What can I make from what is in the cupboard?
A method for building a meal from whatever is there, rather than a list of recipes you do not have the ingredients for.
- Difficulty
- beginner
- Time
- 30 min
- Read
- 2 min
Short answer
Pick a base, a protein, a flavour and something fresh. Almost any combination of those four works, and it is a far more useful approach than searching for a recipe you can only half make.
The problem with recipe searching at seven in the evening is that you rarely have everything. Building from a structure instead means the cupboard decides the meal rather than blocking it.
Step by step
- Pick the base.Pasta, rice, potatoes, bread, couscous, noodles, tortillas. This is the bulk of the meal and there is nearly always one.
- Pick the protein.Tinned beans, chickpeas, lentils, tuna, eggs, cheese, frozen mince, leftover meat. Eggs and tinned pulses are the two that rescue most evenings.
- Pick the flavour direction.Tomato and herbs, curry spices, soy and garlic, lemon and olive oil, cheese and mustard. This is what makes the same three ingredients into different meals.
- Add something fresh or sharp.Onion, garlic, frozen peas, a tin of tomatoes, lemon, pickles, herbs, chilli. This is what stops a store cupboard meal tasting like one.
- Choose a cooking method that suits what you have.One pan, oven tray, or everything into a pot. Fewer decisions and less washing up.
- Season properly and finish with acid.Store cupboard meals are especially prone to tasting flat. Salt, then lemon or vinegar at the end.
- Learn three or four templates.Pasta with something; rice with something; eggs with something; things on toast. Four templates covers most evenings and needs no recipe.
- Keep the rescue ingredients stocked.Tinned tomatoes, tinned pulses, pasta, rice, eggs, onions, garlic, stock cubes, hard cheese, frozen peas. With those you can always make something.
Tips
- A tin of chickpeas, an onion, tinned tomatoes and some spices is a meal. So is pasta, garlic, chilli, olive oil and whatever cheese is left.
- Eggs are the most flexible thing in any kitchen. An omelette, a frittata or fried eggs on anything is a complete meal in ten minutes.
- Check the freezer before concluding there is nothing. Frozen vegetables, bread and leftovers are usually forgotten.
Questions people ask
What should I always keep in the cupboard?
Tinned tomatoes, tinned pulses, pasta, rice, stock cubes, onions, garlic, eggs, hard cheese and frozen peas. With those you can always assemble a meal.
How do I cook without a recipe?
Pick a base, a protein, a flavour direction and something fresh or sharp. Almost any combination works, and it is more reliable than half-having a recipe's ingredients.