One of the many things the pandemic has emphasized is how precious food is—where it comes from, how it’s made, its value beyond nutrition. It’s also challenged us to come up with meal after meal, often making due with one weekly shop. So we asked experts for advice. Pros who cook for a living and those who fight food waste gave us their best tips on how to master your grocery game for good. Here’s what they shared.
Start, well, fresh
Make sure your fridge and pantry are clean and organized. “It’s harder to use what you have if you’re putting new ingredients into a messy space,” says Alison Mountford, chef and founder of Ends + Stems, a meal-planning service that helps home cooks reduce food waste and save money. She suggests setting designated places for your ingredients and doing a periodic sweep (think, once a month) so you know where things are and they don’t end up going unused. (A quarter bag of lentils, we’re looking at you.) This is especially great advice if you have kids. “If something’s not where they can see it,” she points out, “they’ll just tear open a new bag before they eat the last of what was in there.”
Store smart
So, where exactly should different items be stored? Grains like pasta, flour, and oats should be kept in a cool, dark place. If you have space, Alicyn Hart, independent chef, restaurateur and food educator in Central New York, suggests creating a root cellar, a 50-degree dark, dry room to store things that last awhile, like winter squashes, potatoes, onions, and garlic.
And don’t think of the fridge as storage for perishables and be done with it. It’s also about how you store. “If fresh produce is packaged in plastic wrap or bags,” says Hart, “remove and put it in reusable storage containers like Tupperware or Pyrex” to prevent wilting or spoiling. Some veggies, like broccoli and celery, last longer wrapped in foil. Cheese fares better in wax paper than plastic wrap, and dairy and eggs belong on a middle shelf, not the door. As for the refrigerator itself, set it to 40 degrees or lower to maximize the shelf life of everything inside.
“Curate” your shopping list
The fastest way to wind up with unused food is to buy it without a plan. Not only do you want to know what you’re cooking for the week, but also how to maximize each ingredient. “Buy a smaller variety of ingredients, and use one ingredient in two ways,” advises Mountford. So a head of broccoli that goes with your chicken dinner one night can also be used for cheddar-broccoli quiche or a broccoli stem hummus. Cabbage used for slaw on tacos can then be used in minestrone soup.
Next time you’re in meal-plan mode, try a delivery service. You can browse virtual aisles without leaving your sofa (yes, please!) and add items from a list or recipe while skipping the extraneous impulse buys.
Give leftovers new life
Even with advance planning, some meals arrive from spontaneity and creativity. “If you have leftover vegetables in the fridge, roast them all with salt and pepper, and a dash of balsamic vinegar and olive oil,” says Irena Stein, owner of the restaurant Alma Cocina Latina in Baltimore, Maryland. “If lemons are getting old, make a citrus vinaigrette.” Chef Hart points out that “peasant dishes” using bits and bobs have gotten popular at restaurants and can inspire at-home dishes. Think: risotto that uses cheese ends or meat or seafood scraps. Fried rice or noodles that incorporate stray veggies. Meals that use eggs as a binder, like frittatas, omelets, and tortillas are also excellent ways to make use of ingredients that might not be plentiful enough on their own.
Rethink your remnants
If you eked out a couple of meals from your ingredients, then still have scraps? Don’t toss them. Chicken bones, carrot and celery bits help make yummy stock. Fruit pieces are great for smoothies. Cucumbers can be pickled. Stale bread becomes croutons or bread crumbs. You get the drift.
Freeze for the win
From nuts and herbs to meat and fish, the freezer is the ultimate save-it-for-later tool. “It’s really a great way of preserving our food,” says Regina Anderson, Executive Director of Food Recovery Network, which has prevented 7.4 million pounds of CO2 emissions through rescuing food and donating it to those in need. That includes last night’s dinner. “I know a lot of people aren’t really into their leftovers,” Anderson empathizes. Her trick? When she freezes hers, she attaches a little “Yummmm!!!” note to it. Then when she pulls it out again, she’s reminded of just how good it was the first time around.
Crowdsource creativity
If part of the struggle is coming up with recipes to use every bit of all your ingredients—and let’s face it, that can be a real challenge—then crowdsource it. Anderson texts friends and posts on Facebook for ideas on how to use random ingredients. “It’s a really fun way of using up what we have,” she says. And it just might yield the best dish you’ve never had before.
