fry an egg over easy, drop it on top of the rice, add a dollop of oyster sauce.