Recently I’ve embarked on a project to cook meals using items we already have in our freezer/fridge/pantry as much as possible. I can be a bit of a bit of a pack-rat when it comes to food, stocking up on things and then somehow finding it difficult to find a way to incorporate them into the rotation. I wouldn’t have this problem if I would use the same recipe more than once, but as I’ve told That Husband many times, there are just too many fabulous recipes out there for me to commit to one long term!
I can contribute all of my success with Operation Cleanout to Supercook. 
Plug in the ingredients you have on mind, and this nifty little site searches through other sites like allrecipes.com, recipezaar.com, and marthastewart.com to come up with recipes that are filled with components you already have on hand. My freezer is almost empty (though I still need to get rid of all those popsicles I bought during my first trimester) and now it’s time to move on to our kitchen pantry and the garage closet.
February 15th, 2010 on 3:09 pm
Gah, just what I needed!! Thank you!
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February 15th, 2010 on 3:23 pm
Good for you! I have this tendency as well. Though, you may want to save the popsicles for that day of labor. Ok, never mind, you have all the way until May to get fresh popsicles if that’s what you want.
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February 15th, 2010 on 3:58 pm
I am going to try this out! I am awful at grocery shopping- I always go with one meal in mind, and then after I make it, I find that the next night we have nothing to eat!
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February 15th, 2010 on 5:22 pm
What a neat idea! I’m going to have to give it a try.
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February 15th, 2010 on 5:38 pm
This is one of my favorite food websites
So glad someone came up with this idea.
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February 15th, 2010 on 7:54 pm
That is such a good idea. We tend to just buy the same things again and again because that’s what’s familiar and easy. That looks like such a simple, pain-free way of getting some variety.
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February 15th, 2010 on 8:29 pm
This is great - I try to do this and sometimes I’m successful, but this will be a huge help!
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February 15th, 2010 on 11:21 pm
I am bookmarking this. Amazing. Truly amazing. Now I need to start sifting through the freezer.
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February 16th, 2010 on 8:01 am
That’s why I always shop after making a menu list and then the grocery list accordingly.
Thanks for the tip on the website though, I’ll use it when I run out of ideas but still have groceries to use
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February 16th, 2010 on 9:48 am
wow. thanks jenna! i love to cook and cook often, but at least once a month i feel stuck with what’s left in the fridge and pantry. now i know exactly what to do with the remaining 40 oz of the 46 oz can of tomato juice i opened yesterday.
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February 20th, 2010 on 12:16 pm
We’re trying to be more thrifty and time-wise with our food and cooking, so we recently started mega-cooking (buying in bulk/seasonal food and making mega batches of food, then freezing it). It’s working out really well, and you can use your different dishes to make other dishes to vary things up as well (eg. BBQ meatballs -> enchilada casserole) I have a link here:
http://ourlittlehaus.squarespace.com/blog/2010/2/10/shorties-guide-to-mega-cooking.html
You could probably combine your super cooking with maga cooking by looking at your pantry first and planning your dishes around what you have! Then it’d be super-mega cooking!
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February 20th, 2010 on 12:16 pm
*mega, not maga
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September 21st, 2010 on 1:10 pm
That is a great idea. I need to check out that site and clean out my fridge!
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