Clean Out Your Fridge Day

November 15th is Clean Out Your Fridge Day, and to celebrate we’ve come up with a bevy of tips and recipes for doing just that. From personal pizzas to frittata for the whole family, you’ll never look at your seemingly empty fridge the same way after reading this article.

The next time you’re trying to make the most of some of the random ingredients in your fridge, make sure to give the “What’s in Your Fridge?” feature a try. Located within the WW app, this dynamic search function lets you select various food items you happen to have on hand, and then gives recipe options for your particular set of ingredients.

When it comes to cleaning out the fridge, there’s no better medium than pizza. Every component of good pizza can be improvised, from the base to the toppings. No pizza dough? Try pita bread, wheat tortillas, cauliflower crust or English muffins instead. Out of sauce? Try jarred pasta sauce, pesto, tapenade, ricotta cheese or a thin brushing of olive oil and dried Italian seasoning. Top the pizza with any veggies or leftover cooked meat that needs to be used up and take the opportunity to use up random cheese ends sitting at the back of the fridge.

The soups in this section fall firmly in the “everything but the kitchen sink” camp and can easily be adapted to incorporate all manner of random fridge items. Soups are a particularly effective way to use up imperfect vegetables, including and especially those which are bruised or wilted. Mushy or mealy apples and pears are a great way to lend sweetness and added fibre to bisques and other puréed soups (or save them for a slow cooker batch of applesauce.)

Omelettes and frittatas are the perfect vehicle for myriad refrigerator odds and ends, particularly the last few spoonfuls of jarred ingredients such as salsa, pesto, sundried tomatoes, artichokes, and olives. Wilted salad greens, such as spinach, arugula, and baby kale, are also ideal, and can be added to the eggs directly without needing to be cooked first. Stray slices of deli meat, particularly turkey and ham, as well as crumbled leftover bacon, add flavour and extra protein. Leftover egg dishes can be tucked into sandwiches or pita bread, extending the life of a frittata or omelette even further.

Baked potatoes (or sweet potatoes!) are the ultimate blank canvas when it comes to pulling together creative meals at the last minute. Don’t worry about baking the potatoes in the traditional sense if you’re low on time, simply zap them in the microwave and run under the broiler if you prefer crispy skin. Other amazing add-ins? Canned or leftover chili, steamed or roasted veggies, beans or lentils, hummus, salsa, and grated or crumbled cheese can all transform a basic baked potato into a memorable and filling meal with almost no effort.