I Have Two Days to Use up All the Food in My Fridge. Here's How I'm Going to Do It

Minimizing food waste one fridge-full at a time

One of the major principles of The Capsule Pantry is about thinking like a chef.

Chefs don’t waste and they’re very creative. Rather than thinking:

What do I have to buy to make this dish I want?

They think:

What can I make from what I already have in my fridge and pantry?

The idea behind this principle is that if you build a flexible pantry of small ingredients - such as The Capsule Pantry ingredient list - you should rarely be stuck for something to cook whilst helping to eliminate food waste at the same time.

Today I’m going to put this into practice.

Right now I’m working with a mini version of the Capsule Pantry. I’m only in Porto for two more days and I have some food in the fridge I want to use up.

So here’s the deal. I’ll show you what’s in my fridge and pantry and explain what potential dishes I could make from this meager selection of ingredients for the remainder of my Porto trip.

In turn, tell me what you have in your fridge / pantry in the comments and I’ll give you an idea or two.

All in the name of reducing food waste.

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This is what’s in the fridge. All ingredients in bold are Capsule Pantry ingredients:

Tomato passata

Kimchi

Chickpeas

Sweetcorn

Creme Fraiche

Plain Yogurt

Cherry tomatoes

Garlic

Lemon

Lime

Onion

Ginger

Parmesan

Coriander

Also not pictured - hot sauce

Now in the pantry:

Long grain rice

Dried chilies

Eggs

Soy Sauce

Plain flour

A box of dried herbs and spices including oregano, mint, dill, fennel seed, dried chilies, cumin, smoked paprika and dried yeast

I also have olive oil, salt, and sugar at my disposal

What could I make from this menagerie of, let’s face it, not that much?

Well, quite a lot, actually.

Crispy chickpeas