How to reset your kitchen
My fridge and freezer are not very large, which I used to find annoying but have lately come to appreciate. I think of it as akin to having a small closet: It forces me to curate, to prioritize, to think honestly about the items I really rely on week to week. As much as I’d love to buy that quart of vanilla yogurt, for example, I need to save the “yogurt space” for plain yogurt, which I use for so many things beyond simple snacking. A small fridge also means that any produce I bring home is very much in my face. Right now, a bunch of chicory greens greets me like a frizzy poodle every time I open the door. A cabbage half is precariously balanced on top of the mustard and the miso. The crisper drawer is stuffed with chard, scallions and broccoli, their green faces pressed up to the plastic as if to say, kindly but urgently, “Use me.” This fridge setup makes it easy for me to cook my favorite meals and eat lots of vegetables throughout the week. And I think Pete Wells, our former chief restaurant critic, would approve. In this week’s Reset Your Appetite column, Pete shares how he changed his grocery runs and his kitchen — his food environments, as he puts it — to make it easier for him to eat better at home. Location, location, location: Berries and other highly perishable fruit go at eye level for quick snacks; a list of just-bought produce is pinned to the fridge door for easy scanning and planning. “The point of all this strategic resource deployment,” Pete writes, “is to surround myself with non-sabotaging snacks and a few simple, intelligent meals before I’m actually hungry.” This “strategic resource deployment” (what a great phrase) extends to the pantry, too: Canned beans and fish, the third entry on his reset shopping list after whole grains and dried beans, get primo placement in his cabinet, ready for easy meals like this broccoli, barley and cannellini bean soup, a recipe Pete adapted from one by Marcella Hazan. Featured Recipe Broccoli, Barley and Cannellini Bean Soup“Changing your food environment is the single most important thing you can do for yourself,” said Corby Kummer, the executive director of the Food and Society program at the Aspen Institute. As your favorite newsletter editor, naturally I’m here to help you optimize your email food environment. For excellent vegetarian recipes and cooking tips, make sure you’re subscribed to The Veggie. And to help with “OK, now what do I make for dinner” choice fatigue, you’ll want to be on the Dinner Tonight list, which sends one easy, quick recipe to your inbox every Monday to Thursday. Find more recipes to help guide your kitchen reset here and below, and we’ll be back next Tuesday with the third installment of Pete’s Reset Your Appetite series. Enjoy, and thanks for reading!
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