I was catching up with a good friend earlier this week and the discussion came round to ‘what’s for lunch’? (I have lots of friends with whom food features highly in our conversations!) and she’d had a busy and hectic morning, hadn’t been food shopping as she’d intended and her supplies were limited. During our chat, she was having a look through her cupboards to see what she had in for an ’emergency meal’ and it got us talking about what storecupboard staples we both always have in for these exact situations.
And we all have them – no matter how well intentioned we are, life does just get in the way sometimes and time or energy or commitment for preparing and cooking a particular meal goes out of the window.
I’ve experienced many of these moments – from a car break down and getting home hours later than expected (and adding in cold, tired, stressed and starving), feeling poorly, getting caught up with work, unexpected visitors, the chicken I’ve taken out of the fridge having a very peculiar smell and not wanting to risk giving me and the hubby food poisoning and just being plain old knackered and not wanting to cook (there’s lots more!).
One thing I’ve learned along my healthy eating journey though is that I can actually rustle something up much quicker than it takes for a takeaway delivery to arrive (plus saves me both £s in money and lbs in weight) – its just about having a stock of storecupboard essentials – my ’emergency meals’ stash and I’ve had a dig around in my kitchen and thought I’d share some of them with you to help with tips for quick and easy meals whatever the situation or however you are feeling.
First to my cupboards and the tinned section!
These are my ‘staple’ tinned goods that I always have in and can be the basis of many a good meal:
- Stagg low fat vegetable chilli – a few mins in the microwave with either a jacket spud or some rice and dinner is served! (or with the tinned spuds). You can buy frozen jacket potatoes or bulk cook your own and freeze them ready for these times.
- Tinned lentils – warmed up and bulk out any salad or a fab protein packed accompaniment to leftover curry, or throw in a soup to make it more filling
- Tinned potatoes – I absolutely love these and think they get a bit of bad press! As they are already cooked, they are lovely cold or take just a few mins to warm up and throw in a salad or serve with pre-cooked meat and salad or spray them with low calorie spray oil and whack them in the oven for a speedy roast potato.
- Chickpeas – another protein packed tin of goodness, perfect in a salad or you can whip up a quick hummus in just two mins by blitzing with a dollop of fat free natural yoghurt, a squeeze of lemon juice and as much or as little garlic as you like.
- Baked beans and five beans – I’ve been known to just eat them cold right out of the tin, but if you’ve got an egg, a tin of baked beans and a tin of potatoes, that’s a good meal right there and all done in the time it takes to fry an egg! Chuck a sliced onion or some mushrooms in with the beans when they are warming up to give it a bit of extra flavour and get one of your five a day in too.
- Chopped tomatoes are probably my best friend and my most used tinned item – a simple pasta sauce can be whipped up in seconds with any dried herbs you’ve got in and a drained tin of anchovies adds a lovely flavour too (and all the better if you’ve got any veg to chuck in to).
- Tinned sardines and mackerel are another quick and easy option – open the tin, put on some crispbreads or wholemeal toasted bread and voila! May not be pretty but it will fill the gap and also provides you with lots of nutrients too (did you know anchovies and sardines are really high in omega 3 acids which help keep our hearts healthy as well as being surprisingly good for our moods and helping combat depression!)
- Tinned tuna is something we use often in our house – in pasta sauces, mixed with a dollop of natural fat free yoghurt or a tbsp of extra light mayo to top a jacket potato with, made a tuna and cheese melted sandwich or to add into a salad.
- I also love mushy peas, paired with the tinned potatoes and whipped up into a mushy pea curry (just google ‘mushy pea curry’ and keep an open mind – its delicious!)
So, here’s just a few ideas from the tins above! Let’s now move on to the next bit of the storecupboard:
Dried and packaged foods
Dried stuff – things like cous cous (I have both plain to which I add boiling water and a vegetable stock cube and pre-flavoured ones), quinoa, and my new favourite – bulgar wheat. These literally can be put in a pan with some water and a stock cube and be cooked in 10 minutes. They are filling and can be the basis of any meal. Same for boil in the bag rice and dried pasta. I always have a stock of both in for a quick and easy carbohydrate option.
Dried red lentils are another item I use regularly – I love my soup maker and always throw a handful of lentils in there for added filling power (and if I don’t have fresh veg to put in the soup maker, tinned and frozen work well too)
Pouches – there are now so many delicious pre-prepared ‘pouches’ out there, for a two minute twirl in the microwave, these are perfect for real ‘I can’t be bothered’ moments. Particular favourites of mine are the Aldi french inspired lentils, I add roasted veg or salad items to these and serve with fish for a main meal but they are really tasty on their own. Pouched rices are lovely with some pre-cooked chicken and a bag of prepared salad.
My favourite boxed meals:
- Gallo risotto perfetto – a quick and easy mushroom risotto which is delicious on its own or you can throw in extra veg as its cooking (I always add a chopped onion and some extra mushrooms)
- Heinz Creationz lentil curry pouch – this is perfect on its own for a quick and easy filling lunch, add some rice or extra veg to bulk it out for a bigger meal
- Ainsley Harriot lentil dahl – this is very rare to find in the shops but if you see it, grab a box or two. Its really yummy as a complete meal in a box (but again throw in any veg you have to bulk it out).
Next stop, the fridge!
Getting vegetables at every meal is a bit of a must for me now and ensuring I ‘eat the rainbow’ is important to me in terms of both managing my weight as well as giving my body all the vitamins and nutrients it needs to function optimally and fight off germs and viruses.
An easy way and requiring absolute minimum effort is pickled stuff. I have all sorts but you can just head to the pickle aisle in your supermarket and pick up your favourites – I love the jarred red peppers, gherkins and pickled onions which are my staples but I’ll add anything on special offer or that I like the look of! There’s so much variety and its a great way to add some veg to any meal.
Another thing I always have in the fridge is eggs – they last much longer than the best before date on them but they are a meal in minutes and can be done in so many ways. A quick omelette has gotten me out of many ‘I’m starving and can’t be bothered to cook moments!’.
Finally, the freezer
I’m lucky to have quite a lot of freezer space in my kitchen and I usually have several tupperware boxes of meals like chilli, curry and pasta sauce in there for a quick defrosted meal but I also have some other essentials that again, are lifesavers and are used regularly.
- Frozen vegetables – I much prefer to use fresh but I’ll always have a bag of frozen peas and a bag of other frozen vegetables ready for times when I’ve not been able to get to the shops or don’t have the time or energy for chopping!
- Frozen fruit – again, I always have a bag or two of these in the freezer. Perfect for breakfasts with porridge or with a yogurt and some cereal.
- A ready meal – I always have one of the Slimming World meals from Iceland in the freezer. I know they are packed full of healthy foods and are low fat so in around 12 minutes, I can have a well balanced and filling meal with the absolute minimum of effort on my side (and you can even eat it right from the container if you don’t want to be bothered with washing up a plate too!).
- My ultimate staple and all time favourite freezer item is Linda McCartney rosemary and red onion sausages, I love these so much and they are something I use every week whether planned as part of a meal or for a quick and easy stick them in the oven for 15 minutes and voila! See my blog post on scotch eggs for just one of my uses https://61005b115459d.site123.me/blog/who-loves-a-good-scotch-egg-my-easy-cheat-recipe-for-a-healthy-version
- I have quite a lot of vegetarian options in my freezer – Quorn nuggets and sausages and other Linda McCartney products. I try not to eat too much processed foods but again, these are lifesavers and really tasty too.
From the items photographed above, I think I could probably make about 30 different meals ranging from minimum effort and minimum time to maximum 30 minutes with preparation and washing up! All much quicker than the time it would take to place a takeaway order and wait for delivery.
Other items that I generally will always have in are fresh potatoes (for a quick jacket potato), onions as they last for ages and ages and I can slice them and throw them in anything (or you could have a bag of frozen ones!), a butternut squash – a vegetable that literally doesn’t go off for months and apples in my fruit bowl (again for their long lasting value).
I hope this has given you a few ideas for those times when plans go wonky. Eating healthy doesn’t have to be complicated, difficult, expensive or time consuming – its about finding what works for you and always having a back up!!!!