Suggestions for already prepared meals (1,086 views)
traildoggie
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Post by traildoggie on Dec 30, 2021 13:57:58 GMT -5
so Im curious about ideas for meals when you do not have time to cook. I'm not a fan of restaurants. too high in calories, expensive, requires a drive there and back. I usually cook but there are times when I cant and even pizza is not an option. I love pizza but I eat too much of it.
what do you use if you can't cook? I have things I use but a few more ideas are always good.
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Post by mcgee on Dec 30, 2021 14:10:20 GMT -5
I always keep Italian Beef in the freezer for when I don't feel like cooking. Other stuff:
Spaghetti
Trader Joe's Palak Paneer and Garlic Naan bread (I always keep frozen rice on hand for this and it's easy to heat in the microwave)
Trader Joe's Fettuccini Alfredo (we both think this is delish but does require a little bit of hands on attention but I don't really consider it cooking)
Trader Joe's Coconut Shrimp
Frozen Ravioli
Flour Tortilla pizzas (these really don't have many calories compared to real pizza)
Salad bar (I usually set out lettuce, corn, peas, garbanzo beans, onion, and shredded cheese and we build our own salad)
If anything else comes to mind I'll add to my list.
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Post by wallycat on Dec 30, 2021 17:11:20 GMT -5
-Hard cooked eggs...to eat as is or make a quick egg salad sandwich or topping for a green salad - Somen noodles that cook up in 3 minutes (also the Udon-precooked); add veggies, broth and your seasonings you like. -Costco frozen pre-cooked hamburgers -make your own meatballs and freeze 'em, then add sauce/pasta -thin white fish you can cook still frozen in the microwave -canned soups -baked beans...can can make "shakshuka" with them; add in a veggie like frozen spinach. fast meals: sweet or white potato "stuffed"...you can load it how you want...tuna, cheese, beans, etc... Frozen pizza is about the only thing we keep (and the burgers) so I'm not sure what is out there these days.
Editing to add that I ordered some Saag (canned) on amazon at the start of the pandemic. I feel it is a mixed blessing. A tad too salty and more mustard greens than spinach, but fleshed out over rice or a handful of fresh spinach to cook down, it wasn't bad.
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Post by karenw on Dec 30, 2021 19:45:28 GMT -5
Besides the obvious of preparing extras when you do feel like cooking and freezing in appropriate portions to pull out on nights when you want something quick, other ideas:
Indian meal pouches e.g. Tasty Bites Chana Masala over microwave brown rice packages with naan. Trader Joes also sells several varieties of Indian flavored meal pouches that are good and their fresh garlic naan is excellent. I always keep some in the freezer.
Jar marinara or pesto and pasta-Short of homemade pesto (which freezes well) Costco sells a great refrigerated one (I always buy extra to freeze)
Can chili-Trader Joes is good
Veggie burgers you can doctor up to your taste
Eggs!! Do breakfast for dinner. Eggs are easy to prepare.
Frozen premade meatballs, ravioli, tortellini, or other meals (again T.J.'s has some good ones but just be careful with sodium levels)
Frozen fish fillets, store bought pulled bbq chicken or pork(Costco) to make sandwiches
Curry (or other) simmer sauces-just add chicken, shrimp, and/or veggies and serve on rice
Frozen potstickers or gyoza. I do these with TJ's orange chicken, rice and their scallion pancakes
Fried rice is easy if you have leftover rice, or those microwave pouches
BEANS!!! Not much needed to doctor up beans and make them a meal!
I am sure there is more but this is off top of my head for now.
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traildoggie
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Post by traildoggie on Dec 31, 2021 10:23:22 GMT -5
great ideas! I've become a fan of the premade dinners from Sukhi brand and Kevin. costco has them in a double pack. I did not find these in AZ. these are refrigerated "pouch" dinners.
we have a vacation house in another state. traveling is a long day.t either end I want something that doesn't take a lot of prep. I used to do take and bake pizza but especially when I'm tired and hungry, I eat too much!
we recently rented a condo in AZ for 2 weeks. I didn't want restaurants every night. I havent found fast food I will eat. the rental house( VRBO) had very few basics and I didnt want to buy spices and oil. it did not have salt! I bought salt but I think you get the idea. we enjoyed the trip but I need to plan food better next time.
for us, we don't eat red meat. I found myself standing in front of the freezer case at Albertsons wondering what to try. so many choices!
I'm going to come back later and look your thru ideas more carefully.
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Post by wallycat on Dec 31, 2021 11:10:55 GMT -5
Amy's makes some great frozen stuff, besides pizza. Their enchiladas and burritos are tasty. I haven't had them in a some time, but your explanation of your kitchen set up brought them to mind. You could also freeze chicken sausage or pork (if you eat pork) and even though grilling is always "preferred," you could microwave or boil 'em and slice onto a good sourdough with a salsa or cheese. The grocery store prepared hard cooked eggs are just so-so, but they are still easy if you don't make your own ahead of time. Emma's post on microwave uses was enlightening; I also have a microwave cookbook and was shocked how many things work decently in it. Someone on my cancer board posted that there is a line called Primal Kitchen that tasted good, but I suspect focused on meat/protein...no idea what they offer.
Wild Planet sells organic canned chicken breast that is decent. I use it to top a socca when I make a bbq-chicken "pizza" ...but you could make salads or just toss it into a bagged salad and add dressing or even make a quick "chicken noodle soup" type thing. They also sell some tuna-noodle easy-meals. I got one free when I ordered the chicken but I have not had it yet. Of course, I adore sardines, so a sardine sandwich sounds appealing to me; your mileage may vary, LOL.
You can buy canned refried beans and corn or flour tortillas or even nacho chips and dot the beans over with salsa/cheese and microwave for a quick mexican dinner.
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Post by Catbatty on Dec 31, 2021 18:08:08 GMT -5
1. Our fav pizza is not from pizza shop! (It is doctored frozen pizza from market.) Red Baron cheese pizza...and some sauce Classico and some more cheese, olives, onions, garlic, pineapple (whatever). Bake the pizza per instructions, only for about half the time. Place the veggies in microwave just to heat them. At the half-baked point, place veggies on top of the pizza, then spread some Classico on top, sprinkle with cheese (Jack or Pepper Jack or Provolone). Bake for remaining time. (Might later add red pepper flakes and Parmesan.
Why do it this way? We found that if we doctored and then baked, the center/dough didn't seem to bake to full doneness. Instead, we tried baking the pizza and THEN doctoring, getting the veggies warm to release juices plus to get them hot so they'd be heated when pizza was so quickly finished.
We are addicted to this pizza AND it's awesome crust and now, we never order pizza out. This method is cheap, easy and we love it. Crave it.
2. Frozen burrito enchiladas: I cut away as much of the flour tortilla as I can get off. (Often, frozen bean, cheese burritos--our favs--have far too much tortilla for the amount of filling.) I spray a baking pan with Pam, place the burritos in the pan, cover with canned enchilada sauce, sprinkle with cheese, olives, etc. Bake at about 375F for 20 minutes. SO GOOD!! (Serve each person at least one whole burrito with sauce. Dollop of sour cream on top...oh yes!)
3. Microwave Mexican: corn tortilla on microwave-safe plate, sprinkled w/ shredded cheese, w/ optional extras. Microwave on high for 1 minute. (Onions, olives, green chiles, optional.) To serve: sprinkle with salsa or leave plain.
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traildoggie
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Post by traildoggie on Dec 31, 2021 19:18:51 GMT -5
oh this is turning out to be very helpful! for us, there are the things we don't eat. no red meat ever, no mayo, no on most seafood. I hate hard boiled eggs. eggs other ways are fine. a "no" on the sardine sandwich. sorry wallycat! basically we eat chicken breast and plain white fish and mostly vegetarian things, all manner of vegies. I like spicy, sky is the limit. DH wants bland. for our last trip (just got back) I got a pizza from Papa Murphy. I love it but I eat too much. I will try a red baron frozen pizza catbatty, and enhance with needed vegies. it turned out there was a papa murphys not 5 min away this time. it worked for us. we had leftovers from a couple restaurant meals. I bought bagged salads with dressing. next trip we will hope to stay in a better stocked kitchen. no salt really ticked me off! I bought some tyson blackened chicken strips and made tostados but DH didnt like the chicken at all.
we decided pretty late in the rental season to go to AZ early december instead of january. rentals where we needed to stay were limited, or I would have opted for a better supplied kitchen tho you pretty much pay your money and take your chances.
let me quickly say that this date change turned out to be one of the luckiest and best decisions we ever made. we didn't get balled up in the covid surge/lost luggage/cancelled-flight hell that is going on right now. we were back before it all started. this trip we weren't happy with meals at our condo. just okay. I will plan better next time. I already have on my list to hit TJ's but it helps to have some specifics to shop there since I don't get there often. costco size products are usually too big for short stay. whatever we dont use will get tossed. TJs might be a great alternative. next time I will also look closer at the map around the rental and see what stores are handy. we did froZen fish fillets but I didn't like the breading, too greasy. not a repeater.
we discovered we LOVE mountain biking in AZ in early winter so we get a decent calorie burn during the day and are hungry at night but it's unlikely rentals will have all the little things for from-scratch cooking.
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Post by mcgee on Dec 31, 2021 20:01:45 GMT -5
1. Our fav pizza is not from pizza shop! (It is doctored frozen pizza from market.) Red Baron cheese pizza...and some sauce Classico and some more cheese, olives, onions, garlic, pineapple (whatever). Bake the pizza per instructions, only for about half the time. Place the veggies in microwave just to heat them. At the half-baked point, place veggies on top of the pizza, then spread some Classico on top, sprinkle with cheese (Jack or Pepper Jack or Provolone). Bake for remaining time. (Might later add red pepper flakes and Parmesan. Catbatty - Red Baron is our favorite frozen pizza too! Discovered it quite by accident. DH loves single serving cheese pizzas for lunch and I would always buy DiGiorno but the store was out of them so I picked up Red Baron. He’s addicted to those things and they’re only 450 calories. While he doesn’t doctor those up I do buy their regular sized 4 cheese pizza and add onion, artichoke hearts, and a little extra cheese. We’ve never found the crust to be soggy, in fact quite the opposite, very crunchy and yummy! Now we still prefer Roundtable pizza but Red Baron is by far the best frozen and less expensive than most others. We always have a lot of it in our freezer. Glad to hear someone likes it as much as us! |
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foodattack
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Post by foodattack on Jun 23, 2023 5:33:29 GMT -5
I'm an Indian and whenever I Don't feel like cooking these are my go to Options Rajma Masala: A tasty kidney beans and spicy gravy dish that's like a hug in a bowl. Every bite takes me back to the home-cooked meals I grew up with. Both Quicklly.com and Instacart are good places to find this dish online. Paneer Butter Masala: If I'm in the mood for a vegetarian treat, I opt for this tangy and creamy paneer dish. It’s perfect with a side of naan or rice. Quicklly.com usually has this one in stock. And when I'm craving something a bit different, here's what I reach for Vegan Thai Curry Noodle: When I feel like something light but packed with flavor, this bowl comes to the rescue. The Thai curry flavors hit the spot every time. Instacart's been a reliable source for this. Bean & Cheese Burrito: This is my ultimate quick and hearty meal. Beans, cheese, and a tortilla - simple and oh-so-satisfying. Instacart is my go-to place for this. Just a heads-up, though: the availability of these dishes can change depending on your location and each platform's inventory when you order. Enjoy exploring and happy eating |
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Post by Catbatty on Mar 14, 2024 17:19:25 GMT -5
I would like to get ideas for things to Make Ahead here at home.  ( No advertisements wanted, new posters beware if you are pushing one website or product NO STOP DON'T--THAT ACTION GETS YOU REMOVE FROM GROUP) ...just want things that keep or freeze well from members who have tried and care to share good OR BAD results.) Am thinking about STUFFING...freezing it. Never done that before. We love LOVE stuffing but we don't care for the boxed kind, so I make it, either using my own bread or buying PF dry stuffing bread. Then just butter, veg broth, celery and onions (chopped). Like mom used to make for our Thanksgiving Turkey Dinners. (Only difference nowadays is we cook mostly vegetarian, so no turkey.) Ideas for meatless things that might be made ahead and frozen, for instance? THANKS! |
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Post by wallycat on Mar 16, 2024 18:42:00 GMT -5
Just read an article in the NY times....to get the crispiest (not fried) tofu, freeze it first. I've used it as meatless in some recipes, but am going to try that suggestion for baking frozen/thawed tofu.
If you undercook your pasta, freeze the leftovers and then re-boil.
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Post by Catbatty on Mar 16, 2024 23:58:06 GMT -5
Nice to KNOW!!!! Thanks for the tips, Wallycat. I will share them with my daughter and dh! Catbatty Just read an article in the NY times....to get the crispiest (not fried) tofu, freeze it first. I've used it as meatless in some recipes, but am going to try that suggestion for baking frozen/thawed tofu. If you undercook your pasta, freeze the leftovers and then re-boil. |
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(No advertisements wanted, new posters beware if you are pushing one website or product NO STOP DON'T--THAT ACTION GETS YOU REMOVE FROM GROUP) ...just want things that keep or freeze well from members who have tried and care to share good OR BAD results.)