How often have you come home after a long day only to find “nothing” to eat in your kitchen? Your refrigerator isn’t stocked, your pantry looks bare, and you have nothing planned to make either. You could just order carry out, but that’s not your only option.
Contrary to what you might believe, you don’t have to head to the grocery store or resign yourself to carry out when your kitchen is looking bare. Plenty of meals can be made with only a few items, including items that might not seem like they’d pair well together. Don’t settle yourself for defeat—give some of these meals a try next time there’s “nothing” to eat at home.
Bowls
You can turn just about everything into a bowl if you try hard enough: burrito bowls, grain bowls, sushi bowls, veggie bowls—you name it, you can make it. These work great when faced with a bare fridge and are perfect lazy meals. Toss some rice made to your liking into a bowl and add veggies, beans or meat, salsa, sauces, and a soft-cooked egg for a filling dinner.
Roasted Potatoes
Though it might not be everyone’s first choice of meal (if a meal at all), roasted potatoes are still a viable and filling dish that’s as versatile as the potato itself. Roast your potatoes with whatever tasty ingredients you have on hand—garlic, shallots, or onions, for example—to give it some flavor. Take some leftover chicken, sausage, tofu, or any other protein and add it to the mix to really get the meal going. Take whatever herbs you might have, toss them with a vinaigrette or aioli, and then get ready to eat!
Soup
Making soup is just as easy as making bowls, especially when you don’t have much in the house to cook with. Find yourself some kind of broth-y base, such as frozen or boxed stock or a base mixed with water. Once you have that cooked up, add whatever you’d like to the broth. Do you want some veggies? Toss them in there. Pasta? Good to go. Rice, chickpeas, meat tofu, or herbs? Mix it all in, because all are great options. Make sure everything you add to the broth is thoroughly cooked, let it all simmer for a bit to meld the flavors, and then enjoy your soup.