Make dinner from the contents of my fridge

[GattoRosso]

Any suggestions as to how I could use the following? (doesn't have to be exclusively these things, or all of them, but am lacking inspiration)

Courgettes
Mushrooms
Sugar snap peas
Dwarf beans
Cherry tomatoes
Corn on the cob
Spinach

Any ideas?

[MmeLindor.]

I would do a pasta stir-fry.

You can add meat or fish.

Slice all your veg and bung in pan or wok. Cook pasta.

Add slosh of white wine and some herbs to the veg, add pasta and the cherry toms. Done

[GattoRosso]

Sounds brilliant - thanks MmeLindor!

[MmeLindor.]

Did you make it? Was it ok?

[GattoRosso]

I did! DH said it was "bloody lovely"
Thanks for the suggestion!

[commanderprimate]

Just wondering, from that list, do you grow your own veg, or possibly get a veg box? It's a very seasonal selection.

[festi]

im a bit late but would have said vegetable chillli and rice, with corn on cob as a side.

[MmeLindor.]

That is great. Glad it worked out, it is one of my favourite recipes. I make it with all sorts of fish/meat/veg combos and it always tastes slightly different.

[GattoRosso]

Hi commanderprimate - yes, it is a (fruit and) veg box. I love it, as it means I eat more veg than I probably would otherwise, but I often get a bit stuck when I have a lot of things to use up! Or ideas for the more random items!

[MmeLindor.]

we get a veg box, and I agree that it makes me more inventive.

I made a delicious veg casserole, I blogged about it here if you are interested.

[festi]

Just a question then, MmeLindor I read your blog and Im a fan by the way. I would love to get a veg box but Im on a very tight budget, single mum student, so only income benifits just now but when I go to uni next month i will be surviving on about 200 a month for all expences other than rent and utillity bills. So my question is do you think the veg and fruit box would save you money if you cut down on the meat? My dd is a great eater and troffs a lot for 5 year old she loves her meat aswell but is good with veg, so thinking I may actually save as I can do the pasta and soup things and reduce meat and take leftovers for lunch to uni. Im considering it but dont want to be left with no food or money if it doesnt work.

[MmeLindor.]

Festi
It depends what your veg box is going to cost you. I do use a lot more veg and have noticed that I can cut down on meat a lot. I also make more meals with the veg as the main part of the meal. I use lardons (bacon bits) a lot as they are cheap and make a veg-based meal a bit meatier.

We live in a very expensive area and meat is expensive here so I have been cutting back a bit recently (particularly now the CHF is so strong against the euro) and using more veg certainly helps.

I had to sign up for the year, but you could enquire about doing a trial month perhaps?

Thanks for the compliment on the blog.

[festi]

thanks for that I googled after I posted then. I can get a box for £17 with 3 fruit and 7 veg, not much more than the supermarket I think but not sure about the variety that would bring and I would be buying extra salad though.

if I did one box a fortnight that would be alot for me and dd but would make sure that we had fresh as im not sure it would last past a fortnight.

I use cheep streaky bacon as seems cheeper here than lardons in the supermarket but can get lots from the butchers. I tend to buy a large mince and split into 6 meals and freeze for me and dd, luckily she will not really eat prossed stuff but that does makes it difficult as buying fresh all the time does mean alot more waste.

I find supermarket veg will not even stay fresh for the week. Im going to give it a go. thanks for help I will keep updated on your blog and hope to get more good meal ideas.

[MmeLindor.]

I pay CHF 25 a week (about £20) and that is plenty for a family of four. I find that the veg last longer than supermarket veg, but it doesn't surprise me as I can see the veg being harvested the day before it appears in my box.

The pic on my blog is one week's worth of veg, they don't do fruit.