I’m so excited that we have launched the ‘Just Add Recipe’ boxes because this is exactly how we cook at home. We rarely shop for a specific recipe and we always eat different things. We even often start off cooking with one style of meal in mind, and it’s evolved into something entirely different by dinner time.

So we get a big box of random ingredients, with no real plan…and we ‘ready, steady, cook’ it. This is great for us, because it keeps our cooking fresh and our skills tested. So with launching our ‘Just Add Recipe’ boxes, we hope some other people enjoy our ‘make it up as you go along’ style.

So my challenge here is to tell you what I would make from one of our boxes.

So here’s how my mind would work. I will start by writing down what’s included in the one that’s pictured (I wouldn’t usually do this, I’d just have a nosey around the box that’s in front of me). But here goes!

2 packs of braising steak

1 whole chicken

1 pack of fish pie mix

2 packs of sausages

1 pack of Quinoa

1 pack of brown rice

4 large potatoes

1 bag of pasta

1 tin haricot beans

1 tin 6 bean mix

1 large jar passata

I tin chopped toms

1 bottle sauce shop spicy sauce

1 tin coconut milk

1 bag kale

1 large smoked garlic bulb

2 white onions

2 red onions

1 red, 1 yellow, 1 green pepper

2 turnips

2 courgettes

4 carrots

4 flat mushrooms

2 vines cherry tomatoes

1 bunch rosemary

1 cabbage

1 smoked cheddar

2 parsnips

1 fennel

1 lemon

1 broccoli

So here’s the meals I’d make.

1. Fish pie with coconut milk served with stir fried kale

So my main priority would be to use the fish first, so it’s fresh. Fish pie it is. This would use the fish pie mix, a white onion, a couple of cloves of smoked garlic, the coconut milk, 2 of the large potatoes, the lemon and the bag of kale

2. Slow cooked beef Chilli

I much prefer using braising streak for a Chilli in stead of minced beef, and cooking it all day. This meal would use the braising steak, a red onion, a couple of cloves of smoked garlic, the haricot beans, jar of passata, a red and green pepper, a courgette and some of the brown rice.

3. Spicy beef & bean pasta bake

As the beef Chilli would leave us with leftovers, I’d use the rest to mix with pasta, top with some of the smoked cheese and bake. An improvised pasta bake!

4. Roast Chicken with Mash, cabbage and roast veg

This meal would use the chicken, the remaining potatoes, the cabbage, the carrot, parsnip, turnip and half of the rosemary.

5. Chicken Quinoa Risotto

As we would have a fair amount of leftover chicken from the roast, I’d make it into something like this. This would use the rest of the chicken, some of the Quinoa, some of the sauce shop sauce, a couple of cloves of smoked garlic, an onion, half of the cherry tomatoes, the last courgette and some more of the smoked cheddar.

6. Oven baked sausages and roasted veg with tomato pasta

This would use the sausages,fennel, chopped tomatoes, some more of the smoked garlic, a yellow pepper and the rest of the rosemary, along with some more of the pasta.

7. So this is the day I love. The day where some truly remarkable creations are born. Or the day when you have something hideous! It’s the ‘what’s left?’ day!

In this instance I have the following things left:

Some Quinoa

some rice

6 bean mix

Some sauce shop sauce

Some smoked garlic

A red onion

Flat mushrooms

Broccoli

Some smoked cheese

Cherry tomatoes

So what I would do in this instance is put the rice in the cupboard and use all the rest to make a smoky, spicy Quinoa, bean and veg type Chilli. I’d probably have some sausages left over from yesterday that I’d cut up and throw in too. This meal does not have a name and will either be awesome of disgusting. But I love the lottery!

So what do you think to how I’d use this box? I’d love to hear your ideas. I love this type of cooking and couldn’t wait until I got a different box with different ingredients next week, how about you? Or do your family always have set meals on set days? I’d love to hear how you cook, please do get in touch!