What’s Your Favorite Quick and Simple Meal?

You’ve got a few minutes to throw a meal together, but you don’t want to sacrifice taste just because you have no time. What’s your go-to, dead-simple meal? Everybody’s got one; I’ll start things off with mine:

I’m a big fan of chili, especially as the leaves start to turn. I’ve cooked pretty involved chili recipes in the past, but after all the effort, my favorite chili involves three canned goods, some chili powder, and a few other embellishments here and there. It costs next to nothing, is a great dinner for two, and takes no time to make. Here’s what you’ll need:

Note: You don’t need to get hung up on the specific canned-food brands from the picture. I often go with whatever’s on sale, provided that it’s the same basic starting point.

Canned diced tomatoes. (I go with these Mexican-style lime and cilantro ones; I use two cans of diced tomatoes, though they are a little smaller than the cans of beans.)
Canned red/chili/pinto beans/etc. (I like these Southwestern-style beans, which also throw in some corn and diced onion.)
Canned black beans.
Chili powder.

Like any soup, you can, of course, include other ingredients and seasoning to taste. If I’ve got it around, I’ll occasionally pour a little beer in the chili (you’ll just have to simmer a little longer to cook out some of that extra liquid), and I also like my chili spicy, so I’ll sometimes add a little hot sauce to the mix. But the basic, three-can chili above (okay, it’s four cans, but three kinds of cans) creates an excellent base chili you can either enjoy on its own or jazz up with some ideas of your own, and it takes no time to prepare.

Open the cans.
Dump them in a pot.
Season with chili powder and other seasoning to taste.
Make it hot.

Doesn’t get much easier than that.

That’s my go-to quick and simple dinner (I always try to have those cans on standby in my pantry, especially during autumn and winter months), but I’m sure you’ve got your own. Whether it’s a one-pot meal, a few-ingredient cooking trick, or a can-mixing recipe like mine, share your favorite quick and simple recipe in the comments.