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My dad cooks in the exact same way. That's how I learned to cook too. And my mom used to make an omelet surprise on Sunday mornings: omelet with whatever was left in the fridge (hotdogs, potatoes, vegetables, etc).

Absolutely. A few winters ago, while still in school, I concocted a garbage soup. I got home late from working at the library circulation desk and had nothing to nuke, no snacks to nosh on. So, like you, I intuitively threw stuff together. And luckily, I really liked it.

I heated some water, added frozen Brussels sprouts, a few roughly sliced re-hydrated Shitake mushrooms, two smashed garlic cloves, hot pepper flakes, soy sauce, sesame oil and then brought the heat down to poach two eggs in the soup. I now make different variations of this soup, but the poached eggs are key. I love eggs in soup. I love eggs. Period.

Also, a few months back, I had a bunch of leftover bagels and Serious Eaters helped me come up with the idea to use them in a delicious savory bread pudding with apple, leeks and cheese (used eggs there, too, of course).

We do this all the time. One night's soup reappears two nights later, with an extra can of broth and whatever odds and ends we have in the fridge. Leftover take-out beef & broccoli and the drying-out rice that came with it makes a surprisingly okay soup with some beef broth and sauteed onions mixed in.

I may have posted this somewhere on SE but in case I didn't... Here's a dish called:

Clean the Freezer/Fridge

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Assemble your leftovers. The ingredient list is as varied as what you've eaten in the past couple of days.

Last time I made this, I had:
* Pieces of poblano from times I only needed half a pepper.
* Pieces of Red Bell.
* Pieces of Onion.
* Grilled Steak with Marsala Mushrooms.
* Hebrew National Hot Dogs.

I added fresh:
* 1/2 cup shredded White Cheddar
* 5 Eggs
* 3 Peeled Diced Carrots
* 4 Plum Toms

Begin sauteing the aromatics and tougher things like carrots to begin softening them. I used

* 2 Tbsp. Olive Oil
* S&P

Next, add the things like the tomatoes, dice up the steak and hot dogs and toss them into the saute pan. Continue with any ingredients that are fully cooked but need to be heated through.

While the saute pan ingredients are heating, grab a loaf of bread - I used a baton but you could use a boule.

Slice off the top of the loaf and carefully hollow it out. I ran a bird's beak knife all around the inside of the loaf leaving a nice border (any parer will do). Then, carefully pull out the fluff. Grind it if you like for fresh bread crumbs.

Line the bottom with slices of salami (or ham or turkey or whatever you have - even slices of cheese would work). This prevents any wet ingredients from soaking through the loaf.

Next, beat 5 eggs with S&P and whatever flavorings you like. You could use chili powder, fresh herbs (I added fresh parsley because we grow it and it's there). Add the shredded cheese to the egg mixture.

Pour the egg mixture into the saute pan with the other ingredients. Cook and stir until the eggs start coagulating. When the eggs are still very soft, spoon the mixture into the hollowed out bread.

Cover the loaf with its top and double wrap it in foil. Bake on a sheet tray at 350 for 45-55 minutes. If you want to crisp up the top of the bread, open up or slit the foil to expose the top of the loaf and bake uncovered for the last 10 minutes or so.

Slice and serve.

I generally don't go out and buy stuff to include in this dish as that would defeat its purpose. If you play it right, all you really have to buy is a loaf of bread.

Give it a try next time you're looking at a dozen little bowls of stuff or a sea of little ziplocks in the fridge.

I tend to throw my leftovers onto toast for a unique and delicious sandwich! Past winners included quiche and salad, mushroom stroganoff and steamed carrots, and my all time fovourite, vegetable tian and goat cheese. I make stir fries or curries with all the vegetable odds and ends.

So funny this came up as I was craving an accidental, never to be repeated refrigerator soup I made a few weeks ago for a friend. It was basically a creamy potato and vegetable soup, mostly pureed (and it had lots of cream in it from an other dish) which was then studded with italian sausage bits which had a very nice fennel component and a few of the veggies left whole.

This is the heart of cooking I believe - I have heard that french housewives of yore would have a stock pot on the back of the stove that essentially never went out, like even for years and years! It just keeps getting morphed into the next batch. I wonder if this is true and I seem to recall that Madeleine Kammen might be the source but I would not swear to that.

I make such a soup out of necessity when i do pintos for my SO. He is from the south, and LOVES pinto beans, just pinto beans. How boring is that?!? For myself, I use a can of canelini, and whatever is available, usually: carrots, celery, garlic, onion, spinach, pasta, bacon, etc.

many years ago, the friend of a friend had a stock pot on the back burner of his stove that had been simmering for at least a couple of years. I have wondered over the decades if it is still bubbling away.
So yes, Tobey...there is some truth to the eternal soup pot!

I saw Ina Garten put old, soggy salad (that had oil/vinegar dressing on it) into a blender and then add it as an ingredient to her "garbage soup", which was like a creamy stew -- she said it really was no different than adding spinach or other wilted greens to a soup with oil...
Interesting but I've never tried it myself.
She makes anything look good.