Count meals, not ingredients
Look for a combination that makes a complete dinner you want to eat, then identify its jobs. Chickpeas can supply the main part, rice the base, and an onion the flavor. Five jars of seasoning may improve that combination, but they cannot replace a missing main ingredient just because there are many of them.
Choose a stopping point
A recipe that requires three missing ingredients defeats the point of this particular meal. If the cupboards offer little that fits together, agree on a simple separate dinner for each person and use the next shopping trip to restore one dependable option.
Give the search a few minutes and settle on one workable idea. If that idea needs a new purchase, decide whether to move the shopping trip or choose another meal. A last-minute trip for three missing items changes the purpose of planning with what you already have.
Record the ingredients you finish
If tonight uses the last can of chickpeas, mark the empty space as soon as dinner is planned. Decide whether chickpeas belong on the next list because another meal needs them or because you deliberately keep them in stock. Do not replace every empty item automatically just because it was once in the cupboard.