Pondering a recipe-roundup: empty cupboard meals.

I've been bouncing around the idea of trying to host a recipe roundup, once or twice a month.  (You know the drill -- write a recipe post, send me the link, I'll put it all together into a post.)  But I've been searching for a theme that hasn't been done to death.

Today I think I might have hit upon it.  What do you think about an "empty cupboard" roundup?  I'm not sure how often -- once a month or biweekly -- and it doesn't lend itself to an alliterative name, maybe you all could help me with that -- but here's what I'm thinking:

The idea is to write a post about what you managed to throw together the night before you go grocery shopping.  What can you make from your pantry staples?   It's easy to eat fresh, local, seasonal, interesting, and impressively right after you come back from the farmer's market (or the co-op -- or even the SuperValu).  What can you do at the end of the week, from your leftovers, odds and ends, and emergency rations?  What have you got to choose from?  What did you decide to make and why?

Here's an example from today.  I'm pretty good about meal planning, but I often leave the last couple of days blank because I know I'll have things to use up; on the other hand, sometimes we eat up all the leftovers and I have to get suddenly creative.  I'm about to leave to go grocery shopping right after I finish this post.

Before dinner, the only fresh veg I had in the fridge was a bunch of broccoli (and it was starting to look a little sorry, so raw was out).  No fresh fruit left except some wrinkly apples, an orange, and a lemon.  We had some leftover enchiladas and arroz con pollo, but we were kind of tired of both and needed a break (it'll still be good for lunch tomorrow).  

So I made this:

• Grilled Meatloaf (double onion, since I had no green pepper -- there's always ground beef in my freezer)
• Steamed broccoli with a squeeze of lemon and a drizzle of olive oil
• Plain Fordhook lima beans cooked from frozen -- just a little salt and pepper
• A can of cut beets, drained and briefly marinated in a dressing of orange juice, balsamic vinegar, and fennel seeds
• Homemade bread and butter.
• Oh yeah, and rum and coke for the grownups.  (Hence the need for me to churn out a couple of blog posts before I go shopping)

I think it turned out pretty great, and not bad for a day when I didn't know what I was going to make until about three-thirty.

Anyway, what would you say to having a roundup on a semi-regular basis?  I think it would be a nice way to explore our creativity, celebrate frugality, and get over some of our hangups about appearing as if we only occasionally rely on convenience foods.  Also share some ideas.  And even if your answer is something like, "frozen pizza -- again," well, why not fess up?  If you had an ice-cold beer on the side, you could at least tell us about that.  In fact, I'll make one of the rules be you have to tell the whole meal, not just one interesting recipe.

What say you?  How often?  Which day of the week (or month)?  And furthermore, what should I call it?

Comments

[MelanieB]

I love it. This is really timely because I did an empty cupboard meal tonight that I was pretty proud of and just thinking about how nice it is to have a habit of keeping certain pantry staples such that I can toss together a meal in a pinch.

My comment here got out of hand so I decided to just make it a post on my blog. I'd sort of been thinking about writing something on the subject of keeping a well-stocked pantry for quick meals especially during what is turning out to be a very long stretch of postpartum cooking blahs.

[Ruth]

I like this idea, too! How about the name, Panty Panache?

[Donna Jannuzzi]

Okay, laughing a bit here, surely Ruth did not mean what she said...

I really like the idea. I also menu plan, but usually leave the weekends blank for the same reasons you mentioned. And because we are always so busy, I never know if I will really have time to cook and so pantry meals always come in handy at those times.

I'd be game for once or twice a month, and any day but Thursdays. :)

[bearing]

Careful, Ruth. I almost flagged that as spam!

[MilWifeMamaofOne]

I'd love to participate in this one! Once a month sounds good - maybe ask for submissions during the first or last week, open all week, and everyone get their link in by Friday. The one-day windows on some blogs cause us timing issues since we live in Japan. Excited to see some of the things people come up with!

[bearing]

I would definitely do a week long call for submissions. (Consider one open, by the way, for a trial run). I don't have enough readers that I can snap my fingers and get a whole roundup's worth of posts in a minute. Besides, it takes that long to run through everybody's pantries.

@Ruth's malapropism has sent my round-up naming into the gutter. "Pantry Raid?" "Get Your Pantries In A Bunch?" "Unsightly Pantry Lines?"

[Christy P.]

Alton Brown (Food Network, Good Eats) has had an ongoing series called Pantry Raid.

We're doing one tonight, BTW - risotto with the last of the fresh shelling peas from the CSA.

In my house, I usually call it an emergency dinner because sometimes they are called into action with some item in the planned dinner (if there is one) falls through such as the meat that is still in the freezer rather than nicely defrosted.

I must admit, most days dinner is *planned* when I arrive home from work at 5:30 and am nursing. Whatever will I do when I'm not nursing anymore?! Planning time out the window!

[bearing]

"Whatever will I do when I'm not nursing anymore?"

Posting to pre-empt all the commenters who would chirp, "Can't help you there because that's when I always get pregnant!" Course, I can't help you there either because I've been nursing continuously for 11 years. Also because prolactin fuzzes up my planning/logic brain; when *I* stop nursing, I guess it will seriously cut into the time I spend reading technothrillers I've already read six times because that's the only thing I can follow.

I guess I can't use Pantry Raid then. Figures that Alton Brown would beat me to it.

[Donna Jannuzzi]

So, how would this work? We write a post and then send you the link? Have you thought about doing a link party, or whatever they're called, where you set a day and then we all post on that day? I'm just wondering and thinking out loud here since it seems weird to me to write a post and then maybe a few weeks later have the round-up. But I admit that could totally just be me... I promise, I'm not trying to be dense. And I trust you to figure out the details. :)

[bearing]

I wasn't thinking "a few weeks later" have the roundup, more like "have a few days or a week" and the last day of the week post the roundup...

[Ruth]

Sorry about the mis-spelling earlier....here is one that might work better, especially if I can keep from the earlier faux pas!

eating on empty :)

[Christy P.]

I was thinking last night about how often I use 'emergency dinners' and realized that I should re-frame to 'spontaneous meals.' Otherwise it would seem that we are in a constant state of emergency at our house.

Not that I am planning on stopping nursing anytime soon, but I have a stash of dresses put to the side for the time when I can wear them again!

[MilWifeMamaofOne]

http://meanderingsofaclutteredmind.blogspot.com/2011/07/eating-on-empty-pizza-party.html

Here's one of our favorites for empty-cupboard meals :).