Food Friday: Staples of the Fridge and Freezer

As promised, this week we are going to see how the healthy fridge and freezer look. The lists below are my idea of what you will need to put together healthy meals and snacks all week long for you and your family.

Take a critical look at your fridge and freezer. How healthy are the contents ? Can you tell what the contents are, or how old they are ? Let’s hope so, otherwise send it to the compost. Take a gratifying step further and clean out the whole refrigerator. Here are some tips to having what you need, being sure of it’s safety, and making it easy to prepare healthy meals and snacks. 

• Shop twice a week
• Buy only healthy items such as those listed here. 
• Make a deliberate point to use what you buy. Do not plan a meal without looking in the fridge first. Factor in the what needs to be used as well as the balance of the meal. Do not, however,  be tempted to save a couple bucks and use questionable items. 
• Make sure to have a set of good clean containers to use for subdividing bulk purchases and for storing leftovers. Containers which hide their contents tend to go unused and spoil. 
• Have a couple sizes of ziplock bags also for subdividing bulk purchases and for storing leftovers. Sometimes it’s easier to store things this way instead of in a giant clear box. 
• Label and date all your unlabelled containers. 
• Search for recipes or even techniques which use your healthy ingredients, and keep them simple. 
• Use your freezer to enhance your nutrition. Buy good food on sale, in bulk and in season, divide it strategically and freeze it. 

Here are some healthy contents which should be in your fridge and freezer. 

The freezer

nuts: i.e. cashews, pecans, almonds, walnuts

pestos in ziplock bags

frozen concentrated juices i.e. orange juice concentrate for sauces

chili paste, clearly labelled

coffee or cacao (raw chocolate) bean

bags of frozen fruits, home made or store bought, for pie, cobbler, tarts, smoothies

frozen vegetables such as corn and peas

fish, meats, poultry, in bulk or divided by you into single servings

bulk items like ziplock bags of garlic cloves

ziplocks of good leftovers which you can’t use quickly enough

dried fruits which are moist and apt to spoil

cheeses : block parmesan, shredded cheddar, shredded parmesan

ice creams and sorbets

The refrigerator

Dairy:  

milk, half and half, cream, butter,

certain oils like toasted sesame  

soft cheese: cottage cheese, cream cheese, ricotta, mozzarella

hard cheese: cheddar, pre-sliced and shredded, shredded real parmesan

eggs- at least two dozen

Meats, poultry and fish which are thawing, marinating, preserved, or leftover. 

Cultures for home made yogurt, yeast to make bread

Vegetables:  

salad greens like romaine, spinach, arugula, cooking greens like kale and chard,

Hard vegetables like carrots, beets, cabbage, broccoli, asparagus, zucchini, cucumbers,

red and other various colored peppers

vegetables ad infinitum  

Fruits:

Strawberries, blackberries, blueberries, other soft fruits like pitted fruits, i.e. peaches, apricots, etc (Tomatoes, bananas, apple and oranges are stored at room temperature ) 

Condiments:

pickles, sweet and dill, olives, ketchup, mustards, mayonnaise, salad dressings, opened jams, jellys, chutneys, salsas, Worchestershire sauce, soy sauce, Siracha or other hot sauce, lime and lemon juice, fresh ginger, garlic

It takes some time to adjust your meal planning, cooking and eating habits to include all the good things all of the time and very few of the bad things very seldom. But having fridge, freezer, and pantry filled properly will help. It is also necessary to realize that healthy eating takes a little extra time at first. But healthy cooking, once learned is minimalistic simple cooking, and can be made to be very time efficient. 

I hope these lists will help healthy eating become easy and enjoyable. 

Food Friday: Soup Stock

Our evening temperatures are beginning to dip into the 30s and yet, our outdoor activities continue unabated. This weekend I'm sure we will be out either observing the lunar eclipse or the Northern lights. This means we're going to get chilly. This means we will want soup. 

Soup season is here again. While I love summer with its fruit platters and salads, I adore the soups of fall. A beautiful soup makes a great centerpiece for a meal, and if made well, soups are healthy and appeal to everyone.

What does it take to make a delicious soup? It takes a well-made soup base. Some people call this broth and some people call it stock. I think when you see how it is made you will understand why it tastes so good.

The first thing you should do is roast some chicken. I realize this sounds daunting to some, but it is actually one of the simplest things you can do in the kitchen. Moreover, whole chickens are one of the most inexpensive healthy foods you can buy. Around here, we can get them from our local farmers or you can get a good whole organic chicken at Costco. You will need a roasting pan, but it need not be fancy. It should have a roasting rack. You can usually get these at secondhand stores. You will also need a meat thermometer and these are available for just a few dollars at any grocery store. This is a small price to pay for food safety. Before you start to unpack your chicken, adjust the shelf in your oven and preheat it to 425°. Read through all the instructions first, and assemble everything you need before you start. In French, this is called “ Mise en Place”, or to put in place. 

Start by reviewing food safety. Recall that raw chicken and its juices are a culture medium for bacteria. Keep everything confined to the sink or nonporous cutting boards. Open the packages in your area and do not reuse any of the utensils or surfaces for anything else without thoroughly cleaning them in hot soapy water. Once you get your chickens unpackaged, remove the giblets and rinse them. Set your hollow chickens onto the roasting rack in the roasting pan. Then, discard the packaging, wash the utensils and surfaces and finally wash your hands with hot soap and water.

Brush the surface of both chickens thoroughly with olive oil. Sprinkle them liberally with good kosher salt and freshly ground pepper. Encrust them with whatever other herbs you like. Add about an inch of liquid to the bottom of the pan. This can be water or white wine. Cover the birds loosely with foil. Roast at 425°until their internal temperature is 165 degrees deep in the flesh. For the last 10 minutes or so, take off the foil and brown the tops of the chicken until they are nice and crispy but not burned. This will serve about 10 people or a  small family for several days. 

To make broth, take all of the chicken meat of all of the bones and serve or store it. You can use it to make sandwiches, chicken salad, main dishes, and pasta. Keep all of the drippings in the pan unless they are burned black. Compress the carcasses down in the pan and place back in the oven and either bake them at high temperature or broil them until they are golden brown and dried but not burned. Take the roasting pan out and add several ingredients which will flavor the broth. Here are some choices:

• Garlic cloves, and onion with their skin
• Chopped carrots, Chopped celery
• Older apples that are still good
• Any fresh herbs and peppercorns

Cover all the ingredients with water and bring to a boil on the stove top. Boil for 10 minutes, then simmer for at least two hours.. When finished, strain and transfer to a clean cool container or containers, preparing either to use, refrigerate, or freeze. Consider adding salt at this time.

If the weather is cold, I like to cool my broth outside. This way I don't have to put hot containers of broth into a freezer or refrigerator, compromising the temperature of other items. Either hot broth or cold broth is safe, but warm broth spoils quickly, and should be stored or used promptly. 

I freeze our broth in quart containers being careful to leave about three quarters of an inch of head space at the top. Now I have a delicious base for any number of different kinds of soups or sauces. We have used this to make soups with chicken, red meat and all kinds of vegetables.

Mostly we just make soup with what is on hand. The general principle is this: Pick a soup pot of adequate size. Saute your meats, garlic, onions, and hard vegetables one by one in olive oil and spices. Once they are cooked, cover with broth and add the softer vegetables such as tomatoes and greens. Bring to a boil, then simmer until done. Season to taste. To your health ! 

Food Friday: Food Joy and Fat ?

Food joy. Does all this enthusiasm about food contribute to the obesity epidemic ? Consider everything hot now in food : food magazines, the food channel, food trucks, street food, farmer's markets and local food ! Vegan, Paleo, Pegan, organic. 

I say a resounding NO. All this food joy is a great step in the right direction. It does not contribute to the obesity epidemic. I have no data here. I only have 30 years in medicine, most of which is focused on women’s health. 

Those with poor nutrition and problems with obesity are most often those who have not discovered the joys of food. Many times they are those that eat whatever food they can get. This ends up being the stereotypical top ramen, soda pop and boxed mac and cheese, or the iconic white bread. I remember unkind comments from adults I knew as I was growing up, as they wondered how people with so little money could get so much food to get so big. This reflects a profound misunderstanding of nutrition poverty and obesity.

Many times overweight people do not eat very much. They have little and eat little. What they do have is cheap carbohydrate, and they need to eat it as their whole meal since protein sources and fruits and vegetables are or are perceived as less available. Because of this diet, these folks suffer from chronically low metabolism and have low energy. They therefore become less active. Their extra weight compounds their insulin resistance, which results in more fat deposition. It is very hard to get out of this vicious cycle.

Many times I see young women in this predicament while they are pregnant. In this instance they have access to better resources such as food stamps as well as nutrition teaching. I have found that they are as eager and able as anyone else to learn. Once they do learn about the correct composition of meals, as well as the correct timing and quantity, they are astounded about several things. First, they are astounded about how much they enjoy their new diet. The are almost universally shocked at what large quantities they are supposed to eat. And, given this, they are amazed that their pregnancy weight gain levels out appropriately. Finally, they begin to enjoy food preparation, but note that it is a time commitment that they did not have before.

Some have odd reactions from significant others, and find themselves isolated. The partners may not want to change the way they eat. Sometimes partners even make fun of the one trying to be healthy and tease or taunt them back down to their level of poor nutrition. 

Most of the time this change toward nutrition awareness, and eventually toward food joy, is life altering. They never want to go back. Sometimes it becomes a source of pride and accomplishment in the family, and mealtimes become social in a way that they had not been. 

To me, the final stage of food joy is the social and cultural aspect. I took a walk down my own Main Street. I was amazed at what our little town had to offer. We had artisanal breads, real sushi, Thai food, genuine French macarons, and handmade watermelon chili sorbet all on one block. Granted, most of these delicacies were treats. But they were foods that made people appreciate food, other people, and other places. I saw people clustered in cafes, and out on the sidewalls. I saw people working on laptops, socializing, and flirting, all the while over special foods and drinks. They all seemed rather vibrant. 

It appears that people who take the time to walk about to find beautiful food like this are not apt to “ waste” their calories or carbs on junk. They become conoisseurs who are interested in the best for themselves. 

It is always a step in the right direction when people start to focus on quality, in nutrition, food, or even cuisine. When people focus on quality in one dimension of their lives, it tends to spread to others. My favorite part of this whole process is watching patients start to embody quality and enthusiastically take good care of themselves.