As a college student I discovered this on hungry weekends late at night, or when the university stores were closed: as my food supply dwindled, the complexity in recipe and my overall willingness to experiment with new food pairings increased.
It’s come around again. I work from home, don’t have my car with me currently (it’s 3,000 miles away) and I’m doing my best to be thrifty. Therefore my food stores are limited to say the least. When there’s plenty of food around I find myself gravitating to the quick and substantial. Honestly I eat a burrito/taco (or some simple beans + meat + cheese) variation 5-7 days a week for at least one meal.
But as supplies dwindle I become a lot more adventuresome.
Special K with Berries and Tuna? Part of a complete breakfast/lunch!
No mayo? No worries: tuna-ranch salad.
Two slices of bread and no meat? Bacon bit sandwich to the rescue!
Cottage and Parmesan Cheese never tasted better together.
I know that some of these menu items sound gross, and I doubt I would voluntarily mix them with a fully stocked fridge and pantry. But I have created some tasty treats with limited supplies. For example here’s a great recipe I cooked up with 4 ingredients and an empty kitchen:
Lemon Pepper Shrimp and Spaghetti for 1-2
5-15 Shrimp, thawed in cold water
1/2 lemon or a few table spoons of lemon juice
1-2 servings of pasta, prepared
fresh ground pepper
Put the shrimp in a skillet with some butter or oil and start to saute, crack fresh pepper (a good amount) and squeeze or add the lemon. Cook until just before the shrimp are cooked and remove from the burner (otherwise the shrimp will overcook). Add to the prepared pasta, you’ll find that the lemon juice is a nice light acidic sauce for the noodles. Parm if you have it (but don’t add cottage cheese).
That’s not too riské, (shrimp and pasta are a good fit generally) but the point is that limiting resources can lead to some great outcomes in cuisine (and some unorthodox mixes, afterall how do you think someone figured out Vinegar Pie?
As an aside (somewhat related), in business I’ve often found myself able to do much more with less.
- less programming power = better end product;
- less money/time gets the focus on the right parts of the project;
Fewer resources aren’t always a negative. I am very surprised what simple aspirations and two guys can put together and produce (though it does help that one is an awesome programmer).