Before you set out on any exciting vacation it is important to clear out your refrigerator. Depending on how long you plan to be away, throw out any food or drinks that will go bad.

Weekend trip? Most of your food should be okay, but move your milk from the door to the inside section of the fridge, it stays colder.

Week long trip? Toss the milk, last week’s leftovers, ripe fruit and that half eaten burrito. Gross.

Longer than one week? Trash all of the above along with the cottage cheese and bread.

If you’re like me and HATE throwing away good food you have some options as well. If your stay away from home is planned, start clearing out the fridge a week early.

Plan #1 Don’t go grocery shopping just out of habit. Save your pennies for tourist chatchkis and use as much of the food that you already have. In this plan, leftovers are key. With a tortilla, most anything can be rolled up with some cheese sprinkled on top and melted to in the gorge. Get creative!

Another easy option is to freeze. New loaf of bread? Freeze it. Leftovers from picture perfect risotto? Freeze it. Almost ripe bananas? Freeze them! Make sure to use freezer bags with some paper towels thrown in to catch extra moisture. Even through the freezer can be a pal to some foods, don’t freeze eggs they will crack in cold temperatures.

Did you forget about your trip? Too busy spending your time stalking people on twitter? Then plan #3 could be right for you! Whip out a suitable sized cooler and stuff it with any food that will rot away to trashcan land. I’m sure the whoever you’re visiting or wherever your going will not turn down extra food. Road trips call for snacks anyway.

With all of that said, my roommate and I just got back from spring break and we did a superb job of following plan numero uno, which means that we returned to an empty fridge. My current problem is that we’re just too lazy to go grocery shopping. I know its not very hard and I know it doesn’t take very long, but I have important things to do like napping, reading/watching the news and vedging.

So what were two hungry girls to do with virtually no food in the house? Turn to the pantry of course!

The Best-Unplanned Pasta Ever

for two

Ingredients

• half of a box of rotini

• one can of diced tomatoes with garlic and basil

• italian salad dressing

• 2 bread butts

• margarine

• chopped garlic in a jar

• water

• powdered iced tea mix

Tools

• pot

• strainer

• can opened

• spoons

Steps

• cook pasta

• open can of tomatoes and strain

• spread a layer of margarine on the bread followed by a layer of garlic

• put bread in the toaster oven garlic side up, set to toast

• make some iced tea

• pour diced tomatoes into two bowls

• strain the pasta over the sink and then pour half into each bowl

• pour some salad dressing over the pasta and stir

• don’t forget to get your garlic bread out of the toaster oven

And there you have it, with some stock items from the pantry we made a light, delishas meal that was easy and quick to prepare. Remember, this meal can easily be changed to fit your pantry finds. We will have to venture out to the Save-A-Lot sometime soon, but for now, old pasta saves the day.