Young Writers Society

ok I'm trying to meal plan for the week. this is kinda my first time doing this. Please send me all your simple dinner recipes that will still make me feel like I'm cooking something at least somewhat nutritious!
edit: or any general meal planning tips!

I'll go first: I made pajeon the other day and it was so delicious and I could make it with stuff I had around the apartment! this is the recipe I used: https://thewanderlustkitchen.com/korean ... es-pajeon/
but I didn't use red pepper since I can't handle spice, and I didn't use sparkling water, because who has that on hand?

https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/sau ... hi-one-pot this is my absolute go to for busy nights after long days. It's delicious.

*rubs hands together*

All right so I haven't done this in a minute because it's hot outside, and I'm obsessed with salads right now, but this is a go to if I'm meal planning lunches for the whole week.

We're gonna do crock pot salsa chicken, beans, and rice.
I like doing seasoned pinto beans and Spanish rice, but of course you can do whatever rice and beans you'd like.

Chicken:

Ingredients:
4 boneless skinless chicken breasts, not frozen (tbh sometimes I do two big ones)
1 packet taco seasoning (I like this one)
2 7oz cans Herdez Salsa Casera Hot (it's not actually spicy).
Salt
Pepper

Put all the chicken breasts in your crock pot and pour one can of salsa in. Add taco seasoning. If I'm feeling adventurous I also put a little hot sauce in, too (or garlic powder. Whatever, really). Add salt and pepper.

Cook on low for 6 hours, or on high for 3. Make sure your chicken is cooked! Shred it with forks, and add the other can of salsa. you can garnish it with a lime wedge!

For added fun, put your beans, rice, and chicken in a tortilla for a lil taco action.

If you're the only one eating off of this for your lunches, it'll last you for a week! Or at least it does me!

@fortis gave me permission to post my pancake recipe in here even though it's mainly for dinner foods, so here you go!

You need:

- a small bowl
- a spoon
- a pan
- a spatula
- 1 cup of flour
- 1 teaspoon of baking powder
- a little bit of any kind of oil
- and enough water to make it somewhat liquid-like

Making the pancake is really easy, and you can definitely mess around with the amount of batter once you make it a few times. You put the flour and baking powder in the bowl first. My mom suggests using something like a fork to sift it around, but I just shake the bowl until I can't see the powder separate from the flour.

After that, I add a little oil in. If the oil container has a tiny little cap to it, fill that up with oil and pour it into the bowl - it's a good way to make sure you don't add too much oil.

Then you can add the water in! I'm not sure if you've made cookies before, but the thickness of the batter is between something very liquidy yes I'm considering that a word and cookie batter. You don't want it to stick together too much, but you also don't want it to spread all across the pan. My advice is to add a little water at a time until you reach the right thickness.

Once your batter is all set, you can get your pan ready! I've been doing it at the same time lately, but that's just because I'm the master of pancakes after having them so much these past few months.

You can put it on a lower setting if you want to cook the pancake slowly, but a higher setting works well, too. Use the spoon you used to mix the water in to help get the batter onto the pan. Once you start seeing bubbles at the top of the pancake or you start seeing the sides/top of the pancake become solid, flip the pancake over. It takes less time to cook the second side, so it's a good idea to lift it up and check when you think it's done.

When that other side is solid, too, you're all set! Using the spatula to get it of the pan, remove the pan from the stove, and turn the heat off.

I've also added chocolate chips to the batter before pouring it out onto the pan, but I know you want to eat healthy - so maybe add something like blueberries?

If I don't reply here again in the few days, poke me with a tag - there's this great/simple recipe my mom came up with that I'm totally in love with, and it's easy enough for me to do it.

(So hopefully it would be easy for you to do, too!)

The Ultimate Dinner Rolls!!

Make sure you have the active dry yeast if you're doing the dinner rolls because, idk, I guess they just turn out better. xD They're so soft and chewy and they have an amazing crust and just - 200% recommend. =)

Sometimes if I feel like it, I'll put some shredded mozzarella cheese on top, other times it's just the sea salt and butter, other times it's all plain but with some sorta sauce I whipped up while it was baking. Other times it's all of the above. :3

I guess it's not the healthiest thing ever, but you could side it with veggies or put veggies in it (?? idk I'm trying xD) or just don't eat all of it at once. :p

My best advice for starting out meal planning is to take it one step at a time- starting with routine. Even if half of your meal planning involves ready meals, establishing that routine will help you keep it up even if you slip up or have a few days off.

Once you get used to that it's just a matter of increasing the frequency and complexity of the things you're cooking fresh.

If you want to add more variety, vary things week to week rather than day to day. It's easier if you're cooking for many, but if you're cooking for 2-3 people then sticking to med-veg recipes one week, curries the next, e.c.t will make it easier to plan, shop, and waste less food.

Pasta;

There are so many recipes you can make with pasta and passata as a base, and once you figure out the range of veggies you can throw in there and how to cook them you can whip up a decent plate in half an hour or so from whatever you have in the cupboard. Works with rice too, but pasta is better for storing and for cold leftovers.

When frying veggies for a pasta sauce, as a general guideline;
Strong flavours get cooked first; onion, garlic, also stock cubes if you're using them.
When these start to turn brown, add the crunchy stuff, like peppers and carrots (but not root sprouts)
Shortly after the crunchy stuff goes the squishy, like courgette and aubergine, and also mushrooms.
Give those a little while to soften but before they start to brown add the brassicas like broccoli and cabbage, beansprouts, leeks. Tomatoes also go in here.
Add in a base, most likely passata.
Lastly add the thin leafy stuff like fresh herbs, rocket, spinach, e.c.t.


Fancy waffles;

Grill 6 potato waffles on some baking paper or a baking mat until they're a little yellow on both sides. Take them out, put a tin of baked beans over the top, put them back in for a minute or two. Take them out again, put cheese over the top. Take them out one last time and put some chopped chive over the top of that. A sprinkle of paprika is really good to add on top, even if not to make it spicy.
Take the paper/mat and drag it onto a heat-proof board or a folded towel and you can eat straight from the mat with minimal washing up to do.
If you want to make baked beans fresh you can use cannelloni beans boiled in some thinly diluted tomato puree and add a tiny pinch of garlic and papika.
*3 waffles is good for someone with a hearty appetite, or 2 for something lighter. Just adjust the amount of beans accordingly.
** These are super easy to cook and serve out in bulk to a group, but they do not keep well at all so if cooking for one it's best to only prepare as much as you want to eat.


Grilled Pizza Sandwiches;

This recipe is basically taking a thing in and out of the oven and cooking it a layer at a time, and takes about ten minutes in total. It's fun to watch each one melting into the next. It also smells amazing.
Take some pieces of thin, unrisen bread, like sandwich slices or cut open pittas. Spread tomato puree on (enough to cover the whole slice and grill them in the oven for a minute or two, until the puree starts to darken slightly on the top, but the bread not toasted.
Put some grated cheese and chives on, and grill until the cheese melts a little. Then, add anything else you want to put in, like tomatoes, leafy herbs like rocket or watercress, or basil, then add the top piece of bread and grill it until the top bread starts to toast.
Then put the top layer of cheese on and leave it in there until the top cheese melts and crisps slightly orange. Put the top layer of fresh chive on the top and press it lightly into the cheese and grill that just enough to heat it up but not cook the chive.

Bangers and Mash;

You can make it fancy with fresh buttered mash or you can use powdered potato, whatever you're used to or have the energy for. Add some chopped sausages and cooked mixed veggies. You can also make some onion gravy with onion, flour, soy sauce and a veggie stock cube.
Soft foods can be added in strips, but crunchy veg should ideally be chopped into 1/2 cubes and cooked well.

Tasty combinations;
Onion, leek, chives and black pepper.
Tomato, onion and red pepper.
Carrot, swede and butternut (tastes sweet, so best with savoury or veggie sausages.)
Chestnut mushrooms, broccoli, black pepper, rocket or mustard leaves.

Tips: Plan your week's menu before going to the grocery store and don't be afraid to buy some snacks - because if you have food you actually like you're less likely to eat out as much if you're trying to stay in and also if you try to plan your menu at the grocery store if you're anything like me suddenly you'll end up with like a dozen tomatoes, a deep desire to make salsa, and a box of cheerios rather than staples that you can use during the week xD

Also if you can make like a dinner item that can easily be heated up in the microwave for like three days - that's a huge time saver. Pasta/Rice dishes & casseroles are good for this.

Another tip -> Do invest in the types of seasoning you like! If you like salt / garlic / pepper / taco seasoning / cinnamon / chilli powder / dried peppers.

Another tip for money saving + meal planning -> if you're able buy more protein than you need and freeze some (ie. don't buy the little teeny tiny hamburger packages, or like 1 chicken breast) it's cheaper to buy more at once and freeze and unthaw the day before as needed. I'll buy like 5 lbs of hamburger and then put that in individual baggies with the date and then I'm set for a long time. Same with chicken.

Favorite Easy Recipes:

Sandwiches! There are so many good options to dress it up!!

*Grilled Cheese *BLT, *Egg Salad (a few boiled eggs, spoonful of mayo, a bit of relish, seasoning, boom) *Chicken salad (same thing as egg salad but add cooked chicken or cut up rotisseri chicken). *Veggie Sandwich *Pizza Sandwich etc etc. *PB&J *straight-up hamburger on bread + cheese

I always try to have some sort of easy veggie or fruit side of canned or fresh fruit / vegetable so that I'm not just eating a sandwich for lunch too. If you add sides to things, it definitely helps prevent you from getting sick of it!

Pasta Options!!
*Spaghetti, *Spaghetti + Meatballs, *Spaghetti + Sausage, *Alfredo + Chicken, *Penne + Garbanzo Beans + Tomatoes + Cucumbers + a dash of Vinegar *Penne Pasta Caserol

Rice Options!!
*Cheesy Broccoli Rice =2 cups of Rice + half a cup Cheddar + bag of frozen broccoli (cook it) + 1 white onion + garlic seasoning
*Rice-Taco-Bowl = 2 cups rice + some hamburger + table-spoon of salsa + cooked green pepper + cooked white onion + cheddar cheese + a couple tortilla chips on top.
*Chicken Tikka Massala= cook up some rice + chicken + grab a jar of tikka masala sauce from your grocery store (heat it up, if you're feeling fancy add an onion and can of diced tomatoes) + pray that your grocery store also sells naan bread (Aldi's & Walmart in my area do!)

Soups
*CHILLI -> Can freeze what you're not going to eat within 3 days, and make a giant bunch of it, excellent for fall / winter. I normally just buy a can of everything I think would be good in it then add some cooked hamburger, onion, 1 fresh tomato, cooked green pepper and just keep cooking in a frying pan then adding that to one big pot until it's all cooked and boiling.

*Chicken Noodle Soup is fairly easy to make homeade too -> I get a couple cartons of unsalted chicken broth and add salt as needed, cook whatever bag of noodles in the store that like chicken noodle soup noodles, add a bag of frozen carrots, a cooked onion, some garlic, and cook up some chicken and add.

Randoms

French Toast
Decide how many pieces of french toast you want, and use that many eggs -> beat the eggs with a splash of milk and cinnamon (& a teaspoon of vanilla if you have it, if not that's ok!) then dunk 1 slice of bread both sides in that mixture (should be in shallow bowl) and place dunked bread in pan that is sizzling hot. Wait until the sides look dry (a couple minutes) then flip, wait again, and you should be able to tell visually that it's slightly brown - so it's cooked. Tip: do one slice at a time then add syrup and butter. Yum.

Frozen hashbrowns are cheap -> and I actually just take some out and microwave for 2-3 minutes rather than fry, then add salt & pepper.

Meatloaf - there are ways to make single-serve meatloaf by just shoving it on the side of the pan your baking it in, I have lost said-recipe, but if I find it I will update you.

boiling up sweetcorn & potatoes also makes an easy dinner

Pizza - Have you seen the "Mama Mary's Pizza Crusts" at walmart? they are really easy to make your own pizza with -> you just add sauce (I use leftover spaghetti sauce) mozarella, and some peperoni or ham, and whatever other pizza toppings you like / have on hand. delicious.

Good luck!

(If we're talking about seasoning, my family loves to use one kind called Cajun seasoning. I need to find out the name of the specific brand we use, but it's really good. If we're cooking anything with seasoning at my house, chances are Cajun seasoning is somehow involved!)

This is my new favourite go to for quick meals.