A Week of (Mostly) Homemade Dinners in Roughly an Hour of Total Cooking Time
Admittedly, Costco deserves most of the credit.
It is known that I am not a fan of the concept of “dinner” especially when that dinner must be “cooked” by “me.”
While I would personally love to just eat the same thing forever,1 nobody else in my house but my dog feels the same way (bless you, dog, you get me). So I need to come up with a bit of variety.
Also I can’t afford takeout/delivery.
So, here’s some stuff I “made” last week that kept everyone alive. Everything takes roughly 10 minutes or less of cooking time to make (not including things like oven pre-heating etc.) Sometimes I batch cook but I have a weird aversion to leftovers sometimes so usually just end up making this stuff the day we eat it.
Disclaimers:
I don’t usually measure stuff, I just eyeball it. So, use your best judgement if any amounts sound especially bizarre.
I’m putting all these ‘recipes’ together entirely from memory.
I’m clearly in the United States and what we eat is probably pretty weird everywhere else in the world (sorry, I grew up on microwaved tuna casserole, go easy). What’s available in Costco can vary so you may not have this stuff in your stores.
When in doubt add more veggies
Everything except possibly the chicken salad sandwiches could be fairly easily adapted to be vegetarian (I don’t like meat so usually just don’t eat any of the meat when I make something for the rest of the house, and I’m fine).
This all comfortably feeds a family of 4, one of whom is a toddler who eats like a bird unless it’s chili then he can eat more than an adult somehow. But if you have a bigger or smaller fam, adjustments will be needed.
I know it’s more expensive to buy pre-made stuff like bagged salad and stuff. But it’s way cheaper than takeout.
I’m not a chef you guys. I’m just trying to get kids fed at night!
Chicken Caesar Salad (5 mins) - Monday
Caesar salad kit in a bag or the clamshell container (the clamshell is preferred if they have it)
Costco cooked whole chicken (or any cooked chicken)
Tear up the breast of the chicken. Mix up the Caesar salad kit. Put the chicken on top. Eat it. Put any remaining shredded chicken in a container to use Wednesday. Put the legs etc. in a container and eat it for lunch tomorrow.
Chili (10 mins) - Tuesday
At least 1 lb ground beef2
1 can of black beans (from Costco, I bought the 12-pack or whatever of organic black beans, five stars, would recommend)
2-3 TBSP tomato paste
1.5 cups water
spices (4 TBSP chili powder (or more), dashes of salt, pepper, onion powder, garlic powder, optional red pepper flakes if you want it spicier).
tortilla chips
shredded cheese
Brown and drain ground 2 lbs beef. Put about half of the cooked ground beef in a container and put it in the fridge, you’ll be using it on Thursday. To your remaining cooked beef, add black beans, tomato paste, water, and spices. Bring to simmer on low heat. Vaguely forget about it while preventing toddler from engaging in various destructive activities (so like 3-20 minutes depending on the toddler). If heated through, put in a bowl with some cheese and eat it with the chips. No spoons needed.
Chicken Salad Sandwiches (10 mins) - Wednesday
take and bake baguette (or just a regular baguette or bread of choice)
Costco roasted whole chicken (or any cooked chicken)
mayo
juice of a lemon
salt
pepper
sliced almonds
handful of grapes
apple
Waldorf-style, I guess? If using take-and-bake baguettes, preheat the oven. When ready, put baguettes in oven for 8 mins. Meanwhile, tear apart the chicken (I just use all of the breast meat, however much that is) with bare hands. Mix in 2-3 TBSP mayo, lemon juice, sliced almonds, salt and pepper in a bowl. Slice grapes in half or quarter. Cut apples up very small (minced?). Mix grapes and apples in. Take baguette out of oven, allow to cool 1-2 mins, cut in half lengthwise and put the chicken salad on the bread. Or just eat it directly from the mixing bowl. The toddler only eats the filling and maybe a couple of bites of the bread. Live your life.
Taco Bowls (10 mins) - Thursday
Pre-cooked pork for carnitas (I buy Del Real brand, from Costco)3 or if you have a lot of leftover chicken you could just use the chicken
Can of beans (refried beans or you could use black beans, pinto beans, just choose your bean).
Spices (chili powder, cayenne pepper, paprika, salt, pepper, cumin, garlic powder)
lettuce (from a bag of salad)
pico de gallo (or 1 tomato, 1 onion, bunch of cilantro, juice of 1 lemon or lime, optional 1 fresh jalapeño (or a couple of TBSP sliced pickled)
shredded cheese
cilantro
hot sauce
tortilla chips
Heat up the carnitas (I just use one of the 2 pouches the Costco container comes with) and put in the spices (I don’t measure anything here, I just throw in what seems right). Heat up beans and add salt and whatever seasonings you like (when I use black beans I put some onion powder in there). While that stuff is heating up, roughly chop tomato, onion, cilantro and jalapeño if making your own pico de gallo. Mix all that together with a bit of salt and lemon or lime juice.
Everyone can make their own bowl. Mine has 1/4 ground beef, 1/4 beans, handful of cheese, handful of pico de gallo, dash of hot sauce over the whole thing.
Eat with chips, like the chili. Or forks if you’re fancy. Or eat with warmed corn tortillas like you’re supposed to.
Bành Mí (ish)* Sandwiches (10 mins)- Friday
baguette
Aidell’s Chicken Meatballs (Teriyaki and Pineapple) from Costco4
cilantro
shredded carrots
cucumber
mayo5
lemon Juice
olive oil
salt
1 jalapeño
soy sauce, fish sauce, ponzu sauce, or chili garlic sauce (optional)
Heat the meatballs as directed. Once cooked, cut them in half. While the meatballs are cooking, shred the carrots and mix with lemon juice and a bit of olive oil and salt (FYI, carrots are extremely delicious just to eat like this - I make extra of these and we just eat them out of the fridge as a snack). Slice cucumber. Slice baguette in half lengthwise and cut into sandwich-size pieces. Layer mayo, halved meatballs, cilantro, carrots, cucumber, and jalapeño on each sandwich. Add ponzu, soy or fish sauce if desired and salt to taste.
*Look, I know this is not really how you should make a Bành Mí. Real recipes have like 50 ingredients. I’m doing my best here.
Pizza and Salad (10-15 mins) - Saturday
Frozen pizza(s)6
Bag salad kit (whatever remains from Thursday, if any)
Saturday is pizza and movie night in my house. I don’t think I need any instructions here. Heat up the pizza(s) and mix up the salad kit. Serve on paper plates (the only dishes to wash should be utensils, whatever you mixed the salad in and pizza cutter). If you have leftover baguettes you could make garlic bread. Or not because you are tired. Allow yourself to sit down for probably the first time that entire week.
Put together a meal plan and shopping list for next week, so you can grocery shop on Sunday. Or ask ChatGPT to make it for you.
Veggie Tray and Charcuterie/Cheese Board (0-5 minutes) - Sunday
Pre-cut veggie tray and dip of choice
Charcuterie tray/a bunch of cheese, crackers, olives, and salami etc.
Everyone stands around in the kitchen eating this with your hands. No dirty dishes. Write the weekly schedule for next week on a whiteboard and go over who’s picking up who and what and where. On each day, write your planned meal based on what you picked up at the grocery store. Go to bed early.
Shopping List for All of These Meals:
2 whole rotisserie chickens
At least 1 lb ground beef (see footnote if you want to make meat sauce for pasta for next week)
Aidell’s Chicken Meatballs (Teriyaki and Pineapple)
1 caesar salad kit + 1-2 other bagged lettuce/salad kits of your choice
Frozen pizza(s)
At least 4 take and bake baguettes (store in freezer) or just regular baguettes
Shredded cheese
Tortilla chips
Pre-cut veggie tray with dip
Pre-made charcuterie tray/cheese board + crackers if not included)
Sliced almonds
Cilantro
Carrots (already shredded ones are cool)
Cucumber
Onion
Tomato
Jalapeño
At least 1 can black beans and at least 1 can whatever beans you want in the taco bowls
tomato paste
Apples
Grapes
Mayo
Lemons / Limes
Spices (Chili powder, cayenne pepper, parika, garlic powder, onion powder, cumin, salt, pepper, red pepper flakes)
Olive oil, hot sauce, soy sauce, ponzu, fish sauce, sriracha, marinara, etc. Sauces, basically
This isn’t part of the recipes, but we also just buy a ton of fruit (fresh and frozen). Outside of dinner, my kids basically live off of fruit and raw veggies with some greek yogurt and milk (we make a lot of smoothies in my house), granola bars and occasionally a bowl of oatmeal with peanut butter and honey.
If you have some more no/minimal cook dinners, please, I would LOVE to hear them.
It’s baked potatoes. Baked potatoes forever.
If I’m feeling really on top of it, I’ll cook 2 lbs, divide in half, then mix one half with a jar of marinara sauce (no need to heat up or anything) and put in a container in the freezer. Next week I’ll use that in spaghetti or something
This package is huge because Costco and it’s enough for 2 dinners. Next week I’ll make bbq pulled pork sandwiches with it.
This package is also absolutely enormous. Next week, I’ll make some skewers with these and roasted peppers and onions and dip in either ponzu sauce or sriracha mayo
Sriracha mayo if you’re spicy
It wouldn’t take much time to make your own pizza if you’re trying to cut out processed food, and I do this sometimes if our Saturdays aren’t too crazy with sports and stuff. Pizza dough is pretty easy to make, even the yeast part is not too bad (and somewhat interesting for kids). Kids love making their own pizzas and putting toppings on them. OR you can use your freezer meat sauce and pasta if you made that earlier in the week.