What are your favorite fallback meals?
Last week, in my post 7 reasons you're eating out so much, I talked about the idea of a fallback meal.
What's a fallback meal?
It's an easy-to-put-together meal that consists mostly of pantry ingredients (including the freezer!), and it's something you can fall back on when other plans have fallen through.
(Your meat didn't thaw, you were missing a key ingredient, you have less time than you thought, etc.)
This type of meal can swoop in and save the day when you're thisclose to ordering takeout.
I shared some of my favorite fallback meals (pizza bagels, quesadillas, grilled shrimp and veggies), but I know there are lots of other great last-minute meal ideas out there too.
And since you guys are a generally frugal bunch, I thought it'd be great if you all could share your ideas in the comments.
We can learn from each other, and you can also help out readers who are new to this idea.
So.
Leave a comment and share the quick, easy meals you rely on when takeout is seeming like a deliciously tempting option.
Ready? Go!
I keep a bag of Parmesean Crusted Tilipia in the freezer...from Sams. When it is just the two of us, I bake them in the oven....makes a quick, yummy sandwich.
Hi Kristen. I'm so glad you're asking this! I have plenty of fall back meals for the other 3 seasons of the year, but I have a harder time with cooking in the summer. I do love to c
Great timing! We got home from vacation yesterday afternoon, and after being gone for several days, there wasn't much in the refrigerator. I threw together some pancakes for the kids, which is a huge treat, so they were happy. As you've said before, breakfast stuff tends to be quick and yummy. Eggs are so versatile--scrambled, boiled, poached, in an omelet. We always have carrots in the fridge and usually celery and apples. Sliced up with dressing, cream cheese, or peanut butter, they add some goodness. We always have a few cans of baked beans (my family swears by "Bush's Best Boston Baked Beans" as my alliterative son likes to say). They work really well with scrambled eggs on the side. Sometimes a take-out pizza is just the thing, but when you don't want to spend the money (or for us, make the trip to town), it is nice to have something to fall back on. I'm looking forward to seeing what others do and expanding my repertoire!
I always keep pancake/waffle making ingredients on hand and normally have a breakfast meat of some sort in the freezer. I also always have pasta and frozen sauce too. Worst case we'll eat cereal or tuna sandwiches. Normally the pantry is never fully empty (though I've been working on the freezer/pantry challenge before things expire).
spaghetti, homemade pizza or just fake it where everyone makes their own, but I have older kids who will survive.....
Great topic. My fallback meals are bean and cheese burritos and tomato soup and grilled cheese.
Tacos or spaghetti!
Breakfast for dinner, (usually have all the stuff to make breakfast), eggs, pancakes, French toast, Belgium waffles. Other easy stuff is, grilled cheese, shrimp scampi,
Baked potatoes and tossed salads
Eggs and basically breakfast foods for dinner.
BLTs (a lb of bacon can be easily thawed under running water in 15 minutes or so) or honestly, just about any sandwich but BLTs are easy to make and don't feel like just another lunchbox sandwich.
Breakfast for dinner, quesadillas with Spanish rice (pantry staples) tomato soup, salad.
A belated "thank you" for your fabulous lice post. Not to be confused with frugal go- to meals-
haha!
Rice and beans ( usually Goya brand in the box) and a salad
Frozen Costco pizza
Pasta with jar ( or freezer) sauce. I freeze the sauce flat in a bag so it defrosts quickly.
Haha, yes, lice are not an appetizing thought.
I am in the breakfast for dinner camp, too. Oatmeal or eggs.
*cook, but I dislike heating up my house in the summer by using my stove, and I'm not very in tune with my BBQ. I would love to hear some ideas from everyone!
In the summer time, I move the crock-pot and the toaster oven into the garage. I have a sturdy counter supported by the washer and dryer and that's where these two workhorses spend their summer days. Keeps the heat out of the kitchen and frees up counter space.
LoL, I cook my Bacon on my George Forman Grill in My Garage in the Winter & out in the Back yard during the Hotter days
great idea!
We always have bread and cheese on hand so grilled cheeses or pizza bead f we ave tomatoes. Scrambled egg and bacon sandwiches too.
Pancakes and other breakfast foods are always around and yummy.
Potatoes take longer to bake but they are EASY to throw in the oven.
Pasta (sometimes we even boil up several kinds to use op the last of misc boxes) served with random scraps of bread made into garlic bread, and whatever kind of sauce I can whip up with whatever I have on hand.
eggs, quesadillas, vegetarian versions of chili or spaghetti, nachos...
https://nicoleandmaggie.wordpress.com/2010/11/14/quick-weeknight-meals-we-like/
PB&J with a glass of milk.
It's the cheapest, quickest way to get food that's nutritionally reasonable and gets many people fed. I don't have kids, but I could put that together when I was quite young. Also, going through puberty, I ate everything in sight, so my mom would have me eat one an hour or two before dinner (sometimes even adding honey to make me more full).
Corn tortillas topped with cheese, nuked to melt the cheese, topped with fried eggs and salsa. Also canned black beans if we have any. Protein, starch, and vegetable (if you count the salsa) all in one.
Though this isn't as frequent of a fall-back for me as it once was, since my ravenous hordes now demand many eggs for breakfast every single day, and I don't want to eat eggs twice a day. So now my fall-back is quickly defrosted ground beef made into hamburgers.
Our favorite quickie meal is a frittata, made with bacon, ham, etc. (or no meat at all) and whatever fresh and/or frozen veggies we have. We also like any type of breakfast meal for dinner. Also like black beans & rice (canned beans & instant brown rice) served with fruit or salad.
1. Scrambled eggs from various cuisines: omelete, frittata, donburi.
2. Sausages. (I usually have a variety in the freezer.)
3. Sliced meat on crackers.
4. Frozen meals, either as is (pizza) or supplemented (frozen bags o' meals with extra protein (shrimp defrosts quickly) and veggies added).
If it's just me, I like canned refried beans, salsa, and chips. If I have guests I can bulk that up to nachos.
Frittata is a great quick meal that I love to customize with whatever I can find in the fridge. We had one this week to use up a few potatoes, half and avocado, a little sausage, spinach, and some cheese.
Also, my kids love "snacks" for dinner. Basically any finger foods that we out out like a buffet and they can choose their meal!
We love "brinner" here - eggs fixed a variety of ways, some skillet potatoes, and butter dips biscuits from here: http://www.plainchicken.com/2011/01/butter-dips.html
I also love using up leftovers in creative ways, such as in quesdillas with some leftover meat or veg thrown in. Plus, pasta can be tossed with so many things. Served with a salad, no one realizes it was a last ditch effort at feeding them!
Breakfast burritos. They seem a little heartier than scrambled eggs, which I don't always find filling. You can also throw just about anything in them. My husband won't eat omelettes/frittatas and neither will my kids.
I keep quarts of homemade soups in the freezer. Paired with a salad for a quick dinner.
spaghetti with whatever veg is in the fridge or freezer
Eggs, fried potatoes, toast
+1 Yes, home fries! I try to add some fruit or another vegetable alongside the potatoes and scrambled eggs, but it's always a hodge-podge.
Here, it's BLTs or these delicious sandwiches. I keep all the ingredients on hand, and they are quick and YUMMY!
http://andreadekker.com/delicious-baked-sandwiches/
Pasta, greens, and sausage. I live next door to a giant grocery store, though, so I always have options in reach! I think I'm actually closer to their front door than the back of their parking lot.
We'll make a big 5-pound batch of homemade sausages and keep them in the freezer. And when I make hotdog buns I'll do a double batch and freeze the extra. So we usually have sausages ready to go whenever we run out of meal ideas or groceries.
my go to is bean tostadas , I always have can refried beans and tostada shell in my pantry .
Carbonara! We always have bacon in the freezer, spaghetti in the pantry, and eggs and parmesan in the fridge. Plus bacon thaws quickly in cold water, making it even easier to make it at the last minute.
Also, I often freeze things like butter chicken or etouffee where all I have to do is heat it up and make some rice. Done and done.
I always make sure to have some quick cook noodles in the cupboard so that I can always throw a stir-fry together last minute!not only is it quick and easy, but it costs pennies (if u skip the store brough sauce and make ur own using soy and fresh chilli/ginger) and is a great way to use up old veg too 🙂
I always have pasta and jarred sauce floating around for quickie dinners. We also really like "elbows"- noodles with butter, salt, and tomato sauce. Quick and easy!
I've recently gotten in the habit of doubling casserole recipes, too. I freeze half in plastic ziploc bags, and defrost them in the microwave if we need a quickie meal.
Pasta Bake ~ Cook a large bag of rigatoni; mix cooked pasta with a jar of spaghetti sauce; add Italian seasoning; pour into a baking dish; cover with mozzarella cheese. Bake. If I have some homemade meatballs in the freezer I will quickly defrost and put them on top.
Just my husband & I at home now, so I can make due with just about anything in kitchen for a fall-back meal for us.
Back in the day when I still had kids at home, I kept all the stales/ingredients for chicken taco casserole (canned chicken & other canned staples plus a bag of Doritos) & a $5 bill in a picnic basket on the top shelf as part of the decorations I had. When I needed a quick meal, I would send one of the boys across the street to the Quick Stop (only store in the little town) with the $5 bill to grab cheese & sour cream to complete the casserole.
I would replenish the picnic basket the next time I went to the store, making sure to add the $5 so I would be ready the next time the need arose.
Great ideas. One quick one we love is Chompy-Chomp Black Bean Soup: 1 onion, 3 cloves of garlic sauteed in olive oil, add 2 tbs cumin and 1/4 tsp cayenne, add to 1 can black beans and 1 can diced tomatoes. Takes 7 min or less. Recipe from Slow and Difficult Soups (it's neither, and this is a fantastic book). Serve with some bread or bagged salad if desired.
Or my other favorite is Snack-Supper. Which is whatever cheese, olives, pickles and bread or crackers we have around. Remember Cher in Mermaids? That is my fantasy supper model. I wish we could eat that way every night.
I'm finding some good ideas in these comments for future "fallbacks". Mine are: 1-Microwaved baked potatoes loaded according to each individual's taste, usually with a tossed salad.
2-Pasta with whatever is on hand - sauteed vegetables, shrimp, white beans.
Love all these ideas! I don't keep much frozen food on hand, but soups and sausages seem like great idea.
There are just two of us right now, so we normally fall back on:
grilled cheese
tuna salad sandwiches
fried egg sandwiches
"grilled" chicken breasts in the cast-iron skillet (add canned or frozen veggies or salsa)
scrambled eggs with Ranch Style beans
hummus and chips or carrots
I keep several cans of Aldi's canned chicken in my pantry. A couple of cans makes chicken salad for 4 or more depending on appetites. We also add it to salads which stretches it farther.
My family likes it when I cook frozen hash browns til crisp, smother it with shredded cabbage (keeps forever in the frig, and sprinkle Aldi's bacon pieces over top. Add salt and pepper, cover, turn down the heat a bit and let it cook til the cabbage is tender.
During summer when it can be too hot to do a lot of cooking, our fall back dinner is "toast and fruit". My family thinks this is the greatest! It normally consists of any of the following items we have on hand (and everyone can pick and choose what they want): toasted sandwich bread with a slice of melted cheese on top or peanut butter, cheese slices and crackers, cut up veggies and ranch dip, any fruit cut up, hard boiled eggs we have on hand, cottage cheese, a handful of almonds, chips, or pretzels. It doesn't sound like much, but sometimes we get so excited about it, we end up with a table full of all of the above and it is more than everyone can eat!
In the winter, my fallback meal is chili. I usually make it without meat so I don't have to wait for ground beef to thaw. It is easy to have all the ingredients on hand, and it goes well with boxed cornbread or any bread/muffins we might have in the freezer. It also makes enough for left over lunches or even one more dinner later in the week!
Sauté one pound ground beef with 1/2 cup chopped onion; drain fat. (Without meat, I sauté the onion with a little olive oil, and the onion can even be omitted.) Add 15 oz can tomato sauce and two 30 oz cans small red/kidney beans, undrained. Stir in 1 tsp salt, 1 tsp sugar, 2 tsp ground cumin, and 2 tbsp chili powder. Bring to a boil - cover and reduce heat to low. Simmer about 2 hours stirring often (I often only simmer for a half hour or so without the meat). Can also be cooked in a crock pot on low all day.
Geat question. My kids are really picky but some quick go to meals are spaghetti with homemade sauce stocked in the fridge, rice (precooked and stocked in the freezer) stir fried with precut frozen veggies. You can add meat, tofu, sauce to dress it up. Tacos are a good one too. Often we have fruit as desert -- strawberries, cherries, fresh or canned pineapple to name a few.
Our fall backs are tuna salad, or chicken salad, or brinner. I have also been freezing leftovers instead if parsing them out as lunches like I used to do. I freeze everything in freezer bags laid flat on a small cookie sheet. They freeze in nice flat easy to store rectangles and squares, and because they a re thin flat rectangles, they defrost fast. Right now, I have beef and mushrooms in gravy for a quick beef and noodles, pulled BBQ pork, homade baked beans, precooked roasted chicken, taco meat, sloppy joes, and chicken parm ready to go in a pinch. I always have pasta, buns, etc on hand so it's easy to defrost something and reheat in less time than it would take to go fetch takeout.
Homemade lunchables are easy and quick to prepare. They also help use up the last few bits of crackers, fruit, cheese and lunch meat.
I keep tortillas in the freezer for quick meals. I've learned that almost any type of filling tastes good in a warm, buttery, cheesy quesadilla form. ( pizza quesadilla, breakfast quesadilla, veggie quesadilla, spaghetti quesadilla, etc. )
Although your homemade pizza recipe can't be beat, we do fall back on frozen pizzas about once every two weeks. The price still beats the delivery option.
Pasta with jarred sauce & chicken sausage + spinach from the freezer (we always have some). Tacos or nachos with canned refried beans, cheese (from freezer), and sometimes a fried egg on top. Brinner, or course.
I must say, we eat out more than we should but its NEVER because we can't figure out dinner. Its because we like to eat out.
Black bean soup is a fall back for us. I do a tex-mex version and an "Indian-inspired version". Also, lentil stew. To both of these I add any scraps of left over meat, if I have some. If not, we just go meatless
Great topic! I try to have small containers of homemade pasta sauce in the freezer as well as frozen, uncooked meatballs. Simmer the meatballs in the defrosted sauce until done. Serve it with a side of broccoli. Another favorite is cheese ravioli and broccoli topped with a ton of crushed garlic that was sauteed in olive oil. Comfort food at its best!
We love Naan bread pizzas. They are great to use with leftover foods. We use leftover veggies and small bits of chicken or sausage on it with some cheese. They only take about 5 minutes in the oven and taste great!
Our CSA always loads us up with kale and other greens. I've started sautéing loads of it with onion, garlic and whatever else is around - tomatoes, shredded zucchini, left over ricotta or cream cheese etc. Once it's wilted make little indents and put an egg in, throw the lid on until cooked and eat on toast.
If your greens are prewashed it's a 15 minute nutritious meal.
Pasta and....carbonara (usually have bacon in the freezer and always have eggs. I keep it simple and just add parmesan, not cream),
fried breadcrumbs, bacon and chilli,
pesto and (frozen) veg,
quick tomato sauce from a tin of tomatoes, garlic and veg etc
with olive oil, grated cheese + a fried egg- deconstructed carbonara if you add bacon
rice and... lentils with fried onions (actually far more delicious than it sounds. It's called Megadarra or Masafi depending on whether you use green or red lentils),
curry- I keep tubs of fresh Massaman or green thai curry sauce in the fridge. Cook a spoonful with some veg, a can of coconut milk and some frozen prawns or tinned chickpeas.
Fried rice- Chinese style with egg, or with mushrooms, peas, chilli flakes and onion.
If you'd like to add baked potatoes to your quick meal list,one fast way to bake them is to place scrubbed,halved,pricked potatoes cut side down on a baking pan that is coated with oil ans a light sprinkling of kosher salt. Baking them this way at 375 degrees for 30-35 minutes is about half the time as regular baked potatoes.
Meatball subs
Pasta with red sauce or pasta with butter and parmesean or pasta with pesto that I keep in the freezer.
When my kids were little and friends with same age kids talked about how they would get take-out or go out to eat out because it was "easier" , I always felt that the absolute easiest thing to do was to put on a pot of water and make pasta - cheap and no having to get everyone ready to go our and behave in a restaurant!
Wonderful ideas. It is only me so I can use most. Thank you everyone.
Easy enough to cook up even frozen ground beef, add some chopped onions, garlic and seasonings and some salsa, bbq sauce or even ketchup for sloppy Joes.
Since we almost always have turkey sausage in the freezer I will often do a sausage and pepper stir fry for a fast last-minute meal. Just slice up the sausage (it slices a little bit easier when partly frozen, which is a plus) and cut up some peppers and onions. Saute it all in a skillet, maybe with some chopped garlic or some other herbs/seasonings. Serve over noodles, hash browns, rice, mashed or baked potatoes, etc. Easy, delicious, and flexible!
Sausage is such a handy item, isn't it? The fact that it's seasoned means you don't have to do a lot to it.
Absolutely! It really is a life saver for me when I need to crank out dinner fast. I always keep some in our freezer.
Have celiac so former fast meals are out. We have Fiesta Soup - cans of chicken, chicken broth, corn, diced tomatoes, black beans, kidney beans, refried beans, and 1 cup of salsa. Top with grated cheese and corn chips instead of crackers. We also have "favorite casserole" - 2 cans of baked beans with a little of the sauce drained off, 1/2 cup ketchup ( or a can of tomato soup - pre gluten free days), and 1 cup ground beef browned. Bake 400 for 40 min. I always have ground beef browned in the freezer in small packages.
Since potato fry-ups and pasta dishes are taken, I'll recommend "shakshouka," which is eggs poached in tomato sauce:
Fry onion and bell peppers until beginning to get soft, 3-5 min
Add spices (cumin, garlic, red pepper, etc.) and toast 30 sec.
Add tomato paste and tomato sauce/crushed tomatoes, bubbling for 10 min
Crack eggs (~1-2 pp) into the sauce, cover until eggs are cooked the way you like it (runnier or harder), 3-5 min.
Top with chopped parsley
Serve with bread, or rice
I also had a tasty side dish of 1 can chickpeas, drained/rinsed, with olive oil, fresh lime juice, salt/pepper, and your choice of cilantro/parsley/mint (whatever needs using up!).
1) Fix Ur Own Meal we make our OWN ( my Hub, My Son & I )
So Whatever is in the Fridge or Single Meals in Freezer from dinner Leftovers from other nights.
2) Eggs & Bacon & pancakes (( I always cook 2 packs of bacon & keep a cook 1 in freezer for fast BFSK or BLT's. It don't don't take a few extra mins to cook another lb.
3) Sandwiches of Some kind (( I always hv PB & J, Tuna & Canned Chicken on hand.
4) Chicken Strips & a Frozen Veggie (( Costco has already Cooked chicken strips so I keep a bag in my Freezer now )) GREAT w-KRAFT Original BBQ Sauce
We do a HUMBLE MEAL (( something Simple like a Sandwich, pancakes, bacon & eggs or a FIX UR OWN )) every week it Helps stretch the Budget
I no longer eat dairy and eat mostly a plant-based diet (except for wild Alaska fish) so many of my previous fallbacks like Annie's Mac & Cheese and tuna melts are out.
Now, stir fry or fried rice (with peanuts or tofu) or curry are what I default to when both of us are home for dinner,. They have the added benefit of using up odd bits of cooked or raw veg that need to be cleared out of the fridge. I can also throw leftover meat on top for the hubs if there is any.
When my husband is home alone for dinner, nachos are his fallback.
When I am home alone, usually half an Ezekiel English muffin topped with avocado or hummus, greens on top, salad on the side. Or topped with peanut/ almond butter and apple slices or with fruit on the side.
Love all the fallback meal ideas in the comments! My usual go-to if anything better falls through is what I call "compost pasta". It's usually just whatever vegetables are left in my crisper over noodles with sauce. It helps me avoid wasting food, and it's good to eat vegetarian every once in a while. I also take advantage of sales on canned kidney beans, black beans, diced tomatoes and tomato sauce. Add in onions, mushrooms and spices and bam, super simple chili that makes a couple meals worth!
Spaghetti with jarred sauce a little pre-cooked frozen ground beef mixed in.
Boxed mac and cheese with pre-cooked, frozen, taco-seasoned shredded chicken mixed in.
When time is short, especially during the school year, we sometimes feed the children Costco chicken nuggets for dinner with, say, whole wheat toast and frozen peas, then worry about our dinner at leisure after the tots are asnooze.
Spaghetti, grilled cheese & soup, PBJ or other sandwich. We usually have a pizza or two in the freezer as well.
When I'm only have 30 minutes left before supper time,my number one option is making tuna dinner.Making spaghetti comes second. Or simply eating leftover.
We do pita pizzas and bagel pizzas. We also do a lean turkey sausage link pan cooked with whatever vegetables we have on hand. You can put that over pasta or rice. We also do hot dogs with a rhodes roll wrapped around them and baked. Or, if I'm really lazy, it's cereal with fruit and toast!
Throw canned green beans into a skillet and start them heating. Slice Vienna sausage onto beans. When hot, drain, and scramble some eggs with salt & lots of pepper into the bean mixture. A relative of my Mom invented this when he was trying to use only what he found in the house. Thus it was known in our family as Howard's recipe. I like to serve applesauce on the side since that's something we usually have on hand as well and it goes well with this main dish.
Rice bowls! Put a pot of rice (when I'm in a real hurry, I use quinoa or couscous because they cook faster) on to simmer; steam, roast or stir fry any veggies you have on hand (frozen broccoli, for example, takes just five minutes to go crispy and gorgeous in the oven); then add protein: cheese, tinned beans or lentils, eggs, deli meat, nuts, tinned fish, frozen shrimp, or, my favourite, hummus.
Breakfast for dinner, salads topped with P3 packs or black bean tacos (recipe from six sisters stuff blog).
Usually a veggie stir fry is pretty quick!
I buy a bag of mixed vegetables, or if the garden is producing a lot I will chop some carrots, pepper, tomatoes and snap peas. I put soy sauce or olive oil and spices over the frying veggies and serve on a bed of rice. Dinner is served in as long as it takes for the rice to cook!
-Tuna melts or tuna cakes (like salmon cakes but with canned tuna).
-Frittata (like an omelet but easier, you sauté veggies, then add beaten eggs and cheese to the hot skillet and remove to the oven, broil until set).
-bean and cheese burritos - dress up canned beans with onions and chiles, add plenty of cheese and wrap in tortillas
- tabouli! bulgar wheat softens in a half-hour, add a can of chickpeas, chopped mint, lettuce, green onions, whatever fresh greens and herbs you have - olives, tomatoes, and dress with olive oil and lemon juice.
Love all these ideas!
My fallback which I also often fix as a planned meal is a one dish meal made with vegetables, a can of stewed tomatoes, and perogies or left over chicken. So simple and delicious and only takes about 20 min. Stir fry whatever veggies you have in the fridge (my faves are red peppers, zucchini, and spinach,) dump in the stewed tomatoes (love that flavor) and break them up a bit, cover and cook until the veggies are done to your taste. Serve over cooked perogies, brown rice, leftover meat, or even pasta. Top with parm cheese. Nutritious, cheap, and tastes great.
Honestly, our fallback meals are typically something with chicken, veggies, and some sort of carb. I keep chicken tenderloins in the freezer. They thaw quickly, but also cook up from frozen in a flash. Pair it with onions and peppers for fajitas (we always have tortillas on hand) or add veggies (I generally have broccoli in the freezer), rice or noodles, and some teriyaki sauce for stir fry. For a long time when we both worked full time, we would eat some form of chicken and veggies nearly every night. The secret is having a robust spice cabinet to keep it from getting too boring. Pair the chicken and veggies with rice or noodles, with the appropriate seasoning, and you're good to go. Other fall backs include quesadillas, grilled cheese, and mac & cheese with hot dogs and some sort of veggie. (Can you see a cheese theme here?)
Pasta+tomatoes sauce in a jar+cheese+veggies
Bread+peanut butter+hummus+veggies
grill cheese
I grabbed a good deal on ground beef the other day so I browned it all 8+ lbs and let it cool. I portioned it out into freezer bags and tossed into deep freeze. Today was rough, too many things going on and places to run to. Come dinner time I had nothing and was already exhausted. I thought for a few minutes and did a little pantry investigating and decided to try something. Grabbed a bag of frozen beef and found a bag of tater tots hiding behind. I tossed together a bacon cheeseburger pie with bisquick and prechooked bacon. Tossed the tots and the casserole in to bake together. Found leftover corn on the cob in the fridge so we cut if off the cob and heated that up to. Not gourmet but filling!
Breakfast for dinner always works. I also usually have what I need to make chicken pasta alfredo. There is a bread and soup recipe I love (it's just sauteed garlic, chicken broth, toasted bread chunks, and then grated cheese melted into it), but the rest of my family isn't quite as fond of it, so that's not a typical fallback.
Chili made with canned beans, and meat from freezer
Beanies and weenies made with canned beans and beef hotdogs.
There are SO MANY fall-back meals-- When all else fails, I make a Mexican casserole (canned whatever I have: corn, peppers, black beans) layered with tortillas or tortilla chips, salsa, cheese. I have added zucchini and spinach and whatever I had on hand. Homemade enchilada sauce is easy AND frugal and really ties the casserole together.
Also I stock up on frozen turkey meatballs and turkey burgers on sale--which can be easily transformed into a curry or teriyaki or Italian-themed meal in under half an hour. Last night I served meatballs, with brown rice and left-over spinach (homemade teriyaki sauce with sesame seeds). A few weeks ago I threw every veggie I had on hand chopped up into a pan, added curry paste, tomatoes and a can of coconut milk and voila! Instant Fallback Meal.
Fried potatoes! We make sandwiches on light bread with mustard and onions. Yum! Easy and frugal.
Pasta, grilled cheese sandwiches with soup, cheese omelets, French toast with fruit, pancakes. We sometimes have pizza rolls or taquitos in the freezer that I buy when they are on sale. Not very healthy, but a cheaper alternative to eating out (which is also usually not very healthy)
Yup, that's how I view it too. Almost anything we eat at home will be healthier than fast food!
This is such a helpful post. Thanks Kristen!
My go-to fallback is fish and veggies from the freezer with rice from the pantry. Always on hand, fast to whip up!
- White pizza is a stable when we are out of bread: pizza dough (from scratch) sprinkled with olive oil, salt, oregano and basil. We even eat it on its own.
- Käsespätzle: it is a German dish, where you make noodles from scratch (easy batter that you scrape with a knife) and then pile them with grated cheese.
This is one version in English (I have not tried this recipe):
http://allrecipes.com/recipe/kaese-spaetzle/
- Strammer Max: another German dish with a slice of bread topped with a slice of ham and a slice of cheese and on top of this you put a fried egg.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strammer_Max
Oooh, also, from back when I used to eat dairy: evaporated milk salmon fettuccine Alfredo. Dead simple. Cook the fettuccine, drain and return to the hot pan with a can of evaporated milk and a handful of Parmesan cheese. Stir over low heat until thickened, add tinned salmon, frozen peas, and a salad. Dinner: filling, healthy, one pot.
Pancit (with any leftover meat and veggies). Boil water and then less than 5 minutes to the table.
Breakfast foods are always quick with fruit.
Mine is pretty simple. Beans with cheese sprinkled on top with veggies. Or take a can of soup like minestrone or vegetable and add black beans to it. Yum!!
I normally make sure I add a fallback recipe to my menu. It is always pizza!! LOL.
We always have pasta around, but I'm also a big fan of freezer meals. With 3 young kids (including a baby), we pretty frequently have nights on which it would be hard for me to spend 30-60 minutes preparing dinner right at dinner time, so it's MUCH easier for me to do bulk dinner prep on the weekends and have a stash of freezer meals in our deep freeze to use throughout the week!
Burrito bowls! Rice (white if pressed for time), black beans (usually have in freezer), shredded taco beef or pork (also usually have in freezer), Rotel-style diced tomatoes and green chiles, pepper jack or Monterey jack cheese. And some chopped greens if we have them.
Egg bakes or egg strata are a great option. You can add whatever cheese or meat if you have it on hand and also use some left over bread from the freezer. It is a quick and easy fall back option and helps prevent take out.
I keep a purchased gluten-free pizza crust in the freezer - it's actually cheaper and tastier than my own sorry mess of a gluten-free crust. 🙂 When I make black bean soup I get several 2-person freezer portions out of it; ditto barbecue pork butt.
Also - kitchen sink pasta. That's pasta tossed with whatever vegetables we have handy - a little leftover broccoli, half a red pepper, 1/4 cup of cannellini, a turkey sausage link, whatever - it all goes in the skillet with some garlic and gets tossed with cooked gluten-free pasta. Mozzarella or Parmesan sprinkled on the top, a nice glass of Sangiovese, and dinner is served.
When I was Growing up, we had "surprise platter" once a week. Basically, it just meant that my parents would use up whatever leftovers we had. We would use plates with different sections and there would be alittle bit of each dish in each section. I always felt it was so festive - especially because there would always be something out of the ordinary - a small piece of cake, some potato chips, or half a canned peach on the plate. It took me years and years to realize that my parents had to stretch their budget to make it through the month, and this is how they didi it.
My own fallback options are: vegetable-tomato soup made with those veggies that are near death in the fridge and a can or two of chopped tomatoes. I often add dried red lentils for protein. Also, grilled cheese, or toast with baked beans, or quesadillas. Also, spaghetti with fried oniOns and canned tuna and lots of garlic). Just fry the onions in olive oil while the pasta is cooking, add a can or two of drained tuna, heat through, maybe add some anchovies/olives/chili flakes. Drain pasta, stir everything together, serve.
Some great ideas, love reading this! As parents of twins, a fallback meal is something we seem to use quite often at times.
Muffin pizzas, pizza topping (or tomato puree) on a muffin, some grated cheese, any other toppings
Pasta with cream and any left over meat/veg
Pasta with grated cheese stirred in
Homemade scones, surprising quick and easy to make out of storeroom ingredients. Our children think these are a great treat
Veg/Meat casserole on weekend during the winter. Most ingredients are in the storeroom, quick and very easy to put it all in one pot during the day, heats the kitchen up during the afternoon ready for the evening
We like Italian Baked Eggs:
1. Spray a 9x9 pan with cooking spray.
2. Pour in half a jar of marinara sauce.
3. Make 4 wells in the sauce with the back of a spoon. Crack 1 egg into each well.
4. Top with parmesan cheese, red pepper flakes, and basil. This is best if the basil is fresh.
5. Bake at 350 degrees for about 20 min or until eggs are set
Serve on english muffins or toast points with a side of green salad.
Ramen. One can make a bowl of the hot ramen, or just boil the noodles a bit less and the stir fry to make a lo mein of sorts. If you have wilted lettuce, a carrot, some peas, nearly any veggie or left over meats you can add them to the noodles as you saute them, sprinkling the ramen powder as seasoning, add an egg (just scramble and makes pretty yellow crumbs).
Glad you reposted this. I remember commenting the first time around. It is giving me some incentive to be ready for next week with some fall back meals so I don't succumb to the pressure of take out! Thank you.