8 Easy Meals for Lazy Days
What is the worst thing about having a lazy day? Needing to cook. I like to cook just as much as the next person, but sometimes I need to skip making a full 8-course meal because I am just having a bit of a lazy day. (No I don’t make multiple courses when I cook… I just thought it would help make my point.) So… I thought I would make a list of 8 easy meals for lazy days. For those of you, like me, that sometimes need to just throw something together really fast.
Crock-Pot VS Instant Pot
The key to a good meal for lazy days is a Crock-Pot or Instant Pot.
The Crock-Pot is more of a dump and go kind of thing, while the Instant Pot makes delicious, tender, flavorful food in a fraction of the time it would take in the Crock-Pot.
I use both of these in my kitchen because sometimes I have the time to let it cook all day, and I can just forget about it for a while.
Then other times I need to cook things a little bit quicker, so hello Instant Pot!
I really love both my Instant Pot and my Crock-Pot.
If you don’t have an Instant Pot, here is one on Amazon that you can check out. It is the one that I use.
These ideas are a mixture of Crock-Pot recipes, Instant Pot recipes, and then some that don’t use either, just in case you don’t have access to these marvelous cooking appliances.
8 Easy Meals for Lazy Days
Let's Get Cooking
Tuna Salad
One of the first meals I go to for a lazy day, is tuna salad. It’s a classic. All you need is tuna, some mayo, mustard, relish and hard boiled eggs. Add some salt and pepper and you have an easy meal that you can eat with crackers, on bread, in a salad, or however you like it.
Here is an easy recipe from the Food Network. Give it a try on your next lazy day.
Ramen
I have probably eaten so much ramen in my life that there is a high chance that I am roughly 75% ramen now. I love it. It is cheap and so easy to make. It is also super versatile depending on your level of laziness for the day. You can keep it super simple and just follow the packaging instructions, or you can add some of your own ingredients.
One of my favorite things to do is boil an egg, then while that is sitting in ice water (once its done) I start the ramen noodles cooking. I grab whatever meat I have on hand, usually frozen shrimp or imitation crab, and I fry it up with some garlic and ginger. I also heat up some ramen broth from a box… its pretty good… I then put the noodles in a bowl and top that with the heated up ramen broth. I cut the soft/hard boiled egg in half length wise and lay that on top. Next comes the meat I fried up and put that in the bowl. I then grab some fresh spinach leaves and some carrot sticks and put those on top of the ramen noodles. Voila!! Done and sooooo yummy!!! It is easier than it sounds, I promise.
Tomato Soup and Grilled Cheese
Any time I was sick growing up, I always ate tomato soup. I don't know why, most people eat chicken noodle soup, I didn't though. So tomato soup is really nostalgic for me.
Lucky you, you don't have to be sick to enjoy the amazingness that is tomato soup! And good news!! One of the best friends of tomato soup is……. Grilled cheese.
Both of these items are super easy and quick to make, so this is by far one of the best things to make if you are having a lazy day where you don't really feel like cooking.
Quesadillas
Next up on our list of 8 meals for lazy days… the ever popular and easy quesadillas.
There are so many things that you can do to make a quesadilla. It could be as easy as just grabbing a flour tortilla, throw your favorite cheese on there, heat it up to melt the cheese and fold in half…. Cut into triangles, there you go!! Yummy quesadilla.
You can add whatever you want to the inside too, spinach, tomatoes, chicken, beef, pork, cilantro, the options are endless. Let your imagination run wild. You could even throw some lunch meat in there and put a different twist on a sandwich.
Easy peasy lemon squeezy.
Stuffed Shells
Thinking back on all of my mom's best dishes, this has to be one of my favorites. It wasn't until I got older and went to make it myself that I realized how easy it was to make. I bet if you make this for your family, they will think you spent forever making it, but you didn’t… it will be our little secret.
And much like most of the other recipes in this list, this dish is customizable. You can use just cheese, or add meat, veggies… whatever you want.
Essentially, you boil some jumbo shells, add your filling, get a pan, put some marinara in the bottom, top that with filled shells, top with more marinara and cheese and pop it in the oven, usually 350 F for about 30 min. You just have to get the cheese all nice and melty and heat everything up. Super easy, and so good!
For those of you darling readers that need a recipe, I found a really good one on Spaceships & Laser Beams.
Chili
The more time you spend here with me, the more you will find out that I love a recipe that I can just set up and forget. There is no babysitting, watching it or stressing about cooking times and getting everything done at the same time. It is all done for you when you have a Crock Pot or Instant Pot, and I love that.
I don't know if you have caught on yet, but a running theme in this list of meals for lazy days is… you guessed it… customization. Put in whatever you like in your chili, set it and forget it… well don't really forget it. I don't need you burning down your homes. Set a timer or something.
Anyway, find your favorite chili recipe, throw those ingredients in a Crock Pot, and you are good to go. You can always make rice or cornbread to go with it if you are feeling spunky, but it isn't necessary. The chili will be amazing just as it is. Give it a try.
Ravioli Bake
Want to know something better than an easy recipe? An easy recipe with minimal ingredients. What could be more perfect? So darlings, I give you a 3-ingredient ravioli bake. I found this recipe on Instrupix and I can say, it is very easy. The perfect meal to make on a lazy day.
Just layer marinara sauce, frozen ravioli and cheese in a dish and bake. That's it! See how easy that is?
And don't worry, here is the recipe from the original source:
"Dump" Meals
This last one is more of a generalized idea rather than a specific recipe.
You can go on Pinterest or just Google to look up "dump dinners". Yes that is really what they are called. Want to know why? Because you just dump the ingredients into whatever you are going to cook it in, and you make it. No extra dishes or fuss. That is all folks!
I'll add a few links for you too look through, get some ideas and try some stuff out. Have fun and go a little crazy.
Slow Cooker Creamy Chicken Stew
Ok my darling readers, that is all for today. I hope I gave you some good ideas for the next time you are feeling like you don’t really want to cook, but you have to eat.
These were my favorite 8 easy meals for lazy days, do you have anything that you like to make on a lazy day? Let me know in the comments so I can try it out next time I don’t want to cook.
I’ll see you soon!
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