25 Back-to-School Dishes with Less Than 6 Ingredients to Get the New School Year Off on the Right Foot

Let’s be honest, we’re all the same! When we look at a recipe, if it has a list of ingredients that is too long, we get lazy and hesitate to read any further. However, many foods are often already in our cupboards. Indeed, grocery products such as spices, dried herbs, bouillon cubes, pasta, rice, legumes, canned fish or vegetables, flour, sugar, oils, vinegar(s), mustard or honey have longer shelf lives than fresh products and constitute “basic groceries”. For this reason, in our selection, we have eliminated oil, vinegar, salt or pepper from the ingredient count. Foods that we supplement with fresh products for our everyday recipes.

A balanced diet

Back-to-school recipes are no exception to the “too many ingredients” rule, especially in this pivotal period when we are getting back on track after the excesses of the holidays. Above all, it is an intense time in our calendar during which a balanced diet is essential to face the return to work / school / studies / or various activities.
September fruits and vegetables, proteins, legumes, starches, fats, we keep in mind the importance of the different contributions (proteins, dietary fiber, vitamins, nutrients, carbohydrates, lipids) on a daily basis for the overall nutritional balance. Eliminating one of them means unbalancing the whole.

The right products for the right recipes

When it’s time to go back to school, we know that time escapes us and the hours pass like minutes. Result: we feel like we don’t have time for anything, and meals often suffer as a result. While this period is very energy-consuming, meals must therefore be complete. A simple piece of bread nibbled in the evening because we are exhausted is not enough! An unsuitable diet will tire us out even more.

To best anticipate this period, we plan our menus for the week, we start batch cooking the weekend before, and we think smart.

When shopping, we buy fresh products like fish or meat; but also preserves for later days; ready-cooked legumes that can be transformed into a spread or salad; rice that will make a perfect seafood or cheese risotto; or even potatoes that can be cooked in a thousand and one ways for a reasonable cost.

Family dishes such as quiches, tarts, gratins, savory pizzas, and mixed salads, to be cooked in large format, are also a smart option when you’re short on time, as these recipes keep perfectly in the fridge for a few days.

Easy-to-cook recipes, an acceptable list of ingredients, and inspiration when we lack it in the kitchen, here is the program on the menu for this selection of 25 back-to-school dishes.