Quick easy cheap meal suggestions

[cj25]

What do y'all eat when you don't feel like cooking/don't have time to cook/having nothing in the fridge but don't want to spend a lot at a restaurant?  I can't eat fast food because I can't tolerate wheat/gluten.   We occasionally will order kids meals from restaurants through take out to save money but it's still spending more than necessary.   Just need some ideas.

[ketchup]

Throw chicken breasts on some sort of baking dish.  Open a jar of salsa and pour it all over the chicken.  Add some other Mexican-y spices if you like it spicy or are feeling fancy.  Bake at 400F until done (~20 minutes).  Top with shredded cheese if that's your thing, and/or serve with rice (cooked in chicken stock if feeling fancy) if that's your thing.

Sides: microwave "baked" potatoes and/or steam-in-the-bag lazy vegetables

Dinner in less than half an hour with less than five active prep minutes and little cleanup.

Or.... eat plain cold hot dogs straight out of the package and a handful of cashews to wash them down.  No work, and done eating in two minutes.  I've done that one too.

[Rezdent]

If you are already going out for takeout - get your takeout from the grocery store...also figure out what you like and keep a stock of it around so that you don't need to do this as often.

Depending on what's in the kitchen, I can usually mix/match the following:
Canned beans.
Canned tuna.
Olives.
Cheese.
Almond butter.

Fast easy cooking:
Eggs.
Microwaved "baked" potato topped with whatever.
Frozen vegetables.

[lizzzi]

Tuna Blop. Combine one can tuna with one can undiluted mushroom soup in saucepan.  Increase cans as needed, using same ratio. Heat on stove and serve over toast. Open a can of vegetables or microwave a bag of steam in the bag veggies for your side dish.

[Digital Dogma]

I always keep a few cans of corned beef hash, eggs, cheese, and frozen sausage/bagels around. When me and my SO want to just order a pizza or delivery food after a hard day, we do breakfast for dinner instead. And we'll mix it up, french toast, omelet, scrambled eggs, quiche, etc.

Nothing hits the spot better than breakfast for dinner when you're looking at trashy delivery food.

[Crusader]

Any American stable that is home cooked. Eggs, Bacon, Hamburgers, Hotdogs, Spinach Salad, Hashbrowns. Granted these can be slow depending on how you cook them. I tend to cook these pretty slow so it is realistically an hour to cook, settle down, and eat for me.

[Davids]

While not a healthy option PB&J sandwich is probably the most mustachian meal in my opinion. I am just taking about regular PB, not the fancy kind and regular grape jelly, not the fancy kind.

[dougules]

I generally try to cook big when I do, then we can have leftovers whenever we're in a rush or feeling lazy. 

An even better strategy on this one is to cook a really big pot of homecooked soup or stew when I'm feeling motivated.   Then I portion it out into containers that go into the freezer.  It can stay in there for months if you don't eat it, then when you need it voilą.  Cheap delicious microwave dinner.   Soup is alsoo a good way to use odds and ends out of the fridge, but you can use this strategy with anything that freezes well. 

[2buttons]

Not for gluten free people, but this is a solid cheap go to that is simple to make.  http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ina-garten/spaghetti-aglio-e-olio-recipe.html

[TrMama]

I'm loving the Mealime app. It lets you pick from ingredients/diets that you don't like (like gluten) and then it generates an entire week's worth of really simple, cheap meals. They're all supposed to take less than 30 min. Best of all, it's free.

[Lunasol]

Have you seen Tasty videos on facebook? Maybe you can find an easy/fast new recipe to try!

I made fried rice the other day with leftover boiled rice, 1 egg, soy sauce, white pepper, salt, carrots and onion I think? it was yummy and really fast to make

[Chris22]

Mexican food in general (may not be 100% authentic).  Some browned beef or chicken with some spices, chopped up peppers and onions, and slap it in a tortilla and add cheese and/or sour cream as desired.  Serve with boxed rice, or some tortilla chips with cheese melted over it (shredded cheese + microwave).

We eat some form of this 1x almost every week.

[eljefe-speaks]

When the wifey and I are feeling lazy we buy one of those big pork loins from the grocery that are pre-packaged in marinade. Throw it on the grill and the payoff (tastiness) is large for a tiny amount of work. The only drawback is they're high in sodium.

[big_slacker]

While not a healthy option PB&J sandwich is probably the most mustachian meal in my opinion. I am just taking about regular PB, not the fancy kind and regular grape jelly, not the fancy kind.

Why is PB&J not healthy? Whole wheat bread, fruit only jam and minimal ingredient PB. None of that is fancy or overly expensive.

My contribution: I always have pre-cooked brown rice in the fridge. So brown rice, some canned black beans, some salsa from the fridge. Veggies if I have them but not required. Throw in a bowl and eat like that or throw in a soft taco shell.

[Chris22]

Also most grocery stores sell a cooked, hot rotisserie chicken for like $5-6.  Cheap, easy, and surprisingly delicious. 

[Tiger Stache]

cereal, scrambled eggs, omelettes, yellow rice, steamed vegetables.

my wife the other night actually combined a can of steak and potato soup with some instant grits packets. it was fantastic!

[going2ER]

This time of the year where it is hot and we don't feel like cooking, salad. Quick and easy, you can put anything in it. We usually have some hard boiled eggs or leftover chicken on top for some protein, but use whatever veggies are on hand.

[snogirl]

Also most grocery stores sell a cooked, hot rotisserie chicken for like $5-6.  Cheap, easy, and surprisingly delicious.

Yes those are great.
I precut everything off, throw the bones in a pot to make broth that I freeze.
You can take that chicken and make sandwiches, chicken salad, add to rice, salads.
So many options.  I noticed Costco's birds to be much bigger (growth hormones?).
I do not have a Costco card so I just bicycle to our supermarket down the road. 
Put the bird in the basket lol

[GrumpyPenguin]

My easy go-to is stir fry. Either frozen chicken or tofu, any kind of veggie, and some rice or quinoa. Always can eat within a half hour and reasonably healthy.

[ketchup]

Also most grocery stores sell a cooked, hot rotisserie chicken for like $5-6.  Cheap, easy, and surprisingly delicious.

Yes those are great.
I precut everything off, throw the bones in a pot to make broth that I freeze.
You can take that chicken and make sandwiches, chicken salad, add to rice, salads.
So many options.  I noticed Costco's birds to be much bigger (growth hormones?).
I do not have a Costco card so I just bicycle to our supermarket down the road. 
Put the bird in the basket lol

No chicken produced in the US gets growth hormones (by law).  But that doesn't stop marketers from claiming Hormone Free!

[GuitarStv]

What do y'all eat when you don't feel like cooking/don't have time to cook/having nothing in the fridge but don't want to spend a lot at a restaurant?

That scenario is an emergency scenario.  It means that you didn't plan ahead.  This doesn't come up too often for me anymore, but when it did while I was single I'd just eat food components.

- Ten tablespoons of peanut butter and a handfull of chocolate chips.
- A large hunk of cheese.
- A couple cans of tuna.
- Any fruit that's kicking around.
- Canned soup / canned fruit

If that doesn't sound appealing, then I start to feel like cooking.

This never happens any more because these days we cook three large meals on the weekend, and then freeze most of the food.  This way our freezer is always full of meals exactly the size we need for dinner.  We normally just grab stuff a couple days in advance and defrost it in the fridge, but in an emergency we could defrost a meal in the microwave.

[1967mama]

If we were going to drive somewhere for take-out anyways, we try to stop at the grocery store instead. There's lots of prepackaged, ready to eat foods in there that cost less to feed a family than take-out.

[MrsPB]

Costco sells a big bag of stir fry veggies, good quality with about 10 different veggies. A quick stir fry with some garlic, soy sauce or if you have a jar of Thai curry paste and some coconut milk, you have an instant veggie curry or stir fry. The veggies cook in about 5 mins. All the ingredients are non perishable for the most part or can be frozen for long periods so this is a good standby pantry meal.
 
A pasta bake is good too, I use rice pasta or quinoa pasta as I can't do wheat. Fry up some peppers, onions or whatever you have on hand, add bacon or ham or chicken or ground beef if you have them. Mix with cooked pasta and add tomato/pasta sauce. Throw in canned olives, artichokes etc. If you don't have any thing resembling tomato sauce, add a bit of olive oil. Top with grated cheese and bake until cheese browns. I've also done a quick stove top version with spaghetti or pasta: stir fry some garlic, mushrooms if you have them are good too. Stir into pasta and add some lemon juice. Add spinach if you have any. Serve with cheese, preferably Parmesan on top.

[snogirl]

Also most grocery stores sell a cooked, hot rotisserie chicken for like $5-6.  Cheap, easy, and surprisingly delicious.

Yes those are great.
I precut everything off, throw the bones in a pot to make broth that I freeze.
You can take that chicken and make sandwiches, chicken salad, add to rice, salads.
So many options.  I noticed Costco's birds to be much bigger (growth hormones?).
I do not have a Costco card so I just bicycle to our supermarket down the road. 
Put the bird in the basket lol

No chicken produced in the US gets growth hormones (by law).  But that doesn't stop marketers from claiming Hormone Free!

So Costco Rotisserie chickens just follow their marketing strategy of go big or go home?  :) They are as big as a Home Run Juicer.

[MrsPB]

Breakfast for dinner is good too. You can do a variety of foods for various dietary restrictions but so easy to do omelettes, scrambled eggs, hash browns (microwave cut potatoes then brown in pan), canned baked beans, bacon or sausages.

Can the rest of your family eat wheat? Lots more choices if that's the case and then for yourself a modified version or whip something else up quickly

[DTaggart]

When I was trying to transition from constantly eating fast food to cooking at home, I made sure to always keep a frozen pizza in the freezer, some pasta and a jar of spaghetti sauce in the cupboard, and a few cans of soup on hand. My quick "forgot to plan and take meat out to defrost" meals were:

- Omelettes
- Soup and grilled cheese
- Spaghetti
- Frozen pizza

Add carrot sticks, frozen vegetables, or a salad to not feel quite so pathetic :)

Now that I regularly meal plan and batch cook on weekends I don't usually have these problems, but it took me a while to get to this point and the above really helped me kick the habit of going out all the time.

[mm1970]

Veggies and hummus

Marinated beans (canned beans, olive oil, garlic, red wine vinegar, basil, oregano)

cheese quesadillas (corn tortillas)

microwaved or stir fry veg (use frozen!) over rice

smoothies

scrambled eggs

"picky plate" - cheese, olives, fruit, veg

grilled or baked chicken or fish

[cj25]

I do meal plan, but sometimes life happens. 

Thanks for all the suggestions. 

[DCKatie09]

I like to stock up on birdseye frozen protein blends when they're on sale - decent mix of grains, beans, and veggies. I'll usually add some veggies from the fridge, and maybe some sausage or chicken, to bulk it up a bit. As is, it's a skimpy dinner for 2, with additions I can usually get it up to 3 servings.

I also like mujadarah - lentils and rice topped with sauteed onions. I do brown rice, so I cook the rice and lentils together, and let the onions cook down for the 30 minute cook time. Easy, fairly quick.

[mozar]

I meal plan and I struggle so I feel your pain. I'm chicken/beef/gluten/dairy free. I'm going to try making falafel and freeze it before frying it. Anything with tomato sauce makes me happy, if you are the same there are lots of ways to make lasagne without noodles. Also shakshuka.

[ptobest]

I often freeze extras from meals for this exact purpose. Otherwise, I'll do a quick sandwich - tuna fish, pbj, or cheese.

If I want something more delicious, but still relatively lazy, I'll make my favorite fast breakfast item - whisk 1-2 eggs with milk, dump in a fistful of frozen spinach (I like getting big bags of fresh & freezing for later, so useful), pan-fry with some sliced cheese on top, place between a bagel/on bread/in a tortilla with some hot sauce, and enjoy!