These hearty beef and bean pies, flavoured with smoky lardons and smoked sweet paprika, are ideal if you’ve got a hungry gang to feed. Cauliflower mixed in with the potato makes the topping lighter than regular mash, but it’s great with either. Pictured overleaf MAKES 4 2 tbsp olive oil 100g smoked

Using ingredients like fresh crab helps make quick-cook meals a bit more exciting. This is so simple: while the pasta is cooking you make the sauce using the flavoursome brown crab meat, and then stir the white crab meat through at the end. SERVES 2 240g dried linguine 1 tbsp olive oil

Pork fillet sounds fancy but it’s an excellent budget-friendly alternative to chicken breasts. Flavoured here with fresh sage and oregano, I’ve served it with a fennel, cabbage and chicory slaw topped with blue cheese and toasted walnuts – the slight bitterness of the salad goes really well with pork. SERVES 4 2

Chunky salmon burgers with spring onion and dill are given a crunchy lift with quick-pickled cucumber. English mustard might seem unusual with salmon, but it brings a little wasabi-like heat. You can prep the burgers the day before and keep them in the fridge. MAKES 4 500g skinless salmon fillet, pin-boned 1

If you’re looking for big, bold flavours, this ginger-, soy- and honey-glazed tofu ticks all the boxes. Tofu has a great texture and absorbs flavours around it brilliantly, but you could also use chicken or salmon. Never throw the broccoli stalk away – it has loads of crunch and is perfect in

These individual pies look amazing and taste even better, yet they are easy to prepare, using ready-made puff pastry. Take your time to properly brown the meat so it caramelises and gets super-tasty. You can prepare the filling well ahead. SERVES 4 2 tbsp olive oil 2 large onions, finely diced 500g

If you have fussy eaters to feed, this is a great way of getting plenty of vegetables into them without them really knowing. Use a food processor to make light work of chopping up whatever you have floating around in your fridge, then cook it in with the smoky pancetta and minced

Traybakes are the king of stress-free cooking. With crisped-up new potatoes, roasted cabbage and chunky sausages, this is your meat and two veg all cooked in one. Get yourself some good-quality bangers – you could even try some spicy merguez sausages if you’d like a bit of heat. SERVES 4 750g medium

Tiger prawns make quick stir-fries feel a bit more special. This has all the taste and texture of a classic sweet and sour: lightly battered prawns, chunky peppers, red onion and pineapple chunks. You can try it with small strips of chicken breast too. SERVES 2 300g large tiger prawns, peeled and

You can rustle up this easy pasta dish using ingredients you probably already have in your store-cupboard and fridge. Big strong flavours from anchovies, garlic and chilli are transformed into an amazing sauce using some of the starchy pasta cooking water and lots of freshly grated Parmesan. SERVES 1 120g dried spaghetti