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Friends who are under quarantine (like me in Czech Republic) or about to be, I'm sure many of you have stocked up on groceries for the upcoming weeks. As a professional chef I wanted to share some tips to assist you to prepare meals for the next while.
If you have ANY food related questions I'm here to help out and to share or guide you to recipes or well sourced information. Send me an ingredient(s) you want to use up and I'll send you recipe suggestions. Either DM me or email me [email protected]
1) Write down an inventory of what ingredients you have. Fresh (refrigerated; canned; dried (beans; pasta; rice; grains); frozen (vegetables; fruits; meats). Also snacks and special treats (for desserts/ incentives etc..).
You don't necessarily need to be specific with amounts but if it helps, do so. Some of you may enjoy assembling an XL Spreadsheet. I've taped them to the interior of cupboard doors to help remind myself what's stored in the back of shelves.
2) As you do the inventory, write down the meals you intended to make based on your purchases and, if possible, store the items together. So for example, burgers/ ground meat next to the burger buns in the freezer;
3) Some vegetables, lettuce/ cucumbers/ zucchini/ avocados/ peppers/ fresh herbs will go off quicker. Root vegetables, onions, cabbages will keep longer. Fruits like bananas and berries are best to use first or freeze.. Apples, pears, oranges keep well.
4) Move any of the more perishable items in your fridges or cupboards to the front so yourself and family members see them and use them first.
5) You can freeze dairy products like milk, butter, hard cheeses but the texture/ taste will change slightly. Such ingredients, when thawed, are best used when cooked in a dish vs raw state.
6) Try to cook only what you think your family will eat. If there are any small amounts of leftovers try to eat them within two days. For larger portions freeze them (label them; name of dish and date made). Or if you're creative enough repurpose them into a newly disguised dish.
7) Think about using the food scraps you previously viewed as waste. For example, roast potato peels into spiced chips. Keep clean vegetable peelings in a bag in the freezer to make a vegetable stock or pureed soup.
8) Each morning (or night before) do a quick scan of the perishable items in your fridges to see if anything appears to be going off and take note that you need to use it the following day.
Here are 3 links (download the first one for free) to get you started on where to find affordable, healthy recipes using items from your pantries:
Good and Cheap: A Healthy Cookbook for Food Stamp Budgets by Leanne Brown @leelb
https://cookbooks.leannebrown.com/good-and-cheap.pdf
Good and Cheap: A Healthy Cookbook for Food Stamp Budgets by Leanne Brown @leelb
https://cookbooks.leannebrown.com/good-and-cheap.pdf
Root to Stalk Cooking by @taraduggan or Cooking with Scraps Cookbook by Lindsay-Jean Hard
