Hey. It’s October. Holidays season is coming up. Plus NaNo season if you participate in that. It’s a busy time for everyone! So I compiled a short list of my favorite no-effort to minimal-effort meals that you can whip together on a busy working day.

This ravioli with a jar of spaghetti sauce

I don’t know why it took me so long to discover Rana raviolis, but these things are life savers! I keep a bunch of them frozen and make them for lunch on heavy writing days. They only take five minutes to boil and one package is pretty hardy. You can feed two people or eat it all yourself (you might want to, it’s really good.)

These croissants with deli chicken salad

These are so good to have on hand. Premade croissants and premade chicken salad. Nothing you have to make yourself other than putting one of those ingredients on the other haha

Tortilla chips with a can of tuna

Hear me out, I know this sounds really gross, but it’s honestly so good! You could do mayonnaise with the tuna or not. Either way tastes great.

Pre-made pinwheels

These saved my post-partum life guys! These are TRULY zero-effort meals. You don’t even have to warm them up, you can just pull and eat them straight out of the refrigerator.

Frozen mixed veggies with this jar of Tikka masala sauce

Warm up the veggies in the sauce. That’s it. That’s all you have to do.

Hummus and Naan dippers or pita bread

A naan-effort meal

This Home Chef Chicken Street Taco Kit from Kroger

The chicken one specifically.

This Cajun pasta platter from Chili’s

Okay, but bro, hear me out again haha. This To-Go platter is the perfect meal to eat off for the rest of the week. It’s the only thing I know of that tastes better the longer it marinates in your fridge. So it’s basically meal prep, is what I’m saying.

If anyone else has any other ideas please feel free to share in the comments! Let’s all embrace an easier way to lunch.