When the kids have after school activities, with barely time in between to eat before rushing off to basketball practice, while That Man’s working late… It’s “Emergency Meals” to the rescue. I need to expand my list of quick, easy, and healthy things to make and I’m hoping you have some ideas.
For the family, one of our go-to meals is jarred spaghetti sauce (I like Bertoli’s), with a little lean browned hamburger and whole wheat pasta. A quick salad or some frozen veggies and dinner’s ready in about 30 minutes, if I have the hamburger thawed.
Another dish the monsters love but isn’t so healthy: leftover ham (usually the last of the deli ham before it goes bad), browned a little in a pan, with a jar of Bertoli’s alfredo sauce, a can of peas, a can of sliced mushrooms, and whole wheat pasta. Like I said, not the healthiest with that creamy sauce, but man it’s pretty good and FAST.
One of the monsters’ favorite dishes is “Sloppy Joes” – only made with BBQ sauce instead of Manwich sauce (it’s too “spicy” for them). I don’t like all that meat and I sure don’t need the buns, but this is a good option if I have something easy to throw together for myself.
And of course, the monsters loooove tacos, if I remember to keep tortillas on hand (they prefer soft instead of crunchy). I typically have a taco salad that night or toast some corn tortillas in the oven. If I have chicken breasts in the fridge, I just throw them in the crock pot at lunch (still frozen) with taco seasoning and salsa. They’ll be ready to shred by dinner and I’ll have enough leftovers for lunch for several days.
Now the real go-to ER meal — when people are SICK — isn’t quick but I always make it as soon as feasible. Homemade chicken soup with homemade egg noodles. That Man and Middle have been sick all weekend, so tonight I brought out the big guns. Three jars of delicious rich chicken broth made with the bones of chickens I roasted in the oven with lemons and rosemary, super nutritious with all those bone nutrients and gelatin. I wasn’t planning on a big batch of chicken soup, so I didn’t have celery or potatoes on hand, so I had to punt a little. I had 3 scrawny little potatoes that I diced real small, plus lots of carrots, a whole onion sauteed in olive oil, and chicken breast. I was out of fresh garlic, unfortunately – we could have really used its powerful healing ability. Princess made quad batch of egg noodles for me.
The five of us cleaned up the entire batch. Middle had 4 bowls. Considering she hadn’t eaten anything else all day, I hope that’s a good sign. The broth was sooooo good.
This weekend I’ll be roasting more chickens to restock my broth!
Can you recommend any quick and easy and HEALTHY emergency meals?
Bill really likes a little broiled meat – steak, chicken breast – sliced on salad greens.
Frittatas are good, too!
I eat tons of eggs, Tambo – either breakfast or lunch. One of my favorite go-to meals! I don’t broil meat very often – you mean in the oven? I need to do that more. That Man grills steaks, etc. but it’s been too cold to do much outside.
We have a boil function with our oven. I just hit ‘broil’, season the meat (brushing with a little italian dressing works well, put the meat on the broiler pan and let it cook for about 4 -5 min per side.
Duuuuuuuuude… that broth sounds AMAZING. I’ve been feeling punk today, too, so it must be going around. I was a little stomach-upset-y yesterday, but today I was downright nauseated. I made it all day at work, but only by choking down a single sandwich.
Yes. I AM making soup as we speak. How did you guess??
Hugs, Sis, hope the soup does the trick for you! Feel better ASAP!
If you have cooked chicken breast on hand (or,even better, your taco flavored chicken!) and your whole wheat tortillas, you can easily make a pretty quick quesadilla. They can be health-ish with a low fat cheese (for you, just load up on the veggies!!). If you don’t have a quesadilla maker, get one!! Quesadilla’s are fun to eat!
Bummer, we don’t have a quesadilla maker. I bet I could do it my iron skillet though. That’s how I plan to make my own tortillas. Sounds yummy!
Yes, you can make quesadilla’s in your iron skillet. You cook the “stuffing” so it’s already hot, put it in your flour tortillas, fold over and cook on each side for a couple minutes. Make sure your skillet is good and hot, so your tortillas get warm and brown. If your skillet has a tendency to stick, brush the tortillas with a little bit of olive oil.