Recipe ideas with less ingredients?

CurlySue2017

I'm searching for recipe ideas but I am finding that an awful lot of them have ingredients where you need a pinch of this, or a splash of that.  Which means buying an entire packet or bottle of something and then the remainder just sitting in the cupboard never getting used and I cannot abide food waste.
Could anyone direct me to any recipes that are say five ingredients or less?  Or simpler recipes that don't require tiny amounts of ingredients that will never be used again please?

MattMattMattUK

CurlySue2017 said:

I'm searching for recipe ideas but I am finding that an awful lot of them have ingredients where you need a pinch of this, or a splash of that.  Which means buying an entire packet or bottle of something and then the remainder just sitting in the cupboard never getting used and I cannot abide food waste.
Could anyone direct me to any recipes that are say five ingredients or less?  Or simpler recipes that don't require tiny amounts of ingredients that will never be used again please?

Toast?

More seriously though, I have a cupboard full of herbs and spices, I will use them with different things, rather than just using them once, find other recipes that also use them, cook that also, widen your list of recipes rather than seeking to narrow it. 

Green_hopeful

There are recipe books for small numbers of ingredients. I think Jamie did one. 

maman

What sort of things do you like to eat? 🤔 Which items have you seen listed that might go to waste? Some recipes can be easily adapted, for example curry powder can be used instead of a large number of separate spices. Or, in reverse, if you bought Worcestershire sauce it can be used in many recipes. 

CurlySue2017

MattMattMattUK said:

CurlySue2017 said:

I'm searching for recipe ideas but I am finding that an awful lot of them have ingredients where you need a pinch of this, or a splash of that.  Which means buying an entire packet or bottle of something and then the remainder just sitting in the cupboard never getting used and I cannot abide food waste.
Could anyone direct me to any recipes that are say five ingredients or less?  Or simpler recipes that don't require tiny amounts of ingredients that will never be used again please?

Toast?

More seriously though, I have a cupboard full of herbs and spices, I will use them with different things, rather than just using them once, find other recipes that also use them, cook that also, widen your list of recipes rather than seeking to narrow it. 

I see what you mean but I struggle to use them up, even cooking different things.  There's only two of us so a jar of spice lasts a long time and bottles of things even longer.  Always happy to expand my recipe collection, but all the ones I find seem to require different things

And I LOVE toast!!  But sadly have to limit my bread intake

CurlySue2017

maman said:

What sort of things do you like to eat? 🤔 Which items have you seen listed that might go to waste? Some recipes can be easily adapted, for example curry powder can be used instead of a large number of separate spices. Or, in reverse, if you bought Worcestershire sauce it can be used in many recipes. 

I'm pretty open really and enjoy most foods, but I'm quite a traditionalist at the same time and ideally try to go for things that I can use leftovers for at lunch the next day.  A couple of examples of requirements that I would struggle to use up would be things like balsamic and rice wine vinegar, mustard, spices not used often like cardamom, things like that

Misslayed

Google helpfully suggests alternatives for lots of ingredients, eg dry sherry or white wine instead of rice wine, so you could try adapting a recipe you like the sound of using ingredients you have in the cupboard. 

MattMattMattUK

CurlySue2017 said:

maman said:

What sort of things do you like to eat? 🤔 Which items have you seen listed that might go to waste? Some recipes can be easily adapted, for example curry powder can be used instead of a large number of separate spices. Or, in reverse, if you bought Worcestershire sauce it can be used in many recipes. 

I'm pretty open really and enjoy most foods, but I'm quite a traditionalist at the same time and ideally try to go for things that I can use leftovers for at lunch the next day.  A couple of examples of requirements that I would struggle to use up would be things like balsamic and rice wine vinegar, mustard, spices not used often like cardamom, things like that

I know you said you try to limit your bread intake, but balsamic vinegar and olive oil with fresh warm bread is delicious! Balsamic vinegar and other vinegars do have a BBE but not a use by, they do not go off, although the flavour might change slightly over time. In terms of cooking not much else can substitute for balsamic (you can sort of bodge something with sugar, but the flavour is not the same), but your example of rice wine vinegar, you can easily use white wine vinegar instead and even distilled vinegar might work depending on the recipe.

You can also add things into recipes where you would not normally use them, cardamom pods are a great way to add flavour into rice whether for a curry, a chili or rice for a salad, mustard I would use in different things, from cooking, to flavour meals, even in a ham sandwich, it is sometimes interesting to see how different flavours can enhance meals one already cooks, a good dollop of mustard in a cauliflower or macaroni cheese is a great way to give it a nice warmth. 

JIL

I admit to buying the jars of curry sauce from aldi, the Baltic with the spices separately at the top. I use chicken thighs skinless and boneless, fresh tomatoes and spinach.

Theres also a chilli pasta sauce in Aldi, really good with a bag of defrosted seafood or prawns and some fresh peas. With pasta. You can also add chorizo.

I also make a chicken thigh, chorizo bake, just adding onto a baking tray some courgette, red onion, fresh tomatoes, sweet potatoes. Any leftovers make a good pasta addition.

Sausage casserole, easy and you can buy the mix for 35p from aldi.

CurlySue2017

MattMattMattUK said:

CurlySue2017 said:

maman said:

What sort of things do you like to eat? 🤔 Which items have you seen listed that might go to waste? Some recipes can be easily adapted, for example curry powder can be used instead of a large number of separate spices. Or, in reverse, if you bought Worcestershire sauce it can be used in many recipes. 

I'm pretty open really and enjoy most foods, but I'm quite a traditionalist at the same time and ideally try to go for things that I can use leftovers for at lunch the next day.  A couple of examples of requirements that I would struggle to use up would be things like balsamic and rice wine vinegar, mustard, spices not used often like cardamom, things like that

I know you said you try to limit your bread intake, but balsamic vinegar and olive oil with fresh warm bread is delicious! Balsamic vinegar and other vinegars do have a BBE but not a use by, they do not go off, although the flavour might change slightly over time. In terms of cooking not much else can substitute for balsamic (you can sort of bodge something with sugar, but the flavour is not the same), but your example of rice wine vinegar, you can easily use white wine vinegar instead and even distilled vinegar might work depending on the recipe.

You can also add things into recipes where you would not normally use them, cardamom pods are a great way to add flavour into rice whether for a curry, a chili or rice for a salad, mustard I would use in different things, from cooking, to flavour meals, even in a ham sandwich, it is sometimes interesting to see how different flavours can enhance meals one already cooks, a good dollop of mustard in a cauliflower or macaroni cheese is a great way to give it a nice warmth. 

This is very useful, thankyou!

CurlySue2017

JIL said:

I admit to buying the jars of curry sauce from aldi, the Baltic with the spices separately at the top. I use chicken thighs skinless and boneless, fresh tomatoes and spinach.

Theres also a chilli pasta sauce in Aldi, really good with a bag of defrosted seafood or prawns and some fresh peas. With pasta. You can also add chorizo.

I also make a chicken thigh, chorizo bake, just adding onto a baking tray some courgette, red onion, fresh tomatoes, sweet potatoes. Any leftovers make a good pasta addition.

Sausage casserole, easy and you can buy the mix for 35p from aldi.

We do shop at Aldi so I'll keep an eye out, thankyou
Chicken and chorizo bake sounds yummy