Milky Eggs

Meals that are healthy, quick, inexpensive, simple, and tasty

Although I enjoy cooking for its own sake, I am often too occupied by other things in my life to spend time planning and preparing elaborate meals. I am therefore constantly on the lookout for meals that satisfy the following criteria:

• Reasonably healthy, with a good balance of macros and not too much sugar
• Quick to prepare, so I don’t have to spend more than a couple minutes “cooking”
• Somewhat inexpensive, so I can buy the requisite ingredients often without breaking the bank
• Simple, namely in terms of cleanup, so I don’t have to spend too long doing the dishes afterward, as well as in ingredient composition, so it’s easy to keep the components stocked
• Fairly tasty, because I still need to actually enjoy my meal

It is surprisingly hard to find compilations of such meals! This may be because the type of meal I am thinking of is so simple that it usually doesn’t seem worth including in lists of weeknight recipes and so on.

Here is my list of such meals, which I will update as time goes on. I strongly recommend trying these! They are all very tasty and convenient, much moreso than most recipe compilations.

Beverages (not many calories but will help fill you up):

• Miso soup
• Instant coffee + unsweetened cocoa powder

Instant meals:

• MealSquares (a bit expensive but very healthy)
• CLIF Builders Protein Bars (a bit sweet but good to have on hand)

Minimal assembly required:

• Fresh fruit
• Naan + hummus
• Roasted Japanese sweet potatoes
• Roasted Brussels sprouts + onions + balsamic vinegar (use very high temp)
• Roasted cabbage + olive oil (use very high temp)
• Bread + olive oil + balsamic vinegar
• Bread + scrambled eggs
• Toasted bread + mashed avocado + chili flakes + lemon juice (avocado toast)
• Rice + water porridge
• Rice + red beans
• Rice + dried anchovies + spicy peanuts
• Rice + preserved fish
• Rice + spicy Chinese pickles
• Rice + raw egg yolk + soy sauce + mirin + sesame oil + sesame seeds
• Rice + stir fried bok choy + garlic
• Rice + sauteed mushrooms + soy sauce + mirin
• Rice + canned sardines + soy sauce (optional: chili crisp)
• Rice + fried egg + soy sauce (optional: chili crisp)
• (in rice cooker) Rice + diced mushrooms + soy sauce + sesame oil + mirin
• (in rice cooker) Rice + Chinese sausage
• (in rice cooker) Rice + shelled chestnuts
• Dashi + Napa cabbage + leftover meat (soup)
• Microwaved frozen corn + butter + olive oil + salt + MSG + pepper
• Homemade popcorn + salt + MSG + ground Sichuan peppercorn
• Steamed frozen pork buns
• Pan-fried frozen potstickers
• Soft tofu + bonito flakes + soy sauce + sesame oil + sesame seeds
• Canned tomatoes + onion + garlic + olive oil (microwave then blend into soup)

Some cooking required:

• French toast
• Bread + shakshuka
• Split peas + chicken stock + Sichuan peppercorns + ginger
• Steak (somewhat expensive)

Easy meals that can be scaled up and eaten throughout the week:

• Roasted tomato sauce for pasta
• Saag paneer
• Chana masala
• Japanese curry
• Japanese potato salad
• Mapo tofu