Quick foods

I’m often too tired to do anything but get something out of the fridge to eat as is or put in microwave. I’m trying to avoid carbs and dairy. I have peanut butter, olives and pickles as options. Any suggestions?

Answers

  • AdahPotatah2024
    AdahPotatah2024 Posts: 2,443 Member
    Soups and salad?
  • AdahPotatah2024
    AdahPotatah2024 Posts: 2,443 Member
    I use the crockpot a lot in my home office for easy meals.
  • Corina1143
    Corina1143 Posts: 3,810 Member
    Tonight, no.
    Sounds like you are the perfect person to meal prep on days off. Easy for the rest of this week--cooked chicken from grocery store. Fresh, frozen or canned veg that will cook quickly in microwave, like broccoli, cauliflower, green beans, asparagus.
  • claireychn074
    claireychn074 Posts: 1,655 Member
    Omelette, cooked meat from the supermarket (ham, chicken, beef), frozen fish and veg which can be microwaved from frozen, veggie soups - homemade and frozen or shop bought, packet miso soup, tinned tuna with sweetcorn, olives and mayo…
  • yirara
    yirara Posts: 9,985 Member
    What is too much time? I make a lot of Asian dishes. They often don't take longer than 20 minutes. While I'm cooking/stir frying a part of it I'm prepping the next part. Rice from a rice cooker. or noodles in second pot if really needed. I might also use very quick rice noodles and throw them into my dish, and 3 minutes later they're ready.
  • nicsflyingcircus
    nicsflyingcircus Posts: 2,899 Member
    My favorite quick and easy meal is throwing some sliced mushrooms into a small pot to sweat with garlic and ginger (I use jarlic), then add 3oz of chopped up precooked chicken, 1.5tsp chicken bouillon (powder or goop), 1.5-2 cups of water and then when I plunk it in a bowl, add egg white noodles, soy sauce and sliced green onion. You could use any meat/noodles/veggies for this. I eat it several times a week, it's filling, tasty and takes like 10 minutes, most of which is the mushrooms cooking down a bit.
  • COGypsy
    COGypsy Posts: 1,365 Member
    Generally speaking, I don't care to cook and consider 10 minutes to make a meal a major investment. I stock my kitchen with pre-cooked food that I only have to heat up. You can buy frozen chicken, beef, shrimp and all kinds of other protein pre-cooked. You said no carbs, but frozen vegetables offer endless variety, can be super filling, and don't spoil. I scoop some combination of meat and veg and microwave with some kind of sauce or seasoning. I usually eat that with pre-cooked rice or pasta, but it's not essential. All told, dinner takes slightly more than 5 minutes, depending on the microwave. Another alternative are the pre-bagged salad kits. Zap your protein, dump salad in a bowl, place protein on top and you're done. Also about 5 minutes to prepare. It's not a Michelin star meal, but it gets the job done at the level of effort I'm willing to contribute.
  • csplatt
    csplatt Posts: 1,206 Member
    Cook two meals on Sunday afternoons. Portion them out to be your dinners during the week. Then you can just microwave.
  • FeatheredEmpress
    FeatheredEmpress Posts: 10 Member
    +1 on meal prepping. Spend a few Saturdays/Sundays making big batches of a variety of freezable meals - chilli, curries, bolognase, tagine, soups, stews come to mind immediately. In a few weeks' time you'll have enough to have something different every weeknight and only have to cook the starch side on the day.

    Then just keep track of what you're getting low on and make a big batch on a day off to restock.
  • ninerbuff
    ninerbuff Posts: 49,026 Member
    I work fulltime and come home every night and cook at least 4 out of 5 nights. Easy stuff to make for me is spaghetti (you can use zucchini noodles), cook beef in a pan and then just pour spaghetti sauce (I like Prego mushroom personally) and instant dinner in about 15 minutes.
    Or I'll make an omelette with beef and spinach in it. Again another 15 minutes to cook. I use 8 whole eggs, spinach and about 1/4 pound of ground beef.
    And of course my favorite Monday night meal, is steak and vegetables. I always buy frozen cause it takes like 5 minutes to heat in the microwave and about 15 minutes to grill a steak.

    A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
    IDEA Fitness member
    Kickboxing Certified Instructor
    Been in fitness for 40 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
  • SafariGalNYC
    SafariGalNYC Posts: 1,565 Member
    edited November 5
    Hard boiled eggs. Charcuterie. Salad kit.
    The supermarket has tons of ready made foods - chicken salad, tuna salad. Sashimi. A wrap!
    🤯
  • acpgee
    acpgee Posts: 7,995 Member
    My favourite quick low carb meal is Cambodian beef lok lak. To speed things up, make a big batch of the stir fry sauce to keep in the fridge in a squeeze bottle for subsequent cooks. Ditto for the lime/pepper dipping sauce. Served with optional fried egg on top (I do this) and optional rice (I skip this). This recipe works with chicken or prawns. Picture is of a chicken breast version without the egg with a side of air fried mini corns in Cambodian marinade (coconut milk, sugar, fish sauce or soy, green onion).
    https://changkrankhmer.com/blog/beef-lok-lak-recipe/
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