Easy meals for a family crisis

[unsinkable]

This thread is a spin-off of this thread about treating depression.

 

I am going to separate the two topics.

 

Can you please post your advice for easy meals here.

 

Thanks so much!

[amo_mea_filiis.]

Cook some rice in chicken broth. Boil a couple chicken breasts. Shred chicken, mix with rice. Add more broth.

 

Salad on the side? Other veggies? I try to vary it and make different sides.

[PrincessMommy]

home made taco meat.  It's easy to whip up in 30 mins and if you make bulk you can freeze the rest.  Then it's easy enough for older kids/dh to prepare all the fixin's they like.

 

for every 1 lb of meat use:  1 onion chopped, 1 clove garlic, drain off fat--then add: 1.5-2tsp. chili powder, 1 tsp. salt, 1/4 tsp cumin, 1/4 tsp red peppers flaked, 1 tsp oregano, 1 can (14oz) of tomato sauce (more or less depending on your family preferences).

 

another one is meatloaf.  If you double it you can freeze the leftover and dh can warm it up another day.  Just serve with cooked potatoes - or if you want (don't feel guilty if you're dealing with stress) just use boxed mashed potatoes...they've come a long way.

 

 

[Ameena]

Well we do a lot of either TV dinners or ultra quick fix stuff {mac & cheese with nuggets & veggies, etc}.

 

But here is one I got recently at a demo, and it is super easy. Both my dd & myself tend to be on the picky side, but this was just plain yummy!

 

Italian Chicken & Rice {can also do with noodles, or change it up to make Mexican, etc}

 

Cook rice / noodles according to directions seperately, or in a pinch use leftover rice / frozen rice. Dice 1.25 lbs boneless skinless chicken breast {can use plain or any variety of pre-marinated ones}, fry in skillet using PAM, salt & pepper to taste. Once chicken is done or nearly done, dump in 1 can of diced tomatoes {plain works, flavored is better like the italian or mexican blends} along with 1/2 cup italian dressing {I would omit this for mexican & maybe just add in a little salsa & garlic oil, or find a mexican blend dressing}. Bring up to temp, stiring often, then serve over rice / noodles.

 

 

My other standard for easy meals is one pot - meat {either a pot roast or chicken chests}, add in carrots & potatoes. If doing beef, I dump in a packet of beef gravy mix to season, if chicken I add a little chicken broth. This works because I have a 30+ year old pan that semi-pressure cooks it, and it comes out super tender.

 

In winter, potato soup is good too. When served with bread & butter it makes for a filling easy meal.

 

 

[Laurie4b]

We hardly eat anything but easy meals: 

 

Splurge and buy a bag of frozen chicken tenderloins; they cook quickly.  (You can microwave them or saute them or bake them.)

 

Pasta plus: 1)jarred sauce and browned ground meat 2) chicken tenderloins, broccoli, and garlic/olive oil with Parmesan cheese

 

Burritos: soft tortillas. Saute onions/garlic/peppers, add canned black beans and heat through. Serve in tortilla with chesse & salsa

 

Salad: buy a bag of prewashed mixed greens. Top with chicken tenderloins and some fruit or veges.

 

Breakfast for supper: French toast, eggs & toast, omelettes, cereal & fruit

 

Sandwiches

 

Some of the family pack frozen meals are good like Stouffer's lasagna.

 

Asking friends for help is fine, too.

[AmyontheFarm]

Lazy man's shredded chicken pasta.

 

Place a frozen, boneless, skinless chicken breast (one for each person) into the slow cooker.  Cover with a jar of Ragu sauce or something similar. I usually rinse out the jar with about a cup of water.  Turn slow cooker on low, cook for 8 hours.

 

1/2 hour before you want to eat, put a large pot of water on to boil.  Cook whatever pasta you have in the house, enough for how many people you are serving.

 

While the pasta is cooking, shred the chicken in the slow cooker.  You might need to add more sauce or a touch of water if the meat is dry.

 

Serve pasta and put chicken sauce on top.  I usually pair this with a quick salad.  It is great to take to people if they are sick.  I can make the meat sauce ahead of time and freeze until needed. 

[sparrow]

Spaghetti is about as easy as you can get.  Buy a bagged salad and garlic bread.

 

Throw chicken breasts in the crockpot with BBQ sauce for BBQ chickens sandwiches.

 

Any chunk of beef, potatoes, carrots, onions in the crockpot.

 

 

[Lara in Colo]

I recently cooked a huge pork butt in the crock pot.  When it was done I had a shredded meat that could be many different things:

 

add BBQ sauce for sandwiches

add rotel toms, green chilis and cumin and serve with sour cream (and any other extras like refried beans) on tortillas

 

Use for the meat base of chili or bean soup

 

so basically one day of cooking and shredding -- I had lots of things to make easily just by taking a ziplock of meat out of the freezer.

 

 

I frequently get a rotisserie chicken and use it for all sorts of things: enchilada casserole, pasta dishes, stir fry, sandwiches.

 

[cottonmama]

I try to make simple whole food meals for everyday dinners, but in a crisis, I let myself have a little less conviction about whole foods, and we rely more on prepared foods.  I would also be willing to switch to paper plates because part of what makes cooking at home stressful is the dishes.  Line everything with aluminum foil or parchment paper.

 

Frozen meatballs with spaghetti and jarred pasta sauce

 

Frozen meatballs with an easy Swedish meatball sauce.  (there's a good one on Allrecipes.com)

 

Frozen meatballs, baked plain, with rice and a frozen (or easy) vegetable.

 

Fish sticks with french fries and a vegetable

 

Hot dogs with sliced apples and chips

 

Black bean burgers (morningstar brand) and sweet potato fries

 

Homemade sub sandwiches

 

Homemade meatball subs

 

Chicken parmesan made with frozen breaded chicken breasts

 

Baby lima beans cooked with salt, pepper, and olive oil; and sweet potatoes or sweet potato fries

 

Tacos.  Ideally I freeze up some shredded chicken before the crisis.  If not, we will probably use ground meat. If your family will eat it, use beans/lentils instead of meat.

 

Rotisserie chicken with rice and a frozen (or easy) vegetable.

-or with a baked potato/sweet potato and a salad

(a whole roast chicken isn't that much more work; depends on the crisis)

 

Frozen pizza

 

Frozen lasagna (or make an easy meat-free lasagna)

Bagel pizza

 

Ham soup (country ham bits, tomatoes or tomato juice, water, and frozen soup vegetables in the crock pot)

 

Chicken soup (shredded chicken, tomato juice, chicken stock and frozen soup vegetables in the crock pot)

 

Chili

 

Pot roast done simply.  I find cutting potatoes to be too much in a crisis, so we would do baked potatoes or rice with this.

 

Curried lentils with rice

 

Chicken thighs in the crock pot with rice and a frozen vegetable

[zoobie]

Go buy a bag of frozen chicken breasts. Throw 3-4 in the crockpot with a jar of mild salsa, and drained/rinsed cans of black beans and corn. Cook on low. The chicken will fall apart. Stir with a fork and serve as tacos, burritos, nachos... Leftovers can be made into quesadillas. Take the large burrito size tortilla and sprinkle cheese on half. Top with chicken mixture. You can microwave it for 30-40 seconds or put a bunch on a sheet pan in a 350 oven until melted.

 

Pork BBQ--get a 5-6 lb shoulder or butt, throw it in the crock pot with 1 tablespoon sea salt and a tablespoon of liquid smoke. Or just salt and pepper if you don't have liquid smoke. Rub the meat with the seasoning and cook on low for 12+ hours. Shred and serve. It's ridiculously easy, so good, and serves a ton! Freeze leftovers in quart ziploc freezer bags. (Label the outside with a Sharpie so it's not mystery meat.) You can use this for anything. BBQ sandwiches, top baked potatoes, quesadillas...

 

Dump a jar of spaghetti sauce in the crockpot. Add about a cup of water to the jar, shake it up to get all the extra sauce out, pour in crock. Add frozen meatballs. Cook on low. You can use it for meatball subs or pasta. Same thing works with frozen chicken breasts. It's really good on crusty rolls topped with Provolone for chicken parm subs.

 

Easy side dishes:

Bags of frozen vegetables--nuke in a glass dish with a tablespoon of water. Drain and add a little butter and salt/pepper.

Raw baby carrots, cucumbers, sugar snap peas.

Grapes, apples, bananas.

 

Breakfast for dinner:

Scrambled eggs with cheese, toast, fruit.

Fried egg sandwiches.

Pancakes or waffles.

 

Costco has the chicken breasts and big tortillas. Their rotisserie chickens are $5 and huge! We buy 2 and use them for sandwiches and salads. They have good frozen foods too. I'd grab a lasagna and some turkey burgers. And a bag of meatballs! Their frozen pizzas aren't too bad, and they're cheaper than takeout.

[Annie Laurie]

Dump some chicken (it can even still be frozen, there is debate on whether this is safe, but my crockpot gets pretty hot and our chicken is always well-cooked at the end and no one has gotten sick, so I'm good with it), canned black beans or pinto beans, frozen corn, and salsa in the crockpot. Check it in a few hours, maybe 4 on high. Serve over rice or in a tortilla or with tortilla chips.

 

I agree about using convenience foods when there is a crisis going on- definitely take advantage of fish sticks and frozen french fries, frozen meatballs and jarred marinara and pasta, or you can make meatball subs. Precooked, grilled chicken can be added to pasta with canned black olives, canned artichokes, and some prepared marinara or alfredo sauce.

 

Frozen meatballs are also handy to throw in the crockpot for soup with some boxed or canned broth, frozen veggies, a can of diced tomatoes, and a sprinkling of dried oregano. Cook on high for 4ish hours. You can even break pasta into small pieces or add egg noodles for the last 20-30 min of cooking.

 

ETA: I find chicken thighs are better in the crockpot than breasts, since breasts dry out easily.

 

Also, if they have a Costco, you can get two huge pizzas from the food court to take home for $20.

[happi duck]

When I was a kid my mom spent a lot of time in hospital.

 

We often made huge batches of something we liked and ate that for days in a row.  Mom was the focus so eating boxed cereal, pb and j and the same dinners didn't really matter.

[Laura Corin]

Zap some smoked fish (haddock, cod, mackerel, etc.) for a couple of minutes in the microwave to warm/cook it through.  Meanwhile cook some pasta and drain.  Flake the fish into the pasta, squeeze on some lemon and add a little olive oil.  Serve with a steamed veg.

 

L

[Mommy22alyns]

Most of this is crockpot:

 

http://www.pinterest.com/mommy22alyns/recipes/

 

I live on crockpot and it's easy enough to tell DH a few steps to get it done if I need to.