The 2-Ingredient Trader Joe’s Dinner I’ve Been Eating Nonstop for 6 Years

I’m a child of the ’90s and early aughts, so I am not unfamiliar with a cheat code. My Sims would never be left cold, hungry, or with a Need Meter that ever turned any color but a happy green. I used rosebuds and “;!;!;!:” to fast-track my Sims’ care, but IRL there’s no cheat-codes prompt for my own day-to-day life. 

No matter the season, I’m prone to low-energy slumps where I wish to become part-couch and forget that my body needs to eat in order to keep my neurons firing.

As a “recovered” sufferer of an eating disorder myself (if you’ve ever experienced any disordered eating you’ll understand why I use quotation marks), eating three square meals a day is a non-negotiable for me. So I created my own cheat codes — a few break-in-case-of-emergency meals that keep me afloat when I’m too busy, or having so much fun I’ve simply forgotten to make dinner until 10 p.m.  

I call them “two-ingredient dinners,” and while some might be mistaken as astronaut food (in a derogatory way), that’s their main appeal for me. I, like a busy astronaut floating through space and trying to solve a problem upside-down, also need meals that can be assembled, fulfill my basic needs, and maybe even add a little joy.

As you might expect, most of these two-ingredient meals come from none other than Trader Joe’s. 

The grocer has, on more than one occasion, saved me from my most-aspirational self, who easily gets sucked into an hours-long cooking project. Plus, shopping for these two-ingredient meals often morphs into a delicious scavenger hunt. It’s suddenly easier to make the right decisions for Future and Present Me — ones that make sure my neurons are still firing in more ways than one. 

Which jarred olives will I pair with the frozen Spanish tortilla? Do I go sweet or savory with the ricotta I dollop onto toasted baguette rounds? Or maybe I pull out my longtime favorite two-ingredient dinner (I’ve been making it for six years!): the $4 frozen Japanese Fried Rice, topped with a fried egg or a mountain of scrambled eggs in the middle.

I’ve found that Trader Joe’s many varied bagged salads set me on a good course, as they’re able to be tossed and layered over frozen pizzas, or eaten right out of the mixing bowl with a handful of canned dolmas on the side. When in doubt, broth and noodles reign supreme (especially when the noodles in question are Trader Joe’s fresh tortellini).

My body and its upkeep might be a task, but it’s a privileged task. I try to serve myself as I might someone I love; I am to (for the most part) not eat dinner hovering over the counter. Even the quick arrangement of pre-made ingredients helps exercise my cooking muscle memory. 

Maybe tomorrow I’ll start to daydream about what I’ll do with the too-many lemons and purple potatoes I got at the farmers market, and crack the spine on a new cookbook. But for now, frozen coconut shrimp on crunchy jicama slaw sounds great to me.

What’s your favorite 2-ingredient Trader Joe’s dinner? Tell us about it in the comments below.

This post originally appeared on The Kitchn. See it there: The 2-Ingredient Trader Joe’s Dinner I’ve Been Eating Nonstop for 6 Years