I’m back to New Orleans from a few weeks away. I know I’ve mentioned that before so thank you for your patience with me.
Perhaps you’re coming back from a glorious weekend away. You know the deal. It’s hard to get back in the swing of things, isn’t it?
While I’m super excited to get back in the kitchen, a few things have to happen to grease those wheels. There’s laundry to throw in the wash. There’s a puzzling parade of now dry lemon wedges, old eggs, and expired heavy cream that need to be purged from the fridge. Every surface needs to be wiped down because apparently homes aren’t self-dusting.
And groceries. I really need groceries. I’ve eaten all the freezer burned chicken nuggets and peas (that’s real)… and it’s time to freshen up this situation.
Here’s a look at my refrigerator restock and my plan for the week. A few things you should know. I’m not a meal planner. It’s because I don’t have anyone else to feed besides myself and a plan feels stifling in the way that I buy all the stuff to make for the week and decide that I’m bratty as all heck and don’t want to eat my meal plan. I’m a loose planner. Suggestions with room for renovation.
The refrigerator restock is part planned, part instinct, and part indulgence.
I’m working from three recipes.
Easy Summer Shrimp Boil: big unpeeled shrimp, turkey keilbasa, lemons, crab boil bag, parsley, and fresh corn. I’m using this as my Southern entertaining recipe of the week with hopes that there might be leftovers for me to eat cold from the fridge.
Cauliflower Rice Burrito Bowls: I’ve got the cauliflower, adding bonus zucchini, likely leftover corn, and all the other goodies I miraculously have in the pantry. Also… if I change my mind I can easily roast the cauliflower with too much butter and enjoy it that way.
Easy Weeknight Chicken Dinner: chicken thighs, potatoes, parsley, lemon, and white wine. I’m going to be making this recipe on Facebook Live (believe the hype) today (July 5th) at 2:30pm. Boom!
additions include:
โข spinach: for everything from scrambled eggs, to lunch salads and dinner sautees.
โข raw organic sauerkraut: because it was on sale and I love it and I always need a few more probiotics in my life.
โข hummus: to eat always for any reason
โข strawberries: to adorn a chocolate cake I’m making this week.
โข eggs, for everything.
โข iced tea for afternoon refreshment and cheap beer for unexpected (or expected) summer guests.
In my freezer I need my what-am-I-going-to-eat meals. I know what I’m going to eat. It’s likely chicken nuggets, frozen fries (These new truffle fries from Alexia seem EXCITING!), frozen peas, and Dr. Praeger’s veggie burgers.
I’ve also got homemade chicken stock (like a boss), and strawberries I froze in a mega-hurry on my way to the airport in an effort to keep them from going bad while I was away. Hull them before freezing. Don’t be like me.
The fruit bowl is stacked with fingerling potatoes (for the boil and for the chicken), an onion for something or other, lots of garlic for every dinner, apricots just because we can, and bananas for a future Banana Cream Pie, amen.
I keep my refrigerator restock fairly lean and mean and leave room for visits to the store throughout the week. There’s no telling when a craving for tortilla chips will creep up.
I hope your week is off to a mellow start. May your grocery store endeavors be painless and fruitful.
48 Responses
Don’t keep your bananas in the same bowl with all that other stuff! Bananas release a lot of ethylene — which makes things ripen faster (which is why, if you want to get hard avocados to ripen quickly, put them in a paper bag with a ripe banana and they’ll be good to go the next day, usually), but it will also make already-ripe things rot faster! So keep them away from anything you aren’t trying to force into ripening quick. That’s my one helpful tip.
GAHHH so hard to get back to the routine, I’m not even sure what planet I’m on lol. This week of meals sounds so good!! Shrimp boil – yes please! My family used to live in New Orleans before Katrina – I miss visiting so much.
I loved reading this! :)
We just moved, so I totally feel you on the refrigerator restock.
I just got a huge load of groceries delivered today and was like, oh my god, I can finally really cook at home now! :P
I love your kitchen. ????
Love these kind of real life posts! Welcome home :)
Oh my, those truffle fries do look exciting!
I grew up eating a very similar crab boil using the same seasoning. It’s one of my favorite parts of summer and my parents still do it for my brother and me!
I never meal plan, but life is so much easier when I meal prep so I’m trying to get better at it!
Kari
https://sweetteasweetie.com/fresh-mozzarella-cucumber-quinoa-salad/
Welcome home! And thanks for making a fellow sort-of-meal planner very happy. I do about the same thing, and my husband (the only other person for whom I usually cook) is totally used to it. Also. Yes to sudden tortilla chip cravings. How do you stay so thin?
Love to see fridge restocks, lol. Schlitz is not that bad, lololol.
But please stop buying from WF’s. They are in league with Monsanto! But, to each his own I suppose. :( and I won’t stop reading you because of it….
Wow! That’s the cleanest, neatest fridge I have ever seen! And why is everyone so freaked out about Shits, I mean Schlitz beer? :) It’s old school and that means, it’s good for you! :)
Sorry but I am laughing so hard at the beer snob comments. Oh yeah, and I am a beer snob as well and admit I had the same thoughts. SO judgemental! I’ve got to do better :) But at least I know to BYOB should I be invited “BIG GRIN”.
Not related to this post, but I made your red velvet cream cheese ice cream for the family this weekend and it was such a hit! Thanks, Joy!
Oh I love looking in people’s refrigerators! Thanks for the inspiration, Joy!
You keep your flour in the fridge? Is that a thing you recommend doing? And what about the fact that I have a few kinds of flour – do I need to make space for all of those? Thanks for the peak!
No, no worries, that is my sourdough starter. Your flour is happy where it is.
In the summer (and sometimes all year), I store mine in the freezer. I have I think 4 kinds in there.
I love that you admit the cheap beer is for guests! The Steaz is amazing – have you tried the Grapefruit Honey? You’ll want to hide it from your guests for sure! ;)
Oh yeah! Schlitz, baby! As a Wisconsin girl, I commend your “cheap beer” choice. Loved seeing your fridge and other weekly grocery staples! :)
Is that broadbent on the top shelf?! Love!! Also, just grabbed that same brand of kraut. YUM!
My summer time fridge basics are similar to yours. This time of year zucchini is the power-player in my kitchen because it is so cheap (usually under $2 per lb for the organic stuff from the farmer’s market), plentiful and can be cooked just about any way: sliced into strips and grilled, grated and quickly warmed through and tossed with other stuff, grated and turned into patties/ fritters, roasted, sliced into coins and seared in a hot pan with lots of garlic then tossed with herbs, in a soup in chunks or pureed, and of course as zucchini bread!
your fridge is beautiful and so much cleaner than mine. And that chicken dinner is so wonderful.
https://www.searedandshameless.com
I made your shrimp boil yesterday for the 4th of July. It was fantastic and super easy to follow for a newbie at seafood boils like me! Got rave reviews!
Hi – loved reading about your refrigerator restock. I, too, am terrible at meal planning. Whenever I’m feeling organized, I’ll plan out 3 or 4 meals for the week, buy all the ingredients, and then days later don’t feel like eating those things or get too busy to make them.
Thanks, Joy! I’m always curious to see what my fellow single ladies keep in their fridges, because I often find myself wanting to eat a diet composed entirely of roasted vegetables and cake. And let’s face it, while that kind of diet is sort of awesome, it’s not really adulting, is it? Thank for the food inspo and the relief of knowing that I’m not the only one who wants to have chicken nuggets as my go-to dinner backup.
Absolutely! I eat chicken nuggets and scrambled eggs more that I care to admit. I understand you!
We are as one, JTB.
Same, same same. Eggs with salsa, chicken nuggets, microwaved mac n cheese with spinach. So hugely happily relieved to know I’m not alone!
Given that half of your ideal diet is roasted veggies, it seems very adult-like to me!
Thanks for the vote of support, Cawa!
Umm can we see inside your fridge more often? Fascinating! That was my favourite part of Cribs on MTV when they would open the fridge and let you see what they had in there.
You can absolutely see in my fridge more often!
Thanks Joy – that was fun! Hope you’ll do this some more.
I also just cook for one and most of the time I feel like I’m just spending a ton of money to fix food for one person and that it’s a waste of time. What kinds of things do you fix for your normal dinner to where you feel like you are getting value for your money? Or do you even consider that?
Yep, after a long holiday weekend and a couple weekends of having folks over to enjoy the pool because, New Orleans . . . we need a foundational foods restock also (Hollygrove market csa, here we come). Loves me some Schlitz though – reminds me of hanging out at Fred’s in Mamou and dancing to cajun music. Haven’t gotten into the sauerkraut for probiotics yet – we’ve been making our own refrigerator pickles with the Hollygrove cukes for our summertime tartness. Glad you made it back to the Crescent City safe and sound!
You’re living right! Let’s trade pickles for kraut!
You’re on! You can come cool in the pool with a food trade anytime (or cheap beer, we ain’t picky)!
I buy cheap beer for guests too…not everyone shares my hoppy craft beer tastes.The shrimp boil sounds great, might be a good vacation meal.
It’s cheap and charming! Let me know how your future shrimp boil goes! xo
Schlitz beer??? Hopefully for a recipe and not actually drinking it. Yes, I have tried it and no I don’t like it.
No shame in my game! :)
Does the Metairie Whole Foods still stock their salmon candy in the fish department ? If you haven’t riwant d it, I’d definitely recommend it. Our Whole Foods in London is a small scale store in comparison– no salmon candy OR berry chantilly cake !!! I miss both ????
I need to track down that salmon candy! If I do, I’ll send some to you in London.
???????????? that’d be an interesting customs form to complete!! I love encouraging/forcing people to try salmon candy!!
Nothing would be finer than a boudin link from Gourmet Butcher Block right about now!!
Also, I’ve loved chicken nuggets for awhile, even before my son was born!! As far as scrambled eggs go, I’m partial to Josh’s Lazy Scrambled Eggs (Beekman Boys).
Oh that shrimp boil. So easy yet seems so fancy…or maybe that is just me with shrimp. Looks amazing and now I want to make it for dinner tonight. What a way to get back into the swing of things after the weekend.
Love banana cream pie.
Schlitz?!?!?!
I have better taste in wine though.