What are your"too lazy to cook" recipe ?
I mean the one you do when you want something easy to do, but not when you're tired at the point you microwave a frozen-meal, or just cut down a piece of cheese and put it in a bread
I like to take those boxes of breakfast cereal they sell and I like to whip them up in a big bowl with some milk. I call it cereal with milk.
But what if you aren't feeling like soup?
Sometimes I add some sliced banana or strawberries, but that may be over the scope of this question.
Fake pizza: Make toast. Drizzle toast with a little bit of olive oil. Smear tomato paste on toast. Sprinkle with garlic powder and oregano. Top with a slice of provolone.
You just described one of the famous Catalan tapas Pan Con Tomate (maybe minus the cheese)
Damn, OP. Here you thought you were making shitty white trash pizza and all along you were making Catalan tapas Pan Con Tomate!
It's definitely popular here in Barcelona pan con tomate is a regular dish across Spain. It's especially hilarious when you get the little condiment container full of tomato & garlic and mini-olive oil bottle on renfe.
Or be me as a kid
White bread Put ketchup on bread Put Kraft single on top Put in the oven under the broiler until the cheese melts and the edge of the bread crisps Eat it over the sink in order to not kill your mother by disrespecting the plates with that garbage Realize you’re still hungry and make 3 more
That was my teenage go to, except I used Ragu PizzaQuick because I was trashy.
Cook some rice in a rice cooker, top it with a runny sunny-side up egg, add some high quality soy sauce and a bit of butter. Sliced green onions if I'm feeling less lazy.
Egg and rice is the easy comfort food my husband learned from his grandmother. It's our too lazy to cook or shop dinner.
Looks like super easy and great, love the idea :)
Add some peanut butter for some real gourmet shit
Furikake to take it to the next level!
Pesto pasta.
Done.
Sprinkle goat or feta cheese on top and you're riding high
This, pesto is just too good.
Thin the pesto with a bit of pasta water if you want to elevate it without any extra work.
Ours is same but with bacon
This is my favorite too lazy to cook meal. I've eaten this regularly for like 20 years. I make it every few weeks. Great with ham or sausage and a bunch of sriracha.
I have an electric kettle, so instant ramen. I live near an asian grocery store, so I also have a ton of ramen varieties
Poaching an egg as you're cooking the ramen is probably my favorite life hack.
Yep, poaching an egg (or a couple) in the ramen as it's about to finish cooking is one of the ways I add eggs to instant ramen. Another is a technique similar to egg drop soup: stream pre-beaten eggs while stirring the ramen (also just about the ramen is done cooking).
But I default to adding soft-boiled eggs. I cook the thoroughly washed eggs in the same water I'd cook the ramen on. I take the eggs off (put them into cold water if necessary, or I can just take them a bit early and let the residual heat take it the rest of the way), then cook the noodles. While waiting for the noodles to cook, I peel the eggs and then put them back into the noodles just before serving.
If you have an Asian grocery nearby, try getting a package of salted duck eggs. They're boiled and packed in salt at the factory, so that the whole egg absorbs the saltiness trough the shell. They come individually vacuum sealed, so you can just cut it in half with a knife and scoop the egg out of the shell with a spoon, they're delicious in ramen.
peanut butter
Another option is adding canned chickpeas, they work with almost any ramen
Bake some frozen chicken nuggets, toss in buffalo sauce, cut up some iceberg lettuce and throw it all in a soft tortilla with ranch.
or just cut down a piece of cheese and put it in a bread
You can't just disrespect Germany like that...
Rice via rice cooker. Ground chicken cooked in a frying pan with preminced garlic and squeeze tub of ginger. Pinto beans from a can. Mix em all together in a bowl with shredded cheese.
Tofu scramble. I premake the spice mix, then open up a pack of tofu and crumble it into a preheated pan with oil, sprinkle over the spice mix, add black beans then pepper and sriracha (as well as a bit more of the spice mix), stir and heat it up a bit, then done. If I'm feeling less lazy, I'll add veggies and stuff, but it's honestly decent like this with the right spices. Here's what I use for my spice mix (this is for a full jar which will last between 10 to 20 meals depending on how heavily seasoned I'm feeling that month):
Boxed mac n cheese with tuna
I like the Pasta Roni angle hair pasta with tuna. Cooks in 5 minutes, throw the tuna in the last minute, delicious!
I did the most half-assed version of this for lunch the other day. Leftover half box of Kraft Mac, a can of tuna that was in the fridge, and a little tangy BBQ sauce, I think McD's brand. It was... passable. I think my stomach was okay with it. I'm still alive and not on the toilet.
1 blue box Mac, finished + 1 ramen pack, finished = 'Hate Pot' cause you'll hate how much you like it.
Can be some dishes though, feeds two in a sitting, double to feed four, grab a fork and gather round the combination. Soul food for 90s latchkey kids
Open faced sandwiches (smørbrød/smørrebrød/smörgås) - slice of bread or toast, butter and some topping.
Very nearly as no-effort is boiling or frying an egg. Very nearly as no-effort as that is a scramble or omelette. Grilled cheese sandwich. Pasta with butter (sauce), garlic and/or chili oil. Baguette/sub/hoagie kind of thing as an upgrade on the sandwich - they sell "half-baked" ones that keep for a good while. Bacon and eggs, carbs optional.
A basic stir fry or meat-in-pan-sauce are still easy. Get whatever equipment makes your preferred foods (or healthy eating) easier.
"Every Day Dal" from Curries Without Worries 1 cup split red lentils Tbl ghee or butter 1-2 dried red chilies Tbs tumeric Tbs cumin 1-3 Tbs salt (to taste) 1 Tbs each minced ginger and garlic 5 cups water
Put in large pot bring to boil simmer 35+/- min stir it you want
Feeds 6-8 people & nice w rice
... Thats just avg dal, hows that lazy?
It's a one pot meal with almost no steps - just dump the ingredients in and cook.
Omelette. Ham and Cheese. Low carb and tasty.
I usually go with over medium eggs on toast.
Not low carb, but still tasty.
Make rice, throw minced meat in, done. It looks like dog food but it's pretty good.
Lazy Chicken
You might need to add boiling water while it's cooking, but after making it a couple times you'll know about how much water is needed from the start.
If you're lazy but not in a rush, legume soup. Throw lentils, canned chopped tomatoes, frozen veg and some spices and maybe stock powder in a pot and wait. If you don't want to wait for lentils to cook, replace by canned beans. Easy, cheap, minimal cleanup (this is usually the part I'm too lazy for) and very reasonably healthy.
I started making soups recently starting from beef or vegetable stock in those boxes (tetrapack?). So damn quick and easy! I do not know why I didn't start doing it earlier.
A real cheat code here is when you truly can't find it in you to cook, have some easy heat and eat meal or something and then plan + prepare tomorrow's dinner.
Microwave burrito + take chicken out of the freezer for tomorrow
Crack open a tin of beans, smash them a bit with a fork. Salt, pepper, vinegar, and whatever seasoning blend is within reach. Put it on top of whatever carb I have (toast, tortilla, crackers) is my go-to.
If I don't have a tin of beans, I microwave some frozen peas to smash up.
Hummus also fits this niche but that's not something I keep on hand in the pantry, unlike beans.
My favourite no-cook meal is a slab of semi-firm tofu served cold on a bed of spinach, pour over some soy sauce, spring onion and furikake. But that requires fresh ingredients I don't always have on hand.
Instant noodles, with a handful of frozen corn, and a Nori sheet from the pantry ripped up in it. Tofu (or egg) if you can be bothered.
I'm on the hunt for a vegetarian alternative to a umami packed can of smoked Tuna. I miss smoked Tuna. (I'm allergic to nightshades and haven't found a allergy free fake fish on the market)
Another great lazy meal is hummus. process together a drained + rinsed can of chickpeas, a couple tablespoons of tahini, the juice of half a lemon, salt + spices, and however much water it takes to get the texture you like. Smear it on a plate, maybe add a puddle of olive oil with some herbs sprinkled over, and wipe it up with pita.
Pasta and jarred sauce
It's gonna be the most 7.5/10 dinner but it's like 5 min prep, it reheats fine, and you can walk away and shower or take a nap. You can wash the baking sheet tomorrow, who cares? It was the first 'recipe' I learned how to cook in college, and it's still my go-to lazy weekday recipe.
This is called a tray bake, and it's great. I recommend chucking some (chopped) vegetables in with it: tomatoes on the vine, carrots, broccoli, asparagus, Brussel sprouts, cauliflower, onion, garlic... Limitless possibilities.
You can also do this with salmon (gotta be a bit more careful with timing on that). Or bacon. Or do sweet potato, or pumpkin.
All of this is true, the chicken and potato is just the lazy version. Lots of different vegetables can be added to this but the cooking time gets tricky because a lot of stuff cooks at different rates.
I just go to bed when I am too lazy to cook!
I am severely malnutrition 😎😎😎
Cooking?!
When I'm specifically being too lazy to?
I don't even cook for myself on the good days.
Whenever I make soup, I always make a lot. The extra soup goes into quart bags and goes in the freezer. So I have a soup library.
Rip open a bag of soup, toss it in a pan on medium low. Make some popcorn in the air popper.
Soup and popcorn with about a minute of work. The hardest part is picking out which soup I want.
Noodles with sriracha, olive oil and nutritional yeast
I wonder how good Annie's boiled in tomato soup would be - just add the cheese mix and milk to it towards the end.
That’s basically my grandma’s macaroni. She adds ground meat. It’s delicious in its own regard.
Some of mines
Sub rice for pasta in the first recipe and you have a passable curry. Add bacon to the second and hello carbonara!
This is not lazy cooking! It’s just regular cooking when you messed up your shopping ;)
This is not lazy cooking! It’s just regular cooking when you messed up your shopping ;)
I call it lazy, because, it's the kind of stuff I could do in 10 minutes even late on the evening, and that it compete on efficiency with microwaving a frozen meal (Which I also do, when coming home late)
I boil half a cup of rice, add 3tbsp of peanut butter and about 100ml sweet chili sauce, and I mix it evenly. Bish bash bosh.
Bish bash bosh.
I do the same, but the meal did not have a name. Until today, it's called "Bishbashbosh" now. I had to use google to translate to understand what it means, I am from Germany.
Haha, it's an expression that means "just like that".
Quesadillas!
Savory oats. Put oats, milk, butter and whatever you fancy in a pan. Done.
Canned tuna mixed with rice, and omelette with cheese
Add peanut butter for some real gourmet shit
...to which dish? Neither sounds appetizing lol
Omelette du fromage
A bowl of hot instant ramen with a poached egg is my go-to. Very simple, takes at most 10 minutes, and tastes really good too.
I'll add to this a pan seared pork tenderloin that's finished in the oven...super simple and adds a top notch addition to ramen...also grab some sprig onions and dice some up toss on top as well.
Smoked salmon and cherry tomatoes
Oatmeal made with milk. Stir in peanut butter when it is hot and ground cinnamon. Filling.
Spiced fried chicken breast, steamed veggies and carb of choice: mac and cheese, mashed potatoes, scalloped potatoes, or wheat bread.
"Stir fry": Fry meat of choice in a frying pan, add spices and vegetables of choice. Eat with rice or on/with wheat bread. 1 frying pan with meat and vegetables add carb to that.
Grill meat and vegetables of choice. Add carb on the side.
Sliced mozzarella (or whatever) cheese in a bowl, and some sandwich meat. Served cold.
In a bowl? Do you eat it with a spoon like soup?
For me, this would be finger food.
It is finger food. I just find the bowl smaller and more convenient than a plate.
Chicken chickpea curry.
Canned chickpeas, whatever chicken you have on hand, canned diced tomatoes, curry powder, onion, coconut milk, lemon juice. Served over rice.
Tin of (Aldi) chicken curry, add some frozen peas and spinach and fresh chopped (with a scissors) chillies. Better - in my opinion - than some take away and all chain pubs’ offerings. Five minutes maximum from cupboard and freezer to my mouth.
spaghetti ala bolognese is my lazy to cook recipe or chicken paprikás (or rather it's less sour creamy version which is called pörkölt). if I make it from chicken, it's done pretty quickly
or, chili con carne. it's also in the super easy and quick category
bolognese a lazy recipe? takes me like 3 hours sheesh
it is, at max 35-45 mins.
obviously I don't make it authentic so calling it actually bolognese is a bit further stretch I allowed myself than should have 😅
I use dry noodles from the store, prechopped meat, boxed/canned tomato sauce, dried spices... only thing that needs actual prep work is some onions.
Cook white rice in a rice cooker but instead of water, use a canned soup. Flavor of the soup gets into the rice. A few minutes of prep and walk away.
A friend use that one with instant soup and couscous during multi-day hike, he calls it awful but efficient
As an engineer, this warms my heart (and the resulting soup/rice mixture warms my tummy).
Rice cooker, after it's halfway, throw in an egg or two, leftover meat, can of beans, soup, or chili, whatever's available. It's nourishing and always tastes good.
Caprese salad
Buy a tomato. Slice it. Buy presliced mozarella Alternate tomato and mozarella on a plate. Put basil on top. Drizzle either balsamic vinagrette or salt and olive oil.
Delicous and super easy.
Also sometimes I make a quick melt on the waffle press, season with garlic powder and shredded parmeson, and dip in salsa. Fantastic and super easy.
Nice classical on, also, even in lazy mode, I feel like I am able to slice a mozarella ball, thanks
Nutella on toast. Ruin your life and food like me
My family's spaghetti and meat sauce recipe. 5 ingredients:
Water, salt, pasta;
ground beef, tomato sauce (from a jar if fancy, but canned is great)
Serve together.
(Of course there are details like how much of stuff, but that's the jist of it)
Don't have any, too lazy...
I have a small rice cooker perfect for 1-2 portions. Aldi sells asian-style pan-fry veggie mixes including spices and all in large bags, frozen. They also sell veggie balls for frying, frozen.
Between those three + some spices + soy sauce, I can always create something nice with just a small pan, plus with the rice cooker timing is unimportant. Takes about 10 minutes max, most of which is standing next to the pan waiting for something to fry. Stacks nicely in a bowl, looks fancy, takes 0 effort, and I can customize the taste with the array of spices I always keep at home nowadays.
Italian sausage, penne pasta, and marinara. Beyond easy...not particularly healthy.
Probably something from The Sad Bastard Cookbook. It's a free book with lots of easy meals and good advice.
How fantastic is this? I personally love cooking so it's something I actually do to curb depression, but I know many people who could use this book. Even if just as a symbol of solidarity. Thanks for sharing!
Kraft Mac and cheese with sausage cut up in it.
Dump everything into crockpot, come back after work and enjoy shredded chicken tacos / nachos / burritos.
*Swap some butter for oil if preferred
Throw in a handful of shredded Parmesan and this is a dinner my kids will pretty much always eat.
Add some peas and bacon and that is a dinner I will pretty much always eat.
Upvote for butter. Good butter. Winner dinner.
Not sure if this would count, but here it is:
Boil water amount on the box in the electric kettle. Drain canned chicken. (Some brands need to be rinsed because of the amount of salt in the broth they're canned in.) Add stuffing, butter (amount according to the box) and chicken into a bowl. Stir to incorporate. Add boiling water, stir again, and cover for 5 minutes. Fluff and serve.
I suggest using the low sodium version as there will be a lot of salt between the box of stuffing and canned chicken. Can also use leftover cooked chicken.
Oh damn, I’ve been wondering why to do with my extra box of stuffing.
I’m gonna try this this week. Sounds tasty.
Pasta with a glass of pesto
Call me crazy, but I’ve never liked store bought pesto
You're crazy.
Salmon and asparagus.
Fried eggs with sliced tomato
Boil some frozen veg - add an egg if you’re feeling fancy. Throw some instant noodles in when the veg and egg is cooked. Strain. Season to your liking.
1 pound of breakfast sausage. I pull it apart with my fingers to make interestingly-differently-sized chunks. Fry, then eat. Good with syrup.
Biscuits and gravy is my lazy but I don't want eggs or cereal breakfast (I make it once or twice a month). For the gravy:
Add 1 lbs breakfast sausage to pot, add salt, pepper, sage, red pepper flakes, and fennel seeds (last three are optional, but highly recommend). Break up sausage and stir while cooking over medium/medium-high heat
Once sausage is browned, try a piece and see if it needs more seasoning
Add 1/4 cup all purpose flour and stir until it's thickened and there's no white flour left, about 1-2 minutes (congrats, you have officially made a roux around your sausage!)
Stir in 2 1/2 cups milk (I prefer whole milk), stir often until it's thickened. Turn off the heat before it's the thickness you want, it will thicken as it comes out of the pot and cools on whatever you put it on. If it's too thick (aka if the thickness looks like it would be perfect on your food while still in the pot) just add more milk and stir in. If you add too much milk, just bring it back to a simmer until it reduces to an appropriate amount.
Add salt and pepper to taste, mix in, then serve.
I added more details than needed, it's honestly a super easy and tasty recipe, plus the most expensive part is the sausage. It makes enough gravy for 2-3 people, 3-4 if you don't each each a lot of the gravy which is... difficult.
For biscuits, I recommend Alton Browns buttermilk biscuits: https://altonbrown.com/recipes/southern-buttermilk-biscuits/
I personally make my own buttermilk substitute (1 tbsp lemon juice per 1 cup milk) and use butter instead of lard and they still come out fluffy and excellent. Also, the tip about putting them in a bowl lined with them covered by a kitchen towel makes a world of difference. It is well worth dirtying a cloth and bowl over letting them sit on a baking or cooling tray.
I should specify that I love cooking, this is low effort in my opinion since the gravy really can't be messed up unless you leave it and burn it, the biscuits are more effort but I bake a decent amount so I don't mind. Store bought biscuits from a tube work fine too if you aren't a morning person or don't like baking.
I think I just won at lazy bro
