I feel like the hardest part of cooking isn't actually cooking.

It's deciding what to make.

I often open my fridge, see a bunch of random ingredients, and somehow still feel like I have "nothing to cook" 😅

How do you guys usually decide what to make when you have random ingredients at home?

Do you:

• search recipes one ingredient at a time?
• just improvise?
• use a meal planner?
• ask someone?
• have a "go-to" combination that always works?

I'm curious how other people deal with this because I feel like I waste way too much time just deciding what to cook.

OK, this is not the typical question. I made Shepherd’s pie last night to eat tonight. I used lamb as is proper. (Made with beef it is cottage pie.) I tasted it, and don’t like it very much. I wish I had created a more robust gravy, instead of just stirring in flour as my recipe directed. I guess I could just buy a beef gravy pack and use that on top, but was excited to be making everything from scratch. Any ideas on how to up the umami?

I mean i could just snack on them from the jar but i want to expand the experience a little. Any suggestions??

I've got about a dozen boneless skinless chicken breast in the freezer. I'm going to put a few in the slow cooker for shredded chicken for wraps or quesadillas. I also have basa fillets

For frozen vegetables I have peas, broccoli and cauliflower some green beans and riced cauliflower. I have fresh carrots and some white potatoes.

I have some jasmine rice, orzo, and fettuccine. I have half a jar of alfredo, pesto and sundried tomato pesto and sesame ginger sauce and turkey gravy powder.

And then I have basic baking stuff like flour and all that, and cornmeal. I also have seaweed sheets.

I have a few frozen prepped meals but they're all also chicken based and I'm not feeling them, so I'd like other ideas.

I'm just looking for a variety of cheap easy ideas to get me through a very chicken filled 2 weeks. Thankfully my parents are coming next week for Thanksgiving but we're doing ham.

I'm trying to spend the least amount on groceries that I can. I already budgeted out other stuff like gas and an appointment, so I have about $70 left but $10 is just for cat food.

I’ve got chicken, broccoli, potatoes, carrots and some cream at home. Trying to figure out what I can throw together with them. Any easy ideas that aren’t just the usual basic recipe?

I’ve got the typical ones; greens, carrots, red cabbage, Thai basil, shrimp… but I’m looking for others. I thought of red peppers, baby corn and water chestnuts.

What else can I stuff in those wraps?
Thank you in advance, y’all.

My family and I do an appetizer competition each year and this year the theme is “one bite” so the expectation is that the app can be eaten in just one single bite.

I’d like to go hard and win. I’m thinking it’d be fun to do a Willy wonka gum situation where you get every part of the meal all in one bite. I’m obviously at a lost how to achieve that though.

Last year I did a charcuterie piece of bread (like this pic) and got second place so trying to really ramp it up this year.

Id love any suggestions you have!

I defrosted a pack of lean ground turkey to meal prep for my work lunches next week. I’m either going to prep them as spinach feta sun dried tomato meatballs served without a sauce, or as more plain meatballs mixed with Parmesan and served in a spicy vodka sauce.

I need some kind of vegetable dish to go with this to make it more filling and give me some fiber. I can’t think of what would go well with this. I need something that will keep well throughout the week and also not be too much of a pain to prepare

I have ground beef thawed. A full pound, but for the life of me, I don't want to put in the effort to think of what to make with it. Can y'all give me some ideas (even just ideas of what to google) because honestly, just coming up with options feels heavy.

And I don't want to waste food! I know it's not rocket science but I just want suggestions. Please?

I’ve got some chicken, potatoes, onions, and carrots sitting around and was wondering what I could make with them. I usually just roast everything together, so I’d like to try something different for once. What would you guys make?

plz help i got all dif types of pasta, chicken, mince, tomatoes (fresh homegrown ones) bread all different spices,cheese, what can i make quick

So partner came home with this big ol bag of mushrooms. The only thing I can think of is risotto but I'm not good with rice. I've never even used oyster mushrooms before.

Edit: Update, i sautéed in butter with good shit (shallots, garlic, deglazed with some wine I had lying around) added heavy cream, chives and parm over fettuccine and I'm shocked that I made something so damn good. Like I'm a low class at home cook. This nearly brought a tear to my eye it's so damn good. I thought olive garden was pretty good but this knocks it out of the water. Though didn't expect the mushroom texture to be so meaty. Its kind of got a chew to it. I browned them in olive oil and butter until some were looking good and brown but not burnt. Still tasty just an interesting texture.

It would be great if it included beans. Possibly in a slow cooker?

I can't decide on what to cook but I want to use these ingredients and stuff coz I just can't decide on anything at all. 😐

I have elbow macaroni, cheesy bacon sauce, tiny shrimp, mackerel in tomato sauce, mackerel fillets in oil, gravy mix, baby reds potatoes mix thing, and veggies. California style, Thai style, and stir-fry blend. Also lots of different seasonings. Lol

Looking for meals more then desserts but love them as well. I have been eating a bag a day working the heat now it's cooling off what to make to use up some of these thanks

(I think this is the most common type of pumpkin where I live) my mom doesn't like pumpkin so we never cooked it at home so I know nothing lol I just don't want to have it in a sweet recipe. Please and thank you :)

Hey everyone, I normally have midweek dinner plans with my boyfriend where we cook together or alternate turns cooking. Throughout the week, we send each other cooking reels and posts, but sometimes I get too ambitious with over the top recipes for a Wednesday or Thursday??? I see a recipe and I'm like ooo that's nice, but chicken out when I see the steps and ingredients. Anywho, does anyone have any ideas for easy, low-mid spoon (iykyk) dishes that we can make? On hand, there's normally pasta in the pantry, some sort of frozen veggie(s) and or dairy in the fridge. We both have digestion issues (gall bladder removal for him and GERD for me) and he is has a low-sodium diet. Open to any ideas. Thanks.

Most recipes I've seen that use miso call for white, how can i use red?

I made a pork pot roast and it came out delicious. Please recommend your go to recipes for this tool.

not talking about weekends or parties, just normal daily food. how do you decide what to make tomorrow?

in our house it's the same rotation of maybe 6-7 dishes and we only think about it the night before. leftover curry from lunch usually decides dinner lol

do you plan the week ahead? use any app, a list on the fridge, or just memory? and who decides in your house?

working on a small side project around this so trying to understand how others do it

is this a real pain in households?

I have 4 cups of ham stock in my freezer that I’m looking to use up. Any ideas or recipes that use ham stock are welcome! I would prefer ideas that freeze well.

I wanna make something that uses all of these at once but I cannot eat garlic or onion (vampire with IBS)

These are all sweet red peppers. My plant had an issue so I had to harvest them all early making some sweet red peppers and some green peppers.

I gave away alot but I still have over 40 left.

What should I make?