Hi r/recipes! Not your normal post, but I haven't seen many recipes for people who work long hours and don't have a ton of time to cook. So, I made this guide!
All of the following meals can be made in under 8 minutes each without using any pots or pans. If you microwave efficiently, you can get meal times under 5 minutes each. This took me 25 minutes total to make including cleaning.
The only cooking utensils I used were:
- 1 knife
- 1 strainer
- 1 fork
- a can-opener
- a microwave
Here's how it came out:
The Ingredients
Meal 1- Mexican Burrito Bowl (3 minutes)
Ingredients for 2 portions:
- 1 uncle ben's ready rice (spanish, brown, or whatever you prefer)
- 1 can of black beans
- 1 can of corn
- 1 taco shell
- taco sauce
- feta cheese (or mexican cheese)
- Microwave Uncle Ben's Ready Rice for 90 seconds
- While that's microwaving, empty can of black beans and corn into a strainer and rinse with warm water, mix together with your hand or a fork
- Take out rice, pour into meal prep container on one side, and the corn black bean mixture on the other side
- Break a taco shell with your hand on top
- Crumble some feta cheese with your hand on top
- Drizzle taco sauce across
Meal 2 - Greek-ish Salad (3 minutes)
Ingredients for 2 portions:
- 1 large can of chicken
- 1/2 a bag of arugula, kale, or any other salad base
- 10-12 cherry tomatoes
- 1/2 can of chickpeas
- olive oil
- lemon juice
- salt, pepper
- pitted kalamata olives
- Lay your arugula in the meal prep container covering the entire bottom
- Sprinkle some cherry tomatoes, chickpeas on top
- Drain your can of chicken and rinse with warm water for 15-30 seconds and then add on top
- Crumble some feta cheese with your hands on top
- Sprinkle some pitted kalamata olives
- In a small container, add 1 part olive oil, 1 part lemon juice, salt, pepper - shake or mix - this will be the dressing, store on the side and add before eating
Meal 3 - Lentil Tahini Protein Bowl (6 minutes)
Ingredients for 2 portions:
- 1 can black lentils
- 1/4 cup tahini
- lemon juice
- 1 uncle ben's ready rice (brown or whatever you prefer)
- 1 frozen vegetable mix
- 1 tbsp pre-minced garlic (comes in a small jar)
- 1 teaspoon cumin
- Microwave the frozen vegetable mix according to instructions, mine took 5 minutes
- Drain the lentils into a strainer and rinse with warm water
- In a bowl, mix lentils with 1/4 cup tahini, a generous squirt of lemon juice, 1 tbsp (about) of minced garlic, salt, pepper, and 1 teaspoon cumin - mash with a fork until it becomes a mush
- When vegetables are done, microwave brown rice for 90 seconds
- Lay brown rice on 1/3 of container, lentil-tahini mash in the middle, and the cooked frozen vegetables on the final third of the container
Meal 4 - Tuna Sandwich + Salad (3 minutes)
Ingredients for 2 portions:
- 1 can of tuna
- 8 cherry tomatoes or so
- 4 slices of whole wheat bread (I used dave's killer bread)
- arugula
- 1/2 can of chickpeas
- 1tbsp light mayonnaise
- 1tbsp lemon juice
- 1/2 tbsp minced garlic from jar
- Drain can of tuna and add to a bowl
- Combine 1 tbsp light mayo, 1 tbsp lemon juice, 1/2 tbsp minced garlic, salt, and pepper into the tuna bowl and mix with a fork
- Take a slice of whole wheat bread, lay some arugula on it, and then add some tuna salad onto it, then put another slice of bread on it, cut in half, add to meal prep container
- Lay arugula on the other side of container, with cherry tomatoes, a handful of chickpeas
NOTE: You may want to keep the bread and tuna salad separate so the bread doesn't get soggy, and then combine when you eat it with a fork, shouldn't take more than 30 seconds
Meal 5 - Chickpea, Rice, Sweet Potato Bowl (8 minutes)
Ingredients for 2 portions:
- 1 can of chickpeas
- 2 sweet potatoes
- 1 uncle ben's brown rice or instant quinoa rice cups (that's what I used)
- 8 cherry tomatoes
- arugula
- hummus
- Wash sweet potatoes and poke holes with a fork, wrap in a moist paper towel and microwave for 6 to 8 minutes or until soft
- After sweet potatoes are done, microwave instant rice or quinoa
- Lay arugula down on 2/3 of the bowl
- Add rice/quinoa on top of arugula, then 1/2 can of chickpeas, and cherry tomatoes
- Cut sweet potatoe in half and add to container
- Add a dollop of hummus on top of the chickpeas
NOTE: You may want to add the hummus right before eating so you don't heat the hummus when warming it up, otherwise, you can eat it cold
Final Notes
- I saved time by microwaving two uncle ben's instant rice at a time
- You can save more time by always making sure the microwave is going, i.e. immediately throw the frozen vegetables in, then the sweet potatoes, then rice
- I specifically chose cherry tomatoes as they don't need to be prepped or cut for the salads
- I also saved dishes by using paper bowls, and reusing the same paper bowl throughout (i.e. mixing the tuna and making the lentil-tahini mash)
- I think most of these will be quite filling, I'm going to be eating them over the next week and will report back
- Also, you can save even more time by making a smaller variety of meals, i.e. if you only made 2 or 3 different meals for the week, you'd save a lot of time, but I like variety so I did a bunch
bon appetit
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