15th November is “Clean out your Fridge day”. It always seems that we are left with the same old things going off in the back in our fridge. Therefore, I’m going to try and give you three recipes so that you can clear out your fridge and eat all the food that’s going off in one day.
First off: breakfast, the most important meal of the day. I always have eggs left over at the end of the week. I don’t really know why, because they are one of the easiest things to use either scrambled, fried, poached or even in something like pancakes. My favourite pancake recipe involves only two ingredients- eggs and bananas. Whilst not technically kept in the fridge, bananas are something I always find going off in my cupboard. Also, when they are all brown and spotty, mashing one of them up with two eggs is the perfect way to use them up! An added bonus with this recipe is that it is super healthy too. You can even add things like yogurt or berries on top, as they tend to have really short sell-by dates!
Now, on to lunch. Cooking up a batch of soup is a great way to use up all the vegetables you’ve got lying about in the bottom of your fridge as pretty much anything can be added to soup. Some of my favourite vegetables to add include carrots, sweet potatoes, onions, peppers and broccoli. Then I’ll just add lentils, vegetable stock and chopped tomatoes. Easy, super healthy, filling, and it gives you lunch for the rest of the week!
Last off, dinner. A really versatile sauce to make that can be a great accompaniment to pasta, rice, meat, or fish is Ratatouille. So, grab that squidgy pack of tomatoes, shrivelled onions and clove of garlic, chop it up with that dodgy looking courgette and shove it all in a pan and you’re done. (It also freezes really well)
Now, some tips to avoid having to clean out your fridge this time next year:
– Meal plan and buy your ingredients according to what you’re going to make.
– Don’t get sucked in by special offers at the supermarket- I know that the offer of getting 12 yogurts for the price of 6 is great but are you really going to eat them all?
– Keep an eye on the use-by dates- if you see a food is about to go off, make a meal out of it and freeze it if necessary. Not only does this save you money because you won’t have to throw food out, but it will also save you time later in the week as you’ll have a meal ready to eat.
So, now that your fridge is beautifully empty it is time to put on your rubber gloves, grab a bucket, some soap and get scrubbing!