Easy & Multi-Use Foods [or, Frozen Potato Bits For What?!]

We eat some pretty basic things. I tend to classify our overall menu as bachelor food. And while a bachelor may not make a double batch of spaghetti so they don't have to cook again the next day, they most certainly could cook spaghetti, because it's so easy.
And our tastes are actually pretty simple. The Mister, to generalize, is pretty much alright with any food put in front of him (with somethings on the no-no list, like seafood) – but so long as it's provided for him, he'll eat it. Even better if it just magically appears and he doesn't have to put any thought into it.
I, too, enjoy food that requires little thought. Probably because, ya know, I'm doing all of the food-thinking in our house! Our menu is basically on a two-week rotation, and it works for us. It may not for everyone, but for two people, what really can you do?

In that vein, I am wanting to share more about how we eat. Not to say “look, we eat awesome!” because, obviously, we don't (remember the bachelor food mention above?). But I do tend to keep things simple and easy as most as possible. It's quick, it doesn't take a lot of effort for most things, and it's delicious. Okay, maybe not delicious to everyone, but you'll never know if you don't try!
And I'm certainly not trying to convince anyone that they need to be eating as we do, but wanting to share ways to eat, well, simply. Not simply in the healthy manner (simple can mean healthy in some circles – which are not circles that I frequent!) but simply in the way that even after doing the rest of the day's things, you can still cook dinner. It's still a chore, but because, well, it is a chore. Also because there's dishes to do afterwards, but that's a subject for another day!

So, keeping this in mind, let me get on to the real meat (ha!) of this post – easy things to cook that make you feel like you didn't actually cook, with one main ingredient.
And, for today, that is tator tots (bachelor food, keep this in mind!).
Potatoes are good for you, right? Okay, I'm sure tator tots actually aren't, but they are deliciously crispy and that's good enough for me. Let me show you why these are often on my grocery list.

First and most obvious – a side. For any other freezer food: corn dogs, smaller-sized frozen pizzas, hot pockets, pizza pockets, whatever, you get the idea. Trying to coordinate oven times has never been something I'm very good at, but it's possible to cook those things at the same time and have it all done at once. Easy!

Second and obvious if you've been reading here for a while – mexi-nuggets. While that's more of a snack, it would also do well as a side for nachos or burritos (because we love Taco Bell, and if we can have Taco Bell-like food without leaving the house, awesome). But also, this is something that we will eat sometimes late at night when we've got the munchies but don't really want anything in particular.
Third and less obvious – breakfast burritos. You put potatoes in a breakfast burrito, right? Okay, the good ones that I've had have potatoes in them. So, instead of real potatoes, put some tator tots in the oven, and then add whatever else you want. We had this the other night, actually. Some scrambled eggs with Tapatio, some cheese, tator tots, and a warmed up tortilla. It's pretty darned good. While it could be better if we had some breakfast sausage to add to it, that's just not something I buy. But the options are open for whatever you prefer!

Fourth and out of left field – something I don't have a name for.
The idea for this...meal...came from a cook book I no longer have, but it was a Southern food book that was put out by one of those magazines that is like Country Living, but not that one exactly. The recipe that I have no name for suggested making a whole ordeal for this dish, and I said “ha, yeah, no, I am not making all of that from scratch!' Because, hey, the recipe was this: tator tots, chili and cheese. And granted, I'm sure homemade chili is fantastic, I've never tried it and wasn't in the market at the time to try and make some.
So I bought some chili and continued as suggested. And it's super simple and super delicious. Let me explain.
You get a dish you can put in the oven. You put chili in the bottom. Then you put tator tots on top – enough to sort of cover it, but not really. Then you put some ketchup and barbecue sauce on top (or whatever you would like, or nothing at all – this is a more recent addition of my own). Then you put it in the oven for as long as the tator tots say to cook them for. Grate some cheese, add it to the top when you pull it out of the oven. And serve. When doing my meal planning, I call it “chili/cheese/tator tot” and if you wanted to be fancy, you could call it something-bake or bake-something, but there are not fancy people in my house.
The Mister loves it. I love it. It's simple. There's no cooking, really, just putting things in a pan and waiting for about 20 minutes. You could be fancy and make your own chili (I'm thinking about it, really) but it's obviously not necessary.

I'm sure there are tons and tons more things that can be done with frozen potato bits, but that's what we eat, and we're pretty happy with it.
I'm happy with it because it's very little effort, and a pretty darned good result!

What are your simple go-to foods?
And please don't tell me you think we're weird – we know this already, more than you know!

~Havok

Edit 1/18/15: Added to the Merry Monday Link Party
Edit 1/19/15: Added to Moonlight & Mason Jars Link Party

If you liked this post, check out these posts!

Deviled Eggs - Sunday Foodie Bits

Corn Dog "Muffins" - Sunday Foodie Bits

Recipe Binder Insert - Sunday Foodie Bits