No Frills Meals

[SquirrellyMama]

What are your simplest, no frills meals? I'm trying to simplify my cooking and grocery shopping. Any good websites for this kind of meal? I searched no frills meals but didn't find a lot.

 

Any good cookbooks? I'm ok with my meals being boring for awhile.

 

Kelly

[CoastalGal]

:bigear: for no-frills and FRUGAL meal/recipes

[LidiyaDawn]

What are your simplest, no frills meals?

 

Simple quick not fancy stuff we make here:

 

spaghetti & sauce

mac & cheese with chopped up hot dogs

grilled cheese sandwiches

sloppy joes

hamburger helper

chicken/baked taters/corn/peas/etc (shake & bake or bbq sauce)

pork chops same as above

pancakes

bacon/eggs/toast

french toast

chicken strips/fries/veggie of choice

mini pizzas - english muffins for the base, toppings of choice, cheese/sauce

chicken burgers (chicken patty/bun/lettuce/mayo/cheese/or whatever people like on them)

[mazakaal]

potato soup, bread

carrot soup, bread

baked potatoes with baked beans and cheese, salad

pasta with pesto sauce, veggie sticks

calzones (make your own dough, fill with ricotta and shredded mozzarella), salad

tacos and quesadillas

[blondeviolin]

I've been trying out e-mealz.com because it is doing it all for me. There are meals I substitute, but in reality, I LOVE it because I'm not planning it. LOL

[CalicoKat]

 

Hillbilly Housewife was always a good one for this. I've not visited her site in a while though.

[MomOfOneFunOne]

For salads we dress with olive oil, lemon juice, and salt. Sometimes we add this or that but mostly, just the above.

 

Minestrone is our favorite soup. We also like tomato, black bean and lentil soups.

 

We like to have a pot of beans and then use them in different things through out the week. For example, we'll have pinto beans, cornbread, and greens on Monday. On Tuesday we'll have hm tomato soup. On Wednesday we'll have bean and cheese enchiladas. If you've never made them you may not know how easy they are. Just roll cheese and beans into a corn tortilla. place in pan seam side down. I carmelize some onions and add the left over tomato soup and some cilantro and cook it down to a thick sauce. pour over the enchiladas and bake. mmmmm! super easy. Then later say friday or saturday, we'll have chili or zuppa de pasta e fagioli -- pasta and bean soup but it sounds so much nicer in itallian! We do this with different beans each time and we do it often but not ever single week.

 

boughten pasta and hm sauce. super easy with a frozen veggie steamed over the cooking pasta.

 

omlettes. I accept that this may only be easy for us b/c there are only three in our family. It may not be easy for a larger number. I fix my daughter's first b/c she prefers hers cool. Then I make mine and then my husband's. We serve with toast, which is easy, or biscuits which are more labor intensive.

 

oh, easy and we love it: cut head of cabbage into wedges, halve or quarter potatoes, cut carrots into lg chunks. toss with olive oil, salt, pepper. bake. when about half through add quartered onions similarly tossed. serve with some kind of protein.

Edited February 11, 2011 by MomOfOneFunOne

[Lainey]

Here are my no frills meals:

 

I like to throw some kind of meat in my crock-pot in the morning and by dinnertime it's done. Then, I steam frozen veggies in the microwave or make instant potatoes for a easy meal.

 

I also do skillet meals -like browned hamburger, macaroni and tomato with a little salt and pepper to taste. Or browned hamburger, minute rice, tomato, and green peppers chopped up.

 

I use my toaster oven a lot, too. I buy sausage or hot dogs and put them in the toaster oven until browned and have frozen veggies on the side or put frozen french fries on a cookie sheet and put in the oven to bake.

[jld]

Rice and sambhar, with fresh onion slices on top. I love sambhar!:)

[Amy in TX]

Frozen tilapia filets--drizzle with olive oil and coat with taco seasoning. Put directly (no need to thaw) into oven or toaster oven for 20-30 min. When done, break up and put into a salad or use for fish tacos.

 

Frozen uncooked shrimp--Put directly into wok with sesame oil. They will poach as they thaw. Remove. Put frozen broccoli into wok w/sesame oil. It will also thaw & poach. Remove. Drain liquid from wok, add sesame oil & red pepper flakes, return shrimp & broccoli to wok, fry for a minute. Turn off heat, drizzle with soy sauce.

 

ETA: Here's one more:

 

Tortilla pizza--spread canned tomato sauce or paste on a tortilla or flatbread. Sprinkle with oregano & basil. Add shredded cheese and toppings of choice. Put in oven or toaster oven for 5 min. or so.

Edited February 11, 2011 by Amy in TX

[littlebug42]

A favorite with my family is elbow macaroni and ground beef in tomato juice. You can also throw in some kidney beans and make it like a chili mac. I just season with salt and pepper but you could do whatever you would like with it.

[ElizabethB]

Cooking extra meat is good.

 

In summer, I like to have my husband BBQ extra chicken breasts. First night, BBQ'd chicken with typical BBQ sides and a salad.

 

2nd night, fajitas, lightly fry up the chicken with a few spices and whatever veggies you have on hand.

 

3rd night, a salad with chicken and lots of veggies, whatever you have around.

 

A good winter one:

 

Make a bunch of ground turkey. (I add oregano, garlic, pepper, chili powder, and a bit of salt and just a touch of water.)

 

1st night: tacos.

 

2nd night: chili or SW flavored sloppy joe's.

 

3rd night: spaghetti with meat sauce, slightly SW flavor but still good, according to my husband. (I started doing this one after I became allergic to turkey so have no idea what it tastes like.)

 

I also like to make huge batches of turkey meatballs and freeze them. They stay good for a few months in a gallon ziplock, for 6 to 12 months with a food saver.

 

Here is an approximate recipe for a small batch, I make bigger batches to freeze:

 

1 approx 1 lb package ground turkey, one 8 oz cream cheese, maybe 1/4 or 1/3 or a bit more cups of oatmeal (raw kind, flakes), a bit of pepper to taste. Cook at 425 degrees until done.

[melissel]

My most basic meals are as follows:

 

 

• Scrambled eggs, toast, and fruit
  
• Baked chicken legs sprinkled with Goya adobo powder
  
• Pasta with butter and Romano cheese from a big container we buy at Costco
  
• Spaghetti or pasta with meat sauce (Ragu, herbs, and ground beef)
  
• Teriyaki sirloin--sounds fancy, but all you do is mix all the ingredients together in a container, throw the beef in there for 3-4 hours, and then cook it. I've done it on the BBQ and in a hot frying pan--both ways are great.
  

 

 

We buy a box of Earthbound Farms mixed baby greens every other week or so, and that makes very easy salads for all of us (olive oil and balsamic vinegar as dressing, maybe some feta or goat cheese on top), and I keep high-quality frozen veggies in the house at all times. I try to do fresh as much as possible, but sometimes I just need to be able to throw peas in a pot and be done!

 

There are also lots of simple soups you can make--triple the recipe and keep eating leftovers for a few days. I was raised on simple food. My dad doesn't like anything other than salt on his food, so it's pretty easy for me to cook this way. DH doesn't like it much though, so I had to learn to kick it up a notch.

 

HTH!