Fix and forget: weeknight meal prep question #4,897
June 14, 2019 8:59 AM Subscribe
I'm looking for meals I can prep quickly and easily (and perhaps interruptedly), leave to cook, and then come back in an hour or so and have a full meal ready. A good example is a roast chicken: rub with salt, pop in oven with some chopped veggies, and have a full meal ready in an hour and a half, plus leftovers for a full meal the following day.
NB: I don't have a crock pot or rice cooker and don't want to buy any new equipment at this time. Bonus points for recipes that are dairy/soy/egg free (fish and chicken okay). Actual recipes appreciated. Thank you!
NB: I don't have a crock pot or rice cooker and don't want to buy any new equipment at this time. Bonus points for recipes that are dairy/soy/egg free (fish and chicken okay). Actual recipes appreciated. Thank you!
An hour is quite long for fish and vegs, but I guess most stews work like this. You can scale the size of the chunks of meat and veg to fit to your timing.
Here's an Irish Stew
Here's a Moroccan chicken stew
For simple stews, the principle is the same. Cut up meat and robust vegs into big bite size pieces, sauté them a bit or don't, pour over water or stock. Simmer gently for 45-60 minutes. Add lighter vegs for the last ten minutes. Eat with bread or some other starch, like rice or couscous or potatoes. And a salad, for crunch. I've done it for little kids, on a big fire in a park, using wild fowl. It's really tasty even if you only use the simplest of seasonings, some salt and pepper. Food for the ages!
Also, Coq au vin is a stew. Boeuf Bourguignon is a stew. I haven't linked to those recipes because I find them a little over-fussy, and they take more than an hour. I like osso buco, which can be made successfully in the oven instead of in a pot, even slower than in the linked recipe. All of these really slow dishes work really well if cooked in advance. They improve with resting. So a more meaty stew can be made in the weekend, and eaten over two weekdays.
posted by mumimor at 12:08 PM on June 14, 2019
Here's an Irish Stew
Here's a Moroccan chicken stew
For simple stews, the principle is the same. Cut up meat and robust vegs into big bite size pieces, sauté them a bit or don't, pour over water or stock. Simmer gently for 45-60 minutes. Add lighter vegs for the last ten minutes. Eat with bread or some other starch, like rice or couscous or potatoes. And a salad, for crunch. I've done it for little kids, on a big fire in a park, using wild fowl. It's really tasty even if you only use the simplest of seasonings, some salt and pepper. Food for the ages!
Also, Coq au vin is a stew. Boeuf Bourguignon is a stew. I haven't linked to those recipes because I find them a little over-fussy, and they take more than an hour. I like osso buco, which can be made successfully in the oven instead of in a pot, even slower than in the linked recipe. All of these really slow dishes work really well if cooked in advance. They improve with resting. So a more meaty stew can be made in the weekend, and eaten over two weekdays.
posted by mumimor at 12:08 PM on June 14, 2019
Pork loin, studded with garlic, fat on top and salted, 350 degrees, 25 min/lb. Throw a diced sweet potato next to it and you’re good. (Well for veg - 2 cups of frozen kale, 5 mins in a pan with a bit of butter.)
posted by cotton dress sock at 12:37 PM on June 14, 2019
posted by cotton dress sock at 12:37 PM on June 14, 2019
egg pie (crustless quiche) takes 45 mins once you get it in the oven. I like it with cherry tomatoes, leftover potatoes, and asparagus or spinach or broccoli or another green. it makes good leftovers.
beans: soak overnight, drain, then simmer 1 c. white beans for an hour with an onion into which you have stuck a clove or two. don't salt them until they are cooked through. there are more delicious bean recipes, but this is a basic technique that results in cooked beans that you can then use in other stuff or eat over rice with veg on the side.
posted by Lawn Beaver at 2:34 PM on June 14, 2019 [2 favorites]
beans: soak overnight, drain, then simmer 1 c. white beans for an hour with an onion into which you have stuck a clove or two. don't salt them until they are cooked through. there are more delicious bean recipes, but this is a basic technique that results in cooked beans that you can then use in other stuff or eat over rice with veg on the side.
posted by Lawn Beaver at 2:34 PM on June 14, 2019 [2 favorites]
Response by poster: Forgot to add would prefer veggie dishes; chicken and fish okay, but unlikely to cook other meats.
posted by stillmoving at 2:43 PM on June 14, 2019
posted by stillmoving at 2:43 PM on June 14, 2019
Veggie pasta like supergreens and other brands make a good quick meal. Pour a pound of pasta into a Pyrex bowl, cover with water, microwave on high for 13 minutes for spaghetti or 20 minutes for Pene. Drain, pour on pasta sauce from a jar, and dinner is ready!
posted by metasunday at 8:13 PM on June 14, 2019
posted by metasunday at 8:13 PM on June 14, 2019
This is an extremely late answer but I think you might like the Roasting Tin series of books by Rukmini Iyer. Her first book has a mixture of meat, fish and vegetarian recipes & she has another book called The Green Roasting Tin which is half vegetarian, half vegan. All her recipes are basically - chop some stuff in 10/15 mins and then put it in the oven. Sometimes there's an extra step (make a dressing or something) but it's all very easy to do and (my opinion only) completely foolproof, veg centric and delicious. Looks like you can check out some of her recipes here.
posted by the cat's pyjamas at 5:17 AM on September 3, 2019
posted by the cat's pyjamas at 5:17 AM on September 3, 2019
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You can find a bunch by googling "sheet pan recipes". Here's a pork chop one similar to what I've done in the past:
1/4 cup olive oil, divided
3 cups diced new potatoes
3 cups cut fresh asparagus (1-inch pieces)
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1 large gala or Honeycrisp apple, peeled and cut into 1/2-inch slices
2 teaspoons brown sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
4 boneless pork loin chops (1 inch thick and about 6 ounces each)
2 teaspoons southwest seasoning
Preheat oven to 425°. Line your sheet pan with foil; brush with 2 teaspoons olive oil.
In a large bowl, toss potatoes with 1 tablespoon olive oil. Place in 1 section of prepared baking pan. In same bowl, toss asparagus with 1 tablespoon olive oil; place in another section of pan. Sprinkle salt and pepper over potatoes and asparagus.
In same bowl, toss apple with 1 teaspoon olive oil. In a small bowl, mix brown sugar, cinnamon and ginger; sprinkle over apples and toss to coat. Transfer to a different section of pan.
Brush pork chops with remaining olive oil; sprinkle both sides with southwest seasoning.
Place chops in remaining section of pan.
Bake until a thermometer inserted in pork reads 145° and potatoes and apples are tender, 20-25 minutes. Let stand 5 minutes before serving.
posted by magstheaxe at 9:19 AM on June 14, 2019 [7 favorites]