Don’t know what to cook for dinner tonight? Here are 36 easy meals you can make in 30 min. or less. Healthy recipes for feeding family, kids, or company, like pasta primavera or weeknight stir-fry.
Have you ever meal planned while hungry? I have! My imagination runs wild and huge exquisitely prepared meals fill the menu. Lots of freshly baked goods and desserts become essential for every meal.
When I meal plan while hungry, I always think to myself: Am I crazy? I don’t have time for all of that!
I don’t want to spend every day, all day cooking. My family doesn’t need gourmet. With the unpredictable appetites of a commuter bicyclist and two young children, leftovers nights are a must!
We’re all in the same boat. We need easy and healthy meals, and to work when it’s worth it and welcome reprieve when it matters.
Enter the list of “easy meals.” These are the meals that I can make in 30 minutes or less for busy nights or even a night when I need a break in the kitchen. Lucky for me, these are also some of my family’s favorites.
Quick and Easy Meal ideas
Idea 1: Healthy DIY Salad
There’s almost always a container of washed and chopped lettuce in our fridge. Pull this out with any other fruits, vegetables, seeds and nuts that we have and dinner is done. Some of my favorite salads:
- Buffalo Chicken and Bacon Ranch Salad
- Southwestern Salad
- Apple Cranberry Spinach Salad
- Sweet Kale Salad
- Asian Mason Jar Salad
- Honey Roasted Almonds (for topping!)
Idea 2: Easy Pasta
Like the lettuce, we almost always have a jar of homemade tomato sauce in the freezer. If not, there’s homemade pesto in the fridge. Here are some of my favorite quick pasts meals:
- Savory Pasta with Onions
- Homemade Pasta Primavera
- Homemade Hamburger Helper
- Easy Italian Pasta Salad
- Cobb Pasta Salad
- Weeknight Creamy Mushroom Pasta
Idea 3: Quick Gourmet Grilled Cheese
While my family doesn’t need gourmet, it’s kinda fun to spruce up “boring” meals. Slicing fruit takes less than a minute and mixing up the cheeses offers plenty of sandwich options. Here are some yummy grilled cheese ideas:
Serve with soup for a complete meal:
- Instant Pot Chicken Noodle Soup
- Tomato Basil Soup
- Tortilla Soup
- Minestrone Soup
- Instant Pot White Bean Soup
Idea 4: Fast Weeknight Stir-Fry
The perfect way to use up random pieces of leftover meat and veggies. Toss in some soy sauce and ginger and serve! Here’s my favorite weeknight stir-fry.
Here are a few more of my favorite easy stir-fry inspired dishes:
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Idea 5: Easy Pulled BBQ Pork/Chicken
Making pulled pork or whole chicken in the slow cooker or Instant Pot is an easy way to have dinner ready! Simply shred the meat with a fork before serving. You can even make homemade rolls ahead of time in batches and frozen until the day of.
Here are my go-to pulled pork and chicken recipes:
Idea 6: Simple Quesadillas
It’s like taco night, but on a griddle with extra cheese. Keep it simple (meat and cheese) or add in leftover vegetables. I like to serve quesadillas with:
More Quick Meal Ideas
Looking for more inspiration? Here are a few more 30-minute dinner meal ideas:
My favorite easy meal is spaghetti and jarred sauce
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Our favorite easy meal… beans and rice!!
We make up our own Pasties and freeze them. Pull out of freezer and microwave (8minutes) or if you thought to pull out early and they are thawed reheat in the oven. Top with ketchup ~not gravy – that’s an unknowing tourist thing~ and eat.
Tomato Soup and Grilled Cheese!!! Yum
We love to do sub sandwiches at home on a busy night, or our own version of gourmet grilled cheese (avocado and pepperoni, anyone?). And a dinner of fried mozzarella, marinara, and a side salad never gets complaints, either! 🙂
My favorite easy meal is Talapia with a raw tomato sauce. Sounds complicated but it is not. I can have this on the table within 30 minutes. It is a Racheal Ray recipe. : )
My favorite easy meal is pasta. With cream cheese sauce, tomato sauce or just butter and parsley.
Once again, my list is eerily similar to yours. We had a DIY salad just last night.
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Eggs…scramble them, add meat and/or veggies, or put on bread for a sandwhich.
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Mozzarella Sticks
Spicy Can Opener Soup is a favorite:
http://harvestlanecottage.blogspot.com/2010/03/spicy-can-opener-soup.html
Mozarella sticks would be fun to buy. It’s something I really like but never buy because it’s an extra.
Meatloaf. I can make it ahead and then just pop into the oven. Just roasted brocolli for a side. My picky eaters favorite meal.
Pasta with pesto….yum!
Our favorite quick meal is Tacos. I brown hamburger when I buy it and freeze multiple bags of taco meat. Thaw meat and chop up the lettuce and tomato and dinner is served.
I would have to go with Mr. Crumbs and get the Mozzarella sticks. Yummy!
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My favorite quick meal is tofu fried rice.
I just subscribed to your E-mail updates. I have been following your blog for about a month and I love it!
Ooh, the Farm Rich cheese sticks are yummy! My favorite easy meal is mexi-beans and rice. We always have some extra cooked beans around, and I still haven’t gotten the hang of dry rice to cooked rice amounts, so when I cook too much, then we can have mexi-beans and rice. Just add spices and cheese, and we’re set!
I would for sure get the mozzarella sticks. They’re awesome.
My favorite easy meal is tacos!
My husband and kids love mozzarella sticks, so that is what I would get.
I would redeem the coupon for jalapeno poppers. Sounds like great football food, yum!
Chicken and Rice Casserole
My favorite easy meal is frozen meatballs and spaghetti.
Our favorite Farm Rich product are the Cheesesticks. My kids had them for an afternoon snack today!
Our favorite quick meal is spaghetti.
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I would probably get the meatballs to jazz up our easy spaghetti night!
Pasta
Tacos is a easy meal for me
thanks
I would get pizza slices
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My favorite quick meal is pasta with sauteed shrimp!
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If I won I think I would get the mozzarella sticks but if I tell the kids they may sway me to get the french toast sticks as a special treat.
My favorite easy meal is pizza
I would get the stuffed pretzel bites
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I tweeted
https://twitter.com/jjak2003/status/259863563018055680
Our favorite easy meal is to boil some frozen ravioli and top with a jar of sauce.
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If I won we would have to take a family vote because I would be torn between the mozz. sticks and the jalapeno peppers!
my favorite easy meal, besides take out, is mac and cheese
i would get the steak and cheese bites
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i tweeted under name velvetelvis40
Our favorite easy meal is breakfast for dinner! We can throw together eggs (and use random leftovers as an add in), toast and cut up fruit and it takes less then 10 minutes and dinner is on the table.
Meatballs!!
My go-to-have-no-time-kids-are-starving-need-dinner-now is kale chips and Bulger. My kids like the Bulger with just a little salt and tumeric. Kale chips with coarse salt and garlic powder. Take me longer to wash the kale than for them to scarf down their “treat” dinner
Great idea, Mashy! Thanks for sharing!