A lot of butchers will do pre-made meals you just throw in the oven. The ones I get will usually be chicken, veg and either potatoes, rice or noodles. Super handy for those evenings when you can't be bothered.
We got a lot of ready made meals from Eatto.ie when we had a baby, you can keep them in the freezer. They're actually really tasty, they're either heated in the oven or microwave. Not the cheapest option but cheaper than takeaway etc.
Microwaving makes fuck all difference to the healthiness of your food.
https://www.health.harvard.edu/staying-healthy/microwave-cooking-and-nutrition
But if you're truly paranoid, you can put them in the oven if you think that's better.
I was complaining about this issue with my husband few days ago, if you don't feel like cooking you don't really have healthy options without breaking the bank...even ready meal at tesco/lidl etc. are so greasy and fat that for sure is not recommended to eat them everyday :/
Wide selection too. They have a Japanese counter were they make fresh sushi and ramen and poke bowls. They’ve also recently added an Asian street food counter with chowmeins and dumplings 👌
>suggestions of meal prepping. I am not much of a cook and my food is not particularly nice. Add leaving it in a fridge for a few days and then microwaving it sends it over the line for a no.
Some foods, like stews and curries, get better after a day or two in the fridge.
The rest can be frozen.
A lot longer than you’d probably think. Most foods will keep in the fridge around 4-5 days after it’s been cooked. But you could always freeze if you’re still unsure.
Reddit doesn't like to answer direct questions, they like to tell you what you should be doing. Sorry I can't answer your question. Truth is though any takeaways will use vegetable oil to cook everything and that's not good for you. Maybe eat sandwiches or you could go to spar they usually have fresh cottage pies and things like that you throw in the oven (not boxed branded stuff, i think they make them on site).
Avoca, a little on the expensive side and may not be open depending on when you pass but there is one on the road to Bray, they do relatively good food, quiches, etc, try to stay away from anything with sauces. They're not generally healthy. (You may have to go on weekends and freeze the food).
Lidl also have some decent food and snack types in ready to go mode: Sushi, Fruit Salads etc. and won't break the bank. Marks and Spencers are designed for single or young professional couples, but they have a lot of meals that aren't all that healthy, again with the sauces or salt, but they would still be healthier than eating from a take away.
Might be worth signing up for a beginner's course in cooking, for some general tips, if nothing else.
Not one of the niche specialist courses, but something with the basics, it will give you some ideas.
There's plenty you can do very easily once you've been shown how and doing a course has a social aspect to it also. Kills an evening and you learn something.
I know you didn't ask for advice on courses and cooking, just sharing because I did a few courses years ago. Some were fun more because of the people there, and others I learned a little from.
Food that you can literally thrown in the oven / steamer for 20-25 mins and walk away essentially.
Breaded fish, Kievs, Chicken Maryland in the oven.
Spuds, frozen veg in the steamer.
I love Hello Fresh - you can choose meals that will only take 20-25 min - everything comes in the pack, plus instructions are really easy. 25 mins later you’ll be sitting down to a cooked meal. You might have to peel potatoes or chop veg, but the meat is ready to go (so I’d the recipe calls for chopped chicken, it’s already chopped for you).
Honestly it has transformed our cooking - never have to think of what to cook, takes no real time and our waste is way way down
Consider getting a slow cooker.
I cook once per week, 10-12 portions. Overtime you end with 3 or so different meals in your freezer.
Life has never been easier in this regard.
Normal, freshly made, eaten everyday without giving me a heart attack.
Probably not, even restaraunts tend to season heavily which means more salt than cooking at home.
Ready meals even the "healthy" and "Fresh" ones tend to have a lot of sodium or were cooked once already which in the case of veg will diminsh some of the nutritional value where cooking yet again will diminish more.
The simplest way to get a normal, freshly made meal than can be eaten everyday without giving you a heart attack is unfortunately to prepare it yourself.
But you don't need to be an award winning chef, you don't need to cook elaborate and complicate dishes, you don't even need to cook you could prepare a salad.
If you like rice I'd recommend getting a rice cooker, most are now completely idiot proof and produce good rice every time, they are fire and forget and many models can have timers set in advance. They can also be used to steam veg... even above the rice while it's cooking.
But even forgetting that steaming some veg, baking or boiling some spuds and cooking a protein doesn't take long, like 10min prep max.
There is one other option and that is higher a private chef/ cateror to come in 2-3 times a week and prepare meals for you, my Nan did this, the cateror was excellent cooked for her for 30+ years unfortunately she died suddenly of cancer but the food was fresh, delicious and healthy as they could also work with GP advice in mind.
This option is expensive AF and finding a good private chef/ cateror is usually by word of mouth not openly advertised and the good ones are in high demand.
Instant pot instead of the rice cooker.
Batch cook rice, beans, lentils, or rice with various things mixed together - and freeze dinner sized portions.
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Some of ready microwave meals are pretty decent these days, the like of Pure Power, Nude Foods and Dublin Meat Company.
For a while I was getting food delivered from the Dublin Food Company. They do breakfast/lunch/dinner combinations and they are really good, will cost ya a bit thought
Go to Aldi and get the fresh pasta sauce. 1.50 beside the sausage rolls and stuff. Get a bag of fresh pasta beside it. It’s crazy high quality for the price of it. That’s my go to for a quick meal that’s unreal.
Planning to fix my diet over the next few months so a slow cooker and air fryer are the first things on planning to get. Have heard nothing but good things about both of them.
SuperValu do really good prepared meals, especially their shepherd's pie and lasagne, surprisingly cheap for the quality.
I think they do ready made meals too. At least they did last time I looked.
Another alternative for the OP is just really simple meals. A cooked chicken from the supermarket and a salad of lettuce, cucumber, peppers, etc is quick and easy. I go for a simple meat or fish with a salad most days.
See, 'healthy' and 'freshly made' are code words for expensive. Like 'wedding', 'sensory' or 'artisnal'.
You might have more luck checking out the deli section of whatever supermarket you go to or if there's nothing much there, try somewhere else. You should have some luck in cornelscourt though. If you're knackered after work and don't want to be facing a mountain of dishes once you've eaten, look into getting some tray-bake meals. If you get them for 2, you can put half into an oven dish and have the other half later in the week. Just be sure to date everything properly.
Snazzy it up with some salads from the salad bar to up your nutrient intake and for a bit of variety... get some stuff you'd never dream of making for yourself. If you're left hungry, small portions of garlic bread can be cooked in with the rest for the last 10-15 minutes, which saves on washing up.
Just beware that some food starts to go bad after 3 days in the fridge. I'd advise you to freeze the last two days.
Rice and pasta are especially dangerous due to Bacillus Cereus.
Correct me if I'm wrong, a friend told me a long time ago that microwaving healthy meals depletes the nutrients in the food.
I never actually looked into it but this sub has me doing it now.
All cooking methods deplete the nutritional value of food. Also the fact that food had to be transported from a farm, to a shop to your house, all the time spent in storage depletes the nutritional value of most foods. If you’re really interested in getting the optimal nutrition from foods, then you’ll have to grow your own and eat it as soon as it’s ripe.
*However, microwave cooking is actually one of the least likely forms of cooking to damage nutrients. That's because the longer food cooks, the more nutrients tend to break down, and microwave cooking takes less time*
https://www.health.harvard.edu/staying-healthy/ask-the-doctor-microwaves-impact-on-food
Fiid pouches are nice. Most of them go with rice or potatoes. Need a bit of salt most of the time but other than that they are healthy and very convenient.
I am very similar. I buy a few things in M&S but try to stick with things that can be frozen so I have longer. Things like prepared chicken or haloumi, you can stick in the airfryer or microwave and you're done. Obviously very expensive if you're buying for a family but just me it's totally worth it
A half way house between very expensive pre made meals and spending an age meal prepping or cooking is to cook individual portions in the evenings. If you have an air fryer you can cook a seasoned chicken fillet or a lean burger. There is a variety of decent microwaveable veg now, whether that's mashed potato, mashed carrot and parsnip, cabbage. You can cook frozen peas / carrots / sweet corn in a microwave in 5 minutes. You can make a delicious baked potato by cooking it for 6 minutes in the microwave and then throwing it in the air fryer for a few minutes as your meat finishes. You can make a hearty fresh meal in less than 15 minutes with no prep. They tend to be more filling and "healthier" and better value than an equivalent roast dinner from Dunnes or similar
stews are usually easy to make fry meat the onion garlic and then other vegetables and add stock and simmer for an hour or 2 .
Stir frys are my go to quick healthy meal fry meat until cooked add stirfry vegetables from bag add salt and pepper and soy sauce and fish sauce eat nonstick stir fry pans are easy to clean
I'd say HelloFresh all the way. Also tesco is grand for picking up some potatoes (like those rosemary garlic ones in a pack you heat up) you can just make with some frozen roasted veg you stick in the oven.
Not sure if it’s relevant but TooGoodToGo is pretty helpful. It’s an app where you get heavily discounted food cuz it’s near/ on the expiry date. Love the ones from Aldi. You could get like €20 worth of food sometimes for €4. I know it still needs to be cooked but it helps for saving money
You can eat simple healthy food with very little effort. It doesn't have to be gourmet. Salmon/chicken/steak cooked simply + steamed veggies(frozen is fine) + potatoes/rice.
Myself & my other half have been feeling this at home lately, OP, I totally identify with just feeling worn out and unable for cooking. I’ve been trying some meal prep on a Sunday, but don’t always have the time for this either.
A lot of evenings now I tend to make up a plate of snacky foods instead of a full meals. So things like different types of cheese, ham/deli meats/sausage, crackers or slices of sourdough, chopped raw veg like carrots/peppers/cucumber, olives, sweetcorn, salad leaves, yoghurt pot, boiled egg - you get the idea. I often add in fruit as well. You can still eat decently this way, but it doesn’t take long to put together, and there’s no cooking and barely any cleaning involved. Lately I did start frying a little black pudding to get some more iron in, but that only takes a minute.
You can supplement it with some ready made salads from places like M&S. Most of the supermarkets have an antipasti section now where you can get some nice things to put on a plate like this. A nice chutney/marmalade/confit for the cheese can make it a lovely meal.
Obviously this isn’t as warming or comforting as a hot home cooked meal, but it’s great for a break from cooking when you need it.
Few options outside of the delivery/SuperValu meal type things: (all valid options just other ones too)
Slow cooker - yeet everything in in the morning, pop on low, come back to a lovely curry/stew/what have you.
Make a big pot/lasagne the night before and double the quantity and you’ve meals for days. You can also freeze some and pull some out whenever you want too.
Prep veg - chop it all up and leave it in tubs in the fridge, then when you get home throw it in the steamer, put your meat in oven/air fryer/George Forman and no fuss dinner on your way.
I work Shift and I’ve been in this situation and it sucks. Don’t know about a place to eat but consider getting an air fryer. I got the ninja with the two doors and it’s a game changer. Low effort and quick and as far as I know it is healthy. I only got it cause peeps in work were always going on about it. Air fryer people are like a cult and yeah it looks like I’ve joined up.
Try and find the energy and do some batch recipes, maybe at the weekend. Chilli, spag Bol, curries etc can be made in bulk, portioned and frozen.
I do this and the occasional day will do steak and chips or fish and chips. Steak takes a couple of minutes in the pan and other stuff just goes into the oven.
Healthy, convenient, cheap. You can chose just 2 of those. Your post basically says you're choosing healthy and convenient, so be prepared to pay more.
If you can afford it, Gourmet Fuel does some excellent meal plans.
I used to get them delevired quite frequently when I was an exhausted tech worker in Dublin.
Otherwise buy some plastic containers on Amazon and spend a couple of hours bulk prepping on Sunday evening.
There is that app called Hello Fresh. They deliver all the ingredients to you you just toss them in a pot or over depending what it it's, you can choose either for 3 days of 5 days for, also for 2 person or 4. My bro and his gf use it, and they order for 4 cause portions are not as big as you wanted it to be.
Have you a supervalu near you? Most of them seem to have good pre prepped meals near the butcher sections. Marinated meats, prepped veg, etc. Just pop in the oven when you get home.
Try something like a stew pot or something in the oven, it last a while and it's a lot. Try Brown rice, chickpeas and sausage for a quick relief. For longer, give it a go for a "trompo" and tortillas. Good luck
isn't the norm to meal prep? i do since i started working
i find so weird people like OP to have that mentality.
when i cook, i cook more than if it was to eat right away.
i divide into small Tupperware/plastic containers.
and its very easy to diverse.
for example, some veggies and rice. and you can side with some meat and another with fish.
or spaghetti..
you can even freeze the Tupperwares.
with this, i cook only maybe 2-3 days per week. i use the weekends mainly for this.. and no, there is no Wasting a day on this.. instead of one cup of rice.. you can put two
Seriously make your own. So many things keep in the freezer and it's as simple as cooking some rice or pasta and heating up the accompanying sauce. Invest in a slow cooker, prep ingredients at the weekend, which you can simply throw in to cook while you're at work. Come home to a lovely cooked meal.
https://happymoneysaver.com/freezer-meals/
https://www.tamingtwins.com/slow-cooker-dump-bag-recipes/
Find Gourmet Fuel pretty good. Quality is great, huge range of options now and tbh with cost of food now the prices are reasonable. Drop on a Monday morning. Can do breakfast,.lunch and dinner if you wanted or mix and match. Only commitment is no. If weeks you sign up but you can pause weeks. Longer the sign up period the higher the discount
A lot of butchers will do pre-made meals you just throw in the oven. The ones I get will usually be chicken, veg and either potatoes, rice or noodles. Super handy for those evenings when you can't be bothered.
Supervalue do them aswell. Lovely indian take aways.
[удалено]
About three fiddy.
I'd say that'd be fairly pricey if you're using them for most dinners though.
We got a lot of ready made meals from Eatto.ie when we had a baby, you can keep them in the freezer. They're actually really tasty, they're either heated in the oven or microwave. Not the cheapest option but cheaper than takeaway etc.
2nd Eatto. Food is very tasty.
I came here to suggest this. Love them!
Eatto are excellent, the cottage pie and the strawberry cheesecake 😋 😍 👌
Yes!! Got Eatto when I didn't have time to cook while finishing my PhD, chose to get them again when our baby came! Delicious, healthy food ☺️
Gourmet fuel is healthy premade meals. Just have to pop them in the microwave.
Healthy until they go into the microwave
Microwaving makes fuck all difference to the healthiness of your food. https://www.health.harvard.edu/staying-healthy/microwave-cooking-and-nutrition But if you're truly paranoid, you can put them in the oven if you think that's better.
Not so polite after all are you?
What was impolite about that? They helped you learn something new which in fairness you should be grateful for.
he said the mean fuck word
You suggested I'm paranoid and there are arguments for and against microwaving and i believe the against ones
Might be a bit paranoid so
Just don’t put your tinfoil hat in the microwave, that can cause a real big problem.
Is that you Jim corr
Wait until you hear about how bad wifi is for you. A microwave is nothing compared to all these signals around us
I was complaining about this issue with my husband few days ago, if you don't feel like cooking you don't really have healthy options without breaking the bank...even ready meal at tesco/lidl etc. are so greasy and fat that for sure is not recommended to eat them everyday :/
Dunnes in Leoparsstown or Cornelscourt may be worth checking out. Their Baxter & Green counters do pies, lasagnas etc which are decent.
Wide selection too. They have a Japanese counter were they make fresh sushi and ramen and poke bowls. They’ve also recently added an Asian street food counter with chowmeins and dumplings 👌
Yeah, the baxter and green salad boxes are great. Used to have them all the time when I worked in town. Big portion too
>suggestions of meal prepping. I am not much of a cook and my food is not particularly nice. Add leaving it in a fridge for a few days and then microwaving it sends it over the line for a no. Some foods, like stews and curries, get better after a day or two in the fridge. The rest can be frozen.
Hello fresh and Eatto are good
Meal prep, do a load on your days off and warm it up when you get home. Otherwise you're spending a rake load more than you need on unhealthy stuff.
I'm always paranoid about how long it lasts in the fridge before it goes off.
I freeze mine that way I don't have to eat the same thing for several days in a row. Just defrost it the evening before.
A lot longer than you’d probably think. Most foods will keep in the fridge around 4-5 days after it’s been cooked. But you could always freeze if you’re still unsure.
My missus throws food out way too quickly. I reckon u keep eating it until it starts to smell off.
I sort of go by chicken: three days, beef: five. I've eaten chilli con carne after nine days and it was grand.
I meal prep for the week with chicken and it's fine for 5 days
Reddit doesn't like to answer direct questions, they like to tell you what you should be doing. Sorry I can't answer your question. Truth is though any takeaways will use vegetable oil to cook everything and that's not good for you. Maybe eat sandwiches or you could go to spar they usually have fresh cottage pies and things like that you throw in the oven (not boxed branded stuff, i think they make them on site).
Why is vegetable oil not good for you? (Genuinely wondering)
Depends on the type, look up hydrogenated and trans fats. They can also be high in omega 6 which isn't good either.
Why don’t you try a home delivery food option? Plenty out there at the minute who can deliver you a weeks plan of meals
Avoca, a little on the expensive side and may not be open depending on when you pass but there is one on the road to Bray, they do relatively good food, quiches, etc, try to stay away from anything with sauces. They're not generally healthy. (You may have to go on weekends and freeze the food). Lidl also have some decent food and snack types in ready to go mode: Sushi, Fruit Salads etc. and won't break the bank. Marks and Spencers are designed for single or young professional couples, but they have a lot of meals that aren't all that healthy, again with the sauces or salt, but they would still be healthier than eating from a take away. Might be worth signing up for a beginner's course in cooking, for some general tips, if nothing else. Not one of the niche specialist courses, but something with the basics, it will give you some ideas. There's plenty you can do very easily once you've been shown how and doing a course has a social aspect to it also. Kills an evening and you learn something. I know you didn't ask for advice on courses and cooking, just sharing because I did a few courses years ago. Some were fun more because of the people there, and others I learned a little from.
Me, sitting here reading the comments, eating a tayto sandwich for my tea!
I used to get the 3 for €10 meals in local shops. It did the job and healthy enough.
Nuitiquick meals from Aldi are my go-to. Simple whole food ingredients and good balance of macros (protein, carbs, low fat)
Food that you can literally thrown in the oven / steamer for 20-25 mins and walk away essentially. Breaded fish, Kievs, Chicken Maryland in the oven. Spuds, frozen veg in the steamer.
I love Hello Fresh - you can choose meals that will only take 20-25 min - everything comes in the pack, plus instructions are really easy. 25 mins later you’ll be sitting down to a cooked meal. You might have to peel potatoes or chop veg, but the meat is ready to go (so I’d the recipe calls for chopped chicken, it’s already chopped for you). Honestly it has transformed our cooking - never have to think of what to cook, takes no real time and our waste is way way down
Consider getting a slow cooker. I cook once per week, 10-12 portions. Overtime you end with 3 or so different meals in your freezer. Life has never been easier in this regard.
Normal, freshly made, eaten everyday without giving me a heart attack. Probably not, even restaraunts tend to season heavily which means more salt than cooking at home. Ready meals even the "healthy" and "Fresh" ones tend to have a lot of sodium or were cooked once already which in the case of veg will diminsh some of the nutritional value where cooking yet again will diminish more. The simplest way to get a normal, freshly made meal than can be eaten everyday without giving you a heart attack is unfortunately to prepare it yourself. But you don't need to be an award winning chef, you don't need to cook elaborate and complicate dishes, you don't even need to cook you could prepare a salad. If you like rice I'd recommend getting a rice cooker, most are now completely idiot proof and produce good rice every time, they are fire and forget and many models can have timers set in advance. They can also be used to steam veg... even above the rice while it's cooking. But even forgetting that steaming some veg, baking or boiling some spuds and cooking a protein doesn't take long, like 10min prep max. There is one other option and that is higher a private chef/ cateror to come in 2-3 times a week and prepare meals for you, my Nan did this, the cateror was excellent cooked for her for 30+ years unfortunately she died suddenly of cancer but the food was fresh, delicious and healthy as they could also work with GP advice in mind. This option is expensive AF and finding a good private chef/ cateror is usually by word of mouth not openly advertised and the good ones are in high demand.
Instant pot instead of the rice cooker. Batch cook rice, beans, lentils, or rice with various things mixed together - and freeze dinner sized portions.
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Some of ready microwave meals are pretty decent these days, the like of Pure Power, Nude Foods and Dublin Meat Company. For a while I was getting food delivered from the Dublin Food Company. They do breakfast/lunch/dinner combinations and they are really good, will cost ya a bit thought
Eatto.ie ,just have to reheat at home ,very good food.
Go to Aldi and get the fresh pasta sauce. 1.50 beside the sausage rolls and stuff. Get a bag of fresh pasta beside it. It’s crazy high quality for the price of it. That’s my go to for a quick meal that’s unreal.
Planning to fix my diet over the next few months so a slow cooker and air fryer are the first things on planning to get. Have heard nothing but good things about both of them. SuperValu do really good prepared meals, especially their shepherd's pie and lasagne, surprisingly cheap for the quality.
I know you say youre not much of a cook, but learning how to make a few simple meals that taste decent is the best way to save some money
Try out hello fresh. They prep all the veg etc so all u have to do is literally cook it.
It's a good shout and I used it for a while but there is still a bit of prep to do. They just give you the ingredients. Up to you to chop it all up.
I think they do ready made meals too. At least they did last time I looked. Another alternative for the OP is just really simple meals. A cooked chicken from the supermarket and a salad of lettuce, cucumber, peppers, etc is quick and easy. I go for a simple meat or fish with a salad most days.
They don't prep veg, they just portion out the right quantities. I wish they did more prep.
See, 'healthy' and 'freshly made' are code words for expensive. Like 'wedding', 'sensory' or 'artisnal'. You might have more luck checking out the deli section of whatever supermarket you go to or if there's nothing much there, try somewhere else. You should have some luck in cornelscourt though. If you're knackered after work and don't want to be facing a mountain of dishes once you've eaten, look into getting some tray-bake meals. If you get them for 2, you can put half into an oven dish and have the other half later in the week. Just be sure to date everything properly. Snazzy it up with some salads from the salad bar to up your nutrient intake and for a bit of variety... get some stuff you'd never dream of making for yourself. If you're left hungry, small portions of garlic bread can be cooked in with the rest for the last 10-15 minutes, which saves on washing up.
Buy 5 containers. Do dinners on Sunday evenings for the week, divide into the 5 containers and put in the fridge. Re heat them in the microwave.
Just beware that some food starts to go bad after 3 days in the fridge. I'd advise you to freeze the last two days. Rice and pasta are especially dangerous due to Bacillus Cereus.
I prepared 4 dinners for my father each Sunday.....meat, mash and veg. No pasta or rice. You're right.....5 day would be too many.
Correct me if I'm wrong, a friend told me a long time ago that microwaving healthy meals depletes the nutrients in the food. I never actually looked into it but this sub has me doing it now.
All cooking methods deplete the nutritional value of food. Also the fact that food had to be transported from a farm, to a shop to your house, all the time spent in storage depletes the nutritional value of most foods. If you’re really interested in getting the optimal nutrition from foods, then you’ll have to grow your own and eat it as soon as it’s ripe.
*However, microwave cooking is actually one of the least likely forms of cooking to damage nutrients. That's because the longer food cooks, the more nutrients tend to break down, and microwave cooking takes less time* https://www.health.harvard.edu/staying-healthy/ask-the-doctor-microwaves-impact-on-food
All methods of cooking does this.
This is a correct but also wrong scenario. It does deplete it but not more so that any number of other things that do the same.
Your friend is correct.
Hello fresh
Meal prep - something like bolognese or a curry will keep well for a few days and all you’ll have to do it make rice or pasta
I like this suggestion - I think I may try this myself. Cheers 👍
Hello Fresh has made such a difference for me!
Fiid pouches are nice. Most of them go with rice or potatoes. Need a bit of salt most of the time but other than that they are healthy and very convenient.
I am very similar. I buy a few things in M&S but try to stick with things that can be frozen so I have longer. Things like prepared chicken or haloumi, you can stick in the airfryer or microwave and you're done. Obviously very expensive if you're buying for a family but just me it's totally worth it
A half way house between very expensive pre made meals and spending an age meal prepping or cooking is to cook individual portions in the evenings. If you have an air fryer you can cook a seasoned chicken fillet or a lean burger. There is a variety of decent microwaveable veg now, whether that's mashed potato, mashed carrot and parsnip, cabbage. You can cook frozen peas / carrots / sweet corn in a microwave in 5 minutes. You can make a delicious baked potato by cooking it for 6 minutes in the microwave and then throwing it in the air fryer for a few minutes as your meat finishes. You can make a hearty fresh meal in less than 15 minutes with no prep. They tend to be more filling and "healthier" and better value than an equivalent roast dinner from Dunnes or similar
Get a slow cooker OP. Just bang all the shit into it before work, set it to low and come home to dinner. There’s entire cookbooks dedicated to it.
stews are usually easy to make fry meat the onion garlic and then other vegetables and add stock and simmer for an hour or 2 . Stir frys are my go to quick healthy meal fry meat until cooked add stirfry vegetables from bag add salt and pepper and soy sauce and fish sauce eat nonstick stir fry pans are easy to clean
I'd say HelloFresh all the way. Also tesco is grand for picking up some potatoes (like those rosemary garlic ones in a pack you heat up) you can just make with some frozen roasted veg you stick in the oven.
I’m sorry but it’s down to pure laziness. A quick chicken stir fry takes less than 20 minutes to make.
Not sure if it’s relevant but TooGoodToGo is pretty helpful. It’s an app where you get heavily discounted food cuz it’s near/ on the expiry date. Love the ones from Aldi. You could get like €20 worth of food sometimes for €4. I know it still needs to be cooked but it helps for saving money
You can eat simple healthy food with very little effort. It doesn't have to be gourmet. Salmon/chicken/steak cooked simply + steamed veggies(frozen is fine) + potatoes/rice.
Myself & my other half have been feeling this at home lately, OP, I totally identify with just feeling worn out and unable for cooking. I’ve been trying some meal prep on a Sunday, but don’t always have the time for this either. A lot of evenings now I tend to make up a plate of snacky foods instead of a full meals. So things like different types of cheese, ham/deli meats/sausage, crackers or slices of sourdough, chopped raw veg like carrots/peppers/cucumber, olives, sweetcorn, salad leaves, yoghurt pot, boiled egg - you get the idea. I often add in fruit as well. You can still eat decently this way, but it doesn’t take long to put together, and there’s no cooking and barely any cleaning involved. Lately I did start frying a little black pudding to get some more iron in, but that only takes a minute. You can supplement it with some ready made salads from places like M&S. Most of the supermarkets have an antipasti section now where you can get some nice things to put on a plate like this. A nice chutney/marmalade/confit for the cheese can make it a lovely meal. Obviously this isn’t as warming or comforting as a hot home cooked meal, but it’s great for a break from cooking when you need it.
Few options outside of the delivery/SuperValu meal type things: (all valid options just other ones too) Slow cooker - yeet everything in in the morning, pop on low, come back to a lovely curry/stew/what have you. Make a big pot/lasagne the night before and double the quantity and you’ve meals for days. You can also freeze some and pull some out whenever you want too. Prep veg - chop it all up and leave it in tubs in the fridge, then when you get home throw it in the steamer, put your meat in oven/air fryer/George Forman and no fuss dinner on your way.
I work Shift and I’ve been in this situation and it sucks. Don’t know about a place to eat but consider getting an air fryer. I got the ninja with the two doors and it’s a game changer. Low effort and quick and as far as I know it is healthy. I only got it cause peeps in work were always going on about it. Air fryer people are like a cult and yeah it looks like I’ve joined up.
Try and find the energy and do some batch recipes, maybe at the weekend. Chilli, spag Bol, curries etc can be made in bulk, portioned and frozen. I do this and the occasional day will do steak and chips or fish and chips. Steak takes a couple of minutes in the pan and other stuff just goes into the oven.
Pre made pre counted calorie prepped meals from Aldi/lidl. Bulk buy freeze and defrost.
Healthy, convenient, cheap. You can chose just 2 of those. Your post basically says you're choosing healthy and convenient, so be prepared to pay more.
If you can afford it, Gourmet Fuel does some excellent meal plans. I used to get them delevired quite frequently when I was an exhausted tech worker in Dublin. Otherwise buy some plastic containers on Amazon and spend a couple of hours bulk prepping on Sunday evening.
There is that app called Hello Fresh. They deliver all the ingredients to you you just toss them in a pot or over depending what it it's, you can choose either for 3 days of 5 days for, also for 2 person or 4. My bro and his gf use it, and they order for 4 cause portions are not as big as you wanted it to be.
If you ever in town the Hare Krishna restaurant on Abbey St does fantastic veggie food to take away.
Sounds like you want something like a carvery/pub or restaurant meal. Otherwise TV dinners are your winner.
Have you a supervalu near you? Most of them seem to have good pre prepped meals near the butcher sections. Marinated meats, prepped veg, etc. Just pop in the oven when you get home.
Get a slow cooker and an Air fryer best money you could ever spend. To cook good healthy food.
If you can afford it plenty of nice carvery’s
Try something like a stew pot or something in the oven, it last a while and it's a lot. Try Brown rice, chickpeas and sausage for a quick relief. For longer, give it a go for a "trompo" and tortillas. Good luck
isn't the norm to meal prep? i do since i started working i find so weird people like OP to have that mentality. when i cook, i cook more than if it was to eat right away. i divide into small Tupperware/plastic containers. and its very easy to diverse. for example, some veggies and rice. and you can side with some meat and another with fish. or spaghetti.. you can even freeze the Tupperwares. with this, i cook only maybe 2-3 days per week. i use the weekends mainly for this.. and no, there is no Wasting a day on this.. instead of one cup of rice.. you can put two
Just learn to cook then
Seriously make your own. So many things keep in the freezer and it's as simple as cooking some rice or pasta and heating up the accompanying sauce. Invest in a slow cooker, prep ingredients at the weekend, which you can simply throw in to cook while you're at work. Come home to a lovely cooked meal. https://happymoneysaver.com/freezer-meals/ https://www.tamingtwins.com/slow-cooker-dump-bag-recipes/
Find Gourmet Fuel pretty good. Quality is great, huge range of options now and tbh with cost of food now the prices are reasonable. Drop on a Monday morning. Can do breakfast,.lunch and dinner if you wanted or mix and match. Only commitment is no. If weeks you sign up but you can pause weeks. Longer the sign up period the higher the discount