CHEFFIFY

Guide · Updated 20 Oct 2026

What can I make with what I have?

You don’t need a recipe that uses everything. You need a few things that go together and a familiar dish to put them in. Here’s the method we built Cheffify around. It works with or without an app.

Cook with what you have Jump to the 12 formulas

Free plan: 5 recipes a week. No card needed.

Why it’s hard

Deciding is the hard part

In a 2025 survey for Factor, 68% of Americans said deciding what to eat was their biggest mealtime challenge. Meanwhile, EPA data reported by BioCycle puts the food a US family of four throws away at roughly $2,913 a year.

The two problems feed each other. When nothing obvious jumps out of the fridge, food sits there until it’s too late. The fix isn’t a recipe that uses all fifteen things. It’s a quick way to pick the five that belong together.

The method

The 5-step fridge method

Two minutes, standing at the open fridge.

  1. Start with what needs using

    Open packs, soft veg, leftovers and anything near its date. That’s your shortlist.

  2. Pick one anchor

    A protein or a starch you have enough of: eggs, chicken, beans, tofu, rice, pasta, potatoes, bread or tortillas.

  3. Choose a forgiving format

    Frittata, stir-fry, pasta, traybake, soup, wraps or a grain bowl. These dishes welcome almost anything.

  4. Add two to four that fit. Skip the rest.

    Choose what suits the format. The strawberries can wait for dessert, and that’s fine.

  5. Finish with pantry flavour

    Salt, something sour (lemon or vinegar), a little fat, a little heat, and fresh herbs if you have them.

Cheat sheet

12 fridge formulas

If you have something like the left-hand side, you’re one familiar dish away from dinner.

  • Eggs + any veg + a little cheese Frittata

    Eggs bind almost anything. One pan, about 20 minutes.

  • Cold cooked rice + eggs + frozen peas or veg + soy sauce Fried rice

    Day-old rice fries better than fresh.

  • Pasta + garlic + olive oil + greens Garlicky greens pasta

    Spinach, kale, broccoli or courgette all work.

  • Tortillas + beans or leftover meat + cheese Quesadillas

    Crisp them in a dry pan. Serve with yoghurt or salsa.

  • Potatoes or root veg + sausages or chickpeas + an onion Traybake

    One tray, and the oven does the work.

  • Tired veg + an onion + a stock cube Blended soup

    Soft vegetables are perfect here.

  • Canned tomatoes + an onion + eggs Shakshuka-style eggs

    A pantry dinner in about 25 minutes.

  • Chickpeas or lentils + canned tomatoes + spices Quick curry or stew

    Stir in any greens at the end.

  • Rice or grains + any protein + raw veg + a dressing Grain bowl

    Great for small amounts of lots of things.

  • Grated courgette or carrot + an egg + flour Fritters

    Squeeze the water out of the veg first.

  • Stale bread + eggs + milk + cheese Savoury bread pudding

    Also called a strata. Leftover veg welcome.

  • Noodles + any veg + peanut butter + soy sauce Peanut noodles

    Loosen the sauce with a splash of hot water.

Leave it out

What to skip, and why that’s fine

  • Flavours that fight. Fish with sweet fruit, or three different cheeses in a stir-fry.
  • Things that deserve their own moment. Berries, chocolate, the good bread.
  • A single spoonful of something, unless it’s a seasoning.

Keep a “next meal” note on the fridge for whatever you skipped. Tomorrow’s lunch often writes itself.

Staples that make this easier

With these in the cupboard, almost any fridge turns into a meal:

Olive oilSalt & pepperGarlicOnionsStock cubesCanned tomatoesLemons or vinegarSoy saucePasta or riceEggsChilli flakesCumin or smoked paprika

A quick word on safety

Go by the date on the pack, your nose and common sense. If something smells or looks off, bin it. Eat cooked leftovers within a few days, and cool leftover rice quickly and keep it in the fridge. If you’re cooking for someone with an allergy, check every label. No app, including ours, replaces that.

Tools

When an app helps

There are three kinds of tools for this job, and they work very differently:

  • Recipe search, like SuperCook. Finds existing recipes on food sites that match your ingredients. Free, and best when your kitchen is well stocked. How it compares.
  • AI recipe apps, like Cheffify, DishGen and ChefGPT. Write a recipe for your ingredients. Cheffify runs the five steps above for you: it picks what goes together, shows what it skipped and names what’s worth buying.
  • General chatbots, like ChatGPT or Gemini. Free and flexible, but they tend to force ingredients together unless you tell them not to. A good prompt makes all the difference.

A fridge prompt that works in any chatbot

Copy this, swap in your own ingredients and allergies, and paste it into ChatGPT or Gemini:

I have: eggs, half a red pepper, spinach, feta, cold cooked rice, 2 sausages, a lemon, strawberries, tortillas.

Pick 4–6 of these that make ONE familiar dinner for 2 people.
Don't try to use everything. Tell me what you skipped and why.
Assume I have oil, salt, pepper and garlic.
Allergies: none.
Give quantities, the total time and numbered steps.

Or skip the prompt. Cheffify does this every time, remembers your allergies, and saves the result to your recipe book.

Try it with your fridge

What you get

The method, done for you

Here’s how Cheffify lays out a result: what it used, what it left for another day, and what’s worth picking up.

Spinach, pepper & feta frittata

25 min · Easy · Serves 2

Used from your fridge
EggsRed pepperSpinachFetaCourgette
Skipped for tonight
StrawberriesChocolateTortillasSausagesKetchupYoghurt
Worth buying
+ Cherry tomatoes (optional)
Assumed from your pantry
Olive oilSaltPepper
Illustration of how a result is laid out, from an 11-item fridge. Your recipe depends on your ingredients and settings.
FAQ

Questions people ask

How do I make a meal out of random ingredients?

Pick one anchor you have plenty of (eggs, rice, pasta, beans or potatoes) and choose a forgiving format such as a frittata, stir-fry, traybake or soup. Add two to four ingredients that fit and leave the rest. Finish with salt, something sour and a little heat.

What can I make with eggs and whatever’s in the fridge?

A frittata or omelette is the easiest: soften any vegetables in a pan, pour over beaten eggs, add cheese if you have it and cook gently until set. Fried rice and shakshuka-style eggs in tomato sauce also work with almost anything.

What can I cook when I have almost nothing?

Garlic and olive oil pasta, egg fried rice, chickpea and tomato stew, or cheese quesadillas all come from pantry staples. Keep pasta, rice, canned tomatoes, a can of beans, eggs and stock cubes in, and there’s always a dinner.

Is there an app that tells you what to make with what you have?

Yes. SuperCook finds existing recipes that match your ingredients, for free. AI apps such as Cheffify, DishGen and ChefGPT write a recipe for you. Cheffify picks the ingredients that go together and tells you what it skipped. (We make Cheffify.)

Should I try to use every ingredient I have?

No. Forcing everything into one dish is how dinners, and AI recipes, go wrong. Use what goes together tonight and plan the rest for tomorrow.

Open the fridge. We’ll pick dinner.

Tell Cheffify what you have and it picks what goes together, writes the recipe and tells you what it skipped. 5 free recipes every week, in your browser, with nothing to install.

Try Cheffify free

Compare the apps

Sources

Figures come from the sources below, checked on 20 October 2026. Spotted something out of date? Tell us via support and we’ll fix it.

  1. Business Wire, Factor/Wakefield survey (January 2025)
  2. BioCycle, “EPA updates data on cost of household food waste”
  3. Tom’s Guide, “ChatGPT is a hidden goldmine for home cooks”
  4. SuperCook – Recipe by Ingredient, US App Store listing

We make Cheffify, so read this with that in mind. We’ve tried to be fair and to say where other apps are the better choice.