Share your secrets for quick weeknight meal preparation

[SiBurning]

How do you cook a meal on weeknights when pressed for time?

How do you shop and plan? What things do you do or avoid? Do you keep certain things stocked in the pantry?

Are there any books you rely on?

Help us cook more often. Share your tips & experiences.

 

[DrumDawg]

Bump

 

[gunter]

Chicken is easy and fast to cook. Try a ceasar salad:
Romaine lett. one head
1oz vir olive oil w one anchovy crushed up
salt and pepper to taste
1oz vir olive oil
couple dashed or worsteshire
2oz lemon juice
a coddled egg
1/4 cup grated parmesean (good stuff not kraft)

Good luck

 

[EvilGobi]

Yeah, I'm pretty curious about this too. I find with my wife and I both working we never seem to have time to cook.

 

[djh]

Since my wife and I both work, we try to prepare food in advance and store in meal-sized portions in the freezer. It is easy to spend an hour or two on the weekend preparing pasta sauce, curry, soup etc which with very little work in the evening become a satisfying and nutritious meal.
Similarly, in summer, we tend to eat very lightly in the evening. Salad, bread and maybe some fruit becomes supper.

 

[Dave in the basement]

Don't forget to fire up your crock pot in the morning, and you can have a nice warm meal ready for you when you get home. Or at least the start of a nice warm meal.

 

[davecmu]

One important thing to do is to have a weekly menu planned in advance. We pick five or six dinners we will be making that week each Sunday. The hardest part of making dinner each night is deciding what to have from the ingredients on hand. By preplanning a menu, we can shop for specific items and be assured we will have the ingredients on hand. It also narrows down the decision process. Finally, knowing we already spent the money on the ingredients makes running out for take out much less attractive.

Once you have a menu, making a nightly dinner becomes an exercise in logistics. On nights when we know we will run late, we make a meal in the crockpot. On nights when we have more prep time, we make more intricate meals. We always reserve a quick meal or two (like homemade waffles) for later in the week when we know we will be tired and craving an easy meal.

I have a friend who roasts three or four pounds of leg quarters every Sunday night. He then bones the chicken and keeps it in the fridge for quick use during the week. He also cuts up bell peppers and onions and keeps them in the crisper. Dramatically reduces the prep time for egg skillets or chicken and veggies over rice each morning.

 

[miamimoe]

Here is a simple item that I make weekly, as it goes with a lot of items, depending on seasonings:

2 llbs. mushrooms
2 medium onions-yellow
one green pepper
one red pepper
one yellow pepper.

Rinse all with cold water. Slice the mushrooms, dice the onions and peppers. Make a giant pouch with aluminum foil, add one tablespoon olive oil, 1/2 teaspoon of black pepper. Fold the pouch tightly. Bake at 350 degrees for about 20 minutes. Turn off oven a let it rest another 10 minutes. Transfer to a bowl and add your choice of seasonings. You can add this to a pot of rice, pasta, etc. You can cook chicken or chicken breasts, and pour this over the top. The flavor is determined by the seasonings. Give it a try.

 

[RN83]

Things I always have in the pantry closet.

Arborio rice
longgrain rice
pasta
Onions
Mushrooms
bellpeppers
tomatoes
potatoes
concetrated tomatoes
stock
corn
flour (fine unbleached)
i also have a fair amount of herbs&spices

I can proceed and make alot of dishes with these ingredients very quikly.

quick pasta sauce, with the tomatos, concetrated tomatoes onions and vegetables.
you only have to buy minched meat if you want meat

Risotto with the stock and mushrooms and some tomatoes
eat it with grilled salmon and make the risotto with fish stock.

grab a steak from the supermarket and slice the potatoes in half moons leave the skin on sprinkle them with seasalt rosmary and olive oil bake in oven. combine them with poached vegetables like green asparagus or broccoli.

make a salsa with tomatoes onions, mushrooms fennel, red chili pepper a green bell pepper and a little bit of cream and add chicken or beef in pieces after you baked em or grilled and use this as filling for burritos you can eat from your hand

 

[TnutsShave]

We've discovered that crockpot chicken breast can be a life saver. Take as many frozen chicken breasts as you like, throw them in the slow cooker on low with some chicken broth and let the cook for the day. By the end of the day, the chicken will be tender and you can fork shred it. You're left with perfectly shredded chicken you can do what you like with.

Our favorite is to add Taco/Burrito seasoning and make street tacos. Add some well diced chopped white onions, cilantro and hot sauce/taco sauce on small corn tortillas...voila.

Same goes for pork shoulder (think pulled pork). You can really play around with the seasoning on this one. Mexican, BBQ, Indian spiced, etc.

Easy peasy.

 

[Ronan the BARBERian]

check out the book Jamies 30 min meals, 3 course meals in half an hour.

It has been so successful its has brought his sales of books above the 100 Million mark, no thats not a mis print. Its the highest selling non fiction book of all time and only JK Rowling of harry potter fame has sold more.

 

[Bertilak]

The secret ...

 

[Lucius]

check out the book Jamies 30 min meals, 3 course meals in half an hour.

Can't comment on this book but I've made a few Rachael Ray recipes that took double the time advertised. If you know the ingredients and recipe steps off your head maybe you can do them in 30 minutes...

As for me, I cook for one almost all the time, so there tends to be a lot of leftovers. On days where I go to the gym after work, and therefore I'm usually very hungry and it's pretty late by the time I get home and shower, I go with leftovers or something very easy to prepare. Sometimes something as simple as bacon and eggs. Frozen pierogies. Pasta.

I don't eat a lot of pasta b/c I don't really care for it that much, but I usually have a package or two of something in the cupboard and some sauce just in case. That's always easy to do and you can always quickly throw in vegetables or whatever meat you want into the sauce.

On days where I don't lift after work and just go straight home I'm still usually tired (10 hour days) and don't want to spend a ton of time cooking an elaborate meal for 1 person. I'll usually go with cooking methods that are quick for meat. Saute-ing, pan fry, something that will cook quickly in the oven (pork loin). Fish can always be a quick cook and just about any vegetable can be cooked quickly. I do love those steam in the bag green beans and you can get at least four servings out of one bag.

Quinoa and rice are easy ways to beef up a meal. They're not a particularly fast cooking item, but all you have to do is get the water up to boiling and then let them sit at a simmer, so you're free to prepare other things while they cook. Cut up some meat and veggies and throw it on top. Trader Joe's has several Thai and Indian simmer and curry sauces that you can just throw some cut up chicken (or whatever) in, cook it up real quick, and then throw it on a bed of rice or quinoa. If I do something like that I usually have at least two meals of leftovers from it.

Often I just find myself throwing something together, other than following a specific recipe, which helps things go faster.

Here's a pretty simple recipe I'm going to make tonight (and gonna try substituting greek yogurt for sour cream): http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/f...ts-with-Poblano-Chile-Strips-and-Cream-106892

Jacques Pepin does a pretty easy store bough gnocchi recipe in this episode: http://www.kqed.org/w/morefastfoodmyway/episode202.html

Edit: Don't make that chicken dish with greek yogurt, it curdles.

 

[stobes21]

A big +1 to planning out most meals in advance. Canned beans or lentils and frozen veggies are a great way to add good nutrition to a meal without taking additional cooking time. A grilled or broiled chicken breast or thigh along with rice, mixed veggies from the freezer section, and some refried beans from a can provides a very healthy meal that can be made in 15-20 minutes. And with different seasonings and sauces you can make it incredibly flavorful and mix it up too. Fajitas, tacos, stir fry, steaks, fish, shrimp, sandwich melts, pasta with canned sauce or pesto, and any number of other dishes can all be made in less than 30 minutes, some even less than that. Just plan it out in advance and buy your necessary ingredients the weekend prior.

The other great option is the slow cooker. My favorite slow cooker recipe is for Buffalo Chicken Sandwiches. It consists of 4 ingredients (all of which come from the freezer or cabinet, so no concerns about spoiling) and takes about 5 minutes in the morning and 5 minutes when you get home to prepare. Link here. The shredded chicken makes great leftovers in sandwiches or over a salad. You can also do pot roasts, pulled pork, all manor of soups and stews, chili, etc. I don't like to spend much prep time in the morning, so I prefer crock pot recipes that rely mostly on canned ingredients or stuff you pull out of the fridge or freezer and throw right in.

A common fallback for me is to have some combination of eggs, pancake mix, and fresh or frozen sausage or bacon on hand. With that you can make "breakfast for dinner" in 10-15 minutes and please most people. A selection of good cheese, some crackers and fresh fruit can be pulled out and served immediately for a light meal. And a lot of meals like casseroles or lasagna can be prepped beforehand and stuck in the freezer and then baked when you get home.

 

[Austin]

The secret ...

No the secret is to tell the lady at the drive thru to add cheese to the burger.

Seriously, I like grilling as often as I can. It's fast and good. I also grill veggies too.

 

[Leche]

Crock pot is such a great tool. A few tasty options.

1. Chicken breast, pork roast, or beef roast in the crock pot with your favorite commercial or home made salsa. The meat will be very tender and will shred easily. It will be good for a couple of days and you can make tacos, enchiladas, torta sandwiches, etc.

2. Pork roast with pineapple juice and rings (buy the can with natural juice not or syrup), BBQ sauce of your choice, and sliced sweet onions. When done shred and enjoy on your favorite roll. A nice easy side is white rice, replace the water with pineapple juice and cook as normal.

3. Cube and brown a pot roast and place in crock pot. Add cubed potatoes (I prefer Red Skin but Yukon golds are a good choice also), carrots, parsnips, celery, and I like to put Navy beans in also. Add beef stock and cook during the day. Put some of the stock in a small pot, heat and add butter and sifted flour to thicken, I go pretty thick. Stir into the stew well and enjoy.

 

[Alacrity59]

Well yes I do have a well stocked pantry. The biggest thing for me is getting stuff started when I come home before my butt hits the couch. It really does not take much effort to boil some carrots and potatoes to go with some sliced roast beef left over from Sunday dinner. I keep frozen meat loaf on hand which I can nuke in about 20 minutes . . . and other stuff that that can be done in the microwave or oven . . . which I kinda cheat and do mostly in the Microwave and finish in the oven to get a crispy top etc.

Necessity is the mother of invention. My wife is disabled so I make lunches for her at breakfast . . . some cooking gets done on weekends. Some weekday mornings I'm making 4 meals at the same time. When it gets down to it you can boil eggs . . make macaroni . . . toast bagels and do bacon and eggs or an omelet or a tofu scramble with tomatoes and spinach and feta etc. all at the same time.


Back to supper. Get the water boiling . . . pasta is always good.

 

[endcycle]

A couple of easy lifesavers for me as a single dad w/ full custody of 2 kids and a career that often has me working 50+ hours -

Uber-store-bought-pasta
In the frozen section, I snag a few things every week- a bag of frozen pasta (ravioli, stuffed shells, whatever) or 3 and several kinds of good frozen veggies - i am very partial to the steam-in-bag kinds. In the italian / pasta section, I grab a jar of whatever sauce sounds good every week or so. So this week, I used a mushroom+ricotta ravioli. While that boiled up I nuked a bag of broccoli and emptied a jar of vodka sauce (yummm) into a pot. Combined the entire bag of broccoli into the sauce, and then served that over the ravioli. Blam, full meal for fairly cheap and relatively healthy.

Baked eggs
Ingredients - eggs, cheese, small tomatoes, chives, cream/milk
preheat the oven to about 350. Spray a muffin tin down with nonstick spray, put a piece of cheese, a small tomato, a bit of finely chopped chives, and a touch of milk into each cup. Crack an egg into each cup (alternately could be beaten ahead of time and poured into each cup, in which case put the milk in that step). Put it in the oven for about 10-15 minutes, until you see it setting up nicely. Don't overcook this - it's better to be a bit runny. At service, sprinkle with some nice sea or kosher salt and fresh ground black pepper. Serve with or on good hearty toast.

 

[Rossmeister]

Beans and bacon is my contribution. Basically no cooking time on the beqns (just warm them) and the bacoj takes whatever time you prefer.

Add toast, mushrooms, eggs etc for a fuller meal.

 

[mikromicke]

I had a subscription to a great magazine in Sweden (which unfortunately is too expensive to ship to CA). All recipes in the magazine were supposed to be under 600 kCal/serving and take less than 30 min to cook. There were also a bunch of 10 and 20 min recipes in there. The good thing is that they used a lot of fresh veggies and made very fresh and well tasting menus.

We still use a lot of those recipes and make sure that we buy all ingredients that we'll need in the weekend before. Works pretty well actually.

I'll see if I'll have time to translate a couple of the nicer recipes as I assume that most of you don't read Swedish