Marymoose's standby meals! (Emergency Dinners)

Member Name: marymoose

Product:	Emergency Dinners
Date:	04/09/09 (213 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Mostly quick, don't require much thought or exotic ingredients

Disadvantages: Cheating at times, not always the healthy option

---Intro---
I'm pretty bored this afternoon, and it's been a long time since I wrote anything in the discussion section so I had a browse of the topics and came across emergency dinners.

Anyway, having not got any meat out of the freezer this morning I'm left wondering what we might end up having for dinner tonight (it's a complete surprise as hubby cooks and it's generally waiting for me when I get home from work - and he's very good).

However, what follows isn't any of hubby's creations, it's the things that I end up cooking on the occasions when there's nothing out of the freezer and hubby hasn't cooked for whatever reason.


---Emergency Dinners---

1) Tuna Pasta Bake - I absolutely love tuna pasta bake. However I have to admit that it's one of the few things that we cheat on (we have made our own sauces but I just don't find them as nice!), and use a packet of either the Schwartz Tuna Napolitana or the Colman's Tuna and Pasta bake (I tend to stock up when on offer as they last several years). These packets are fantastic, but I do add a few bits and pieces myself. First I chop an onion and a garlic, and fry off in butter until softened. Then I add the packet of dried mixture, and the milk (as the instructions say). Meanwhile cook the pasta, then add the sauce to the pasta and put in a tin of tuna and a tin of sweetcorn. Put in a big dish, and cover with cheddar cheese, and if you have it, a packet of crunched up crisps - grill for 5-10 minutes and voila! Serve either on its own or with some nice green salad and/or crusty bread.

2) Carbonarra - OK, I admit sometimes I cheat with this too (hubby never would) and again use a Schwartz or a Colman's sauce which you just add milk to and follow the instructions. I generally have a packet of bacon in the freezer which I can defrost quickly in boiling water (not sure if you're really meant to do this but it seems to work), and I tend to add an onion - unfortunately hubby doesn't like mushrooms, so they don't usually get into our carbonarras unless I sneak them in. Obviously you can choose whether to serve with spaghetti or another pasta.

3) Sausage, beans and mash - This is always an option if I haven't got anything else as we always have some sausages in the freezer that are 'cook from frozen' (ok, not as nice as a fresh Cumberland from the butcher's, but such is life), and we always have potatoes and tins of beans. Boil potatoes, mash with milk and butter, serve with sausages and beans (with a dash of Worcester sauce) and serve with onion gravy (fry off an onion then just add water and bisto). Pure comfort food!

4) Baked potato - a good standby meal, but does rely on you having some large and reasonably fresh potatoes in which isn't always going to be the case. If you're in a rush just bung them in the microwave for 10 minutes - obviously not nearly as nice as taking the time to do a proper jacket potato in the oven, but it's quick. I'd usually serve with baked beans and cheese or tuna mayonnaise! Alternatively I have tried frying chopped up bacon and then adding a tin of condensed chicken soup to it, and having a kind of chicken and bacon sauce, it worked out quite well.

5) Something frozen from the freezer - If I'm lucky we'll have a frozen portion of something made previously such as lasagne or chicken pie. However, when all else fails we generally have stocks of fishfingers, scampi, chips, onion rings and a couple of frozen pizzas. Not exactly the healthy choice, but hey ho! Lately we've been trying out various vegetarian options from the freezers in Tesco - we're quite partial to the nut cutlets and bean burgers. Alternatively we usually have Tesco frozen fish fillets (haddock or cod) which are best cooked from frozen, and are lovely with either mashed potatoes or baby new potatoes, some frozen peas and a nice parsley sauce. Another quick and easy meal!


---Finally---
Ok, none of these are particularly exciting and they seem to involve a degree of cheating (with the packets) but they're the things I can make when I haven't planned anything, and which don't require a trip out to buy some meat. Hubby is far more adventurous though and does exciting things with halloumi and noodles and rice and stuff. However, that said I'd highly recommend trying the tuna pasta bake.

Have to say though, the more I think about tonight's dinner I am kind of hoping hubby might suggest a takeaway!

Summary: What I make if I haven't got anything out of the freezer!