What's In The Fridge?

 

    How often do you look into your fridge and spot some leftover ingredients that you forgot about weeks ago, rotting in your fridge? For a lot of people, including me, this happens rather often.  There are countless cases where after we are done cooking, we're left with some vegetables or meat that just end up rotting in the fridge after a week or two. People don't do this intentionally. Leftovers tend to be in small amounts where they're not worthwhile or are ingredients that they are unsure how to make use of. 

Of course, we wouldn't want to leave them to decay, that would be wasting food! the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations calculates that nearly one-third of food is wasted due to consumers purchasing and cooking more than what they can eat, resulting in the leftovers being thrown out or left to expire. But if you're not sure about what to do with these leftovers, what can you do?

        Binging With Babish has a great video series called "What's In The Fridge", which centers around the residents searching through their fridge for leftover ingredients to use for a meal. They match ingredients they believe would work well together, making sure to utilize their chosen ingredients to their utmost potential for their dishes. This series is not just great for showing the chefs' resourcefulness but also provides a good display of how versatile cooking can be, making use of whatever is in their fridge to produce something they could eat and enjoy. 

        However, not everyone has the fridge of a chef. We don't have exquisite cheeses, leftover sauce, or chilled cured meats. You may just have half an onion, some garlic, or half a pack of beef, and that's completely okay! Remember that cooking is versatile, and oftentimes you can just combine things together to form something new. A great way for this to happen is to incorporate those ingredients into a base, and what better example is there than the art of fried rice.

 

    Fried rice is one of my favorite ways to utilize leftovers. Serving as a blank base, fried rice acts as a bed to soak in the flavors and textures of your ingredients. You can toss in just about anything into fried rice and it'll come out delicious. Its flavor doesn't just lie in its versatility, but also in its simplicity. By simply tossing in your ingredients and leftover rice and tossing it around in a pan a few times, you can create a hearty meal within 5 to 10 minutes.

Rice isn't the only base you can choose either. Bread, pasta, soups,  or even frittatas serve as great vessels for any number of leftover vegetables and other ingredients. You don't need to follow any recipe or instructions. Just toss them in and see how they taste! By utilizing these bases, you can put those ingredients in your fridge to good use rather than letting them spoil. With that said, if you have some leftovers in your fridge, now you know what to do!

Word Count: 501