After-Work Cooking: How to Build a Yippie Pantry

When I started my first “real” job a year and a half ago, after graduation and a requisite relaxed, food-filled summer, the thing that seemed scariest to me was not being able to cook dinner. Frankly, I was significantly less stressed about things like performance reviews and tough deadlines; what really sucked was that I would no longer have the luxury of spending two or three hours each day planning, shopping for, and creating my evening meal. I realize, of course, that I’m not doing much for the whole “feminism” thing here, but really my propensity to prefer slaving away over a hot stove to pursuing a more traditional career is less about socially-constructed gender roles and more about the fact that eating homemade, healthy food at the dinner table is a heck of a lot more appealing than eating greasy take-out in front of a computer screen every night.

In the weeks leading up to my start date at work, my friends and family took pleasure in scoffing at my home-cooking habits: “Hah! Wait until you start working. You’ll start eating takeout all the time. Doubt you’ll be able to find the time to feed your sourdough starter then!” Ok, so they were right about the sourdough starter, because that damn thing took more effort than raising kids. But when it comes to just regular old dinner, I managed to do pretty well. With the help of a stocked pantry, some good knives, and an amenable domestic partner, I got to eat real food for dinner almost every night. It doesn’t hurt that I live across the street from a Whole Foods, but really, I think most people can manage a bit of real cooking despite their hectic work schedules.

Good, quick recipes are an essential piece of after-work cooking, but having a stocked pantry and refrigerator are even more useful. You can cook without a recipe, but you sure as hell can’t cook without olive oil, salt, and pepper. So here is my beginner’s guide to stocking your pantry. And not your mother’s pantry, either. Given my corporate serfdom and affinity for whole, natural, healthy foods, I’ve named it the yippie (yuppie + hippie) pantry, and I have complete confidence that it will satisfy both your workaday and organic, all-natural impulses. It’s by no means a complete list, but it’s a good place to start, especially if eating one more plastic container of pad Thai might just put you over the edge.

Fat: Buy a big bottle of olive oil. Nothing too fancy, but make sure it’s extra virgin and slightly greenish in color. Buy a pound of butter. Don’t worry, you’re not going to eat it all at once, unless you like making classic French food after work. Store one stick in the refrigerator and the rest in the freezer. I don’t use much else when I’m cooking after work, but if you’re adventurous, you could pick up some toasted sesame oil or some coconut oil (especially if you avoid butter).

Spices: If you don’t have a spice rack already, this may be a bit of an investment, but it’s definitely worth it. I’d suggest throwing in some curry powder, cumin, cinnamon, turmeric, and chile powder along with the basic basil, oregano, thyme, etc. You can also look for a salt/additive-free multi-purpose seasoning blend. I use my “all-purpose seasoning” in everything from scrambled eggs to roast chicken.

Prepared sauces: If you’re going to use bottled teriyaki sauce, you might as well just order in from Panda Express. Instead, stock soy sauce, some kind of hot sauce (like sriracha), a bottle of grainy mustard, and maybe some curry paste, all of which are much more versatile.

Acid: Cooking without acid is like a PowerPoint preez without multi-colored pie charts: no “pop” whatsoever. Keep a few vinegars on hand – I like apple cider, red wine, balsamic, and rice – and maybe a few lemons or limes in your fruit bowl.

Grains and legumes: You can’t be a yippie without whole grains and beans, now can you? Buy a bunch and store them in air-tight bags or canisters. Quinoa and millet are quick-cooking whole grains that can be used in place of brown rice, and bulgur (cracked wheat) just needs a soak in hot water before eating. Buy a few cans of chickpeas, beans, or lentils to add heft to salads and grains.

Frozen vegetables: Some are better (spinach, peas) than others (okra, asparagus). If you’ve somehow neglected to swing by your local, sustainable, organic, community-owned, equal-opportunity farm stand on your way home from the office (shame on you!), at least you won’t be veggie-less if you have a few green things stashed in the freezer. Both the planet and your gastrointestinal tract will be pleased.

So there they are. Pantry rules 101. Once you’ve got some of these basics in place, the dreaded after-work dinner won’t seem so scary, I promise. And you thought those Excel-conditioned hands were incapable of producing anything tangible! Soon enough, cooking dinner might just become part of your weekday routine.

Photo by Incase.