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Browse the shelves

Cheap meals, no essay

No essay. Nobody's grandmother is involved. You will not scroll past a childhood, a farmhouse kitchen, or a journey of self-discovery to reach the recipe. Here is what to buy - one button puts all of it in your Amazon cart - and here is what to do with it. That is the whole page.

46 recipes · every ingredient is a square on the shelf · free Prime shipping · tap a recipe to open it

Mexican 9

Tacos, tostadas, the soups that go with them.

Taco rice bowls

The rice takes 90 seconds. We are not going to pretend otherwise.

Serves 3 to 412 minutes, and 90 of those seconds are the rice

What to buy

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From your kitchen

a pan, a microwave, a spoon.

What to do

  1. Drain the beans and the corn. Tip them into a pan with the tomatoes (juice and all), the chiles and the taco packet.
  2. Medium heat, about 8 minutes. Stir when you remember to.
  3. Rice: 90 seconds in the microwave. Read that again, then do it.
  4. Rice in a bowl, taco stuff on top. Salsa if you have it. Done.

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Salsa chicken, the crockpot kind

Chicken thighs, one jar, one packet. Walk away.

Serves 4, or 2 twice5 minutes of you, 6 hours of the crockpot

What to buy

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From the grocery store

about 1.5 lb boneless chicken thighs (breasts work; thighs forgive). Any store, on the way home. Not in the cart button; we do not sell chicken.

From your kitchen

a crockpot, two forks, salt.

What to do

  1. Chicken in the crockpot. Salsa over it, packet over that, tomatoes and chilies on top, juice and all. Do not stir. It does not care.
  2. Lid on. Low for 6 hours, or high for 3. Leave the house if you like.
  3. Shred the chicken in the pot with two forks. It falls apart; that is the thighs doing their job. Stir in the drained beans and corn and give it 15 more minutes.
  4. Rice in the microwave, 90 seconds. Chicken on the rice. Tomorrow it goes in a tortilla and nobody has to know it is the same dinner.

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Hard-shell tacos, the bean kind

The shells stand up on their own. That is the whole trick.

Serves 4, three tacos each15 minutes, most of it spent opening cans

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From your kitchen

a saucepan, a spoon, whatever cheese and lettuce are already in the fridge.

What to do

  1. Refried beans and the drained black beans into a saucepan with the taco packet and a splash of water. Warm, stirring, until it looks like it belongs in a taco.
  2. Shells in the oven for the minutes the box says. They stand up. Nobody chases a shell across the counter.
  3. Beans in, salsa verde over, jalapenos on. Cheese and lettuce if the fridge has them; the taco does not need them.
  4. Eat over the plate. It is a hard-shell taco; half of it will end up on the plate. That is the second taco.

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Tostada night

Spread, pile, crunch. A recipe with three verbs.

Serves 4, two tostadas each10 minutes, none of them hard

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From your kitchen

a saucepan, a spoon, napkins, more than you think.

What to do

  1. Warm the refried beans in a saucepan with a splash of water so they spread. Stir the drained corn and the green chiles together in a bowl; that is your topping.
  2. Spread beans on a shell. Pile corn on. Salsa over.
  3. Crunch. Repeat seven times.

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Taco soup

The chili, thinner, different packet.

Serves 6, and it freezes25 minutes on the stove, or 4 hours in the crockpot if you would rather not be there

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From your kitchen

a big pot or a crockpot, a can opener, salt.

What to do

  1. Everything except the tortilla strips into the pot. Stir once.
  2. Simmer 20 minutes on the stove, or low for 4 hours in the crockpot. It does not need you.
  3. Salt it. Ladle it. Tortilla strips on top, a lot of them; they are the point.
  4. Freeze what is left. It comes back better.

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Enchilada bake

Layer it like lasagna. Nobody rolls anything.

Serves 610 minutes of you, 30 minutes of the oven

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From your kitchen

a 9 by 13 baking dish, a spoon, an oven at 375, shredded cheese if you have some; the queso does the job without it.

What to do

  1. Oven to 375. Mix the refried beans, the drained black beans and the green chiles in a bowl. That is the filling; that was the hard part.
  2. A thin layer of enchilada sauce in the dish. Tortillas, torn to cover. Half the beans. Queso. Sauce. Repeat. Finish with tortillas, the rest of the sauce, and queso over the top.
  3. Bake 30 minutes, until the edges bubble and the top has some colour. Let it sit 5 minutes or it will not hold a square.
  4. Cut it like lasagna. Serve it like you meant to make lasagna.

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Beef taco skillet

One pound of beef, one pan, one pouch of rice. Twenty minutes.

Serves 420 minutes, all of them at the stove

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From the grocery store

1 lb ground beef. Any store, on the way home. Not in the cart button; we do not sell beef.

From your kitchen

a big pan with a lid, a wooden spoon, salt.

What to do

  1. Brown the beef in the pan. Pour off most of the fat. Packet in, stir a minute.
  2. Tomatoes with their juice, the drained beans and corn. Lid on, 5 minutes.
  3. Squeeze the rice pouch in. Stir until it is one thing. Salt it.
  4. Eat it with the taco shells as spoons. Nobody needs a fork. Nobody needs a plate, strictly.

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Chicken tortilla soup

Chicken thighs and a shelf. The tortilla strips are not optional.

Serves 610 minutes of you, 6 hours of the crockpot

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From the grocery store

about 1.5 lb boneless chicken thighs. Any store, on the way home. Not in the cart button; we do not sell chicken.

From your kitchen

a crockpot, two forks, salt, a lime if one is rolling around the fridge.

What to do

  1. Chicken in the crockpot. Broth, tomatoes, cumin, chili powder, garlic, taco sauce over it. Lid on. Low for 6 hours, or high for 3.
  2. Shred the chicken in the pot with two forks. It falls apart; it has been waiting to.
  3. Drained beans and corn in. 15 more minutes. Salt it properly; broth needs more than you think.
  4. Bowls. A fistful of tortilla strips on each one, and the lime if you have it. The strips are the recipe; the soup is the excuse.

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Walking-taco nachos

A bag of chips, a can of chili, a bottle of queso. Dinner, or a football game.

Serves 4, or 2 if the game goes long8 minutes

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From your kitchen

a sheet pan, a small pot, a can opener, no plates.

What to do

  1. Chips on the sheet pan in one layer, more or less.
  2. Heat the chili. Spoon it over the chips. Queso over that. Salsa and jalapenos over that.
  3. Sheet pan goes in the middle of the table. Forks are optional, plates are not invited.

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American 12

Chili, sloppy joes, the casserole aisle.

Dump-and-walk-away vegetarian chili

Ten cans, one packet, one crockpot. Nobody chops anything.

Serves 6 to 8, or one person for most of a week5 minutes of you, 6 hours of the crockpot

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From your kitchen

a crockpot, a can opener, salt.

What to do

  1. Open every can. Drain the beans and the corn. Do not drain the tomatoes or the chiles.
  2. Everything into the crockpot. Add the seasoning packet, a tablespoon of minced onion and about a cup of the broth. Stir once.
  3. Lid on. Low for 6 hours, or high for 3. Walk away.
  4. Taste it. Salt it. That is the recipe.

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Pizza mac

Three things. Your inner nine-year-old is about to lose it.

Serves 2, or 1 with no regretsThe time it takes to boil water, plus 4 minutes

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From your kitchen

a pot, water, the butter and milk the box asks for.

What to do

  1. Make the mac and cheese exactly the way the box tells you. The box has been doing this longer than we have.
  2. Stir in about half the can of pizza sauce. Taste. Add more if it is not pizza enough yet.
  3. Oregano on top. That is the part that makes it pizza and not tomato mac. Do not skip it.

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Lentil soup for people who own a crockpot

The lentils do the work. You do nothing.

Serves 6, freezes well, reheats better5 minutes of you, 8 hours of the crockpot

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From your kitchen

a crockpot, a sieve for rinsing the lentils, salt and pepper.

What to do

  1. Rinse the lentils. Tip them into the crockpot with both cartons of broth, the tomatoes, the cumin, the onion, the garlic and the paprika.
  2. Lid on. Low for 8 hours, or high for 4. Go and live your life.
  3. Twenty minutes before eating, stir in the drained green beans. Salt it properly; lentils need more than you think.
  4. Serve. Freeze what is left. It gets better.

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Sloppy joes

One pound of beef and a shelf. Fifteen minutes.

Serves 4 sandwiches, or 3 large ones15 minutes, all of them at the stove

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From the grocery store

1 lb ground beef, 4 hamburger buns. Any store, on the way home. Not in the cart button; we do not sell beef.

From your kitchen

a pan, a wooden spoon, a spoonful of sugar, salt and pepper.

What to do

  1. Brown the beef in the pan with the minced onion. Pour off most of the fat. Leave a little; it is flavour.
  2. Tomato sauce, ketchup, mustard, garlic powder, chili powder, a spoonful of sugar. Stir. Simmer 10 minutes, until it is thick enough to stay on a bun, mostly.
  3. Salt and pepper. Taste. More ketchup if it wants sweet, more mustard if it wants sharp.
  4. Onto the buns. It is called sloppy. Manage your expectations and your napkins.

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Chicken and rice bake

One dish, one can, one envelope. The oven does the rest.

Serves 4 to 610 minutes of you, 75 minutes of the oven

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From the grocery store

about 1.5 lb boneless chicken thighs. Any store, on the way home. Not in the cart button; we do not sell chicken.

From your kitchen

a 9 by 13 baking dish, foil, an oven at 350, salt and pepper.

What to do

  1. Oven to 350. In the dish, stir the dry rice, the soup, the broth and half the envelope until the soup gives up and mixes in.
  2. Chicken on top. Salt, pepper and the other half of the envelope over the chicken.
  3. Foil on, tight. 60 minutes. Foil off, 15 more, until the rice has drunk the broth and the top has some colour.
  4. Let it sit 5 minutes. Then it is dinner, and the dish it was made in is the only dish.

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Crockpot pulled pork

A pork shoulder, a bottle, an envelope. Eight hours of nothing.

Serves 8, or 4 with leftovers you will not regret5 minutes of you, 8 hours of the crockpot

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From the grocery store

a 3 to 4 lb pork shoulder (Boston butt), buns. Any store, on the way home. Not in the cart button; we do not sell pork.

From your kitchen

a crockpot, two forks, salt and pepper.

What to do

  1. Rub the pork with the chili powder, garlic powder, salt and pepper. Into the crockpot, fat side up.
  2. Stir the BBQ sauce, the onion envelope and half the salsa together. Pour it over. Lid on. Low for 8 hours. Leave.
  3. Two forks. It falls apart on contact; that is what the 8 hours were for. Stir it back into the juices.
  4. On the buns. It makes more than you think. Tomorrow it goes in a tortilla pocket and becomes a different dinner.

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Chicken and stuffing bake

Thanksgiving on a Tuesday, in one dish, nobody invited.

Serves 4 to 610 minutes of you, 45 minutes of the oven

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From the grocery store

about 1.5 lb boneless chicken breasts or thighs. Any store, on the way home. Not in the cart button; we do not sell chicken.

From your kitchen

a 9 by 13 baking dish, foil, an oven at 375, salt and pepper.

What to do

  1. Oven to 375. Chicken in the dish, salted and peppered. Drained green beans around it.
  2. Stir the soup with half a cup of the broth and pour it over the chicken.
  3. Stir the dry stuffing with the rest of the broth until it is damp, not soup. Spread it over the top. Paprika.
  4. Foil on for 25 minutes, foil off for 20, until the chicken is cooked through and the top is crisp. One dish. Nobody invited.

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The tuna noodle thing

Every family has a version. This is the one with no chopping.

Serves 420 minutes

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From your kitchen

a pot, a colander, a spoon.

What to do

  1. Boil half the bag of elbows. Drain. Back in the pot.
  2. Soup, half a can of water, the onion, the tuna, the peas. Stir over low heat until it is hot and holds together, 4 minutes.
  3. Crushed cheese crackers on top. Nobody bakes it. Nobody needs to.

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Chili mac

A box and a can. Your inner nine-year-old is back for seconds.

Serves 2 to 3The time it takes to boil water, plus 3 minutes

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From your kitchen

a pot, a can opener, a bowl.

What to do

  1. Make the mac. The box knows how.
  2. Heat the chili in the same pot after, or in the microwave, we are not the police.
  3. Chili over mac. Frank's. Stir or do not stir; both are correct.

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Cornbread-and-chili bowls

The cornbread is cheddar jalapeno. The chili is two cans. Nobody will ask questions.

Serves 430 minutes, 25 of them the cornbread baking

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From your kitchen

an 8 by 8 pan, an oven at the temperature on the box, whatever the box asks for - an egg, milk, a little oil, a pot.

What to do

  1. Make the cornbread the way the box says. It takes about 25 minutes in the oven; the chili takes 5 on the stove, so do the cornbread first.
  2. Heat both cans of chili while the cornbread cools enough to cut.
  3. A square of cornbread in a bowl, chili over it, jalapenos on top. A fork. Nothing else.

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Chili dogs

Hot dogs from the store. The chili, the mustard and the onion from the shelf.

Serves 4, two dogs each10 minutes

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From the grocery store

8 hot dogs, 8 buns. Any store, on the way home. Not in the cart button; we do not sell hot dogs.

From your kitchen

a pot or a pan for the dogs, a small pot for the chili, napkins, plural.

What to do

  1. Heat the chili in a small pot, low.
  2. Cook the hot dogs however you cook hot dogs. Boil, pan, grill, microwave. No judgement here.
  3. Dog in bun, chili on top, mustard stripe, pinch of onion. Eat over the sink.

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Three-can tomato soup and a grilled cheese

Three cans make a soup that tastes like it was not three cans.

Serves 415 minutes, the sandwiches included

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From the grocery store

8 slices of bread, 8 slices of cheese, butter. Any store, on the way home. Not in the cart button; we do not sell cheese.

From your kitchen

a pot, a pan, a spatula, a can opener.

What to do

  1. Both soups, the tomatoes, the evaporated milk and the garlic in a pot. Low heat. Stir now and then. That is the soup.
  2. Butter the outside of the bread, cheese in the middle, pan on medium. Flip when it is brown. You have done this before.
  3. Soup in a bowl, sandwich cut on the diagonal because it tastes better that way and everyone knows it.

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Cajun 2

Zatarain's does the work; two cans do the rest.

Red beans and rice with the works

The box is the recipe. The works are two more cans.

Serves 425 minutes, 20 of them the rice simmering

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From your kitchen

a pot with a lid, a can opener, a spoon.

What to do

  1. Follow the box, but swap a cup of the water for the can of tomatoes, juice and all.
  2. Lid on, low, 20 minutes, the way the box says. Do not stir. The box means it.
  3. Drain the kidney beans, stir them in, lid back on for 5 minutes.
  4. Frank's on top. That is the works.

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Jambalaya from a box, improved

Sausage from the store, everything else from a box and two cans.

Serves 4 to 530 minutes, most of it the lid being on

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From the grocery store

12 to 14 oz smoked sausage (kielbasa is fine, andouille is showing off). Any store, on the way home. Not in the cart button; we do not sell sausage.

From your kitchen

a big pot with a lid, a knife, a can opener.

What to do

  1. Slice the sausage into coins. Brown them in the pot with the Cajun seasoning, 4 minutes.
  2. Add the box, the tomatoes, and broth where the box says water - same amount, read the box.
  3. Boil, lid on, low, 25 minutes. Do not lift the lid. Yes, you want to. No.
  4. Off the heat, 5 minutes, fluff. Frank's. Done.

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Asian 4

Rice, noodles, one bottle of sauce.

Egg fried rice

The only page here that mentions an egg.

Serves 2, generously12 minutes, the pan hot the whole time

What to buy

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From the grocery store

3 eggs. Any store, on the way home. Not in the cart button; we do not sell eggs.

From your kitchen

a big pan, oil, a spatula, salt.

What to do

  1. Pan hot, oil in. Scramble the eggs hard and fast. Out onto a plate.
  2. More oil. Garlic and onion powder for 20 seconds, then the rice. Press it flat, let it sit and sizzle for a minute, then turn it. That is where the crispy bits come from.
  3. Vegetables in. Teriyaki over. Toss until it all looks the same colour.
  4. Eggs back in, broken up. Salt. Eat it out of the pan; we will not tell anyone.

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Ramen that counts as dinner

Two bowls, one can, one bottle. It counts. We say it counts.

Serves 28 minutes

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From your kitchen

a pot, two bowls, a fork or chopsticks, your call.

What to do

  1. Three cups of water in the pot, boiling. Noodles and both seasoning packets in. The garlic too.
  2. Three minutes. Add the drained vegetables for the last one.
  3. Into bowls. Splash of soy. If there is an egg in your fridge, crack it into the pot at step two; if not, this is still dinner.

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Teriyaki chicken bowls

Chicken from the store. The bottle does the rest, and the pineapple is not optional.

Serves 420 minutes

What to buy

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From the grocery store

about 1.5 lb boneless chicken thighs. Any store, on the way home. Not in the cart button; we do not sell chicken.

From your kitchen

a pan, a knife, a microwave, salt.

What to do

  1. Chicken in bite-size pieces, salted. Pan, medium-high, 6 to 8 minutes until it is browned and cooked through.
  2. Garlic, half the bottle of teriyaki, the vegetables and the pineapple. Two minutes, until it bubbles and coats everything.
  3. Rice: 90 seconds a pouch. Rice in a bowl, chicken on top. The pineapple was the point.

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Yakisoba stir-fry

The noodles come with the sauce. You add a can and an egg.

Serves 210 minutes

What to buy

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From the grocery store

2 eggs. Any store, on the way home. Not in the cart button; we do not sell eggs.

From your kitchen

a pan, a microwave, a spatula.

What to do

  1. Microwave the trays as the tray says. Tip the noodles into a hot pan with the sauce packets.
  2. Vegetables and garlic in. Push everything to one side, crack the eggs into the empty side, scramble them there, then stir it all together.
  3. Splash of soy. Two minutes, until the noodles catch a little on the pan. That is the stir in stir-fry.

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Breakfast 10

Pancakes, muffins, gravy from a can.

Pumpkin pancakes

Just-add-water mix, one can, one spice. It is autumn now.

Serves 3, or about 12 pancakes15 minutes

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From your kitchen

a bowl, a pan or griddle, a spatula, syrup or butter.

What to do

  1. Two cups of mix, the water the box says for two cups, half the can of pumpkin, the cinnamon. Stir until it is mostly smooth. Lumps are fine.
  2. Pan on medium. A quarter cup per pancake. They take a little longer than plain ones - wait for the bubbles.
  3. Flip once. The other half of the pumpkin can keeps in the fridge for the muffins on this page.

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Two-ingredient pumpkin muffins

Cake mix, can of pumpkin. That is the ingredient list. That is all of it.

Serves 12 muffins5 minutes, then 20 in the oven

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From your kitchen

a bowl, a muffin tin, paper liners or a little oil, an oven at 350.

What to do

  1. Oven to 350. Dry cake mix and the whole can of pumpkin in a bowl. No eggs, no oil, no water. Stir until it gives up and becomes batter.
  2. It will be thick. That is correct. Spoon it into 12 lined cups.
  3. 20 to 22 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean. They are dense, fudgy, and technically a vegetable.

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Sausage gravy and biscuits

The gravy comes in a can. We checked. It is fine. It is better than fine.

Serves 420 minutes, 12 of them the biscuits baking

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From your kitchen

a bowl, a baking sheet, an oven at 450, two-thirds of a cup of milk, a small pot.

What to do

  1. Oven to 450. Two and a quarter cups of Bisquick, two-thirds of a cup of milk, stir. Drop it in 8 lumps on the sheet. 10 to 12 minutes.
  2. Meanwhile, the gravy: can into a pot, low heat, stir. Pepper it like you mean it.
  3. Split the biscuits, gravy over the top. Sit down. It is the weekend, or it feels like it.

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Overnight oats, the jar kind

Oats, milk, honey, a fruit cup. Stir, lid, fridge, sleep. Breakfast made itself.

Serves 1 jar; make five on Sunday3 minutes tonight, 0 tomorrow

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From your kitchen

a jar with a lid, or any tub, half a cup of milk per jar, a spoon.

What to do

  1. Half a cup of oats, half a cup of milk, a squeeze of honey, a shake of cinnamon. Stir. Lid on. Fridge.
  2. Morning: tip a peach cup over the top, juice and all. Eat it cold from the jar. That is the recipe; the fridge did the cooking.
  3. Five jars on Sunday night is five breakfasts you do not have to think about.

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Blueberry muffins from the box, improved

The box does the muffin. A spoon of jam in the middle does the improving.

Serves 12 muffins5 minutes, then 18 in the oven

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From your kitchen

a muffin tin, paper liners, whatever the box asks for, an oven at the temperature on the box.

What to do

  1. Batter as the box says, plus the cinnamon. Fill each cup halfway.
  2. A teaspoon of jam on each, then the rest of the batter over it so the jam is hidden. A pinch of brown sugar on top.
  3. Bake as the box says. The jam is a surprise. Act surprised.

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Cereal-crusted French toast

Bread and eggs from the store. The crust is a cereal, crushed. The syrup is finally on the shelf.

Serves 4, two slices each15 minutes

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From the grocery store

8 slices of bread, thick if you can, 3 eggs, butter for the pan. Any store, on the way home. Not in the cart button; we do not sell eggs.

From your kitchen

a shallow bowl, a plate, a pan, a spatula.

What to do

  1. Eggs, half the can of evaporated milk and the cinnamon whisked in a shallow bowl. Crushed cereal on a plate.
  2. Bread into the egg, both sides, then pressed into the cereal, both sides. Pan on medium with butter, 2 to 3 minutes a side, until the crust is golden and it smells like a cereal commercial.
  3. Syrup. Serve immediately; the crust waits for nobody.

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Potato pancakes and applesauce

A box, an egg, a pan. The applesauce is not optional and never was.

Serves 3 to 4, about 12 pancakes20 minutes

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From your kitchen

a bowl, a pan, oil for frying, whatever the box asks for - an egg or two and water, paper towels.

What to do

  1. Mix as the box says. Let it sit the minutes the box says; it thickens, and that matters.
  2. A thin layer of oil in the pan, medium-high. Spoonfuls in, flattened. 3 to 4 minutes a side until deep gold. Onto paper towels.
  3. Applesauce on top. Pepper. The sweet-and-salty thing is the entire reason this exists.

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Pancakes and maple Spam

Just-add-water pancakes, a can of the maple one, and a bottle of syrup. A diner plate from three squares.

Serves 420 minutes

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From your kitchen

a bowl, a pan or griddle, a spatula, a knife.

What to do

  1. Spam out of the can, sliced into 8 thin slices. Dry pan, medium-high, 2 to 3 minutes a side until the edges crisp and brown. It has its own fat; it needs nothing.
  2. Same pan, wiped, or a second one: pancakes, a quarter cup each, flip at the bubbles.
  3. Two pancakes, two slices of Spam, syrup over all of it. Yes, over the Spam. That is the point of the maple one.

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Cheese grits

Grits, a pouch of cheese sauce, a lot of pepper. Southern breakfast, no Southerner required.

Serves 415 minutes, mostly stirring

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From your kitchen

a pot, a whisk or a spoon, salt, four cups of water.

What to do

  1. Four cups of water, a big pinch of salt, boiling. Whisk in the cup of grits slowly so it does not clump.
  2. Low heat, lid half on, 10 to 15 minutes, stirring every couple of minutes. It spits; that is normal.
  3. Off the heat. The cheese pouch in, stirred until it disappears. Pepper, Frank's. Eat it hot; cold grits are a different food.

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The hash brown skillet from a box

Dehydrated hash browns come back to life in a pan. Add a can of Spam and a jar of salsa and it is a diner.

Serves 3 to 420 minutes

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From your kitchen

a big pan with a lid, a little oil or butter, a spatula, eggs, if you have them; the box does not need them.

What to do

  1. Spam diced small, fried in the pan until the edges crisp. Out onto a plate.
  2. Hash browns in the same pan the way the box says - water, lid, then uncovered until they brown. Stir in the green chiles near the end.
  3. Spam back in. Salsa over the top. If there are eggs in the house, crack two on top for the last 3 minutes with the lid on. If not, it is still a skillet.

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School lunch 9

Packed the night before. Nothing needs a microwave unless it says so.

Chicken salad wraps

The chicken salad comes in a pouch. The wrap is a tortilla. Two minutes, the night before.

Serves 2 lunches2 minutes

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From your kitchen

a lunchbox, foil or a sandwich bag, an ice pack.

What to do

  1. Pouch onto the tortilla, Craisins on top, roll it up tight. Foil. Fridge.
  2. Morning: wrap, pear cup, ice pack, done. The pouch does not need a fridge until it is opened, which is why this works.

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The tuna-and-crackers box

A pouch, a sleeve, a fruit cup, a handful. Nothing to make.

Serves 1 lunch, and the box repeats all week1 minute

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From your kitchen

a lunchbox with compartments, a small spoon, a sandwich bag.

What to do

  1. Pouch in one compartment, crackers in another, peach cup in the third, Goldfish in a bag. Spoon.
  2. That is it. The pouch tears open at the table; the crackers are the plate.

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Peanut butter roll-ups

Tortilla, peanut butter, Craisins, a shake of cinnamon. Roll, slice, done.

Serves 2 lunches3 minutes

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From your kitchen

a knife, foil or a sandwich bag, a lunchbox.

What to do

  1. Peanut butter over the whole tortilla. Craisins. Cinnamon. Roll it tight.
  2. Slice into pinwheels, or do not. Foil. It keeps overnight without a fridge, which is the whole point.
  3. Check the school's nut rule before this one goes in the box. Some schools have one.

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The snack box that is secretly a lunch

Crackers, a chicken pouch, a fig bar, a fruit cup. String cheese from the store. It is the yellow-box lunch kit with the mark-up removed.

Serves 1 lunch; the box repeats all week2 minutes

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From the grocery store

string cheese, one stick per lunch. Any store, on the way home. Not in the cart button; we do not sell cheese.

From your kitchen

a lunchbox with compartments, an ice pack for the cheese.

What to do

  1. Crackers in one compartment, chicken pouch in another, fig bar and fruit cup in the rest. Cheese stick on top, ice pack under.
  2. Crackers, chicken, cheese: that is the sandwich, they assemble it themselves. Kids like assembling it themselves. That is the whole trick of the expensive version.

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Ravioli in a thermos

One can, heated at 7 a.m., hot at noon. The thermos does the rest.

Serves 1 lunch, or 2 small ones5 minutes in the morning

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From your kitchen

a food thermos, a small pot or the microwave, a spoon.

What to do

  1. Fill the thermos with boiling water and lid it while the ravioli heats. This is the step everyone skips and then wonders why lunch was lukewarm.
  2. Ravioli hot, all the way through. Tip the water out of the thermos, ravioli in, lid on tight.
  3. Crackers and the fruit cup beside it. It is hot at noon. It is still hot at one.

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Mac and cheese cup day

For the school with a microwave. The cup is the bowl.

Serves 1 lunch0 minutes of you; 3.5 minutes of the school microwave

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From your kitchen

a lunchbox, a fork, a school with a microwave - ask; many have one.

What to do

  1. Cup, fork, Goldfish, peach cup, in the box. That is the packing.
  2. At school: water to the line, microwave the minutes on the lid, stir in the packet. The teacher has seen this before.
  3. No microwave at school? Make it at home and it goes in the thermos, the ravioli way.

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Cup noodles day

Fifty cents of noodles and a thermos of hot water from home. The kid pours. The kid feels grown.

Serves 1 lunch2 minutes in the morning

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From your kitchen

a drinks thermos that holds boiling water, a fork, a lunchbox.

What to do

  1. Boil water. Into the drinks thermos, lid tight. Cup noodles, fruit cup, snack cup, fork, all in the box.
  2. At lunch: peel the lid to the line, pour the hot water in, lid back down, wait three minutes. They know the drill; they have seen it on a screen.
  3. Check the thermos actually seals. Do this once, at home, over the sink.

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Peanut butter and the works

Bread from the store. The honey peanut butter, the Craisins and the cinnamon from the shelf. It is a PB&J that skipped the J.

Serves as many sandwiches as you have bread2 minutes each

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From the grocery store

a loaf of bread. Any store, on the way home. Not in the cart button; we do not sell bread.

From your kitchen

a knife, a sandwich bag, a lunchbox.

What to do

  1. Peanut butter on both slices, thick. Craisins on one side, cinnamon over them. Close it. Cut it the way they like it cut, which you know and we do not.
  2. It keeps without a fridge until lunch, which is why it has been the lunch for ninety years.
  3. Check the school's nut rule. If there is one, the chicken salad wrap on this page is the swap.

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Tuna pasta salad for the lunchbox

The pasta is already cooked; it comes in a pouch. Sunday night, five lunches.

Serves 4 to 5 lunches10 minutes, once

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From your kitchen

a bowl with a lid, about half a cup of mayo, a spoon, small tubs with lids, an ice pack.

What to do

  1. Heat the pasta pouches the 60 seconds the pouch says, then run them under cold water. Into the bowl.
  2. Tuna, peas, mayo with half the ranch packet stirred through it, pepper. Stir. Taste. More pepper.
  3. Lid on, fridge. Each morning: a tub, a spoon, an ice pack. It is better on day two, which is convenient.

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