Guides · Your pantry

How to cook with what’s already in your kitchen

To cook with what you have, stop looking for a recipe and start with a pattern: a base, a protein, something fresh and something for flavour. Almost any kitchen has one of each. Put them together and you have a meal, whatever the fridge looks like.

By the Just Cooked teamUpdated 7 November 20262 min read

The pattern

  1. Look at what needs using first. The half pepper, the wilting spinach, the open tin. That’s your starting point.
  2. Pick a base. Rice, pasta, bread, potatoes, noodles, couscous or a wrap. Something to build on.
  3. Add a protein. Eggs, beans, lentils, tinned fish, cheese, tofu or leftover meat. Whatever’s there.
  4. Add something fresh or frozen. Any veg, including frozen peas or sweetcorn. Even one is enough.
  5. Add flavour. Butter, a stock cube, soy sauce, a jar of pesto or curry paste, garlic, chilli, lemon or cheese. One or two is plenty.

The pattern behind most meals

Most of the meals you already know follow the same shape. Pasta with sauce is a base and a flavour. Egg fried rice is a base, a protein, some veg and soy sauce. A cheese toastie is a base, a protein and butter. Once you see the shape, you stop needing a recipe for every meal and start seeing meals in whatever is in front of you.

Starting points that work with almost anything

  • Fried rice or noodles: any leftover rice or cooked noodles, an egg, any veg, soy sauce. Ten minutes in one pan.
  • Omelette or frittata: eggs plus whatever is going soft in the fridge. Cheese if you have it.
  • Pasta with a quick sauce: pasta plus a tin of tomatoes, or pesto, or just butter, garlic and cheese. Tinned tuna or beans turn it into a full meal.
  • A traybake: chopped veg and a protein on a tray with oil and salt, into the oven for half an hour. Good with almost any combination.
  • Soup: an onion, any veg, a stock cube and water. Blend it or don’t. Beans or lentils make it filling.
  • A wrap or sandwich: bread plus whatever is left. Warmed in a dry pan, a wrap with cheese and beans is a meal.

Things worth keeping in

You don’t need a full cupboard. A handful of basics make almost anything possible: eggs, pasta or rice, a few tins (tomatoes, beans, tuna), stock cubes, soy sauce, oil, onions or garlic, and something frozen like peas. When these are in, a bare fridge is still a meal.

Why this helps on hard days

Needing a shop before you can eat is one more step between you and dinner. Cooking from what’s there removes it. It also means less food thrown away, which is money back and one less thing to feel bad about. You don’t need to be good at cooking for this to work. You just need to know the pattern.

How Just Cooked helps with this

  • Your pantry fills itself. Scan a receipt and your shopping goes straight in. Snap a shelf and the app picks out the ingredients. Either way, it knows what you have.
  • Meals built from what’s in. Next Meal starts from your pantry, so every suggestion is something you can actually make tonight, shaped to your diet and allergies.
  • A grocery list for what’s missing. If a meal needs one more thing, it goes on the built-in list. No full shop for a single ingredient.
Start where you are. Free 3-day trial, then a subscription. iPhone and Android.

Questions people ask

What can I make with what I have at home?
Start with one thing that needs using up, then add a base like rice, pasta or bread, a protein like eggs or beans, and something for flavour. Fried rice, omelettes, pasta with a quick sauce, soups and traybakes all work with almost any combination.
Is there an app that makes recipes from what’s in my fridge?
Yes. Just Cooked keeps a pantry that fills from a photo of your shelf or a scanned receipt, then suggests meals built from what’s already there, shaped to your diet and the time you have.
What should I always keep in the cupboard?
Eggs, pasta or rice, a few tins such as tomatoes, beans and tuna, stock cubes, soy sauce, oil, onions or garlic, and a bag of frozen peas. With those in, you can always make something.

More guides

What to eat when you can’t decideEasy meals for the days you have no energyEating well on a tight budgetHow to order less takeaway without the guilt

This guide is general information, not medical advice. Just Cooked isn’t a medical or therapy app, and if food has felt hard for a while, your GP is a good first call.