Dinner ideas

What can I make for dinner with what's in my fridge?

9 June 2026 · 4 min read

It's 6pm, the fridge is half-full, and you can't face another takeaway. Good news: you can almost always build a decent dinner from what's already there — once you know the formula.

The "shop your fridge" formula

Most weeknight dinners are just four things put together:

Protein + Veg + Carb + Something with flavour

Pick one from each and you've got a meal. For example:

• Eggs + spinach + bread → cheesy eggs on toast
• Chicken + peppers + rice + soy → quick stir-fry
• Tin of tomatoes + pasta + garlic + cheese → 10-minute pasta
• Whatever veg is wilting + stock + a tin of beans → throw-it-all-in soup

Cook the things that need using first

Glance at what's on its way out — the herbs, the half a pepper, the yoghurt — and build the meal around those. It's the single best habit for eating well and wasting less.

Let the app do the thinking

Staring into the fridge still drawing a blank? What's in my Fridge reads what you've actually got and suggests real meals you can make from it — favouring the things that need using up. You can even name a dish ("carbonara") and it tells you what you already have and what you still need, ready to add to your shopping list in a tap.

Related: how long food really lasts and how to organise your fridge.