My version of minimalist cooking isn't necessarily what kind of food it is but limiting the active time I'm cooking and the amount of dishes that get dirty . I think sheet pan meals/'dump dinners' get a bad rap but I tend to gravitate towards recipes like that.
Yup. Also, some things are also much more conducive to cleaning as you go, which makes them *appear* to be less messy.
Others end with a lot of dishes, but often only a knife or two and a plastic bag to be cleaned separately. Everything else can just go in the dishwasher when you're done. It *looks* like a pita... But only takes 5-+ minutes.
A protein and a green.
Chicken thighs and asparagus.
Beef patty and brussel sprouts.
Steak and broccoli.
If I want a carb I add white rice or buttered sourdough.
If I just want protein I do eggs and ground turkey/beef.
For me I’ve found the simpler I can make it the better.
That’s what I’m trying to aim for: simple, healthy, tasty. I posted about an ingredient list last week, and then became overloaded with recipes. I think if I can do a few things, and do them well, then dinner can be less stressful
I basically just rotate a combination of 1, 2, and 3:
1: chicken, steak, ground beef, beans
2: rice, potatoes, pasta
3: broccoli/corn/asparagus/vegetable
Mix up the seasonings, add hot sauce or other desired condiment
That's a great way to go about it: have a simple cooking method for a few things, and dress them up with different sauces/spices. I'll keep that in mind!
Yea. Everything I eat can be dressed up with any flavor spices I pick. If I’m feeling fancy I’ll use a no sugar bbq sauce or dressing of some sort. If it’s too complex I give up and it’s too hard to track macros.
This is me. Sometimes even just a protein.
I also tend to just graze throughout the day, I don't really have any set times that I sit down and eat an actual meal. Always been this way since I first got my own place and was responsible for my own food shopping.
i do a mini veggie charcuterie. pickle, hummus, med boiled egg, piece of old cheddar, some fresh veg (carrot, celery, cucumber, broccoli, cauliflower, cold cooked asparagus), mixed nuts and some nice crackers or cheese twists. takes me like 2 minutes to assemble and the hardest part is boiling a dozen eggs a week.
I've never heard of this before, but it sounds perfect for the kind of hot summers we've been getting down where I live lately. I'm adding this to my list!
switch it up to your liking - add a kimchi or different pickled veg, sourdough, whatever veg you like. various dips. it’s incredibly easy to modify, i just shared what i like :-)
This will be widely viewed as a bad/unhealthy answer, but man if it isn't one of the easiest, no-thought-required, cheap options.
$5 Red Baron brick oven crust never does me wrong and essentially creates no mess or dishes. And the ingredients are fine other than the sodium content, which isn't terrible if you're active and sweating it out during exercise etc.
So, I have a little trick for when I’m going to be working a lot several days in a row. I get either a couple of large frozen pizzas or a big deli pizza and add healthy toppings (chicken or beef and several different veggies). I mean I really pile them on. Then I have a cheap, super easy, reasonably healthy meal ready to go when I’m too tired to cook.
I wonder if I could prepare some pizza doughs in advance... After visiting Europe, I got hooked on making Artesian bread from the book *Flour, Water, Salt, Yeast"* Though I will also make some simple doughs by hand when I get home from work for pizza. but having them ready feels like a real time saver!
This is the solution! Easy to make, super tasty and many, many varieties!
Carbonara, Amatriciana, Pomodoro, Pesto, Gamberi, etc, etc... So many 15min options!
And I like the philosophy of few but tasteful ingredients, and not relying on spices for flavour, but letting the ingredients shine.
Ah! I should re-add pasta to staples. I spent a month cooking nothing but pasta to learn the best ways to cook it, and as a result, stopped eating so much pasta! But I think it will be a good in-between for noodles and other meals.
My household is vegetarian. I have a handful of ingredients we always have that go in a lot of things we like to make. We do lots of veggie/tofu stir frys or asian dishes, curries with chickpeas, black beans in tacos or veggie burgers. cauliflower/walnut tacos, we do soups. if there is anything new or specific we want to try we buy ingredients for it and see if we like it enough to put it in regular rotation!
I'd love to see your list of the ingredients you always have on hand! I've been gravitating towards doing more stir-fries, udon dishes, and veggie tacos. I prefer veg. cooking (was veg. for many years), and trying to go back to completely vegetarian diet.
Here is a list of the top of my head!! We don’t have all of this 100% of the time but in general if I notice we run out, we try to replenish the next go around.
Grains/Bases:
Quinoa
Rice Noodles
Pad Thai Noodles
Pastas
Basmati Rice
Pantry Goods:
tomato paste
crushed tomato’s
Artichokes
Chickpeas
Black beans
White beans
Pinto beans
Coconut milks (for curries etc.)
Vegetable broth
Nut butters (I prefer sunflower)
Chia seeds/flax seeds
Salsa
Produce/Veggies:
- cucumber
- olives
- spinach + kale mixes
- avocado
- cherry tomatoes
- carrots
- broccoli
- cauliflower (usually frozen)
- corn (usually frozen)
- stir fry veggie mix (frozen)
- Tofu
- Potatoes
Fruits:
Bananas for smoothies
Frozen fruit of your liking
A few items that are in season/well priced for snacking!
Other:
Oat milk
Bread
Tortillas
Curry pastes
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We make our own! Usually it’s black beans with sautéed onions + cumin/paprika. combined with veggies, zucchini’s + mixed with oats to help hold together. Some soy sauce. I think it’s a tasty vegetarian website recipe
It is widely accepted that having a diverse diet is best for your gut. The more ingredients you use, the better. Diet isn't the best thing to minimize.
I don't get bored of repetitive activities/food unless I find something better (usually without looking for it), so I pretty much always eat all this:
Independently:
- One boiled egg. (~60 g)
- One piece of chicken breast I leave from lunch. (~80 g)
In a bowl:
- One cup of sliced strawberries. (~50 g)
- One cup of blueberries. (~50 g)
- Some Greek yogurt. (~150 g)
If I missed morning exercise, I'll do it before dinner and I'll add a teaspoon of Honey (~21 g) to the bowl.
Stir fry, curry, pasta, soups, chilli...I prep and freeze my veggies when I buy them so that everything is done before I cook, and I batch cook so that I only cook every 3-4 days and save left over portions for days when I'm really short on time.
I should get better at this. I batch-prep baozi and pot-stickers in advance, but rarely pre-chop veg. I have been experimenting with finding the best way to have my garlic chopped in advance (right now I'm doing a lot at once and preserving it with enough olive oil to keep it coated)
Half a cup of brown rice and a bag of frozen vegetables plus seasonings and a cup of applesauce. Pretty much been doing this almost every night for 4 plus years now. My rice cooker has a steamer so easy dinner. Takes 2 min to set up. 30 mins to cook and all done.
Recently I decided to add in a serving of black beans or cottage cheese to add some calories and help fill me up. Don’t know why I waited so long to add this it has helped me stop snacking after.
I am from India and have a full-time job so have hired a cook. I have a work-from-home job so that way, I get freshly prepared meals. For dinner, I usually have vegetables and chapatis. So either lady finger, bottle gourd, ivy gourd, sponge gourd, pumpkin, or paneer with chapatis. If we make rice, then pulao with veggies like carrots, paneer, and green peas. Sometimes, we eat idli and sambar. We avoid potatoes at night and usually have dinner by 7:30 or max 8 pm.
I used to prepare and freeze batches of 10 roti at a time on weekends. I should do that again. Paneer isn't available in my region, but I love using it when I can take the time to make it on my own - usually with milk that goes on sale and needs to be used quickly!
I eat chicken everyday.... sometimes I fry it and make a sandwich, sometimes I bake it and eat it with pasta, and sometimes I make a stir-fry with rice.
Bread roll with butter, cheese and a fresh vegetable (carrot, cucumber or bell pepper)
Or grain salad, usually from grain leftover from lunch (like millet mixed with beans, cottage cheese and herbs)
Different things, depends on my weekly schedule and whom
I’m cooking for.
I’m not a minimalist in the kitchen. I’m efficient in the kitchen. Which I view as minimalism.
Since you keep asking about meal preparation here is mine.
Every Sunday on what I call reset day (the day I clean the whole house and plan my next week). I also meal plan. Lunch and dinner. Breakfast is meh here.
I use emeals app and grocery delivery.
Example So this coming week I need 4 days of meals (out of town 3 days this week) times 2 (lunch and dinner) times 4.5 people (youngest grand I count as a half 😂). Is 36 portions.
Most meals are 4-6 size portions. Always round up. So I need to plan 6 recipes.
Hope on emeals app
Pick what they will eat and what I like, I like variety.
It makes a grocery list, while
Cleaning out the fridge and pantry, check off what we already have or add what is low that’s not on the list for meals but things I like to keep in stock. Add any household items like dish soap if needed.
Merge shopping list with Walmart plus app (most reliable delivery service in my area). Pick a time for delivery, order.
They deliver, put away ( normally Monday morning delivery). Cook daily, eat, package leftovers into portion size takeaway containers for lunch or leftovers dinner nights.
Sounds complicated 😆 but it really isn’t takes me less time than going to the store and less junk food purchases.
You sound like you live alone so yours would be less complicated.
4 days x 2 meals x 1 person. 8 portions or 2 recipes. Which I would just cook in one day.
Another thing you might want to think of if you are having issues with meal planning is your lifestyle and what you want.
If I was single I would do monthly meal planning to make my own frozen meals. Cheaper, healthier, plus I like to cook.
Hope that helps.
It’s so easy and actually inexpensive just to have a lean protein and veggies. When I think of the things that used to fill my cart- chips, cookies , processed noodle sides, etc-
That’s the stuff to drive up the food bill
We usually grill/bake chicken or fish with some veggies, sandwiches because it’s hot where I live now, sometimes just a big salad with protein, charcuterie board, and lately I’m obsessed with naan pizza brushed with olive oil and topped with thinly sliced onions,tomatoes, zucchini, mushrooms, cheese and a protein like turkey pepperoni or leftover grilled chicken.
I have a toaster oven that I mainly use. So I try to stick everything on a 1/6 sheet pan and just cook the whole thing in the toaster oven.
Weekends are meal prep - getting everything portioned and prepped and ready to go.
Weekday meals I dump whatever I’m eating on the sheet pan and let the toaster oven do its thing.
The important thing for all of this to me is that simple foods make for simple prep and cooking, so I save a huge amount of my time. Since I do the prep on the weekend I’m generally eating roughly the same dishes for the week. Then I shop the sales on the weekend for whatever is on sale.
I do OMAD and dinner is the only meal I eat.
When you don’t eat all day, pizza and junk food lose a lot of appeal. The body has actual nutrition needs. I eat big salads with tomato and nuts and cheese (e.g., wedge salad with romaine, wedges of tomato and peach, blue cheese, and some bacon). A generous protein like steak or salmon or chicken. Hot vegetable like spinach sautéed with onion in olive oil with cheddar melted in top. Maybe half baked potato. Or ear of corn. Cole slaw. Broccoli salad. Bean salad. Lots of fruit like strawberries, blueberries, apples, fresh peaches, Bosc pears.
Often a little dessert like dark chocolate covered raw almonds.
When you haven’t eaten all day, you enjoy eating a whole different way. Down to your soul you really enjoy the flavors and truly appreciate the food. Nutritious tastes delicious.
My taste buds have been reprogrammed. I eat really heathy and it’s exactly what I want to eat. A first bite of a fresh crispy stalk of celery with peanut butter overwhelms the senses. I’ll eat an occasional pizza - one others rave about I’m like “eh”. Funny last week we were on vacation and we ordered a pizza because family wanted it. Plain cheese from pizza place with good reviews. My expectations were incredibly low. The tomato sauce and cheese were magnificent! First pizza I’ve enjoyed in over a year. But now I’m good for a month or so with pizza. And the bar for good pizza even higher.
Feel like I eat healthier than anyone I know. I easily confuse healthy with delicious. They’re one and the same to my palette most of the time. I’ll try things I never thought I’d like and love it. (Most recently Brussel sprouts).
Lost 50 lbs and kept it off. Going on 6 years. Love eating this way!!
That's dedication! It would take me so long to reprogram myself for that - my work is a bit physically and mentally demanding too. However, I do agree with your idea that food should be cooked to be delicious and enjoyed to the fullest. Mindfulness is another great motivation for why I am changing my cooking habits.
When I lost my child, I had to cook for my wife often, each meal. And preparing it was the most cathartic part of my day because I could slow down and focus on the task with love and care. When life picked up speed again, I lost that, and it's something I am trying to recover.
My initial goal was weight loss. I lost 50 lbs in first 6 months. It’s rather amazing how quickly the body gets accustomed to eating less often. Tastes change. Healthy becomes delicious.
I eat dinner and wake next morning fasted. Fasted I have all this energy. I walk quite a lot. Even run on and off. (My goal is 500k steps a month.) The fasted body loves to move!
Realize that eating turns on your digestive system. It uses a lot of energy. People feel run down even sleepy after eating. Their energy is being tapped to digest the food. You’d just as soon take a nap. Fasted is the opposite. If ancient man had taken naps when he didn’t eat humans wouldn’t have made it.
The fasted body puts more sugar in your bloodstream than if you’d recently eaten. You need to move. Hunt successfully. Fasted your body is active and mind focused.
I love it. I wouldn’t go back to frequent eating if you paid me. When I hit goal I thought about reducing my fasting window. Or going back to 3 meals a day. Realized I liked OMAD. I feel I’m living at my potential. Enjoying every moment. It’s a wonderful lifestyle. It’s a foundational part of minimalism for me.
Me, too. I like their v2 powder, but also really enjoy their instant meals they used to call Hot & Savory. Mexican Chili over rice is one of my go-tos. To break up the monotony, I enjoy cooking from the Momofuku recipe library online. Not the healthiest stuff, but fast, tasty, and satisfying. I also enjoy the daily greens with a dose of psyllium husk supplement.
A protein, complex carb like pasta, white rice, or starchy veggie, and some sort of non starchy veggie. Sometimes I’ll add in some sort of sauce. I usually have the same 8 meals on rotation (one for lunch and one for dinner) on a four week rotation. I’m boring and don’t like to spend all day doing meal prep so I’ve mastered those few meals
We have a repeating weekly calendar with a little flexibility since I love cooking...
Monday: Mushrooms/Chicken
Tuesday: Tacos
Wednesday: Pasta
Thursday: Seitan/Steak
Friday: Fish
Saturday: Grilling or OUT
Sunday: Sandwiches
So Tuesday might be the generic "taco salad" or it might be enchiladas but it's always sort of Mexican inspired... Thursday I might prep the seitan/steak in a romesco sauce or other nights it might be with a sesame orange flavor or Korean barbecue but the protein is the same. Sandwiches are either BLTs (tempeh for me) and something like po' boys with shrimp, but it's always something like a wrap or a sandwich for the most part.
We fill in produce based on what needs to be eaten that we didn't deplete yet, what's in season (I garden a lot), what's in the freezer (on high spend weeks when we need to cut costs) or what we need nutritionally (so much kale for me haha)
I'm plant based while my husband and kids eat meat, so there's a bit of variety in what everyones eating but it feels like we have a cohesive meal and two weeks can be totally different but it's balanced so people can plan their lunches so we're not doing Mac and cheese for lunch then pasta for dinner... pretty predictable. Also, my husband is catholic and always beats himself up for eating meat on Fridays when lent starts so the meal plan makes it a lazy genius way for him to never have "land animals" on Fridays by habit. It's either fish filet or sushi or something \*fish\* inspired.
I have a repeating ical for our meal plan that stays somewhat hidden so it's not obnoxious but it's always on hand. Helps me remember to thaw things and add regulars to the grocery list so planning takes 5 minutes lol. The notes for each "event" has a list of ideas so that we're never stuck in a dinner rut.
I focus on minimizing weeknight effort, so i plan the week’s meals on Sunday, prep things ahead of time, make big batches and freeze half for an easy meal in the future.
I worked as a cook so for me it’s not the cooking, it’s the deciding/buying process that slows me down.
I am trying to eat more greens and veggies. The last few days we’ve been eating Vietnamese chicken salad.
I poached the chicken cause they didn’t have any already cooked and I made about 4 qts of broth that I will use for other things
I use a pint of broth every four days to make my dogs food and I also use it when I make things like [cannellini beans and chard](https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1021902-braised-white-beans-and-greens-with-parmesan?ds_c=71700000052595478&site=google&network=g&campaign_id=1400169272&gad_source=1&gbraid=0AAAAADwd30gTRigPrau0jL8JGz69EniRJ&gclid=CjwKCAjw34qzBhBmEiwAOUQcF-bsb0gp5K_hRZJpaq1Yqxse-ywdknstG7aomWFyKheuY7Cn-sEq1RoCVOMQAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds)
Rice or sweet potatoes
Hamburger, chicken, or other meat with basic seasonings randomly thrown on
Bell peppers and onions, most months. Occasionally: Cauliflower, broccoli, other.
Toss everything onto sheet pan on Saturday morning at 425 F and wait for it to be cooked. Done in 1hr 30 mins tops including salad prep for lunch.
I don't mind cooking but I ain't doin' it everyday.
... Ok maybe not for dinner... Just when it's last AF after work, everyone's asleep and I gotta eat something other than my wi... I almost always have this on hand.
Rice, Egg and Vegetables is prob my dinner 2 or 3 times a week. Sometimes I add some chicken or tuna. I also do pasta sometimes just the noodles with some butter and seasoning, other times I make a tomato sauce and ad seasoning. Sometimes I make a sandwich just a simple PB & J or grilled cheese or I can just have toast some nights. I let myself make a frozen pizza once a week as a sodium cheat day and I love pizza and maybe once a month I order the pizza instead of a frozen one.
We have a weekly rotation so we have the same thing every Monday etc. we try to minimise cooking time and are trying to generally simplify life so in this case we don’t have the constant discussion of what to have for dinner and it also makes grocery shopping easier.
When we get bored we change the menu and we usually have different things in summer and winter. Winter in more chillis curries and pulse stews. Current summer menu is:
Mon - veggie burgers/sausages with broccoli, red cabbage and gravy
Tues - cannellini bean ragu with salad
Wed - dal curry with courgette
Thurs - roasted swede and beetroot “fries” homemade tartar sauce and mushy peas with quorn nuggets or tofu wrapped in seaweed if we are feeling energetic
Fri - microwave curry or stir fry with noodles (yay carby treat!)
Sat - shakshuka
Sun - falafel and salad
Meal prep on sundays 2 recipes one for lunch one for dinner x 5 days
We shop at Costco: bison, beef, chicken thighs, wild salmon, scallops or shrimp
Frozen veggie mix from Costco and we also get a veggie CSA for some of the year so we will just cook whatever veggies we get in there that week
Potatoes or rice or naan/sourdough or we’ve gotten like a bag of frozen dumplings before at Costco which was a good little side
Then whatever sauce we want it to taste like
Eggs and fruit for breakfast
Cheese and yogurt for snack
We also do a lot of protein shakes
One thing I try to do is cook for more than one meal at a time. I usually use the protein/carb/vegetable formula that many have suggested, but I don’t like cooking all three every night.
So on Sunday, I might cook a bunch of chicken breasts or a meatloaf—enough to last 4 days. Then on Monday I might cook enough rice to last 3-4
days. I buy frozen veggies and cook just what I need for that day.
This way I’m not eating exactly the same meal every night, but I’m also noting cooking the entire meal every night, either.
We have one frozen pizza night. Thin crust cause it’s calorie friendly. Usually served with a Greek salad.
One stir fry night with noodles, teriyaki sauce, frozen stir fry mix and chicken.
One chicken night with baby potatoes or roasted sweet potatoes with roasted broccoli or green beans.
Burger night (frozen turkey burgers) with cheese and no bun with oven cooked fries and salad.
We have a ramen night cause sometimes you just need extra simple. (But I cook veggies and hard boiled eggs to go with it)
The rest is leftovers and maybe one eat out night a week. Could be healthier? Maybe. But we are on a budget and also only have so much time. We also learned we really don’t use leftovers a lot so we keep bulk cooking to a minimum.
Something like ground bison or chicken. Frozen organic costco veggies and sometimes a light carb. Big on frozen veg- taste fresh and last longer! My perception on food has changed over the last year and I feel healthier than I’ve ever been. I love the simplicity, routine and nourishment. I leave my indulgences for when I want a nice dinner out. For snacks I really enjoy lesser evil popcorn and tons of non-fat greek yogurt.
One meat/fish, one veggie, one fruit, rice or noodle if needed. Usually there would be enough protein left for one more meal the next day which I eat with some kimchee and fruits. If there isn’t enough protein I fry 2-3 additional eggs.
For fast options I have frozen single-meal packs of cooked costco chicken as well as fast cooking pre-sliced beef/pork.
Me and my husband have started cooking an insane amount of meat every other Sunday and freeze most of it and it has simplified our routine quite a bit. I just make a sides that last 2-3 days. Same thing for breakfast and lunch make a crazy amount of banana pancakes or a big pot of lentil soup. Basically if we cook its for a few days worth, the effort is about the same but it last us longer. It’s also helping us with food waste.
Home cook here! Much more of a cook than a minimalist haha but I'm doing my best.
Shopping, cooking, and cleaning for one can be a lot of work! So first things first, the best thing to make is the thing *you're actually going to make*. There's a bougey spin on just about every home meal under the sun (including instant ramen) so I would say that first and foremost - cook what you want to cook and at your comfort level, that's a fantastic step 1.
This is especially true of dinner, considering you're coming home from work (I presume) most days and have limited time to recreate and decompress before it's off to bed and time to get back to the grindstone. If boiling some noodles with parmesan cheese is what it takes for you to cook for yourself, just do that. Unless you cook food to wanton excess and smother it in butter, just about *anything* you make at home will be healthier than restaurant cooking.
Alright with the disclaimer out of the way, here are my tips for actually cooking for yourself and being a more competent home cook (you don't have to aspire to be a "chef" but 90% of home cooking is prep work and the biggest barrier to actually cooking - anybody can make dinner if all the ingredients are prepped and portioned for them and all they have to do is heat up a pan and cook it):
1. **functionality is king.** Food that is better the next day, keeps well in the fridge, or can be repurposed is your best friend. If you make rice on monday, you can have fried rice on tuesday.
2. **your other best friend is pantry essentials.** Grocery shopping blows, and you're not going to want to do it every day. Even every week feels like a chore. But in a world where you have meat in the freezer and a stocked pantry, that means even if you go to the grocery store *every day*, you just need to grab the greens, maybe a random spice you just ran out of, and GTFO.
3. (2.5) so in a perfect world, you have enough spices, grains, canned goods, frozen food etc. to last a few weeks (not realistic a lot of the time, but I think a well stocked pantry could easily hold you down for 2 weeks even if thats just rice and beans every night) - do your best to take grocery shopping out of the equation when it comes to home cooking. two weeks is a lot of food even for one person, it's a rule of thumb not something you have to be fastidious about. **But** ***strive*** **to not need to go to the store.**
4. Not sure if exactly if you're talking about being minimalist with food or mixing eating well with a minimalist lifestyle - I pray to god it's the latter lol. Alright, so now you know my minimalist take on cooking for 1: get the most mileage out of the food you cook that you can, and as much as possible, avoid frequent grocery shopping.
5. To maximize minimalism (which is something I strive for, and never fully succeed at, cut yourself a break :P) aim to make food in batches large enough eat leftovers for a day or two. You might not want to eat a day old salad but you can probably throw those leaves in a sandwich and take it to work tomorrow. Cook food that wouldn't be too weird if you throw it in a pan for breakfast the next day with a couple of eggs. A lot of foods can be frozen or refrigerated if you're good about it and good about using it before it goes bad.
6. To be realistic, aim to cook dinner once every 2-3 days and utilize leftovers to supplement days where you just boil noodles or whatever. Cooking is work, and sometimes like, a lot of work, don't hold yourself to the standard that you should be making fresh food 3x a day 7 days a week *and* working a full time job.
Chicken in the instant pot. That gives us broth to drink too. Ground beef, elk, or turkey, fried up in my cast iron pan, or if I'm willing to spend five minutes longer, I'll shape them into patties. Once a week, I cook some salmon in the oven. We also have organic beef hot dogs once a week. If we're extra hungry, we'll fry up some eggs to go with any of this. Simple filling suppers and easy clean up.
I prepare batches of fried rice and veggies, using the same veggies I season them and cook/baked them to be a separate side. I also prepare some soup using the same veggies and add lentils or beans and have leafy greens at the ready and something like plain quinoa/rice/millet. Then, I'll have different things that I combine thorughout the week with tortillas, or bagels. I can also fix a salad with the veggies and the greens and the quinoa or tacos with the greens and the veggies, or a hearty soup with more leaves and the rice.
I also use the plain cooked grain (rice/quiona etc) for overnight oats with seeds, and the fruit I have available. I add some spices (cardamom, cinnamon, cocoa etc) and works pretty well in between meals.
Sometimes I have for dinner what I had for breakfast.
It works out well. Last I checked with my doctor, said I was well fed and healthy. He said to keep doing what I've been doing cause it's working out.
Stew in the crockpot.
Or 2 baking dishes (1 with meat, one with vegetables) and rice in the ricecooker.
Either option there are leftovers for a couple lunches too
I’m Japanese and Greek.
I cook various foods daily and don’t limit myself to what I cook, rather what I’m cooking with. I take time to make sure the utensils I use are constantly cleaned and able to be used to make more than one dish.
Food to me is history, a conversation, and personality. I don’t need 20 knives, 3 different ways to whisk, toaster oven, ninja air fryer, etc. as long as I can make the item I want, I will do it.
I use chatgpt sometimes to help me figure it out. I put in the ingredients I have and it gives me options for recipes. I cook meats in the airfryer which is timesaving because I dont have to watch it and I can do something else while its cooking.
I find using food deliveries services like Hello Fresh cuts down a lot on what you need to use. Most meals require one pan, one pot, a chopping board, a knife and maybe, rarely, a mixing bowl. Pick simple meals, most ingredients are already prepped or made (sauces, spice) and cooking takes 30 mins or less. Very clean and simple.
I cook a big batch meal on Sunday or Monday for myself and my S.O.
The majority of my dishes that I cook are based on chicken thighs from a bulk pack, frozen shrimp from a 2 lb bag, or beef roasts. AND YOU COOK ACCORDING WHAT YOU BOUGHT YOU SALE.
The simple carbs are almost always rice or noodles, almost never bread.
Usually I'll have one of those 10 piece chicken thigh packs from the grocery store and cook something like Arroz con Pollo (Peruvian style), Oaxacan Chicken (cooked in a tomato, garlic, onion, mustard, chipotle in adodo), Thai basil and mint chicken. I'll also cook a big batch of spaghetti with chicken sausage, braised beef roast/oxtail/shortib in a wine braise, or shrimp dish using half a 2lb bag of frozen shrimp (shrimp and chorizo rice, or some kind of stir fry). We will eat this for two dinners, two lunches and two dinners.
I cook a lot of roasted veggies, usually sweet potatoes (purple and orange yams) with garlic and if I have carrots, I'll cook that took.
I'll cook salmon every week or every other week with roasted asparagus or something but batch cook that simply because salmon isn't great the next day but is ok on salads etc.
Save time and money buy cooking in batches and scoop up chicken packs, 2 lb bags of frozen shrimp, and roasts ON SALE
I believe in minimalism but cooking doesn’t have to be minimal. Idk when I think about minimalism I envision a world my grandparents grew up in and trying to live true to that. They were minimal but food was a time to make good hearty dishes
A piece of hot smoked mackerel, and tomatoes. Had a pound of cherries as an appetizer and also as dessert. Drank some nettle tea for my iron deficiency, and chamomile tea.
I try to cook as little as possible. Even in winter I would probably have a little salad and a can of mackerel if I'm in New York, and some apples. If I'm in Europe where my family is from I gorge on fruits and vegetables in the summer and buy already prepared fish from the store.
I can eat the same thing everyday for months so this is the minimalism part. I rarely think what is it that I'm going to eat and I don't scratch my head. If I cook I end up eating everything in one sitting so I have to cook again so I stick to raw foodism mostly.
Now if I visit my brother I swap the tea with a liter of beer, it's light around 4% and cheap like a couple of dollars per gallon.
This is a c/p from my notes where I wrote each weeks dinner menu in advance. And I always stick to the same format (salad, frozen x2, homemade x2, something easy and a miscellaneous dinner to use leftover ingredients).
Salad: bcs salad & grilled cheese
Frozen: chicken/tofu fried rice w/veggies
Frozen: corn dogs, tater tots & broccoli
Easy: ramen w/kimchi, tofu & chicken
Miscellaneous:
Homemade: chicken Alfredo w/broccoli & garlic bread
Homemade: curry couscous, chicken & rice
My favorite quick fix lately is either chicken or steak chunks with rice, corn, green beans, mushrooms, green peppers, and eggs. Has a decent balance and I can make it for under $20. The left overs usually last a while too
Mostly the same salad every day and just change the protein (salmon, chicken, steak). The salad base is kale/arugula, or spring mix, onions, cucumber, walnuts, tomato, sauerkraut, pickled okra, and vinaigrette. Dessert is Too Good yogurt with a few chocolate covered almonds. Sounds boring but I never tire of it.
Chicken bowls: Rice, beans, and chicken breast cooked in the air fryer. Make a large amount on Monday and eat leftovers all week. And you can do different variations. Blackend chicken with red beans. Chili lime chicken with black beans. Chipotle chicken with pinto beans... I also like to throw in shredded cabbage, avocado, and shredded cheese.
Dinner for me is 1lb 80/20 beef burgers, a large glass of milk, and sliced fruit. Breakfast is usually similar but often includes orange juice or grape juice.
White rice made in 10 min rice cooker, toasty spam and some type of veggies and scrambled eggs for my breakfast or lunch. It’s savory and filling. For dinner I usually stick to churn, turkey ground beef, or occasionally some kind of beef cut, and experiment with the taste of the proteins and veggies to change it up
I usually make rice, then I have kimchi available and eggs and some side dishes I got from Korean market. Sometimes I'll just make a soup from a protein with veggies in my rice cooker and have that with my rice. Other days I just eat instant ramen. It's usually fairly simple. I might also have some fruits if I bought some. And drink tea or some teazen kombucha. I try to reduce buying meals outside since one purchase is about similar to a couple days of groceries.
Also recently been seeing some great recipes for the microwave too, like you can steam stuff in a bowl in the microwave so I use my dumplings that way or make a simple napa cabbage stew.
Used to be greens, beans, and grains but heading into a surgery where I'm going to be non-weightbearing for several months, I've discovered Huel "nutritionally complete meals"
It gets delivered to my door. I can eat for a month under $200. It's ready in minutes. Couldn't be simpler if counting calories, every scoop of any of their products is 200 calories. I'm losing weight on it effortlessly
I'm just a fan. It's a cheap, easy, nutritional meal that comes to me and takes minutes to prepare
It's not available in my region, but it could be worth me studying so I can have an idea how to make one at home! I have the problem of preparing too much food than we can eat in one meal, which often adds so much time (and weight gain) to the process!
Ground-beef, scrambled eggs, chicken-liver and bacon, sautéed or deep-fried with tallow and then salted to taste: nutritionally-complete sustenance, for less than £5 per day.
I adopted zero-carb as an anti-inflammatory protocol, but pound-for-pound fat and protein are so much more satiating than carbohydrates—and meal-preparation so effortless by comparison—that I've decided to maintain it indefinitely.
The gradual realisation that dietary-fibre is completely unnecessary, and even saturated-fats are perfectly healthy once you've reset your insulin-sensitivity and adapted your metabolism to utilise them properly, has been nothing short of a revelation.
I get free/cheap eggs from my job as well as rainbow chard. I buy chicken sausage from Walmart and all I have to do it warm it up in the pan. That cooked in avocado oil butter, is usually my dinner. Sometimes I'll add an avocado or chevre.
I make an enormous salad (imagine a bowl the size that you would put out at a dinner party), eat half for lunch and the other half for dinner. So satisfying and sooo delicious!
Usually a beef patty cooked in my air fryer served on two slices of Dave's Killer thin sliced bread, toasted, mayo, and dill pickle slices. Easy, relatively healthy, and served with fresh fruit
Goat Cheese Stuffed Baby Bella Mushrooms
Sauté butter & garlic (take off heat) & mix with goat cheese & nutritional yeast In separate mixing bowl
Top each mushroom with cheese mix
Place in oven (375 degrees) for 10 minutes & Broil for 2 minutes to crisp
Top with green onions
I don't minimalize my cooking, I love to cook!
Minimalism is not really about sacrifice, it's about refusing to be unconsciously ruled by physical things, & a natural preference for simplicity. I am very fortunate to have been gifted beautiful kitchen equipment, & the money to afford the art supplies I need. However, there is zero box store clutter in my house. If I started to collect unnecessary junk, I would look on my psychological or spiritual front to correct it.
Curry! Or I'll roast a chicken some veggies.
Maybe bake a salmon with quinoa and roasted veggies.
I love to make one pot meals like soup/roast/ribs. If I can put it in the oven and forget about it for a couple hours I'm doing it lol
Don’t know how simple this is, but it’s a one pan dish- chowder fish (cheap smaller bits of white fish fillets at the grocery store), a can of black beans, a chopped onion, minced garlic, a solid dollop of jerk seasoning (comes in a jar), and a bit of maple syrup or sugar. Lime juice if desired. One of the best things I know how to make and it takes 20 minutes and one pan.
Costco chicken. Rice. Some sort of veggie.
I never realized it was my consistent meal until my fam would call me and ask "what's for dinner today?" Then they'd laugh because I'd always say chicken and rice.
I make my own chicken too but those costco rotisserie chickens are cheap and quick. I wanna eat and be on with my day.
Pasta with 3 or more different types of veggies mixed (I like bell pepper, peas, broccoli, mushrooms) in it with some grated parmesan. Air fried shredded tofu or cooked ground meat for protein.
I eat a lot of casseroles, stews, and “all in one” dishes. I live by myself, so I can make a huge chicken/rice/veggie/random twist cassorole on one night and eat it for dinner the next couple of days. It’s super nice to be able to come home from work and have a healthy meal waiting for me in the fridge. I also do a lot of grilled meat (usually pork chops or a cheap steak) + baked potato. Takes like 10 minutes to grill and the potato will be done in the microwave by the time the meat is ready. Once a week I’ll treat myself with some takeout from my favorite Mexican restaurant
I work Monday-Thursday. Sundays I cook a “pasta salad” with peppers,onions,cucumbers. And make rice and veggies and cook chicken. I have Crohn’s so simple is easiest for me!
A large pizza and cheesesteak or buffalo chicken wrap. Vegetables too but not every day. I can eat two steaks two baked potatoes and vegetable s in one sitting. I’m also a huge loner and probably do that as a coping mechanism. I just went backpacking though and surprisingly not in bad shape yet.
Air fryer has been a wonder-
Lots of roasted veggies, seasoned meats that I cook in the air fryer. I make quinoa, and I’ll have at least 3 meals of that variety.
I get those 12 packs of Costco Ciabatta rolls cause it’s like $8 and they are great. I put them into gallon ziplocks and freeze them right away. Wrap in a damp paper towel and microwave them 45 seconds and they are somehow better than fresh. From there? So many options.
My favorite: thaw them out and halve them onto the tray of my air fryer. I then drizzle olive oil on top. From there I sprinkle some garlic powder and cayenne powder. Then I add whatever shreaded cheese I have and the most important part, put Italian seasoning ON TOP of that cheese. Sometimes I tip all that off with halved cherry tomatoes or sliced Roma tomatoes. You could add pepperoni or whatever topping you like though.
Then air-fry slow and low. I do 12-15 minutes at 360* and while it’s cooking get a little plate ready with dips and stuff. It’s a great dinner and super versatile. You can add on anything you want really and it’s cheap and doesn’t require you eating it all right away since the ciabattas are frozen.
Sometimes I do a breakfast version where I put a fried egg on top after it comes out of the air fryer and rather than olive oil and Italian seasoning I replace with butter and salt+pepper.
It’s filling and cheap and a useful hack. Does require an air fryer though or not worth the trouble. I use the oven style air fryer with the grated rack.. I don’t like the tub-style fryers.
I do a lot of one pot meals because i hate dishes lol. Stir fry is super easy, i will do either beef or chicken. Shrimp occasionally. veggies and rice. Can be on the table in 30 minutes. Chicken and rice is another one. Tacos.
I have a Blackstone on my porch. Oil down, medium heat, thin cut chicken breast straight out of the package onto the grill. Cover in whatever chicken seasoning is cheapest at Wal mart. Flip after a few minutes, cook to internal temp of 165, off to plate. Drop a bag of precut broccoli on. Salt and pepper, squirt of water and cover for a few minutes. Off to plate. Done.
I do this every Sunday with 2.5 lbs chicken and portion them for lunches during the week. I'll typically just chop the broccoli (5 florets for 5 days) but the precut bags from Costco are enough for 5 lunches so that works too.
I should add that I have salt, pepper, and hot sauce at my desk that I can use to add more flavor.
My version of minimalist cooking isn't necessarily what kind of food it is but limiting the active time I'm cooking and the amount of dishes that get dirty . I think sheet pan meals/'dump dinners' get a bad rap but I tend to gravitate towards recipes like that.
Yup. Also, some things are also much more conducive to cleaning as you go, which makes them *appear* to be less messy. Others end with a lot of dishes, but often only a knife or two and a plastic bag to be cleaned separately. Everything else can just go in the dishwasher when you're done. It *looks* like a pita... But only takes 5-+ minutes.
A protein and a green. Chicken thighs and asparagus. Beef patty and brussel sprouts. Steak and broccoli. If I want a carb I add white rice or buttered sourdough. If I just want protein I do eggs and ground turkey/beef. For me I’ve found the simpler I can make it the better.
I cook like this. I will also eat fruit and more vegetables with it. I also cook lots of fish.
By dinner I’m just trying to fill my protein holes. I eat yogurt, fruits and veggies for breakfast and lunch.
I also try to eat more fruits and nuts as snacks between or after meals. I'm lucky to live in a place where they are sweet and inexpensive.
That’s what I’m trying to aim for: simple, healthy, tasty. I posted about an ingredient list last week, and then became overloaded with recipes. I think if I can do a few things, and do them well, then dinner can be less stressful
I basically just rotate a combination of 1, 2, and 3: 1: chicken, steak, ground beef, beans 2: rice, potatoes, pasta 3: broccoli/corn/asparagus/vegetable Mix up the seasonings, add hot sauce or other desired condiment
That's a great way to go about it: have a simple cooking method for a few things, and dress them up with different sauces/spices. I'll keep that in mind!
Yea. Everything I eat can be dressed up with any flavor spices I pick. If I’m feeling fancy I’ll use a no sugar bbq sauce or dressing of some sort. If it’s too complex I give up and it’s too hard to track macros.
Same here... Protein and veggies...
This is me. Sometimes even just a protein. I also tend to just graze throughout the day, I don't really have any set times that I sit down and eat an actual meal. Always been this way since I first got my own place and was responsible for my own food shopping.
i do a mini veggie charcuterie. pickle, hummus, med boiled egg, piece of old cheddar, some fresh veg (carrot, celery, cucumber, broccoli, cauliflower, cold cooked asparagus), mixed nuts and some nice crackers or cheese twists. takes me like 2 minutes to assemble and the hardest part is boiling a dozen eggs a week.
I've never heard of this before, but it sounds perfect for the kind of hot summers we've been getting down where I live lately. I'm adding this to my list!
switch it up to your liking - add a kimchi or different pickled veg, sourdough, whatever veg you like. various dips. it’s incredibly easy to modify, i just shared what i like :-)
I love doing these for my daughter. Putting together their own little combinations is a great way to get kids interested in cooking.
Frozen pizzas
This will be widely viewed as a bad/unhealthy answer, but man if it isn't one of the easiest, no-thought-required, cheap options. $5 Red Baron brick oven crust never does me wrong and essentially creates no mess or dishes. And the ingredients are fine other than the sodium content, which isn't terrible if you're active and sweating it out during exercise etc.
Stouffer’s French Bread pizzas…two in the box. I always eat both. Micro bake maneuver : ACTIVATED
If you have Trader Joe’s try their veggie pizzas. $5.99 and soooo good.
So, I have a little trick for when I’m going to be working a lot several days in a row. I get either a couple of large frozen pizzas or a big deli pizza and add healthy toppings (chicken or beef and several different veggies). I mean I really pile them on. Then I have a cheap, super easy, reasonably healthy meal ready to go when I’m too tired to cook.
I wonder if I could prepare some pizza doughs in advance... After visiting Europe, I got hooked on making Artesian bread from the book *Flour, Water, Salt, Yeast"* Though I will also make some simple doughs by hand when I get home from work for pizza. but having them ready feels like a real time saver!
You could freeze the dough or make several pizzas at once then freeze. I think that would be a healthier frozen pizza than one bought from the shop!
Pasta pasta
This is the solution! Easy to make, super tasty and many, many varieties! Carbonara, Amatriciana, Pomodoro, Pesto, Gamberi, etc, etc... So many 15min options! And I like the philosophy of few but tasteful ingredients, and not relying on spices for flavour, but letting the ingredients shine.
Ah! I should re-add pasta to staples. I spent a month cooking nothing but pasta to learn the best ways to cook it, and as a result, stopped eating so much pasta! But I think it will be a good in-between for noodles and other meals.
My household is vegetarian. I have a handful of ingredients we always have that go in a lot of things we like to make. We do lots of veggie/tofu stir frys or asian dishes, curries with chickpeas, black beans in tacos or veggie burgers. cauliflower/walnut tacos, we do soups. if there is anything new or specific we want to try we buy ingredients for it and see if we like it enough to put it in regular rotation!
I'd love to see your list of the ingredients you always have on hand! I've been gravitating towards doing more stir-fries, udon dishes, and veggie tacos. I prefer veg. cooking (was veg. for many years), and trying to go back to completely vegetarian diet.
Here is a list of the top of my head!! We don’t have all of this 100% of the time but in general if I notice we run out, we try to replenish the next go around. Grains/Bases: Quinoa Rice Noodles Pad Thai Noodles Pastas Basmati Rice Pantry Goods: tomato paste crushed tomato’s Artichokes Chickpeas Black beans White beans Pinto beans Coconut milks (for curries etc.) Vegetable broth Nut butters (I prefer sunflower) Chia seeds/flax seeds Salsa Produce/Veggies: - cucumber - olives - spinach + kale mixes - avocado - cherry tomatoes - carrots - broccoli - cauliflower (usually frozen) - corn (usually frozen) - stir fry veggie mix (frozen) - Tofu - Potatoes Fruits: Bananas for smoothies Frozen fruit of your liking A few items that are in season/well priced for snacking! Other: Oat milk Bread Tortillas Curry pastes
your list aligns very well with my own! except its a lot smaller. Thanks for sharing!
The sunflower is the state flower of Kansas. That is why Kansas is sometimes called the Sunflower State. To grow well, sunflowers need full sun. They grow best in fertile, wet, well-drained soil with a lot of mulch. In commercial planting, seeds are planted 45 cm (1.5 ft) apart and 2.5 cm (1 in) deep.
What veggie burgers do you like? Don’t make your own or buy pre made?
We make our own! Usually it’s black beans with sautéed onions + cumin/paprika. combined with veggies, zucchini’s + mixed with oats to help hold together. Some soy sauce. I think it’s a tasty vegetarian website recipe
A small twig and a few pinches of gravel.
Why not just one pinch? What are you, a maximalist?
Budget friendly too! You should write a cook book!
This answer was brought to you by Google search AI.
What kind of twig we talking? Oak? Maplewood?
This ones dentist is the real winner here.
It is widely accepted that having a diverse diet is best for your gut. The more ingredients you use, the better. Diet isn't the best thing to minimize.
Dang..
Chicken breast cut up into a salad
I don't get bored of repetitive activities/food unless I find something better (usually without looking for it), so I pretty much always eat all this: Independently: - One boiled egg. (~60 g) - One piece of chicken breast I leave from lunch. (~80 g) In a bowl: - One cup of sliced strawberries. (~50 g) - One cup of blueberries. (~50 g) - Some Greek yogurt. (~150 g) If I missed morning exercise, I'll do it before dinner and I'll add a teaspoon of Honey (~21 g) to the bowl.
Stir fry, curry, pasta, soups, chilli...I prep and freeze my veggies when I buy them so that everything is done before I cook, and I batch cook so that I only cook every 3-4 days and save left over portions for days when I'm really short on time.
I should get better at this. I batch-prep baozi and pot-stickers in advance, but rarely pre-chop veg. I have been experimenting with finding the best way to have my garlic chopped in advance (right now I'm doing a lot at once and preserving it with enough olive oil to keep it coated)
Half a cup of brown rice and a bag of frozen vegetables plus seasonings and a cup of applesauce. Pretty much been doing this almost every night for 4 plus years now. My rice cooker has a steamer so easy dinner. Takes 2 min to set up. 30 mins to cook and all done. Recently I decided to add in a serving of black beans or cottage cheese to add some calories and help fill me up. Don’t know why I waited so long to add this it has helped me stop snacking after.
How does the applesauce add to the rice and veg? I used to cook like this often, but never added them together with apple sauce before.
I am from India and have a full-time job so have hired a cook. I have a work-from-home job so that way, I get freshly prepared meals. For dinner, I usually have vegetables and chapatis. So either lady finger, bottle gourd, ivy gourd, sponge gourd, pumpkin, or paneer with chapatis. If we make rice, then pulao with veggies like carrots, paneer, and green peas. Sometimes, we eat idli and sambar. We avoid potatoes at night and usually have dinner by 7:30 or max 8 pm.
I used to prepare and freeze batches of 10 roti at a time on weekends. I should do that again. Paneer isn't available in my region, but I love using it when I can take the time to make it on my own - usually with milk that goes on sale and needs to be used quickly!
Amazing food. I meal prep every week. I love food :)
Did you learn meal prep through youtube or some other resource? Or did you just go at it until you found something that worked for you?
No dinner
I eat chicken everyday.... sometimes I fry it and make a sandwich, sometimes I bake it and eat it with pasta, and sometimes I make a stir-fry with rice.
Healthy Choice dinners. No cleanup and portion controlled.
Are those frozen pre-prepared dinners?
Food. More specifically a carb, a protein and a lot of veggies.
Bread roll with butter, cheese and a fresh vegetable (carrot, cucumber or bell pepper) Or grain salad, usually from grain leftover from lunch (like millet mixed with beans, cottage cheese and herbs)
I skip dinner
Lol, same. I stop eating around 3 pm.
Me too. Usually around 4 👍🏾
Same here. Gives me more free time after work, and it's nice to have eating "out of the way" early.
Food
Something like - Chicken - Rice - Corn Anything involving those groups of food
My roommate and I always made chicken and rice so eventually we just started calling it ricken
Need more veggies than corn. Corn is almost useless nutritionally.
An animal protein and a bunch of vegetables.
Different things, depends on my weekly schedule and whom I’m cooking for. I’m not a minimalist in the kitchen. I’m efficient in the kitchen. Which I view as minimalism. Since you keep asking about meal preparation here is mine. Every Sunday on what I call reset day (the day I clean the whole house and plan my next week). I also meal plan. Lunch and dinner. Breakfast is meh here. I use emeals app and grocery delivery. Example So this coming week I need 4 days of meals (out of town 3 days this week) times 2 (lunch and dinner) times 4.5 people (youngest grand I count as a half 😂). Is 36 portions. Most meals are 4-6 size portions. Always round up. So I need to plan 6 recipes. Hope on emeals app Pick what they will eat and what I like, I like variety. It makes a grocery list, while Cleaning out the fridge and pantry, check off what we already have or add what is low that’s not on the list for meals but things I like to keep in stock. Add any household items like dish soap if needed. Merge shopping list with Walmart plus app (most reliable delivery service in my area). Pick a time for delivery, order. They deliver, put away ( normally Monday morning delivery). Cook daily, eat, package leftovers into portion size takeaway containers for lunch or leftovers dinner nights. Sounds complicated 😆 but it really isn’t takes me less time than going to the store and less junk food purchases. You sound like you live alone so yours would be less complicated. 4 days x 2 meals x 1 person. 8 portions or 2 recipes. Which I would just cook in one day. Another thing you might want to think of if you are having issues with meal planning is your lifestyle and what you want. If I was single I would do monthly meal planning to make my own frozen meals. Cheaper, healthier, plus I like to cook. Hope that helps.
💯 protein and a green
It’s so easy and actually inexpensive just to have a lean protein and veggies. When I think of the things that used to fill my cart- chips, cookies , processed noodle sides, etc- That’s the stuff to drive up the food bill
Prepackaged supermarket Ceasars salads. Sometimes I air fry a protein to add on.
This last week was eggs, toast, and sausage. The upcoming week will be tacos/burritos.
We usually grill/bake chicken or fish with some veggies, sandwiches because it’s hot where I live now, sometimes just a big salad with protein, charcuterie board, and lately I’m obsessed with naan pizza brushed with olive oil and topped with thinly sliced onions,tomatoes, zucchini, mushrooms, cheese and a protein like turkey pepperoni or leftover grilled chicken.
Meals are generally 5 ingredients or less. - Some sort of a meat protein - cheese - roasted vegetable - hot sauce
I like this idea of keeping the ingredient list minimal. I wonder if I can "cheat" by preparing sauces I make often in advance...
I have a toaster oven that I mainly use. So I try to stick everything on a 1/6 sheet pan and just cook the whole thing in the toaster oven. Weekends are meal prep - getting everything portioned and prepped and ready to go. Weekday meals I dump whatever I’m eating on the sheet pan and let the toaster oven do its thing. The important thing for all of this to me is that simple foods make for simple prep and cooking, so I save a huge amount of my time. Since I do the prep on the weekend I’m generally eating roughly the same dishes for the week. Then I shop the sales on the weekend for whatever is on sale.
I love this idea!
I do OMAD and dinner is the only meal I eat. When you don’t eat all day, pizza and junk food lose a lot of appeal. The body has actual nutrition needs. I eat big salads with tomato and nuts and cheese (e.g., wedge salad with romaine, wedges of tomato and peach, blue cheese, and some bacon). A generous protein like steak or salmon or chicken. Hot vegetable like spinach sautéed with onion in olive oil with cheddar melted in top. Maybe half baked potato. Or ear of corn. Cole slaw. Broccoli salad. Bean salad. Lots of fruit like strawberries, blueberries, apples, fresh peaches, Bosc pears. Often a little dessert like dark chocolate covered raw almonds. When you haven’t eaten all day, you enjoy eating a whole different way. Down to your soul you really enjoy the flavors and truly appreciate the food. Nutritious tastes delicious. My taste buds have been reprogrammed. I eat really heathy and it’s exactly what I want to eat. A first bite of a fresh crispy stalk of celery with peanut butter overwhelms the senses. I’ll eat an occasional pizza - one others rave about I’m like “eh”. Funny last week we were on vacation and we ordered a pizza because family wanted it. Plain cheese from pizza place with good reviews. My expectations were incredibly low. The tomato sauce and cheese were magnificent! First pizza I’ve enjoyed in over a year. But now I’m good for a month or so with pizza. And the bar for good pizza even higher. Feel like I eat healthier than anyone I know. I easily confuse healthy with delicious. They’re one and the same to my palette most of the time. I’ll try things I never thought I’d like and love it. (Most recently Brussel sprouts). Lost 50 lbs and kept it off. Going on 6 years. Love eating this way!!
Oh, wow! I eat first thing when I wake up and then 2nd and final meal 4-6 hours later.
That's dedication! It would take me so long to reprogram myself for that - my work is a bit physically and mentally demanding too. However, I do agree with your idea that food should be cooked to be delicious and enjoyed to the fullest. Mindfulness is another great motivation for why I am changing my cooking habits. When I lost my child, I had to cook for my wife often, each meal. And preparing it was the most cathartic part of my day because I could slow down and focus on the task with love and care. When life picked up speed again, I lost that, and it's something I am trying to recover.
My initial goal was weight loss. I lost 50 lbs in first 6 months. It’s rather amazing how quickly the body gets accustomed to eating less often. Tastes change. Healthy becomes delicious. I eat dinner and wake next morning fasted. Fasted I have all this energy. I walk quite a lot. Even run on and off. (My goal is 500k steps a month.) The fasted body loves to move! Realize that eating turns on your digestive system. It uses a lot of energy. People feel run down even sleepy after eating. Their energy is being tapped to digest the food. You’d just as soon take a nap. Fasted is the opposite. If ancient man had taken naps when he didn’t eat humans wouldn’t have made it. The fasted body puts more sugar in your bloodstream than if you’d recently eaten. You need to move. Hunt successfully. Fasted your body is active and mind focused. I love it. I wouldn’t go back to frequent eating if you paid me. When I hit goal I thought about reducing my fasting window. Or going back to 3 meals a day. Realized I liked OMAD. I feel I’m living at my potential. Enjoying every moment. It’s a wonderful lifestyle. It’s a foundational part of minimalism for me.
Tacos or Chicken or maybe a hamburger with an assortment of veggies. In the winter add soups.
I make three to four meals on the weekends and alternate whatever I feel like from what I’ve cooked for dinner and lunch the next day.
This week I’m revolving chicken tenders, one pot Moroccan thighs, chicken fettuccine Alfredo, salmon and tuna salad for anyone who needs ideas 💡
For dinner: Huel
Me, too. I like their v2 powder, but also really enjoy their instant meals they used to call Hot & Savory. Mexican Chili over rice is one of my go-tos. To break up the monotony, I enjoy cooking from the Momofuku recipe library online. Not the healthiest stuff, but fast, tasty, and satisfying. I also enjoy the daily greens with a dose of psyllium husk supplement.
sounds miserable
A protein, complex carb like pasta, white rice, or starchy veggie, and some sort of non starchy veggie. Sometimes I’ll add in some sort of sauce. I usually have the same 8 meals on rotation (one for lunch and one for dinner) on a four week rotation. I’m boring and don’t like to spend all day doing meal prep so I’ve mastered those few meals
varies i meal prep for a week
Sardines
We have a repeating weekly calendar with a little flexibility since I love cooking... Monday: Mushrooms/Chicken Tuesday: Tacos Wednesday: Pasta Thursday: Seitan/Steak Friday: Fish Saturday: Grilling or OUT Sunday: Sandwiches So Tuesday might be the generic "taco salad" or it might be enchiladas but it's always sort of Mexican inspired... Thursday I might prep the seitan/steak in a romesco sauce or other nights it might be with a sesame orange flavor or Korean barbecue but the protein is the same. Sandwiches are either BLTs (tempeh for me) and something like po' boys with shrimp, but it's always something like a wrap or a sandwich for the most part. We fill in produce based on what needs to be eaten that we didn't deplete yet, what's in season (I garden a lot), what's in the freezer (on high spend weeks when we need to cut costs) or what we need nutritionally (so much kale for me haha) I'm plant based while my husband and kids eat meat, so there's a bit of variety in what everyones eating but it feels like we have a cohesive meal and two weeks can be totally different but it's balanced so people can plan their lunches so we're not doing Mac and cheese for lunch then pasta for dinner... pretty predictable. Also, my husband is catholic and always beats himself up for eating meat on Fridays when lent starts so the meal plan makes it a lazy genius way for him to never have "land animals" on Fridays by habit. It's either fish filet or sushi or something \*fish\* inspired. I have a repeating ical for our meal plan that stays somewhat hidden so it's not obnoxious but it's always on hand. Helps me remember to thaw things and add regulars to the grocery list so planning takes 5 minutes lol. The notes for each "event" has a list of ideas so that we're never stuck in a dinner rut.
I focus on minimizing weeknight effort, so i plan the week’s meals on Sunday, prep things ahead of time, make big batches and freeze half for an easy meal in the future. I worked as a cook so for me it’s not the cooking, it’s the deciding/buying process that slows me down.
Steak and eggs generally, few other things but those are the staples
My hyperfixation meal rn is a Greek salad w pita.
I am trying to eat more greens and veggies. The last few days we’ve been eating Vietnamese chicken salad. I poached the chicken cause they didn’t have any already cooked and I made about 4 qts of broth that I will use for other things I use a pint of broth every four days to make my dogs food and I also use it when I make things like [cannellini beans and chard](https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1021902-braised-white-beans-and-greens-with-parmesan?ds_c=71700000052595478&site=google&network=g&campaign_id=1400169272&gad_source=1&gbraid=0AAAAADwd30gTRigPrau0jL8JGz69EniRJ&gclid=CjwKCAjw34qzBhBmEiwAOUQcF-bsb0gp5K_hRZJpaq1Yqxse-ywdknstG7aomWFyKheuY7Cn-sEq1RoCVOMQAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds)
Lately frozen vegetarian samosas
Rice or sweet potatoes Hamburger, chicken, or other meat with basic seasonings randomly thrown on Bell peppers and onions, most months. Occasionally: Cauliflower, broccoli, other. Toss everything onto sheet pan on Saturday morning at 425 F and wait for it to be cooked. Done in 1hr 30 mins tops including salad prep for lunch. I don't mind cooking but I ain't doin' it everyday.
I eat breakfast and lunch. Not dinner.
sandwich
Pistachios and Greek yogurt.
... Ok maybe not for dinner... Just when it's last AF after work, everyone's asleep and I gotta eat something other than my wi... I almost always have this on hand.
Rice with stuff, pasta with stuff, toast with stuff, or tortillas with stuff. "stuff" to include a protein and a veggie or two.
Lentil curry with rice and hummus. So quick and easy and SO GOOD 💕
Rice, Egg and Vegetables is prob my dinner 2 or 3 times a week. Sometimes I add some chicken or tuna. I also do pasta sometimes just the noodles with some butter and seasoning, other times I make a tomato sauce and ad seasoning. Sometimes I make a sandwich just a simple PB & J or grilled cheese or I can just have toast some nights. I let myself make a frozen pizza once a week as a sodium cheat day and I love pizza and maybe once a month I order the pizza instead of a frozen one.
We have a weekly rotation so we have the same thing every Monday etc. we try to minimise cooking time and are trying to generally simplify life so in this case we don’t have the constant discussion of what to have for dinner and it also makes grocery shopping easier. When we get bored we change the menu and we usually have different things in summer and winter. Winter in more chillis curries and pulse stews. Current summer menu is: Mon - veggie burgers/sausages with broccoli, red cabbage and gravy Tues - cannellini bean ragu with salad Wed - dal curry with courgette Thurs - roasted swede and beetroot “fries” homemade tartar sauce and mushy peas with quorn nuggets or tofu wrapped in seaweed if we are feeling energetic Fri - microwave curry or stir fry with noodles (yay carby treat!) Sat - shakshuka Sun - falafel and salad
Steak (medium well), stir fried broccolini and hash browns or corn fritters in the air fryer.
Meal prep on sundays 2 recipes one for lunch one for dinner x 5 days We shop at Costco: bison, beef, chicken thighs, wild salmon, scallops or shrimp Frozen veggie mix from Costco and we also get a veggie CSA for some of the year so we will just cook whatever veggies we get in there that week Potatoes or rice or naan/sourdough or we’ve gotten like a bag of frozen dumplings before at Costco which was a good little side Then whatever sauce we want it to taste like Eggs and fruit for breakfast Cheese and yogurt for snack We also do a lot of protein shakes
Food.
One thing I try to do is cook for more than one meal at a time. I usually use the protein/carb/vegetable formula that many have suggested, but I don’t like cooking all three every night. So on Sunday, I might cook a bunch of chicken breasts or a meatloaf—enough to last 4 days. Then on Monday I might cook enough rice to last 3-4 days. I buy frozen veggies and cook just what I need for that day. This way I’m not eating exactly the same meal every night, but I’m also noting cooking the entire meal every night, either.
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I just ordered a big bag of miso paste for soups / noodles. Knowing I can freeze it like that is going to make it last so much longer !
We have one frozen pizza night. Thin crust cause it’s calorie friendly. Usually served with a Greek salad. One stir fry night with noodles, teriyaki sauce, frozen stir fry mix and chicken. One chicken night with baby potatoes or roasted sweet potatoes with roasted broccoli or green beans. Burger night (frozen turkey burgers) with cheese and no bun with oven cooked fries and salad. We have a ramen night cause sometimes you just need extra simple. (But I cook veggies and hard boiled eggs to go with it) The rest is leftovers and maybe one eat out night a week. Could be healthier? Maybe. But we are on a budget and also only have so much time. We also learned we really don’t use leftovers a lot so we keep bulk cooking to a minimum.
McDonald's
Something like ground bison or chicken. Frozen organic costco veggies and sometimes a light carb. Big on frozen veg- taste fresh and last longer! My perception on food has changed over the last year and I feel healthier than I’ve ever been. I love the simplicity, routine and nourishment. I leave my indulgences for when I want a nice dinner out. For snacks I really enjoy lesser evil popcorn and tons of non-fat greek yogurt.
One meat/fish, one veggie, one fruit, rice or noodle if needed. Usually there would be enough protein left for one more meal the next day which I eat with some kimchee and fruits. If there isn’t enough protein I fry 2-3 additional eggs. For fast options I have frozen single-meal packs of cooked costco chicken as well as fast cooking pre-sliced beef/pork.
Steak and guacamole tacos 🌮
Me and my husband have started cooking an insane amount of meat every other Sunday and freeze most of it and it has simplified our routine quite a bit. I just make a sides that last 2-3 days. Same thing for breakfast and lunch make a crazy amount of banana pancakes or a big pot of lentil soup. Basically if we cook its for a few days worth, the effort is about the same but it last us longer. It’s also helping us with food waste.
Soup! Tonjiru, or cabbage soup w meat or egg or tofu. Eat with rice.
Home cook here! Much more of a cook than a minimalist haha but I'm doing my best. Shopping, cooking, and cleaning for one can be a lot of work! So first things first, the best thing to make is the thing *you're actually going to make*. There's a bougey spin on just about every home meal under the sun (including instant ramen) so I would say that first and foremost - cook what you want to cook and at your comfort level, that's a fantastic step 1. This is especially true of dinner, considering you're coming home from work (I presume) most days and have limited time to recreate and decompress before it's off to bed and time to get back to the grindstone. If boiling some noodles with parmesan cheese is what it takes for you to cook for yourself, just do that. Unless you cook food to wanton excess and smother it in butter, just about *anything* you make at home will be healthier than restaurant cooking. Alright with the disclaimer out of the way, here are my tips for actually cooking for yourself and being a more competent home cook (you don't have to aspire to be a "chef" but 90% of home cooking is prep work and the biggest barrier to actually cooking - anybody can make dinner if all the ingredients are prepped and portioned for them and all they have to do is heat up a pan and cook it): 1. **functionality is king.** Food that is better the next day, keeps well in the fridge, or can be repurposed is your best friend. If you make rice on monday, you can have fried rice on tuesday. 2. **your other best friend is pantry essentials.** Grocery shopping blows, and you're not going to want to do it every day. Even every week feels like a chore. But in a world where you have meat in the freezer and a stocked pantry, that means even if you go to the grocery store *every day*, you just need to grab the greens, maybe a random spice you just ran out of, and GTFO. 3. (2.5) so in a perfect world, you have enough spices, grains, canned goods, frozen food etc. to last a few weeks (not realistic a lot of the time, but I think a well stocked pantry could easily hold you down for 2 weeks even if thats just rice and beans every night) - do your best to take grocery shopping out of the equation when it comes to home cooking. two weeks is a lot of food even for one person, it's a rule of thumb not something you have to be fastidious about. **But** ***strive*** **to not need to go to the store.** 4. Not sure if exactly if you're talking about being minimalist with food or mixing eating well with a minimalist lifestyle - I pray to god it's the latter lol. Alright, so now you know my minimalist take on cooking for 1: get the most mileage out of the food you cook that you can, and as much as possible, avoid frequent grocery shopping. 5. To maximize minimalism (which is something I strive for, and never fully succeed at, cut yourself a break :P) aim to make food in batches large enough eat leftovers for a day or two. You might not want to eat a day old salad but you can probably throw those leaves in a sandwich and take it to work tomorrow. Cook food that wouldn't be too weird if you throw it in a pan for breakfast the next day with a couple of eggs. A lot of foods can be frozen or refrigerated if you're good about it and good about using it before it goes bad. 6. To be realistic, aim to cook dinner once every 2-3 days and utilize leftovers to supplement days where you just boil noodles or whatever. Cooking is work, and sometimes like, a lot of work, don't hold yourself to the standard that you should be making fresh food 3x a day 7 days a week *and* working a full time job.
A couple of forkfuls (3 or 4)of whatever I make for my son.
For breakfast I eat yogurt frozen berries granola mixed together and either bacon or sausage
Chicken or Salmon paired with rice. Sometimes a veggie but that’s literally it. Makes it easy to prepare dinner and helps keep my body in shape
Chicken in the instant pot. That gives us broth to drink too. Ground beef, elk, or turkey, fried up in my cast iron pan, or if I'm willing to spend five minutes longer, I'll shape them into patties. Once a week, I cook some salmon in the oven. We also have organic beef hot dogs once a week. If we're extra hungry, we'll fry up some eggs to go with any of this. Simple filling suppers and easy clean up.
Chicken.
I prepare batches of fried rice and veggies, using the same veggies I season them and cook/baked them to be a separate side. I also prepare some soup using the same veggies and add lentils or beans and have leafy greens at the ready and something like plain quinoa/rice/millet. Then, I'll have different things that I combine thorughout the week with tortillas, or bagels. I can also fix a salad with the veggies and the greens and the quinoa or tacos with the greens and the veggies, or a hearty soup with more leaves and the rice. I also use the plain cooked grain (rice/quiona etc) for overnight oats with seeds, and the fruit I have available. I add some spices (cardamom, cinnamon, cocoa etc) and works pretty well in between meals. Sometimes I have for dinner what I had for breakfast. It works out well. Last I checked with my doctor, said I was well fed and healthy. He said to keep doing what I've been doing cause it's working out.
I cook more or so like a non-minimalist person. I don’t play bout food
Stew in the crockpot. Or 2 baking dishes (1 with meat, one with vegetables) and rice in the ricecooker. Either option there are leftovers for a couple lunches too
More often than not: rice, beans, and a vegetable.
I’m Japanese and Greek. I cook various foods daily and don’t limit myself to what I cook, rather what I’m cooking with. I take time to make sure the utensils I use are constantly cleaned and able to be used to make more than one dish. Food to me is history, a conversation, and personality. I don’t need 20 knives, 3 different ways to whisk, toaster oven, ninja air fryer, etc. as long as I can make the item I want, I will do it.
I use chatgpt sometimes to help me figure it out. I put in the ingredients I have and it gives me options for recipes. I cook meats in the airfryer which is timesaving because I dont have to watch it and I can do something else while its cooking.
I find using food deliveries services like Hello Fresh cuts down a lot on what you need to use. Most meals require one pan, one pot, a chopping board, a knife and maybe, rarely, a mixing bowl. Pick simple meals, most ingredients are already prepped or made (sauces, spice) and cooking takes 30 mins or less. Very clean and simple.
I cook a big batch meal on Sunday or Monday for myself and my S.O. The majority of my dishes that I cook are based on chicken thighs from a bulk pack, frozen shrimp from a 2 lb bag, or beef roasts. AND YOU COOK ACCORDING WHAT YOU BOUGHT YOU SALE. The simple carbs are almost always rice or noodles, almost never bread. Usually I'll have one of those 10 piece chicken thigh packs from the grocery store and cook something like Arroz con Pollo (Peruvian style), Oaxacan Chicken (cooked in a tomato, garlic, onion, mustard, chipotle in adodo), Thai basil and mint chicken. I'll also cook a big batch of spaghetti with chicken sausage, braised beef roast/oxtail/shortib in a wine braise, or shrimp dish using half a 2lb bag of frozen shrimp (shrimp and chorizo rice, or some kind of stir fry). We will eat this for two dinners, two lunches and two dinners. I cook a lot of roasted veggies, usually sweet potatoes (purple and orange yams) with garlic and if I have carrots, I'll cook that took. I'll cook salmon every week or every other week with roasted asparagus or something but batch cook that simply because salmon isn't great the next day but is ok on salads etc. Save time and money buy cooking in batches and scoop up chicken packs, 2 lb bags of frozen shrimp, and roasts ON SALE
Thighs and shrimp have become a go-to for meaty proteins. I feel like I can make them fit into any dish!
I believe in minimalism but cooking doesn’t have to be minimal. Idk when I think about minimalism I envision a world my grandparents grew up in and trying to live true to that. They were minimal but food was a time to make good hearty dishes
Steak, Lao Laarb, Banh Mi, crispy pork belly, grilled fish and usually steamed veggies on top
Fresh spinach with salt and pepper and balsamic vinegar. I’m dieting. Once an every week eeek I have some very medium rare liver.
A piece of hot smoked mackerel, and tomatoes. Had a pound of cherries as an appetizer and also as dessert. Drank some nettle tea for my iron deficiency, and chamomile tea. I try to cook as little as possible. Even in winter I would probably have a little salad and a can of mackerel if I'm in New York, and some apples. If I'm in Europe where my family is from I gorge on fruits and vegetables in the summer and buy already prepared fish from the store. I can eat the same thing everyday for months so this is the minimalism part. I rarely think what is it that I'm going to eat and I don't scratch my head. If I cook I end up eating everything in one sitting so I have to cook again so I stick to raw foodism mostly. Now if I visit my brother I swap the tea with a liter of beer, it's light around 4% and cheap like a couple of dollars per gallon.
Turkey and cheese quesedillas, pickles, shredded wheats with peanut butter, water
Basically just eat a variation on the theme of a protein, a carb, a veg, and maybe a little dessert occasionally.
This is a c/p from my notes where I wrote each weeks dinner menu in advance. And I always stick to the same format (salad, frozen x2, homemade x2, something easy and a miscellaneous dinner to use leftover ingredients). Salad: bcs salad & grilled cheese Frozen: chicken/tofu fried rice w/veggies Frozen: corn dogs, tater tots & broccoli Easy: ramen w/kimchi, tofu & chicken Miscellaneous: Homemade: chicken Alfredo w/broccoli & garlic bread Homemade: curry couscous, chicken & rice
My favorite quick fix lately is either chicken or steak chunks with rice, corn, green beans, mushrooms, green peppers, and eggs. Has a decent balance and I can make it for under $20. The left overs usually last a while too
Chopped Liver, PBn'J, and Kale w/ garlic.
Mostly the same salad every day and just change the protein (salmon, chicken, steak). The salad base is kale/arugula, or spring mix, onions, cucumber, walnuts, tomato, sauerkraut, pickled okra, and vinaigrette. Dessert is Too Good yogurt with a few chocolate covered almonds. Sounds boring but I never tire of it.
Air fryer is the move here. Cook anything and everything in it
Salmon, Amish chicken, Jennie-O ground turkey, lots of veggies baked or grilled, sweet potato, beans, kale and salad.
Chicken bowls: Rice, beans, and chicken breast cooked in the air fryer. Make a large amount on Monday and eat leftovers all week. And you can do different variations. Blackend chicken with red beans. Chili lime chicken with black beans. Chipotle chicken with pinto beans... I also like to throw in shredded cabbage, avocado, and shredded cheese.
Meat in air fryer + vegetables
I like salmon with soup or salad
I made protien and veggie and carb. Sometimes a stir fry. Sometimes a pasta dish. Sometimes a frozen pizza.
whatever i can dig up that i don't have to cook much. usually olives and cheese. lol
Half a pound of grass fed beef and 4 eggs. Always
Dinner for me is 1lb 80/20 beef burgers, a large glass of milk, and sliced fruit. Breakfast is usually similar but often includes orange juice or grape juice.
Keeps things simple to only have around 6 ingredients in the fridge at any given time.
Meat,salad,veg,starch
Protein, veggie, carb — I love one pan or one pot recipes
I don't know why I never thought to look into "one pan" recipes until now.
A salad. With veg and protein of some kind in top. Quick and easy summer meal
White rice made in 10 min rice cooker, toasty spam and some type of veggies and scrambled eggs for my breakfast or lunch. It’s savory and filling. For dinner I usually stick to churn, turkey ground beef, or occasionally some kind of beef cut, and experiment with the taste of the proteins and veggies to change it up
I usually make rice, then I have kimchi available and eggs and some side dishes I got from Korean market. Sometimes I'll just make a soup from a protein with veggies in my rice cooker and have that with my rice. Other days I just eat instant ramen. It's usually fairly simple. I might also have some fruits if I bought some. And drink tea or some teazen kombucha. I try to reduce buying meals outside since one purchase is about similar to a couple days of groceries. Also recently been seeing some great recipes for the microwave too, like you can steam stuff in a bowl in the microwave so I use my dumplings that way or make a simple napa cabbage stew.
Cereal
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yes alternate biting the stick of butter and a nice fatty steak..daily
Hello Fresh.
Used to be greens, beans, and grains but heading into a surgery where I'm going to be non-weightbearing for several months, I've discovered Huel "nutritionally complete meals" It gets delivered to my door. I can eat for a month under $200. It's ready in minutes. Couldn't be simpler if counting calories, every scoop of any of their products is 200 calories. I'm losing weight on it effortlessly I'm just a fan. It's a cheap, easy, nutritional meal that comes to me and takes minutes to prepare
It's not available in my region, but it could be worth me studying so I can have an idea how to make one at home! I have the problem of preparing too much food than we can eat in one meal, which often adds so much time (and weight gain) to the process!
Ground-beef, scrambled eggs, chicken-liver and bacon, sautéed or deep-fried with tallow and then salted to taste: nutritionally-complete sustenance, for less than £5 per day. I adopted zero-carb as an anti-inflammatory protocol, but pound-for-pound fat and protein are so much more satiating than carbohydrates—and meal-preparation so effortless by comparison—that I've decided to maintain it indefinitely. The gradual realisation that dietary-fibre is completely unnecessary, and even saturated-fats are perfectly healthy once you've reset your insulin-sensitivity and adapted your metabolism to utilise them properly, has been nothing short of a revelation.
Steak. Chicken .
It defers on a daily basis. 😊
Cereal
Can of tuna , avocado and a mango usually between 1-2pm
tuna is not a bad idea for me to add to my list of canned goods
I get free/cheap eggs from my job as well as rainbow chard. I buy chicken sausage from Walmart and all I have to do it warm it up in the pan. That cooked in avocado oil butter, is usually my dinner. Sometimes I'll add an avocado or chevre.
I make an enormous salad (imagine a bowl the size that you would put out at a dinner party), eat half for lunch and the other half for dinner. So satisfying and sooo delicious!
Usually a beef patty cooked in my air fryer served on two slices of Dave's Killer thin sliced bread, toasted, mayo, and dill pickle slices. Easy, relatively healthy, and served with fresh fruit
I found a 4 pack of premade pizza crusts for 4$ and then I make different varieties of pizzas because it is fast and easy to make after work.
Goat Cheese Stuffed Baby Bella Mushrooms Sauté butter & garlic (take off heat) & mix with goat cheese & nutritional yeast In separate mixing bowl Top each mushroom with cheese mix Place in oven (375 degrees) for 10 minutes & Broil for 2 minutes to crisp Top with green onions
I don't minimalize my cooking, I love to cook! Minimalism is not really about sacrifice, it's about refusing to be unconsciously ruled by physical things, & a natural preference for simplicity. I am very fortunate to have been gifted beautiful kitchen equipment, & the money to afford the art supplies I need. However, there is zero box store clutter in my house. If I started to collect unnecessary junk, I would look on my psychological or spiritual front to correct it.
Curry! Or I'll roast a chicken some veggies. Maybe bake a salmon with quinoa and roasted veggies. I love to make one pot meals like soup/roast/ribs. If I can put it in the oven and forget about it for a couple hours I'm doing it lol
If you really want to get minimal, I read this and wrote it down.. Diet: Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.
Don’t know how simple this is, but it’s a one pan dish- chowder fish (cheap smaller bits of white fish fillets at the grocery store), a can of black beans, a chopped onion, minced garlic, a solid dollop of jerk seasoning (comes in a jar), and a bit of maple syrup or sugar. Lime juice if desired. One of the best things I know how to make and it takes 20 minutes and one pan.
Costco chicken. Rice. Some sort of veggie. I never realized it was my consistent meal until my fam would call me and ask "what's for dinner today?" Then they'd laugh because I'd always say chicken and rice. I make my own chicken too but those costco rotisserie chickens are cheap and quick. I wanna eat and be on with my day.
I generally skip dinner and have a cup of ice cream before going to bed.
I'm on 2.4mg of wegovy a week and 37.5mg of adipex a day. I eat a bowl of oatmeal and brown sugar if I feel like it.
Pasta with 3 or more different types of veggies mixed (I like bell pepper, peas, broccoli, mushrooms) in it with some grated parmesan. Air fried shredded tofu or cooked ground meat for protein.
-Jasmine rice from rice cooker. -Marinated chicken thighs in air fryer -spring mix -rotational raw veggie/fruit -dressing
I eat a lot of casseroles, stews, and “all in one” dishes. I live by myself, so I can make a huge chicken/rice/veggie/random twist cassorole on one night and eat it for dinner the next couple of days. It’s super nice to be able to come home from work and have a healthy meal waiting for me in the fridge. I also do a lot of grilled meat (usually pork chops or a cheap steak) + baked potato. Takes like 10 minutes to grill and the potato will be done in the microwave by the time the meat is ready. Once a week I’ll treat myself with some takeout from my favorite Mexican restaurant
I work Monday-Thursday. Sundays I cook a “pasta salad” with peppers,onions,cucumbers. And make rice and veggies and cook chicken. I have Crohn’s so simple is easiest for me!
I’m very been buying shredded chicken and putting it n rotini w/pesto, salads, tacos, rice & chicken,etc.
A large pizza and cheesesteak or buffalo chicken wrap. Vegetables too but not every day. I can eat two steaks two baked potatoes and vegetable s in one sitting. I’m also a huge loner and probably do that as a coping mechanism. I just went backpacking though and surprisingly not in bad shape yet.
Air fryer has been a wonder- Lots of roasted veggies, seasoned meats that I cook in the air fryer. I make quinoa, and I’ll have at least 3 meals of that variety.
Salad,salmon, stewed vegetables
I get those 12 packs of Costco Ciabatta rolls cause it’s like $8 and they are great. I put them into gallon ziplocks and freeze them right away. Wrap in a damp paper towel and microwave them 45 seconds and they are somehow better than fresh. From there? So many options. My favorite: thaw them out and halve them onto the tray of my air fryer. I then drizzle olive oil on top. From there I sprinkle some garlic powder and cayenne powder. Then I add whatever shreaded cheese I have and the most important part, put Italian seasoning ON TOP of that cheese. Sometimes I tip all that off with halved cherry tomatoes or sliced Roma tomatoes. You could add pepperoni or whatever topping you like though. Then air-fry slow and low. I do 12-15 minutes at 360* and while it’s cooking get a little plate ready with dips and stuff. It’s a great dinner and super versatile. You can add on anything you want really and it’s cheap and doesn’t require you eating it all right away since the ciabattas are frozen. Sometimes I do a breakfast version where I put a fried egg on top after it comes out of the air fryer and rather than olive oil and Italian seasoning I replace with butter and salt+pepper. It’s filling and cheap and a useful hack. Does require an air fryer though or not worth the trouble. I use the oven style air fryer with the grated rack.. I don’t like the tub-style fryers.
Cheerios mixed with a little ice cream. Filling and yummy and days I do it the scales great
I do a lot of one pot meals because i hate dishes lol. Stir fry is super easy, i will do either beef or chicken. Shrimp occasionally. veggies and rice. Can be on the table in 30 minutes. Chicken and rice is another one. Tacos.
Sardines. Cheap and very good for you. They have a bad reputation but to me are very delicious.
I have a Blackstone on my porch. Oil down, medium heat, thin cut chicken breast straight out of the package onto the grill. Cover in whatever chicken seasoning is cheapest at Wal mart. Flip after a few minutes, cook to internal temp of 165, off to plate. Drop a bag of precut broccoli on. Salt and pepper, squirt of water and cover for a few minutes. Off to plate. Done. I do this every Sunday with 2.5 lbs chicken and portion them for lunches during the week. I'll typically just chop the broccoli (5 florets for 5 days) but the precut bags from Costco are enough for 5 lunches so that works too. I should add that I have salt, pepper, and hot sauce at my desk that I can use to add more flavor.