What are some tasty, cheap and easy dinner meals you can cook ahead of time and/or reheat in the microwave?!
Answers: I'd love some suggestions you see every third week my boyfriend works afternoon shift so whatever i make him needs to be reheatable and simple to cook as i don't have much time of a night with a 3 year old and a 7 month old(whom i'm b/feeding). The other option i'm thinking about is cooking dinner for him before he goes to work and have it at lunch time and have a light snack for dinner.
Shepherd's Pie
You need:
500g Beef Mince
1x450g jar favourite bolognaise sauce
1 stick celery, finely chopped
100g mushrooms, sliced
1 carrot, finely chopped
1 zucchini, finely chopped
2 cups mashed potato
Method:
Brown mince in a frypan. Stir in bolognaise sauce, celery, mushrooms, carrot and zucchini. Cover and simmer gently for 20 minutes.
Spoon sauce into a pie dish. Top with mashed potato.
Bake at 180 degrees celsius until top is golden, approx. 20 minutes.
There you have an easy recipe for the old time favourite, Shepherd's Pie.
Try the following
Lasagne
1lb of ground beef
Half a white onion
A quarter of a red onion
3-4 cloves fresh garlic
24oz of tomato sauce
9 strips of uncooked Lasagne pasta
1 teaspoon of basil
1 tablespoon of oregano
Salt and pepper to taste
1 pack of Mozzarella cheese, grated
2 eggs
12oz of Ricotta cheese
A quarter cup of grated Parmesan cheese
Method
Preheat oven to 350°F (180°C, Gas Mark 4).
Dice up all the onions and garlic, and sauté in a large saucepan (a big cast-iron skillet works well) for a few minutes, then crumble in the ground beef. Brown the beef/onion mixture, adding basil and oregano. When ground beef is well browned, drain off any excess grease, add the tomato sauce, and simmer, adding salt and pepper to taste.
While the sauce is simmering, in a bowl, mix the Ricotta cheese, the two whole eggs, and the Parmesan cheese all together, stirring well. Take a baking dish (preferably close in size to 13" x 9", or 12" x 7") and brush lightly with oil (this makes clean-up easier!). Cover bottom of baking dish thinly with tomato/meat sauce. Cover this with uncooked lasagne - should be three pieces lengthwise. On top of the Lasagna add more meat sauce, and a layer of the Ricotta cheese mixture. Sprinkle grated Mozzarella cheese over this. Lay another layer of pasta and repeat layering. On top of the second layer add Lasagne, what is left of the meat sauce, and the remainder of the Mozzarella. Cover the dish with baking foil, and bake for 30-40 minutes, until brown and bubbling.
Beef mince and pea curry
Ingredients (serves 4)
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 brown onion, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, crushed
2 tablespoons madras curry paste
650g beef mince
400g can diced tomatoes
1 cup frozen peas
steamed basmati rice, mint leaves and pappadums, to serve
Method
Heat oil in a large saucepan over medium-high heat. Add onion and cook, stirring, for 3 to 4 minutes or until soft. Add garlic and cook for 1 minute. Add curry paste and cook, stirring, for 1 minute or until aromatic.
Add beef and cook, stirring with a wooden spoon, for 4 minutes or until browned. Add tomatoes and bring to the boil.
Reduce heat to medium. Cook, uncovered, for 5 minutes or until liquid has almost evaporated. Stir in peas and cook for 1 minute or until peas cooked through. Spoon curry over rice. Top with mint. Serve with pappadums (see note).
Notes & tips
Place 4 pappadums at a time, evenly spaced, on a heatproof, microwave-safe rack or inverted dinner plate (so they are elevated off the turntable by 2cm). Microwave, uncovered, on HIGH (100%) for 1 to 2 minutes or until pappadums expand and crumple
Tacos are always good because all you really have to do is cook the ground beef and mix with the taco seasoning package.
When he comes in he can heat up the ground beef and add it to a hard or soft shell.
Also, you can always make elbow macaroni with ground beef and spaghetti sauce. Add a little parmesian cheese and make your hubby up some in a reheatable bowl so when he gets home he can heat it up in the micro.
Tuna B.L.T's are always a good option too. Especially because tuna is pretty much usually cheap.
You can also pruchase en-cor meals, they're usally inexpensive and they have different kinds. For instance, the Salisbury Steak, it's reheatable, you can serve it with mashed potatoes or put it on a bun. There are also other varieties.
Seven Layer Dinner
This is my favorite casserole and I hope you will enjoy it as much as my family does. Great warmed up the next day.
INGREDIENTS
3 potatoes, thinly sliced
3 carrots, thinly sliced
1 large onion, thinly sliced
1/2 cup uncooked long-grain rice
2 (8 ounce) cans peas, with liquid
1 (10.75 ounce) can condensed tomato soup
1 (10.75 ounce) can water
1 pound pork sausage
salt and pepper to taste
DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
Layer potatoes, carrots and onions in a large buttered casserole dish. Sprinkle the uncooked rice over the vegetables. Then add the peas (with liquid) and arrange the pork sausage on top of that. Dilute tomato soup with a can of water and pour over the sausage. Season with salt and pepper.
Bake covered in a preheated oven for 1 hour, then uncovered for an additional hour.
The problem is that microwaving can make chicken or meat very rubbery. So, try .......
Macaroni and cheese
Rice and sauteed veggies
You can also make easy dishes such as pasta, baked chicken, lasagna, meatballs, chicken parmesan, quiche, beef stew or fried chicken
Heres one easy one that my kids and husband loves
cooked chiken strips lightly pan fried in garlic oil
1 can italian tomatoes in juice
1 tablespoon parsley"optional"
1 package egg noodles or half of a large package
Fry chicken in skillet with 1 tablespoon garlic oil. In another sauce pan cook your pasta. In yet another pan or use the pan you cooked the chiken in for extra flavor. Add your tomatoes and juice, cook til slightly thick, add 2 grinds of fresh pepper and one of fresh salt"seasalt is healtier". Once your tomatoes in juice has thickened add parsley and pasta, coat so pasta has a light amout of the sauce over it, and add your chicken reheating the whole dish or portion up for easy dinners. Can also be done with shrimp, scallops, steak and shredded pork roast.
I made a huge batch and my hubby had it for 2 lunches this week.Here is another one my family loves
Hamburger corn Hash
1-2 lbs ground hamburger or half burger half ground turkey
1 bag tater tots baked til slightly crunchy" kids seem to like it when they are"
1-2 cans of cream of mushroom soup depending on how much"gravy" you would like in your Hash
1 can drained frenched green beans Low Sodium preferably as you need to season to taste
1 can drained low sodium sweet corn
1 med diced cooked onion" I use red hubby prefers"
1 tablespoon of Beef bullion powder mixed with .5 c warm water
Cook meat and drin very well to much grease will ruin the dish.Also at this time bake your tater tots til lightly golden brown and crispy After draining meat put aside and in large bowl combine, soup, beans, corn, onion and beef bullion.Crumble some of your baked tatertots in to "gravy" mixture and reserve some for the topping. Your going to need about half for the top and half for the "gravy". Combine your meat and Gravy mix and put in to well greased casserol dish. I use a flat high sided glass cake pan fills up about half way with out topping. Top with your tatertots and bake for 30 minutes in oven on 375. When its the last 10 minutes I toss a handful or 2 of cheddar cheese so its cheesygooy, my girls go nuts for it. Serve or portion up. To thin the gravy for reheating add a tablespoon or 2 of water and stir a bit. Enjoy