A week of dinners that are cheap and quick is not seven unrelated recipes. It is two or three things cooked in quantity, then reshaped. Below: a roast chicken chain, a meat sauce chain, and one dinner that sweeps up whatever is left. Each serves four.
Drop the seven on Sunday to Saturday and the grocery list comes out combined, in aisle order.
Load this week into MealfolderBuy the biggest whole chicken you can find (5 to 6 lb) and roast it on Sunday. Sunday eats the legs and the crisp skin; the breast meat, pulled, feeds Tuesday; the carcass makes Thursday's soup. One bird, three dinners, and the second and third take under 30 minutes.
Ingredients: whole chicken 5–6 lb · 2 lb potatoes · 1 lb green beans · 1 lemon · 1 head garlic · butter or oil · salt, pepper, thyme.
Summary: season the bird inside and out, lemon and half the garlic in the cavity, roast at 425°F about 1 hr 20 min until juices run clear; potatoes in the pan for the last 50 minutes, beans steamed at the end. Set aside: all the breast meat and the carcass.
Ingredients: the pulled breast meat · 8 corn or flour tortillas · 1 red onion · 2 limes · 1 avocado · a handful of cilantro · sour cream · chili powder, cumin.
Summary: slice the onion thin and cover with lime juice and a pinch of salt while you warm the chicken in a pan with a splash of water, chili powder and cumin. Warm tortillas, fill, top with onion, avocado and cilantro. 20 minutes.
Ingredients: the carcass and any scraps · 2 carrots · 2 celery sticks · 1 onion · 1 cup small pasta or rice · any chicken left over · parsley · bay leaf.
Summary: cover the carcass with water, add the bay leaf and a halved onion, simmer 45 minutes (or do this Sunday night while the kitchen is still messy and refrigerate). Strain, add diced carrot and celery, simmer 10 minutes, add pasta until tender, then the leftover chicken and parsley. 25 minutes on the night if the stock is made.
Two pounds of ground beef (or turkey, or a mix of lentils and mushrooms) cooked once with onions, garlic and canned tomatoes. Monday eats it over pasta; the second half becomes chili on Wednesday with beans and spices; Friday piles the last of the chili onto baked potatoes.
Ingredients: 2 lb ground beef · 2 onions · 4 cloves garlic · 2 cans (28 oz) crushed tomatoes · 2 tbsp tomato paste · 1 lb spaghetti · oregano · parmesan.
Summary: brown the beef in a large pot, add diced onion and garlic until soft, stir in tomato paste, tomatoes, oregano, salt; simmer 30 minutes. Use half over the spaghetti. Set aside: the other half of the sauce.
Ingredients: the reserved sauce · 2 cans (15 oz) kidney or black beans · 1 bell pepper · 1 tbsp chili powder · 1 tsp cumin · rice or bread to serve · cheddar and sour cream.
Summary: soften diced pepper in a pot, add the sauce, drained beans, chili powder and cumin, simmer 20 minutes with a splash of water. Serve over rice. Set aside: about a third of the chili.
Ingredients: 4 large baking potatoes · the reserved chili · cheddar · scallions · sour cream.
Summary: bake the potatoes at 400°F for an hour (or microwave 8 minutes then crisp in the oven for 15), split, fill with reheated chili, top with cheese and scallions. Ten minutes of actual work.
Ingredients: 8 eggs · the last of the cheddar · leftover potato, pepper, onion, green beans, a few scraps of chicken · butter.
Summary: fry the leftovers in an ovenproof pan until hot, pour over beaten seasoned eggs, cook on the hob until the edges set, finish under the grill until the top is just firm. Serve with a salad from whatever greens survived the week.
2 lb potatoes + 4 baking potatoes · 1 lb green beans · 2 lemons + 2 limes · 2 heads garlic · 4 onions + 1 red onion · 2 carrots · celery · 1 bell pepper · 1 avocado · cilantro · parsley · scallions
Whole chicken 5–6 lb · 2 lb ground beef · 8 oz cheddar · parmesan · sour cream · butter · 8 eggs
1 lb spaghetti · 1 cup small pasta or rice · 2 cans crushed tomatoes · tomato paste · 2 cans beans · 8 tortillas · rice for Wednesday
Oil · salt · pepper · thyme · oregano · bay leaf · chili powder · cumin
Notice what is missing from the list: nothing bought for one dish. The cilantro, limes and sour cream each appear in two dinners, the cheddar in three, the onions in five. That overlap is the whole idea, and it is what a planner should be doing for you automatically.
Mealfolder