One roadblock you may encounter when planning a meal around your stockpile is figuring out what exactly to do with all these ingredients. When you’re standing in front of your cupboard staring at cans, it can be hard to visualize what you could do with them. Here’s how I find inspiration for stockpile meals:

• Google it:

When I need meal ideas, the first place I turn to is Google. As an example, right now I have chicken thighs, carrots, and onions in my fridge. A quick search for “chicken thighs carrots onions recipe” brings up several yummy ideas, like Sweet-and-Sour Chicken Thighs with Carrots. But let’s say I’m in the mood for a different sort of dish, so I add “casserole” to the search query. This time, I get a chicken casserole recipe which I could adapt to what I have on hand.

Other times, my query might be a bit more general. Last summer I punched in “uses for leftover spaghetti” and ended up with this recipe for spaghetti pie. Google has helped me use up a lot of food that I had no clue what to do with!

• Check your favorite blogs:

There’s a lot of great websites devoted to pantry cooking that can help inspire your menu. Here’s a few of my recommendations:

Eat From Your Pantry

How to use those leftovers – an excellent article by Marjorie Burris on using what you have handy. A must-read!

Hot Coupon World’s Stockpile forum – includes a monthly “Living off your stockpile” challenge

Money Saving Mom’s Eat-From-The-Pantry-Challenge Link-up

• Ask a friend:

I’m always curious to hear what my friends and family are cooking. If you’re out of ideas, ask someone else what they would make! Sometimes, I even take to social media outlets and brainstorm recipes with people through Twitter. (I’m @hardertobreathe if you ever want to say hi!)

• Don’t be afraid to experiment!

Some of my best dishes have come from pure experimentation. If you can’t find a recipe that works for you, why not make your own? When I have leftovers or ingredients that need to be used up, the first thing I think is: Could this be used in a casserole? Could I stir-fry it with something else? Would it be good in an omelet? Don’t be intimidated – experimenting could mean something as simple as swapping one ingredient for another. Worst comes to worst, it doesn’t turn out great and you’ve learned what substitutions don’t work. But you won’t know until you try – and you might discover a delicious new recipe!

This entry was posted on Friday, May 14th, 2010 at 6:42 pm and is filed under Articles. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.