How to Stock a Fridge from Scratch
Hurricane Sandy left thousands upon thousands of homes without power last week. Here's how SAVEUR editors would restock their own refrigerators from the ground up.
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Credit: C.P. Cushing/Classicstock/Corbis
Todd Coleman, Executive Food Editor
A block of Parmesan, sriracha, a fruity hot sauce with mango, and yuzu koshu, which I put in vinaigrettes and on sandwiches. Hellmann's mayo, hard salami, raw carrots—I eat those all the time, which is something my mom did. Not the nub kind of carrot, but the big cello-bag carrots, which I don't even peel, I just scrub. A jar of cucumber pickles. Apple juice, chicken thighs, and broccoli for my daughter, Eve. For the freezer, some burritos—I always forget about them so they hang out in there forever, but I like the idea of having them. But even before all that, beer is the first thing to get: Dale's Pale Ale is what I drink at home.Gabriella Gershenson, Senior Editor
If my fridge were empty, I'd fill it with my five essential items. Eggs: For emergency brownies or cookies, or to eat on their own. Milk: I typically take my coffee black, but milk suggests a measure of civility; also, cereal can be eaten for any meal. Bread: It's multipurpose: French toast for breakfast (see "milk" and "eggs"), or a lunch or dinner egg sandwich (see "egg" and "Comte"). Comte: This brilliant melting cheese can make a grilled sandwich or omelet feel utterly luxurious; plus, a little goes a long way. Butter: How am I supposed to make grilled cheese, omelets, toast, cookies, or brownies without it?
Credit: Todd Coleman
Karen Shimizu, Associate Editor
When my fridge is wiped out, I buy: eggs, butter, milk (essential for breakfast); sour cream, cheddar, a wedge of pecorino or Parmesan, fresh herbs (essential for most other things); and last, dark leafy greens, lemons, sweet potatoes, and a whole chicken to roast, which will in turn generate leftovers—chicken salad, chicken soup—that will repopulate the refrigerator.Cory Baldwin, Assistant Web Editor
I recently moved into an apartment with roommates who don't cook at all beyond pouring a bowl of cereal, so the task of building up our fridge staples fell to me. The first things on my list: a spicy Dijon mustard for making salad dressings and spreading on sandwiches; a few cheeses, including a nice big hunk of Grana Padano for finishing pastas and salads, and a few semi-firm cheeses, like young gouda, mild fontina, and cheddar for snacking, melting, and making sandwiches; full fat yogurt or quark (a German fresh cheese that has a texture similar to thick yogurt or whipped creme fraiche) for breakfast and making creamy salad dressings; European-style cultured butter; Hellmann's mayonnaise and sriracha because I shamelessly love them, both alone and mixed together; the obvious eggs and milk (I splurge for the expensive glass-bottle milk because I only use it in coffee or for cooking); thick-cut slab bacon from my local butcher; and a few hardy vegetables that will last a while in my fridge even if I don't use them right away—kale, arugula, beets, carrots, celery, cauliflower, and potatoes. And a six-pack of Lagunitas beer—which lately I've been using for cooking as well as drinking.Keith Pandolfi, Senior Editor
I would start with milk—Organic Valley 2 percent, for coffee, cereal, and the one glass I always drink, like an old man, before bedtime. Then I would add the following: a bag of almonds (I like them cold); one dark chocolate bar (ditto), a box of Breakstone's unsalted butter for cooking, a six pack of beer (Anchor Bock sounds good right now), a package of La Tur cheese, some good sliced ham, red grapes, a bunch of carrots, a bag of apples, fresh greens, a box of baking soda (to eliminate the odor of the rotting greens that I'll forget I bought), a cucumber (I always add a slice to my water), a tub of plain yogurt, a jar of preserves, a jar of Duke's mayonnaise, and, if I still have room, more beer.Felicia Campbell, Assistant Editor
Little is more depressing than my refrigerator when it is bare save for a half-empty vodka bottle. My first step in ameliorating this unfortunate state of affairs is to get breakfast makings: eggs, Morningstar Farms vegetarian sausage patties (I swear, these are delicious), English muffins,
Credit: Todd Coleman
The suggestions are very limited. I'd pack several kinds of cheese, different milks, cream and yogurt. Some salad vegetables, butter to thaw before putting in the dish, bacon, cold smoked salmon and that's about it.
The freezer would be more challenging.