I need to be more resourceful with the ingredients I have at home. Groceries are sky-high right now. I have found myself going to the grocery store for “essentials” too many times a week, and to be completely honest, it's very annoying.
I’m still amazed by the endless food combinations that exist in the world. One plate will never be the same as the other. You can basically put anything together and make a great meal. So, why am I going to the grocery store for such specific things? I believe that more often than we realize we can swap ingredients with things we have at your disposal
How often have you made a recipe and had an odd number of things left over? It is never enough to make the dish again so you are stuck with random things in your fridge. We need to become more resourceful and innovative with our food. So, here are some of the things I have been able to do with leftovers from other recipes.
Attempted Berry Pie
A few weeks ago, we had some friends over. As you do, I needed to have some food for them. I decided to make a pie with the stuff I had at home. For this project, I went straight to my freezer. I had a frozen homemade pie crust from the lemon meringue pie I had made a few weeks prior. I had some frozen berries from a picking adventure and whipping cream. Probably the best combination in the world. I added some sugar and lemon zest to the berries, added them to the crust, put it in the oven and wished for the best. I still don’t think it was a successful berry pie but it turned out okay, people were happy, my freezer was emptied and I didn’t have to go to the grocery store. I call that a win for me.
Carbonara and Pavlova Night
At this point, we had been talking about making Carbonara for a while. I had all the ingredients at home except for eggs. This meant a grocery stop was undeniable. I read the recipe before we got the ingredients and stumbled upon a perfect opportunity. We needed 4 egg yolks for the pasta, which meant we would be throwing away 4 egg whites (I’m not my mom, I can’t freeze eggs). I had a vague memory of a recipe with exactly 4 egg whites. PAVLOVA! (Pavlova with Julie). A typical Friday night turned into dinner and dessert. We bought some whipping cream and delicious fruit and there we had a Carbonara and Pavlova. This didn’t prevent a grocery trip but did avoid us from wasting some perfectly good egg whites.
Mapping out your fridge and pantry so you have the exact ingredients you need without any waste can be a challenge. I work in film production so scheduling, planning, and splitting resources are how my brain works best, I love a resource challenge with an expiration date. I understand that some flavours won’t match or go together. It’s all about finding similar alternatives when you have them handy. For example, if I’m making burritos, I have no problem switching sour cream with plain yogurt. I know it's more likely I will eat all the yogurt so I would rather buy that than sour cream.
You probably know what things taste like in your head. Now imagine what they would be like together. The idea is to create food options with things in your fridge and freezer before you start cooking. I’m not good at this but I have had lots of practice. The week before I travel my mission is to eat everything that will go bad. The combinations start getting weirder as time goes but it has never been shockingly bad and in the end, I have an empty fridge ready for when I come back.
The reason I wanted to write about being resourceful in the kitchen is for you to skip a grocery trip, open your pantry and fridge and try to make something. Try that combination that sounds good in your head. It’s very unusual to have all the ingredients for the one thing you are craving so go ahead and try something weird. Who knows, maybe you will find your favourite meal.
Lu, sorry for not sending comments, but I read your great articles!! so well written, congratulations for the ideias always interesting. It is a pity I am not around to test your better rated eating places!!