The lazy person’s guide to getting nutritional bang for buck (buck = time)
Plus 14 meal ideas that'll make you realise how simple it is
You know, life doesn’t have to be all about 2-minute noodles or spaghetti with butter and parmesan cheese just because you’re too lazy to cook. Guilt treatment aside, you know you need nutrition and not just fuel. You feel better for it! So how can you eat well if you insist – like me – on being lazy?
Consider this: in aiming for a somewhat balanced diet, you need some protein, some fat and some carbs. I eat low carb but even for me, vegies and dairy are my carbs of choice. So basically, ‘meat and three veg’ is the go today just as it ever was in the good old days.
If you’re vegan, commiserations. Meat is so delicious that I feel bad looking at cows in a paddock because they just don’t know how good they taste! My lovely daughter-in-law is vegan so I’ve added a few animal-ingredient-free dishes to my repertoire but I really can’t speak with much authority on vegan recipes so I’ll pretty much stick to the omnivorous variety here.
Load up your fridge, freezer and pantry with staples
When you’ve got ingredients you like on hand, you’ll eat well without turning to a food delivery app. And by ingredients, I mean ‘elements’, things you can throw together, smoosh in a blender or heat and serve.
Go Marie Kondo on your refrigerator
Come on now, you’re aware there are things lurking in the dark recesses of your fridge that have no business being called ‘food’ anymore. Remember that pasta salad you bought the other day and then you ordered pizza instead? How about the rotting tomatoes, avocadoes and red onion in the crisper drawer? (As if you were going to make guacamole anyway. You didn’t have any hot sauce!)
Dig deep, throw away any expired condiments, especially the ones you didn’t even open because apparently, you hate them, and be ruthless with whatever you find. You can go all Marie Kondo on your fridge’s contents. Pick up an item, if it doesn’t spark joy, it’s dead to you so ditch it.
If you’re a lazy cook, or maybe wouldn’t even consider yourself a ‘cook’, there’s still hope for you. But you need to clear the slate. Start with a fridge that has a visible back wall so you can put in it things you’ll buy with your new frame of mind.
Your freezer is not an archive
You’ve gotta keep your freezer alive and kicking. When you buy stuff, shove it in there and forget about it for months, nothing’s going to come out of that food filing cabinet with any kind of appeal. Invest about an hour in pulling everything out, figuring out if you’re actually going to consume what you’ve got and if it doesn’t look enticing right now, chuck it! It’s not going to look any better in another month from now, is it?
Do this little audit and make space for your new freezer culture (and by culture, I don’t mean growing science experiments … that’s your fridge’s claim to fame).
Be the boss of your pantry
Does your pantry taunt you when you’re hungry? Like, you open the door, move some boxes and cans around and go, “there’s never anything to eat in here”? Just so you know, your pantry and fridge conspire with each other against you and laugh behind your back when you can’t get no satisfaction.
You’re going to have to be ruthless here too. Pull everything out, inspect expiration dates and chuck, chuck, chuck. I’m telling you, whatever’s expired is something you hate so much, you’ve let it live rent free in your pantry and now resent it even more as a result. Ditch it!
While you’re doing this, make a mental note of the things you’ll never buy again because you refuse to harbour dietary fugitives.
Whatever you are keeping, make a mental note that you already have it and will not buy it again until you’ve finished it.
The back-in-business shopping trip
Get thee to a supermarket and maybe don’t grab the biggest trolley (Aussie-ism for cart) you can find. Get the smaller one because today, you’re only buying staples and a couple of fresh things. You’re not restocking your fridge, freezer and pantry for the apocalypse. That’s how you got into a mess last time.
Now, as a lazy cook, I’m not messing around with raw rice that you have to boil or steam. I’m not bothered with amassing a drawer full of exotic herbs and spices that will expire after I’ve only used them once. I will not fill my fridge’s crisper drawer with things like lemongrass, coriander (cilantro) and kaffir lime leaves. If I want a curry, they have jarred pastes for that!
Think smart. Think four-to-five element meals. Some days, you’ll do a two-element meal. There’s nothing wrong with canned soup and a bread roll.
Carnivore’s treat
Pick out some cuts of meat you like, whether it’s a pork chop, some sausages, mince (ground meat), a turkey drumstick or a couple of chicken thigh fillets. What about a rotisserie chicken? They’re fantastic – already cooked, tasty and easy to use in so many different ways.
Only get enough to last the week. The supermarket will probably be open next week.
Vegorama
If you’re simply not going to chop carrots, slice onions or shred cabbage, why buy them in their whole form? That’s just false economy and anti-Lazy Cook. Get yourself some frozen chopped onions if you like them in an omelette, for example, some frozen steam-fresh vegies that take two minutes in the microwave and some frozen cauliflower rice if you do low carb. Even if you don’t, that stuff’s an amazing substitute for actual rice. It gives you another serving of your 5-a-day, is easier than rice to cook and doesn’t turn down the flavour in your curries, stews or even fried rice.
Getting vegies into your belly can be as simple as buying a bag of undressed coleslaw, a salad kit or an easy baked sweet potato with whatever toppings you like.
Fruitalicious
As for fruit, if your fruit bowl is a morgue for forgotten apples and rotting bananas, think smarter. Pick up some bags of frozen berries, mango or pineapple. Frozen fruit is awesome for smoothies, baking and for eating with yoghurt and granola.
You can also grab some canned fruits but remember, only things you like and will eat, and not too many. Don’t get too enthusiastic, we’re only talking a week’s worth here.
For the carb lovers
You want bread? Choose something you can either stick in the freezer to last you the week, like six buns or a loaf of sliced bread.
Stop letting the thought of gluggy rice and sticky, hard-to-wash saucepans deter you from making a meal that includes rice. Those sachets and little tubs of microwave rice are incredible! Again, remember that if you buy something and it expires because you either don’t like it or get turned off by the idea of cooking it, it’s false economy. You can get white or brown rice, quinoa, ancient grains, all kinds of things to keep meals interesting and they’re all ready in quick time.
Pasta, you’re going to have to cook but if that’s ok by you, then go for it. For quicker cooking times, choose a variety that’s not too thick and bulky. Spaghetti is good.
Condiment city
Remember those condiments you threw out because they’d expired? Yeah, don’t get those. That is, unless they were shoved to the very back of your fridge or pantry and you’d forgotten they were there, but actually love them.
Condiments add life to a meal. For you, it might be ketchup and mustard, dill pickles and mayonnaise. For me, it’s Cholula hot sauce, and packaged gravies and sauces. I love to cook a steak, add a bag of steam-fresh vegies and drizzle over some mushroom gravy from a sachet. How easy is that?
Back home, be mindful when you unpack your groceries
Don’t just shove everything in the fridge, freezer or pantry without a care in the world because eventually, you’re going to be chucking some stuff out. Take stock of what you’ve bought, put it away with care and think of what you’d like to eat in the coming week. Don’t overcomplicate your ‘menu’. Think minimalism, but with food. Condiments will add pizzazz.
14 ideas for lazy meals that’ll pack some nutritious bang for buck
You don’t have to follow my suggestions letter for letter. Just let them be a guide for your own imagination and substitute your favourite foods.
Rotisserie chicken, bagged salad, bottled dressing, bread roll.
Frozen salmon (microwaved), quickly sauteed cauliflower rice (purchased frozen), half a sliced avocado, packaged hollandaise sauce.
Bought hamburger patties, cheese, tomato, pickles and burger sauce wrapped in lettuce (bunless burger).
Lentil, pumpkin or chicken and vegetable soup from the supermarket’s refrigerated section plus a baked sweet potato with sour cream.
Steak with steam-fresh vegies and either mushroom, peppercorn or Diane sauce (from the packet).
Steamed cauliflower florets with pasta sauce, topped with mozzarella and baked in the oven. You can use pasta.
Omelette with steam-fresh vegies and diced bacon from the deli counter.
Fried, sliced chicken thigh fillet, a jar of pesto and some cream. I have it with edamame pasta, you could have it with spaghetti.
Tray bake (sheet pan) chicken. Get an oven tray, add chicken thigh fillets, cut up potatoes and sweet potatoes (yams). Bake for about 30 minutes, add some frozen veg that you like, stir and bake for another 5-10 minutes. You can also use other meats, sausages or fish fillets, but remember, fish takes less time so you may have to cook the potatoes/sweet potatoes for a bit first.
Salmon in a bag. My supermarket offers a salmon fillet in an oven bag but you can also buy oven bags and do it yourself. Add some garlic butter then bake. It’s so easy, mess-free and delicious. Add a can of vegetables, some mashed potato or even slip some fresh asparagus into the bag if you like it as it cooks in around the same time.
Cook up some ground beef (or turkey, chicken or other), add in a can of beans, a can of crushed tomatoes and a Mexican herbs and spices blend. Eat with tacos, tortillas or rice. Add your favourite toppings like sour cream, guac or cheese. Use the same recipe to make nachos by adding corn chips and cheese.
Whip up an easy curry with a jar of curry paste. Make sure it’s a good brand and that the ingredients are natural. You can use whatever meat you like, add some vegies either to the curry or to your plate when you eat, and add rice or vegie rice.
Take a can of tuna, mix it with a bag of coleslaw and a can of drained cannellini beans and add lemon juice and olive oil, or your favourite bought dressing.
Sausage fry-up. Fry some sausages, eggs and tinned tomatoes. Add some frozen peas or mashed potato if you like.
Don’t be put off by ‘meal planning’
Blogs and social media these days are saturated with meal prepping and meal planning content. I can’t be bothered with all that. As a lazy cook, I like to think about what I want to eat during the week and get what I need for the dishes I have in mind. It’s important to be flexible. Being ‘strong’ and sticking strictly to a shopping list doesn’t leave any room for what might catch your eye and inspire you, or what’s on special in the supermarket.
Me, I do my grocery shopping online. I use my online supermarket’s shopping cart as my shopping list and add to it as I think of items I want or need. I can check what I have on hand at home without having to wrack my brain.
Let me know if you have any ideas for lazy but nutritious meal ideas.
P.S. Don’t forget smoothies! They’re brilliant nutrition-wise, they’re easy to make and all the ingredients can be frozen, canned or refrigerated staples.
Marie Kondo-ing the fridge is the best feeling 👍🏼