Kitchen Creativity: Fun Fridge Clean-Out Meal Ideas

While we try our best to be frugal, it doesn’t always quite pan out. American households throw away a third of the food that they purchase – food that amounts to roughly around $1,900 worth of food every year. Luckily, there are easy and creative ways to remedy this problem. We’ve put together four recipes that’ll utilize most, if not all leftovers in your fridge. We kept these recipes as simple as possible so even novice home cooks can prepare them with no trouble at all. Read on for a list of four fun recipes that will help you clean out your fridge!

Banh Mi

The Banh Mi is a Vietnamese staple. And while there is no exact definition of what a Banh Mi should be, most of them make use of these three elements: protein (pork is commonly used), pickled vegetables, and a baguette.

Protein is where your leftovers will come in. You can experiment with things such as chicken, pork, and beef and see what works best for you. What’s great about this recipe is that it involves very little cooking. What we do recommend is getting good baguette as it is one of the most noticeable elements of the dish. Our Bake at Home Baguette is perfect for this, as it comes with the freshness that is just not present in pre-bought bread.

 

All-You-Can-Stuff Pita Breads

The great thing about pita pockets is that they can literally be stuffed with anything you fancy or with leftovers you need to use up. Using tasty pita bread as a base, you can build your pita and fill it to the brim. You can mix and match ingredients according to your taste. This recipe is also great if you’re looking for inspired ways to use your grains. As we said, we love stuffing ours with couscous, but use whatever you have like quinoa or brown rice.

One of the easiest things to do at the start of the week is to use a rice cooker that is simple and fool-proof, as any basic cooker will do the trick for any grain. You can use some of these for regular grain-based meals, but set aside a container of this to stuff your pita pockets for a portable lunch. This machine does the work for you, and you can then scour your fridge for other toppings and sauces to incorporate. “No recipe” recipes allow you to use your creativity and think out of the box to create meals that you may not have even considered, with ingredients like grains that you use all the time.

 

Veggie Omelet

This recipe is perfect for the wilted veggies in your fridge that you were just probably gonna throw away. Before doing this, you’ll want to examine the vegetables for any parts that may seem inedible. Simply snip these parts off as the rest of it should be perfectly fine to eat. Aside from the vegetables, you’ll be needing fresh eggs and some butter.

Now, one tip we can give you is to preheat your pan before adding in the butter. This is important, as your eggs can still stick to the pan even if it has a nonstick surface. Preheating the pan lessens the chances of this happening, making the cooking process as easy as can be. From there, all you’ll need to do is to melt the butter in the pan, ensuring that it covers the entire surface. Add the eggs in and then the veggies when the eggs have set a little. You can add cheese if you want, but salt and pepper should do the trick. Roll the omelet up and garnish with parsley.

 

Vegan Friendly Burgers

Here’s another vegetarian – and vegan – dish for anyone with dietary restrictions or anyone looking for a healthier, plant-based meal. The Beyond Meat or Impossible Burger has become extremely popular commercially and you can easily do this at home with ingredients you’ve probably left untouched or with the odds and ends of vegetables about to go bad. Using our BFree Soft White rolls which are now available in Publix to the sandwich the patty, all that’s left is whizzing a few ingredients in a food processor and frying them.

Throw drained cans of sweetcorn and chickpeas and diced beetroot into a food processor with a bunch of spices or wilted herbs. We recommend coriander, garlic powder, cumin, coriander, paprika, salt, and lime zest – but feel free to use your favorite spices or other herbs left in the fridge. You can then put in 4-5 tablespoons of gluten-free flour and pulse until everything is well-combined but not runny. Divide this into 8 burgers on a flour-dusted surface and lightly coat each side before allowing them to firm up in the refrigerator. You can then fry them until they are golden, and stick them inside the toasted buns with your ideal toppings.

 

French Toast

Lastly, here’s how you can salvage stale bread from going straight into the dumpster. Most people prefer using stale bread for their french toast. This is because stale bread has more of a bite to it, as compared to fresh soft bread. For this recipe, all you’ll need is stale bread, eggs, butter, and milk.

As with the other recipes, this one is pretty simple. Just prepare a mixture of eggs and milk – we like to use three eggs yolks for every one and a half cup of milk. From there, all you’ll need to do is soak your bread in it until it’s ready to be toasted in the pan with a generous amount of butter. Serve this up with some maple syrup or some fresh fruits.

If you enjoyed reading this article and are looking for culinary inspirations to spice up your everyday meals, do check out our website for more recipes!

 

Article specially written for bfreefoods.com

By Raquel Williams