What food do you always have in

[Lifejigsaw]

I regularly find my self staring at the fridge with no idea what I want to eat. I meal plan but don’t have a stable work/home routine that means I know what I’m doing every day in advance.

So what do you reach for on those occasions?

What food do you have in the fridge / cupboard / freezer that you rely on for a good meal as needed ie not just crisps 😂

last night I had cereal for dinner which was lush, but not nutritious!

Pasta, pesto, sundried tomatoes, tinned tomatoes, fresh garlic and onions, dried herbs and chillies, usually capers and/or olives/tinned tuna/sardines/anchovies, so I can make a good pasta and sauce.

Eggs for an omelette, frozen peas and some sort of salad or fresh veg.

I tend to shop for specific meals and am rubbish at keeping a store cupboard plus I don’t like much frozen stuff.

Usually got pitta in the freezer, plus yoghurt and cucumber so I can have tzatziki, even better if I’ve got a jar of gigantes butter beans

Cheese and crackers

Eggs, feta and paneer in the fridge

Always got lentils and rice/pasta plus onions. I get frozen sliced peppers. Cans of chickpeas, kidney beans etc.

Tilda rice sachets and cous cous sachets

Veggie sausages in the freezer.

I still hope to get better at this!

Bread, butter, cheese, tuna, eggs, mayo.

Won't starve on a night when I just feel wrecked, so a big sandwich will do, or scrambled eggs on toast. I must be the only person on the planet that doesn't like baked beans. They fill me full of wind, and it has to come out somewhere!😊

Jacket potatoes are a good one.
Cheese and beans. Tuna and sweetcorn. Cream cheese and bacon. Ham cheese and mushroom. Whatever you've got to throw on it really. I always freeze little bits of leftover chille or spag bol for this reason too.

Always have eggs, cheese and some sorts of odds and ends in the fridge for an omelette too.

I have the same problem with freezer size and bread, but make 2-ingredient flatbreads (SR flour and yoghurt) or savoury/cheese scones if necessary for soup/curry accompaniment. So baking stuff and yoghurt (Lidl or Aldi 2% fat Greek) are always around. And Cheddar (small stockpile because it’s not always available here in Germany). The space in the freezer gets filled by Tunnock’s teacakes.

Snap!

Nduja
Chorizo
Eggs

Tinned custard
". " " Fruit
Rice pudding
............ Cup a soups
Eggs
Loaf,milk,crisps,sweets

Frozen garlic, ginger, chillies and onions, jars of anchovies, cans of tomatoes, cans of lentils and various beans, pasta and rice. Means I can always make a simple pasta or curry, or add whatever veg to it I have or DP can pick up on his way home if he’s coming home for dinner.

Eggs, onions, peppers, baby plum tomatoes, extra firm tofu, rice, pasta, hummus, avocado, sweet potato...

If I don't know what to have, I'll usually go for:

• A big traybake of vegetables with a squeeze of lemon juice & chilli flakes over the top, maybe a chicken breast with it if you have some.
• Avocado on toast with a poached egg (add some Chinese crispy chilli oil to eggs - total game changer).
• Crispy tofu with rice/noodles, and whatever vegetables I have. You can make a really nice easy sauce with garlic, soy sauce, rice vinegar, honey, and lime juice.

Actually, sauces like that are one thing I find really useful to meal prep; everything else can be easily roasted or fried, and instantly jazzed up with a good sauce!

I’m a bit weird because I have a big freezer and pantry and I’m obsessed with cooking and baking and hate running out of things.

Always in the freezer or cupboard:
Potatoes / sweet potatoes
chopped vegetables (carrots, onions, celery, swede, peas)
Chicken sausages
Chicken drums or leg portions
Fishcakes
Quorn or beef mince
Lentils
Chickpeas
Pasta
Rice
Pearl Barley
Quinoa
Oats
Noodles
Flour
Stock (I make my own and freeze but cubes are fine too or powder)
Beans
Soup
Passata

Always in the fridge:
Cheese
Milk
Butter
Fruit (apples and peaches and blackberry and plums right now)
Eggs
Sauces (mayo, ketchup, bbq, brown, mint, 4 types of mustard, salad cream)
Yoghurt

With these ingredients I can always make:
Stew
Toad in the hole
Soup
Bread (and therefore sandwiches)
Pasta - bolognese, cacio e pepe, lasagne, arrabbiata, sausage pasta
Chicken with potato and veg
Fried rice
Vegetable or chicken noodles/ramen
Baked rice /
Pillaff
Curry
Fried chicken and veg
Jacket potato (beans, cheese, tuna mayo etc)
A mini roast (chicken drum, Yorkshire pudding, vegetables, roast potato)
Brown stew chicken
Casserole

Probably more. I just look around and whip something up. I have all herbs and spices too obvs and oils and vinegars.

Pasta, pesto. Frozen chips and fish, peas. Red lentils, garlic, onions.

Baked beans are vile, sugary, squishy little bastards. Disgusting.

The thing I always do for the kids at very short notice is pasta, butter, black pepper and grated cheese. They love it. It’s not mega healthy but it’s quick, easy and tasty. And I always have the ingredients in.

I can usually rustle up a veg and tomato sauce for pasta and will always have Parmesan or other cheese in. Often cubes of pancetta too….they keep a long time. Cream keeps a long time in the fridge too….

Eggs

Eggs…👌🏻

M&S Welsh rarebit and part baked bread rolls (bake both and use chinks of the bread torn off to scoop out the cheesy goodness).

Bacon lardons, normally there’s mushrooms, usually have an egg or 2, Parmesan and pasta - to make a kinda pasta carbonara type dish. Good to add a dash of cream if you have it.

Hot smoked salmon, or Parma ham, to just eat straight, maybe with some cheese on a cracker.

Omlette with cherry tomatoes and maybe some cheese or fried mushrooms.

Rice
Pasta
Frozen veg
Tins of tomatoes
Herbs and spices
Stock

I can whip up a pasta dish or something with rice or soup with that.

I meal plan for the family but I run out of inspiration when I’m cooking for one.
So I keep the makings of things only I like and treat myself. Usually spicy.
Fish fingers in the air fryer with 10-minute blender curry sauce and rice makes a katsu-style dinner. Same with frozen chicken Kiev.
All the loose vegetables in the fridge fried in spicy sauce and 3-minute couscous.
Chinese Beef and onions. Egg fried rice. Spanish omelette.
Sausages and mash (I always make double mash and freeze some).
I also buy frozen dishes like good quality lasagne or roast, gravy and veg but they’re more DH’s “cooking for one”.

Then there’s always pasta. Especially Nigella’s Marmite and butter pasta, all for me!
Plus a bit of token salad.

Bread, butter, cheese, ham, eggs, tinned sweetcorn, beans, tomatoes.
Spices and herbs
Freezer full of home grown fruit, rhubarb, apple slices, plums, blackcurrants etc. As well as an emergency pizza.

Bread in freezer. Tins of fish. Sardines on toast is fab.

I'm a bit late to this one, but OP, I think that a few meals you know will go down well and can be kept in without too much concern about going off might work better for you than trying to be spontaneous.

In our case, my default is one of two versions of basic pasta sauce - one with tomotoes or one with a creamier sauce. I tend to have a chorizo ring knocking about as they would survive the apocolypse, or use bacon/sausages/mince if I have it. I always have onions (also - last forever plus sometimes buy frozen chopped for convenience). Then I might add any vegetables that might work and need to be used up - mushrooms, peppers, broccoli etc - but not essential. Then milk/wine/stock plus cream/cream cheese/creme fraiche/yoghurt or tomato.

I also always have rice and noodles in - again, these last forever in the cupboard - which means I can usually knock up something like a quick curry or some kind of baked bean thing.
I've also mastered a few basic bread-like options for when I need to. Eg I can do quick pita/flat breads using a basic jamie oliver recipe or another jamie option is one where you sort of make a toasted sandwich in the pan using a batter you create witg bread flour. These tend to be more about lunch though than dinner though.

Always have rice pasta noodles couscous and bulgar wheat in the cupboards alongside tinned tomatoes and baked beans and an array of seasonings
freezer there is always vegetables, chicken nuggets and chips
fridge always milk, yogurt, butter, tomatoes