What to Cook When you Don’t Know What to Cook.

Are you one of those people who buys a ton of food at the store only to get home to be overwhelmed with what to cook so you order a pizza?

Without a plan, it’s tough to try to figure out what to cook even when you have a fridge full of food.

So this week I thought I would give you a few ideas on what to cook when you don’t know what to cook.

Even I get overwhelmed sometimes with what to cook for dinner. It could be because I don’t feel like eating what I had planned or I have food leftover from the week before or I just want some comfort food. Whatever it is I have a few scenarios to help you get the ball rolling.

1. You have chicken breast and a few random vegetables like cauliflower, peppers and broccoli.

Make a Stir Fry. A stir fry is the perfect thing to make when you don’t know what you want to make. Why? Because you can put as little or as much into to a stir fry as you want.

Sometimes I have a few leftover green onions and a quarter of a cabbage. These are perfect for a stir fry. If you have a cauliflower to use up, use it in the stir fry itself or ‘rice it’ to use as the base the same you would rice.

In my opinion, the sky is the limit for stir fry.

2. You bought fish on a whim, but you never know what to do with fish.

Ok first of all, here is a secret. Fish doesn’t take as long to bake as you think.

My brother-in-law once told me to cook salmon at 400 degrees for 20 minutes and no longer. Even if you think it’s not done, don’t put it back in the oven. This depends on the size of the fish of course, but ever since I learned this tip, I’m not afraid of making fish.

Ok so back to what to do with the fish: serve it with a sauce or pesto.

If you have pesto in your fridge, amazing, dollop that on top of your fish when it’s done. The sauce or pesto will help even if your fish came out a little dry.

I also love baking fish with a lemon butter sauce and dredging it with egg, almond flour, salt and pepper. Simple steps for big impact.

Fish goes well with many veggies, but sautéed kale, mushrooms, lemon and garlic is great (you have a bag of kale in the back of your fridge don’t you?), rice of course and broccoli. Just pick any vegetable in your fridge and cook it up to eat with your fish.

3. You have a bunch of random veggies in the fridge that you really need to use up.

Make soup. Soup doesn’t have to be complicated and it’s surprisingly easy to make. Also many people think you have to have some type of broth in the house to make it, and though a broth will help boost flavour, it’s not necessary to make a great soup.

Say you have some kale, cauliflower, celery, a couple carrots… those all go so well in a soup. Even if you have that half a cabbage that everyone seems to have after one recipe, chop it up and throw it in.

When it comes to soup, there aren’t many rules. Just throw in what you have and check your pantry for things like lentils or chickpeas or even leftover chicken or fish from a previous meal and you’ll have a great soup to enjoy for a few days.

So there you have it— a few scenarios to help you get dinner on the table. 

Do you have any tried and true ways to get you inspired when you don’t know what to cook? Let me know in the comments.