When the pandemic curtailed our restaurant outings and market trips, culinary experts from across every media platform set aside their seasonal purity sermons to offer savvy advice for stretching the humble contents of our cupboards and freezers.
Cookbooks detailing creative strategies for making exciting, healthful meals from our increasingly crowded arsenals have flooded the marketplace ever since, and I peruse them all in hopes of gleaning thrifty tips to prepare myself for lean days ahead.
I’ve always found Christopher Kimball and his Milk Street food media crew to be a reliable source for practical inspiration, and their latest volume, “Milk Street: Cook What You Have: Make a Meal Out of Most Anything” (Voracious, $35), feels exceptionally timely.
Allowing the ingredients we already have on hand to drive our dinner-planning decisions, Kimball contends, not only saves us the time and expense of a lengthy shopping trip, but also opens up new flavor adventures we haven’t considered.
Staples typically considered back-up players headline chapters that include Canned Goods (beans, tomatoes, tuna), Shelf Stalwarts (pastas, grains, lentils, broth), Cold Storage (root vegetables, brassicas, eggs, tofu, chicken, sausage), From the Freezer (frozen vegetables, shrimp, seafood), Flour Power (store-bought bread, tortillas), and Sugar and Spice (“cupboard confections”).
Most recipes begin with basics found in most kitchens, with help from a list of 25 “high-impact must-haves” that “effortlessly deliver tons of flavor and texture,” such as bacon, fish sauce, and canned chipotles in adobo.
Canned white beans, frozen shrimp, and a few odds and ends morph into a Tuscan-inspired feast in less than 30 minutes. A dollop of harissa, a handful of raisins, and a package of ground beef elevates a mound of quick-cooking couscous into a one-skillet dish with North African flavors. And canned tuna joins forces with frozen corn kernels, mayo, and Mexican seasonings to top corn tostadas.
Ingredient swaps are offered throughout to get you more comfortable with improvising on your own because, as Kimball stresses, “you never know what tomorrow may bring.”
Susan Puckett is a cookbook author and former food editor of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Follow her at susanpuckett.com.
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