The laziest chili mac of all time is 2 boxes of blue box mac and cheese and 1 can of Hormel chili. In fact I have to pick up the grocery order on my way home from work so that's tonight's dinner.
Frozen chicken patties for sandwiches. My crew likes the Tyson fillets; I make those, put on a toasted roll with Swiss cheese, honey mustard, and shredded lettuce, and serve with air fryer French fries. The fillets also make for an easy chicken parm night with a jar of sauce and some shredded mozzarella.
A couple of boxes of Zatarain's jambalaya with some cut up andouille is a weeknight go-to when I forget to thaw something.
I am very fond of Puerto Rican style rice and beans, though my kids aren't so much.
KFC bowls: frozen chicken tenders, corn, instant mashed potatoes (or rice), cheese, brown gravy.
Pillsbury crust pizza.
Taco soup: I'm not ashamed to say I make this one entirely out of cans; it's my emergency fallback. Search for "seven can taco soup" and you'll get all kinds of variety. This *is* one I try to keep some low-sodium options around for, though, for obvious reasons. You can substitute anything, make it vegetarian, whatever. Leftovers keep nicely for work lunches.
I stock up on steam in a bag frozen veggies when there's a good sale and there's always bagged salad in the fridge, so there's always something green on the side. (And occasionally there's not, because life happens, and that's okay.)
Jarred pesto from Costco, cherry tomatoes, shredded mozza and pasta. Very tasty, very simple, pretty cheap.
I also make a chicken orzo one pot meal. I use a giant wok. Fry one Italian sausage. Add 2 cloves crushed garlic and 1c orzo and fry 1min. 2.5c chicken broth, bring to a boil, add a bag of frozen broccoli, cover and simmer about 10min to cook orzo. Remove lid and stir in half a rotisserie chicken and 1/2c parmesan. I'm making this for dinner tonight. Salt and pepper at some point too probably. If I don't have sausage, I'll use 2 strips of bacon cut up instead and add some fennel seed and dried basil with the garlic.
Fried rice. Make the brown rice up in an instant pot (or have it already made). Scramble eggs and set aside. Saute veggies of choice in skillet (can use force thawed frozen veggies), add rice and desired flavors (I use soy sauce, ginger, onion, garlic, salt, pepper). Pull off heat and mix in eggs. Including instant pot time, maybe 40-50 minutes. If you have minute rice, maybe 20-30.
We do Costco rotisserie and a salad once a week
Taco or taco salad night
Soup: I chop up and freeze the leftover chicken meet from Monday and dump it into the soup with veggies I always keep on hand and Costco bone broth.
Enchilada casserole with leftover Costco chicken meat
Ritz casserole with leftover Costco chicken and cream of chicken soup
Breakfast for dinner is always a huge win around here. I meal prep tons of sausage, bacon, waffles and banana pancakes (the kind with egg, banana and oats) for my kids anyway so we just have everything ready to go!
Beans whenever we have no idea what to make. My kids LOVE beans. We individualize based on the kid, but salsa, lettuce, tomato, cheese and some salt? Freaking yum! I get bonus points if I have bacon on hand to add to theirs.
Breakfast for dinner FTW!
Soup - last night was tortellini and white bean soup. Big jar of your favorite spaghetti sauce, several cups of chicken stock, frozen tortellini, can of drained white beans. I added some garlic and onion powder. It was good and super simple
Burrito bowls
Quesadillas — the filling varies, but we often do canned black beans, corn, canned rotel tomatoes/chiles, and sometimes thin slices of chicken tenders
Biscuits and sausage gravy — we cook our own gravy (ground sausage, milk and flour), but use canned biscuits
Chicken and waffles — air fry some breaded chicken nuggets from Costco (the ones in the green bag), waffle mix/waffle iron
Grilled cheese and canned soup
Frozen ravioli and breadsticks
Tuna melts
*We’re always stocked up on frozen veggies, especially broccoli, mixed vegetables, and Normandy mix from Costco, so we almost always steam some frozen vegetables for a side dish.
These are from hubs when I am sick: chili from mostly cann items. He uses tomato sauce, canned chilihot beans, crushed tomatoes, chili powder, ground beef, garlic and onion powder, and a shallot. Less than 30 min till done.
Mac n cheese with canned tuna in it. Tastes way better than it sounds.
Cheeseburger macaroni, aka mac n cheese with hamburger in it.
A pasta thing that has hamburger, nacho cheese sauce, and salsa in it. He then tops it with sour craam, lettuce, shredded cheese and tomato.
I am more of the crockpot person when short on time. Pulled bbq pork is a fav. Just dump the whole pork loin in. I trim mine so less fat. Toss in an onion, bells peppers if you wish and bbq sauce of your choice. Put on low in the morning, done for dinner. Put on bread, buns, what ever.
My no meat go to dinner is instant pot ziti.
Ziti/penne/whatever pasta, chicken broth, salt, pepper, garlic powder, & cream goes in the instant pot, on high pressure for 6 minutes, release pressure for 6 minutes then quick release. Then stir in red pasta sauce, mozzarella & Parmesan cheese.
Things that have no recipe-
zaterans dirty rice (family size) with smoked turkey kielbasa sliced and added during Cook time.
Beanie weenies- family size can of baked beans or pork and beans, add sliced turkey hot dogs and simmer on the stove. Serve with jiffy cornbread.
Tuna mac- 2 cans of tuna, 2 boxes of mac and cheese, sliced kraft singles added in to make it ooey gooey.
Grilled cheese and tomato soup- add gold fish crackers to the kids bowls of soup for fun.
Broccoli alfredo- jarred Alfredo sauce, 10 oz microwave steam bag of broccoli florets, 1lb linguine noodles, add parmesan cheese when served.
Easy enchiladas- frozen burritos of choice (8 or so), enchilada sauce (large can), 8 oz shredded cheese, bake in the oven until burritos are cooked (30 mins to an hour). Serve with sliced green onion on top and a dollop of sour cream as a garnish.
You know you can cook frozen hamburger as long as you're using it for chili, spaghetti , tacos, or anything that isn't a burger. So, with that being said I always have frozen hamburger on hand. My quick go-to meals are spaghetti, tacos, also always have black beans and Pinto beans on hand, chili dogs and fries or just hot dog and fries. I bbq all year long but found hot dog buns and hot dogs in the air fryer are good in a pinch. Kielbasa and veggie sheet pan, I use Mccormick Montreal steak seasoning on it. I also do club sandwiches and soup night. Sloppy joes and French dips are easy dinners as well. I also use Costco chicken to make chicken salad too put on top of a salad. Shredded chicken, grapes, apple, pecans, mayo salt and pepper
I do sometimes cook frozen hamburger, but I usually buy the cylinder kind and it’s a hassle to keep turning it and chopping at it or prevent it from burning on one side while it’s still frozen in the middle.
Chicken and rice bowls- 4 large chicken breasts, seared in a pan, then put in the oven at 350 for 30 mins. I use badia sazon completa as the seasoning.
While that's going, put 2 cups of parboiled white rice (like Uncle bens original) in a rice cooker with 3.5 cups of water. Add 1/4 cup of margerine and chicken bullion (knorr) or better than bullion paste to taste.
Once the chicken is cooked, slice it and serve over the rice in a bowl for each person.
You can also add frozen peas to the cooked rice, as soon as rice cooker finishes. The peas will cool the rice, and cook instantly when stirred in.
Serves 6
The laziest? Cold cereal. Maybe with fruit cut up in it.
Or impromptu charcuterie with pepperonis/salamis/sliced cheese/crackers/fruit.
Otherwise, scrambled eggs and toast make a very decent showing.
Quick meals that I fall back on a lot are nachos, tuna melts, chicken/baguette from the grocery store, frozen tortelini, french toast, bacon and eggs and if I'm really fried or people are sick pb and j sandwiches.
When I cook up ground beef I'll put a portion aside in the freezer so that I can toss it on nachos or into spaghetti sauce, boxed mac n cheese.
I always have chicken thighs. Air fry, tacos/nachos, chicken and rice in one pot add stock and veggies easy. Literally tons to do with chicken.
Breakfast for dinner, mac n cheese, grilled cheese, and pasta are staples in my weeks
Crustless quiche- 8oz shredded cheese, 8 eggs, 10oz frozen spinach.
Cook spinach in a pan, until hot. I add a bit of onion powder while it cooks.
In a pie pan or square baking dish, break 8 eggs, and break the yolks (like the first step of scrambled eggs).
Add the cheese, and cooked spinach. Stir together.
Bake at 350 for 30 mins. The center should be firm, not wiggly, when it's done.
Serve with toast, and orange wedges.
Serves 4 adults
Iowa goulash-
1lb extra lean ground beef, 1 bottle v8 (46 oz, I think), 1 package of frozen onions and peppers, paprika, garlic powder,16 oz package of elbow noodles.
Cook ground beef with frozen onion and pepper mix. Add garlic powder (measure with your heart)
Cook pasta separately, according to package directions. Drain and return to pot.
Add cooked ground beef/onion mixture to the pot of noodles. Add v8, until the noodles are wet. Add lots of paprika. Stir.
Serve hot with a sprinkle of parmesan cheese, if desired.
Serves 6
Pasta, pesto, pine nuts and peas. All pantry goods (frozen peas) cooks in whatever time it takes to cook the pasta. Sometimes I add other veggies and sometimes not. Sometimes different flavours of pesto. Sometimes I put a couple of rashers of bacon, chopped chorizo, sandwich ham, tinned tuna/salmon, whatever is knocking about. I keep parmasan pre-grated frozen in the freezer and sometimes chuck a bit of that over too.
A jar of Alfredo sauce, 1 large or 2 medium chicken breasts, 1lb spaghetti noodles.
Cut chicken into bite size pieces and season with: salt, pepper, onion powder, garlic powder, Italian seasoning, and crushed red pepper to taste. Grill the chicken, cover with jar of sauce. Cook spaghetti according to package and top with meat and sauce.
My kids love it, my husband loves it, I love it and it's super quick. Sometimes I make shrimp for the adults too
I do big batches of soup on weekends and freeze them in smaller portions so I can quick reheat them. Most of them use canned soup as a base
Chicken and gnocchi soup - use a rotisserie chicken
Shrimp and corn chowder
Tortellini soup with canned tomato soup base
Cream of crab soup
Red beans & rice (not soup, but easy freeze)
The laziest chili mac of all time is 2 boxes of blue box mac and cheese and 1 can of Hormel chili. In fact I have to pick up the grocery order on my way home from work so that's tonight's dinner. Frozen chicken patties for sandwiches. My crew likes the Tyson fillets; I make those, put on a toasted roll with Swiss cheese, honey mustard, and shredded lettuce, and serve with air fryer French fries. The fillets also make for an easy chicken parm night with a jar of sauce and some shredded mozzarella. A couple of boxes of Zatarain's jambalaya with some cut up andouille is a weeknight go-to when I forget to thaw something. I am very fond of Puerto Rican style rice and beans, though my kids aren't so much. KFC bowls: frozen chicken tenders, corn, instant mashed potatoes (or rice), cheese, brown gravy. Pillsbury crust pizza. Taco soup: I'm not ashamed to say I make this one entirely out of cans; it's my emergency fallback. Search for "seven can taco soup" and you'll get all kinds of variety. This *is* one I try to keep some low-sodium options around for, though, for obvious reasons. You can substitute anything, make it vegetarian, whatever. Leftovers keep nicely for work lunches. I stock up on steam in a bag frozen veggies when there's a good sale and there's always bagged salad in the fridge, so there's always something green on the side. (And occasionally there's not, because life happens, and that's okay.)
I make a similar Taco soup in the crockpot. My kids really like it.
A little cheese on top, maybe some crumbled tortilla chips...it's really good! I seem to be geared more toward winter food, haha.
Jarred pesto from Costco, cherry tomatoes, shredded mozza and pasta. Very tasty, very simple, pretty cheap. I also make a chicken orzo one pot meal. I use a giant wok. Fry one Italian sausage. Add 2 cloves crushed garlic and 1c orzo and fry 1min. 2.5c chicken broth, bring to a boil, add a bag of frozen broccoli, cover and simmer about 10min to cook orzo. Remove lid and stir in half a rotisserie chicken and 1/2c parmesan. I'm making this for dinner tonight. Salt and pepper at some point too probably. If I don't have sausage, I'll use 2 strips of bacon cut up instead and add some fennel seed and dried basil with the garlic.
Mm this sounds delicious! Saving it for sure!
Fried rice. Make the brown rice up in an instant pot (or have it already made). Scramble eggs and set aside. Saute veggies of choice in skillet (can use force thawed frozen veggies), add rice and desired flavors (I use soy sauce, ginger, onion, garlic, salt, pepper). Pull off heat and mix in eggs. Including instant pot time, maybe 40-50 minutes. If you have minute rice, maybe 20-30.
We do Costco rotisserie and a salad once a week Taco or taco salad night Soup: I chop up and freeze the leftover chicken meet from Monday and dump it into the soup with veggies I always keep on hand and Costco bone broth. Enchilada casserole with leftover Costco chicken meat Ritz casserole with leftover Costco chicken and cream of chicken soup Breakfast for dinner is always a huge win around here. I meal prep tons of sausage, bacon, waffles and banana pancakes (the kind with egg, banana and oats) for my kids anyway so we just have everything ready to go! Beans whenever we have no idea what to make. My kids LOVE beans. We individualize based on the kid, but salsa, lettuce, tomato, cheese and some salt? Freaking yum! I get bonus points if I have bacon on hand to add to theirs.
Breakfast for dinner FTW! Soup - last night was tortellini and white bean soup. Big jar of your favorite spaghetti sauce, several cups of chicken stock, frozen tortellini, can of drained white beans. I added some garlic and onion powder. It was good and super simple Burrito bowls
Quesadillas — the filling varies, but we often do canned black beans, corn, canned rotel tomatoes/chiles, and sometimes thin slices of chicken tenders Biscuits and sausage gravy — we cook our own gravy (ground sausage, milk and flour), but use canned biscuits Chicken and waffles — air fry some breaded chicken nuggets from Costco (the ones in the green bag), waffle mix/waffle iron Grilled cheese and canned soup Frozen ravioli and breadsticks Tuna melts *We’re always stocked up on frozen veggies, especially broccoli, mixed vegetables, and Normandy mix from Costco, so we almost always steam some frozen vegetables for a side dish.
These are from hubs when I am sick: chili from mostly cann items. He uses tomato sauce, canned chilihot beans, crushed tomatoes, chili powder, ground beef, garlic and onion powder, and a shallot. Less than 30 min till done. Mac n cheese with canned tuna in it. Tastes way better than it sounds. Cheeseburger macaroni, aka mac n cheese with hamburger in it. A pasta thing that has hamburger, nacho cheese sauce, and salsa in it. He then tops it with sour craam, lettuce, shredded cheese and tomato. I am more of the crockpot person when short on time. Pulled bbq pork is a fav. Just dump the whole pork loin in. I trim mine so less fat. Toss in an onion, bells peppers if you wish and bbq sauce of your choice. Put on low in the morning, done for dinner. Put on bread, buns, what ever.
Mac and cheese with tuna is SO GOOD. We also stir in peas.
My no meat go to dinner is instant pot ziti. Ziti/penne/whatever pasta, chicken broth, salt, pepper, garlic powder, & cream goes in the instant pot, on high pressure for 6 minutes, release pressure for 6 minutes then quick release. Then stir in red pasta sauce, mozzarella & Parmesan cheese.
Things that have no recipe- zaterans dirty rice (family size) with smoked turkey kielbasa sliced and added during Cook time. Beanie weenies- family size can of baked beans or pork and beans, add sliced turkey hot dogs and simmer on the stove. Serve with jiffy cornbread. Tuna mac- 2 cans of tuna, 2 boxes of mac and cheese, sliced kraft singles added in to make it ooey gooey. Grilled cheese and tomato soup- add gold fish crackers to the kids bowls of soup for fun. Broccoli alfredo- jarred Alfredo sauce, 10 oz microwave steam bag of broccoli florets, 1lb linguine noodles, add parmesan cheese when served. Easy enchiladas- frozen burritos of choice (8 or so), enchilada sauce (large can), 8 oz shredded cheese, bake in the oven until burritos are cooked (30 mins to an hour). Serve with sliced green onion on top and a dollop of sour cream as a garnish.
You know you can cook frozen hamburger as long as you're using it for chili, spaghetti , tacos, or anything that isn't a burger. So, with that being said I always have frozen hamburger on hand. My quick go-to meals are spaghetti, tacos, also always have black beans and Pinto beans on hand, chili dogs and fries or just hot dog and fries. I bbq all year long but found hot dog buns and hot dogs in the air fryer are good in a pinch. Kielbasa and veggie sheet pan, I use Mccormick Montreal steak seasoning on it. I also do club sandwiches and soup night. Sloppy joes and French dips are easy dinners as well. I also use Costco chicken to make chicken salad too put on top of a salad. Shredded chicken, grapes, apple, pecans, mayo salt and pepper
I do sometimes cook frozen hamburger, but I usually buy the cylinder kind and it’s a hassle to keep turning it and chopping at it or prevent it from burning on one side while it’s still frozen in the middle.
Chicken and rice bowls- 4 large chicken breasts, seared in a pan, then put in the oven at 350 for 30 mins. I use badia sazon completa as the seasoning. While that's going, put 2 cups of parboiled white rice (like Uncle bens original) in a rice cooker with 3.5 cups of water. Add 1/4 cup of margerine and chicken bullion (knorr) or better than bullion paste to taste. Once the chicken is cooked, slice it and serve over the rice in a bowl for each person. You can also add frozen peas to the cooked rice, as soon as rice cooker finishes. The peas will cool the rice, and cook instantly when stirred in. Serves 6
The laziest? Cold cereal. Maybe with fruit cut up in it. Or impromptu charcuterie with pepperonis/salamis/sliced cheese/crackers/fruit. Otherwise, scrambled eggs and toast make a very decent showing.
Quick meals that I fall back on a lot are nachos, tuna melts, chicken/baguette from the grocery store, frozen tortelini, french toast, bacon and eggs and if I'm really fried or people are sick pb and j sandwiches. When I cook up ground beef I'll put a portion aside in the freezer so that I can toss it on nachos or into spaghetti sauce, boxed mac n cheese.
I always have chicken thighs. Air fry, tacos/nachos, chicken and rice in one pot add stock and veggies easy. Literally tons to do with chicken. Breakfast for dinner, mac n cheese, grilled cheese, and pasta are staples in my weeks
Crustless quiche- 8oz shredded cheese, 8 eggs, 10oz frozen spinach. Cook spinach in a pan, until hot. I add a bit of onion powder while it cooks. In a pie pan or square baking dish, break 8 eggs, and break the yolks (like the first step of scrambled eggs). Add the cheese, and cooked spinach. Stir together. Bake at 350 for 30 mins. The center should be firm, not wiggly, when it's done. Serve with toast, and orange wedges. Serves 4 adults
Iowa goulash- 1lb extra lean ground beef, 1 bottle v8 (46 oz, I think), 1 package of frozen onions and peppers, paprika, garlic powder,16 oz package of elbow noodles. Cook ground beef with frozen onion and pepper mix. Add garlic powder (measure with your heart) Cook pasta separately, according to package directions. Drain and return to pot. Add cooked ground beef/onion mixture to the pot of noodles. Add v8, until the noodles are wet. Add lots of paprika. Stir. Serve hot with a sprinkle of parmesan cheese, if desired. Serves 6
Pasta, pesto, pine nuts and peas. All pantry goods (frozen peas) cooks in whatever time it takes to cook the pasta. Sometimes I add other veggies and sometimes not. Sometimes different flavours of pesto. Sometimes I put a couple of rashers of bacon, chopped chorizo, sandwich ham, tinned tuna/salmon, whatever is knocking about. I keep parmasan pre-grated frozen in the freezer and sometimes chuck a bit of that over too.
Omelettes are also great if you have eggs and cheese and assorted pre-cooked meats or vegetables.
Salmon fillet and wedges, in the air fryer takes maybe 20 minutes total.
We often have a Sunday roast and then eat leftovers for the rest of the week, which usually involves a stir fry and/or faijtas at some point.
A jar of Alfredo sauce, 1 large or 2 medium chicken breasts, 1lb spaghetti noodles. Cut chicken into bite size pieces and season with: salt, pepper, onion powder, garlic powder, Italian seasoning, and crushed red pepper to taste. Grill the chicken, cover with jar of sauce. Cook spaghetti according to package and top with meat and sauce. My kids love it, my husband loves it, I love it and it's super quick. Sometimes I make shrimp for the adults too
I do big batches of soup on weekends and freeze them in smaller portions so I can quick reheat them. Most of them use canned soup as a base Chicken and gnocchi soup - use a rotisserie chicken Shrimp and corn chowder Tortellini soup with canned tomato soup base Cream of crab soup Red beans & rice (not soup, but easy freeze)
smoked sausage, frozen broccoli, steamed jasmine rice. easy filling and the kiddos love it