The essentials of the fridge and freezer

Let’s be clear: far from us the desire to deviate from fresh products which have no equal from the nutritional and taste point of view. However, on a daily basis, we do not necessarily have time to hang out at the market, to recharge the reserves of fresh vegetables, and let’s face it that it is super practical to always have what you need in the back of the cupboard or the fridge. to cook up a good meal or improvise a meal. Plain, frozen, dry products such as legumes and even eggs keep well and durably.

(Paragraph in partnership with WW)

How can we find ideas for cooking the basics that we all have in our kitchen? How to prepare simple and light meals rather than ordering? How do you organize yourself to eat fruits and vegetables even when you don’t have a lot of time? A first little tip to help you: from time to time do a big sorting in your cupboards to throw out this ingredient bought for a recipe but which you will never reuse! You can also plan your week to buy only the essentials.

The good idea: on theslimming application (or the site) of WW (reinvented weightwatchers), you will find a very useful tool for lose weight by eating healthy and being well organized. It’s a menu planner. Know that WW has more than 4700 easy and healthy, tasty and inventive recipes that you can select according to what you have at hand. Using these recipes and your criteria, you can plan the menus for the week, and all you have to do is let yourself go to do your weekly shopping and prepare your meals during the week without the hassle. In addition, with a WW deposit, you will be guaranteed a balanced diet!

In addition, with the option “What’s in my fridge?”, You will no longer run out of inspiration. Enter the foods you have on hand and we suggest the recipes you can make with them!

To know more, it’s here !

Start by organizing your stocks by following our advice!

1. How I store my refrigerator

So start by reorganizing the food storage spaces, and start with the fridge. You will see more clearly and know at first glance, what you are missing and what you have on hand.

• On the upper shelves (between 0 ° to + 4 ° C): raw meat and fish, cold meats, dairy products, raw milk cheeses, homemade raw egg-based preparations.
• On the intermediate shelves (+ 4 ° to + 6 ° C): cooked meats and cold cuts, cooked vegetables and fruits, started and well sealed UHT milk and creams, pasteurized cheeses.
• In the vegetable drawer (+ 6 ° C) : fresh fruits and vegetables.
• In the door: ccreams, mustard and started condiments, coffee, butter, drinks (fruit juice, beer, sodas, etc.)

To know : eggs do not fit in the fridge. They keep very well outside, at room temperature (which also means that they do not absorb all the odors from the fridge!). If they are stored in the refrigerator, it is mainly to avoid breaking them. They are preferably chosen organic or red label for more taste and a quality supply of protein.

>>> See also in video
These foods that you don’t put in the fridge:

Video by Anne-Laure Mayor

2. Refrigerator essentials

– A few fresh seasonal fruits and vegetables, which is placed in the vegetable drawer. Do not keep them in a plastic wrap, and for them to keep better, slip in absorbent paper which will be able to retain a little moisture. You can also keep them in their paper bag. So always have a salad, carrots, endives in winter, melon and cucumber in summer …
To note : be careful, keeping some fresh fruits in the cold can alter their flavor (tomatoes, strawberries, etc.).

– If you like fresh meat and fish, it’s all to your credit, but be careful of the retention limit. Usually, they should be consumed within two days.

– Of ham (pork, turkey) is always served: in the morning for a salty breakfast, rolled with fresh cheese for an improvised aperitif, or even as a main course, in croque-monsieur, to decorate a quiche, a sauce, a gratin …

– Some yoghurts plain (cow, sheep, goat or soy) and / or fromage blanc: in the morning or as a dessert, but also to make a salty sauce, a lassi, a marinade for chicken, etc.

– Of Butter (or possibly margarine), for your sandwiches, your pie crusts, your cakes …

– The cheese cooked dough keeps well. Opt for a piece of tomme, a Comté, Beaufort, Emmental, which you can choose to consume on bread, in a dish or grated. Do not neglect the advantage of a fresh cheese such as Saint-Morêt or ricotta, which goes everywhere and cooks just as easily: in a cheesecake, a savory tart, a levantine sauce, for an aperitif dip …

– The good idea of ​​the fridge fund: a stock of brick or filo sheets. With, you can achieve
express puff pastry, samosas, make a crunchy and light tart base …

>>> See also:
Brick sheets and filo sheets, recipes that will thrill you!
The best dip sauces, for a delicious dip
All you need to know about seasonal vegetables, which vegetables which month?

– The smoked fish, salmon, trout, mackerel, haddock, herring…, keeps well and is practical to eat as is, or in a salad, a savory pie, in rillettes to spread, in a more chic soup for example.

– Some condiments which are a good base to spice up your dishes and recipes. Mustard, ketchup, capers, pickles, pesto, curry paste: once opened, these jars can be stored in the refrigerator door.

Good to know : the experts are unanimous, no we do not keep coffee in the fridge. The cold blocks its aromas and the coffee risks absorbing humidity and bad smells. Even though coffee (like chocolate) often turns out to be a real cupboard product to always have on hand, it is stored in an airtight box, but not in the refrigerator.

3. Freezer essentials

– The base, the ice cubes ! Not only for cooling drinks, making ice water, but also for cooling vegetables.

– Some Herbs chopped (or not): dill, mint, coriander, basil … We sprinkle vegetables, pasta, sauces, we put them in our salads, we also use them in a dish with a good pepper and olive oil quality. Yum !

– A puff pastry and pizza dough : you choose your pure butter puff pastry, and you can even reserve a homemade pizza dough that you have taken care to spread on a baking paper, that you will roll lightly floured before placing it in the freezer. It will then be available for delicious pizza, pissaladières, or even cooked in strips, with a little salt, olive oil and rosemary for the aperitif. To thaw in the refrigerator in the morning for the evening.

>>> See also:
How to prepare delicious homemade pizza dough?

– Of the vanilla ice cream to improvise desserts by simply melting chocolate on them, to accompany a tarte Tatin or in a verrine with fresh fruit and / or granola.

– Some green beanss and peas, which, we must admit, are better frozen than in a box!

– Some artichoke hearts or hearts : steamed, they are practical for making an express salad, they can also be used to stuff scrambled eggs or cheese as in this recipe:

– Some spinach branches : as an accompaniment, in a pie, in an omelet, in a gratin … Be careful to make them drain well if you cook them in a recipe. Why in branches? Because they are better and less full of water than chopped, and easier to find without the addition of cream.

– Some frozen fish fillets that you come out as you wish to prepare them in papillotes, steamed, in a salted crumble … and even, in carpaccio according to the fish. Indeed, they are more easily sliced ​​when they are still a little frozen.

– A packet of red fruit cocktail to add in smoothies, milkshakes, yogurts, breakfast bowls, to make jams, cakes and express clafoutis.

4. Closet essentials

This is the easiest part, because we all have more or less a lot of products in reserve such as preserves, rice, pasta, sugar, flour, yeast if we like to bake cakes straight away. .
However, here are some products that can be very practical to have at home all the time:

– Of canned tuna and sardines : they keep for a long time, provide very interesting nutrients, allow you to eat seafood inexpensively, and you can use them in dips, nice toast, crumbled on a salad or in a pasta sauce …

– Some canned vegetables : a can of crushed tomatoes since in winter you avoid buying tomatoes out of season, corn for an improvised salad, green beans when you don’t have a freezer, and why not a can of Tarbais beans?

– Some legumes : chickpeas, lentils, beans provide vegetable protein, are really inexpensive ingredients and make delicious vegetarian dishes.

>>> See also:
Where can I find protein when I am not eating meat?
Chickpeas, how to cook them?

– Some almonds, hazelnuts and walnuts. We keep them in a tightly sealed jar, together or separately if we want to cook them. We sprinkle them on our breakfasts, our desserts, we toast them for salads, we add them in a pan of vegetables, on savory or sweet dishes, we grind them… The variations are endless.

– Of chocolate, because how can you survive without chocolate? IM asking you !

– Some good fats : various oils and first cold pressing (olive, rapeseed), ghee (yes, this clarified butter cannot be kept in the fridge), and even coconut oil to vary the pleasures!

– Of honey because it sweetens your herbal teas, it allows you to prepare delicious gingerbread and also invites itself on a piece of meat sublimated with a touch of honey with a little pepper.

– Some potatoes : In a dry, rather cool place, well protected from light, the potatoes will keep for at least two weeks. A very practical tuber to have on hand at all times.

– Some spices : salt, pepper obviously, but not exclusively. With the spices, you can enhance any basic dish. Smoked paprika, curry, turmeric, sumac, ras-el-hanout… never miss anything to sprinkle your meals!

With all of these basics in your closet, fridge and freezer, you’ll never be afraid to throw out unannounced invitations, see the kids show up, or even allow yourself to skip groceries when you’re lazy. !