Gravy. I always thought it was hard, whenever I made it I'd get lumps and it would be bad. Then I learnt the trick is to fry the flour in oil/butter/fat first, then add the meat juices/stock

soup. different kinds. never tried making, always seemed like magic requiring occult knowledge.

actually supper simple.

You can pressure steam potatoes in an instant pot, it takes 18 minutes =)

For me it was succotash. Super quick, cheap, vegetarian, and a complete protein

Salsa. And you don't even need to cook anything.

Chop up tomatoes, sweet onion, a bit of fresh pressed garlic, lime. That's the base. Then just add whatever else. Peppers, spring onions, cilantro (which I personally don't add because it tastes like soap to me), parsley. Then to taste add a bit of salt, dash of hot sauce. A pinch of sugar can bring things out depending on the tomatoes.

Adding a bit of sour cream and/or avocado right before you eat it gives it an interesting twist.

You can keep it in a mason jar in the fridge for about a week. Probably longer but it never lasts more than a day or two in my house.

Rice. The amount of cheap simple meals you can throw together if you have rice is ridiculous.

Last week I made Käsekuchen (German style cheesecake) it was easy to make and delicious!

Edit: I followed this recipe: https://www.chefkoch.de/rezepte/539641151173978/Kaesekuchen-aus-Bayern.html

Nigella Lawson's Minestrone in Minutes.

3 cups broth, 1 cup tomato sauce, 1/2 cup soup pasta (orzo, ditalini, etc.), 1 can of white beans. Throw it all in a pot and cook until pasta is done. Season however. Herbs, a parm rind if you have one, a garlic clove or powder, red pepper flakes etc.

Easy af, quite healthy considering its all pantry items, and super satisfying. Its grown up spaghettios essentially and super easy to scale up to feed a crowd. Its my favorite "I dont wanna cook" meal.

Cheat's Carbonara. I was practically making it for dinner every night anyway. Start with a basic recipe of spaghetti with olive oil and nutritional yeast. The only change is, don't pour out all of the pasta water, and add a beaten egg or two with black pepper. Tastier, and more protein too, with almost no additional effort. Parmesan is probably more to most's taste, but I like nooch.

Edit: if your eggs are refrigerated you'll probably need to put it back on the heat for like a minute or two. Accept that you'll overcook it a few times until you get the timing right.

Risotto. It's not hard at all, the only semi difficult part is that you have to stir frequently.

rice krispie treats

Crepes

If I can make these everyone can and they're delicious

Baked onion. Literally just bake an onion, in the peel. Eat it with salt.

I rediscovered how quick couscous was to make, just boiling water, less than 10mn, no dishes. When i eat alone, i often eat couscous seasonned with watever i have on hand, a bunch of cream/oil/liquid to make it less dry.

can't you do the same in an oven?

About the same time with a regular oven. Then put on a bunch of great toppings like sour cream, butter, green onion, salsa. Used to make them a lot. Dont do it anymore because im lazy.