There's nothing more annoying than the combination of gale-force winds and lip-gloss. By the time I arrived at work this morning, the vast majority of my hair was stuck to my lips and I looked like a yeti. It seems that since last week's ink-pen explosion there has been little relief from the farcical aspects of my life, and so I have yet more tales of woe for you.

Lip-gloss aside, I've also recently managed to do a full Lindos shop, only to get through the tills and realise I left my wallet at home. This left me with two choices – go and retrieve my debit card or abandon the shopping and make do with what I had in the fridge. As baby Chloe was giving me hungry puppy-dog eyes, I went with the latter and whisked her home for her dinner. She had homemade chicken casserole and blueberry and pear compote, but I did wonder what I was going to feed the lovely husband later.

After investigating the contents of the fridge, he also gave me the hungry puppy look and started grumbling about having to eat ketchup and yoghurt for dinner. He also started mentioning his two favourite words: take out. In order to prevent nothing-in-the-fridge from becoming an excuse to order pizza, I sent my hungry husband upstairs to handle bath time while I got creative in the kitchen.

It turns out, that although I'd gone shopping precisely because we were out of everything, we actually had several things to hand. I turned the eggs, potatoes, onion, garlic and zucchini into a Spanish omelet and then of course there was the yoghurt. We only have plain yoghurt in our house, but I livened it up with a little honey and some vanilla pods.

As food prices continue to soar, being able to conjure up a meal out of 'nothing' is a particularly handy skill. It just means that you need to take inspiration from what's in front of you, rather than having a pre-conceived notion of what you're going to cook. In fact in the UK, the 'Ready, Steady, Cook!' TV show relies exactly on this criteria. Members of the audience present the chefs with five random ingredients and they then compete over who can create the best dishes with what they have been given – combined with basic store cupboard options such as rice, herbs, spices and flour. Using this as inspiration, I gave my husband a cauliflower, one onion, two sweet potatoes, chick peas and some coconut milk. He made an amazing cauliflower and chick pea curry – kudos to him! Regardless of your creativity, see below for some ideas of what to cook when you think you have nothing in the fridge. The majority of these ideas are super easy and of course they're nutritious too.

Whether you're trying to stretch out your paycheque or you simply haven't had time to get to the store, it's almost always easier to make something out of nothing than you think!

If you have:

Eggs and bread: Make scrambled eggs on wholegrain toast. Add paprika or fresh herbs to the eggs if you can to make them more interesting. (Keeping eggbeaters and a loaf of bread in the freezer always makes this a good back-up option. Toast the frozen bread for a quick defrost.) Alternatively make french toast, adding some cinnamon to the egg mixture for authentic flavour. Boiled eggs and soldiers are easy too.

Eggs and veggies: Omelets. Anything goes – add in whatever scraps of veggies you have plus herbs and black pepper. If you like, add potatoes to the egg mixture, cook the bottom on the stove top and then place the pan under the grill to cook like a Spanish omelet. Alternatively have fruit for your carbs instead.

Potatoes: Bake and serve with baked beans, low-fat cottage cheese, Eden organic tinned lentils, hummus or guacamole.

Tuna, pasta, veggies and tinned tomatoes: Tuna pasta bake. Soften onion and any veggies (e.g. frozen peas and carrots) you have whilst the pasta is cooking. When the pasta is all but done, drain and stir in the veggies, tinned tomatoes and tuna. If you have it, add Worcestershire sauce, herbs and black pepper for extra depth of flavour. Bake in the oven till heated through and pasta is fully cooked.

Pasta, tinned tomatoes, hummus: Creamy tomato pasta. Cook pasta and stir in hummus and tinned tomatoes or pasta sauce. Add peas if you have them. Sounds weird, tastes great!

Bread and avocado: Avocado on toast. A healthy alternative to cheese on toast! Sprinkle with lemon juice and black pepper.

Brown rice and kidney beans: These two combine to make a great combination of complex carb and protein. If you have them in your store cupboard, add tinned tomatoes, chilli powder, onion and one teaspoon honey to the beans and simmer for 10 minutes before serving with the rice.

Soup and pasta: Adding pasta to soup is a great way to bulk it up and it can work with rice or beans too, depending on what you have. For example, adding chick peas and wholewheat pasta to tomato or pumpkin soup works really well. Try adding brown rice and veggies to chicken soup too. Kids tend to love pasta in tomato soup with grated cheese on top. If you can stretch to Covent Garden soups (they are expensive) keep a couple in the freezer for emergencies – or make and freeze your own.

The advice given in this article is not intended to replace medical advice, but to complement it. Always consult your GP if you have any health concerns. Catherine Burns is a fully qualified Clinical Nutritionist. She can be contacted at clinicalnutrition@gmail.com