July 5, 2007

What to have for dinner when you do not have time to shop


We all know the problem of eating on a hectic schedule: Rush, rush, terribly late and super starving, nothing to eat, no time to shop, why look!, there’s a fast food place, OH I wish I hadn’t eaten that.

I know. We’ve done it. And not that long ago, alas.

So how do you stop the cycle of no time / processed food? I’ll tell you. The trick to having a healthy dinner is to have a healthy pantry. That way, whether you’ve had time to pick something up or not, you at least have something healthy at home.

Okay. So what should you have?

Martha Stewart’s magazine, Body + Soul has a really great article on healthy items to keep in the house. Such as fruits and vegetables, onions, and dried mushrooms. Then, even if you only shop once a week or so, you’ve got enough goodies here to make a really satisfying salad, for example. Or a yummy smoothie. Or a fast and tasty pasta. Or, for the super time-pressured, a healthy fridge-to-mouth munch.

I tend to keep all of the above, plus a ridiculously enormous selection of dried spices, pasta, lemons, condiments such as anchovies and capers, lemon curd, rice, frozen peas and spinach, frozen fruit, soy milk, tofu, curry paste, tea, whole wheat crackers, bread, vegetable stock, yogurt, flour and other baking products (such as starter and baking soda and sesame seeds and so on), olive oil, and sea salt, and, erm, other stuff.

So, the question is, what staples do you keep in the house?

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{ 5 Comments }

Comments

5 Responses to “What to have for dinner when you do not have time to shop”

  1. Anna
    July 6th, 2007 @ 4:06 am

    Pesto! Garlic. Eggs (for fritatta, mainly). Parmesan. Bottled artichokes. Frozen tomato sauce (for pizza). Frozen beans, frozen rhubarb, and frozen whatever-else-was-in-season-last-week. (because nobody ever told me I couldn’t have gooseberry crumble for dinner.) When all else fails, frozen (cooked) chickpeas, tahini, and breadsticks. Hummus in minutes! I love your blog design, and will be ferretting through the old posts before too long… back to work!

  2. Almost Vegetarian
    July 6th, 2007 @ 7:46 am

    Oh, gooseberry crumble. I adore gooseberry jam so I can only imagine how divine gooseberry crumble must be. Must … have … recipe! And thanks for the kind words re the design. Will pass them on to my always patient designer.

    Cheers!

  3. Kumudha
    July 6th, 2007 @ 9:32 am

    Always have extra-firm tofu…

    Trader joe’s tofu is wonderful.

    http://www.traderjoes.com

  4. Almost Vegetarian
    July 6th, 2007 @ 10:08 am

    Oh yes, tofu is brilliant (I’ve got some in the fridge right now that I must do something with). I’ve never tried the Trader Joe’s variety, but I like some of their other items (although, am I the only person who finds Trader Joe produce not so good?) and the price is usually right, too.

    Will put it on the list, thanks!

  5. Almost Vegetarian
    November 8th, 2009 @ 6:27 pm

    Oh, gooseberry crumble. I adore gooseberry jam so I can only imagine how divine gooseberry crumble must be. Must … have … recipe! And thanks for the kind words re the design. Will pass them on to my always patient designer.

    Cheers!

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