This is a great meal for those nights where you are hungry for a good meal but you really don’t feel like cooking!
This is one of the really, really easy ones – you need to be able to boil water and cook pasta. You also need to be able to stir.
Here’s what you need to make it:
- 1 package of fresh tortellini
- 1 jar of pasta sauce or salsa
- Cheese
Here’s how to make it:
1. When fresh tortellini goes on sale at your grocery store, buy a package. When you get home, get some freezable sandwich bags and divide the tortellini into meal-sized portions in the sandwich bags. I put about 15 tortellini pieces into each sandwich bag, then I make sure they’re all sealed and I put them in the freezer.
2. When you have a lazy night where you don’t feel like cooking, grab one of the bags of frozen tortellini.
3. Put a small pot of water on the stove and bring it up to a boil.
Hot boiling water!
4. Once the water is rapidly boiling, pour the tortellini into the boiling water. It needs to cook for 8 minutes. Be sure to stir it right after you put it in, and stir it again every minute or two to make sure the pasta doesn’t stick to the pot.
Pouring in the tortellini
Stir it every minute or two
5. While the pasta is cooking, slice up some cheese. You can grate the cheese if you’d rather, but when I’m feeling lazy I don’t want to have to wash a cheese grater, so I just make a few slices of cheese with a knife.
Cheese slices. Yum!
6. When the pasta is cooked, drain it in the sink.
Draining the tortellini
7. While the tortellini is draining, put the pot you cooked it in back on the stove on the same burner. Turn the heat down to low or turn it off completely. Then pour the pasta sauce or salsa into the pot and stir it so that it covers the bottom of the pan. The pan is still hot so the sauce will warm up even if the stove is off. Use as much salsa or sauce as you like!
Salsa getting warmed up
8. Once the sauce is warm, add the tortellini back in and stir it up.
Looking tasty!
9. Add the cheese.
Cheese!
10. Stir it up again and then pour it into your favorite dinner bowl. It’s ready to eat!!
Delicious!
There, your dinner is ready! This simple but tasty meal is filling and healthy and it only takes 10 minutes to make! Hate washing dirty dishes? This only uses one pot, one knife, one bowl, and a fork. That’s it! If you’re super-lazy, you can eat the pasta right out of the pot! Just be careful, the bottom of the pot will be hot.
Here’s what it costs to make:
- 1 portion of frozen tortellini: $0.75
- Salsa or pasta sauce: $0.40
- Cheese: $0.45
Total cost to make: $1.60
What a cheap, easy, and fast meal!!
Close-up of the deliciousness!
There are plenty of other tasty, quick, and cheap meal ideas on this website! Try one of these:
Living Single, Cooking Cheap 