What to eat today: easy dishes you can make with what you have in the fridge

Couscous here I catch you here I eat you

One of the tricks to improvising recipes when wondering what to eat today is to always have a package of couscous in the pantry. It is very easy to prepare and gives a lot of play. To make this, all we have done is hydrate it with a little hot broth that we had saved, and mix it with a carrot, and red and green pepper that we have found in the refrigerator drawer.

To accompany, while sucking the broth, we have steamed a portion of green beans that we had frozen and a boiled egg.

Improvised lentil salad

Yes Yes. To the improvised, not to the Rioja. It involves taking a can of canned lentils, draining them and mixing them with what you have in the fridge. In this case, it has slices of apple, tomato wedges and raw vegetables as a salad.

To make it more complete, we add a bit of chicken breast that we had left over to have a delicious and super easy unique dish. It is one of the recipes to eat chicken when you have tired of eating it on the grill.

Harvest rice with a lot of glamor

Rice is another of the basic ingredients for when you don't know what to eat today. Both the white rice made expressly and one that you have left over from a meal (a paella, a risotto …) can be used to make a glamorous recipe like this one. You put it on an appetizing base, in this case some pre-cooked tartlets, you add some vegetables that you have in the fridge and complete it with some peeled shrimp tails that you can have the foresight to keep frozen (or canned tuna or sardines) decorate with herbs.

Another possibility would be to serve it on toasted bread (which you can have frozen in slices ready to toast). Or if you want a lighter option, serve it in a nice container: cocktail glasses, individual casseroles …

Last minute chickpea stew

The stews are usually very laborious, but this one is super easy. If you don't know what to eat today, try it. Boil spinach or chard or sauté them directly in a skillet. Once drained or when the water has evaporated, add a pot of cooked and drained chickpeas, add a little vegetable broth, and let it cook together for a few minutes to mix the flavors. Complete with boiled egg, cod or grilled hake … To save time, you can prepare it in parallel while you cook the stew, and you add it in the last minutes of cooking so that they take on flavor.

To make it more bound, crush three or four chickpeas with a fork, add them to the stew and stir to thicken the sauce.

Rich pasta in a pantry blink

Another of the classic recipes that you can make with what you have in the pantry when you don't know what to eat today is pasta with sauce. You just have to cook it following the instructions on the package and add a sauce that you can improvise with what you have on hand. These spaghetti, for example, we have accompanied with a Bolognese sauce made with a ratatouille that was in the fridge and a little minced meat.

You can also make it with canned tuna, frozen and sautéed prawns, boiled ham cubes, assorted mushrooms, boiled vegetables … Pasta goes well with everything and if you know how to cook it, it doesn't have to get fat.

Scrambled eggs (and very well accompanied)

Eggs are another of the perfect allies for improvisation in the kitchen. They can be added to almost anything and can also be the basis for many espresso dishes and recipes. For example, you can take any vegetable you have in the fridge, both fresh and cooked, cut it into cubes, sauté it and add beaten egg to make a scramble as rich and appetizing as this wild asparagus with prawns.

If you don't like or don't have asparagus or shrimp, there are endless alternatives. You can substitute the asparagus for green beans, zucchini, broccoli trees … And the prawns for bacon, cooked ham, mushrooms …

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Last minute noodle soup

Unless, like Mafalda, you hate soups, they are another of the most popular dishes to improvise meals and dinners in the blink of a pantry. This one is super simple, we have made it with an onion and carrot sauce that we had in the fridge drawer, and we have added a pre-cooked broth and a handful of noodles that we had in the pantry. But you can put practically everything: broccoli, peas, rice, hard-boiled egg …

Packaged broth can get you out of trouble in a moment of emergency, but it is not recommended to abuse it because it can carry a lot of additives and go on to add to the list of ultra-processed foods to avoid. To counteract this, you can make a vegetable broth or cream yourself and freeze them in portions or in cubes, and if you are forced to do one, read the label carefully and opt for the one that is less processed.

Stuffed Potatoes with Express Sauteed Vegetables

It is about combining two of the foods that are not usually missing in the kitchen: potatoes and vegetables. You take a ratatouille or whatever vegetables you have. You cut it small and sauté it. And with it you fill some roast potatoes or leave it as is. You can combine it with any grilled fish or meat or even add minced meat to the sautéed filling. To roast the potatoes, wash them, wrap them in parchment paper and bake them for 40 minutes at 180º. Remove them, let them cool a little, empty a part and fill with the vegetables.

If you want to speed up the process, you can roast them in the microwave. To do this, wash them with their skin, pierce them in several places so that they do not burst and cook them at maximum power for about 5-10 min depending on the size and quantity. To avoid overdoing it, after 5 minutes, click with a toothpick and check that it enters easily. If not, continue cooking in short one-minute batches until it comes in without difficulty.

Surprise and exceptional omelette

Omelettes are another of the classics with eggs to improvise dishes when you wonder what to eat today. Apart from the classic French omelette and potato omelette (with or without onion depending on how you like it) you can make omelettes from practically any food you find in the pantry or fridge: pepper, spinach, zucchini, legumes, tuna , cheese, chorizo …

Try original and easy preparations and presentations like this one. Use a French omelette as a pizza base, spread it with tomato sauce and cover it with what you find in the fridge. In this case, we have added some tomatoes, olives and grated cheese, and we have gratified it for a few seconds on the microwave grill.

Salad with what is there and a touch of imagination

And of course you could not miss a salad. Beyond having a green base, you could practically say that salads have no rules. We have made this with some tender shoots (we always have a bag in the fridge to improvise salads when we know what to eat today) to which we have added slices of apple that we had in the fruit bowl, some slices of celery from a branch that There was leftover after making the broth, a handful of walnuts from the pantry and, as a vinaigrette, some yogurt beaten with a hint of honey and lemon to give it a more sophisticated air.

If you want more ideas, don't miss our easy, quick and … delicious salads!

You've seen some quick and easy dish ideas when you don't know what to eat today. But you can improvise infinitely, taking into account that there are a series of foods that are always good to have in the pantry or the refrigerator to get out of trouble. They are the bottom of the kitchen cupboard.

Ingredients that can not be missing in the pantry

Pasta, rice and couscous to make stews, salads or accompany meats and fish.
Canned or frozen cooked legumes to make stews and salads or as a garnish.
Canned tuna and sardines, which are very healthy even canned, and are used to complete rice dishes, pasta, sauces …
Egg to make scrambled eggs, omelettes, enrich dishes …
In the greengrocer, potatoes (to make a base, fill, puree …) and onions (they are the base of almost all stir-fries).
Green leafy vegetables (spinach, chard …) that are boiled or sautéed in a plis plas.
All-terrain vegetables (such as carrots, peppers, zucchini, broccoli …) that are just as good for a sauce as for filling or accompanying.
Lettuce, mixes and tender shoots to make all kinds of salads or to accompany.
Canned or frozen mushrooms for accompaniments, fillings, sauces …
Frozen chicken, turkey, ground beef, fish, and seafood in portions that get you out of trouble fast.
Sliced frozen bread so you can take out and toast only what you need.
Nuts to enrich and decorate the dishes.
Olive oil for cooking and dressing.