Anyone who’s ever moved houses or has left their homes for long periods of time knows the struggle of clearing out a fridge. You wouldn’t want to come back to rotting produce in your refrigerator, so you’re forced to make the most out of what's left in it. And yes, throwing out food isn’t an option, with food wastage reaching at least 1.3 billion tons every year.

In this post, we’ve listed below three scrumptious recipes that we’re sure can help you clean out your fridge in no time.

Rice Cooker Frittata With Summer Vegetables

Now here’s a fridge clean-out recipe that you can make in just one cooking tool — more specifically, a rice cooker. This article covers how rice cookers have become such a useful tool to have in your kitchen, as many multi-functional ones do more than just cook rice perfectly. They can also cook vegetables or meat, and, in this recipe’s case, make frittatas.

Ingredients:

2 garlic cloves, minced

1 sliced red onion

1 cup chopped summer vegetables (eggplants, tomatoes, bell peppers, tomatoes, or spinach)

¼ cup grated parmesan cheez (we love Follow Your Heart Brand!)

5 beaten large eggs (vegan swap for 1/2 cup chickpea flour + 1/2 cup water + sprinkle of turmeric for color + sprinkle black salt for "eggy" taste) 

1 tbsp. olive oil

How To Prepare:

Before cooking this dish, be sure to chop your vegetables as small as you can, so that they cook faster. Then, oil up your rice cooker bowl and add your garlic cloves, red onion, and vegetables. Let your rice cooker run for one cooking cycle or until vegetables are tender. Add your beaten large eggs and grated parmesan cheese. Stir to distribute the vegetables evenly. Let the rice cooker run again for one cooking cycle or until the eggs are fully cooked. Let cool completely, then serve.

Leftover Fried Rice

Everyone has made too much rice at one point. If you’ve got day-old rice and other ingredients lying around in your fridge, the best next step is to make fried rice. For one, you can build up the flavor using any protein that you can find in your fridge— from beef to even leftover rotisserie chicken. What’s important is that you use great aromatics and seasoning. This guide to fried rice notes that soy sauce is a seasoning staple for fried rice as it gives that umami and saltiness, but the flavor is entirely up to you.

Ingredients:

2 cups leftover rice

2 garlic cloves, minced

½ cup protein of your choice, chopped into small pieces

1 cup diced vegetables (carrots, potatoes, broccoli, mushrooms, or cabbage)

½ cup frozen peas

2 tbsp. vegetable oil

2 beaten large eggs (vegan swap for 1/4 cup chickpea flour + 1/4 cup water or more for consistency of eggs + sprinkle of turmeric for color + sprinkle black salt for "eggy" taste) 

3 tbsp. soy sauce

How To Prepare:

Heat up the pan with oil and cook your chosen protein to your liking. Set aside. In the same pan, cook your garlic, diced vegetables, and frozen peas until tender. Then, add your rice and cook for at least 3 minutes. After that, add your soy sauce and your cooked protein. Make a well in the center to place your eggs. Once the eggs are cooked, mix it in your fried rice. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Easy Pesto

If you have any leftover bunches of herbs in your fridge and you don’t want them to wilt, you can instead turn them into pesto. While pesto is traditionally made with basil, any tender herb can work as long as you make sure that the flavor is not overpowering. What’s more, you can even add in spicy greens like spinach, arugula, or watercress.

Ingredients:

3 cloves of garlic, peeled

2 cups tender herbs (basil, parsley, mint, dill, cilantro, tarragon, or sorrel)

½ cup nuts (walnuts, pine nuts, pecans, or almonds)

½ cup hard aged cheese (or 1/2 cup of your favorite vegan cheez)

½ cup extra-virgin olive oil

½ cup spicy greens, optional

¼ tsp. salt

How To Prepare:

In a food processor, combine your garlic, herbs, nuts, spicy greens, and cheese. While the food processor is running, slowly drizzle in the olive oil until you’ve made a well-blended mixture with a little bit of texture from the nuts and herbs. During this process, scrape down the sides as necessary. You can store your pesto inside a sealed jar at room temperature for up to a week. To enjoy your freshly made pesto, add it to stir-fried vegetables, spread it on top of your toast, or toss it with any pasta of your choice.

There are a ton of easy and fun recipes that you can make with the stuff that’s left inside your fridge. With a little creativity, you can easily make a delicious meal from ingredients that would’ve ended up in the trash. If we’ve piqued your interest on how to reduce food wastage, click here for our grain-free, tortilla-style Pulp Chips made with leftover vegetable fibers.

Post specially contributed to pulppantry.com

Contributed by: JBowen

Header image: Credit - Pixabay