RecipeTin Meals is our food bank, where we make and donate 100,000 homemade meals annually to the vulnerable here in my hometown, Sydney. Here are the top 10 recipes we make, regulars because they’re crowd pleasers, freezable and economical!
RTM on TV!
There was a lovely segment on TV yesterday about RecipeTin Meals, my food bank (“RTM”), on the Channel 7 Sunrise show. The crew came and spent the better part of a day in our cosy little kitchen, filming the team at work and interviewing us! Here it is:
So it seems timely to share a list of the recipes we make most often at RTM, something I’ve been meaning to do for months. Especially because most of the recipes are from my website!
OUR TOP 10 RECIPES ARE:
Economical
Freezable
Straight forward
Crowd pleasers
Easy to scale up
While the last point may not be relevant to everyone, I know the other points are things that many readers look for in recipes. So, here they are. Hope you find some new ideas! To read more about RTM, head here.
Top 10 recipes we make at RecipeTin Meals
With bonus commentary from Stephen Fixter, the boss chef at RTM!
1. Lamb Shawarma Soup
Stephen says: A crowd pleaser with the recipients and my personal fave. Love the spice mix and the flavours combined. Also easy prep wise, and all the cooking is done on the stove so we can utilise the oven to prep for the next day.
Nagi says: Personal fave for ME TOO! If I was a soup, this would be me. Big flavours. Bit exotic. All the typical spices. Quick to make. Punches way above its class for effort vs output! (PS Is it weird to compare myself to a soup? 😂)
2. Marinated Vegetable pasta salad
Stephen says: A little bit more work than your average pasta salad but a nice change to the boring ones you see. Zesty, punchy dressing. Great for keeping spend down as there’s no protein and depending on season you can sub out the asparagus for broccolini, green beans or spinach when the prices increases.
Nagi says: Marinating makes all the difference. Adds stacks of flavour into the veg! (PS “Marinating” is a fancy term for “pour dressing over vegetables while hot so they suck up the flavour”.)
3. Cowboy RICE Salad with chicken
Stephen says: Nice mix of colours and veggies. Quick and easy to pack so you can do other prep in the background.
Nagi says: AND it’s cool cause it’s called “cowboy”. 😂
* Note: He uses my Cowboy Rice Salad recipe, pictured, and adds cooked chicken.*
4. Sausages with French lentil ragout & salsa verde
Stephen says: Looks good, feels restaurant-y. 🙂 I love the lentils, as it’s a nice change of garnish/carbohydrate and they are cheap. Obviously more time consuming prep wise but worth it.
Nagi says: Stephen, did you take humble sausos and fancy them up with salsa verde?? That’s SUCH a cheffy thing to do!!😂
RECIPES
Sausages (it’s just pan seared sausages, skip the gravy in the recipe)
5. Chilli Beef Mac ‘n Cheese
Stephen says: Combo crowd pleaser and freezer safe!
Nagi says: The recipe on my website is a convenient one-pot version that serves 5. When scaling up, that’s not viable. So the pasta is cooked separately from the sauce, then they are mixed together.
6. Baked Chicken breast with Garlic Butter Kale Rice
Stephen says: Ingredients are all reasonably priced and it utilises both stove and oven at the same time effectively. This halves the days’ cook time, giving us the opportunity to do more prep for other dishes.
Nagi says: How good is that rice, right??!! Nobody complains about eating kale when it’s with that rice!
7. Crispy Salami Risoni Salad
Stephen says: Or as we call it, “the pizza supreme salad”. We just love it because it’s a little different, it’s nice to prep and pack. Salami is of a reasonable price too.
Nagi says: Puh-lease tell me we use a machine to chop the salami…. I can’t imagine hand chopping 20kg / 40lb of salami!!
8. Chorizo potato stew/soup
Stephen says: Because its chorizo!
Nagi says: Amen to that! (PS Do you guys think it’s a stew or a soup?? I’m still undecided! 😅)
Recipe: This recipe is in my cookbook, page 90. Video tutorial here!
9. Garlic Chicken Thigh with bean ragout, tomatoes & broccolini
* This is the recipe we were making when Channel 7’s Sunrise came to film us at RTM!*
Chef Stephen says: Again, I just love the way it looks and it’s the kind of food I love to cook. All components are usually cheap/reasonable and it’s one of those meals you drop off and the ladies are like “ooooh what’s this”. 🙂
Nagi says: So Stephen, what you’re telling me is that this is on high rotation because you enjoy the female attention?? 😂
RECIPES:
Garlic chicken thighs recipe here
The bean ragout is from the Crispy Skin Fish with Bean Ragu from my cookbook (p67), video tutorial here.
The tomatoes are lightly roasted – method in this recipe.
The broccolini is steamed.
10. Spaghetti Bolognese
Nagi says: Of course Spag Bol is in our top 10! It ticks all the boxes – budget friendly, freezable, quick prep, easy to make in big batches and everybody loves it.
In my recipe, I do the proper step of tossing the pasta with the sauce before serving. But at RTM, we just put plain cooked spaghetti in the containers then spoon the sauce over, and sprinkle with parmesan. This holds up better in the freezer.
And here you have it!
If you have any questions about how we cook at scale, whether it’s logistics or food safety, or cost management, drop them below! I’ll get either JB to answer them (he’s the big boss Chef who works at RTE with me, Stephen reports to him) or I’ll get the answer from Stephen.
And to learn more about what we do at RTM and where our meals go, head to the About RTM page.
Hope you find some new cooking inspiration from this list. Thrifty meal-prep excellence! – Nagi x
Life of Dozer
Dozer has not nor will he ever step foot paw inside the RTM kitchen which is subject to strict healthy regulations. But he’s there in spirit on the wall, with his motto that we live by:
“Because no one should go hungry” ~ Nagi & Dozer x
Octavio Hernandez says
Love your recipe and hints–pragmatic and economical. I am a disciple. Thank you.
Octavio (Louisiana, USA)
Heidi says
Dear Nagi and team,
I borrowed your book from the library and wasn’t far into it when I said I have to buy this book. I did and it is terrific. Another shout out from Canada. Thank you so much for so many great recipes.
Beryl says
Love cooking your recipes and greatly admire you, RTM and Dozer. Well done and keep up the good work
Kristine says
A huge thank you from a Canadian! You are consistently my go to for recipes! Love them and purchasing your cookbook today! Krysia
Jessie says
What a wonderful thing you and your team do for your community 💛 really beautiful.
Nora M Wong says
Love your website and that you donate your food and time to the vulnerable. Best regards to you to Dozer whose days on the beach I loved to watch. Nora
Susan says
Wow Nagi, you are even more delicious than I thought you were….. and so amazing – you’re loved in Canada too eh!
❤️🇨🇦❤️
Nikki Moranville says
I’m just always so proud of you! Not only do I think you are a genius with food, but your heart seems to be the biggest thing about you. And I love that. And I love your cookbook and just thumbing through your culinary stories with Dozier. Much love from Texas and la belle Bretagne since I cook your recipes in both!
Lesley Wee says
おめでとう
Your are amazing Nagi 🙏
You have boundless energy and the biggest, self less 💙 heart.
Really commendable ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
You are the best Dozer 🤗 big hugs 🐾
..from the opposite end of the 🌎globe ..in 🇨🇦 Canada.
Yvonne Ashton says
Love your receipes
I find u so very inspirational
Lisa says
I’m always moved by these posts about RTM. I especially love your commitment to feeding people well, not just tuna, PB and ramen. It’s so awesome that the recipients feel respected because of that.
It’s a beautiful virtuous circle!
Janis Light says
I am so proud of you! Giving so much time to help others, and doing it humbly and with grace – that’s as good as a person can get. And to have such a dedicated team is a reflection on that positivity you reflect.
Helen Brooks says
Love all your hard work and recipes! And love Dozer. My Golden looks like him LOL but a few years older! God bless your amazing team!
Maria says
Thank you for sharing your most delicious recipes! My family has enjoyed every single
Recipe❤️
Rachael says
It’s like you read my mind! Our church helps provides meals for both a traditional soup kitchen, and a smaller family homeless shelter. I was wondering what recipes you’d found work best. I can’t wait to try some of them out!
Stephanie PL says
The Vietnamese carmelized pork works well also. 320+ guests were served last week, though no carmelization was achieved. For 25# of pork we add 5# chopped onions, a 25oz bottle of fish sauce, 2# brown sugar and 1 cup each of ginger and garlic purée.. Rather than serve a separate vegetable, we added 10# of frozen peas and carrots and 3# fresh bean sprouts. Three batches yielded an ample serving and enough to share with the volunteers.Thanks for the fantastic recipe!
Martha Blevins says
DOZER how beautiful. I thinkhe is the bomb
Anneissa says
Congrats Nagi and Dozer. Keep on inspiring our taste buds. I love your quiet initiative of kindness, in feeding as many people as you can, who need a lending hand on any given day. RTE = No One Goes Hungry. + RTE = Caring For Others.
Jan Rutledge says
Well that’s brought tears to my eyes, can’t see to cook now. Always enjoy your recipes and your book. Keep on with your tremendously good work.
JJ UK
Whisky’s mama says
Where can we donate?