Some days you get home with no time and no ideas. The solution isn’t to cook faster, but to keep a few pantry ingredients on hand that come together in minutes. Here are three dinners of about 10 minutes and a rice-and-meat dish for when you need something even quicker.
The minimum pantry for these dinners
- A can of tuna and a can of cooked legumes (chickpeas, beans or lentils).
- Fresh mushrooms, which cook in a few minutes.
- Rice, ideally already cooked ahead of time, and eggs.
- Oil, lemon or vinegar, salt, pepper and fresh herbs.
If you want to round out your pantry, the basic grocery list tells you what to always have and how much to buy per person.
1. Warm legume and tuna salad
- Drain and rinse the canned legumes, and drain the tuna.
- Mix them with chopped fresh onion or spring onion and fresh herbs.
- Dress with oil, lemon or vinegar, salt and pepper. Taste and adjust before serving.
It needs no heat. If you’d like it warm, heat the legumes in a pan for a minute before mixing.
2. Sautéed mushrooms with egg
- Slice the mushrooms and add them to a very hot pan, without crowding them.
- Let them brown without moving them too much and season with salt and pepper.
- Add chopped garlic for a moment and finish with one or two eggs, cooking until they set the way you like.
3. Tuna with legumes and hard-boiled egg
If there are boiled eggs in the fridge, combining them with tuna and legumes makes a complete dinner without cooking anything. With a drizzle of oil and lemon it’s ready in the time it takes to set the table.
When speed matters most: rice with meat
With already-cooked rice, thinly sliced meat cooks in a few minutes in the pan. Make sure it’s cooked through; for chicken, the pan-seared chicken guide explains how to tell it’s done without drying it out. Everything gets easier if you leave the rice prepared from the weekly plan.
How not to run out of ideas
The hard part is almost never the cooking, but knowing what to cook and keeping going. Write down which combinations have worked for you and repeat them with small variations: a legume, a simple protein, a vegetable and a dressing. If you want to know what each dinner costs you, use the calculators.
Safety with cans and rice
- Before opening: throw away cans that are deeply dented, rusty or bulging. According to the UK Food Standards Agency (FSA), a shallow dent with no other damage is usually fine; a deep one can hide a split in the seal. If gas spurts out when you open it, do not eat it.
- Once opened: do not store the food in the can itself. Move it to a container and put it in the fridge: the tin from the can can transfer to the food faster once it is exposed to air.
- Already-cooked rice: cool it within an hour of cooking, keep it in the fridge for no more than a day and reheat it only once, until it is steaming hot all the way through. There are more details in the meal prep article.
Two more ideas with the same pantry
Quick legume soup. Heat a can of legumes with its liquid, or with water, along with chopped onion and a pinch of cumin or paprika. Blend a portion for body, leave the rest whole and finish with lemon and oil.
Fried rice with egg and vegetables. Stir-fry whatever vegetables you have in a hot pan, add cold rice from the day before (stored as explained above) and, at the end, a beaten egg that sets between the grains. A splash of soy sauce or lemon finishes it.
How to balance the plate without overthinking it
With these ingredients one simple idea is enough: a legume, an egg or a can of fish as the base; a grain if you want to feel fuller; some fresh or cooked vegetables; and a dressing with a little fat and acid. If you repeat that structure and change the ingredients, you do not need new recipes every night.
Frequently asked questions
Which canned legume works best in a salad? Chickpeas and white beans hold up well to a cold dressing; lentils are better warm or in a stew.
Do I need to rinse canned legumes? Yes, that is the usual practice: it gets rid of the liquid from the can. Taste them before you season, because some have added salt.
From the kitchen · 7 years on the jobA can of tuna, a can of legumes, or simply mushrooms satisfy your appetite without feeling greasy. The fastest thing of all is rice with any kind of meat. And salt, pepper and fresh herbs, always.
Sources and review
- Food Standards Agency (UK): Home food fact checker (dented, bulging or rusty cans; do not store food in opened cans; cooked rice)
Last reviewed: October 18, 2026. If you spot a mistake, write to us from the contact page.