Simplifying food/eating?

[Carolyn R]

I saw this topic mentioned in table of contents of a book about striving for a simple life.

It really piqued my interest, as we have a really small kitchen; also we have young children... I would love to have more time to spend with them and less time grocery shopping/menu planning, looking through fifty bottles of spices to find the one I need, etc.

What would a minimalist kitchen look like to you?

Has anyone done this?

Could you share your ideas, thoughts, hints?

[durafemina]

I was just about to start this thread....

We're moving out of a communal living situation and I'm keen to simplify our kitchen/eating. We have sooo many things in the kitchen now - exotic ingredients that we rarely use, etc. I think this also meshes in well with my desire to eat more locally/traditionally as well.

My plan is to sit down with Dp and write down a list of 10 (or more?) of our best (easiest, favourite, etc) dinners, lunches, breakfasts and snacks. Then make a 'pantry list' starting from there. I don't feel the need to be too strict (so we can always opt to try a new dish when planning a grocery trip) as I am generally pretty good at creating from the pantry, but I just want the options to be manageable.
And of course, the fresh stuff we buy will be seasonal so that will add lots of variety.

for example -
chicken noodle soup (love love love it)
In my pantry I need:
vinegar for the stock (lots of other uses)
salt
some kind of dried seaweed (again lots of other uses)
noodles

+ chicken in the fridge/freezer
+ whatever veg is in season

+ general stock freezer items:
frozen spinach
frozen green beans
--> these are in case we're low on veggies, etc.

[Shellie]

Mine probably isn't as extreme as others but I do strive to keep a minimalist kitchen. I started by getting rid of all the little small appliances we don't need or use often and getting rid of the "unitaskers" (a la Alton Brown!). We also got rid of extra dishes, extra silverware, extra platters, extra coffee mugs and just kept enough to get through a day. Along with that went extra bakeware (I really didn't need 8 cookie sheets!) and extra casseroles (I had tons because my mom used to give me her hand-me-downs). I also was starting to accumulate excess pots and pans after being given some but I recently purged those (due to peeling teflon) and am being very careful to only replace what I really need and use regularly.

In the pantry, I try to keep my spices down to basics. I typically will not buy a whole bottle of a spice/herb unless it's something I will use often. If it's going to be used infrequently, I will buy a tiny bit in the bulk section at Sprout's. I typically keep on hand:

granulated garlic
granulated onion
freeze-dried diced garlic
freeze-dried diced onion
freeze-dried parsley
freeze-dried chives
cinnamon
cloves
nutmeg (whole)
ginger
cumin
chili powder
crushed red peppers
cayenne
white pepper
black pepper
sea salt
kosher salt
fancy salt (okay, I have a thing for fancy salts LOL)
Mrs. Dash table blend (is finely ground)
paprika
cream of tartar
dry mustard
old bay

For baking (since I bake 95% of our baked items) I have several types of flour, yeast, baking soda and powder, sugar, confectioners' sugar, brown sugar, chocolate chips, cocoa powder, corn syrup, honey, molasses, and unsweetened chocolate and Spectrum shortening.

I keep olive oil and canola oil on hand as well. For pantry staples...

Dry:
beans
rice
pasta
Annie's mac
paradise mashed potatoes (yum!)
oatmeal

Snacks:
Annie's fruit snacks and crackers
BTN cookies and crackers
cereal

Canned:
beans
tomatoes
chicken broth (aseptic actually)
veggies (just a few cans since we prefer fresh or frozen)
evap. milk
cond. milk

Jarred:
salsa
BBQ sauce (easily made from catsup but my dh uses it on everything it so I buy it usually)
mayo
catsup
soy
worcestshire
pasta sauce

I can usually pull together a meal as long as I have some meat, poultry and/or dairy (i.e. cheese or yogurt) in the fridge, which I typically do. I try to keep enough ingredients for easy things on hand to avoid having to get take-out or go to a restaurant when I'm tired and not feeling like cooking. We don't really use convenience foods anymore (no Helpers or canned cream soups) so it's a little hard sometimes but I'm learning. It's been a fun challenge for me to balance keeping things simple and having enough on hand to eat easily every day!

[Jane]

We really only eat the same things over and over. We have a weekly menu and repeat each week. I used to get organic delivery with auto-set up for the right amount of carrots, onions, milk, bread, potatoes, with the remainder of the box as local fruits. Then they sold, and ugh.
When stuff on my list is on sale, I buy it, usually 3-4. I buy 12 roasts when they are on sale b/c we eat one a week.

[amyamanda]

One of the things I do is change recipes to accommodate our standard pantry ingredients. If something I want to make calls for a green vegetable, it has to be green beans, peas, broccoli, chives, or kale. Or peapods in season. If it calls for anything in the onion family, I will use chives or scallions or onions, depending on the season and my pantry supply. Anything that calls for dried fruit gets raisins, unless that would be too weird in the recipe (and then I don't make the recipe). Fruit in general is apples or applesauce, or frozen blueberries/raspberries/strawberries. Nuts are peanuts or pecans or nothing.

I guess I have our pantry down to a sort of science, based on what my family is willing to eat (pickies), able to eat (food restrictions), and my cooking style. Very occasionally I will buy small amounts of new ingredients to try a new recipe once, but it is rare. I love that I can buy spices in the bulk section (so only a teaspoon if that is all I need).

Periodically, I cull out anything experimental that didn't get absorbed into our plan, and donate it to a friend who needs some food fun (usually someone who is struggling financially and sick of their boring basics - I try to pick someone different each time).

It's just easier when the list of standard ingredients is finite. I just adapt new recipes to match what we normally use.

[JamieCatheryn]

I'll change recipes to fit what I buy too, and when I write my weekly menu make sure if I'm opening or thawing something perishable and not using it all at once then a meal the next day or so uses it up.

[catscharm74]

I buy seasonal and I shop for one week at a time, which means more fresh fruits and vegetables. I do have my favorite go to products in the pantry- beans, tortilla chips, spices, oils, peanut butter, etc... I always have frozen fruit for smoothies on hand, chicken breast, ground turkey, butter, open condiments in the frig/freezer. Our fridge is not big and it is just enough. Pantry is 2 shelves and it only takes up a small amount of space. At the end of the month, I try to use up what I do have, with what is on hand.

I try to do a one pot meal once a week- turkey loaf with mashed taters, stews w/left over vegetables, breakfast for dinner once a week. I don't bake, except for birthdays, Christmas and Thanksgiving. I just serve fruit as a snack or dessert. Kiddo prefers it anywho. We sometimes make Jello, mostly in the summer. It's fun to let DS use the cookie cutters to make fun Jello shapes.

I try to cook enough to have some leftover for take to work lunch. Makes my life so much easier.

We keep 4 dinner plates and 4 cups out. We have the other 4 set off to the side for company. Keeps dishes down and are easy to just hand wash as we go then dishwasher at night with the dinner cookware.

My favorite tool in the kitchen is my hand grater...you can grate all kinds of vegetable goodness into just about any dish and I use it a lot for garlic, since we love it so much. I am slowly swapping out my plastic utensils for wooden.

I have one large mixing bowl and 2 smaller ones, which I always use for serving or to hold my fruit. Still working on cookware as ours belonged to my lovely Mother in Law and are starting to fall apart after 50 years of use. I would like to get a larger skillet w/lid and a cast iron deep pan w/lid. We also have a small grill pan, one glass pan for oven cooking and a small pot for boiling pasta or making homemade Sweet Tea.

One colander, 2 cutting boards, 1 serving tray, muffin pan, 1 cooling rack and a few various utensils. Really..it is not alot.

[Crunchy*VT*Mom]

I've been working on this for years.

Here is what we eat:

Grilled or broiled meat of some kind (fish, chicken, pork, or beef)
Sauteed veggie(s) or baked potato
Salad

On ~crazy~ nights we have spaghetti or pizza.

That's it.

Simple, yes. Boring, no.

Because we change up the meats regularly, we use very different veggies...whatever is in seaon and looks good at the market, and our salads are chock full of different stuff every night.

HOWEVER -- and this is a very big however -- our style of eating is quite expensive. $$$$$ I'm not going to lie. Most variations in meals ... adding pastas or beans or tortilla chips or rice...make it a lot cheaper. Which is why people do that.

Once we started eating meat and fresh veggies for every meal, our grocery bills went through the roof.

Simple, yes. Frugal, no.

[berry987]

Originally Posted by Crunchy*VT*Mom

I've been working on this for years.

Here is what we eat:

Grilled or broiled meat of some kind (fish, chicken, pork, or beef)
Sauteed veggie(s) or baked potato
Salad

On ~crazy~ nights we have spaghetti or pizza.

That's it.

Simple, yes. Boring, no.

Because we change up the meats regularly, we use very different veggies...whatever is in seaon and looks good at the market, and our salads are chock full of different stuff every night.

HOWEVER -- and this is a very big however -- our style of eating is quite expensive. $$$$$ I'm not going to lie. Most variations in meals ... adding pastas or beans or tortilla chips or rice...make it a lot cheaper. Which is why people do that.

Once we started eating meat and fresh veggies for every meal, our grocery bills went through the roof.

Simple, yes. Frugal, no.

Hey, we have a lot in common (you responded to my post about toys, too!). We try to eat this way, too. Simply prepared meat with veggies. But you are right - EXPENSIVE!! I told myself the cost of high-quality meats would be offset by not buying anything processed and not having much food waste, but that hasn't really been true. It's just really expensive to buy organic meats and veggies all the time.

I tell myself that people in other countries spend huge chunks of their income of food...it's just us Americans who think we should be able to eat cheaply.

[Crunchy*VT*Mom]

I read the Michael Pollan book "Food Rules" and one of the grandmother quotes he gives is: "It's better to pay the grocer than the doctor."

So our grocery bill has gone up, but we are eating healthier so I'm kind of justifying it that way...

We actually don't eat a ton of meat -- our salads are HUGE to make up for it -- but I'm finding in Vermont in the winter fresh veggies are a lot more expensive than meat. THAT is what is $$$$$.

[durafemina]

so I did the meal list as mentioned up-thread and it worked out to be 55 pantry ingredients - that's for all meals and baking (we bake rather than buy snacks, pizza, etc). I thought that was pretty good.
I also went for a lot of overlap - Dp likes to have cornmeal on hand for his pizza crusts, so I decided I'd eat that as my hot cereal rather than rice or semolina (I like them all the same).
And as PP alluded to, 'stew' can have basic ingredients like olive oil, spices, salt... but can be made with any kind of meat (or even sausage, or vegetarian) and whatever veg is on hand. Plus swapping out one pantry ingredient - say canned tomatoes for another - say a white sauce (flour) can also change the mood completely. So it's many different meals!
We also made a list of freezer stocked items so that there's always basic veg in there (for us, that's spinach, corn and beans).
I think this will work for us because we're not a schedule-your-week-of-meals family (too many variables in our day that affect our time/energy level re: cooking).
This way we have options from a basic pantry that we can invigorate with fresh ingredients. On our list I put our go-to meals AND a couple special meals that we don't cook as often, but would not want to rule out (plus that have over lap with pantry supplies).
FWIW - the list was:
Dinner:
shepherd's pie
soup with chicken stock
daal
leek & potato soup
roast (meat & root veg)
stew
omlette/crustless quiche
grilled sausages
pork chops
chili
pasta with red sauce
pizza

and optional sides:
salad
potatoes (mashed, scalloped or roast)
braised cabbage
stir fry veg
steamed veg

breakfast:
toast
yoghurt + 'museli' (blend of ground flax, coconut, seeds & raisins)
hot cereal
eggs, bacon, homemade hashbrowns

lunch:
leftovers
salad toppings/sandwich fillings (canned fish, hardboiled eggs, cheese, nut butter, avocado)

snacks:
fruit
homemade baking
veg sticks + homemade yoghurt based dips

drinks:
coffee
tea
herbal tea
whiskey (medicinal!)

The grilled meat + sides idea sounds great, but I would die without soup/stew (plus you can chuck everything in that needs using!) and Dp is obsessed with ground-meat based meals, lol.

[wallabi]

do you have room for a garden, a few containers of salad veg or even just a few pots of herbs in a windowsill? after reading through this thread I am thinking that this will take you a loooong way towards simplicity. with herbs alone you can season most chili, soup and pasta sauce dishes without having to open a spice jar. with a few salad mix containers you can add interest to an ordinary lettuce salad, top the soup with some extra flavor and nutrition and make sandwiches tastier.

with a full garden you will have such yummy good coming in that you will scarcely need to prepare anything - around here its rice, grilled fish, miso soup and a selection of simple veg dishes (steamed greens with soy sauce and a squeeze of citrus, grated daikon radish and salted boiled potatoes, for instance - all very very very simple) when I am in a hurry.

we eat mostly Japanese food (because we are in Japan), but also chili, creamy soups and tomato-ey pasta, plus I am gluten free, so our diet probably looks a little different from most of you, but here is what is in our kitchen:

canned food:
organic whole tomatoes (bought by the case quite cheap)
coconut milk (again, bought by the case for around one dollar per can)
canned mandarin oranges because dd loooves them and I put magic in them when she has a bad dream
a stack of canned fish and canned beans that go into the emergency box when we are expecting a typhoon

dry food
wheat pasta and rice noodles
dry beans
several bags of gluten free flours
tapioca
peanuts
cranberries
rice
a mix of millet to add to the rice
sesame seeds
dry wakame and kombu seaweed
sugar
salt

sauces
soy sauce
mirin
sake
rice vinegar
a few Chinese and Korean stir fry sauces
Thai curry spice packs (yum! and so easy)
Japanese style worcestershire sauce

fridge
milk
yogurt
eggs
miso paste
tofu, mushrooms and/or beansprouts once a week or so
mayo, katsup, mustard

freezer (we order the meat and fish online direct from farms/fisherperson outlet places and eat a lot less than most Americans - one chicken thigh will make enough for dinner and the next day`s lunch)
frozen extra garden produce (right now, green beans and chopped green onions abound)
chicken
pork
salmon
pacific saury (another kind of fish)

Plus, from the garden we have a constant supply of veg in season and at different times in the year also have storage potatoes, sweet potatoes and pumpkins.

Soooo...what if you try looking at what your staple calorie and protein foods are and making a weekly plan involving those. We have rice every day, so it is a brainless part of my routine to prep dinner rice while I am picking up from lunch - maybe you decide on pasta twice a week, potatoes twice a week and rice the other three days and just a lay in a pantry supply of those ingredients so you never have to think about buying them again, and similarly, do chicken MTThS, ground beef Sun and Fri and fish on Wed, so those days you automatically set out what you need to defrost and again, you simplify things by buying a set amount each week at the market so you don`t have to think about it. Your meal planning is then simplified, as you know what you have to work with and can pick a recipe that matches the time you have that day and the vegetables that looked good at the market/in your garden that week.

wow that is a long post! hope someone found it interesting!!

[Aubergine68]

Subbing

I've been working on this.

I've come to the conclusion that I need to try to store less fruit/veg/processed food in the freezer and save room for good quality meats and jarred homemade soups. Or take up pressure canning.

I think we have way too many different kinds of food on hand in the freezer and pantry, too, as it sits.

[Shellie]

Originally Posted by berry987

I told myself the cost of high-quality meats would be offset by not buying anything processed and not having much food waste, but that hasn't really been true. It's just really expensive to buy organic meats and veggies all the time.

I tell myself that people in other countries spend huge chunks of their income of food...it's just us Americans who think we should be able to eat cheaply.

Agreed...I've found the same to be true on both points.

[Germaya]

[amyamanda]

Originally Posted by Crunchy*VT*Mom

I read the Michael Pollan book "Food Rules" and one of the grandmother quotes he gives is: "It's better to pay the grocer than the doctor."

So our grocery bill has gone up, but we are eating healthier so I'm kind of justifying it that way...

We actually don't eat a ton of meat -- our salads are HUGE to make up for it -- but I'm finding in Vermont in the winter fresh veggies are a lot more expensive than meat. THAT is what is $$$$$.

Prudence, I don't know if this fits with your fresh food values, but for winter veggies we eat frozen veggies (mostly from our garden), some canned things (tomatoes, applesauce), and winter veggies: kale, cabbage, carrots, onions. (Edited to add: berries, too!) This, to me, is "eating in season" and is reasonably compatible with eating locally (as much as is possible). This year I grew a giant pot of parsley and a giant pot of chives indoors, and some windowsill tomatoes, and it was a great way for us all to get a little bit of fresh greens. The kale is already growing back in our garden and will grow through Thanksgiving or even mid-December if the early winter isn't too harsh. Anyway, that is how we cover "healthy veggies" and "budget-friendly" in the same swoop. (We're in VT, too.) Maybe "winter salads" could take on a new definition in your house...beets...cabbage...parsley...

[Om Girl]

DH and I just recently had a discussion about this instigated by a parent/teacher meeting at DD's pre-school.

The other parents had really good advice...much the previous posters!

What we've done/are working on is to purge the kitchen of all un-used appliances, pots/pans/casseroles that we don't use often and glassware that we don't use. (Mainly all those fancy drinking glasses we got as wedding presents!)

Then we have a weekly schedule for meals:
Monday: red meat
Tuesday: rice or pasta
Wednesday: chicken
Thursday: eggs
Friday: pizza
Weekends: leftovers or free for all

I keep those basic staples in my pantry/fridge/freezer and every night I have a good base of what I'm making for dinner. The kids also know what to expect...some sort of dish with the aforementioned ingredients in it.

Each Sunday I go through my cookbooks and look at some recipes that I like and then I shop for fresh ingredients that I'll need, but to be honest. I usually just throw things in and it works out well!

[Amys1st]

We are pretty simple eaters, but then again, we live pretty simply.

I menu plan which makes our life 100% easier and its also easier to eat a healthy diet.

We buy sides of beef and a whole hog annually which makes it easier to have meat for dinner and whatever cut we want when we want it. It works out to be about $4 a lb for any of our beef, and about $2 for our pork. So some expensive hamburger but very cost effective steaks and chops. It goes along with our local meat rule that is grass fed since we could not get meat otherwise unless we paid several more per pound.

I have several spices, but they get used pretty quickly. We love appliances, but they dont crowd out our kitchen or pantry. Since I am very good about rotating or using items up before going to the store, (thanks years of pantry challenges here) we can live pretty simply just by being creative with what we have.

[Ygle]

We eat very simply, and yeah, it's insanely expensive!

Every Sunday I cook up a huge pot of one kind of bean, one whole grain, and I parboil some potatoes and wash and chop veggies. For breakfast we usually have some grain with some fruit, or some salad with some fruit and nuts, lunch and dinner we just make a bowl with the grain and beans and some veggies. If it looks like the beans might not get all eaten I throw some in the freezer. Towards the end of the week I throw the beans and veggies into a pot with some water and make soup or a stir fry. If I have some chopped fruit in the fridge I will freeze it for smoothies later. I just buy whatever bean, grain, fruit and veggies are on sale that week.