Scratch meals from whatever's in cupboard/fridge/free zer

If I've got stock in freezer or made some from chicken cooked over the weekend I often chop up loads of veg & either make a casserole if I've any left over chicken or a thick soup. To spice things up I will fry up onions & leek together with curry powder, adding garlic & peppers if I have any. Waste not, want not.

I must be mad sitting reading this while waiting to go in for 3 CT scans having not eaten so far today. Some great ideas though

My daughters favourite is what she calls ‘fridge gravel’ curry.
It’s all the left over veggies in the bottom drawer of the fridge, chopped up and added to a sauce of fried onions, curry powder and a can of coconut milk. You can add tinned tomatoes, stock cubes, any bits you fancy really.
It never tastes the same twice, but it’s always good.

When i am late home from a long working day, and cant be bothered to cook... my staple is scrambled egg on toast, with a little pesto spread on the toast and some strong cheese grated into the egg mix before it is microwaved. Simple, delicious and quick - what's not to like xx

Omelettes with the last of the cheese, or a mushroom which will go over in a few days, jacket potato with beans.
Always have tin soup in the larder, beans, tin sardines in water, packets microwave rice, pasta,.

My meal today took about fifteen minutes chopped and lightly friend onions add tin of mixed beans some quern and some ready cooked noodles and any varity of curry or spice sachet, enough for tomorrow for fifteen mins in the kitchen

I always have cans/packets of chopped tomstos and tins of various pulses, and could live for a week on them with rice or pasta. It is easy to make a bolognese sauce with lentils or kidney beans. instead of mince, especially as I have frozen Sofrito to hand. Or you can use lentils and/ ot Aduki beans with chopped veg to make a vegetarian cottage pie, another favorite especially good for a cold/flu is to use a good quality chicken stock cube as the base for a green soup - after the softened onions/garlic throw in anything green eg fresh or frozen spinach, kale, broccoli tips etc and lots of fresh or dried green herbs. You can add noodles and or chickpeas if you like .
Another favorite is home made fish cakes with tinned tuna and mashed potatos fried in butter.

I Take Mediterranean veg from the freezer. Lidl sell frozen packs. Put some in a baking dish with a chop or piece of chicken on top in the oven and serve with bread to mop up the juices.

My DGC all loved it, when younger (all teenagers now) if I did a Bitza for them.

This was just a bit of this and a bit of that, whatever I had left in the fridge set out like a buffet so they could get what they wanted. Might include hard boiled eggs, cold cooked sausage, bit of ham, tin of tuna mixed with sweetcorn, sliced tomatoes, grated cheese. Nice bread (or toast if bread was past being called nice!) Never the same twice but always very popular. The most popular dessert was always a grated apple in a dish!

I do a posher version of this when they all turn up as one is vegan now and the others have their own likes and dislikes.

My Mum used to say that said she could always make a meal if she had eggs and potatoes in stock.

Witzend. That sounds great! I love making meals out of whatever is in the cupboard. I am eating hardly any meat these days and as I am on my own I am free to try rather crazy ideas! I use a lot of nuts because I love them and lentils have become the new mince, with a bit of flavour added. It's great fun playing around with things!

My go-to dish when there's nothing in the fridge is a stir fry. Made one yesterday with outer leaves of cauliflower (saved from one we ate a couple of days ago), shallot, ginger and garlic, rehydrated TVP chunks and a packet of noodles, plus 5 spice and Szechuan seasoning. Fried together then added soy sauce and ketsap manis. Very tasty and only took about 10 minutes to make.

Friend always wins first prize with her 'Cum-n-see' pie! Whatever comes to hand with a pastry top!

I cook a bacon joint. It’s good as it is, with a baked potato and some veg. Some of it I chop and use in a risotto and/or a stir-fry. It makes a tasty sandwich, or I eat some with a salad. Whatever is left is added to a big batch of soup, made with the stock from cooking the bacon joint, plus umpteen kinds of veg. This is kept in the freezer, and microwaved as needed.

My go to is a jacket potato with tuna and sweetcorn or cheese. I usually have home made ready meals in the freezer. Whenever I make a shepherds pie, curry, chilli, casserole or liver and bacon (for DH only) I make enough for 4 servings, two for that day and two in the freezer. This means I can sometimes go a whole week without any major cooking, and when I go away DH has plenty of easy meals as he won't cook.

I have always found it annoying that TV cooks only show you recipes with freshly bought best quality ingredients. Anyone can make that taste nice. It's the wrinkled veg and tins precariously near their use-by date that we need ideas for!

My DH can't eat tomatoes so I'm rather limited, but I can usually find something to throw together in a casserole or stew. I have a tin of corned beef somewhere which I am looking forward to turning into a hash as an end-of-the-month delicacy soon!

One of the great advantages of living alone is being able to have a make-do meal. My husband would never tolerate anything but a 'proper' meal. I'm quite happy with odd combinations...baked potatoes are a good basic and can be combined with practically anything.

Now there's only two of us and DH is on a health kick following minor heart attack (he doesn't pile his plate up like he used to ) I can cook the same portion but freeze half so on days like that when I can't/haven't got time to cook I can just go to the freezer

Sometimes I have a toasted muffin with an egg on each side, topped with baked beans. Very tasty, sustaining and has protein and fibre. Good for a quick, unplanned meal.

I often make a vegetable casserole out of leftover raw veg.
Boil the root veg a little first then layer all in a pyrex dish.
Add some veg stock from a cube, sprinkle olive oil s&p and bake in a hot oven until browned.
You could put grated cheese on towards the end.
Then maybe with some tinned tuna.
Which reminds me, savoury bread pudding - stale breadcrumbs soaked in hot milk, plus eggs, tuna corn and chopped onion. Baked in hot oven

Another vote for a risotto here. In fact made one this evening to go with some chicken pieces in the freezer. Onion and a little chopped fennel (slightly discoloured but who cares). Splash of white wine (excuse to open another bottle) stock , stirred slowly and finished with knob of butter and some parmesan and a slightly limp courgette that I chopped up small and fried in butter and garlic and added at last minute. Yum!

A can of coconut milk can transform all sorts of mundane ingredients into something exotic. I always have loads of spices in the cupboard so a few dashes added to any left over meat or veg then simmered in some coconut milk makes a really tasty meal. Simple cheese on toast works just as well for me too!

Lovely at any time is a plain omelette and just before you fold it, sprinkle in some dried mixed herbs. It is quick, easy and takes a simple omelette to new heights.