It's Sunday night, the fridge is bare, you weren't planning on doing the weekly grocery shop until tomorrow and ordering a takeaway is looking VERY appealing....
Or maybe you're super busy, got sick, or are simply just feeling too lazy to do a shop.
It's always a great idea to have some shelf stable go-to ingredients to whip up a simple meal when the fridge it looking empty - or even better - having enough to survive an emergency if you need to!
So here's four easy, crowd pleasing recipes from mostly shelf stable ingredients to keep you going if you find yourself in a pickle. Use them as inspo to stock up on a few extra items in your pantry!
Taco Soup:
2x cans of your favourite beans (or one if you're also using meat)
1x can of canned tomatoes
1x can of corn
1 onion
2 garlic cloves
1 pack of taco seasoning (or make your own)
Stock (beef, chicken, vege)
Corn chips of tortillas to serve
You can follow this recipe from Recipe Tin Eats for a more fleshed out version, or just use the basic ingredients above in a pinch.
Tuna and Sweetcorn Pasta
1x 425g can of tuna
1x can of corn
1 cup of frozen peas if you have them
1 onion
400g dry pasta
2x jars of alfredo sauce (or make your own if you know how)
Keep it a basic throw together pasta with these ingredients or follow this recipe from New World to make a cheesy bake.
Chickpea Curry
2x cans of chickpeas
2x cans of tomatoes
1 onion
curry paste
1 cup canned coconut cream
Rice
Use this recipe from New World as a guide
Minestrone
1 onion
2 garlic cloves
2x cans of beans (or 1 if you're also using meat)
Stock (beef, chicken, vege)
2x Cans of tomatoes
Fresh/frozen/canned veges of choice (if you have them) - green beans, peas, corn, carrots, capsicum, celery, potato, spinach, courgette etc....
1 cup dry pasta
Use this recipe from Recipe Tin Eats as a guide. It looks like lots of ingredients but minestrone is still a great, hearty meal even it's most basic form.
Some more tips:
Always have extra onions and garlic. They keep for ages if stored right, and really make a difference in flavour. We've included them in the lists here but you can skip them if you don't have them.
Always keep a supply of cans. Canned veges like tomatoes and corn, and canned protein of choice (chickpeas, beans, lentils, tuna, chicken). They're cheap and really good for you
Consider frozen veges - in winter they're often cheaper, hold their nutritional value, and don't need to be sued up quickly - Peas, beans and corn and great options and spinach and capsicum as well for anything that's going to be cooked for a while/stewed (instead of stir fried).
Learn how to used spices and a keep a basic supply - coriander, cumin, paprika and chilli are great foundations for many cuisines, adding spices to a meal really levels up a meal, and making spice blends from scratch will save you a lot of money in the long run.