If you’re anything like me, it’s hard to find the time to enjoy a home-cooked meal. Also, if you’re anything like me, you like to keep things ridiculously simple when it comes to food preparation. I don’t profess to be a chef on any level, but I have enjoyed cooking various items in a sauce pan. Last night I whipped up lemon pepper tilapia and zucchini for two in about 15 minutes for around $5 in food costs. Not too shabby for someone who can’t cook, right?
Since I’m fairly new to cooking in general, I’d greatly appreciate any recommendations for simple meals that can go from pre-prep to ready-to-eat in 15 minutes or less. Thanks!
I like the Rachael Ray method. Remember her show, 30 Minute Meals? She always pre-prepped her ingredients-- something most people don’t do. I’ll always have chopped celeries and carrots in my fridge, as well as diced onions and thawed chicken and fish (I buy frozen bulk from Costco).
I usually cut my chicken halfway across (as if you’re filleting it). I coat it with salt, pepper, paprika, thyme, and a squeeze of lemon or lime. I throw it on a pan and it’s good to go in about ten minutes. Nice sear.
Broccoli takes me about 20 minutes. I pretty much follow this recipe with some loose variations here and there: Roasted Broccoli with Parmesan Recipe Excellent with dipping sauce (some people like BBQ)
If you make a lot of chicken at once, you can use it later in some salads. I usually buy romaine lettuce and Caesar dressing from Trader Joe’s and toss on some sliced mushrooms, tomatoes, and cheese. Pretty damn satisfying meal that gives you a lot of clean energy.
I’m also a big fan of fried rice. Usually takes me just under 15 minutes to cook, whether it’s a small or big portion. Make sure the rice has been refrigerated so it’s cool and dry. If you cook with hot rice, the consistency just gets all out of whack.
Throw in oil, sliced garlic, then the scrambled eggs. Cook it up, then throw in turkey breast or whatever meat if you want. Add some veggies (I like using the pre-mixed veggies of peas, sliced carrots, and corn). Throw in the rice. Add soy sauce, salt, pepper. Serve.
I like throwing on hot sauce. Sriracha works well, as does TJ’s ghost pepper chilis.
Not sure if you have a bbq or not but I often cook a multi course dinner with sides in under 15 (excluding shopping time)> at my local supermarket I order 1/2 pound jumbo shrimp peeled and cleaned as soon as I get there. I then head to fresh fruits and veggies and pick up some fresh spinach and a few potatoes.
Grab protien of choice/whats on sale head back to ish counter for shrimp and head home.
Appetizer place shrimp on grill as its warming up after a minute or two flip, after another minute or two, remove place on ice and refrigerate to cool down. Serve when you remove protien from grill as it takes time to cool down.
Spinach side – in aluminum pan cook spinach with fresh minced garlic and olive oil. When spinach shrivels its done
Potato side cook 3/4s of it in microwave, then slice then add cinnamon and butter to slices and wrap in tinfoil and cook for 15 minutes on the grill
Protein – semi self explanatory depending on what you choose.
Pick up a small cake and perhaps fresh loaf of bread and you have a full dinner under 15 minutes but over a few dollars.
Slice zucchini and summer squash, saute in olive oil with some shallot, add can of whole plum tomatoes, add salt and pepper. Boil water, add penne, while tomato/squash mixture simmers. Take about 3/4 cup pasta water and add to tomato/squash mixture. Add cooked pasta to squash/tomato mixture, add dollop of fresh ricotta to the top, garnish with fresh basil.
Love it. I make something similar at least once a week, but your cost sounds off. We buy a package of tilapia filets at Costco for around $12-$13 and it contains something like a dozen large pieces. Yours looks like about half of many of the pieces we buy. That’s 50¢ for the fish and not much more for the zucchini.
This kind of meal cost caused us to search out really inexpensive white wines. It just seemed wrong to open a $30 bottle with a few bucks worth of food.
Did you find any solid inexpensive white wines? When I’m making simple meals at home, I rarely drink wine.
Reminds me of a time Gil Amilio and Steve Jobs went out to eat with their wives. “Amelio brought a bottle of 1964 Cheval Blanc and a Montrachet that each cost about $300; Jobs chose a vegetarian restaurant in Redwood City where the food bill totaled $72.”
I make hash about once a week when I’m really tired and/or clearing out the fridge:
Nuke some potatoes or sweet potatoes until they are almost cooked through. Then cube and throw into a frying pan with diced onion/leeks. Add in red bell pepper/fennel/chard stems/whatever leftover veggies you have. Last minute - add in kale/spinach/chard/fresh herbs. Plate, then top with two eggs sunnyside up. Make sure the eggs are runny as they provide the sauce.
Thursdays are typically “refrigerator” quesadilla night. Dice up whatever leftover protein is around. Chop some tomatoes add whatever else may be hanging out. Slap between two tortillas with some shredded cheese. When it’s not quesadilla night, it’s refrigerator stir fry night. If you think that you’re going to be really pressed for time, precook some rice earlier in the week and do fried rice as Curtis suggested.
That’s why I throw stuff on the grill. Might be more than 15 minutes total, but not a lot of prep. Often add evoo to veggies wrapped in foil and cook them alongside. Put some rice in the steamer and it equals dinner.
Active time versus total time makes a big difference too, if you can throw something in a pot or the oven an walk away, that can be better than 15 minutes of work. Also, it’s about priorities. I work two jobs and have a 3 year old but I cook and clean up 2 meals a day most days.
I agree. I use my crock pot a lot for various things. Recently I’ve been doing a lot of Indian food on the crockpot (primarily legume stews). Takes about 15 minutes in the morning and it’s ready when I get home.
But for real 15 minute meals, I try to keep things around that make it easy to throw something together. (One of my current favorites are the Momofuku soy pickled shitakes which I can add to a quick noodle soup or pan fried noodles.) Rice noodles are great because you can just soak them in hot water, saute some veggies on a pan while the noodles are soaking, pull the veg out of the pan, add the rice noodles and some stock and cook the noodles in the pan in about 2 minutes, then add the veg back and you’re done.
If noodles are too much work, I normally just throw together some kind of entree salad since I always have a ton of veg around (and generally some cooked beans in the fridge).
Sauteed salmon. Serious eats method - dry salmon well, get pan (not non-stick) ripping hot with some oil in it, carefully put salmon skin side down, lower heat to med/low, ignore for 10 minutes, flip and cook other side for 30 seconds.
In the meantime, saute some garlic in oil and add whatever green you have (arugula, bok choy, etc) to the pan. If it’s thicker (like kale) add some liquid and cover for 5-10 minutes. Add flavorings at the end. (can do olive oil with lemon juice at end for more classic, peanut oil with some soy/rice wine/sesame oil for asian, etc).
My current favorite side-grain is farro is it keeps quite well in the fridge for a week after cooking (unlike rice). Or just make rice.
Chicken thighs with parsnips/carrot and ginger is another favorite, though it takes an extra 15 minutes or so of oven time.
Sear chicken thighs on skin side. Meanwhile, preheat oven to 450, chop up a few parsnips into rods and mince some ginger and garlic.
When chicken is crisp on skin side (10 minutes or so), flip for a few seconds, then remove from pan.
Saute parsnips with garlic and ginger for a few minutes till parsnips start to soften.
Throw chicken back on top of the veggies and into oven until chicken is done.
![[thumbs-up.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/f/f84c5acc11486ee4baba6dee6cf61dbd133abb18.gif "[thumbs-up.gif]"){kind=small}