And because I refuse to let you perish beneath a pile of weirdly wet spinach and abandoned jars of chili oil, I prepared some guidelines for cooking with random ingredients. Study them well, my tiny pantry raccoon. One day, when the fridge looks particularly haunted, they may save you.

1. Build the base of your dish with aromatics. Use onion, garlic, spring onion, leeks, or fresh ginger and slowly caramelise them to build flavour and infuse the oil, which will carry aroma throughout the dish.
2. Caramelise tomato paste to add depth and umami to sauces, soups, and stir-fries. You can even use it in asian-flavour recipes.
3. Use the pickling liquid from pickles to dress your salads, or flavour broths, sauces, and soups.
4. Throw olives into a tray bake to add a briny, salty element, or warm them up with olive oil, herbs, and spices for a fancy snack.
5. Use chili oil to build flavour in soups, broths, and stir-fries.
6. Fry capers to create a funky, crunchy topping for your pasta, salad, or grain bowl.  
7. Use random wilted vegetables to cook a vegetable stock, which you can use in stews, soup, and sauces.
8. Use celery leaves in a salad or as a finishing herb.
9. Revive wilted herbs in ice-cold water, finally chop them and add them to sauces, stews, and cooked grains, or blitz them up into a salad dressing.
10. Use random nuts you have lying around to make granola, spicy nut mix, salad topping, or dukkah (a Middle Eastern condiment consisting of toasted nuts and spices).  
11. Use hot sauces to add some heat to marinades and dressings.
12. Make a dip with leftover yogurt, caramelised alliums, fresh herbs, and chili crisp.
13. Turn stale bread into croutons for your soup or salad, or a garlicky breadcrumb topping for pasta.