Truly Easy Pantry Meals for When You Truly Can’t Be Bothered 

Some nights, cooking just isn’t in the cards. Maybe it’s 8 p.m. after a marathon workday and your patience for chopping onions is running thin. Or maybe you’re prepping for tomorrow’s party and just can’t with a big pile of dishes to clean. Enter the hero of lazy (but satisfying) dinners: the pantry meal.

The following meals are all about using what you already have. They’re less “recipe” and more “suggestion,” so feel free to swap, improvise, and keep it low-stress. For a little added flair, we’ve recruited Abby and Lina, Thrive Market’s food-styling, recipe-developing pros, to drop a couple of their slightly fancier (but still easy—promise!) ideas.

Consider this your low-effort, high-reward guide to dinner.

Tinned Fish Rice Bowl

What a time to be alive for fans of shelf-stable, ready-to-eat fish! From high-quality canned tuna to the increasingly proliferating little gourmet meals, we love it all. This meal is especially easy if you have leftover rice lying around, and where you take it is entirely up to you.

Yield: 1 serving
Active Time: 5 minutes
Total Time: 15 minutes (less if your rice is already cooked)

Basic Ingredients: 

1 tin or can your fish of choice
½ – 1 cup cooked rice
Sauce (optional)
Toppings or seasonings of choice (optional)

Favorite combos: 

Fishwife Smoked Salmon with Sichuan Chili Crisp + jasmine rice + sesame seeds + thinly sliced mini cucumbers + a smear of cream cheese

Tuna mixed with a bit of mayo + short grain rice (or sushi rice) + seasoned rice vinegar + Japanese BBQ sauce + crumbled seaweed

Freshé Salmon Meal + basmati rice + hot sauce + crispy fried shallots or onions

Breakfast for Dinner

Here’s an instant hit whether you’re cooking for yourself or for the whole family. Kids will love the novelty of eating morning foods at night, you’ll love it because breakfast foods are amazing—and because it can be as simple as you want it to be. As a true choose-your-own-adventure meal, we encourage you to get creative with the contents of your fridge.

Yield: Up to you
Active Time: As much or as little as you want
Total Time: See above

Basic Ingredients:

Pancake or waffle mix (other options include a more protein-y version—gluten-free folks are covered, too!)
Eggs
Veggies (whatever’s in the fridge or freezer)
Protein (bacon, chicken sausage patties, plant-based links, you name it)
Bread

Favorite combos:

Pancakes + maple syrup + scrambled eggs + turkey bacon + avocado

Frozen waffles + frozen hash browns + something fruity 

Eggs + broccoli + cheese + chives (= one amazing omelet)

Eggs + onions + bell peppers + spinach (= one superb scramble)

• Potatoes cut into chunks + harissa (= one healthy, flavorful hash)

Plus, buttered toast with any of the above. Toast is an anytime food. (See also: bagels)

The Humble PB&J

If you thought it couldn’t get more simple than breakfast for dinner, think again. As always, opportunities to swap and embellish are innumerable.

Yield: 1 sandwich 
Active Time: 3 minutes
Total Time: 3 minutes

Basic Ingredients: 

Bread (white or whole grain)
Peanut butter (smooth or chunky, or for an allergy-friendly swap, our new and improved Sunflower Butter)
Jelly (grape is traditional, but we’re partial to raspberry)

Swaps & Additions:

• Gluten-free bread
• Almond butter
• Our superfruit spread
• A spreadable honey
• Bananas
• Chia seeds
• Hemp hearts

Miso Mac ’n Cheese

Maybe you’re a plant-based person, or maybe you’re just not feeling the boxed stuff today. Either way, this is an easy path to quick comfort food where everything is made in one blender.

Yield: 2-4 servings
Active Time: 10 minutes
Total Time: 20 minutes

Ingredients: 

8 oz your short pasta of choice
1 cup cashews
1/4 cup pumpkin puree (a great way to use up leftovers from other pumpkin recipes! Alternatively, you can use ¼ cup sweet potato—see notes)
1/4 cup nutritional yeast
1 tbsp miso paste
1/2 tbsp garlic powder
1 tsp smoked paprika
1 tbsp lemon juice (~ 1/2 medium lemon)
1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
1 tsp kosher salt (+ more to taste) 
1/2 cup liquid for blending (e.g., pasta water, broth, plant-based milk)
1 tbsp vegan butter or olive oil 
Black pepper 

Instructions:

Boil a small pot of water. When hot, remove enough water to cover your cup of cashews and let them soak for 10 minutes, until soft. 

Heavily salt the boiling pot of water and add pasta. Cook pasta according to package instructions.

While pasta cooks, add all other ingredients to the blender. When cashews are soft, remove them from the water and add them to the blender, along with ½ cup of the pasta water. 

Blend until smooth, adding more pasta water to reach desired consistency.

Drain pasta, return to pot, and add sauce.

Serve with an extra sprinkle of nutritional yeast and freshly cracked black pepper.

Notes:

If you’re using a sweet potato, here’s a shortcut: stab it with a fork, then microwave for 5 minutes or until soft enough to mash. Careful—it will be hot! Cut it open to help it cool faster. Once cooled, peel off the skin.

This sauce also makes a great queso-style dip or cheese alternative for pizza.

If using a closed top blender, make sure ingredients are cool before blending. No explosions allowed!

Coconut Curry with Basmati Rice 

You’re reading that right: you CAN make a curry in as little as 10 minutes! This recipe serves the dual purpose of being delicious and keeping any starting-to-wilt veggies in your fridge from going to waste.

Yield: 2 serving
Active Time: 10 minutes
Total Time: 20 minutes (fewer if your rice is already cooked)

Ingredients: 

2 cups of cooked basmati rice
1 can of coconut milk 
1 curry packet
½ white onion, roughly chopped
Veggies of choice, chopped (for example: 1 carrot and 1 potato)

Optional: Cilantro for garnish 

Instructions

While the rice is cooking, pour 1 tablespoon of neutral oil into a pot over medium heat. 

Add the onion and curry powder, saute until the onion is translucent, then pour in the coconut milk and veggies. 

Lower heat to medium-low, stirring occasionally until thickened.

Serve with rice and cilantro.

Tomato Soup 

Even if you’ve got a few soup cans in the pantry, you won’t regret making this homemade version instead. It’s creamy without being too heavy, and it goes great with a crusty loaf of bread.

Yield: 3 servings
Active Time: 10 minutes
Total Time: 20 minutes

Ingredients: 

3 tbsp of olive oil 
4 cloves garlic, chopped
½ white onion, chopped 
1 canned crushed tomatoes 
1-2 cups of chicken broth 
¼ cup of heavy cream
3 basil leaves 
Salt and pepper to taste

Instructions:

Heat olive oil in a large pot over medium heat, then add garlic and onion. 

Once the onion becomes translucent, lower the heat, then add canned tomatoes and chicken broth (add more or less depending on how thick you want your soup) then stir. 

After 5 minutes, blend the soup with an immersion blender until smooth. Stir in heavy cream and torn basil leaves. 

Serve with bread.