Frozen salmon (fish).

1. Preheat the oven to 425
2. Put a salmon fillet on a baking tray with some foil for easy clean up
3. Sauce and/or season (salt, pepper, olive oil minimum)
4. Bake for about 20min until the fish is flaky and cooked.

This can be applied to almost any flash frozen fish, requires no preparation, cleans up easy, and scales up to multiple people without scaling the work.

Want sides with this? Microwaved Green beans with olive oil, salt, and pepper. Minute/microwave rice.

Farro. Boil water w/ salt, add a bag of 10 minute farro from Trader Joe’s. Reduce heat and boil 10 minutes. Drain and serve.

I like mine on the sweet side so I add dried fruit, butter, and my secret ingredient: Pie Spice:

Pie Spice

Really great for every pie, and so much more!

Penzeys (www.penzeys.com)

Hobo stew: frozen or canned vegetables (dealers choice), beef broth, some 'taters, tube of ground beef. Bring it to boil, then simmer for 30 minutes. Best when reheated overnight.

I had never heard of farro before today, and now I’ve heard of it twice.

Microwaved potato with butter and salt.

Oatmeal porridge with an egg added.

Natto and cheddar cheese on toast.

I have a simple goulash that has been a goto for a bit.

1. Toss 1 pound of ground meat ( any kind) and 1/2 pound of any veggies (usually chopped bell peppers and onions for us) you want into a 12 inch skillet and cook until the meat is just about but not quite browned.
2. Add a medium sized jar (28ish oz) of red pasta sauce and about 80% of the same jar filled with water to the pan and mix thoroughly.
3. Add roughly half a pound of pasta, any kind.
4. heat to boil, reduce heat to low and cover.
5. Cook until pasta is done, roughly 11 to 20 minutes depending on the pasta.
6. Add shredded cheese to taste and stir until melted in.
7. Serve.

Feeds 2 - 3 people depending on how hungry they are. Might consider adding a heavy side dish if I need to feed more people, but a 12 inch is the largest cast iron I have. Takes about 20 to 40 minutes including waiting for the skillet to heat up.

Too large a recipe for a 10 inch. It will fit but, likes to slosh over the sides.

Originally, I made this with ground beef, but nowadays ground pork is far cheaper. Costs roughly $3 per serving.

Canned beans and rice. How fancy you wanna go depends on how much you don’t wanna cook. In order for me from “I don’t want to order out” to weeknight staple

hot sauce only, proper seasoning for the beans, smoked sausage added to beans, chicken thighs, Mexican rice, make cornbread, jumbalaya

A sandwich

Indome or buldak instant noodles. Add an egg, furikake, and optional mozarella cheese as topping.

As long as you know you are making american goulash
Btw originally goulash (gulyás) means cowboy.

-Pasta with simple toppings: poppy seeds / walnuts with powdered sugar.
-Or you can roast some cream of wheat +bit of salt, heat it up nicely, add water (be cautious the steam can hurt you) then add cooked pasta. Mix and serve with jam/jelly on top.
-Or boil some potatoes, meanwhile cook some finely chopped onions (you can add chopped peppers also) - reduce heat: add powdered sweet paprika, salt, pepper then mash the potatoes and mix. Add cooked noodles,mix and serve.

Stuffed frozen chicken breasts, with rice and frozen vegetables. Just put the chicken in the oven, and throw the frozen veggies in with the rice. It’s almost completely hands off, and it all gets done at about the same time.

Quesadillas.

On the higher effort end: whatever protein that has to be cooked plus onions, peppers, garlic, seasonings, and cheese. Then pan fried in whatever fat is left over from cooking the protein, adding butter if there isn’t much fat like with chicken or turkey.

Medium effort: still pan fried but using canned chicken or any Mexican style meat that I’ve frozen.

Barely any effort just need to get food made: same as the medium effort but put together then tossed into the toaster oven until everything is melted.

Add salsa and chips and call it a meal. It may not be healthy but it’s basically my go to when I don’t want to put in the effort of cooking something as I always have everything on hand.

Pasta aglio olio peperonici

• Cook pasta in salt water as described on the package
• Put a thick layer of olive oil in a small saucepan on low heat
• Add pressed garlic and a finely chopped chilli pepper. Make sure the oil stays cool enough not to fry the garlic and chilli. It’s just to flavour the oil.
• Drain the pasta, add the oil, top with too much parmesan cheese

If you want to fancy it up, fry some sliced mushrooms and/or pancetta and add it in.

Baked beans on toast.

I make a fast (or faux) pesto while pasta is cooking.

1. Press garlic in a mug, add basil, fresh ground pepper and salt. Crush on pine nuts if I have any.
2. Cover with olive oil and give it a little stir.
3. Grate parmesan cheese and mix it in.
4. Some more parmesan cheese.
5. And don’t forget the parmesan cheese.

Drain pasta, mix in pesto, enjoy. Can also be fancied up with your mentioned fancies or some olives or marinated peppers or artichokes.

I do something similar but also add chickpeas (protein, baybee).

For one, chicken and salad. For lots, risotto

Frozen chicken nuggets and fries. I do make my own ranch dip/dressing that I always keep on hand though.