The Frozen Staple I Always Have in Case of Emergency

Zatarans black beans and rice

My frozen food staple is frozen, crispy breaded fish…bakes quickly and so versatile…either with a salad, in a tortilla shell as a fish taco, or even in a sandwich.

A baked sweet potato, or matzo brei, which is basically a big square of matzo broken up and mixed with two eggs and scrambled to be like french toast, except with a piece of matzo. I saute the broken matzo in butter, then, stir in the eggs, and top with a light dose of maple syrup.

Just as an FYI, Jo, the ad that popped up on this post in the bottom right hand corner is for the Department of Homeland Security tip line, with Kristi Noem talking about all she wants to achieve 🥴

The humble Russet baked potato. The easiest meal. I rub them with a little olive oil, stick them in the oven ahead of time, and then steam some broccoli or if I’ve already cleaned some collard greens, sautee a bunch of those with tons of garlic. Everyone can load them with what they want, or if you’re like me, a little olive oil, salt and smoked paprika. Sometimes I’ll bake a potato and just take it with me on the go, and eat it plain from the top down – So satisfying!

Quesadillas, ideally with guac or sour cream for dipping!

I love love love the backup dinner ideas. My family will appreciate my expanded range ha! Sometimes work gets the best of me and I’m too worn out to cook…other times I have a great meal planned but forget to defrost the chicken ugh. We have a covered grill (no clean up woohoo!) so our backup meal is frozen burgers (we have an array of low to high quality ones), whatever toppings we can find, and a salad with just cucumbers and tomatoes from our garden :).

I always keep a bag of dry pasta and a frozen bag of Caro Chambers’ “hella green pasta sauce” in the freezer to thaw. It is soooo good and has lots of secret veggies.

I make a “burger salad” at least once a week when I need something comforting, filling, easy, and somewhat balanced. -TJs frozen turkey burger in the skillet (so efficient! They cook from frozen!) -Dice up some potatoes (reg or sweet) and air fry them with some spices -While those cook, chop up a ton of romaine, pickles, pickled jalapeños, red onion, and any fun cheese that you have (blue cheese is excellent here) -When the burger is done, chop into bite sized pieces -top the veg with the potatoes and chopped up burger -“dress” with mustard, hot sauce, maybe the TJs jalapeño sauce A lunch savior, for sure.

Japanese style rolled omelette served with a side of white rice + furikake. I use the recipe from the site Just One Cookbook for simple 3 ingredient rolled omelette (eggs + soy sauce + sugar). You can use a regular round pan and if you can’t get it to roll up it still tastes good cooked just like a flat omelette. Then I make white rice on the quick cooking setting in my rice cooker (my work horse appliance) and sprinkle a little furikake or chili garlic crisp from the Asian grocery on top and serve on the side. My 3 year old, who doesn’t typically like eggs, loves these omelettes.

Basically we eat chickpeas for as our emergency meal and have to point it turned into a routine item that is made weekly. We always have the following on hand and it’s fast. 2 cans chickpeas coconut milk (can, box, doesn’t matter use what you have) potatoes cut up, skin on onion turmeric garlic fresh ginger (if you don’t have it skip it, use a little dried) cumin deggi mirch garam masala coriander salt pepper it sounds like a lot of cooking but most of it is dried spices or things you can grate quickly. The long part is the wait time to get the potatoes cooked and the spices to combine nicely. All of my kids have had me text them the recipe year one of college or if I am on a work trip because they just needed it. They use it if something went wrong and a fast comforting dinner was in order. I send them to college with the necessary dried spices now and I swear sometimes it’s the only thing they eat during tests.

Oooh! I will be coming back to this page for some more ideas! Trader Joe’s frozen section has all the go to week night goodies – fried rice, potstickers, or Spanish tortilla omlette. Besides those, nachos are a favorite easy dinner at my house. I usually have beans, cheese, salsa and chips around. I pour shredded cheese on chips and heat in the oven til the cheese melts. (For more advanced version we’ll make a cheese sauce). Then add salsa, beans, and whatever other toppings we might have.

Simple burrito of refried canned pinto beans with cheese! I always make a batch of 30 and freeze them. Super easy to microwave, 1 min each side from frozen! :) My dad made these as a kid and I could eat it every day! Now when I make a batch for myself, I also make some extras for my dad and my brother!

Trader Joe’s chicken tenders, crisped up in the air fryer, chopped up over a big fresh romaine salad with bottled Caesar dressing (or ranch, let’s be honest). My mom did such a good job of NEVER letting a dinner pass without a vegetable (which for picky-child me was often just raw carrot sticks) that to this day I feel deep guilt if I don’t have veggies at both lunch and dinner and it honestly doesn’t feel like a meal to me without a vegetable… thanks, mom!

I always have a least a couple kinds of good quality sausages in the freezer for low-effort dinners — sausage + bean soup, sausage + greens soup, sausage sheet pan dinners with winter or summer vegetables, sausage on the grill with a slaw on the side.

I keep homemade pesto in the freezer and will make pesto fettucine with a ridiculous amount of pesto. Pesto must be homemade for me to enjoy it. Otherwise, I keep Korean rice cakes in the freezer and make my version of korean rice cake soup.

The frozen broccoli from Costco is by far the best frozen broccoli I’ve ever had and I keep a bag in the freezer at all times. It steams up so nicely!!

We usually have a tub of burrata, pesto, and sun dried tomatoes in the fridge. I pull them all out with a little crusty bread (stale bread perks right up after a couple minutes in the oven!) and put a smear of each on each piece of bread. It is so simple and comforting, creates no dishes, and requires very little if any cooking. We also reach for the Trader Joe’s Tarte aux Champignons Flatbread Pizza more often that I would care to admit, usually with a nice little side salad.

I’ve already waxed on about our family’s love for frozen fish stick (in the air fryer) tacos. I always keep a bag of cheese tortellini in the freezer and a jar of Rao’s or Newman’s Own sauce in the pantry for the fastest meal. My mom always kept bags of frozen peas for an easy weeknight vegetable. I’ve carried on that tradition. The steam-in-the-bag variety is stupid easy and bonus, peas have a little extra protein!

Goodles protein Mac n cheese(love the truffle but all are good!) with quick fried ground beef/bison or a can of Tonino tuna. Add steamed frozen broccoli. Feels healthy-ish and comfort food-y/indulgent.

Take a few tubs of dip out of the fridge, enjoy with good bread. Add cheese and you’ve got a great emergency dinner.

When I just can’t face cooking or there’s very little in the house then it’s a baked potato night with whatever I can find, maybe tuna, sweetcorn and mayonnaise, or cheese and coleslaw. My other go to meal, any time of the day is eggs on toast, they could be scrambled, poached, fried, or even boiled eggs and soldiers.

Stella Blackmon’s $2 meal- TJs southwestern salad (lately avocado ranch) and black beans (or chickpeas or kidney beans). Frozen corn keeps the salad cool if I take it for lunch, and TJs new chile lime chicken takes it to another level. My 1.5 and 4 year old will have the corn, black beans, avocado, tortilla chips and hunks of cheese :) Fried rice – I always have garlic onion and different chili peppers. I can go Asian with snow peas and carrots or Indian with potatoes and peas. TJs scallion pancakes or frozen parathas cooked with omelette batter (I add onion and cilantro) on one side. Topped with sriracha, kimchi, or different Indian pickles.

Breakfast for dinner is my emergency meal – eggs on toast or if even that is too much, a bowl of cereal. I hate the pressure of a big meal at the end of the day, and sometimes cereal is all I need. Also, for my kids, if they don’t eat what I make, there’s always a slice of whole grain bread and butter and a banana.

surprisingly the vegetarian corn dogs from Morningstar are pretty delicious. not real sure how they get that hotdog taste but it works

Trader Joes Orange Chicken and rice and veggies….or roasted garbanzos and rice.

Meal #1 Baked potatoes with broccoli and cheese and/or baked beans and cheese, Meal #2 taco night with can of TJ refried beans in baking dish with shredded cheese on top, taco shells or tortillas, bag of frozen corn heated up + Mexican rice from a box, Meal #3 pasta night: sautéed sliced mushrooms with Rao’s pasta sauce, frozen garlic bread, salad of chopped romaine + cherry tomatoes w/ croutons and Caesar dressing. Trouble is I’ve made these so many times that everyone is now sick of them!

Lately it has been tofu ‘scrambled’ with garlic, cumin, tumeric, nutritional yeast, salt and pepper. Often with whatever sad vegetable I have laying around. Super fast and 100% vegan and gluten free.

Trader Joe’s veggie fried rice! If I have some of their baked tofu I’ll chop that up and throw it in. Scramble some eggs. Complete meal that is kid approved!

I always have a big bag of frozen California veg mix (broccoli, cauliflower, carrots) and also frozen peas on hand. Emergency dinner is steaming them and making a quick peanut sauce. 10 minutes and you have a bowl of comfort.

A corn dog-adjacent TJ’s emergency favorite in our house? Parmesan pastry pups! I always keep a box in the freezer because you just never know.

Sautee veggies and add rao’s tomato sauce w noodles and parm Egg and cheese quesadilla OR sautéed zuchinni quesadillas TJ’s precooked lentils, any veggies sautéed and feta tuna melt w cheddar on sourdough served w cucumber+ tomato salad w olive oil and salt on the side

I love this so much! Just today I was at Aldi, sticking up on summer staples for my three boys 10-17. I spent a few minutes in front of the corn dogs in the freezer case, trying to decide if they were a good idea for the boys, because some protein is better than just carbs alone, right? Just two weeks ago, I caused a civil war in our house because I announced that tortilla chips and triscuits are not staples

Ohhh as a single person with ADHD I have so many of these. – Smitten Kitchen’s pasta e ceci – Box of Annie’s white cheddar and shells, plus the frozen broccoli that’s in my freezer specifically for emergency meals when I’d like to eat a vegetable – Andy Baraghani’s pantry pasta with anchovies, lemon, parsley, garlic etc – Ramen or instant noodles with baby spinach and a fried egg I’ve been trying to cook big batches of things and put them in the freezer in portions, which are emergency lunches more than dinners. Vegetarian chili, tortilla soup, chana masala, frozen homemade veggie burritos. And I still think of the most caring advice a friend gave me in the days after a hard breakup– We had met up, and she said, “after you leave here, you’re going to go to [local international grocery] and buy a bunch of frozen Indian meals and frozen naan so that you have something to eat when it feels too hard.” I did exactly what she said, plus some mango ice cream, and thought of her every time I ate it and felt less alone.

Bagged salad + canned tuna in olive oil Mac & cheese + microwaved broccoli Bean and cheese quesadilla + TJ’s corn salsa Cereal! Always cereal.

Bootleg bucatini amatriciana. Cherry tomatoes, pancetta (I always have 2 diced packages on hand… am I bougie?) or chopped bacon, covered and sautéed til the tomatoes burst. Add some garlic and crushed red pepper. Add al dente pasta (spaghetti bc who has bucatini) and some pasta water. Smush the tomatoes. Stir occasionally til the water burns off. A spicy amazing restaurant style dish in 20 minutes and 4 ingredients. Add spinach at the end til wilted if you want something green. Reading this back, 10 years ago me would not think this was easy but following Caro Chambers for the last few years has made me a much more confident cook!!!

My favorite emergency dinner is Costco frozen kimbap. I get the fried tofu version, and it has some vegetables in it, so I tell myself it’s pretty healthy for a last minute meal. You just microwave it for about a minute & then dinner is ready! Sometimes I’ll make a side salad to go with it too.

Avocado toast Sardine pasta Stir-fry with whatever veggies are leftover in the crisper We call these “reset meals” for those nights when nothing sounds good and we just need a quick, easy palate cleanser :)

Corn dogs for the win! It’s my six year old’s favorite with a side of fruit. Always stocked in the freezer when we need a no fuss dinner. For me? Palak paneer and garlic naan from Trader Joe’s.

Panisse is almost like fries made out of chickpea paste. I can buy rosemary panisse frozen and I fry it for a quick lunch. Or a frozen pizza doctored up. Ham and blue cheese, truffle cheese and truffle oil, or lemony arugula, spicy chorizo. I’m gluten free and the Schar frozen one hits the spot.

These comments are all great! We are in baseball/softball season at our house, so dinners are sometimes really hard. I rush home from work, change my clothes, and literally shovel things into mine and my family’s mouths as we rush out the door. Big hits lately: 1. shredded chicken in the crockpot (eat on a tortilla or on top of a green salad) 2. 1980’s style microwave nachos topped with salsa 3. I recently bought a “snackle box” and just fill that with a travel version of “Stuff on a plate” 4. I also make some hearty salads or simple sauteed veggies that can stand up to a week in the fridge and be served alongside anything to make a rushed meal feel more healthy. 5. Brown some ground turkey with onions. Once everything is cooked through, I add spinach til it wilts, a tablespoon of Worcestershire sauce, and a tablespoon of dry oregano. Then I add crumbled feta and eat it throughout the week. So yummy! 6. Soon, summer tomato sandwiches on sourdough toast will replace all of this and it will be the most wonderful time of the year!

Oops, gave my go to’s already but wanted to throw another one out there just to see what others say. Dinty Moore beef stew! I LOVE it! If it wasn’t so high in salt I’d eat it all the time. Had this as a kid and college student a lot, so it has some nostalgia for me, I also really do love the taste (probably that salt, I know, I know. Sigh.)

My go to is hummus with whatever chips or crackers I have on hand, or sometimes I just have a handful of turkey sticks from Old Wisconsin, or often just toast with butter…I love toast, yummm. know I should do a vegetable or salad too but sometimes that’s just too much work.

Garlic pasta with whatever frozen veggie is on hand! Any pasta shape will work for the most part. While that’s cooking, heat up 1/4ish a cup of olive oil, sauté as much garlic as you can handle with 1/4 teaspoon of red pepper flakes. Once the pasta is done, smother it in this garlic heaven and top it with parsley if it’s on hand. This dish has saved us a many of late nights and now my oldest can prepare it too when we need an extra pair of hands!

Lately my emergency lunch has been melted cheese on a frozen paratha. Sometimes I add mango pickle or beans or whatever else I have on hand.

Trader Joes is a emergency dinner bonanza Veggie nests (in the frozen asian food section) are so good! Plus their momofuku noodle dupes Arugula bagged salad plus a protein is delicious Fresh tortelini & kale pesto Marsala sauce(the one in bag) + coconut milk + lentils – toss in a pot and warm serve over their frozen rice extra veg or protein is a bonus or maybe with their frozen Naan Frozen beef birria + frozen rice maybe beans whatever salsa or toppings bring you joy Grilled cheese & Tomorrow and red pepper soup Or just cheese – so much good cheese + bread and salad if you want bonus points or maybe just a good tomato

We’re entering that phase of life with our older kids where some nights there’s just no overlap for family dinner due to activities and sports. My emergency dinner on those nights is “fend for yourself” and, honestly, I think we all kind of love it. There are some loose rules around protein and fruit and veg, but it’s fun to see the meals my girls create for themselves. I happily dig into a bowl of Greek yogurt with thinly sliced kumquats and granola while my husband assembles a “leftovers taco” (any leftover, in a tortilla, add cheese). To each their own!

Super lazy/emergency dinner: frozen chicken and cilantro dumplings from Costco and sauteed baby spinach. It takes like 10 minutes and is tasty with soy sauce, rice vinegar, and toasted sesame oil drizzled on top.

I live for an emergency dinner if it means I can delay grocery shopping another day! Here are ours: – Grilled cheese and jarred/canned tomato soup – “Pantry pasta” with whatever we have around (onion/shallot/garlic, jarred/canned things, tinned fish perhaps, lemon juice, parsley or leftover greens if we’re lucky, topped with olive oil and chili flakes) – Frittatas, always – Momofuku or Trader Joe’s noodles with ground meat and frozen veggies

Alex, what a joy to see you here – loved your hilarity over at Bon Appetit! And thanks for the corn dog reminder – also a strong nostalgic FFY (fend for yourself) dinner or snack from childhood. Pantry staple for dinner are the jarred Flott brand baby clams (in a little jar), make a great vongole – boil pasta, add any combo of garlic, clams, lemon, parsley, parm. Chef’s kiss!

I think these are the same as what in Australia we call battered sav or Pluto pups. Oh my god, I LOVE them, and this might be the only place ever to understand my very very sad story. I loved them with salt and tomato sauce. This was my FAVOURITE food as a kid and a teen and for some of my adult years….anyway most people are very snobbish about how divine these things are, and I did sway more than a few people over to my side. However, after a tick bite I am allergic (anaphylaxis) to mammal meat (even though I would have argued that saveloy is hardly meat), so I can NEVER ever have one again. Can I ask you to eat one for me next time?

Plain yogurt, white rice, achar/Indian pickle. The GOAT South Indian staple.

My go-to fresh from the freezer meal is shrimp cocktail. A quick thaw in a colander in running water, ketchup and horseradish mixed in a bowl, and salt and vinegar potato chips on the side. I call it the Betty Draper and my whole family eats it.

Wow you have a salad with those? I definitely hop right next door to the Alexia sweet potato fries to accompany my TJs turkey dogs. (Sweet potatoes! Healthy! Turkey? Healthy! … errr). My urgent care dinner is breakfast burritos and my emergency dinner? Take out. So props to all of you making your emergency meals.

Gotta lean into my Sicilian heritage here. Smash up high quality jarred tuna. Combine in a bowl with capers and spaghetti, and a glug of olive oil. Divine. Extra points if squid ink pasta is available in the pantry.

I have never had a corn dog! I guess I’m missing out?

Trader Joe’s Indian. Love the lamb vindaloo, fiery chicken, sang paneer and garlic naan.

I keep dried egg noodles in the pantry. I’ll cook those up and at the same time sautée half a bag of frozen stir fry vegetables in oil with some soy sauce. Once the veggie are done, I’ll cook up 2-3 frozen wontons and/or a friend egg. I used to top this with Little Goat Korea Sauce, which has been discontinued (RIP!) so now I’m in the market for a gochujang-based sauce for this [frequent] meal in my house. I used to make stovetop tuna noodle casserole (a bag of Knorr alfredo pasta sides – after cooking is done, stir in a small can of drained peas, and a can of drained tuna in water) but DH HATES the smell of tinned tuna so that’s a once-in-a-while treat when he’s gone for the day or it’s nice enough to open the windows and “air out” the kitchen! (The things we do for love…)

what the heck is a corn dog? Googling now!

I have extremely strong feelings about MorningStar Farms’ vegan corn dogs (and vegetarian-friendly hot dogs in general), to the point that when my husband agrees to eat them with me I sing “Hot Dog Party” to the tune of Black Flag’s “TV Party.” We perpetrated a lot of Hot Dog Parties with our equally-broke friend George when we all lived, brokely, in Hell’s KItchen; now it’s mostly a convenience/nostalgia thing, though I still insist on going to Crif Dogs for my birthday. Related, one of my favorite scenes from the ’60s Batman TV show with Adam West: King Tut: Nefertiti, you abandoned wench. How many times must I tell you? Queens consume nectar and ambrosia… not hot dogs. Nefertiti: [holding a hot dog] So I get hungry… living on nothing but figs and dates and pomegranates. [Offering him the hot dog] Want a bite? King Tut: [recoiling] Bah! Unclean!

“Is life not a circus? Nothing makes sense and I’m dangling from a trapeze most of the time.” This is brilliant and illustrative writing right here! I love the way this story is WRITTEN.

if I don’t have to worry about my family too, it’s fried eggs and avocado toast. So so easy and delicious.

Trader Joe Corn Dogs are actually my emergency breakfast. My emergency dinner is their Pot Stickers. For veggies, add a package of preshredded cabbage to the pot sticker pan near the end. Toss in their preshelled Edamame for even more flavor/heath without difficulty.

I’ve posted this here before. My in a pinch dinner is an easy version of tuna noodle casserole: Box of Annie’s Mac & Cheese, cooked per the directions A cup(ish) of frozen peas, that I add to the cooking pasta the list minute and half Some frozen broccoli I cook in the oven A can of tuna, drained Plate and mix together. My husband and i like to add some hot sauce too.

Super easy: one bag Whole Foods pre-cooked barley & green lentils mixed with one handful of shredded carrots and one handful of shredded green cabbage. Top with tzatziki and toss to combine. So delicious!

My speedy go-to lately: Trader Joe’s falafel from the freezer section with hummus, carrots (or whatever crunchy veg is handy), and sometimes a pita and/or arugula.

Egg sandwiches on brioche buns form the local bakery. We always have Beechers Flagship cheddar on hand, add scallions and spinach and voila. I can throw everything into one pan, cut it in fourths and put it on the buns for a kid/family friendly dinner. Also easy to wrap in foil for nights where you are at the track or event.

Spaghetti Aglio e Olio! Four ingredients: pasta, garlic, chili flakes and parmesan cheese (and some rogue anchovy if I’m feeling frisky). If I have a bunch of parsley that is not turning to soup in my veg drawer, I will add that to the mix. To me, this is the ultimate comfort food and delicious enough to serve it to company.

Make a packet of Litoon Extra Noodle soup but use an extra cup of water. When the water boils add the soup packet and Ling Ling potstickers (5 per person). Cook until the dumplings are done. You can use any dumpling but our favorite is the Ling Ling – they hold up the best and their flavor is mild enough that they work well with chicken soup.

The Trader Joe’s Roasted Garlic & Pesto Pizza with Deep Fried Crust is a must! Best frozen pizza, hands down! https://www.traderjoes.com/home/products/pdp/roasted-garlic-pesto-pizza-with-deep-fried-crust-068834