Easy meals to make for when you have little time (quick recipes that get you out of trouble)

When we are in a hurry, we often give up cooking because it seems that preparing any dish is something complicated or requires a lot of time. However, there are easy meals to make with basic ingredients that allow us to eat healthy without investing time in the kitchen.

Easy meals to make: what ingredients do you need

In order to prepare meals easily and quickly, you should have these ingredients in your pantry:

1. Quick Fresh Ingredients

Ingredients that cook quickly –that are ready with cutting and sautéing– or that can be eaten raw They are essential to quickly prepare healthy recipes.

For example: spinach leaves, cauliflower, carrot, zucchini, onion, edamame, cabbage or cabbage, avocado, thin round green beans, asparagus, bell pepper…

2. Precooked ingredients

With the precooked ingredients we save a good part of the preparation because they are only open, mix and serve, and from them we can make any type of dish in a short time and without effort.

Within the pre-cooked ones we have very good ingredients such as cooked legumes, roasted peppers, canned artichokes, sweet corn, cooked beetroot, chopped or crushed tomato, ratatouille cans… They are also ideal for cutting and adding Tofu, seitan, tempeh, and other ready-to-eat vegetable meats add to recipes.

3. Dehydrated ingredients

Dehydrated ingredients last a long time in the pantry, and they are usually things that we use very little, so they tend to last a long time. Besides, They take little time to hydrate. A small amount can be used to enrich any broth or cooking water, add another ingredient or provide a lot of flavor, as is the case with shiitake mushrooms.

4. Frozen ingredients

Frozen raw materials (spinach, chard, brussels sprouts, mixed mushrooms, vegetable salad…) can be used in most cases to prepare quick meals without even having to defrost them: you can add a handful and it thaws while everything is cooked.

5. Sauces, dressings, condiments and spices

Sauces, dressings, condiments and spices are essential to transform dishes. Curried chickpeas are not the same as sautéed with soy sauce, and the difference is minimal. If you have sauces, spices and herbs, you can give different flavors to the same dish and make it look like a new one to you. Also very useful when it comes to reusing things that we have in the fridge such as rice or other cooked cereals, vegetables or legumes.

6. Leftovers

Leftovers from other meals, if you have them they are the fastest option to get new dishes in a matter of minutes.

When you make roasted vegetables, fill a couple of baking trays with as much as you can: sweet potatoes, pumpkin, zucchini, aubergines, onions, leeks… so you will have enough for a few preparations. The same with cereals (make cooked rice for 4 instead of for 2) and with the legumes. If you are going to consume it in less than 3 days, put it in the fridge. And if not, to the freezer by portions.

Easy meals to make: the recipes that do not fail

Within the quick preparations, there are some types of dishes that make it much easier for us because you only need a frying pan or a saucepan and add ingredients. In the case of stews, stews, and casseroles, starting with ingredients that we already have cooked takes up a lot of preparation and cooking time. Are easy to make food recipes They are always an option within your reach.

Quick super complete soup recipe

This soup is actually a variation of the minestrone soup, so you can see that hundreds of different combinations can be made depending on the ingredients we have at home, and that they always have a similar structure: add ingredients according to their cooking time, and serve.

Ingredients:

1 liter of water or homemade vegetable broth 4 dried shiitake mushrooms 1 piece of kombu seaweed 2 bay leaves 6-8 small mushrooms 1 carrot 250 g of hard tofu 1 peeled tomato or 200 g of diced tomato (canned) 1/2 teaspoon of sweet paprika 2 tablespoons of sauce soybeans (or 1 tsp miso) a good handful of fresh baby spinach 200 g cooked and drained chickpeas, lentils or beans 50 g whole-grain soup noodles 1 tsp strong-flavoured sesame or olive oil 2 tsp broken flaxseeds or crushed

Preparation:

Put 1 liter of water in a saucepan or pot over high heat. Add the shiitake, kombu and bay leaves. While the water is heating, cut the mushrooms into quarters and the carrot into julienne strips or small pieces. Dice the tofu. When it boils, add the carrots, mushrooms, tofu and tomato. Lower the heat a little and let it cook for 3-5 minutes. Add the rest of the ingredients (except the oil and seeds), stir well and cook everything together for 3-5 more minutes, until the noodles are done. Add the paprika, mix well and taste it. Adjust the salt to your liking. Serve it with a pinch of oil and the seeds on top.

Easy recipe for stew or chickpea stew with rice

You can also make this stew or stew with lentils and rice, beans and quinoa, chickpeas and millet… Take advantage of things you already have in the fridge and give it a touch with spices and herbs.
If you want it with more broth, add more water and a pinch of salt.

Ingredients:

1 clove of garlic 400 g ratatouille 1 tablespoon teriyaki sauce 2 tablespoons olive oil 400 g cooked chickpeas 250 g cooked rice 1 teaspoon garam masala 1/8 teaspoon ground cumin 1/8 teaspoon smoked paprika a handful of fresh parsley

Preparation:

In a saucepan, heat the olive oil over medium-low heat and lightly brown the minced or minced garlic. Add the ratatouille and teriyaki sauce and allow it to reduce slightly. Add the chickpeas, rice and spices and mix very well. Add 1 cup and 1/2 of water and stir quickly. Let it cook for a couple of minutes all together, until the sauce is rather honeyed. Chop the parsley and put it on top when serving.

Quick stir fry broccoli recipe with peanut sauce

Ingredients:

1 broccoli4 tablespoons of olive oil1/2 onion1/2 red pepper1 clove of garlic1/4 teaspoon of oreganoa pinch of salt2 tablespoons of peanut butter

Preparation:

Cut the broccoli into florets and cut them in half or quarters if they are very large. Put it in a pan with the oil over medium heat, add half a glass of water (more or less, just enough to cover the bottom), cover and leave cook over medium-high heat until there is no water left. Add the onion in strips or in pieces, the pepper in strips and the garlic in slices or minced and sauté all together with oregano and salt until lightly browned. thin the peanut butter with half a cup of water (give or take). Lower the heat, add the thinned peanut butter and stir quickly to coat all the vegetables. Serve immediately. This recipe can actually be made with any vegetable. Try it with cabbage, cabbage, aubergine, cauliflower, leeks, calçots, chard, spinach, vegetable salad, mushrooms… You can put anything you like in the stir-fry, for example spring onion instead of onion, garlic powder if only you want to add flavor, a few pieces of fennel to add sweetness, carrot strips…

Quick recipe for grilled vegetable salad with tofu

Ingredients:

1/2 pak choi 1/2 endive a few cauliflower florets 2 tablespoons of olive oil pinch of salt 2 tablespoons of soy sauce 100 g of smoked tofu a handful of lamb’s lettuce 6 cherry tomatoes 2 tablespoons of tahini

Preparation:

Brown the pak choi and endive in a pan with a dash of oil upside down in the pan (for the cut part) over high heat until golden (it will be a couple of minutes). Turn them over, add the salt and a little bit of soy sauce and remove it to a plate. Brown the cauliflower, over medium heat, with a pinch of salt and a little bit of oil, sautéing it as well. Add the soy sauce and sauté for another minute.Place the lamb’s lettuce, the halved cherry tomatoes and the diced tofu in a bowl or deep plate, and the grilled vegetables on top.Dress with the tahini diluted with a little water and a pinch of salt.Make this salad also with other vegetables such as cabbage, broccoli, brussels sprouts or even lettuce hearts. The important thing is to mark the vegetables in the pan so that they are browned but not fully cooked, to preserve the crunchy texture. For seasoning you can also add gomasio, ground flax seeds, rice vinegar or lemon juice.