In praise of.. the easy hot lunch

Bacon sandwich.

This. With a fried egg and cheese. Then fry the sandwich in the bacon grease.

it sounds… …grim

Corrrrect!

Saucepan add following…
Drain a can of mixed pulses or mixed beans
Chop or slice about a 1/4 of one of a supermarket size chorizo ring
300ml boiling water/just enough to cover beans
One Oxo cube or bouillon powder beef, chicken or veg for the Oxo is fine
One large splodge tomato puree
1/2 to 1tsp chilli flake
Dried oegano and/or basil
Garlic if you can be bothered to chop something else

Simmer for 10 minutes or so

Makes a thick soupy/stew

May be served with cheese and / or bread.

This sounds great.

‘one appliance or pan only’

TBH, if youve got an electric grill (George Foreman or similar) youre golden.
You can cook most things on it, and then put cooked components into a toastie and put it back on the grill if you fancy.

I bought a Thermal/insulated kleen canteen tub thing for work, that happened to be the exact same size as a nest of noodles from the super market.
uncooked Noodles at the bottom. Top it up with "stuff", dry.
Add hot water at lunch and seal it back up for 10 minutes and it was ready. The insulation component was crucial in keeping the water hot enough to cook the noodles, but it worked well.

Cashews, Spring onions and chicken bits. Winner winner.

‘What do we want’? ‘Toasters AND pans’! ‘when do we want them? ‘About 12:30 to 1pm. Ish’.

i enjoyed that.

Anything with an egg and potato. Currently on leftover chilli with left over potato and and a egg. All fried up add a egg. Lovely.

American – cheese, some sort of unidentifiable meat

May also not actually be cheese.

Best Polish Kielecki mayonnaise from Tesco

This one too.

So.. lunch is two jars of hot mayonnaise? I guess you can just pop the lids off and microwave them in their jars so ticks the 'easy' box as theres no washing up- does it get runny enough to just chug when its hot? No spoon?. This could win the thread. Not sure if the OP is going to come windmilling in with some kind of draconian after-the-event rule change though. You know what Binners is like.

You know when you just get something pop in your head that you really really fancy? Well, I'm definitely going for this today*

I shall be utilising the egg cooker, which I've championed many times on here as one of the best kitchen thingimibobs you can own. Perfect eggs every time 😀

* I was going to have a fish finger butty, but I'm cooking a Goan fish curry tonight and thats too much fish for one day

Damn you @Binners for starting this thread. Now I want boiled egg and soldiers AND a fish finger sandwich. This thread is in danger of getting as expensive as all of those damned PSAs 😂

(#sorry @IHN)

Just use the fishfingers as soldiers to dip in the egg.

Grilled cheese and ham sarnie for me today with pico de gallo on the side.

I really shouldn't have read this thread between 11am and lunchtime whole trying to be good and eat healthy/eat less. The next hour is going to last forever until lunchtime!
There's some leftover bolognese in the fridge from last night. Might be going in a Crimpit with some cheese and in the air fryer. But then it would also be nice with the spaghetti in a wrap. Or just on some seeded toast with grated cheedar on top. Maybe with a poached egg on the side.

Damn you @Binners for starting this thread.

Just use the fishfingers as soldiers to dip in the egg.

There’s like; 5 countries that have cuisine so recognisable that even oafs will be able to guess at the taste of it.

You missed,

Indian - contains curry powder.

My studenty/I-haven’t-bothered-shopping-in-ages lunch is:

Instant mash (Idaho buttery preferred)

More butter

Can of tuna

Salad cream

Mix it all together and a decent sprinkling of salt – it sounds and looks grim but has saved me many a time from reverting to deliveroo (or getting off my lazy ass and going to the shops).

That's basically reconstituted fish & chips.

A packet of dry pasta/tomato and herbs (other favours are available)
Add a tin of tuna, hot water, mix, microwave,eat.

1 pan cajun chicken pesto pasta today. omm nom

Tried the Bosh baked beans today - very nice, I'll adjust the amount of sugar down and chilli up

Tried the Bosh baked beans today - very nice, I'll adjust the amount of sugar down and chilli up. Yum.

I've just had a packet of these.

I've done something similar to the Bosh beans before but with a bit less faff because I used baked beans.

use the fishfingers as soldiers to dip in the egg

Next. Level.

WFH today so thick-sliced crusty bread, carefully bringing the loaf back to square and plumb after the gf cut the last slice off with a bent rusty double-handled two person pit saw or something, seemingly.

Butter on, then a good chug of mayo, sprinkled with cheddar and then a real good showering of chilli flakes, browned in the air fryer for bang-on-trend points and enjoyed whilst sizzling hot*.
.
.
.
.
*and the lunch.

carefully bringing the loaf back to square and plumb after the gf cut the last slice off with a bent rusty double-handled two person pit saw or something, seemingly.

I feel your pain. I think MrsIHN uses a combination of two things to slice a loaf:

1) an axe
2) a blindfold

I ended up relying far too much on bread and crisps last year so I'm now trying various quick and healthy options, typically including any combination of the following (often sprinkled with a mix of midlife spices and/or flaxseed, chia seeds etc):

- tuna
- mackerel pate (homemade)
- scrambled eggs with ham/chorizo/anything
- stir fry veg and rice noodles
- mixed beans

Sometimes I use one of these...

as a base and throw in extras.

Have also started making some healthier sweet treats devoid of nasty flour/sugar/carbs, eg chocolate brownies, coconut and peanut butter energy balls etc

Trying to replace my go to habits with better options.

Back from a vile road ride in the rain, wind and puddles...

Semi-warm hard boiled egg, avo, lettice, toms, cuc, mayo and wholegrain mustard in a wrap

A lot of the above I would argue are surely just lunches, not really what you'd call easy lunches.

Pot noodle is easy, pan-fried sea bass on an Aga in a wrap with braised vegetables or whatever.... Isn't so much near that on the scale 😉

In my defence I thought I was just getting the credit for my toastie maker recommendation (Salter) and my assertion that the best toastie is corned beef, onion, cheddar and Worcester sauce

*cough* from @IHN 's thread:

binners
Full Member
Oh.. and @honeybadgerx is on the money about the best toastie

That there @binners is a cad AND a bounder. Though at least he knows what a pie is.

I'm just resurrecting the thread I started, with a confession....

*deep breath....*

Despite loving cooking and doing lots of it, and actually being reasonably good at, I have never actually cooked an omelette

There... I've said it.

So I've just rectified the situation with the 'how to cook a perfect omelette' guide on BBC good food. I kept it simple with lots of black pepper and grated emmental, served with beans (parp!). It was rather good for a first attempt, I thought 🙂

[img] [/img]

#ratemyomelette

Looks OK to me binners, though there'll be folk hereabouts having palpitations at those beans touching the omelette.

As for recipe, it's not difficult. La Mere Poulard who was credited with cooking the perfect omelette in the 19th century was asked for the recipe. She replied "Monsieur Viel, Here is the recipe for the omelette: I break some good eggs in a bowl, I beat them well, I put a good piece of butter in the pan, I throw the eggs into it, and I shake it constantly. I am happy, monsieur, if this recipe pleases you".

Working from home today. Pack of chicken wings > Air Fryer for 30 mins

Small capful of Extra Virgin shared between 6 wings, liberal dosing with the salt and pepper grinders. Literally the best tasting wings ever - good dollop of Franks Hot Sauce on the side

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That is an inspired lunch!

Mrs Binners has recently discovered these beauties at Iceland, which are also the the lunch of champions. Just whack 'em in the air fryer

Oooh, bet they are utter filth (in a good way) fried

omelette.

As for recipe, it’s not difficult. La Mere Poulard who was credited with cooking the perfect omelette in the 19th century was asked for the recipe. She replied “Monsieur Viel, Here is the recipe for the omelette: I break some good eggs in a bowl, I beat them well, I put a good piece of butter in the pan, I throw the eggs into it, and I shake it constantly. I am happy, monsieur, if this recipe pleases you”.

Exactly. (Or should I say eggsactly! 😀 ) An omelette is simply beaten eggs cooked in a lubricated pan. Add any other ingredients you want, but it is pretty much the easiest of all things to cook, even easier than a boiled egg because you can see how it is cooking.

I also think it's difficult to beat a cheesy omelette with a good salad and chunk of crusty bread for any meal.

Got up early this morning to cook fried rice for breakfast.

Didn't sleep well last night as I drank too much coffee while working and got up early this morning hungry.

You had fried rice for breakfast? 😳

You had fried rice for breakfast? 😳

LOL! Yes. Rather common in some part of SE Asia. LOL!

Very easy fried rice ... a bit of garlic, shallots, spring onions, eggs, prawn, overnight rice, salt, soy sauce, sambal chilli, sesame oil and a bit of MSG. Hot wok and stir fried them all in that order. LOL

p/s: was going to have pitta bread with curry for breakfast but decided to have curry for dinner instead so I had fried rice. LOL!

#ratemyomelette

I'd give you a solid 8/10 for that

You had fried rice for breakfast? 😳

Sounds like a great idea

Chopped up chorizo, in a frying pan, fry for a bit, add butter beans, fry for a bit longer

Chopped up chorizo, green pepper, garlic, sliced red onion, smoked paprika, fried egg, brown toast, lots of coffee, slump on couch and sweat a bit.

Chopped up chorizo, in a frying pan, fry for a bit, add butter beans, fry for a bit longer

Also works with peas instead of butter beans. (Boil the peas separately first, of course).

Chewkw's breakfast sounds good as a lunch. Is overnight rice just rice cooked yesterday?

Can I quickly say that I’ve been a Heinz man all my life but have recently converted to Branston baked beans. Cheaper ,thicker sauce and not as sweet.
The king is dead, long live the king.

Spicy sausage tortellini with green pesto.

Prep time: 30s
Cooking time: 3mins

Chewkw’s breakfast sounds good as a lunch. Is overnight rice just rice cooked yesterday?

Yes, from yesterday. Never fresh for fried rice or it will be very sticky. If you cooked a lot previous day you can keep it in the fridge and use it for fried rice the next day.

Sambal chilli is optional but since I have some I just added it in. Sambal chilli fried rice is more M'sia style. For Chinese fried rice just exclude the sambal.

If you want to keep your fried rice longer exclude garlic, shallots and spring onions, otherwise it will taste weird the next day.

Very easy fried rice … a bit of garlic, shallots, spring onions, eggs, prawn, overnight rice, salt, soy sauce, sambal chilli, sesame oil and a bit of MSG. Hot wok and stir fried them all in that order. LOL

@chewkw - to be honest with you, that sounds absolutely fantastic!

The other day I had a bit of a trip down memory Lane. I’d forgotten these things existed, but I can gladly report that they are as awesome as I remember

Black pudding on top and a fried egg 😃

Instant noodles (our goto are Sainsbury's veg), with nutritional yeast, a knob of butter, a dash of soy sauce, and a little chilli oíl. A near perfect one pot lunch.

I'm with Binners (figuratively)
https://flic.kr/p/2ocFayY

Black pudding on top and a fried egg 😃

Potato waffles with black pudding on top and a fried egg are brilliant too.

I still can't cook chips the way Fish & Chips shop do them no matter how I try. I am not sure if it is the temperature not high enough or anything else. I used the right potato (Maris Piper) but still the same soggy chips.

Not easy to cook chips the proper way. If I get some Fish & Chips I would know if the shop can get cook well because of the way the prepared their chips. If the chips do not taste good the rest will be the same.