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I’m tired. I’ve already made dinner for the kids tonight. It’s past eight. I’m hungry. I really can’t face cooking again.
Unfortunately the local takeaway options aren’t worth the wait, or money, so don’t really count as an option.
I accept that means I’m stuck tonight but I was wondering what you lot have as your go to, zero effort, meals that you can keep tucked up in the house for this sort of occasion?
Toast, cereal or opening the fridge and just eating stuff straight from the packet.
Does cheese on toast count as cooking ?
Toast. Egg on toast, cheese on toast, marmite on toast, jam and peanut butter on toast, beans on toast. The possibilities are endless
Plate of cream crackers and cheese - at least a dozen!! 🤣🤣
Pasta & pesto, cheese toasties, omelette, bowl of porridge, packet of biscuits
Toast
pasta with whatever is there
Whatever with a fried egg on top
Bagels, toasted, butter and apricot jam
We’ve both had one of those days today. It’s been absolutely gruelling for reasons I won’t bore you with. For days such as these we keep these in the freezer from Iceland. Shove them in the air fryer, bang them on a pitta with some salad. They’re bloody lovely
Cold beans and bread.
Love cold beans...
Cheese on toast here too followed by fruit and fibre with loads of cold milk although does create low pressure ie farting if more than one evening
Batch cook stuff and freeze, haul it out , defrost for 12 mins in the microwave then heat up on full for 3 mins
Jar of curry heated in a saucepan for 3-4 minutes bag of micro rice in micro for 2 minutes and cooked prawns in sauce at the same time. prawn curry in 6 minutes with no prep and one pot to wash.
Fish finger sarny. Yes, strictly it’s cooking, but throwing a few fish fingers in the oven for 15 mins then throwing them on 2 slices of bread barely counts.
Fish finger sandwiches.
A staple for wor lass when she comes in from a night out with the gals
There you go!!!
Toast with marmite or marmalade. Cereal. Bananas.
cous cous and pesto (you just need to boil a kettle)
Cocaine and hookers.
Pot noodle or rustlers!
I’ve already made dinner for the kids tonight.
Assuming you fed them something worth eating (and age dependant) - whatever they eat. Ideally at the same time they eat theirs.
cock tail sausages on toast.
The formatting of this makes me uncomfortable
rustlers!
their meatless maverick ain’t too bad either
their meatless maverick ain’t too bad either
Being a fairly recent veggie, these have interested me. I have tried one yet though.
Air friers are great for this sort of thing though. Throw a few (non)chicken nuggets in and chop up a bit of salad, whack it all in a wrap with some chilli sauce, sorted.
Just buy a bottle of Filipino 'Mama Sita's fiery labuyo Barbeque marinae' (a bit spicy for British standard but certainly weak for me) and pour some into the chicken, pork or whatever meat you want.
Marinate for 5 minutes. Then put into the oven to roast. You don't have to pour a lot just a coating on the meat should be sufficient.
You can eat it with chips, bread, rice, pasta etc as you wish.
Simple.
This is my can't face cooking marinate sauce. It is very good.
Beans on toast. Bit of black pepper, blizzard of grated cheese. Add in some mustard if you’re feeling it. Winner!
Yeah I don’t get it. You’ve already cooked once? Why didn’t you just eat then?
Nothing; if you can't be arsed, do without.
It won't hurt.
What do you eat when you can’t face cooking?
Marinate for 5 minutes. Then put into the oven to roast
Does roasting not count as cooking these days?
Frozen pizza (Iceland's posh range (Piccolino?) has a great spicy meat one)
Always keep a couple of frozen ready meals in for emergencies.
Slight cooking: pasta, with a tin of tuna + tin of sweetcorn + some mayo to stick it together
Utter grot dirty meal of guilty pleasure: Fray Bentos Steak and Kidney pudding and a tin of sweetcorn, nuked in 3-4 minutes.
Bad me - Greggs steak bakes from Iceland? Yessss please. Will go hunt them down tomorrow.
Good (OK, less bad) me - a bowl of weetabix is a good filler and very very easy - so that then.
Does roasting not count as cooking these days?
Hhmmm ... Not for me.
It's just to put the meat into the oven. No ingredients prepared.
Unless, you don't want to even do that then my favourite will be fish & chips.
Porridge.
The sachet stuff, 2 mins in a microwave, add some nuts, dates, granola etc.
Warming, filling, easy, cheap!
Nothing.
When I'm proper hungry ill cook.
cous cous and pesto (you just need to boil a kettle)
This. Harissa as an alternative. Add some olives, tomato or whatever there is in the fridge.
Pragmatic me - I periodically cook large batches of various forms of curry and freeze portions. Pretty quick in the microwave to make a meal.
Raman, nudja & an egg or two.
Stick in a bowl, stir and cover in boiling water and leave for 10 mins (or cook in a pan quicker).
Olive oil on bread with some ripped mozzarella and some sliced tomato, on the George for 5 mins.
Polish pork sausage or chorizo.
Pasta only takes minutes. I'll usually have a jar of pesto in the house. Or just stir through some marmite.
Cheese and biscuits is my go to. Maybe with a pickled onion or several.
Jar of curry heated in a saucepan
Reminds me Sainsbury's do a good canned veg curry. Good on toast or whatever stodge you can find. Bang in the microwave.
Boil kettle, cover noodles and bring to boil, add frozen peas and sweetcorn, pretty much done by the time it comes back to the boil. Soy sauce, tin of tuna if you're feeling fancy - bosh. 🙂
Or a Pot Noodle. 😉
@whatgoesup - all the Greggs stuff from Iceland is absolutely bloody lovely! Perfect when you get in from a night ride, via the pub 😃
Mexican surprise fajitas, the surprise is the possibly controversial ingredients... Literally minutes to make if veggie, even I can make them! 😉
There's always something easy to cook - pasta, baked spud, that type of thing. Whenever I visit a mate he gives me packets of ramen noodles - like https://www.amazon.co.uk/Korean-Selling-Ramen-Noodle-Assorted
Boil the kettle and stir is about as much cooking as is needed. Damn tasty.
Jar of curry heated in a saucepan for 3-4 minutes bag of micro rice in micro for 2 minutes and cooked prawns in sauce at the same time. prawn curry in 6 minutes with no prep and one pot to wash.
That counts as proper cooking for me, and about the max amount of effort I'd ever be prepared to spend on cooking
IANAF....
Feta spaghetti. Boil pasta, whilst it’s cooking chop garlic, chilli (olives too if you like) then when the pasta is done toss it in olive oil, black pepper add the garlic and chill and crumble the feta over it. Mix thoroughly. Depending on the pasta takes no more than 15 minutes from pot to bowl.
Or a Pot Noodle. 😉
slap a tin of sardines or mackerel in to take it up a level ( after the first stir)
So this is where I would resort to my just got home and ravenous from a cold night ride and want low effort, low cook time foods...
Omelette preferably with some chopped chorizo, cheddar or feta and jalapenos. Oven chips or (more likely) buttered toast for carbs if required.
Speedy chorizo soup stew thing...
Can mixed pulses drained
Bit of stock
Oregano and basil
Tom puree
Chilli flake
Chorizo
Simmer 10 minutes
Eat with or without bread
Any of following on hot buttered granary/seeded toast
Cheese (cheddar or stilton)
Mackerel in some kind of spicy sauce
Scrambled egg (and chorizo)
Beans possibly with cheese
Poached egg + chipotle Tabasco or lots of black pepper
If I've planned ahead any kind of zappable leftovers pot from the freezer curry or chilli usually
Or Lobster thermidor aux crevettes with a mornay sauce garnished with truffle pâté, brandy and with a fried egg on top and spam chorizo 😋
chop garlic
This is the no cook thread. We are in the territory of heating and a stir at the absolute most, and when I say stir note the singular 'a stir' no resotto style stiring. No chopping. Only exception is cutting cheese.
Birdseye crispy chicken(frozen). 2 in the oven for 25 ins. Eat with fingers.
Mayonnaise optional.
Cold rice pudding, straight from the tin. Food of the god's.
We usually eat together but always got a selection of cheese and biscuits in.
Can't beat a good cheese board
I'm on a keto diet to lose weight at the moment. If I get to 8pm and I've not cooked, I rest easy in the knowledge that I've got calories to burn around my waist, and I'm not hungry anyway 🙂
When not on keto, I'm with @eddiebaby - if it's worth eating, it's worth a bit of time over.
slap a tin of sardines or mackerel in to take it up a level ( after the first stir)
That's insane! But - it just... might... work... 🙂
Cheese and ham on toast with a fried egg is the food of the gods. Or at least the Royal Navy.
Lots of these are too much effort when you just CBA. So here's my contribution.
Low effort - Bowl of cereals
Medium effort - Tin of cold beans
High effort - Beans on toast but put marmite on your toast before adding beans
Insane effort - Beans on toast and sling a fried egg on top
I always have a box of Weetos in the cupboard for this eventuality. Anything other than pouring it out of a packet counts as cooking in my mind.
Pasta only takes minutes. I’ll usually have a jar of pesto in the house. Or just stir through some marmite.
Marmite pasta? That can't be legal, surely?
I'll usually go for an apple and a banana if I CBA2 cook. Either by itself is a snack, both = a meal. Other fruits are available, just don't dunk them in marmite.
Large Bombay Bad Boy Pot Noodle with large chopped chilli, big spoon of homemade curry powder mix with fresh coriander, yoghurt/cucumber/coriander and my own thin flatbreads made with garlic/chilly/black pepper. (when making pizza dough there’s always enough dough left over to make a dozen to freeze)
Try a Naked Noodle Thai green curry pot , with a chopped up red chillie, and a whole pack of cooked king prawns.
Thank me later 😉
Got to say the air fryer is a blessing for quick hot meals as none of that heating up faff plus it's quicker anyway so all the brown foods (fish fingers, chips, nuggets, bean burgers etc etc) are readily & speedily available with minimal effort
Microwave rice, tinned fish,. Microwave peas and a few spoons of curry paste. Mix.
Omelette for me when I can't be arsed. 3/4 eggs with a chopped up tomato in at the last minute salt, pepper. Or just grate some cheese on it if you're feeling particularly lazy. Filling and not so bad for you that you feel gross afterwards. minimal washing up as well.
Sardines on toast.
Just eat with the kids. Yeah I know kids food might lack spice, heat, whatever...but a few condiments will sort that out.
No one wants to cook twice in one evening.
Stuffed pasta, tortellini, ravioli, etc (the fresh stuff in the chiller) and a pot of microwavable sauce.
Literally 4 mins in boiling water, 4 mins in the microwave and throw in bowls.
The kids love it there's very little effort or washing up, there's probably more faff in making a Sandwich...
You lot are over thinking this.
Chilli heatwave Doritos and a big bag of minstrels.
Pasta Puttanesca. Sauce is quicker to make than the time the pasta takes to cook, so hard to grudge the effort.
Omelette with whatever’s lying in the fridge. Can do one in less time than it takes to make a decent cup of tea.
Crisp sandwich - the options are endless.
6 bags of crisps....
Nothing.
When I’m proper hungry ill cook.
As will 95% of the respondents to this thread by the look of it. But at least you read the bloody question properly.
As many others have said - eat all together if possible. We always ate as a family around the table every single evening. We ate what we were given. However we always had at least one meal in the week that was a chosen favourite for each person.
Beans on toast.
Sardines/mackerel on toast.
Soup. We always have a couple of tins of soup (although I mostly make my own).
Fish finger sandwiches.
If you're really desperate, any cereal with some milk.
Get a one of those precooked salmon fillet packets which have that chilli sauce in, uncle bens golden vegetable rice. Nuke it together in the microwave for 3 mins and then drizzle sriracha over it. So good!
Yeah I don’t get it. You’ve already cooked once? Why didn’t you just eat then?
Just eat with the kids. Yeah I know kids food might lack spice, heat, whatever…but a few condiments will sort that out.
No one wants to cook twice in one evening.
But sometimes (in our household's experience) the kids have stuff on that means a very quick dinner needs rustling up (usual staples of chicken nuggets / Quorn pasties and frozen chips stuffed down their throats before dashing off to an activity) and I certainly wouldn't want to eat that stuff so I always then cook something for my wife and I later (but I love cooking so any excuse to make something really nice is a win for me).
Toast and cereal.
Beans on toast topped with cheese less than 5 mins effort, might have thar for lunch now I’ve thought about it.
Because you've said you dont want to cook, and I dread to think what counts as 'cooking' for a lot of people (banquet fit for the queen perhaps), I've got to agree with just toast. Either just with lots of butter and jam or peanut butter and jam together. I might have suggested beans on toast but I have it with grated cheese and a fried egg on top, even that minimal effort counts as cooking in my eyes. Also at 8pm I wouldn't want to eat anything heavier than toast as I find my IBD worse if I go to bed with undigested food.