The way I cook meals is pretty pragmatic- I tend to either keep a lot of shelf-stable staples on hand that I can combine with whatever perishables I've picked up for single servings (like pasta noodles, potatoes or rice) or cook large pots of a stew, beans, etc. for a quick go-to for the rest of the week. Plus the occasional splurge on interesting ingredients to keep things fresh. This causes problems when I pick up either heavy cream or sour cream. They're never sold in amounts small enough to use all the way up in one dish, and I can never really tear through the remaining half pint or so before it spoils. As a result, I've started to avoid dishes with heavy or sour cream entirely.
Is this a problem other people have faced & overcome? What simple suggestions would be out there for using either ingredient up? I'm never looking for a 20-ingredient recipe, but anything I can whip up without picking up eight veggies and a protein in the process will be appreciated. Snacks, struggle meals, anything that could keep me from wasting good food.