Finding Recipes for the Ingredients You Have on Hand
Last month I decided I was going to start clearing some food out of my pantry and freezer. I hate when things get freezer burned or wind up with bugs in them and have to be thrown out, so that’s why I decided to start using some of my older items. As an added bonus, I was looking forward to saving some money on my grocery bill.
So I set out to find recipes for the ingredients I had on hand. I ran across www.supercook.com and was instantly hooked. I created an account and started entering the items I had and instantly it started listing recipes for me. It will tell you which recipes you have all the ingredients for and which recipes need one or two items.
I got about half of my pantry and freezer items entered and then started looking at the common kitchen items list. I was able to easily click on each item to enter it and it included things like onions, egg, butter, etc. Once I entered all of those, I was given an even larger database of recipes to make.
For an entire week, I came back to the site in search of a new recipe. A couple of times I had to erase items from my list as I used them up, but it was such a great feeling. Not only was I using up my items on hand, but I was saving a great deal on my groceries! I only had to buy a couple of things like milk and bread which is substantially less than I would normally spend.
On the other hand, if you or your spouse don’t have a sense of adventure, this is probably not the thing for you. We ate some very interesting meals – things we would not normally make. For the most part, they were delicious, give or take a meal that was not terrible, just different. Definitely got us back to the basics with things like rice and pasta.
So, if you’re looking to clear out some older items or if you’re looking to save some money in these weeks before Thanksgiving, definitely give this web site a try. It’s easy to use and full of tons of great recipes!
This is perfect timing for me! I am on a $15/week food “diet” to save money & eat healthier, but i have ALOT of food i have bought in the past when it was on sale. Thanks!!
You should list the recipies you tried, i’d love to hear which was the really weird one for you two.
Did you kids take to them at all?
Excellent website resource there..For a long time I was purchasing bread, milk and eggs..but French toast gets boring after a week or so!
Thanks for the recommendation! All this stuff sitting in the pantry makes my head hurt just looking at it!!
Great blog post, I always tend to buy things and then they sit on the top shelf because I have nothing to make them into, not anymore!
These are my ingrediants on hand need recipes
Bell peppers,Garlic,Milk,cream,Butter,oatmeal,Flower,sugar,White bread,Tortillas,pie dough,eggs,gritts,tomatoes,vinegar various oils,apples,apple butter,various nuts,maple syrup,fresh herbs,various seasonings,soy sauce,mayonaise,brown sugar,honey,sweet chilli sauce,sherry,cherrys.panut butter,graham crackers,chicken stock,chicken breasts,lard,powdered sugar.
My husband and I had a baby in September and my hubby took 2 weeks off. We knew it would be tight so for 3 months beforehand we made a goal to spend no more then 30 a month on groceries. We were on WIC so milk and eggs was covered so the 30 would be for veggies, fruits and bread. We had a lot of meat and other items. Well we did it except one month we did 33.05 so we went a little over. I must say it was really nice because now it is much easier to cook and clean in the kitchen.
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According to “I’m a Celebrity Get me Out of Here” there is nothing wrong with worms and bugs. But then, you need to be very, very adventurous to do that. Although, I am “he”, I enjoyed your ideas very much. This will definitely reduce the amount of stuff that reluctantly goes into the bin. Thanks!
It is a great idea to get rid of all the foods you never used and to clean out the pantry. Instead of throwing them out, find a recipe! Great idea.
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Hey thanks, great resource, I love to try new things and this gives me a new option that can actually save me some money at the same time. I have lots of stuff that needs to be used or thrown out too.
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Nice article, I love to eat, and save money while doing it..lol
I get the best of both worlds here.
Thanks,
James
The Sports Handicapping Guru!
Awesome post, I’m always putting off making new things because I don’t the ingredients, your post solved that problem!
-Adam
.-= Adam @ How to Lose Weight´s last blog ..10 Tips to Help You Lose Weight =-.
Great way to get rid of all that extra food in the frig that your never use. Saves mony too. Thanks for the post.
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This is a great resource for anyone who likes to cook and explore new idea’s, espescially when you have to use what you have to cook. Very creative idea.
What a great idea for a site! It’s a perfect use of the internet. It gives you ideas, and it will save us all some money. Thank you.
Even though the holidays are over, I feel glad that I found this site with all these recipes.
Indeed thats a good way to utilize all extra food in our fridges also its going to save a few bucks!
btw, this is my first comment to this website!
i found this website about a week ago while i was searching on yahoo and well i think i am becomming fan of this website! Each and every post are the best of the best!
i have added this website to my bookmarks. Definitely one of the best sites i have seen on internet!
thanks soo much for all wonderful posts!
-adil
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I recently discovered that almost all packs of cereals that I’ve been keeping for months with no use were full of moth larvea(( All of them – millet, rice, oat flakes, etc. It was so disgusting that I threw them all away. Anyways, thanks for that supercook website, I will be more prudent and practical next time.
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This is great. I throw out way too much food.
Using rice in recipes is great. It is much better for you, especially if you use brown rice.
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I’ve been looking for a site like that for ages! Thanks!
I always try and use what is in the cupboards / freezer every few months. Its amazing what sort of stuff ends up in there. Although it’s quite difficult sometimes to get recipes for some of the more stange an exotic stuff I’ve accumulated!
LOL – same here. What was I thinking when I bought some of these things??
Wow that is the coolest site ever! They should market it to poor college students that primarily live out of their dining hall. I bet there would be some very interesting combinations there!
This is a great resource. It forces you to save and also try new recipes. This can really save money and add some variety to your life. Thanks for sharing. I cook for one so this site is even more useful for my limited cooking skills.
My in-laws actually told me of this website right around the start of the New Year. We had been having all the holiday get together at our home so we’ve had a surplus of extra food.
It’s such a great site to explore different cooking ideas.
This is a pretty nifty idea. I just bought a condo and was looking for ways to cut costs.
this is just simply great!
there are many sites with recipes but they ask for this thing and that thing (some things even i have never heard lol) so “You Have on Hand” makes much sense to me
Wow. that is very convenient. I never hear of such a thing. That would actually be very nice for me right now because I don’t have much money and would really like to use what I have to cook.
OMG! Thank you so much. This can really help, because I have been at my “wits ends” trying to come up with something new for dinner, instead of the same ole’ thing week after week after week. I just tried out the database, and it’s amazing the choices it spews out so quickly – it is definitely a lifesaver – so, thanks again for your suggestion.
Sarah
THANK YOU! SuperCook.com is FANTASTIC! We’ve had “odds and ends” foods sitting around waiting for a recipe to come along…and now we won’t have to wait any more. Keep up the great work!
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Thank you so much for sharing Supercook.com with us. It’s a fantastic find! I use it every day because I can’t get to the grocery store too often and have to eat what’s in the fridge and in the cupboards!
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Thanks for the heads up – it sounds awesome. I’ll be siging up when I get home from work and throwing in all the leftover ingredients in my pantry and fridge – I’d be interested to see what recipes it comes up with.
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Hey thanks for writing about this website. I was thinking of cleaning up my pantry as well but I hate throwing out food. With the help of this site I can finish up the stuff I have without being wasteful. Thanks!
Awesome
I’ll give this a good try – sound like a great project and site – in this modern day world when we throw so much away, this is a great tool to reducing food waste – and save money as well 
Being single and having to cook for myself (I don’t like fast food)…supercook.com has been a godsend. I’ve been able to make all kinds of interesting meals that I DOUBT my single men friends could even imagine, let alone cook in the first place. Thanks!
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Still trying to find the recipe that you can make with spam, chicken broth, some lowry’s, and cottage cheese…
I think you’ll be looking for a LONG time! LOL…that seriously made me swallow hard.
What a neat idea, thanks for sharing! I am definitely going to bookmark this, it is going to get alot of use from this single guy. As to the recipe with spam, chicken broth, lowrys and cottage cheese…. YUCK! LoL
This is a great little article. For people like me, who can’t shop as much as I would like, would love to use what I have. Thanks.
Hey, I’ve just checked out supercook.com. The interface is really easy to use and it’s pretty cool how you can just enter a bunch of ingredients and you get given a range of recipes you can use – I will definitely bookmark that site for future reference!
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This is a great post! It reminds me of my wife and I. She is very good about the traditional recipes, where I looove taking her food and creating a new meal that she and I have never had. So far they’ve all been good, so I’ve been told.
Nice article, I love to eat, and save money while doing it..lol.. I am too fat, I need to shape up.. :p – Yellow pages Rochester
This is a great idea and is exactly what I am doing at the moment. I am living on a very tight budget and have made it my mission to eat cheaply. When I looked at all the ingredients I had available I was really surprised. What I tend to do is make up a huge dish so it lasts three or four evenings. Pasta bake is great for this or long cooking stews. The food seems to taste better because you know it is so cost effective.
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Thank you for this new site. My god I have been browsing for sites which tell me recipes that I can make out of the basics at home and not the fancy, complex recipes for which I will have to hunt recipes. I could only wish to rummage through my own mind and construct a recipe which always was a disastrous experiment. Thank you once again for this informative site.
Thanks for the new info, a well put together recipe is always worth it…
.-= Chef D´s last blog ..[n] Meatloaf =-.
Not only do I love your site, the one you mentioned in this article is great! Not only a great way to use up your ingredients, it is a great resource for non-cooks-who-have-to-cook. There are a ton of recipes if you don’t have the cooking creativity to come up with meals (like me).
Supercook is a really good service. There are a couple of IPhone Apps which do similar things, I think one of them is called Epicurious. I Dont think its as good as SuperCook but isnt bad for a mobile option.
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Your post just made my day. I really love cooking and mixing ingredients. I really learned a lot from your post. Many thanks!
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extremely useful i always find myself with a lack of ingredients
Mint and chocolate is about my favorite combination in all the land. … Only problem? It makes it easier to eat more than one!
Interesting indeed. Finding natural ingredients or may be home grown ingredients is one of the best things to do.
That’s a really helpful website!
It’s actually a big help for wanna-be-chefs like me (*wink!) … I saw a lot of interesting recipes there which I’d like to try one of these days.
wow what a cool idea… however i dont think you can make anything with a box of coco puffs and a bottle of pepsi… or is there?
I also look for recipes online. That website is great! What a way to use what you have at home, you don’t even need to buy the ingredients because you already have it.
This post remind me the day i study oversea. Franky, i cook without thinking of the recipe. Once i have the ingredients reaady, i simply put them into my pan and cook. Somehow, the idea just come to me while cooking. IF the food doesn’t taste good, i simply try other way next time.
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Certainly the best thing to do if you are looking to invent new things. Find the recipes according to the ingredients you have.
Thanks for the blog,its an proper use of internet,with which we can save money as well our older food items.
I have a cool little book that I use to find recipes when I have a few random ingredients. I’m sure its nowhere near as effective as the widget you’re mentioning or iPhone apps but I’m old fashioned and this has worked well over the years.
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It gives an economical way of making recipes from ingredients you already have. It also test your imagination in preparing a good meal.
OMG! This is an absolutely wonderful find. I often find myself throwing out food that is expired or long forgotten at the back of a shelf. Now I can do some summer cleaning and find some good recipes before going back to the grocery store.
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This is a pretty good idea but I prefer to just experiment a little and see what I can come up with. It’s a lot more fun that way! I think it’s great though that you’re encouraging people to come up with ways to do something with the food they have clogging up their kitchen – too many people just wait for it to go bad and then throw it out.
Thanks for sharing the super cooks website. I live by myself and this site will make finding recipes with the ingredients I have much easier. Thanks again
Mia@Easy Recipes´s last [type] ..Zucchini Bread
What a great idea. I am forever throwing away food that has just stored up in the cupboard. Recently I lost my job and have been cutting back on all expenditure. I have now got cooking on a shoestring down to a fine art.
Adam @ Apple Costume´s last [type] ..Apple Halloween Costumes
Great Idea’s! Bookmarked so my wife can read it
Thanks!
I never would have thought about looking up a site like that! Its a really cool idea to find something new to make that you probably dont even know you have all the stuff for in your kitchen already. Thanks for the info.
Thanks for sharing such a amazing site.I never imagined that one can prepare such wonderful recipes from leftover ingredients.
Last Saturday, when hubby and I went to have some groceries. I really wanted to cook a mushroom soup because that one of his favorite but I don’t know where to find some of it’s ingredients. And so I decided to used what’s on the kitchen instead and I end up cooking chicken curry that hubby loves
supercook.com is a brilliant site, use it all the time!
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Oh, this is most definitely a cool thing. We could all be a lot more efficient with our food if we had this. Thanks for posting!
This will definitely reduce the amount of stuff that reluctantly goes into the bin. Thanks!
for leftovers creativity you can use Google and if not that then u need to have a clear idea about the basics. The rest is upto free imagination.
Good points. Making use of on hand ingredients is a great way to save money and learn the useful skill of cooking.
think it’s a great idea to use this sort of thing for using up old food that has been sitting in the cupboard for too long. It’s terrible to think that so many people throw food out because they haven’t used it before the sell-by date. It’s would also come in handy for those days when you only have a few ingredients in the kitchen and you can’t be bothered to go out to the shops for more supplies.
I know there is stuff in our pantry that sit in there forever. Should start to figure how to use it
It’s certainly a must do experience, especially if you are sometimes on a budget. However, it is important to check all the old food and ingredients and make sure that they aren’t expired.
Wanda31@Weight Loss Tip´s last [type] ..Strawberry- Guava and Cranberry Smoothie
Love the idea.
I have loads of stuff in my larder which I could use.
The site is like a giant bowl where you can chuck stuff in. Great! Al
I enjoyed your ideas very much. It is a great resource for non cooks who have to cook. There are a ton of recipes if you don’t have the cooking creativity to come up with meals.
This is a great little article. For people like me, who can’t shop as much as I would like, would love to use what I have. Thanks.
The best thing to do if you are cooking new recipes. Find the right and affordable recipes with the ingredients you have and have a new dish. It’s one way of being creative.
Its another cost-saving way of cooking food. One would have the ability to make new recipes out of creative ingredients at hand.
Wow! Great tip! I’m always stuck with finding the right ingrediënts or finding the right recipe… Also I find it very difficult to vary and combine different ingrediënts. Thanks, great resource.
Cheers,
Dorian
It is a great idea to get rid of all the foods you never used and to clean out the pantry. I am forever throwing away food that has just stored up in the cupboard. Recently I lost my job and have been cutting back on all expenditure.
t is a great resource for non cooks who have to cook. There are a ton of recipes if you don’t have the cooking creativity to come up with meals. I must say it was really nice because now it is much easier to cook and clean in the kitchen.
Thank you for the supercook website! I am really crap at coming up with things to cook at the best of times and usually end up throwing so much food away it is stupid.
Thanks to supercook I can now start to actually use some of the stuff I have and show my wife that I am not stupid! LOL
daryl@Tefal Actifry´s last [type] ..Tefal Actifry
Supercook is an awesome resource, not to mention super useful. I’m almost addicted to it!
I think it’s a great idea to use this sort of thing for using up old food that has been sitting in the cupboard for too long. It’s terrible to think that so many people throw food out because they haven’t used it before the sell-by date. It’s would also come in handy for those days when you only have a few ingredients in the kitchen and you can’t be bothered to go out to the shops for more supplies.
Wow, I had never heard of Supercook and the way you can whip up a meal in no time is amazing! I always try to be efficient with using up everything in my pantry for creative meals, but it never hurts to have a little guidance.
Try SuperCook – A recipe search engine that utilizes the ingredients you already have on hand. It creates the “recipe card” right before your very eyes as you enter ingredients. It has a great, very modern interface. Fun to use!
Wow! It is amazing there is a site as SuperCook.com. This is the first time I have read about it. I thing you just saved my life. I am gonna save a lot of ingredients that end up throwing in the trash can. I am glad the site is still working!
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Have you come across anyone who cooks something with all the ingredients that the person can find in the kitchen. My father and friends father are two great examples of these sorts. They come to work on a holiday to cook in the kitchen and believe it or not they come out with the best of the lots though unusual. It would be great if we should all try out.
This is awesome. I didn’t realize there was a site like that,and God knows we need to save money. I’ll be using this site all the time. Thanks for the information.:)
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I am a regular user of SuperCook and despite I am not good cooking. It has helped me a lot learning to do it. Sometimes I think I am to dependable to it. I even have a laptop in my kitchen
I highly recommend it for those inexperienced people in cooking.
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This is a great idea! I’ve been looking for ways to save money on groceries as the price seems to be going upward everyday. Thanks for sharing this with us.
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I have definitely got to check that site out. My roommate recently moved out and there are too many extra items in my freezer and pantry that need to be used asap!
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Type Recipe Matcher in the ingredients you’ve got, and it gives you a long list of recipes which include at least ONE of those ingredients. It also lists those items you still need to make that particular recipe. It sorts the results by percentage of your ingredients each recipe actually has. You can add recipes to “your favorites” at this site, print out the ingredients you still need, or print the entire recipe.
Hey thanks for writing about this website. I was thinking of cleaning up my pantry as well but I hate throwing out food. With the help of this site I can finish up the stuff I have without being wasteful. Thanks!
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I’ve been looking for ways to save money on groceries as the price seems to be going upward everyday. It is a great idea to get rid of all the foods you never used and to clean out the pantry. Thank you.
I think it’s a great idea to use this sort of thing for using up old food that has been sitting in the cupboard for too long. I always tend to buy things and then they sit on the top shelf because I have nothing to make them into.
Great blog post, I always buy stuff and then they sit on the top shelf because I have nothing to make them into. I do it all the time with sauces and pasta.
This really helps because it really is expensive getting exactly all the ingredients you need together to make a salad or anything else for that matter.
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Wow, very ingenious system. I always wondered how cool would it be if I could find recipes for ingredients that I have on hand. Great website, I will sure use it! Congratulations for the idea!
Have you come across anyone who cooks something with all the ingredients that the person can find in the kitchen. My father and friends father are two great examples of these sorts. They come to work on a holiday to cook in the kitchen and believe it or not they come out with the best of the lots though unusual. It would be great if we should all try out.
Great post. Thanks for the link, I will visit it with my wife today. We have so many things “stocked” in our freezer I sometimes don’t even dare to open it.