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3 Easy Dinner Ideas For When You Can’t Be Bothered Cooking

3 Easy Dinner Ideas For When You Can’t Be Bothered Cooking
Carly Jacobs
This post is sponsored by Woolworths
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ou know what the worst thing about being a grown up is? Having to decide what to cook for dinner every night. I love cooking and I love eating but sometimes I really don’t have the energy for either. I also quite often get dinner stage fright. Like I just can’t think of a single thing to make and I can’t even google anything because you can’t google a non-idea.

can't be bothered cooking

You know what I mean? It’s like when someone tells you to look up a word you can’t spell – how are you supposed to do that when you don’t know how it’s spelled? It’s the same thing when you draw a blank at dinner time. So this week I’ve teamed up with Woolies and Created with Jamie (and their new range of meal kits that I’m legit obsessed with) to bring you 3 easy dinner ideas for when you can’t be bothered cooking… or you want to cook something a bit fancy but you have no idea where to start.

Grab a meal kit

DSCF0061I’ve been a fan of meal kits for years because they’re a cheap and easy to way to cook an awesome meal without spending hours in the kitchen or having to fork over $20 just to buy the herbs for a fancy dinner. I tried the Created With Jamie Spiced Chicken Tagine and the Created with Jamie Sticky BBQ Beef & Cajun Rice last week and I can see them becoming firm staples in the future. They’re based on Jamie’s own favourite recipes (Lovely jubbly!) and packaged into kits so you can make them at home without having to shop for all the individual ingredients. I bought them last week when Mr Smaggle was away and because they serve two people (perfect for couples!) I kept the leftovers and had them for lunch the next day. They re-heated beautifully (even the chicken and if you’ve been reading Smaggle for a while, you’ll know I’m very weird about re-heated chicken).

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To be honest, when I first looked at the meal kits I was like ‘For two people?’ because it looked a bit on the small and I’m a total greedy guts but I followed the serving suggestion and I was totally full eating just one portion and saving the second portion for the next day. The chicken one is Middle Eastern flavoured with couscous and spices and the beef one is just a delicious sticky BBQ pot of awesome. They’re also really cheap! Each kit was about $15 and I got two meals out of them. That’s $7.50 per meal. I can’t even get two takeaway coffees for $7.50. They’re also both almost one pot meals (not including a microwave dish here and there) so you literally have 1 frying pan and a few plates to wash up when you’re done.

Toss a tin of salmon over a handful of lettuce

In summer my standard dinner is a huge handful of baby spinach, a small tin of salmon, some sliced cucumber, half an avocado a little drizzle of sweet chilli sauce. It’s healthy, easy, delicious and filling. YOU ARE WELCOME. Tip: this also makes a banging lunch and you don’t even need to prepare it – you can just chuck all the ingredients in a bag and assemble it at work.

Buy a cooked chook

One of Mr Smaggle’s favourite dinners is an old staple in the Jacobs family. We call it a Mouse Plate and it’s pretty much a plate full of little nibbles of food. We usually have some cooked chicken, cheese, carrot sticks, celery sticks, hummus dip, a boiled egg and some cherry tomatoes. It takes about 5 minutes to put together and it’s healthy and delicious. Plus there’s always left over chicken for sandwiches the next day. Bonza.

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What’s your favourite ‘couldn’t be bothered’ dinner? Have you tried the Jamie Meal Kits?

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P.S Did you know there’s a Smaggle newsletter? And Smags on Facebook? There’s lots of cool shit in both places so make sure you go to there.

27 Comments

  1. Steph Allen 9 years ago

    Love the great ideas. Another one my family has done for years is a baked potato in the microwave. Prick a potato a few times, nuke it for 3 to 4 minutes. Top with baked beans, grated cheese, shredded lettuce, other salads if feeling fancy, avo, sour cream/ greek yoghurt/ mayo. Basically whatever you want. It sounds weird but i tell you, i hate baked beans and i love this.
    Lately ive been making a healthier version with a sweet potato instead of white and shredded chicken (i always keep some in the freezer) instead of baked beans and i skip the dairy cos im intolerant. Still yum!

    • Author
      Carly Jacobs-Smaggle 9 years ago

      Oh great one! I adore a baked potato and I never think to make them… must do that one evening this week! I also think avocado makes every meal taste amazing.

  2. denvergalea 9 years ago

    I usually make extra of most meals and put them in the freezer for ‘can’t be bothered cooking’ nights. So I’ve got soups, stews, pre-made meatballs (these still need cooking but all the work is done), pasta etc etc.

    • Author
      Carly Jacobs-Smaggle 9 years ago

      I do that too because there’s only two of us who live here so there’s always left overs whenever I cook!

  3. I’ve never tried Jamie’s meal kits but I have tried some of his recipes. Does that count?! I cook in bulk and have a whole heap of random dinners that I can pull out of the freezer at a moment’s notice. Failing that, if I am really uninspired and really hungry, I will whip up a 2 ingredient pizza base and top it with anything I have to hand. Pizza is always a good idea!

    • Author
      Carly Jacobs-Smaggle 9 years ago

      It totally counts! I’m legit addicted to these meal kits. I bought like three over the weekend. I have issues. Oh! Do you have a recipe for your 2 ingredient pizza base? Is a thermomix recipe?

  4. Christine 9 years ago

    Inspired by an earlier Smaggle post I tried Jamie’s chicken with a yummy Vietnamese salad. We’ve had it a few times now. I don’t often go to Woolies, but will def check out these two next time. Quickest meal I have is salad of baby spinach leaves, tossed with chopped sun dried tomatoes, cubed feta and dressed with lemon juice and lemon infused olive oil (takes longer to write than it does to put it together!), served with anything, a chop, steak, piece of salmon. x

    • Author
      Carly Jacobs-Smaggle 9 years ago

      Oh my god that chicken kills me. I love it. We had it like once a week over summer. I love a quick salad topped with protein – we had that last night! Needed a giant veggie hit so I just pan fried some chicken. So good.

  5. Lauren Boase 9 years ago

    I have been known to google ‘what to cook for dinner’!!
    Bacon and eggs or baby spinich, a tin of tuna, a small can of chickpeas with a diced tomato and some cucumber are my two go to can’t be arsed dinners ?
    Will have to keep an eye out for the Jamie dinners for 2…i haven’t spotted them yet!

    • Author
      Carly Jacobs-Smaggle 9 years ago

      They seem to be in a separate section near fresh produce and they’re usually different from store to store. Canned chickpeas! Yes! You know how sometimes you have a staple food and then you kind of forget about it and then you remember it again? That just happened with the chickpeas.

  6. carolyngracebeaumont 9 years ago

    I definitely don’t have the schedule to cook tea every evening so I tend to batch cook one or two nights a week and eat the leftovers for lunches and dinners the rest of the week. But if I haven’t managed that, avocado smash on toast is my go-to quick dinner. I spice it up with red pepper flakes or lemon or a sprinkle of za’atar or togarashi. I almost always have bread in the freezer and an avo around.

    And if I’m really lazy and really have nothing in the fridge, I get takeaway sushi from a local place that is amazing. It’s not that expensive or unhealthy if you stick to a simple roll or two + miso soup.

    • Author
      Carly Jacobs-Smaggle 9 years ago

      My local Woolies has a sushi stand in it and it’s awesome. Mr Smags and I have lunch there at least once a week. It’s the best! And totally with you on the avocado. It makes every meal fancy.

  7. Sammy 9 years ago

    My fallback is scrambled eggs with spinach and tomato topped with baked beans. My 2yr old loves it!

    • Author
      Carly Jacobs-Smaggle 9 years ago

      I recently learned how to cook poached eggs and it’s the actual best. I do the 5:2 diet so I have poached eggs on protein toast on fast days. Love it.

  8. vanessajrowse 9 years ago

    Our fave can’t be bothered dinner is boiled eggs and toast soldiers, baked beans on toast or breakfast for dinner! We also love a cooked chook with steamed vegies and some gravy – the effect of a roast without the work! I’m a big fan of Jamie’s meals too – they are super flavoursome and great for that mid week cooking slump. x

    • Author
      Carly Jacobs 9 years ago

      Cooked chook is the best! It’s awesome our Woolies has gluten free organic ones – we just break them up and keep the left overs for lunch the next day! I know I sound like a broken record but we’re totally addicted to the Jamie range. We have a su vide and his meat is beautiful cooked in there.

  9. eandc2013 9 years ago

    Our favourite ‘can’t be bothered’ dinner is scrambled eggs and avocado! YUM! 🙂

  10. Erm this is me every night, LOVE the chook idea, actually could be a goer for this evening! Our fav lazy is ham and cheese toasted sandwiches!

    • Author
      Carly Jacobs 9 years ago

      It’s Mr Smags favourite – sometimes he’ll be all ‘Can we have a mouse plate for dinner?’ and the upside is that it’s super healthy too.

  11. Sarah @She Writes 9 years ago

    I haven’t tried the meal kits, although I have bought the meatballs which the girls love. I will be trying the beef though. Sounds yummy, thank you very much. I have been known to whip up a salmon and baby spinach salad for lunch. I even add some chickpeas if I’m feeling fancy! The mouse plate is a fave with the juniors in the house. So easy, but also not full of junk. Much better than nuggets and chips! I hope Mr Smaggle is on the mend soon x

    • Author
      Carly Jacobs 9 years ago

      He’s getting there! Thank you! I had the meatballs once and they were delicious! Must try them again soon!

  12. I’ve yet to try Jamie’s meal kits, but I have tried his other products and love them. These are so getting added to the weekday dinner roster!

    • Author
      Carly Jacobs 9 years ago

      They’re soooo good! I also like how they’re just a sensible portion size. I’m a seasoned over eater so it’s good to have a limit to how much I can eat!

  13. Olivia Olivia 9 years ago

    Pasta (shells is best) with fresh tomato and torn up bocconcini, basil leaves and oil. If you toss it all together when the pasta is just cooked and still warm it melts the bocconcini a bit. Also bruschetta with fresh tomato, basil and oil. Oh, a squeeze of lemon works on both.

  14. Claire 9 years ago

    Thankyou for the recommendation just purchased, yummy and easy… Just wished I purchased chocolate while at Woolies too ?

  15. Barbara Dalton 9 years ago

    We love ‘mouse’ plates too – in our house they are called pickin’ plates because you pick at them! Ours also include gerkins, olives, pickled onions, dip and crusty bread. Our go to for ‘can’t be arsed cooking’ days is a home made burger. We keep the rissoles in the freezer and just cook them with some onions and assemble according to your taste (including avocado and peri peri mayo). Otherwise we have a really simple pasta – spaghetti noodles cooked al dente with lemon anchovy sauce. I know people don’t like anchovies but they are really good if you mush a few in some oil in a pan and fry them gently with onions, garlic, lemon zest, capers and whatever else you like to add. We’ve added mushrooms, leftover chicken, bacon, broccolini, sundried tomatoes, olives, grated sweet potato, capsicum and zucchini to the pan depending on what is in the fridge at the time. Fry gently until softened then mix them all together and serve with a sprinkle of parmesan.

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