Your Refrigerator and Pantry

[privateer]

The cooking threads here have inspired me to ask about how people stock their kitchen and pantry.

I enjoy cooking, but I do not go to the store often. I stock up on things all at once and then when I run out/remaining veggies aren't fresh, I return. This leads to a general decline in creativity and style of meal as time goes on. Also I find that I have stopped buying certain items because I will use them for a dish or two and a large amount will spoil, which is too wasteful for me. How often to you guys go to the grocery store and or stock up? Does much of your food go bad?

Please also mention what type of food or how complicated your cooking is. Some way to differentiate between "I add boiling water before microwaving" and the person who makes complicated meals would be nice.

 

[swoll50]

Usually go to the store once a week for big shopping and inevitably end up there 2-3 more times when i dont want what i bought.

 

[gomestar]

for large quantities of veggies, I tend to stick with the hearty types (onions, shallots, potatos) that will last a while. Otherwise I don't buy too many unless it's for a particular recipe.

But I inevitably end up with a bunch of leftovers, mostly due to my work schedule. This is when having stock that I made a few weeks ago and put in the freezer comes in handy - any veggies that are a bit limp and wilted but obviously not growing mold are candidates for a "leftovers soup" that I'll make to clear out the fridge. I take the stock, defrost it over heat, then throw in any number of vegetables, some salt, and a bit of water and let it cook for an hour or so (with some fresh onions, carrots, leeks, etc.). When the veggies are good, I'll put some stale bread i the bottom of a bowl and pour the soup on top before some fresh grated parmesean on top. Great stuff that is perfect after a long day and that will last for a few more days in the fridge. FWIW I am a cooking moron.

 

[impolyt_one]

I/my girlfriend go to the store often, half of the time together, half of the time not... we both enjoy cooking; she has a culinary school education, I am a hobbyist, we both often will come home with a bunch of stuff to make dinner for each other and surprise each other. I am really picky about food in general, and I won't make something if I'm missing an ingredient I'd like to use; she throws it all to the wind and will improvise with occasional to moderate success - she made me a macrobiotic caesar dressing from white miso and ume vinegar once. We do throw out a lot of old scraps here and there - we get to use most of our stuff, but inevitably stuff will fall to the bottom of the drawer or get pushed to the back of the fridge. I try to keep a little bit of good bacon in the freezer, some stock, and some canned beans, because every couple weeks it's fridge cleanout time and we make a huge pot of minestrone or stock. I usually just eat my minestrone with leftover baguette she buys and ends up freezing, I get to finish off a chunk of parmesan I usually always have, I usually have a carrot, some potatoes, an onion or two, some garlic, and then cabbage, a zucchini, some sort of green, and whatever else is good, so minestrone is our go-to cleanout dish and we're mostly back to square one for the really perishable stuff... The real problem lies in all the delicate and rare products we buy, because we 1) live in Korea 2) she is Japanese, I am American 3) we want to make all kinds of food, she is trained in French, I like making versions of classic American junk food from scratch because I can't get it here

We end up with a lot of random stuff. I have fukujinzuke and beni-shouga next to my ketchup and hoisin sauce. The other problem is cheese and charcuterie, that **** is expensive here, and it goes off faster than I can eat it, once it's opened. I/we like cheese, but we can't eat as much of it as our western bredren, I will pull some out if we're drinking at home, and I have some bleu and parmesan that get used often enough, but cheese is about $10/100g here and it's nothing special quality-wise... I do over-buy it, but we get no choice in this country about the sizes sold, and many things come from costco. Food shopping here is dire. I do like how in Japan they sell everything in tiny quantities on the regular; picking up $2-3 of meat is normal, the veggies are packed in very small, cheap packs, or are otherwise grown to be very small and they suit cooking up something, even if you're single and cooking for one - I'd buy half as much food as I do here in Korea, in Japan they cater to singles and small families, here in Korea they sell to 4 person families and businesses. Not many singles or couples cook as much as I have always done here, so I'm the odd man out I guess.