I Have Two Days to Use up All the Food in My Fridge. Here's How I'm Going to Do It
Minimizing food waste one fridge-full at a time
One of the major principles of The Capsule Pantry is about thinking like a chef.
Chefs don’t waste and they’re very creative. Rather than thinking:
What do I have to buy to make this dish I want?
They think:
What can I make from what I already have in my fridge and pantry?
The idea behind this principle is that if you build a flexible pantry of small ingredients - such as The Capsule Pantry ingredient list - you should rarely be stuck for something to cook whilst helping to eliminate food waste at the same time.
Today I’m going to put this into practice.
Right now I’m working with a mini version of the Capsule Pantry. I’m only in Porto for two more days and I have some food in the fridge I want to use up.
So here’s the deal. I’ll show you what’s in my fridge and pantry and explain what potential dishes I could make from this meager selection of ingredients for the remainder of my Porto trip.
In turn, tell me what you have in your fridge / pantry in the comments and I’ll give you an idea or two.
All in the name of reducing food waste.
This is what’s in the fridge. All ingredients in bold are Capsule Pantry ingredients:
Tomato passata
Kimchi
Chickpeas
Sweetcorn
Creme Fraiche
Plain Yogurt
Cherry tomatoes
Garlic
Lemon
Lime
Onion
Ginger
Parmesan
Coriander
Also not pictured - hot sauce
Now in the pantry:
Long grain rice
Dried chilies
Eggs
Soy Sauce
Plain flour
A box of dried herbs and spices including oregano, mint, dill, fennel seed, dried chilies, cumin, smoked paprika and dried yeast
I also have olive oil, salt, and sugar at my disposal
What could I make from this menagerie of, let’s face it, not that much?
Well, quite a lot, actually.
Crispy chickpeas
A favorite to use up leftover chickpeas is this recipe I picked up from a Spanish friend is crispy chickpeas which are a perfect snack to start a meal.
Rinse some chickpeas then squeeze them out of their skins. They come off easily in your hand. This makes the final chickpeas so much more crispy and results in fewer exploding ones in the oven which can be a problem with this recipe.
Let the chickpeas dry for as long as you can. Ideally at least an hour. The drier they are, the less likely they are to explode.
Pre-heat your oven to 180C / 350F.
Shake the chickpeas in olive oil and salt and put them in the oven on a baking tray.
Cook for around 20 minutes, shaking the tray every 5 minutes or so, or until the chickpeas have crisped up.
You can always shake a bit of smoked paprika on the chickpeas before cooking to make things interesting.
Kimchi fried rice
I’ve got rice, I’ve got kimchi, eggs, soy, ginger, sweetcorn garlic and onions - that cries out for my go-to lunch, Kimchi rice bowl.
Two things to do with plain yogurt
The first is this gorgeous recipe for Turkish eggs which is a bed of plain yogurt sprinkled with coriander, dill (dried, in my case) and doused in a cumin & chili oil. Top with poached eggs.
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The second will use up those cherry tomatoes in this charred tomatoes on cold yogurt recipe which is my go-to appetizer on hot days.
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With both of these recipes, you could also bulk out the yogurt with creme fraiche.
Using up the passata
How about Mexican-style tomato rice?
Those dried chipotle chilies only need a few minutes in hot water to rehydrate. Then you could fry some finely chopped onion in oil, followed by a couple of cloves of finely chopped garlic. Add some passata, those rehydrated chipotle chilies (chopped finely), the chili water and a pinch of salt. Cook down for 10-15 minutes whilst you cook some rice via the absorption method.
Mix together, top with coriander and lime wedges. Perhaps an egg if you’re so inclined.
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You could also make a classic Italian tomato sauce similar to the above but without the chilies. Make some quick and easy Trganci pasta with the plain flour, mix with the tomato sauce and a splash of pasta water, and top with Parmesan.
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If you have some ground beef / veggie alternative to hand, you could turn this into a classic bolognese sauce (fry the meat until brown and add to the tomato sauce, cooking down for 1-2 hours), serving with that always flexible Trganci (seriously this pasta changes everything).
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Finally, you could also make an easy, slightly bastardized chili con carne:
Fry the meat / veggie alternative. Add finely chopped onions and garlic.
Pop in a shake of ground cumin.
Add rehydrated chipotle chilies and the water you used to rehydrate them in, as well as some passata and extra water. Season with salt.
Simmer with the lid on for 2 hours adding extra water if the mixture becomes too dry.
Add those jarred chickpeas in the final 10 minutes and cook through.
Top with creme fraiche, lime and coriander and serve with a portion of that long-grain rice or a portion of basic flatbreads.
How about the creme fraiche?
Easy. I’m going to make baked eggs.
Preheat the oven to 200C / 390F. Take a ramekin and smear the bottom with creme fraiche.
Throw whatever you have that goes with eggs on top. With what I have available here, I’d finely chop some cherry tomatoes and add some hot sauce and chopped coriander. Or I could use some of the kimchi.
Break an egg on top.
Dot the egg whites with extra creme fraiche, season with salt, and place in the oven for 10-12 minutes or until the egg whites are cooked but the yolk is still runny.
By my count I have enough for breakfast, lunch, and dinner for two people for the next 2 days without having to head to the store at all - unless I want that ground beef.
If you want me to help you cook from what’s in your fridge, give me a few ingredients in the comments section below and I’ll give you some ideas.
A couple of reducing food waste resources
Reader and fellow SubstackianRebecca Holdenemailed me on the back of myPrinciples to Help You Think like a Chefessay with a resource she uses to help keep track of what’s in her freezer. She uses a “dot” method which looks great - super simple, super easy to keep on top of. You can take a look at her methodhere.
The Broiler Roomrecently wrote an excellent article on food waste with some terrifying stats thrown in there for good measure like:
Food waste is the most common material to end up in our landfills.
A third of US food ends up in landfills or being dumped in a neighboring country.
The amount of food waste is the equivalent to $408 billion, 4 trillion tons of water, and has the climate footprint of the entire US aviation industry.
If there was ever a time to believe The Capsule Pantry is super relevant, it’s articles like this one.