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6 Lazy Dinner Ideas For When You Don’t Want To Cook
Everyone feels like this sometimes: you get home from work after a long day and just want to sit down, watch TV, and unwind. One of our favourite ways to de-stress after a long day is to enjoy a delicious and comforting meal. When you’re not feeling up to cooking something elaborate, it’s always a good idea to have a roster of quick and easy meals that come together in less than 30 minutes with minimal effort.
The best thing to have on hand for those lazy days when you just don’t feel like cooking anything is a list of easily customizable recipes that can be quickly thrown together and enjoyed.
Here is a list of our favourite dinner ideas for those days when you just don’t feel like cooking.
This may seem simple but that’s what makes it so good. Sandwiches are great lazy dinner options, but when you make a sandwich with crispy toasted bread and ooey gooey cheese it just makes it that much more confirming.
You can keep it simple with white bread and cheddar cheese, or you can try playing with different flavour combinations. We love using cranberry bread, brie cheese, apple slices, and apricot jam to make a delicious sweet and savoury baked brie inspired grilled cheese. Or make a buffalo chicken grilled cheese by mixing cream cheese, grated cheddar, leftover chicken, and hot sauce in a bowl before spreading it onto your favourite bread.
Pasta is a dish that can be as simple or as complicated as you want. For those days where you don’t feel like cooking at all boiling pasta and adding a jar of sauce may be as complicated as you can handle, but for those days when you want to put just a little but more effort in a one-pot pasta is the way to go.
For a creamy pasta add noodles, chicken or vegetable stock, milk or cream, seasoning, and garlic and your favourite veggies (we love using broccoli) to a pan and bring to a boil. Cover and reduce to simmer until the liquid has mostly evaporated. The just simply stir and enjoy!
There are so many recipes and variations of one-pot pasta, no matter what you’re in the mood for you’ll be sure to find something you like!
Tacos are another very customizable dish. They may seem complicated to make, but they don’t have to be. Tacos are a great way to use up leftover ingredients like fish, chicken, steak, or chopped veggies and you can play around with different flavour profiles.
For super simple steak tacos fry chopped onions and peppers in a pan until soft then thinly sliced leftover steak. Add a small amount of water and your favourite taco seasoning to the pan and simmer until the water evaporates. Add steak and veggies to a soft corn or flour tortilla and top with avocado, salsa, cheese, or any of your other favourite toppings.
A stir fry really can incorporate anything you have in your fridge and is another dish that you can make as simple or as complicated as you want. Some stir frys require 30 ingredients and an hour of prep and cooking time, but others can be as simple as cooking some chicken or tofu with broccoli and onions and adding pre-made teriyaki sauce then serving over rice.
For days when you feel like adding more effort to a dish chopping a wide variety of vegetables and making your own sauce is great, but when you just want a lazy meal choose 1 protein and 2-3 vegetables for the dish. Pre-made sauces are also a great way to save time and energy.
Flatbreads are one of our favourite lazy day meals because they’re just so simple to make. Buy a pre-made flatbread or use naan or focaccia, and then just add your favourite toppings, bake, and enjoy.
You could go classic and make a pizza-inspired flatbread with tomato sauce, mozzarella cheese, and basil or try something different and make a flatbread with goats cheese, apples, fennel sausage, and arugula. The combinations are endless.
Making a charcuterie or cheese board may seem like an obvious choice, but we often only think about it as a special occasion meal. Putting together a charcuterie board for dinner after a long and stressful day can be a really relaxing and fun activity. There is no cooking required and you can grab all of your favourite cheeses, meats, and accompaniments. This is a meal that requires almost no effort, just put everything on a plate and enjoy.
The best thing to have on hand for those lazy days when you just don’t feel like cooking anything is a list of easily customizable recipes that can be quickly thrown together and enjoyed.
Here is a list of our favourite dinner ideas for those days when you just don’t feel like cooking.
1. A Grilled Cheese Sandwich
This may seem simple but that’s what makes it so good. Sandwiches are great lazy dinner options, but when you make a sandwich with crispy toasted bread and ooey gooey cheese it just makes it that much more confirming.
You can keep it simple with white bread and cheddar cheese, or you can try playing with different flavour combinations. We love using cranberry bread, brie cheese, apple slices, and apricot jam to make a delicious sweet and savoury baked brie inspired grilled cheese. Or make a buffalo chicken grilled cheese by mixing cream cheese, grated cheddar, leftover chicken, and hot sauce in a bowl before spreading it onto your favourite bread.
2. One-Pot Pasta
Pasta is a dish that can be as simple or as complicated as you want. For those days where you don’t feel like cooking at all boiling pasta and adding a jar of sauce may be as complicated as you can handle, but for those days when you want to put just a little but more effort in a one-pot pasta is the way to go.
For a creamy pasta add noodles, chicken or vegetable stock, milk or cream, seasoning, and garlic and your favourite veggies (we love using broccoli) to a pan and bring to a boil. Cover and reduce to simmer until the liquid has mostly evaporated. The just simply stir and enjoy!
There are so many recipes and variations of one-pot pasta, no matter what you’re in the mood for you’ll be sure to find something you like!
3. Leftover Tacos
Tacos are another very customizable dish. They may seem complicated to make, but they don’t have to be. Tacos are a great way to use up leftover ingredients like fish, chicken, steak, or chopped veggies and you can play around with different flavour profiles.
For super simple steak tacos fry chopped onions and peppers in a pan until soft then thinly sliced leftover steak. Add a small amount of water and your favourite taco seasoning to the pan and simmer until the water evaporates. Add steak and veggies to a soft corn or flour tortilla and top with avocado, salsa, cheese, or any of your other favourite toppings.
4. Simple Stir Fry
A stir fry really can incorporate anything you have in your fridge and is another dish that you can make as simple or as complicated as you want. Some stir frys require 30 ingredients and an hour of prep and cooking time, but others can be as simple as cooking some chicken or tofu with broccoli and onions and adding pre-made teriyaki sauce then serving over rice.
For days when you feel like adding more effort to a dish chopping a wide variety of vegetables and making your own sauce is great, but when you just want a lazy meal choose 1 protein and 2-3 vegetables for the dish. Pre-made sauces are also a great way to save time and energy.
5. Flatbread
Flatbreads are one of our favourite lazy day meals because they’re just so simple to make. Buy a pre-made flatbread or use naan or focaccia, and then just add your favourite toppings, bake, and enjoy.
You could go classic and make a pizza-inspired flatbread with tomato sauce, mozzarella cheese, and basil or try something different and make a flatbread with goats cheese, apples, fennel sausage, and arugula. The combinations are endless.
6. Charcuterie
Making a charcuterie or cheese board may seem like an obvious choice, but we often only think about it as a special occasion meal. Putting together a charcuterie board for dinner after a long and stressful day can be a really relaxing and fun activity. There is no cooking required and you can grab all of your favourite cheeses, meats, and accompaniments. This is a meal that requires almost no effort, just put everything on a plate and enjoy.