How Much Do I Need?

By now you are doing one of two things—adventurously rolling with a new way of life or clutching on to any shred of normalcy. No matter which you have chosen there’s a solid constant from which none of us can self-isolate and that is food. We all must eat. Furthermore, we must all procure food.I get the urban and suburban lifestyles where ready-to-eat food is abundantly available. Nothing overwhelms my senses than to walk down Connecticut or through Adams Morgan and think to myself I could eat out for every single meal and never eat the same thing twice. Even in the towns bordering my rural landscape every shopping center is peppered with fast casual chains who now serves diners through a take-out window, often only a single meal. Seriously, who stocks up on burgers and fries for the week?But now you are my territory which means preparing most of your meals at home. Where I live if I wanted to eat out my choices would amount to two gas stations, a pizza shop or the Egg Roll Queen—all still several miles away. Over the years, my house guests are shocked when they realize how much I cook. “You shouldn’t have…” is met with a stare over the top of my glasses and raised eyebrows letting them know I have not gone out of my way for them, but merely included them in part of daily routine.Many market customers are finding difficult to gauge exactly how much food they need for a week, especially those whose household occupants have increased with grown children and elderly parents now part of the equation. It’s the number one question I’m fielding from frustrated folks whose refrigerators are turning bare before the end of the week—how to figure out how much food to buy and how to cook at home for a week (or two).To answer this question and get more great ideas to share with Dishing the Dirt readers I went to everyone’s favorite market chef, Jonathan Bardzik.When it comes to meal planning, Johnathan has two fantastic suggestions. First, prioritize work you can do that will last for several meals. For example, make enough vinaigrette that can be used for multiple dishes. “What goes on a salad one meal could similarly dress steamed green beans for another,” he advised.Secondly, anything can go in a tortilla. “There’s not much that you can’t put in a tortilla, or even on a salad or a grain bowl.” This is where leftover shine. “An ounce or two of leftover meat or roasted vegetable are perfect for this kind of meal.” Another big favorite of Jonathan’s is fried rice. “It doesn’t have to be rice. It can be any type of grain, for example, quinoa.” Just toss it all in a skillet and in a few minutes you’ve got a great meal.I’m a big fan of cooking larger amounts basic ingredients and then using them in a variety of ways throughout the week.But back to that pesky question of how much food to add to your weekly shopping list.For grains, including pastas, Jonathan suggested a ball-park figure of ¼ cup per person. “Remember that grains double in volume when cooked,” Jonathan pointed out. Grains and pastas are perfect for cooking ahead of time and in volume to be used throughout the week for multiple meals.Similarly raw vegetables can also be estimated at ¼ pound per person as a side or a ½ pound if used as a meal. For salads, a half-pound of greens will feed four, but if your cooking your greens like kale, collards, mustards and such, double the amount to a pound. While many vendors have gone to bagging raw vegetables to keep them from being handled, another good estimate is a handful per serving.For meat eaters, four to six ounces a meal is a good estimate when purchasing cuts like steaks and roasts. Sausages and burgers work great because each is an individual serving.Keep in mind, all of these suggestions are estimates and that you’re bound to end up with leftovers at some point, intended or not.Want to make your food supply stretch even further? Don’t waste anything. Chef Jose Andres wasn’t joking when he talked about using all the trimmings and what we’d normal toss in the compost bucket in his latest book, Vegetables Unleashed. The same goes for any bones leftover from meat cuts. Just add water and simmer for several hours for a rich and nutritious stock that can be used for soups. I’ve got a great stash of mushroom stems in my freezer waiting to be turned into a rich stock for a mushroom bisque.One of the biggest complaints I hear from customers when it comes to purchasing enough food to last one or two weeks is they don’t have enough room in their refrigerators or freezers. Bunk! I’ve been enough of your homes and peeked in your appliances. To start, get rid of anything in your freezer that isn’t perishable. That includes things like coffee, spices, the plastic icicle that goes in a bottle of wine to chill it down. Next, take out all the stuff you planned to eat, but never did, things like those freezer-burned lamb riblets that have been languishing away for years, but you can’t brink yourself to throw them out. Put them in the stock pot. Now there is plenty of room for a week or two of food. Don’t worry, there will be plenty of room left for a pint or two of Rock Hill Orchard ice cream.Many folks have found themselves unable to obtain their normal food items over the last few weeks and in the coming months may be faced with having limited choices. Several vendors have shared with me trepidations about going to a boxed method of selling items to provide both a safe and efficient way of providing food to their customers. Others {including myself} are trying to figure out the best ways to safely conduct business in the age of COVID-19. You may not want those radishes or know how to cook a round roast, but it’s time to roll with it if we’re going to get through the coming months of uncertainty.The market directors have gone to great lengths to keep our markets open, the vendors are re-tooling their sales models to stay in business and food professionals, like Jonathan are offering tips, tricks, stories and ideas through video and live social media events so that we can cook and eat at home, thus reducing the risk to ourselves and others. Thanks for helping to be part of the solution.