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Cooking Tips: How to Shop Your Cupboards.

by Stephanie

Cooking Tips: How to Shop Your Cupboards.

If you’re like me, you’re avoiding the big grocery stores and relying on grocery delivery services or smaller stores that shop for you and offer swift pick up.

Sometimes that means you’re not getting everything you want which means being a bit more creative when it comes to putting a meal together.

For the past couple of weeks, I haven’t been meal planning; I’ve been ‘shopping’ my cupboards to make simple meals.

Personally, I love making meals this way. I love the idea of looking into the cupboard and creating something from what seems like nothing.

Not everyone gets excited about this however so I wanted to offer a couple of tips on how to shop your cupboards so you’re not stressing about what to eat every day.

Option one: Shop the Fridge.

Always check to see what’s in the fridge first.

The food in the fridge is perishable so you want to make sure you use it before you use the food in the cupboards. Don’t be afraid to use those little bits of veggies that are leftover.

Here’s an example of what I did the other night.

I assessed the fridge and found the following:

  • Three small rainbow chard leaves
  • Celery 
  • A bunch of green onions

What I could have done with this:

  • Fry up to eat with scrambled eggs.
  • Sauté to eat with a can of lentils.
  • Add leftover rice and an egg to make fried rice.
  • Sauté, add ground beef, black beans, and brown rice (this is what I ended up making for dinner!)

I call the last one a skillet dinner. Anything can go into a skillet dinner really and you can change up the spices to make it taste different every time it’s made.

Skillet dinners are a great way to use up bits and bites of veggies in the fridge.

Another way to do this is in a salad.

For lunch yesterday I had a box of greens that desperately needed to be eaten. I used that as my base, added a few chopped green onions, chopped radishes, dill, some cheese cubes and half a can of wild salmon. 

I had broccoli pesto leftover from my pizza night so I thinned it out by adding more olive oil, apple cider vinegar and a bit of salt and voila I had a tasty salad dressing!

Option two: Shop your cupboards.

  • Do you have a can of lentils?
  • Do you have rice?

Make lentils and rice! Then you can go backward and use up some bits of food from the fridge to add to the dish. Again, it’s important to use up what you have.

If you have spinach or other hearty greens in the fridge or freezer add it to the lentils near the end of the cooking time.

This is also a great time to use up any canned or jarred items you’ve been storing in the back of the cupboard. I have some jarred smoked artichokes that I could also add to the lentils for an extra smoky flavour.

One more idea is to make beans on toast.

Sauté white beans with garlic, olive oil, and salt and then smash them onto a crusty piece of toast.

If you have salad greens eat this with a salad or you can eat it with whatever soup you have on hand. You could also fry up and egg and throw it on top.

I hope this gives you a few ideas on how to shop your cupboards.

Keep your meals simple to start and then once you get the hang of eating this way, you can start to experiment with different flavours.


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P.P.S.: Get other cooking tips here!

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Follow me on Instagram • @lealoulemonade

Don't forget to pick up my new Salads + Bowls reci Don't forget to pick up my new Salads + Bowls recipe book!⁠
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It has 10 super yummy and simple recipes to get you through the summer when you just don't feel like cooking.⁠
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💛Three Bean Salad⁠
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My neighbour went on a road trip and before she le My neighbour went on a road trip and before she left she gave me some veggies she had in her fridge. ⁠
⁠
I decided to make a simple soup with them along with a few other bits of food I had in the fridge. ⁠
⁠
Here's what I made:⁠
⁠
⭐Nice Neighbour Fridge Soup⭐⁠
⁠
💚3 small ribs of celery⁠
💚1 cup of cabbage, chopped⁠
💚1 cup of kale, chopped⁠
💚1 can of chickpeas⁠
💚1-2 'cakes' of ramen noodles⁠
💚6 cups of water or broth⁠
💚2-3 tbsp tamari⁠
💚3 cloves of garlic⁠
💚1/4 cup cilantro⁠
💚1-2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil⁠
💚1 tbsp chicken bone broth powder from Organika (optional)⁠
⁠
👉🏻In a heated pan, add the olive oil⁠
👉🏻Saute the celery and cabbage until translucent⁠
👉🏻Add the chickpeas and garlic and cook for 3 minutes being mindful not to burn the garlic.⁠
👉🏻Add the water/broth, tamari and bone broth; cook for 5 more minutes⁠
👉🏻Add the kale and cook until slightly wilted⁠
⁠
While that simmers on low...⁠
👉🏻Boil a pot of water for the ramen noodles and cook according to the package instructions.⁠
⁠
👉🏻Once the noodles are done, add some to a soup bowl and top with soup, add cilantro & eat!⁠
⁠
P.S. This would be SO good with leftover shredded chicken!⁠
⁠
Get more recipes like this one at lealoucooks.com under the recipe tab.
One of the best ways to save time is prepping your One of the best ways to save time is prepping your meal ingredients in advance.⁠
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When the weather gets nicer, I personally want to spend less time in the kitchen and more time enjoying the sun. ⁠
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Does that sound like you too?⁠
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When you're planning your meals, choosing salad and bowl recipes lets you prep a bunch of ingredients in advance and quickly put them together when it's time to eat.⁠
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Grab your bowl and head outside for dinner!⁠
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Sounds good to me.⁠
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This month, I have a new recipe book called Salad + Bowls. It includes 10 fresh and simple recipes to ease into summer.⁠
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Get it here: @lealoucooks or directly here>> https://bit.ly/saladsbowls⁠
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New in the shop!⁠
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I love making salads and bowls for meals because most of the ingredients can be prepped in advance and thrown together for quick meals.⁠
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Salads + Bowls Recipe Book comes with 10 delightful recipes to enjoy all summer long.⁠
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About Stephanie

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Hey! I'm Stephanie. I'm a Writer, Culinary Nutrition Expert and Cooking Instructor helping families cook nourishing meals. Read more about me {here}.

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