What are your favourite meals?

[kaz20]

I have been living on my own for two and a half years now and I am getting bored of the same old meals - I have curry, spaghetti bolognese, jacket potato, all the time.. and I keep wanting to try out new things, but all recipes you look at are too time-consuming and expensive to make for just one person! I need some inspiration! What are your favourite (and easy!) meals to cook?

[Morrisonker]

one of my favourite things is mussels in a white wine sauce. You can buy fresh mussels fairly cheaply and find a recipe online for the sauce or buy them in a vacum packed bag fo about �2.50. Get some lovely crusty bread and it's a really nice change.

I also make big pots of soup and casseroles and freeze them for later if I've got a busy week.

[burnhal]

Cook some pasta- when its done chuck in a Homebake jar of pasta sauce and a small tin of tuna

Macaroni cheese is dead simple and quick- providing you can make cheese sauce!

Cook some plain fish, flake and a some tuna and a chopped up boiled egg. Make a white sauce and mix it all up. Cover with mashed spud and brown under the grill- a nice fish pie.

Cook a small cauliflower (or broccoli) Grill two or three rashers. Chop the bacon and chuck it over the cauli. Cover in cheese sauce. Grate some more cheese over the top, sprinkle with paprika and brown under the grill.

Cut the top off a pepper or two. Cook some mince. Or rice. Mix rice and mince if preffered. Chuck in a bit of sweetcorn or some peas. Stuff the peppers with said mixture. Stick in the over for a few mins.

Do a chilli- cook a bit of mince in a frying pan- drain off the fat, add small tin of toms or tomato puree. Add a small tin of kidney beans. Add chilli powder to taste. Beware- chilli gets hotter the longer its cooked!

The list is endless

[waimarie]

If you have limited time don't be afraid to use prepared cooking sauces to give variation. Also, somebody has mentioned preparing more than you need and freezing down extra portions, makes good sense.

Couple of examples - Chilli con carne : packet mince beef (approx 400g), 1 tin baked beans, 1 tin chopped tomato, 1 packet chilli con carne (Schwartz). Fry off beef, add tomatoes and baked beans , add packet con carne mix, bring to simmer and finish cooking in microwave for a few minutes. Total time about 20 minutes from packet to plate and enough for several meals!!!! If you want to be daring, fry off sliced onion and garlic and add to mixture.

There are some jars of good curry sauce around, do the same thing with chicken pieces. And so on.

The purists may rubbish the idea of pre-prepared sauces etc. but they should certainly broaden your horizons. Go on, have a go.

[buttons]

if im cooking for myself ill often just make up a quick stir fry. a chicken breast sliced, a small red pepper, a handful of mushrooms, all fried together with a little soy sauce. Add a big handful of beansprouts (or stir fry mix about 50p from supermarket) while that cooking have your egg noodles on, once they are soft bung them in the pan too and add a wee sachet of sauce, there are loads available, again for about 50p. The ingredients can be mixed and matched to what you have in at the time and its really tasty.

[Space]

sushi!
some fresh raw tuna, soy sauce, wasabi, rice, ginger, and that's it!
you only need to cook the rice.

Have you tried recipes with melted cheese?
Buy a camembert in a woodden box ; keep the bottom half of the woodden box and get rid of all the rest (paper/plastic things)
Put it in a very hot oven.
Once it's liquid ( it starts to boil slightly so the crust moves), open it and dip some potatoes ( or whatever you want ) in it.

I also like a whole fresh fish such as a trout or a mackerel ( cheap! ) cooked in the oven with any spicy sauce...

[CT]

Most supermarkets do range of individual sauces. Asda has some own range Chinese ones in little jars, which are lovely. There's also the blue dragon range too. mmm, chinese sauces and noodles. Pasta sauces, really easy and quick. ooohh, homepride BBQ sauce, and others. v tasty.

[alfiebrady]

Noodle soup: Boil water in kettle, pour into large saucepan and add stock cube (of your choice), and 1 portion of dried Chinese egg (or plain) noodle. Then add whatever else you fancy, e.g., from the supermarket where you got the noodles from, you could also pick up a pack of baby sweetcorn and mange-tout, also a pack of salmon fillet. Slice 'em up if you want to, or just dump 'em in. One pot to wash!

[emmabee123]

I love goulash and beef in guiness gravy, cooked nice and slow.I do herby dumplings or crusty bread with them.

[lilyfrog]

My husband does the most amazing omlette with sauted onions, peppers, and whatever else is in the fridge with choritzo susage and cheese. Serve with salad. mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

[Plocket]

Roast chicken with roasted spuds, roasted sweet potato, roasted shallots, roasted carrots and either broccoli, cauliflour or sprouts. Lots of gravy too.

Then you can strip the rest of the meat after the meal and make a curry, stir fry, pies - pretty much anything you fancy.

AND you can boil up the bones to make stock and then soup.

[lady_p_gold]

You could try buying a slow cooker and just bunging everything in in the morning and then have a lovely meal in the evening ....

[SlimySySy]

Tagliatelle with diced bacon, peppers and/or mushrooms, chuck on some fromage frais and bake.

Boil pasta and chuck in tin of tuna with lots of frozen supersweetcorn from S's. Season with plenty salad cream and black pepper.

Love those 4 for �3 tins in Asda, beef stew especially.

For high speed snacks; instant mash, bung in a tin of sardines in tomato sauce, eat from pan. Or do the tuna mix with mash. 8p instant noodles with a cup-a-soup.

Today I had a box of Tesco Value fish fingers (18p for ten) in two sandwiches.

If it takes me longer than 2 minutes I get bored.

[THE Katy]

Cream of Tomato and Basil Soup

Empty two tins of cheap chopped tomatoes into a pan. Add half a tin of water. Add one and a half veg stock cubes. Add one teaspoon of sugar. Add about 18 leaves off a basil plant. Whizz with hand blender til smooth then heat through. Pour into bowls and swirl some double cream on top of each.

This takes approx five minutes to make from beginning to end, costs about �1.40, and serves three! Oh yes, it tastes lovely too!

[THE Katy]

Hummus

Put one tin of drained chickpeas into a bowl. Add one fat clove of garlic, crushed, the juice of half a lemon, and a couple of good slugs of sunflower or corn oil. Whizz with handblender. If too stiff, add a little more oil. This hummus is delicious and nicer for not having sesame in it, I think! You can also make this with kidney beans or butter beans instead of chickpeas.

Serve with melba toast. - cut the crusts off a slice of bread. toast lightly, then cut carefully down through the middle of the slice of toast. (easier than it sounds). Place the two halfs back in grill to crisp up.

voila, hummus with melba toast, a light meal or a lovely snack to serve to friends. costs under �1

[wallis1007]

Ingredients:- pack of sausages, smoked sausages, onion, tin of plum toms, tin of baked beans, tin of mixed beans, various herbs and spices (your choice).

Fry the sausages with onions and spices. Then chuck everything into a large pot, and cook in oven for 35 mins. Quick, simple, cheap and tasty!