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
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!
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.
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!
Thank you for sharing your most delicious recipes! My family has enjoyed every single
Recipe❤️
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!
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!
DOZER how beautiful. I thinkhe is the bomb
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.
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
Where can we donate?
We love to cook from your book. The whole family maybe spread across the globe but we all have a copy. You are amazing
Hi Nagi
I’m an avid follower of your recipes which are so easy to follow and I love the friendly tone you use!
But I must say I’m in awe of what you’re doing in RTM. Bravo to you and your team.
Best wishes
Indrani
Thank you Nagi once again, my weekly menu solved in one post!
So pleased you are getting the applause that all your hard work and sheer balls-i-ness deserves. Big congrats to the whole team. Pats to Dozer.
Well done Nagi
You are an inspiration. Keep up the great work
Hats of to you and your team Nagi! Not all super heros wear capes.
Every recipe of yours that I’ve tried is excellent. I follow your online recipes and tips religiously and your book is great too. My husband’s favourite is the lentil soup. Thank you for these diverse and delicious recipes.
Hi Nagi!,
Saw you on Sunrise on the weekend. You are a wonderful person love your work!
I have printed a few of these recipes that are supposedly for the poor. I hope I can adapt these to meet the needs of the desperate people (homeless etc) that we deal with. We operate on a shoe string budget, volunteers on a pension. Some of these recipes are way too expensive for us to use. You have a very big budget, we don’t. I have followed Nagi recipes way before the fame. RTE has been my ‘go to’ for many on line recipes for a long time. We have a weekly and daily problem with feeding an ever growing number of people from all walks of life. Is it possible to come up with cheaper, nutritious, bulk recipes?. to feed people in need?. The number of families who are struggling is growing. The volunteers here are NOT after ‘browny points). They want to help people who are in need .
I’m just not sure why your comment was even made. I think many many people, institutions, restaurants etc are currently struggling with the high cost of food these days. I find many recipe ingredients are above my means but you can often adapt with what you have, cooking is always a creative endeavour and budgets are the challenge. In no way would someone with Nagi’s spirit and generosity be looking for ‘brownie’ points!
And actually, if you scroll up and click on the red link ‘about RTM’, you’ll be able to see exactly how it’s funded!
Vic, you don’t know Nagi and you certainly don’t know the budget for RTM.
You’d be much better off reaching out to government and other charities local to you to get advice. Your small size is probably holding you back because bulk purchases are usually cheaper. Connect with your own community to find a network and resources instead of complaining to strangers on the internet.
How ungracious and cynical, Vic.
Brownie points??? Since when has Nagi EVER been after brownie points???
Ye gads, this young woman works her backside off looking after us lot with her amazing FREE recipes, recipe book & all done with a brilliant sense of self-deprecating Aussie humour!
I’m gob-smacked at this post.
I too am rather shocked by the negative comment. Nagi has shown herself to be more surprised by her success than craving any kind of attention, and for her to put her food bank before all else is indicative of her character! Whenever Nagi has appeared on TV or has been celebrated in some way, I’ve been impressed by her humility and the credit that she has given to not just Chef JB, but all those who’ve helped in any way – including in the role of taste tester. So congratulations Nagi, like many other Australians, I’m proud of your achievements and give thanks for all that you’ve done to help those in need.
I don’t think some people realise how much it costs to run a website plus Nagi’s renting a kitchen to cook all the free meals in, pays wages and looks after her staff as you can obviously see they’re happy working with her. Crumbs, some people really have NO idea do they Lorraine!
Nagi, you do an amazing job and without you & your team, there would be a LOT more hungry people out there. I can remember you showing your thanks during Covid to the nurses/drs etc by cooking for them too. I really hope this Vic apologies to you, as you really deserve one – and of course, you won’t want one nor will you seek one. That’s just the way you are. Faaar out, I’m sounding very protective here LOL
Keep going Girl. You are a shining light which not so many people are these days. xx
You’re spot on Gypsy! Nagi would never seek an apology for a negative comment – be that for one such as VIC has made, or for a recipe that someone didn’t like. However as the responses show, those of us who actually appreciate the hard work that goes into every aspect of her business, are more than willing to come to her defence.🙂
If you are a charity you should have access to food from your local food bank distributor or the Salvation Army,VIC government agencies. Just because Nagi has hers running well and probably has ingredients donated doesn’t mean she is running on a large budget to create all the meals she does. Please think out of the box before posting negative comments.
Nagi,
I give you credit for all that you do with your charity and Dozer. Also love all your recipes and your book.
Keep it up and all the best
I just love that on top of being the best recipe blog I’ve ever used, you’re also just a phenomenal person ❤️ thank you Nagi, Stephen and the whole team for helping the vulnerable, you’re all superstars!