It’s 6 pm. The plan has gone out the window, nobody went to the shops, and you’re standing at the open fridge as though it might make a suggestion.
It won’t, but a simple formula will.
The fridge-raid formula
Almost every good “whatever’s in the fridge” dinner follows the same shape:
something filling + something with protein + some veg + something saucy
- Filling: rice, pasta, noodles, bread, wraps, potatoes
- Protein: eggs, leftover meat, tinned tuna or beans, tofu, cheese
- Veg: whatever you’ve got, including frozen
- Saucy: soy sauce, a jar of pasta sauce, pesto, sweet chilli, a squeeze of lemon, a spoon of yoghurt
Pick one from each, and you’ve got dinner.
Five meals that work with almost anything
- Fried rice: leftover rice, any veg, an egg, soy sauce. Better with day-old rice.
- Frittata: eggs, cheese, any veg or leftover meat. Oven, 20 minutes.
- Pasta with “the good jar”: pasta, a jar of sauce, whatever veg needs using up.
- Loaded wraps: wraps, any protein, salad bits, a sauce. Everyone builds their own.
- Toasties: bread, cheese, plus anything. A good toastie is always welcome.
Check your pantry heroes
A few pantry staples turn a sad fridge into a real dinner: tinned tomatoes, tinned beans or lentils, stock cubes, pasta, rice, noodles, soy sauce and frozen peas. Keep them stocked and you’re never more than 20 minutes from a meal.
Coming soon: Cook Now
This is exactly the moment we’re building Cook Now for. It’ll look at what’s actually in your fridge, freezer and pantry and show you the meals you can make right now, with no shopping trip. It’s next on the roadmap.
Until then, My Tomte already plans food that’s close to its use-by date into the week first, so there’s less “what on earth is this” in the fridge to begin with.