Favorite and go-to instant foods?

Question

A lot of people here cook a lot of very beautiful and delicious-looking home cooked meals which are all very fun to learn about, but sometimes I also wonder what your guys’ go-to instant or “pre-made” foods are!

When you guys are feeling a bit lazy or tired, what instant foods do you like?
I personally like eating ramen a lot lol. Not Maruchan, but a lot of local Asian grocery stores sell really tasty ramen noodles.

Answer

Add me to the list of instant ramen fans. On my worst day, I won't even doctor it up with a mirepoix, or the ginger/garlic thing. Just the powder packet, and whatever leftovers are in the fridge. Lunch is ready.

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Back when Spawn1 and Spawn2 were still living at the ricepad pad and we were low on time and ingredients, my Plan B was peas and eggs. Defrost a pound of frozen peas, crack about four eggs into the peas and mix thoroughly. Heat some oil in a frying pan over medium heat and dump in the pea/egg mixture. Stir as much or as little as you like until the eggs are soft set. Drizzle oyster sauce over the whole thing and serve with some hot rice. The whole meal takes as long as it takes to cook some rice, with not much more effort. If the spawns were particularly hungry, I would make some frozen potstickers, too.

Not instant, but almost as fast. Twenty minutes from start to finish, maybe?

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Cheese and crackers when we are seriously wiped out. Otherwise, Campbell's tomato soup (made with milk, not water), grilled cheese sandwiches, and carrot sticks.

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I like Trader Joe's frozen meals, specifically: Misal Curry w/ Brown Rice; Yellow Jackfruit Curry w/ Jasmine Rice; Vegan Tikka Masala; Palak Paneer; Frozen Veg Gyoza; frozen Fried Rice (I use a mix of their regular fried rice and cauli fried rice, spiked with some garlic, ginger, green chillies, and added tofu or scrambled eggs); Green chile tamales; Black bean and cheese taquitos; Scallion pancakes; etc. 

I stock a few of these in my freezer for days I don't want to cook.

Answer

Tear up some baby spinach and wilt in a little ghee, then dump in a 12 oz packet of frozen cauliflower rice and a packet of Tasty Bite or Maya Kaimal vacuum-packed lentils. A pretty complete meal for two in under ten minutes. 

I also lean on Costco pesto when scheduling gets tight. Some chopped up broccoli or green beans, maybe with some frozen shrimp or just tossed with pasta alone. Have been doing the same thing with YaYa Thai Curry Paste, and it’s pretty great too.

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I like a box mix for 4-cheese risotto that's pretty easy. While it cooks down {with very little stirring|} I often sauté thawed raw shrimp in butter and Cajun spices and serve it on the risotto with lightly dressed greens on the side.

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Stuff I always have on hand are Prosciutto Crudo, some type of hard salami, various imported cheeses, olives (of course), pickled veggies, nuts and wine. Also, occasionally, a can of clam chowder and smoked salmon. Most anything with a long storage life.

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Frozen veg + tofu + sauce, followed by ramen (with frozen veg and sauce).

For just adding water-type instant foods, we normally have a bunch on hand. I'm a backpacker, and make my own vegan meals, so we always have things like dal, chili, sweet potato peanut stew, shiro wat, etc on hand. Just add boiling water, cover, and let stand.

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Instant: au jus.

Go to: tarted-up box granola and tub yoghurt.

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I turn to a bag of frozen Chinese dumplings served with sesame oil and ponzu sauce or boxes of Deep or Mirch Masala brands of frozen Indian foods served over frozen fry beads like scallion puri.

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More like 5 minutes but low/no effort - 2 cans chicken broth, 8-10 oz. package of refrigerated or frozen tortellini, all or partial bag of mixed vegetables (the cut smaller variety). Optional teaspoon of Italian seasoning. Heat until broth is boiling and the tortellini float. If I happen to have some shredded rotisserie chicken in fridge or freezer, that goes in too.

Toast with peanut butter & jam/jelly.
Toast with cream cheese on one slice, jam on the other, a granola-style cereal sprinkled on one piece before smashed as a sandwich.
Sliced apples with peanut butter.
Flour tortilla rollups/spirals - cream cheese, lunch meat, a pickle (optional) - roll up. Slice across for spirals.

Microwaved: Stouffers spinach souffle. Nancy's breakfast quiche. Any brand chicken fettuccini alfredo.

Edited to add 1 more - microwave-baked potato, topped with shredded cheese. Scrambled egg, too, if feeling ambitious. I don't keep canned or frozen chili on hand any more, but back in the long (long) work days era, heated frozen chili over a baked potato was a weeknight meal.

Answer

my favorite instant meal involves sauteing a few veggies in my skillet (chili pepper, carrots, mushrooms, greens, etc.), then warm up a whole wheat tortilla in the same skillet, open up a can of goya black beans and drain, mash some beans in with the veggies. Roll up in the tortilla, squeeze of hot sauce, eat. Maybe a little bit of vegan pepper jack if I have it but not essential.

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Shin Black. works out to about $3.70\pkg on Amazon.

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Frozen ribs, frozen dumplings, frozen wontons, perogies, boxed Mac & Cheese.

Started adding fresh ground black pepper to the Mac & Cheese, and I also tried a few drops of Truffle oil on boxed Mac & Cheese after reading about it on Twitter.

Most recently , I made a Korean tuna and rice bowl with leftover rice, which I will make again.

I have been buying refrigerated udon and chow mein, to make fried noodles at home.

Answer

Our Trader Joe’s sells a packaged chicken piccata with a more than decent lemony sauce that is very good when I’m not in the mood to really cook. Two pieces of chicken breast that crisp up nicely in the toaster oven and a packet of sauce that heats in the microwave. 

Costco has a number of sous vide entrees that we switch off. I cook from scratch maybe 3 or 4 dinners a week, but these quick options are helpful and most are pretty good. 

The only issue with this type of meal is their usually pretty high sodium levels. Luckily sodium isn’t one of the things I need to watch carefully.

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I'm staying with a relative who no longer cooks, so I stock the freezer with Amy's frozen meals--I like the Italian and Mexican offerings best.

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For a terrific hot roast beef sandwich, I make quick gravy with a butter and flour roux, a spoonful of Better Than Bouillon beef, a splash of red wine, hot water, and ground pepper. As long as you modulate your use of salt to counter it, BTB flavors are great shortcuts.

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Salsa and corn chips
Stagg Chili
frozen Corn dogs
Supermarket Roasted Chicken
Dry Pasta and Pasta Sauce from a jar.

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For comforting NE cold weather breakfasts: refrigerated cold case herbed chicken tortellini, salt-free store brand chicken stock, cubed rotisserie chicken, fresh grated or powdered ginger, bottled green sriracha, fresh lime or lemon juice & zest.

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I hesitate to post this for fear someone will set fire to my computer remotely but anyway. Put raw chicken pieces on a pie pan and cover with canned Cream of Chicken Soup. Nothing else and definitely no salt, just the soup, then bake for about an hour at 350*until the chicken is done. Juice oozes out of the chicken and mixes with the soup, making a not-bad gravy-ish sauce. Best if you have a baked sweet potato with it. This is the most non-cooking main dish I can think of; sounds gross but actually isn't bad.

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Idahoan Homestyle Buttery instant mashed potatoes have been featured in many of our "I'm too tired to cook" meals, usually with Aidelle's chicken sausages, curry ketchup (ketchup, Dijon or Mr. Mustard, and curry powder), and frozen peas heated in a saucepan while the sausages brown. The tour de force dessert is a tablespoon sized slab of ice cream between Nabisco chocolate wafers.

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Niman Ranch has a pulled pork that can be thrown in the oven or microwave. Very good and not expensive for the quality.

Whole Foods: mac and cheese; frozen pizzas

Tandoor Chef frozen Indian meals.

I'm sure Trader Joes has lots of stuff like this.

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Premade tortillas: add some grated jack cheese, canned green chiles and a quick run on the griddle or the electric skillet makes an easy quesadilla, which we used to call "Mexican Blintzes" back in the college days. Cheep chicken ramen and sometimes without the noodles for easy 'chicken soup' when the sickies are in need. Near Eastern Brand Original rice pilaff mix. Knorr's Oxtail soup mix was a great easy thing to put together but I haven't seen that product for ages. Italian seasoned ground veal patties. Frozen potstickers. The lists goes on...

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Can't get much easier than the Tasty Bites Indian dishes microwaved and poured into a dish. All you have to do is make the Basmati rice and heat the prepackaged Naan bread.

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We like Quorn meatless nuggets when we're feeling lazy. The flavor's not bad, the texture's great, and it's ready after about 15 minutes in the toaster oven. What makes it fun is concocting our own dipping sauces from the various sauces we have in the refrigerator.

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Nachos - chips, cheese, canned beans in the toaster

Burritos - cook rice, warm canned beans, open jar of salsa, scrounge for additional toppings. Serve.

We like Viccolo’s cornmeal crust pizzas, but with kids we end up eating 3 at a time, so it’s not exactly a cheap meal.

Costco sells Rocky’s chicken tenders in the frozen department, and they are an easy option.

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Lazy weekend with the kids so we did mini naan pizzas with canned sauce, cheese, pepperoni and canned pineapple with a side of roasted garlic broccoli (broccoli was fresh but pre cut from Costco). Instant hit & little effort! 

While it is definitely not good as fresh, frozen dim sum is little effort to steam. Costco also has dumpings, wonton etc that are also pretty tasty.

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The frozen foods at Trader Joes are the best. Every item is pretty much cooked, just has to be reheated. I love the cheese tortellini from Costco too. I just boil water, dump the tortellini in and turn the heat off, let them sit in the hot water, plump up and heat through. In my bachelorette days, I used to just eat an entire head of romaine lettuce with salad dressing, like literally chomp on it like an ice cream cone. That same token, I love Cheetos and instead of a normal dinner, I would just eat almost an entire bag. Then there's the tremendous guilt after.

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Ramen. Especially now that I have a little microwave cooker that gets the job done. The intense almost overly flavorful quality of ramen is perfect for when I need to eat something that sends a clear signal to my brain that I have indeed eaten. It provides the right kind of satiety.

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Risotto packs imported from Italy. tonight I made a risotto Milanese. They take around 15 minutes to make.

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During Quarantine in 2020, I discovered a few convenience foods that I otherwise might not have tried. I keep a couple of the following in the pantry:
Idahoan Sour Cream and Chive instant mashed potatoes--not quite as good as fresh, but quick and tasty.
Knorr sides--a little salty, but a good quick lunch with some leftover roast chicken or roast beef.
Trader Joe's burritos--better than I expected and pretty filling. Great with salsa and sour cream.
Finlandia sliced cheese--Costco sells this in a variety pack, and it reignited my interest in old-school grilled cheese.

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When I worked in a "real" office, I usually had a couple of Nile Spice or Middle East instant "cups" for a super easy, quick, tasty snack/lunch. The Nile Spice lentil soup was always a favourite.

Now that I'm no longer in an office, I always have a couple of cartons of Pacific Foods tomato and red pepper soups on hand. I find it's a good flavour, though I usually add some milk for a thinner consistency, and always hot sauce. And if I have an opened carton in the fridge, it's easy to use up in sauces, soups, casseroles, etc - anything you might want to add some tomato to.

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Favorite and go-to instant foods?

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