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12 tins of chopped tomatoes
1 bulb garlic
3 large white onions
3 bunches basil

all that should cost about £4.

chop and fry the onions until soft, squash up the garlic and add to the onions for a couple of minutes. Pour all the tomatoes into the pan and bring to the boil. Simmer for about an hour so all the chunks of tomato break down. Tear up all the basil and chuck it in. Stir for a few minutes with some seasoning and you're done.

You now have a vast quantity of good tomato sauce, portion it into about 10 freezer bags. Each one can now be made into an easy meal for 2 just by adding fried mince/mushrooms/chicken/etc... and a good quantity of pasta. Or you could just eat it as soup, or as a base for a pizza.

Good call by Fate on the slow cooker too. Those things are the ultimate for the lazy cook

I do similar to MDG with the whole cooked chicken.

I’ll also frequently buy a package of a pound or so of skinless chicken breasts/tenders, and sauté them up in a 10” pan on the stove. Just put a tablespoon of oil (I use Extra Virgin Olive Oil, but heck, any regular vegetable oil works, or even non-stick spray, just not as tasty) in the pan on medium-high, and sprinkle the chicken with seasoning to taste just before you pop it in. My go-to mix is black pepper, salt, cumin or coriander, and a little cayenne pepper for zip. You can optionally mix all of those with a tablespoon or so of white flour then coat the chicken pieces in that prior to cooking.

So you cook up a batch of those, and you can use them with anything.

Cook a pack of frozen stir-fry veggies in the same pan, then cut the chicken into chunks and add them together. And/or cook up some rice and throw a bit of soy sauce in.

Get packaged noodles and add some of the fresh chicken and/or veggies to them.

My local stores also sell packages of cheap thin-sliced pork chops super cheap, and another favorite recipe is to do the seasoning/flour coating I mentioned above, sauté in the pan over medium-high ‘til browned nicely, then make up a little citrus pan sauce. While the chops are cooking take a clove or two of garlic and mince it, (or just a teaspoon or so, if you’re lazy and buy the jar of pre-minced), a tablespoon or two of lemon juice (I usually just buy the cheap plastic squeeze bottle), and around 2 ounces of orange juice or cheap white wine. After you take the hot pork chops out (cover them on a plate), put another teaspoon or tablespoon of oil in, then brown the garlic a little in that (like for 30 seconds or so). Add the lemon juice first, then the wine or OJ. This will instantly start to smoke and brown up, and will loosen all the tasty crunchy bits on the bottom of the pan. Sprinkle a little salt and pepper in there, and let it boil and thicken for a minute or two until it makes a nice brown sauce. Pour this over your pork chops. You can do the same thing with chicken just as easily. I usually eat that with fresh bread or homemade garlic bread.

My local market also often sells big “value packages” of chicken parts. Like five pounds of legs, or wings, or something. If you have an oven it’s dead-easy to take a baking sheet or a baking pan, put foil over, season the chicken parts with salt, pepper, cayenne pepper (I like my spice), and some rosemary for favorite. Maybe garlic if you like it. Chopping up an onion, maybe some carrots, and some potatoes can fill the pan up nicely and make a nice accompaniment. Drizzle the potatoes with a bit of oil, ideally. Just bake it in the oven for a half hour or so.

Packaged kielbasa or smoked sausage also goes well with the frozen stir-fry veggies I mentioned above. Throw in an ounce or so of soy sauce, stir-fry over high heat for a couple of minutes and you’re golden. Serve over rice.

Tater Tot Casserole

•2 lbs. ground beef
•1/2 tsp. kosher salt
•1/2 tsp. freshly-ground black pepper
•1 10 oz. can low-sodium cream of mushroom soup
•1 cup sour cream (low fat is okay)
•2 cups shredded cheddar cheese, divided
•1 32 oz. package frozen tater tots
Preparation:
1.Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray a 9 x 13 pan with cooking spray.

2.Brown ground beef. Season with salt and pepper, while browning. Drain.
3.Spread ground beef in the prepared baking dish. Whisk together soup and sour cream. Spread over ground beef in an even layer.
4.Sprinkle one cup of cheddar cheese over the soup layer.
5.Top with tater tots.
6.Bake 30 minutes. Sprinkle remaining cheese on top. Bake another 5-10 minutes until cheese is melted.

Adding hot sauce makes it even better.

Bash the Bosh wrote:Gents, the response has been mega. Thanks alot for all of your help.

Bash

In that case i demand a pic of a dish you made from this thread >:'D

@LunaHound........are you sure...wouldn't you prefer to look at fresh roadkill.....yeah you would...it would be much more appetising.....

Tell you what...I'll post some pics over the next few weeks......Gawd 'elp me

I suggest everyone covers their hair and eyes...

Pasta’s a good call too. I’ll buy a jar of decent-quality store sauce, an 8oz can of plain tomato sauce, a red pepper, a green pepper, a shallot or small sweet Vidalia onion, and a pound of ground beef. Chop up half of each vegetable with some garlic and then cook them all together in a pot with a little salt and pepper and olive oil until they get fragrant and start to soften. Then pour the jar sauce and the plain sauce over the veggies, stir them a bit, and let them simmer on low. Add some basil, oregano, and cayenne pepper (sensing a theme?) to taste. Brown up half your ground beef in your 10” pan, break it up and add the beef to the sauce. Serve over pasta, and store the rest in the fridge and use it over the rest of the week. Shrimp or sausage are also good options in the sauce.

Use the other half of the ground beef to make yourself a couple of burgers the next day, or some meatballs or something.

Use the other half of the veggies to cook later and add to your packaged noodles.

De nada. Fresh pasta is your friend too, and remember it can be easily cooked from frozen too. A good trick ingredient is creme fraiche: use as a cheat White sauce that's instantly ready (drain pasta, return to pot add creme and grated cheese to pot and you have mac cheese in under 4 minutes). Residual heat in pasta pot also enough to heat a tin of toms through, too.

Also, look into recycling packaging. For instance, those plastic tubs Chinese Food comes in from the takeaways. Wash them out, and keep them. Ideal for the Freezer.

When buying Beans and other basic foodstuffs, don't worry too much about the poncier versions (yes, Heinz Beans are poncey). Just get the cheaper ones, and add some of your favourite sauce in which supplies the real flavour. Bingo! For instance, Sainbury's do own brand value noodles for 10p a packet. Flavour sachet isn't up to much I'll admit, but sod that. With a spice rack you can chuck your own in. Cheap and cheerful!

Step one buy a crock pot
Step two buy a tri tip roast a jar of salsa shredded lettuce tomato green onions and a bag of tortillas
Step three put roast and salsa in crock pot set on low before you go to work
Step four shred meat with two forks put in tortilla with lettuce and tomato mmmm tasty

So, any news of tasty successes?

If you ever need to just bulk out a meal, you can make your own flat bread just using flour and water (add in some salt and paper and/or other spices to give it some flavour).

Add water to flour and mix until it is no longer dust, but not so much water that it is super-sticky, roll it with a rolling pin so that it is flat, then fry in a small quantity of oil in a hot pan. Cooks in about 1 min and depending on what spices you have added can taste quite nice.

Good for creating wraps and with curry/other such foods.

Golden Eyed Scout wrote:Tater Tot Casserole

•2 lbs. ground beef
•1/2 tsp. kosher salt
•1/2 tsp. freshly-ground black pepper
•1 10 oz. can low-sodium cream of mushroom soup
•1 cup sour cream (low fat is okay)
•2 cups shredded cheddar cheese, divided
•1 32 oz. package frozen tater tots
Preparation:
1.Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray a 9 x 13 pan with cooking spray.

2.Brown ground beef. Season with salt and pepper, while browning. Drain.
3.Spread ground beef in the prepared baking dish. Whisk together soup and sour cream. Spread over ground beef in an even layer.
4.Sprinkle one cup of cheddar cheese over the soup layer.
5.Top with tater tots.
6.Bake 30 minutes. Sprinkle remaining cheese on top. Bake another 5-10 minutes until cheese is melted.

Adding hot sauce makes it even better.

I've made something almost identical to that before and it is delicous. Probably will need the hotsauce though.

Easy and full of taste !

Before and After

Being an athlete, I know chicken like I know the back of my hand.

My favorite method is simply a hot grill, and unseasoned chicken breasts which can then be paired with rice, pasta, or any other sort of grain or vegetable.

My favorite recipe:

24oz of Orzo
1 Avocado
1/2 cup cilantro
10oz of Chicken
8oz of your favorite salsa
8oz of pepperjack (or similar cheese)
Sriracha to taste (use more than you think is necessary)

Cook the orzo via package directions. Chop and saute the chicken in the fat of your choice (I use vegetable spray for leanness). Place the remaining ingredients, sans salsa and cheese, in a food processor; blending until smooth. Drain orzo, add chicken, add contents of food processor, add salsa and cheese, mix and eat.

When I make this it tends to last 7-8 meals, and costs roughly $20. Very calorie dense, thanks to the orzo. If you wish to serve it with something, I recommend a flat bread (easily made from scratch) or some sort of dessert (sugar cookies are a good option).

Gents,

I have come back from a three week pre-deplyment training exercise in STANTA (you UK service types will know where that is).

I have written down ALL the recipes and I'll be posting pictures of my efforts over the next few days. Again lads thanks for all your input.

http://www.jamieoliver.com/jamies-ministry-of-food/

Seriously, no matter your opinion of celeb chefs with issues the Ministry of Food recipes (there a book full of the recipes) are generally simple enough for anyone. If my wife wasn't deathly allergic to fish we'd probably be able to use a bigger portion of the book, but it's got a lot of good recipes still.

Something I make for dinner is really tasty and incredibly easy. Goto the soter, and buy either pork loin, or pork chops, doesnt matter really, only difference is cooking times. Also buy a package of bacon (pig....its whats for dinner) go home.
Wrap the chops/loin with the bacon. And I MEAN wrap (dont be lazy and just drape the bacon on there it doesnt cook the same) Put in oven at 350 for about 15 mins. Presto super tasty meal that is easy cheesy to make.

Your greatest ally in easy cooking is a casserole dish, you can make amazingly good meals with very little actual work, 15 mins prep, leave in oven for 45min, done.

two favourites:
beef stew
shin of beef ~50p per 100g
root veg
2-3 frozen spinich cubes (sainsburys do them)
spoon of mustard
onion
pint or so of stock

fry onion and then throw in beef, diced, until brown on the very outside of meat, throw all the diced veg, spinich, onions and beef with the mustard into the casserole dish cover with stock, put in the oven, 220 degrees c for 45-55mins


Chicken:
couple of fillets of chicken breast
onion
2-3 frozen spinich cubes
2 sweet potato
pint or so of stock

method same as beef

This sounds weird but it is awesome

You need a large deep casserole dish

4 or 5 pork steaks
One can of green beans drained
one onion sliced
one medium can of mushroom soup
one medium bag of tater tots

bone the pork steaks cut in to bite size pieces brown in a skillet
place in the bottom of the casserole dish
spread out the green beans and the onions over the pork
spread out the mushroom soup
bake for 45 min
place the tater tots on bake till tater tots are browned
let sit for 10 min to stiffen up and cool down

warning this is good and will disappear fast

man I want some pork casserole now

That does sound weird, but Ive gotta say Ive made/ate things that sound weird as hell, and they end up tasting really friggin good. Im going to have to give that one a try SonofRuss. I seem to of shifted into a "ME LIKE PORK" phase of my life lol.

Here's my favorite, something I call "cheater;s chili".

2 Lbs ground meat. Whatever sort you like.
3 cans chili beans.
One large jar chunky salsa.

Brown the meat in a pot, draining off the fat. Add the beans and salsa. Stir well, bring to boil then simmer for an hour. Easy, low-maintenance and the recipe can easily be sized up or down depending on how many people will be eating it.

KingCracker wrote:That does sound weird, but Ive gotta say Ive made/ate things that sound weird as hell, and they end up tasting really friggin good. Im going to have to give that one a try SonofRuss. I seem to of shifted into a "ME LIKE PORK" phase of my life lol.

I don't think I have ever not had a me like pork phase to quote Vincent Bacon tastes good Sausage tastes good Pork chops taste good.

Ramen noodles. Just add water. Plus five bucks can buy enough Ramen to last you till the human race evolves the ability to photosynthesize, at which point finding food will be of no concern.