The FastDay Forum

I'm off on holiday on Saturday so have been winding down the fresh food in the house.

Apart from the usual jars of chutney and jams, all I've got left in the fridge is some light philadelphi, milk and a lonely carrot.

Problem is the 5:2 diet is a bit dependent on fresh veg to fill you up... has anyone got any good ideas for recipes that I can make with storecupboard ingredients?

Thanks.

Have you got any lentils or pulses? Thinking a kind of carrot & lentil soup. Having said that if I were you I would get a few more veggies, an onion at least and another carrot!
Or if you have it - tuna and cannellini beans, grate the carrot to make a kind of tuna bean salad.

What have you got in your cupboard - that might make it easier!! Have you any frozen veggies - sweetcorn / peas? Or tins of sweetcorn?

Sorry - just spotted the veggie bit on your sig! Obviously tuna won't be much use!

Do you have eggs in your cupboard? Poached or scrambled eggs are always a quick & easy standby on fast days for me if I haven't got anything else in. Or have you any tins of soup lurking at the back of your cupboard

I'm vegetarian too. I second lentils or pulses. If you have an onion and/or some soup stock or bouillon you can make a quick filling soup with few calories.

Cumin is nice in lentil soup. My favorite recipe for this is very simple.

1 onion chopped
bit of olive oil
1 cup lentils
3-4 cups soup stock or water and bouillon
1 teaspoon ground cumin
Salt and pepper to taste

Saute the onion (and the carrot you have) in olive oil until soft. Add the lentils and stock and cook until the lentils are tender. Add water as needed. Take off the heat and add the cumin.

I do the exact same thing for split pea soup except I omit the cumin. I've calculated calories for green split peas at 85kCals per serving based on 4 servings.

A poached egg and half a tin of low sugar/salt beans (lots of pepper and some lea and perrins) always works a treat with me - and keep things moving!!

I'm probably a bit late as you leave tomorrow but my suggestion is a big pot of veggie and lentil or bean soup. Then freeze the leftovers and you have a meal all ready for when you get back.

Tinned soups?

Any oatmeal? You could make porridge with water, salt, pepper and -why not?- the carrot.

Thank you so much for all the suggestions everyone! When I got home, I discovered that the carrot had most definitely seen better days but as luck would have it I hadn't noticed the smattering of coriander, the 1/4 of a pepper and 3 spring onions in the crisper.

Hardly loads for me and my partner but enough when I added it to some store cupboard staples. Thanks Ema_o for the tinned sweetcorn idea, it went great with my mexican bean soup : )

In fact, I liked the recipe so much I put it on my blog.

Thanks again everyone, it's so great having this forum to go to for help and support.

And ODell, I will certainly give the lentil soup a go. Which lentils do you tend to use?

Not too sure about the carrot porridge though... TML13, you could give it a try and report back?

I've made it with brown lentils and it tastes like Progresso Lentil soup which used to be a favorite of mine until I learned to make this.

The original recipe I found on the internet called for red lentils and I've loved it that way too. A bit more mild in flavor.

Stikerface, I always eat porridge with veggies on fast days.
I just had porridge with lettuce, onion and chives.
I haven't tried it with just carrots but I've tried it with aubergine, carrot, tomato and basil.
After having tried everything, it is the ONLY thing that keeps constipation away.