I only cook if there is someone else in the house who needs to eat. My meals are either family meals or leftovers, toast, cereal, toaster waffles. Occasionally a cheese quesadilla.
Or, more commonly, nothing. Unfortunately, there arent many “lazy” meals I could use to feed the whole family, which I am obligated to do at least twice a day, most days. Sometimes I can get away with re-using leftovers as the foundation of a new meal.
A whole jar of pickles
I love me some pickles.
My people!
Peanut butter on bread. Just put a layer of PB on there, fold it in half. I take three with a glass of milk and I’m good to go. Great for those times when I’ve forgotten to eat dinner and I just want to make the bad feeling in my tummy go away.
What is up with the rest of these comments though, half of them still involve cooking. Who the hell has patience for that?
Peanut butter, banana, and honey. That’s where it’s at baby
That sounds interesting, how much peanut butter, banana, and honey do you apply and in what order?
It’s peanut butter, banana, and honey. The answer is however much you want to stuff in your gob.
Not feeling like cooking doesnt nessciarily preclude cooking. Sometimes you dont wanna, but you do anyway.
Yogurt and granola, with a side of nuts and cheese for an portable, decent protein, heavy snack/light meal. Or, salad with chopped lunch meat and some cheese on top, so I can again get some easy protiens. I also keep some decent frozen meals in case I’m short on cook time and need a hot heavy meal. There are work gaps where I can barely spend time at home and the bagged “family meals” of pasta or mixed veggies are awesome portioned out for multiple meals.
Bagged pasta.
If i have the time to wait on noodles, spaghetti is a staple. They even make frozen meatballs you can cook in the sauce while it heats up!
Jamaican patties. You can pick up a big box of them frozen from almost anywhere (at least where I live) and heat them up in one minute. I mentioned to a Gen Z in the fall that this got me through many a college all-nighter and noticed when I was at their place last weekend, they were all stocked up! Feels good to pass on the torch…
Just to elaborate a bit on why I consider these the quintessential lazy food, I went through a process of whittling down the options. In the all-nighter context, you will need to use the bathroom several times in the wee hours (no pun intended), and a patty will be ready for you by the time you come out. They come individually wrapped, and while it’s a good idea to have a plate or bowl under them to catch any crumbs, you can typically eat them straight out of the packaging with little mess and dust off the plate each time. So your sink will not start piling up even as you work through as many as it takes.
A friend suggested pizza pockets as an alternative? I tried that. I found them a bit messier and the mozzarella can sometimes stick to the roof of your mouth and burn if you’re not paying attention (which is quite likely while you’re cramming). Anyway, a well-stocked store will have at least a few choices in terms of protein and spice level for variety’s sake.
Now that I’m not as frequently under a desperate time-crunch but am still lazy, my go-to at work is Indian curries in little shelf-stable pouches. You need to pour the curry into a bowl and heat it up, so there are dishes involved, but they taste so good for so little effort otherwise!
Yoooo, Jamaican patties and a red stripe are a combo I picked up in Orlando late one night at this little hole in the wall. They had some kind of yellowish Scotch bonnet (I think) hot sauce and these jerk wings that were so amazing. It was around the corner from this horror themed cocktail drag bar. I don’t remember the name but if you’re from Orlando you might know the spot. One of the best nights out I’ve had. Some guy offered me heroin as my friend threw up on the sidewalk.
It definitely made an impression, Orlando is fucking dope and I look forward to my next visit.
Disney, drag bars, and heroin. That sums up Orlando for me.
I often consider them when I’m in the frozen food isle, but have never tried ‘em. Maybe I should.
I had to go look those up, I had not heard of them They look tasty but, damn they are a little pricey, at least in my area. Are they pretty good sized/filling?
The classic ones are beef inside, and while not huge, tend to satisfy my food cravings, and I’m not a little guy. They often have jerk chicken and veg options too if you look around, and if you’re in an actual Jamaican neighbourhood, you can find a big variety at restaurants or even corner stores. (I grew up in Toronto and they were just everywhere for whatever reason.)
There’s also some strategy in terms of whether to get the spicy or mild ones? Spicy makes you eat slower, which can be good to regulate one’s tendency to gorge while cramming.
Thanks! Some good info to know, when I go to try them!
Tuna melts are surprisingly easy. You can make enough tuna salad to last three days. Toast some bread, stick the tuna on top, then cheese and leave under the grill for a bit. Perfectly tasty snack. My classic tuna combo is tuna, mayo, olive oil, celery, spring onion and canned sweetcorn. Salt and pepper to taste.
Nice touch with the sweet corn. Tuna salad is extremely flexible, there’s tons of simple things you can add to it to match almost any cuisine. Indian, Asian, Greek, Spanish dress it up however.
Greek yoghurt. Plain,no sugar or fruit. Cucumbers and oranges with tajín. Hummus with celery sticks.
yup plain whole yogurt is so versatile! You can always add jam or honey for a sweet tooth. Plain is also great with curries. A good yogurt has no thickeners like corn starch (eew!) or added sugar.
Yeah! I like making my own at home so I can have the exact flavor and texture I like
Awesome! This is next on my skills to learn list. Can you suggest some resources for starting out?
Sure! My best tip is this: use store bought yoghurt as “seed” to make it the first time. Less hassle and there is no difference. Also, if you like Labné like me, freeze your yoghurt until rock hard, thaw at room temp using a cheese cloth to strain the liquid and form balls with the resulting paste. It is my favorite treat with olive oil and oregano.
Peanut butter sammich
I’m more of a toasted salami and cheese on sourdough with mustard, salt, and pepper guy personally, but any sandwich really fits the bill. Sometimes I say fuck it and just throw butter and cheese on some bread when I’m really feeling lazy.
Soylent!
I’m here, what’d I miss?
Beetlejuicing.
Also, no, I’m not drinking people.
You can really taste the Brad
If I’m poor or badly prepared rice with chili crisp and and potentially egg. If it needs to be fast or very lazy 2 bananas and half a liter of milk through the stick blender. Otherwise cereal w/ milk or yoghurt, grocery store bedrolls croissant and such, prepared sweet yoghurt or instant ramen.
I wish I could make lazy meals like this, but with kids you can’t be lazy and cheap at the same time. 😔
Wild seeing this get downvoted. Lemmy absolutely hates parents.
I usually only get to get to pick two from: lazy, cheap, healthy.
FWIW, I considered writing a top-level comment about this dilemma (as a parent who does all the cooking,) but knew it would meet with antipathy here.
Maybe someone thought I was calling the author of the comment lazy, but the whole point of the thread is lazy meals. I really was just saying I am very lazy and I wish I could manifest my laziness, lol. But of course I want what’s best for my kids, so I can’t do that. Sometimes we just heat up some ready made, frozen hash browns in the oven, but it’s not every day of course. Gotta suck it up most days and make proper meals. 👍👦👶❤️
Minute rice, yogurt and sweet chilli sauce mixed together.
Some broccoli or cauliflower florets steamed in the microwave (salt, pepper, butter, tsp water, in a bowl, covered with a plate, nuc for 2 mins) and draped with a slice of cheese.
Frozen wraps are the bomb. Take seconds to thaw and the possibilities are endless. Put on it whatever, and it is good.
Avocado toast, actually. Toast bread, mash avocado on it, maybe sliced onions and if I have any cheese I have that with it or on it.
pineapple slices straight out of a tin can
Some of my favorites are peanut butter sandwiches, big chunka cheese, apples (any fruit really), hot dogs/sausages, 30 to 40 olives.
Charcuterie’s are are always a win, especially with a bonus peanut butter sandwich!
Bologna bowl, good for when you’re poor and/or lazy.
Slap a slice of bologna in a bowl, slice of cheese on top of that, then crack an egg on top of that and nuke it in the microwave for about a minute and 30 seconds. Good with toast or as is.
