One Less Thing
It’s okay to take a supermarket shortcut
I’m not sure if it’s the post-sun haziness, an extended lack of routine, or my desire to stay far away from any heat source in this swampy late-summer climate, but over the past few weeks I’ve lost my way when it comes to dinner. “What do people even eat?” my husband recently asked as we tried to come up with meal ideas for the week. I didn’t have a good answer. My mind was blank, other than the same three things we’ve been eating on repeat lately, none of which sounded appetizing or worth standing over the stove.
And yet, we still need to eat dinner (and so do our kids, for that matter). As the summer winds down and we gear up for the new routines of back-to-school, I want to feel reinvigorated to find and cook delicious recipes. Sometimes scouring the internet or my ever-growing shelf of cookbooks helps to bring that spark back to the kitchen, but other times the sight of a long ingredient list just sends me to the pantry for another box of pasta.
This is when I lean on my supermarket shortcuts – the store-bought versions of things that I feel I really should be able to handle myself. Is it so hard to cut a lemon in half, put on a pot of rice, or mince garlic? No, obviously not. Each of these tasks, in and of themselves, is not all that difficult or time consuming. But in the backdrop of cooking apathy or a busy day, each shortcut swap means one less thing, which might just be what we need to get dinner on the table.
In case you need to hear it: It's okay to take the shortcut. Peeling your own ginger does not make your dinner any less worthy or wholesome than popping out a frozen cube. Opening a container of chopped sweet potatoes does not take you down a notch as a cook. In a world of shoulds, this tiny corner of dinner prep is a good place to start letting ourselves off the hook.
Supermarket Shortcuts
Here are a few of my favorite shortcuts and how I like to use them. Most of these are pretty close to their raw ingredient roots and all of them mean one less thing to do in the kitchen.
Lemon Juice
When I see a bottle of ReaLemon, I will always think first of my grandmother’s chicken and rice soup, which was never complete without a squeeze. I still love the comforting taste of lemon juice in a bowl of soup, but now also use it almost daily for throwing together a quick salad dressing (usually this Ina Garten one).
A note: Look for a brand that’s sulfite-free if you’re sensitive, such as Volcano, Whole Foods 365, or Santa Cruz.
Pre-Minced Garlic and Ginger
Having ready-to-use aromatics in your freezer or fridge means less peeling and chopping, as well as a shorter shopping list. It also means less waste, since most recipes don’t call for a whole head of garlic or hand (yes, a hand!) of ginger.
My favorite brand is Dorot Gardens, which comes in adorable yet practical trays (picture teeny tiny ice cubes) in the freezer aisle. For easy measuring, each cube is a pre-portioned amount (one clove of garlic and one teaspoon of ginger, respectively). You can pop one into a pan to start a stir-fry or sauce and keep the rest fresh in the freezer.
As another option, I’m also a fan of minced garlic and ginger pastes. Many brands make these in a squeeze bottle, which is perfect for quick, no-cook dressings and sauces, like the one in this post’s featured “good recipe” below.
Frozen Rice
As someone who cooks frequently, I’m embarrassed to tell you that I almost never make my own rice. Though I’ve burned the bottom of a pot more than once, the main reason I lean on frozen is that when I’m already managing multiple pans, it’s just easier to throw a bowl of rice into the microwave.
You can, of course, sub in frozen for your rice bowls and sides, but my favorite thing to make with this ingredient is a dinner in its own right: fried rice. Since this dish works best when started with cold rice, it makes an ideal use case for the frozen variety. You can pour the grains straight from the freezer into a pan, just giving them an extra few minutes to cook. (It’s also a great meal to make with takeout leftovers.) This 10-minute Veggie Fried Rice from Pinch of Yum uses frozen peas and corn (another pro shortcut), and you can even break out your pre-minced garlic and ginger for a perfect weeknight recipe.
Pre-Chopped Vegetables
Yes, I just wrote a whole ode to farm-to-table vegetables and that’s still my favorite way to find them all summer. As our schedules fill up in September, I’m headed back to the produce aisle. In addition to handy pre-washed greens, containers of prepped root vegetables often find their way into my cart. Peeled and cubed (or even better, fry-cut) sweet potatoes and butternut squash make for easy sides, ready to roast with just some olive oil and salt.
Speaking of Shortcuts…
For those nights when you need more than a little help, there’s always the king of convenience, Trader Joe. From the Oven Window archives, here are some easy 3-ingredient TJ Meal Ideas to keep in your back pocket as we head back to school.
Some Good Stuff
A good recipe: This summer, Smitten Kitchen’s Takeout-Style Sesame Noodles with Cucumber has been hitting the spot while keeping my kitchen cool. Aside from boiling the noodles, it’s mostly an assembly of condiments and cucumbers. I swap in my shortcut garlic and ginger and keep the sauce separate for a make-your-own bowl dinner.
A good read: Unpacking the Past (and the Groceries) With Your Therapist, from the New York Times. This piece is an interesting look at how some professionals are combining the worlds of cooking and mental health.
A good idea: With two kids who don’t like milk (or most yogurt or cheese), getting in calcium is often a challenge. We came across these chocolate milk straws, thanks to their impressive shelf placement on the dairy fridge door, and have found them to be a win. There’s something simple, nostalgic, and just fun about sipping through a straw filled with tiny balls of chocolate.