Super easy and quick meals?

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Super easy and quick meals?
« on: November 13, 2006, 04:50:55 PM » by oliveoil

I'm sorry if this topic has been posted already, I did a search and found related topics but not on JUST this...so here goes:
I'm looking for some ideas for quick and easy meals.
I made a list one day of meals I regularly fix and then of meals that are quick and easy...for quick and easy I came up with this:
1. they don't exist
2. they come from McDonalds
okay you can see I was a bit depressed that day...anyway I really couldn't think of easy meals. It would be nice to have a couple of meals a week that all I have to do is pull it out and eat it or thaw and heat. But I want nutritious stuff...
Please share from your supply of easy meal recipes!

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Re: Super easy and quick meals?
« Reply #1 on: November 13, 2006, 04:56:15 PM » by healthybratt

Peanut butter and applesauce sandwiches.
Tortillas with beans, melted cheese, cream cheese or peanut butter. My kids love it. I eat them too.

Hubby doesn't do many of my "quick" meals, but if there's enough leftovers for him, I can squeek by on something like this.

Also, one person's idea of "easy and quick" doesn't always equal someone else's idea of the same. So check the following links. These ladies have shared numerous info on meal planning and recipe ideas. You might find some them very easy and some maybe not.

What does a day of "healthy eating" look like in your family?
Share Your Favorite Recipe, Please
Challenge!! Feed my family for $4 per day!
Meal Planning
What I feed my kids for lunch...
Help! Need cold meal ideas!!!
Healthy Foods and Snacks for Camping
Healthy Meal Plans
Snacks for Kids
Breakfast Menus & Recipes
What Should I Make for Dinner

« Last Edit: November 13, 2006, 05:08:27 PM by healthybratt »
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Re: Super easy and quick meals?
« Reply #2 on: November 13, 2006, 05:13:56 PM » by oliveoil

Thanks HB!
You put it all at my finger tips!

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Re: Super easy and quick meals?
« Reply #3 on: November 13, 2006, 07:09:02 PM » by leslieincali

I find having a few things made ahead and put in the freezer to be a huge timesaver. BBQ beef, spaghetti sauce. We do bean burritos and quesadillas a lot when hubby is gone. He doesn't really like quick food much either. He does like breakfast for dinner though. We do that about once a week.

I also find that if I brown up ground beef and do some other prep work when I come home from the store, dinner seems to happen more regularly. I sometimes put meat in whatever marinade in a ziplock bag and then pop it into the freezer. It marinates some as it's freezing and then some more as it is defrosting.

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Re: Super easy and quick meals?
« Reply #4 on: November 13, 2006, 08:36:38 PM » by heatheronthehill

I keep a lot of canned refried beans around. I stock up on them when they go on sale - the all-natural/no trans fat kind. I always seem to have bricks of cheddar around, so when I'm desperate for an instant meal with little to no clean up, I dig out one of these cans. They're actually decent at room temp. or they can be heated quickly and easily. Dig in with some good corn chips, heat up in burritos or tostadas, and it is a filling, cheap, near-instant meal!

Spaghetti with good jarred sauce is a nice standby for when I have a little more energy!

Good canned soups are nice to have around. I always try to have some good chicken noodle around for when I am sick and can't get out of bed to cook! It rarely happens, but boy do I appreciate it when it does!

I also try to keep meals in the freezer for a quick heat-up.

I second the already cooked ground beef! Makes throwing together a crockpot meal a cinch!

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Re: Super easy and quick meals?
« Reply #5 on: November 13, 2006, 11:16:01 PM » by healthybratt

Quote from: leslieincallie on November 13, 2006, 07:09:02 PM

I sometimes put meat in whatever marinade in a ziplock bag and then pop it into the freezer. It marinates some as it's freezing and then some more as it is defrosting.

Details, I want details......pleeeeeeeeze. Roll Eyes

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Re: Super easy and quick meals?
« Reply #6 on: November 13, 2006, 11:45:28 PM » by 4myhoonie

we like black bean burritos, and also we put tortilla chips in a baking pan, then cover with cheese. bake for a while. then at the table, put guacamole, sour cream, olives, salsa or whatever on our own. it's a good weekday lunch.

also we like homemade bread with peanut butter and bananas. YUM!!!

just a couple ideas.

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Re: Super easy and quick meals?
« Reply #7 on: November 14, 2006, 06:55:08 AM » by burlsgirl

Hey HB,
I'm not the op of this idea, but we do it, too. One example is steak. If I buy a pack of ribeyes, I bring them home and put them in a gallon ziploc freezer bag with a bottle of Italian dressing, a little terriyaki, and pineapple juice. Then just pop the bag in the freezer. When you lay them out to thaw, they finish marinating. Sooooo yummy! It also works with chicken, pork, etc...

HTH,
Emily

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Re: Super easy and quick meals?
« Reply #8 on: November 14, 2006, 10:40:46 AM » by leslieincali

Quote from: healthybratt on November 13, 2006, 11:16:01 PM

Quote from: leslieincallie on November 13, 2006, 07:09:02 PM

I sometimes put meat in whatever marinade in a ziplock bag and then pop it into the freezer. It marinates some as it's freezing and then some more as it is defrosting.

Details, I want details......pleeeeeeeeze. Roll Eyes

Hi,
I'm on the West Coast so ya'll have like 53 pages of stuff on here before I even open my sleepy eyes! Here are some if the things I've done:
1.Chicken breast or thighs if budget is tight in italian type dressing

2.chicken teriyaki

3. Marinated flank steak(you'll never use another marinade!!!)
2# Flank steak(scored every 1/4 inch diagonally)
1 clove minced garlic
3 T soy sauce
2 T tomato paste
2 T oil
1/2 t ground pepper
Spread over steak, rubbing down into grooves. Wrap in wax paper and refridgerate over night or 4-6 hours. I buy at Costco and 2 come in a pack. I double the marinade and pop one into the freezer. You can broil or grill this. It tastes the best on the grill(awesome fajitas), but is very tasty if you broil it. Maybe add a touch of liquid smoke to the marinade if you know you are going to broil it.

I'll try to think of some more after my brain wakes up. Leslie

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Re: Super easy and quick meals?
« Reply #9 on: November 14, 2006, 10:57:43 AM » by makingchanges

Myquick meals:

Goulash:

Ground sausage browned (turkey, buffalo, or pork)
1 can of italian stewed tomatoes
macroni (amt. of your liking)
corn (amt. of your liking)

Brown sausage, add tomatoes,cooked macroni and corn. My husband loves it and it is quick!

Also I cook fish and frozen mixed veg. for a quick meal.

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Re: Super easy and quick meals?
« Reply #10 on: November 14, 2006, 11:58:33 AM » by SarahK

Our hands down favorite fast meal is Super Nachos.

When I brown burger, I do LOTS and season some with chili powder, cumin, or the like to give it a "I'm from MN and we call this Mexican seasoning" flavor (sorry to all you who know how good the real thing is). I also make rice in HUGE batches when I make any. These two ingredients get frozen seperately into thin (1 inch or so) slabs in bags.

So, it's suppertime. YIKES! OK, go fast. Turn on a pot of hot water to boil & plop in a few bags of burger & a few bags of rice. Dig out any of these you have: Salsa, cheese, sour cream, lettuce, black olives, onion, garlic, avocado. Whip out tortillas from the freezer & get them seperating and laid around the stove where it's warmest. Or get out tortilla chips. Or skip the chips and get more rice out. Got any beans laying around? Throw those in a pan if you've got time. By now the burger/rice slabs are gonna be ready for you to loosen by hand and get into something to heat them more. (You can hit the fridge for more leftovers to throw in. leftover corn stirred in with burger?) When your hot things are close to hot, throw it all at the countertop and let everyone make their own Super Nacho piles on their plates. This is also a cheaper one, if you go heavy on the rice and beans and lighter on the burger, sour cream, etc.

Next day - Nacho soup! Everything except the lettuce, tortillas/chips in the pot. Add water & extra salsa for liquid. Serve with crumbled chip & cheese pieces and a dollop of plain yogurt/sour cream.

If you are a microwave user, this is ULTRA fast. And, at least in my house, it is Man approved as a real meal and not just kid food.

Sarah K

PS - and then there are pancakes. A favorite fast-n-cheap suppertime meal here.

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Re: Super easy and quick meals?
« Reply #11 on: November 14, 2006, 02:15:23 PM » by strawberrypeach

A few fast meals we make are:

Tater Tot casserole
Burrito casserole
Taco burgers
Egg sausage casserole

If anyone wants to know how any of them are made, just post! I don't have time right now to explain all of them, but they are all super fast to put together and cook. (A plus right?! Grin

) If I think of some others, I will post them.

~sunflowergirl

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Re: Super easy and quick meals?
« Reply #12 on: February 08, 2009, 09:42:46 PM » by BettaGurl3

I know this is an "older" thread, but I need some(more)easy meal ideas!

Quote

Tater Tot casserole

This looks good! Could I have the recipe? TIA!

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Re: Super easy and quick meals?
« Reply #13 on: February 08, 2009, 10:04:01 PM » by herbalmom

Quote from: BettaGurl3 on February 08, 2009, 09:42:46 PM

I know this is an "older" thread, but I need some(more)easy meal ideas!

Quote

Tater Tot casserole

This looks good! Could I have the recipe? TIA!

I've never made it & there are bunches of different versions but here's on I found on the web to give you a gist. It's really one of those recipes that you can adapt to whatever you have on hand.

TATER TOT CASSEROLE

1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 bag tater tots
shredded cheese
1 lb of ground hamburger meat
serves: 6 or 7

Brown hamburger meat. Add cream of mushroom soup and stir together continuously.

Let simmer on low heat for 15 minutes.

Place mixture in the bottom of a casserole dish. Lay tater tots neatly on top of the mixture.

Place in oven on 350' and let the tater tots brown.

Sprinkle with cheese; melt it in the oven and ENJOY.

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Re: Super easy and quick meals?
« Reply #14 on: February 09, 2009, 01:45:15 PM » by thus_I_fight

I haven't read the whole thread; I hope this isn't a repeat. I make breakfast foods for lunch or supper when we need a quick and pleasing meal. Biscuits and gravy, bacon or sausage, scrambled eggs, pancakes, whatever. It's ready fast, and everyone loves it.

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Re: Super easy and quick meals?
« Reply #15 on: February 10, 2009, 03:00:56 PM » by BettaGurl3

Quote

Thanks! We do this too. Cool

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Re: Super easy and quick meals?
« Reply #16 on: June 25, 2009, 01:45:33 PM » by petrimama

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Re: Super easy and quick meals?
« Reply #17 on: June 25, 2009, 02:33:21 PM » by kamom

Could you come up with two meal plans for Wed eve and rotate, that way prep time will become easier and every one will come to know what's on the menu and that it's 'safe'
What about a chicken noodle casserole. Or Chicken salad on rolls? Something with chicken, a cheap meat to buy, and noodles or rice.
I think that would go with a sweet potatoe dish.

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Re: Super easy and quick meals?
« Reply #18 on: June 25, 2009, 03:01:03 PM » by orcuttranch

Quote from: petrimama on June 25, 2009, 01:45:33 PM

I have a good pulled pork recipe that might work for you. We buy pork roasts at costco for 1.99 a pound, so for meat, that is fairly cheap. They come 3 roasts to a pack. If you don't have costco, sams might carry the same? It is a kind of dump and see how it goes recipe.

Put roast(s) in crock pot. Pour in pineapple juice until at least 1/2 way up roasts. Add seasoning salt, few cloves of garlic minced and low sodium soy sauce to taste (I use maybe 1/4-1/2 cup per crockpot?). It is important that it is low sodium - with the seasoning salt, it gets too salty if you use regular. But the seasoning salt needs to be in there IMO. Now, if you do it this way, you need to turn the roasts half-way through so that each side is in the liquid for a while. If I know that I am going to be gone all day, I just up the liquid ingredients so that the roasts are covered - but that makes it more expensive of course.

Just cook on low for 8-10 hours or so. Shred roasts and put back in juice. For your situation, I would say serve it as sandwiches - that way the meat will stretch even farther. I would think that would work with sweet potatoes and I think I have avoided your "taboo" ingredients.

I have an awesome chili recipe that costs me around $25 a pot, but my pot is a huge tamale pot (or canning cooker). We have 7 in our family and that pot feeds us for 5-6 meals (I freeze it). But I don't think that that goes too well with sweet potatoes. Maybe you could just make him a sweet potato to eat with his meal and everyone else could just eat whatever else is there? If you want the recipe anyway, I'll post it. Oh and it isn't a spicy chili - my daughter is really picky about spicy things and she likes it.

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Re: Super easy and quick meals?
« Reply #19 on: June 25, 2009, 03:54:01 PM » by happy2bhere

Quote from: petrimama on June 25, 2009, 01:45:33 PM

I have a meal dilemma. We have a physically limited single man over for a family dinner on Wednesdays. Sweet potatoes are his favorite, so I promised him sweet potatoes every week. Now, my husband also teaches a bible study on Wednesdays in our home. Recently, people have begun to show up early to eat as well. While I love the fellowship, hospitality is not my strong suit. That means that I have to feed my family of 7, plus about 10 extra adults and 6 extra kids and the number grows each week. (I praise the Lord that the study is growing, though!)
Here's the problem: Due to allergies in the group I cannot use any nuts, peanuts, celery, carrots, apples, melons, and nothing spicy. That really limits me. I can't even put celery in my broths or soups! In addition, it gets very expensive. I am spending an extra 20% on groceries!
So, can anyone suggest any meals that do not use any of those ingredients, go with sweet potatoes, and won't drive us into the poor house? I don't mind a lot of prep work, as long as I can do it in advance. Thanks! ~L

Oh dear, sounds like quite the problem! I have several sweet potato recipes from my favorite cookbook. Sweet potatoes are pretty cheap, and these recipes use them as a central ingredient. Only thing that could be expensive would be the tortillas.

Sweet Potato Quesadillas (we love these!)

Saute
1 1/2 c. minced onion
2 cloves garlic (or garlic powder)
4 c. grated sweet potato (or you can add cooked and mashed sweet potato, after sauteing onion)

Add
2 tsp. oregano
1 1/2 tsp. each basil, marjoram, chili powder, cumin
Red pepper to taste
Now, my recipe says to grease baking sheets, sandwich the stuff in tortillas along with grated cheese, brush tops with oil, and bake at 400 degrees...but I have premade quesadillas and put them in a crock pot on warm. Sometimes I have also added cooked shredded leftover chicken along with the sweet potato.

Now, I haven't tried this one but I actually think it sounds better for your situation.

Black Bean Sweet Potato Burritos

Saute
3 c. peeled and diced sweet potatoes
1/2 chopped onion
oil (add water as needed to prevent sticking)

Add and heat through
2 c. cooked black beans
1 tsp. cumin
3/4 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. salt

Shred 1 1/2 c. cheese

Divide bean mixture among 8 tortillas and sprinkle with cheese, roll up. Place in a baking pan, cover with foil and bake at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes. Garnish with sour cream, salsa.

Of course you'd have to quintuple these recipes, but they might work if you have some kids to help chop!

HTH....

« Last Edit: June 25, 2009, 04:06:07 PM by happy2bhere »
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Re: Super easy and quick meals?
« Reply #20 on: June 25, 2009, 06:14:01 PM » by mdessy

A couple of our favorite quick dinners are:

baked potato bar:
baked potatoes with a selection of
diced peppers
baked beans
steamed broccoli/cauliflower/carrots
grated cheese
sour cream

Everyone dresses their own.

Also my quick curry:

saute in 1 T. olive oil one diced onion and 1-2 cloves of garlic minced
when onions are soft add in 2 C. whatever vegetable you like (zucchini, cauliflower, potato, carrots, etc)
sautee five minutes
add in one 15 oz can chickpeas drained
1 can coconut milk
2 t. curry powder
generous pinch five spice powder
cook on med-low for 15 minutes until warmed through

Serve over rice or with naan bread and a side salad

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Re: Super easy and quick meals?
« Reply #21 on: June 25, 2009, 07:33:51 PM » by brightspot

Quote from: petrimama on June 25, 2009, 01:45:33 PM

I have a meal dilemma. We have a physically limited single man over for a family dinner on Wednesdays. Sweet potatoes are his favorite, so I promised him sweet potatoes every week.

Is it possible to have this man over on another day for sweet potatoes and then serve inexpensive meals on Wednesday evening. Actually, why not ask the other families to bring a dish to share and make it a type of potluck. This would help you in not having to fix as much food and the people with the allergies would be sure to have something that they could eat without worrying.

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Re: Super easy and quick meals?
« Reply #22 on: June 25, 2009, 10:46:56 PM » by petrimama

Thank you all so much for the fast responses! I plan to try some of those recipes over the next week, and I like the suggestion of sticking to a few meals on a rotating schedule rather than trying to come up with something new each week. We may also end up doing a potluck if the group gets much larger, but for now I believe that the Lord would have me grow in my hospitality, and I want to learn all the tricks i can. You have each given me very helpful advice and i appreciate it so much. Thank you! ~L

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Re: Super easy and quick meals?
« Reply #23 on: November 03, 2009, 12:18:32 PM » by 4myhoonie

sweet potatoes! i am looking for "not your grandma's sweet potato" recipes! side dishes or main dishes. all the ones i come across have sugar, milk, eggs, etc. i have a great one i will share, if anyone has others please post them!

cube sweet potatoes to fill 9 x 13 baker
drizzle olive oil (about 3 T)
smash (w/ a press) about 3 cloves garlic
sprinkle red pepper flakes and thyme over the potatoes and stir!

bake at 400* for 45 min. it is really yummy--we eat this one often!

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Re: Super easy and quick meals?
« Reply #24 on: November 04, 2009, 11:42:39 AM » by queentea

mine does include sugar, but you could use a substitute like stevia, honey, or even try without them.

5-6 sweet potatoes par boiled (just so easier to peel)
3-4 apples
1 stick of butter
1/2 c. or so of brown sugar (or less)

slice the sweet potatoes and apples put in 9x13 pan dot with butter and sprinkle with brown sugar (or substitute) and bake in 350 oven till fork tender.
We love these because they aren't overly sweet, and not mushy. We are just not fans of the sickening sweet mashed sweet potatoe casseroles with marshmellows. We prefer this more pure version.

I also like to just bake sweet potatoes in the oven and then split like a regular baked potatoe and add butter and a sprinkling of cinnamon and sugar, could also sub. stevia here or just go with the butter. Yum

Sweet potatoe fries are also yummy sides. sprinkle with sea salt or cinnamon sugar.

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Re: Super easy and quick meals?
« Reply #25 on: November 04, 2009, 07:02:21 PM » by 4myhoonie

thanks, it never occurs to me to make them like regular baked potatoes! silly me! Roll Eyes

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