How to Prepare Nutritious Meals on an Empty Fridge

No time to shop? You can still whip up a healthy meal with these pantry and freezer ingredients

Stock your kitchen with nutritious frozen and pantry staples for making easy, healthy, delicious dishes when you haven’t had time to plan and shop (and even when you have).

Frozen Foods

A well-stocked freezer can keep you and your family fed for a long time! Frozen vegetables and fruits are a great choice. They are at least as nutritious as their fresh counterparts, if not more so, and they are far more convenient and timesaving because they’re pre-washed and pre-cut. You can use only what you need and seal up the packaging until the next use, which reduces food waste. Steam or sauté frozen veggies for a quick and tasty main or side dish, toss them in a soup, or add them to a pot pie or casserole. Frozen fruit thaws quickly for adding to yogurt or breakfast cereal. Or blend it into a smoothie straight from the freezer.

Onions and garlic add flavor to almost any savory dish, and fresh bulbs last well on the counter for quite a while, but frozen diced onions (with and without green peppers) and jarred minced garlic may be worth keeping on hand. If you enjoy foods made with fresh ginger, store a root in the freezer and grate it into dishes as needed.

Frozen fish fillets, scallops, and shrimp thaw quicky in their packaging in a pot of water. Frozen chicken and beef can be thawed in the fridge overnight, in a pot of water (well wrapped), or in a microwave (although this can affect texture). The smaller the portions, the quicker they thaw.

Canned Cadre

Canned foods last for years, so you can stock up without fear of waste. Canned beans like pintos, chickpeas, black beans, kidney beans, and black-eyed peas are great plant protein options that require minimal time, particularly compared to cooking dry beans. Just open the can, rinse, and toss into salads, stir into soups, fold into wraps, or mash into dips. Season to taste and dish up satisfying flavor, protein, and fiber. Canned lentils are also available in some locations.

Canned tomatoes are a pantry must-have. Whole, diced, crushed, and pureed are all useful, but if you have whole canned tomatoes on hand, you can easily turn them into any of the other forms. Other canned vegetables are also an option, although somewhat different in texture from frozen or fresh.

Canned tuna, chicken, sardines, kippers, shrimp, and salmon are quick ingredients to enhance a recipe. Try them in sandwiches or salads, tossed with whole grain pasta or leftover whole grains, or mixed with canned beans. Canned clams, oysters, and mussels are great options for pasta recipes.

And don’t forget canned or boxed reduced sodium chicken, vegetable, and beef broths as a great base for soups and stews and a flavorful medium for cooking whole grains.

Whole Grains

The dried seeds of grasses, grains keep well in sealed bags or containers. If you’re short on time, meal prep with whole grains can be surprisingly speedy. Whole wheat couscous only takes five minutes to cook. Quinoa is ready in around 15 minutes, which makes this complete protein another great go-to option when time is short. Bulgur takes 12. For longer-cooking grains, like barley, wheat berries, and brown rice, try cooking a large batch and freezing portions. Two minutes the microwave and they’re ready to go (or put the bag or container in some warm water for a quick thaw).

Whole grain crackers and baked (reduced salt) tortilla chips are also useful to keep on hand. They go well alongside soup or salad, dipped in bean dip, salsa, or tuna or egg salad, or on their own as a snack. Plain popcorn is also an excellent whole-grain snack or side in place of chips or pretzels.

Keeping the right ready-to-use ingredients in the freezer and pantry makes it easy to prepare healthy home cooked dishes any time.

fruits and vegetables on display at a market
Some studies have shown that eating a meal high in saturated fat or trans fat causes inflammation markers to shoot up, if only temporarily. But unsaturated fats, and omega-3 fatty acids in particular, seem to be protective. Photo: Shutterstock

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This article originally appeared in the Tufts Health & Nutrition Letter, published each month by the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy. Find out how to get expert guidance on healthy cooking, eating, and living.

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