Best 'not much in the fridge' meals

[GeorgeHerbert]

I have just made something surprisingly delicious from an almost empty fridge - bacon and courgette cake.
Basically, gently fried half a courgette, a couple of strips of bacon, half an onion and added to a mix of eggs, oil, self raising flour and grated cheese. Sprinkle of herbs, baked for 45 mins. Lovely with a bit of sliced tomato (and would have been even nicer with a full salad!)
Please tell me your best 'nothing much in the fridge meals'.

Do you have a recipe I have courgettes and bacon that need using by tomorrow!!

Oooh that sounds great and I have everything to make it! Mine isn't as delicious or original, but I usually have a bit of pasta, bacon and egg myself, so carbonara is my way forward. And it's delicious to boot.

Due to trying to be frugal to give my finances a chance to recover after Christmas we have been eating loads of lentil dhal made with whatever beg we have in the fridge, spices, lentils and a tin of tomatoes. I use frozen herbs so easy to guarantee you always have them.

I recon we could eat lentil dhal every day with rotis or rice and its cost about £15 a week and we'd get all outer 5 a day.

Jacket potato and egg mayonnaise. Yum!

Cheese and tinned tomatoes on toast. ( put under grill )

Tuna fish and kidney bean salad

Fry bacon, onion and courgette.
Mix 3 eggs, 75 ml corn oil (or sunflower) 100g self raising and some grated cheese. Add fried bacon and courgette, pop in a cake tin and bake for 45 mins.Was enough for 3, but you could scale up. Would also be good for packed lunch, heated up in a microwave.

Palomb, have you got a nice dhal recipe? Mine never quite taste as I hope?

Pasta with a sauce made from tinned tomatoes, herbs, garlic if I have it and bacon. Can add any other veg (including corgettes) and leftover roast chicken.
Also cheese omlettes are literally cheese and eggs - again can add veg or bacon if you have it.
Carbonara made with just bacon (lardons ideally) fries off and then stir in an egg and use the heat of the pasta to cook egg. Plenty of black pepper and then cheese (Parmesan but cheddar works).
Parnsips and coconut soup is just roasted and seasoned parnsips with cumin and a tin of coconut milk.

Ummm chopped celery, onion, carrots, chillies ( and whatever else I have lurking around!) , in a pan with some ghee until soft. Add some frozen ginger and garlic then when that's soft stir in some spices - I use chilli powder, garam masala, turmeric, coriander and cumin - cook those out for a few minutes and add some brown or green lentils, a tin of toms and some water and simmer for about 40 minutes. Before the end I chuck in some frozen spinache, some frozen coriander and season to taste. Needs quite a bit of salt imo. I don't like the red lentils, they always seem to to taste bitter to me and I have never had a proper Indian dhal so I have no idea how authentic mine tastes but it goes down really well with the kids and is cheap as chips and reasonably healthy :)

Oh, thanks. definitely going to try that.
Parsnip and coconut soup sounds lovely too, as does tuna and kidney bean - there are always tins of that lurking about!

Pasta bake made from a tin of cream of tomato soup some garlic granules and italian herb seasoning with a sprinkle of cheese on top. Not my favourite empty fridge recipe but it's easy

I do a Thai carrot and coconut soup which was born out of a slight online ordering mishap with the carrots. Fry up frozen thai spices, add many carrots, a potato or two and cook in stock (chicken or veg). Whizz up. Add coconut milk to taste.

My go-to cupboard dinner is Shakshuka - middle eastern baked eggs, in a sauce of tinned tomatoes, peppers, onion, paprika and olive oil. It's delicious and extremely easy - and I often chuck some chorizo in too to satisfy my carnivorous husband.

Veggie chilli is always popular in our house. Mostly tinned ingredients - kidney beans, chopped tomatoes, fried onion and garlic. Chilli powder to taste - can make it milder with leftover yoghurt or cream.

Med veg, cous cous and halloumi.

Roast frozen med veg with some herbs and spices, squirt of tomato puree and some water. When cooked add cous cous straight to the tin and boiling water, stir then cover with clingfilm while you grill some sliced halloumi. Serve with hot/peri peri sauce and/or natural yoghurt if you have any...

I always have blocks of halloumi in the fridge because it lasts forever!

That bacon cake would be great with a nice sharp tomato soup.

Beans on toast pure comfort food when theres nothing in!

Failing that, if theres maybe 1 carrot or 1 potatoe etc and maybe some quorn in the freezer i just make a curry and rice.

Or what is surprisingly yummy, rice that boiled in veg stock with a can of beans (i.e: black eyed beans or pinto beans not baked beans!) With some frozen sweetcorn and some herbs if kickig about and a splash of soy sauce

That sojdns delish!

I can offer egg friend rice - prawns, peas from freezer. Other veg, rice and egg. Season with Tabasco, garlic and soy sauve

I always do 'fridge risotto' or 'fridge curry' now that I don't eat gluten. 'fridge pasta sauce' is good too.

Just chop and fry whatever us there, add dried herbs or spices to taste and add to carb of choice. Or eggs. Fridge frittata

We often have dal as a fallback tea as well, ours is even more basic - just red lentils, spices, and a tarka or onions and tomatoes. This is the recipe I follow: www.telegraph.co.uk/foodanddrink/recipes/5050514/Madhur-Jaffrey-picks-her-favourite-recipes-Madhurs-daily-dal.html

Served with rice or bread, it's an easy delicious standby.

Egg fried rice is a lovely, quick, tasty meal which will use up practically any leftovers. You don't even need an egg, though it helps.

Scramble 1-2 eggs in wok (if you have one) with no milk/butter added (in a little oil) using chopstick to stir and make it not stick. Remove and set aside.

Cook rice as usual, you can add some stock to the water if you have it. Drain and set aside.

Chop leftovers - vegetables, frozen peas/beans, ham, bacon, chicken, onion, garlic, etc.

Get your wok or large saucepan and heat up some sesame or unflavoured oil, stir fry ingredients from fridge (add raw meat first, then hard vegetables - carrots, onion - then softer vegetables - peppers, then cooked meats. Throw in some chinese type seasonings if you have any - garlic, ginger, 5 spice, etc or just a bit of pepper. Once these look cooked add the rice and the egg, splash some soy sauce on, chilli sauce if you want to, anything else you have which might go. Keep it moving until the rice takes on that "fried" kind of look.

Eggs - omelette, scrambled, dippy or egg fried tice with soy and veg
Bacon and grated courgette pasta
Pasta with tomato sauce and cheese
Quesadillas with ham, cheese, chorizo, whatever is in, maybe a few floppy chopped spring onions
As above but toasties
Soup made with bendy veg
Jacket potatoes with cheese and beans or tuna
Beans on toast
Eggs on toast
Sardines on toast
Toast

Soup with whatever veg is left behind and I usually have enough flour to make either bread rolls or scones to go with.

Pasta and a sauce made from leftover veg, garlic and tinned tomatoes, then blitzed smooth with the stick blender.

Stir fry with (you've guessed it!) leftover veg, soy sauce, garlic and rice or noodles.

If all else fails, toast.

Haha, x-post with ergo! Nice to know someone else falls back on toast now and again!

Some great suggestions thanks! I think it's easy to get stuck in a rut - I meal plan religiously but end up eating the same old, same old. Sometimes an empty fridge leads to a bit of creativity!