I’m assuming you’re vegan?

If what you’re looking for is a quick vegan dish, here’s something I learnt in Japan - baked avocado.

Open a ripe avocado lengthwise and remove the seed. Take a sharp knife and cut a grid-like pattern into the avocado, going as deep as possible (careful not to puncture the skin!).

Now, pour some soy sauce of your liking (ideally not a thickened one, and with a moderate saltiness level) into the cavity. You don’t want to fill it completely, that would be overpowering. Maybe about 1/3 of the depth, just enough to allow it to seep into every crevice when baking.

For the baking process itself, crumble up some tinfoil to make a stand for the avocado halves, you want them to remain as level as possible. Bake them on 350F / 175C for about 20-25 min, you want them to be soft but not burned.

Once done, decorate with sesame seeds and either spoon them out directly (that’s the Japanese way) or spread on a toasted sourdough bread, sprinkle some smoked paprika and chopped chives & coriander over it, and enjoy.

Vegetarian option: Crack an egg into the cavity (on top of the soy sauce) 5 min into the bake. You want about 15 min left for solid eggwhites with a still semi-runny yolk. Mix it up and spread on bread.

Omnivore option: Fry some bacon beyond crispy, crumble it up completely, and drizzle the bacon bits on top.

someone mentioned rice and beans but im going to specifically say rice and lentils. dry lentils will cook up with rice in a rice cooker along with the rice with no extra steps. just rinse the rice and dry lentils (or don’t but uh, modern food can have some nasty chemicals) put in the cooker with the usual two cups of water for each cup of solids. Add anything handy you can for flavor be it seasoning or veg or sauces or whatever. Literally cannot think of a simpler meal to make and its ingredients don’t need canning or refrigeration necessarily. Just need the rice cooker for convenience.

Banana

Rice and beans in the instant pot with a pinch of Goya Adobo, maybe a bit of sour cream when it’s done. Delish, cheap, easy, low cleanup, and good for ya.

Poke bowls: rice seasoned with rice vinegar and soja sauce, cucumber, a fruit, chicken or smoked salmon cut in stripes, season with soja sauce or mayonnaise. One can get fancy with avocado, exotic fruits, tuna, whatever. Everything goes.

Cutting half a cucumber and a fruit is easy, slicing a package of salmon too, and one can consume chicken or meat leftovers. One can do all that meanwhile the white rice boils. Bonus points if you have a rice cooker.

I make one massive salad with romaine, cucumber, and red pepper and keep it in a Tupperware, then dole it out one bowl at a time every day for a week and add a hard boiled egg, black olives, dressing, and chickpeas.

Blackened shrimp or chicken burritos. Yes, shrimp. It’s $16 for 2lbs. at Aldi, and it’s quality meat. My wife and I get 4-8 meals for that, the rest amounts to about $2, if that.

• Sear the tortillas (corn or flour, you do you) in butter or margarine for a few, throw it on the plate.

• Fry up a few shrimp in a cast iron pan, drench in black spice to taste. (Black spice: Cayenne, chili powder, paprika, black pepper, salt, cumin, powdered garlic, onion powder, mix to taste and add whatever else you like. White pepper is the shit if you can afford it! Use the cheapest bulk crap you can buy at the ghetto grocery, nothing fancy or it will be too spicy, too many strong favors.)

• Dice onions and chop some tomatoes, cheap lettuce if you like.

• Throw your choice of shredded cheese on top of the cooked meat, pile on the rest of the ingredients.

• Bring your own salsa, but I’d recommend something with a bit of acid like a tomato based sauce. Want it hotter? Much on some dehydrated chile árbol peppers (between bites!) from the Mexican store. Stupid cheap for a year’s worth of heat.

Brussel sprouts, cut in half. Olive oil/butter, salt pepper garlic. Roast or fry. The best part is how they long they last in the fridge. Both cooked and uncooked.

Bell peppers & beef is my current favorite. It’s as simple as browning some beef, putting rice in the ricecooker, and making a simple sauce to cook the peppers in.

I’ve been making overnight oats with chia seeds. Oats, oat milk, chia seeds, a little sugar. Stick it in the fridge for 2-12 hours. Chop up some bananas, blueberries, strawberries, really whatever fruit you want. Add sunflower seeds or some ground up pistachios and a bit of Greek yogurt. It’s so freaking good, and so fast, and I can grab it whenever and eat while I study

Beans on toast.

Oatmeal, add just water or use milk and add fruits.

If you boil rice, just check some veg on top so it steams, then add seasoning when it’s done. Bish bash bosh.

Shakshouka! So easy, so tasty, so cheap, and can switch out basically any ingredient for whatever you have lying around! Worth looking up if you don’t know it :)

Beans and rice!