We’ve all been there. The cupboards are filled to the brim with canned ingredients we’d never touch in a million years, and the fridge has nothing but sauces and yogurt in it – what are you supposed to cook?! It’s a quandary that hits everyone who knows how to use a kitchen, and it’s something that can hold you back from really feeling like a pro chef in your own home.
But we’re here to give you some ideas over what to do next. Using up the ingredients in your home before buying new ones is just a thrifty way to live, even if you have no clue how to work canned pumpkin or kidney beans into a dish! So here’s how to make good use of everything in your kitchen without stressing out over whether or not those flavors really pair.
Learn What Ingredients Work Together
Some ingredients act like oil and water when they’re mixed together. Fruits can be hard to mix with meat, some vegetables can’t be paired with dairy items, and even cheese doesn’t quite work with everything. But these rules aren’t gospel.
Mostly, if you’ve eaten something in the past and found it left you feeling bloated and/or filled with gas, it’s best to avoid pairing these ingredients together again.
But some ingredients are heaven together. Chilli and chocolate, tomatoes with bread and oil, and even pork and apple. Yes, it’s a fruit and meat combo, but boy does it work well! That’s why it’s so hard to define good flavor combos. So in truth, don’t be afraid to mix all your leftovers together.
Use Substitution Apps and Websites
There are plenty of recipe websites and apps out there that’ll help you to find good substitutions for foods you either have none of or too much of. And when you’ve got way too many canned fruits or tins of evaporated milk to use up, these algorithms will come in handy!
A lot of foods can be replaced effortlessly by the items you didn’t even realise you still had tucked away. Any beans you have can be used in place of other beans and anyone eating probably wouldn’t notice. Sugar and honey can fill in for one another, as can cream and buttermilk, and literally anything that has the same kind of texture or fat profile can be substituted without a problem.
Create a New Dish of Your Own
Creating a new dish of your own sounds hard to do. And in theory, it is! You’ve got a lot of flavors to balance, as well as the best cooking method to work out, and what should you pair it with when you serve it on the table? But in reality, it’s not as difficult as your mind may make out. You’ve just got to be willing to experiment a little.
Write down the things you want to use and then just mix them up. Indeed, it could be as simple as getting a pot on the stove and throwing all the ingredients in until they’re soft and juicy. And yes, this really works! For example, this is how the best roasted beets recipe was first made – you get your basic ingredients, and refine it down until you have the best cooking time and spices to throw in as well.
Cook and Store for Later
And finally, it’s also a good idea to just cook up plain and simple ingredients as they are and then freeze them for use later on. This way even the hardest of fruits, vegetables, pulses, grains, and nuts get used up without waste. And it’s actually super easy to take this approach, as long as you’ve got room in the freezer.
If you’ve got some leftover raspberries from a smoothie recipe, but not enough to make another one, just freeze them with a bit of banana or blueberries for either a smoothie or a yogurt later on. If there’s some bread that’s on the edge of going moldy, cut it up and cook it into croutons for a salad, and then freeze any extra. Once it’s cooked, it’s good to go for at least 3 months when it’s stored properly!
If you’re always left with a load of unspecified ingredients in your cupboards, this is how you can use them up. It just takes a bit of creativity to find your new favorite meal, and there’s nothing wrong with experimenting a bit to find a new great flavor!
