Jar of curry heated in a saucepan for 3-4 minutes bag of micro rice in micro for 2 minutes and cooked prawns in sauce at the same time. prawn curry in 6 minutes with no prep and one pot to wash.
That counts as proper cooking for me, and about the max amount of effort I'd ever be prepared to spend on cooking
IANAF....
Feta spaghetti. Boil pasta, whilst it’s cooking chop garlic, chilli (olives too if you like) then when the pasta is done toss it in olive oil, black pepper add the garlic and chill and crumble the feta over it. Mix thoroughly. Depending on the pasta takes no more than 15 minutes from pot to bowl.
Or a Pot Noodle. 😉
slap a tin of sardines or mackerel in to take it up a level ( after the first stir)
So this is where I would resort to my just got home and ravenous from a cold night ride and want low effort, low cook time foods...
Omelette preferably with some chopped chorizo, cheddar or feta and jalapenos. Oven chips or (more likely) buttered toast for carbs if required.
Speedy chorizo soup stew thing...
Can mixed pulses drained
Bit of stock
Oregano and basil
Tom puree
Chilli flake
Chorizo
Simmer 10 minutes
Eat with or without bread
Any of following on hot buttered granary/seeded toast
Cheese (cheddar or stilton)
Mackerel in some kind of spicy sauce
Scrambled egg (and chorizo)
Beans possibly with cheese
Poached egg + chipotle Tabasco or lots of black pepper
If I've planned ahead any kind of zappable leftovers pot from the freezer curry or chilli usually
Or Lobster thermidor aux crevettes with a mornay sauce garnished with truffle pâté, brandy and with a fried egg on top and spam chorizo 😋
chop garlic
This is the no cook thread. We are in the territory of heating and a stir at the absolute most, and when I say stir note the singular 'a stir' no resotto style stiring. No chopping. Only exception is cutting cheese.
Birdseye crispy chicken(frozen). 2 in the oven for 25 ins. Eat with fingers.
Mayonnaise optional.
Cold rice pudding, straight from the tin. Food of the god's.
We usually eat together but always got a selection of cheese and biscuits in.
Can't beat a good cheese board
I'm on a keto diet to lose weight at the moment. If I get to 8pm and I've not cooked, I rest easy in the knowledge that I've got calories to burn around my waist, and I'm not hungry anyway 🙂
When not on keto, I'm with @eddiebaby - if it's worth eating, it's worth a bit of time over.
slap a tin of sardines or mackerel in to take it up a level ( after the first stir)
That's insane! But - it just... might... work... 🙂
Cheese and ham on toast with a fried egg is the food of the gods. Or at least the Royal Navy.
Lots of these are too much effort when you just CBA. So here's my contribution.
Low effort - Bowl of cereals
Medium effort - Tin of cold beans
High effort - Beans on toast but put marmite on your toast before adding beans
Insane effort - Beans on toast and sling a fried egg on top
I always have a box of Weetos in the cupboard for this eventuality. Anything other than pouring it out of a packet counts as cooking in my mind.
Pasta only takes minutes. I’ll usually have a jar of pesto in the house. Or just stir through some marmite.
Marmite pasta? That can't be legal, surely?
I'll usually go for an apple and a banana if I CBA2 cook. Either by itself is a snack, both = a meal. Other fruits are available, just don't dunk them in marmite.
Large Bombay Bad Boy Pot Noodle with large chopped chilli, big spoon of homemade curry powder mix with fresh coriander, yoghurt/cucumber/coriander and my own thin flatbreads made with garlic/chilly/black pepper. (when making pizza dough there’s always enough dough left over to make a dozen to freeze)
Try a Naked Noodle Thai green curry pot , with a chopped up red chillie, and a whole pack of cooked king prawns.
Thank me later 😉
Got to say the air fryer is a blessing for quick hot meals as none of that heating up faff plus it's quicker anyway so all the brown foods (fish fingers, chips, nuggets, bean burgers etc etc) are readily & speedily available with minimal effort
Microwave rice, tinned fish,. Microwave peas and a few spoons of curry paste. Mix.
Omelette for me when I can't be arsed. 3/4 eggs with a chopped up tomato in at the last minute salt, pepper. Or just grate some cheese on it if you're feeling particularly lazy. Filling and not so bad for you that you feel gross afterwards. minimal washing up as well.
Sardines on toast.
Just eat with the kids. Yeah I know kids food might lack spice, heat, whatever...but a few condiments will sort that out.
No one wants to cook twice in one evening.
Stuffed pasta, tortellini, ravioli, etc (the fresh stuff in the chiller) and a pot of microwavable sauce.
Literally 4 mins in boiling water, 4 mins in the microwave and throw in bowls.
The kids love it there's very little effort or washing up, there's probably more faff in making a Sandwich...
You lot are over thinking this.
Chilli heatwave Doritos and a big bag of minstrels.
Pasta Puttanesca. Sauce is quicker to make than the time the pasta takes to cook, so hard to grudge the effort.
Omelette with whatever’s lying in the fridge. Can do one in less time than it takes to make a decent cup of tea.
Crisp sandwich - the options are endless.
6 bags of crisps....
Nothing.
When I’m proper hungry ill cook.
As will 95% of the respondents to this thread by the look of it. But at least you read the bloody question properly.
As many others have said - eat all together if possible. We always ate as a family around the table every single evening. We ate what we were given. However we always had at least one meal in the week that was a chosen favourite for each person.
Beans on toast.
Sardines/mackerel on toast.
Soup. We always have a couple of tins of soup (although I mostly make my own).
Fish finger sandwiches.
If you're really desperate, any cereal with some milk.
Get a one of those precooked salmon fillet packets which have that chilli sauce in, uncle bens golden vegetable rice. Nuke it together in the microwave for 3 mins and then drizzle sriracha over it. So good!
Yeah I don’t get it. You’ve already cooked once? Why didn’t you just eat then?
Just eat with the kids. Yeah I know kids food might lack spice, heat, whatever…but a few condiments will sort that out.
No one wants to cook twice in one evening.
But sometimes (in our household's experience) the kids have stuff on that means a very quick dinner needs rustling up (usual staples of chicken nuggets / Quorn pasties and frozen chips stuffed down their throats before dashing off to an activity) and I certainly wouldn't want to eat that stuff so I always then cook something for my wife and I later (but I love cooking so any excuse to make something really nice is a win for me).
Toast and cereal.
Beans on toast topped with cheese less than 5 mins effort, might have thar for lunch now I’ve thought about it.
Because you've said you dont want to cook, and I dread to think what counts as 'cooking' for a lot of people (banquet fit for the queen perhaps), I've got to agree with just toast. Either just with lots of butter and jam or peanut butter and jam together. I might have suggested beans on toast but I have it with grated cheese and a fried egg on top, even that minimal effort counts as cooking in my eyes. Also at 8pm I wouldn't want to eat anything heavier than toast as I find my IBD worse if I go to bed with undigested food.
But sometimes (in our household’s experience) the kids have stuff on that means a very quick dinner needs rustling up (usual staples of chicken nuggets / Quorn pasties and frozen chips stuffed down their throats before dashing off to an activity) and I certainly wouldn’t want to eat that stuff so I always then cook something for my wife and I later (but I love cooking so any excuse to make something really nice is a win for me).
I think you've missed the point though. I also love cooking so I see life through your sort of eyes, but the OP is time/enthusiasm poor and I think is looking for very quick with zero hassle. Given some of the options here, the nuggets and chips sound nourishing and interesting.
If I need something quick that tastes good and is very simple then cous cous and a tin or mackerel in tomato sauce is pretty good. Or an omelette only takes a few minutes to cook. Nachos in the microwave (ideally with haggis and cheese but the "traditional" way works too). If you have ingredients then a massive salad (chicken ceasar?) isn't really cooking and leaves me feeling I've been healthier than sticking a pie and beans in the microwave.
Picard (you can get their stuff from Ocado, and elsewhere) do some high quality frozen stuff that easily cooks from frozen.
In particular, their paella is great. Just take the bag out the freezer, shake some into a pan, heat. Job done. If you want you can throw some other things in, but they're pretty generous with the fish etc.
The second post had this nailed, pretty much every one since it has missed the point. The answer to "What do you eat when you don't want to cook" is not "I'll cook blah blah blah...".
FWIW - cereal, usually a mix of granola and muesli with additional raisins and sultanas, sometimes a chopped up banana, lobbed in, in a portion commensurate with my hunger.
Think Cheesy Peas!
To clarify: Most nights I do end up cooking two proper meals, one for the kids (3 & 7) and one for me and the missus (who refuses to eat at 5 with the kids). Luckily I don't have to make anything for the 6 month old yet.
It's the nights where I'm broken that this doesn't happen, so my limit for effort at this point is probably reached by putting something on a tray in the oven (certainly no marinading) or boiling a kettle. If I've got to stand about in the kitchen for more than a couple of minutes to get it finished that's not what I'm after.
So far beige food from the freezer (probably with chili sauce) or a cold tin of rice pudding are probably taking the lead.
When it comes to beige food, what you need is the sort that can also give you third degree burns...
Seriously folks... go to Iceland and find all types of wondrous foodstuffs for your freezer that you never knew even existed. You can thank me later 😀
so my limit for effort at this point is probably reached by putting something on a tray in the oven (certainly no marinading) or boiling a kettle.
The other night I had a posh fish finger sandwich, fries and peas. Four fish fingers, one of those part baked baguettes and some oven fries, all into the oven at the same time on the same tray. Fifteen minutes later they all come out, baguette split, tommy K and tartare sauce applied, warm, crispy sarnie made. Peas were three minutes in the microwave. It was really quite excellent.
@integra Also a can of deluxe Ambrosia custard will suffice or a carton for the larger appetite.
Or Lobster thermidor aux crevettes with a mornay sauce garnished with truffle pâté, brandy and with a fried egg on top and spam chorizo 😋
I for one appreciated this reference.
@somafunk -
"homemade curry powder mix" - Do you have a recipe for this? It's something I've been trying to perfect for years.
Noodle pots (NB. not Pot Noodles!) This one is my go to
Nong Shim Shin noodles are hands down the greatest noodles ever put on this earth if you like spicy food that's actually spicy. They do a Supernoodle-a-like variant too.
Also, great for ordering via your voice assistant device if you want Alexa to purchase two goats and a MIG welder.
I always have chicken nuggets and hash browns in the freezer, whak it in the oven, and bang some chilli sauce (or whatever sauce you want) on it once cooked.
Also other frozen wonders, chilli cheese bites, breaded scampi etc, etc.
Pretty much zero effort, maximum nom.