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It’s no fun to toss unused food into the trash because you never ate it. It’s also frustrating to put groceries away when your pantry is stuffed with cans and boxes that have been sitting there for over a year.
You can save money on groceries, prevent food waste, and free up space in your kitchen by finding creative ways to use those often-overlooked items. From unique dinner ideas to preservation techniques to simple hacks, there are infinite ways you can use up those tricky ingredients. Try a few of these tonight, and see what other ideas come to you because of it.
Pizza can be a kitchen-sink-type of meal where anything goes. And if you think you can’t put fruit on pizza, think again — pineapple, apples, pears, mango, and other fruits all work on pizza. You can make pizza dough with simple ingredients and don’t even need to add cheese if you make a nice sauce.
When in doubt, soup is a brilliant way to get rid of food taking up space in your fridge and pantry. Frozen peas can become a creamy pea soup; canned corn can make a hearty corn chowder; canned tomatoes can lead to a rich tomato soup.
Old onions and broth can make French onion soup, while leftover meatballs can make Italian wedding soup. The possibilities here are endless.
Sometimes, a whole meal isn’t the best way to use leftover ingredients.
If you bought a specific seasoning for a recipe and now it’s been sitting in your cupboard untouched for a year, consider elevating your favorite snacks. You can use garam masala or Old Bay to make your popcorn zestier. Make simple syrup from wilting herbs like rosemary for fancy drinks.
Casseroles are lovely because they’re filling, plentiful, and a breeze to make. You can combine almost anything to make a layered casserole. Pick an ingredient or two you need to get rid of, pair them with something simple like rice, pasta, or potatoes, and toss them in the oven.
Similar to casseroles, one-pot meals can also use up unwanted ingredients. Chilis and stews are excellent dishes that you can put almost anything in.
Get rid of your molasses by making your chili more sumptuous, or use up canned tomatoes in a curry. Stir fry, ratatouille, shakshuka, jambalaya, and gumbo are just a few more ideas.
Breadmaking is a handy skill that allows you to always have fresh bread in the house. With so many bread varieties, the chances are good that you can make bread with what you have in your kitchen right now. Making funky ones like zucchini bread, pumpkin bread, focaccia, and peanut butter bread can use unusual ingredients.
If you have leftover fruit that’s about to go bad, grab your blender and make some delicious smoothies. You can use fresh, canned, or frozen fruit for smoothies, as well as many vegetables. Milk, yogurt, and juice are ideal bases, but you can make smoothies with water, too.
The world of salads is a vast one. You can make leafy green salads topped with your overlooked ingredients or create more inventive salads.
Bean salads, fruit salads, tomato salads, pasta salads, potato salads, and tuna salads are some ways to turn leftovers into a salad without leafy greens.
Things like leftover chickpeas, avocado, bell peppers, eggplant, and even tuna can be transformed into sensational dips and spreads that you’ll gobble up in no time.
Consider recipes like baba ganoush, hummus, guacamole, muhammara, spinach-artichoke dip, bean dip, and tahini.
Not every use for leftover ingredients is edible. If your kitchen is overflowing with unused spices and citrus fruits, toss them in a simmering pan of water and delight in the cozy scent.
Cloves, orange peel, lemon peel, star anise, and cinnamon are wonderful for this.
Set yourself up for weeknight success by turning your leftover ingredients into ready-to-go glazes, meat marinades, and salad dressings.
Use mushy raspberries for sweet salad dressings, make a bright pork marinade with canned pineapples, or simmer balsamic vinegar with old pomegranate seeds for a bold beef glaze.
We all tend to fall into a cooking routine involving the same ingredients and meals, but if you’re trying to use up an ingredient, you may need to get creative. Combining sweet and savory items, like chicken with peaches, noodles with peanut butter, or spinach with strawberries, are all surprisingly tasty.
Be bold and think outside the box when glaring at your unwanted cans and produce.
Whether or not you’re an experienced baker, you can bake delicious goods with essential pantry items. From plain sugar cookies to biscuits to garlic knots, you’d be amazed by what you can create in the oven with standard ingredients like salt, butter, sugar, and flour.
And if you have canned or refrigerated items that need to go, add them in!
This sounds dramatic, but you can turn almost anything into a pancake or fritter. Zucchini fritters, carrot fritters, sweet potato pancakes, scallion pancakes, chive pancakes, and eggplant pancakes are yummy ways to use veggies.
Of course, you can always make traditional breakfast pancakes with fruit or pantry items, like chocolate chips or cinnamon.
Rather than spending money on snacks, you can make them at home. Turn canned chickpeas into a crunchy snack, use leftover oats to make granola bars, or combine fruits, seeds, nuts, and candy for trail mix.
If you have a dehydrator, go crazy making dried fruit and veggies!
Adding eggs to almost anything can turn it into a delicious breakfast. Throw all your leftover vegetables into a bowl of whisked eggs and make a fluffy frittata or quiche!
Load your omelets with beans or make a creative benedict with avocados and jalapenos.
Practically everything tastes good in pie form! Just like casseroles, pies can become their own large meals and can be made with almost any ingredient. Make a mixed fruit pie for dessert or a robust vegetable pie for dinner.
If you’re feeling adventurous, there are more unorthodox pie recipes than you may think, like butternut squash pie, pineapple pie, and spinach pie.
Sandwiches are one of the most versatile dishes in the world. Add tomatoes to your grilled cheese, or top your ham sandwich with cabbage. Make cucumber and butter tea sandwiches, or add beans and onions to your hot dog.
Let your imagination run wild, and see what happens!
Okay, jamming and jellying aren’t actual words (at least, jellying isn’t), but we mean canning! Fruit on its way to being mushy and icky can find new life as a sugary jelly that you can use on crackers, sandwiches, and more.
You can even make jam with certain veggies, like sweet potatoes or carrots.
Buddha bowls, burrito bowls, gyro bowls, egg roll bowls, and sushi bowls are usually loaded with veggies and pantry items.
Use up your rice, potatoes, salad dressings, canned vegetables, and fridge produce in one fell swoop with a plentiful and mouthwatering bowl for lunch or dinner.
Did you run out of broccoli for your broccoli cheddar soup? Try green beans. Use cauliflower to make pizza dough or use zucchini to make noodles. Try mashed chickpeas in place of cheese sauce or stuff eggplants instead of peppers.
You don’t have to limit yourself to traditional recipes.
If you have so many vegetables that one or two clever dinner ideas aren’t going to cut it, buy some vinegar and get to pickling!
Cucumbers aren’t the only veggies you can pickle — try carrots, beets, tomatoes, onions, asparagus, peppers, radishes, and corn. You can even pickle fruits like blueberries and strawberries.
Even if you’re not the type to conjure new recipes, experimenting with unorthodox ingredients and pasta usually turns into a yummy dish.
You may not think your green olives or canned chickpeas make sense in a pasta dish, but try tossing in your leftover ingredients with your favorite pasta and a simple sauce and see what happens!
Many cultures have some form of filling wrapped in dough, such as samosas, gyoza, momos, pierogies, and Chinese dumplings.
Whether you make the wrappers or dough from pantry staples or buy them pre-made, you can fill them with practically any vegetable from your fridge or pantry and have a fun meal. If you’ve got a sweet tooth, you can make dessert dumplings with fruit.
Simple base foods include rice, pasta, grits, potatoes, and similar items that go with practically everything. If you have strange produce or pantry staples, odds are you can make them work with one of the humble base foods mentioned.
If you’re trying to get rid of these base ingredients, one flavorful ingredient can transform them into a tasty dish.
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