Don’t get me wrong, I love to cook.

For other people.

When it comes to cooking for myself, it’s way harder to get motivated - I don’t necessarily plan ahead, and then when I get hungry, I want instant gratification. And then I open Seamless app for the fourth time that week.

But about two months ago, I decided I wanted to make a bit of a lifestyle change and really start cooking for myself, saving money and eating healthier in the process. I’m still someone who doesn’t love how long cooking a meal can sometimes take, but here are my three favorite, fast, recipes to make, with stuff that you can get from any grocery store.

1. Pasta with Lemon-Garlic Chicken and Veggies

What You’ll Need:
Thin chicken breasts
Lemon
Garlic
Vegetables of your choice
Olive oil
Salt & pepper
Butter
Optional: basil

A generous amount of oil
Half a lemon
1 chopped clove of garlic
Salt & pepper to your taste
A smidge of basil, if you want

in a plastic bag, and drop some chicken breasts in there - thin cut are best. I roll it around for a bit, coating the chicken, and then stick it fridge for 3+ hours until I need to cook it.

When you are ready to cook it, start by bringing water to a boil in a pot. In the time it takes for the water to boil, chop your preffered veggies up so they’re ready to go in a pan. I typically use zucchini (I used spinach this time), mushrooms, and cherry tomatoes, but you honestly can use whatever you know you like. Once those are chopped, I’ll usually chop up another garlic clove, because I love garlic. You’ll also want to have the other half of the lemon you used earlier ready.

Once that water is boiling, drop a pinch of salt in it and turn the heat down a smidge, then drop your pasta of choice in the pot (I like penne for this particular recipe, but rotini or fettucine would be good too). Once that’s in, take the chicken that we put in the fridge and dump in a pan on the stove, marinade and all. Bring up to medium high heat, and let that cook on either side for three or four minutes. It might not be cooked all the way through yet, but that’s okay - once those minutes are up, turn the heat down a bit and add those veggies you chopped earlier (if you’re doing spinach, start with that so it can wilt down a bit). If there isn’t quite enough marinade, you can add some olive oil, salt, and pepper with half of the garlic clove and that other lemon half over. Now let those sauté until the tomatoes are soft, the zucchini is bright green and slightly golden, and the mushrooms are browned.

The chicken should be cooked all the way through by now, but cut into it a bit just to make sure the insides aren’t pink. If they are, you can turn the heat off, and wait for your pasta to finish cooking if it hasn’t already - ideally you’ve timed this well enough that if you have to wait, it’ll only be a few minutes.

In this time, you could put a bit of butter (not margarine) in a dish with the rest of the garlic and melt it down in your microwave. Once your pasta is done, you can go ahead and put it in a bowl, dump some of that chicken and veggies on top, and drizzle that butter sauce over top of your delicious pasta.

ETE (Estimated Time til Eating): 20 minutes

2. Loaded Omelette

What You’ll Need:
Eggs
Milk
Salt & pepper
Whatever’s in your fridge

An omelette is a really easy thing to cook, which is why I’m including this on here, despite there not being a real ‘recipe'. You can make this with literally whatever you’ve got in your fridge, but I feel like because it’s associated with breakfast, people forget that when you’re an adult, you can literally whatever the fuck you want, at any time!

To get your egg mix, you’re going to crack two or three eggs, depending on how big you want your omelette to be (I usually go with three), into a cup. Pour a splash and a half of milk into the mug (if you’re dairy sensitive, soy milk or lactaid milk should work fine, but I don’t know about almond milk. Of those varieties, I’d guess coconut milk would work best), and mix it up with a fork.

Drop a bit of butter in the pan and turn the heat up to medium high. You’ll also want to make sure anything that needs to be chopped already is, since eggs cook pretty quickly. Pour your egg mix into the pan carefully so it fills it evenly. Let it cook for a minute or two, mixing it and re-evening it to get as much of it cooked as possible without drying it out before the other ingredients even make it into the pan. Once it’s sufficiently cooked, drop your ingredients onto one half of the omelette. You can do this in any order, but I do recommend doing cheese last if it’s something you’re including. Let it sit for a second, and then fold the other half over.

Press it with your spatula to try to ‘close’ it, then flip it over as best as you can (if it falls apart, it’s not the end of the world - it’ll still taste good. Press it again to help it cook through a little faster.

Then once it’s at the level of runny you like your omelettes (I don’t want mine dry, but I also don’t want it like I like my fried eggs), turn the heat off and put it on a plate - you’re done!

ETE: Approx. 10 minutes, depending on if you need to chop anything and how high you turn your heat

Yeah, I know, it’s a salad. Does it count as really cooking? Maybe not, because this but it’s a super easy way to get a healthy meal in, and it can be vegetarian and/or vegan as well. Just take out the goat cheese and you’re good to go! I’ve also never actually put chickpeas in mine, but as I was typing this out, I was thinking they would taste good in this as well.

If you’ve got to chop your tomatoes like I do, then do that. Then literally just toss all of this into a bowl and mix it.

ETE: Literally 5 minutes after you open the fridge

Hopefully this helped any of my fellow lazy chefs, and maybe gave you more ideas for easy and quick meals! And let me know in the comments you’ve got any good go-tos to for me to try. Happy eating!

Also, in case you missed it, go watch my Everyday Summer Makeup GRWM! And keep an eye out for my next video, going up tomorrow 😁

Photos taken with Nikon Coolpix AW110