Make an impromptu "meal" out of what's in your fridge right now.

5-day-0ld spaghetti with single meatball, smothered in Baco-bits, Calamata olives and fresh garden black raspberries with a horseradish garnish. Wash down with 2-year-old bottled beer.

Yum!

We’re low on fresh vegetables and fruit because Boston Organics doesn’t come 'til tomorrow, so (limiting just to the fridge because including the freezer seems like no challenge at all):

Chopped kale & collards, sauteed briefly with olive oil, salt, pepper and some chopped garlic scapes
Potato salad with mint and more garlic scapes, vinegar, olive oil, salt & pepper
Pan seared lamb tenderloins (luckily just thawed yesterday, otherwise we’d have no protein in this mean!)

Scrambled eggs with chorizo, cheese, cilantro and salsa. Alternately, tacos.

Herb turkey breast slices from the deli, rolled around a filling of chopped Kalamata olives, onion, and shredded Parmigiano Reggiano, optionally baked or pan-fried in butter, topped with tomato bruschetta (if it’s still good) and more parm. A side salad of leaf lettuce, a little more onion, and sliced or shredded carrots, with bottled dressing (Check the date!) or a pseudo-vinaigrette made with white wine and a little mayo. I even have a couple of hard-boiled eggs that could go on the salad. The rest of the wine to drink. Red grapes for dessert.

You may notice that there’s no starch here. Do all you people keep your bread in the fridge?

Yeah, even though I know it doesn’t need to be. It’s just a convenient place to keep it, since I have plenty of room inside my fridge, but not much kitchen storage space outside of it. The same goes for the eggs.

If you have time, clean some rice, soutee in some oil with a little garlic and onions, add pieces of chicken, pork and sausages from the fridge, pour in chicken stock and cook to make a paella. When the rice is done, put some seafood over the rice (prawns, crab, shrimp or lobster), cover the paellera with aluminum foil, and cook in medium heat in your oven for 10 minutes tops.

I’ve heard long ago that bread kept in the fridge goes stale* faster than if kept at room temperature. (See an article confirming that here.) Of course it will get moldy faster left out, unless you’re using it up quickly.

  • Note that “stale” isn’t the same as “dried out”. See the linked article for details.

Our power went out two days ago. Whatever you want in the fridge is yours.

Cheese on bacon with tomatoes, with a beer and icecream for dessert.