Before You Go

Anticipating a vacation or other type of journey is fun, but for the Parsimonious Gourmet, a plan for cooking your way through the perishable food that remains in the fridge achieves the goal of not having to toss any spoiled food upon your return. Before I went away for long weekend Thursday, I took a survey of the food on hand and strategized how to use it up and leave with a fridge empty of everything but yogurt, condiments and eggs, all of which would certainly keep until I returned.



Some eggplants and tofu were the first to consider. They needed to be made into something that would be consumed at once, since neither freeze especially well. Since the eggplants weren’t especially fresh, I cubed them, placed them in a colander and laid on a heavy layer of coarsely ground salt. This eliminates any bitterness that occurs as eggplant ages; it’s not necessary when your eggplant is very fresh. After half an hour, I rinsed off the salt, and squeezed the eggplant dry in a dish towel. The tofu was placed between two plates and weighted down while the eggplant salted. A splash of canola oil heated in a wok, and I then added some garlic, ginger and the eggplant. (make sure the eggplant is good and dried off, or you’ll get splattered with hot oil). I stir fried the eggplant until soft and browned and then added slices of sweet onion and the tofu, cut in cubes. After continuing to stir fry until the onions were cooked, I ripped off some basil leaves from my plant and added them in the pan. A spoonful of hoisin sauce, a splash of fish or soy sauce, and I served it over brown rice for a quick dinner the night before I left.


A bag of carrots begged to be used before they perished in the vegetable bin. I scrubbed them clean (peeling is a waste of time and nutrition), cut off the ends and cut them into chunks which I tossed in a stockpot along with an old apple or two and a piece of peeled ginger. You can brown all of this in some oil, if you have time to bother. Add vegetable broth or concentrated bouillon and water, and let it cook until soft. Using my immersion stick blender, I pureed the soup. It was still rather thin, so I cooked it down until it thickened and was creamy. I could have added a potato if I’d had one, but with only carrots and a faint hint of apple, it tasted startling pure and carrot-y. A pinch of sweet curry, and I ladeled it into containers for the freezer. Now I’ll have some carrot soup to come home to, or for a cold autumn night.


A quarter of cabbage and a green pepper posed a bigger problem. With the eggplant,tofu dish for my last meal at home, I didn’t need a salad. I shredded the cabbage and pepper together in my Cuisinart (but you can use a box grater if you don’t mind risking your knuckles), and put the shredded slaw in a Ziploc container, and added a spoonful of brown sugar (but you can use white), a quarter cup or so of apple cider vinegar (but you can use rice wine vinegar or even white vinegar), and splash of soy sauce. This sat in the fridge while I was away and pickled. If you want to channel kim chee, add some raw slivered chilies. You can serve it with a few chopped peanuts as a side to almost anything. And now you see how easy it is not to sacrifice food to a few das out of town.


The remaining tomatoes went on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet and roasted while I did everything else. Those hit the freezer to be used some day I nthe future for sauce or soup. You can’t make everything at once, but preparing ingredients that will otherwise spoil for future use is a more parsimonious strategy than throwing out perfectly good food.