ESSENTIAL QUARANTINE COOKING AND SHOPPING GUIDE
How many days have you been staying safely home in quarantine? When are you expecting your next food delivery or are you planning a big food shopping trip to the supermarket soon? Whatever your set up is during the COVID-19 crisis, I’d love to help you with my essential shopping guide, so you’re able to focus on what you truly need and on purchasing what will bring you the most amount of joy in the kitchen. I’ll also point you towards some easy, flexible and nourishing vegan pantry recipes to cook during your time in quarantine. My hope is that you’ll be able to navigate through your time in isolation with flair and flavour.
ESSENTIAL QUARANTINE FOOD SHOPPING GUIDE
FRESH, FROZEN, DRIED AND CANNED FRUIT
To be honest, you can never go wrong with fresh or frozen fruit, but if money is limited for you during this pandemic or you are encountering near to empty shelves in the supermarket, the following fruits are worth focusing on. Lemons, which are ideal for making salad dressings, general seasoning or as additions to your morning tea or baked creations.
Frozen berries which are high in antioxidants and great warmed up over porridge, as a base for your smoothies or a snack when you feel you need a sweet but healthy pick-me-up. Berries also add that special something to baked goods like muffins and can be used to make jams too!
Bananas are amazing for so many things and great to have to hand - they can work as a snack as is, added to smoothies for sweetness, turned into banana bread or vegan ‘nice cream’ (recipe link below) or used as an egg replacer in baked goods.
Finally, I couldn’t live without my fresh apples. I use them to make my green juices, eat them as a snack and use them to make bircher muesli which is such an amazing way to start the day (recipe link below). Apples are fabulous additions in baked goods too and when turned into apple sauce can be a great vegan egg replacer in baked goods!
Having some sultanas or dates in your pantry can be life saving! The kids love a sweet afternoon pick me up and dried fruit can help you create your own delicious mueslis and granola bars. I love to add dried fruits to salads too.
As for canned fruit, the only one we ALWAYS have in our pantry is canned coconut milk for curries and sauces! (BTW I generally also keep some desiccated coconut in the cupboards to make granola bars or to decorate a smoothie bowl and sometimes turn to coconut flour to make some special vegan treats).
EASY, FLEXIBLE AND NOURISHING PANTRY RECIPES USING FRUIT:
Vegan banana peanut butter nice cream - Seasonal ABC juice - Healthy coleslaw - Bircher ‘goldilocks’ muesli
FRESH VEGETABLES
Where possible, grab yourself some root vegetables such as beetroot, radishes, carrots or potatoes. They are filling, cheap, stay well for ages and are at their best roasted in the oven. Potatoes are especially versatile and can help you make (vegan) shepherd’s pie, etc. and radishes, beetroot and carrots are lovely raw in salads too. The latter two can be used in baked goods for a sweet treat or as a lovely addition to a freshly made juice in the morning.
I would struggle to live without onions and garlic! They add flavour to everything, are dirt cheap and keep well for ages. If you can’t get ahold of regular onions, check out chives or leeks as alternatives.
Having been in quarantine for WEEKS now, I swear by cabbages! They are very cheap, stay well for a very long time and are incredibly versatile, healthy and filling. I’ll share some delicious warm and cold recipes using cabbages that will even convince the cabbage skeptic of their worth as one of your quarantine cooking staples.
Leafy greens such as spinach, chard, kale and pak choy; they are amazing if you’d like to stay healthy whilst in quarantine. We eat them in salads or use them in home made green juices and smoothies.
Canned tomatoes (I know tomatoes are a fruit, but I feel they sit better under vegetables, please forgive me) ARE worth the hype and - though there’s no need to buy supplies to last you will 2050, it IS worth having a few of them in your pantry to use for soups, stews and sauces.
All the herbs! Like onions and garlic, herbs allow you to turn a bland dish into a show stopper by adding flavour and freshness. We’ve struggled to get our hands on fresh herbs to be honest, but have started growing some in our garden. You can do the same or you can put a herb planter on your windowsill if you don’t have any outdoor space. Fresh herbs such as parsley, basil, coriander or dill, can work well on their own as a salad or be turned into a great sauce! You can also freeze herbs if you’re concerned they won’t last. As a last resort, using dried herbs can work well too! Many are still available in abundance in my local corner shops and last forever!
EASY, FLEXIBLE AND NOURISHING PANTRY RECIPES USING VEG:
Best patatas bravas - Vegan carrot cake recipe - red cabbage salad - Cabbage curry - Vegan pumpkin curry
PROTEIN
Proteins are filling and essential elements in our diet and the good news is, we can get protein from endless sources including legumes such as lentils and beans. You can buy them ready to use in cans, glass jars or tetra packs or dried, which often is the cheaper option. Lentils and beans are great cooked in stews or added to soups, but can also be turned into dips (hello hummus) or even used in desserts! Our favourites are black beans, red lentils and chickpeas. Tempeh and tofu are also great protein sources as are eggs for those of you who are vegetarian. Though the focus on protein as an important part of our diet is often over emphasised, protein is one of the vital components of a healthy and nourishing diet, so be sure to look out for adequate protein sources when you next shop.
EASY, FLEXIBLE AND NOURISHING PROTEIN RICH PANTRY RECIPES:
Tofu satay bowl - Chickpea curry - Beetroot black bean burger - Best lentil/bean salad - Black bean stew
NUTS AND SEEDS
Nuts and seeds are core staples in our pantry and always available in abundance! Apart from the fact that they make lovely snacks, nuts and seeds add texture to salads and home-made granolas and can be turned into energy balls, nut butters or nut mylks! Nuts and seeds that I always have available are sesame seeds (for Asian inspired dishes), cashew nuts for vegan cheese and cream making, almonds for mylks and almond meal as a thickener or flour replacement, walnuts to add to salads, pine nuts, pumpkin and sunflower seeds for pestos and the like. Finally, we use linseeds (or flax seeds) A LOT in our household, mainly as an egg replaced (more about that below) as well as an excellent source of omega 3s.
EASY, FLEXIBLE AND NOURISHING PANTRY RECIPES USING NUTS AND SEEDS:
Peanutbutter energy balls - Vegan pesto - Vegan cookie dough bars - Swedish crisp breads
SHELF STABLE DRINKS
We have been drinking herbal and green tea like there is no tomorrow, but are also enjoying our long life vegan mylks and apple and coconut juice as they’re so versatile.
FLOURS, GRAINS AND OTHER GRAIN-BASED PRODUCTS
Though my favourite flour of all time is spelt flour, I’m not being particularly picky at the moment, seeing that flour is impossible to get my hands on. When stocks are replenished, search out an all purpose white flour, strong bread flour and also some heartier flour like spelt or wholemeal. BTW oats and the aforementioned almonds can be ground into flour as can chickpeas (chickpea flour is often referred to as gram flour)! Though they’ll work somewhat differently than the plain flour you’re used to, these alternatives can serve you really well during the quarantine, so don’t underestimate the value they bring to your pantry. On that note, grains like oats, buckwheat, pearl barley, quinoa (though technically a seed, but let’s not get pedantic right?!), rice (sushi, Jasmin, risotto or wild rice) and couscous are definitely worth having to hand as they are SO versatile and provide that carb kick we all love. Of course, no pantry is complete without pasta (for all your Italian dishes) and some (rice) noodles (for your Asian meals), but please don’t despair if you can’t find either at the moment, they’ll be available again soon, I’m confident of it.
EASY, FLEXIBLE AND NOURISHING PANTRY RECIPES USING GRAIN-BASED PRODUCTS:
Pearl barley risotto - Bircher ‘goldilocks’ oat porridge - Gluten-free apple and parsnip cake - Vegan fig pizza
CONDIMENTS
In our attempt to stock up on toilet paper and canned chickpeas and tomatoes, let’s not forget to pop salt, pepper, vegetable cubes, oil (olive, sesame, coconut or walnut) , vinegar (malt, apple cider, brown rice and balsamic), mustard, vegan mayo and ketchup into our shopping trolley. Honestly, you don’t want to be left without these as your food won’t taste half as good. Moreover, vinegars can be used for salad dressing and ferments and oils can make your roasted veggies taste extra delicious and give your sauces the perfect mouthfeel.
We also always have ground coriander, ground cumin, cinnamon, ground ginger, curry powder and turmeric available as well as dried herbs such as oregano, thyme, rosemary and so on. Think about the dishes you love and make most often, then search for the spices that will elevate them!
If you know you want to bake like there is no tomorrow, ensure you have a sweetener in your cupboards too. Though sugar might seem the most obvious choice, if you can’t find it on the supermarket shelves, try date syrup, maple syrup or agave syrup as alternatives.
Because I often cook things that are Asian inspired, we have LOTS of tamari (or soya) sauce in our cupboards as well as miso (brown and white) and nori sheets too. None of these are essentials, but are great and flavoursome alternatives to salt.
EASY, FLEXIBLE AND NOURISHING DRESSING/SAUCES RECIPES:
Lentil salad dressing - Mustardy salad dressing - Asian dipping sauce - Best Asian noodle dressing
LOOKING FOR MORE QUARANTINE HEALTHY COOKING TIPS?
You can find my blog post with three healthy quarantine cooking tips here and listen in on my podcast episode all about quarantine cooking here. Enjoy!