What do you cook when you don't have much available?

If we don't have much else than an onion and a couple of potatoes, then I can easily make one of our favourite dishes (Recipe - Vegan Indian Potato Curry) served with rice. It can easily be scaled to a couple of generous servings. And making Palestinian flatbread (Recipe - Mana'eesh (Palestinian Flatbread)) to go with it is a nice addition.

Lacking the potatoes, I'll just make an adhoc dahl based on any lentils to hand (and i often have 5 or more types dried or tinned) and an onion. I've got ready chopped onions in the freezer from a harvest of fresh green onions that weren't dried (so didn't have the brown paper skin). Chopping then and freezing them was the best preservation method to hand. Lacking those, I could easily just use onion powder from my spice shelf.

So whilst I like fresh veg or produce to hand, I don't need it to make a tasty meal.

And there is always baked beans on toast, or a homemade vegan cheese sauce over pasta, or as suggested above tinned tomatoes & pasta, but a nice tasty Indian always goes down well in this household.

Plus there is always the depths of the depth freeze to plunder. Something I suspect we'll have to do in the New Year for a couple of months, to use up what's in there.
 
karadekoolaid said:
I look in the fridge first.
We've always got loads of pasta and loads of lentils, split peas, beans, etc. Plus I've got a whole load of spices, condiments, chutneys, hot sauces, conserves like pesto, caponata, sundried tomatoes, etc., so it's never really a problem to "throw something together"
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Yes, exactly, you always have all the food you need at home
 
badjak said:
Somehow I never manage to empty my freezer.
I defrost ground beef, but then cook it with so much else that I cant finish it. So I take out a small pack of beef and replace with 3-4 times it's space.

And noodles do cook a heck of a lot faster than potatoes and no need to peel them either :)
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Yes, great, but I didn't have meat at home and this was the main issue :D
 
caseydog said:
I always have dried pasta and canned tomatoes in the pantry. Of course, I also have herbs and spices in the pantry, too. Pasta is one option.

I also almost always have flour tortillas in the fridge, and there are always some kind of meats in the freezer. Also eggs and cheese in the fridge. Quesadillas and tacos are an easy option.

CD
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Pasta was common among almost all the answers, and most of them all steal pasta, but cooking pasta with meat takes time unless vegetables are used.
 
badjak said:
Somehow I never manage to empty my freezer.
I defrost ground beef, but then cook it with so much else that I cant finish it. So I take out a small pack of beef and replace with 3-4 times it's space.
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That's me also.

Chicken, pork or beef.
 
karadekoolaid said:
I look in the fridge first.
We've always got loads of pasta and loads of lentils, split peas, beans, etc. Plus I've got a whole load of spices, condiments, chutneys, hot sauces, conserves like pesto, caponata, sundried tomatoes, etc., so it's never really a problem to "throw something together"
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How good that you always have a lot of food in your home and you can choose easily
 
badjak said:
Somehow I never manage to empty my freezer.
I defrost ground beef, but then cook it with so much else that I cant finish it. So I take out a small pack of beef and replace with 3-4 times it's space.

And noodles do cook a heck of a lot faster than potatoes and no need to peel them either :)
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It is really great that the freezer is never empty
Good for you
 
Two days ago I needed just what we are discussing. I cooked up some fettucine and ate it with garlic butter and grated parmigiano. Another quickie for me is the venerable omelette. I just put in whatever I have on hand. It can work any time of day. My wife is a fan of the grilled cheese sandwich. We put a tomato slice in it with the cheese. Another is to go to the freezer and choose one of several home made soups I keep there. A quick warm up and it is ready to go.
 
blades said:
Two days ago I needed just what we are discussing. I cooked up some fettucine and ate it with garlic butter and grated parmigiano. Another quickie for me is the venerable omelette. I just put in whatever I have on hand. It can work any time of day. My wife is a fan of the grilled cheese sandwich. We put a tomato slice in it with the cheese. Another is to go to the freezer and choose one of several home made soups I keep there. A quick warm up and it is ready to go.
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I agree with the omelet, two grated tomatoes and onions and two eggs make a complete meal
 
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