I’m not the most brand-loyal shopper. My running shoes have had an assortment of logos, I’ve owned cars manufactured in a handful of countries, and my fridge is usually filled with whatever stuff was on sale that week. But … BUT! … there are three brands that I will always be 100 percent committed to: Heinz (for ketchup), Wendy’s, and any frozen meal made by Amy’s Kitchen.
When it comes to stocking the freezer, the Kitchn team really practices what we preach. We’ve shared all sorts of information on freezer-aisle finds that cut down on meal prep and the pantry items to keep stashed away in your freezer to help prolong shelf life.
And today we’re sharing the foods our editors keep stocked in their freezers at all times. Maybe you’ll pick up an idea or two from the mix!
Frozen meals have come a long way since the microwave dinners of the ’50s. And most of it has to do with two little words: Trader Joe’s. While they’re not the only players in the game of frozen meals, they certainly seem to have captured our readers’ hearts (and tummies).
We asked you guys to tell us about your favorite frozen meals. Your answers included a lot of Trader Joe’s — and a few other name brands, too.
There’s a lot to be said for being able to slap some food between two slices of bread and call it a meal. If you’ve gone gluten-free, though, this grab-and-go convenience isn’t always that simple. While there are a lot of gluten-free sandwich breads out there, a lot of them can be dry, crumbly messes.
That’s not to say that there aren’t some options that are pretty close to the real thing. Here are our picks for the three best nationally available brands that can successfully satisfy your sandwich cravings.
Note: Although some of these brands have loaves in the bakery or bread aisle, they’re mostly sold in the freezer section.
We recently ran a story about the best way to get stickers off new dishes. One surefire way to do it is with Goo Gone, a product I’ve used myself on many a photo shoot to get dishes and decorative items (like lamps and tchotkes) photo-ready when they had sales tags on them. But when we read through your comments, there was a common complaint: Lots of people hate the smell, and sometimes it leaves a petroleum-y residue on surfaces. A few of you worried about using a product that smelled so strongly on surfaces you might use for cooking and dining.
We get it! So we hunted around for an alternative.
Within the last year, Costco has become one of my favorite places to shop — especially when I’m looking to save money on healthy and organic foods. Surprisingly one of the best ways to do just that, I’ve found, is to shop the frozen food section at Costco. It’s actually the area I head to first!
I firmly believe every Taco Tuesday needs a solid taco slaw — one that’s crisp and refreshing, just a bit creamy, and works with any filling you have on the roster for the night. Consider this your go-to recipe from here on out. Crunchy red cabbage and sweet carrots combine with spicy jalapeños and chopped fresh cilantro, and the whole mess is tossed with just a bit of mayo for creaminess and a big squeeze of lime juice for tang.
It’s simple and straightforward — ready to complement any kind of taco, be it chicken, shrimp, beef, or black bean.
Last Thanksgiving, we were especially grateful for our smoke alarms. No, we didn’t burn the turkey, as you may have suspected! Our chimney malfunctioned when we tried to light a fire in the fireplace, and started to spread smoke through the house. Our neighbor, who is a fireman, heard the alarms and ran across the street to scoop the fire into a bucket and run it outside, inspiring hero-worship among my kids and their cousins.
Shortly after, the street was filled with fire trucks and my home was filled with fireman and industrial fans. Fortunately, everything was fine. The kids thought it was pretty much the best day ever. They even got to sit in a fire truck! And we were grateful that the alarms warned us to get out of the house and start reacting before the adults even realized it was a problem.
But sometimes the smoke alarm goes off for seemingly no reason. And that can be both worrisome and just plain annoying. So if your fire alarm is constantly going off, do some investigating to see if it’s because of one of these reasons.
In case you didn’t already know, you can shop Costco products without buying an actual membership. (See all the ways here: Should You Get a Costco Membership?) One of the best and easiest ways to do so is by using Instacart, a grocery delivery service that sends personal shoppers to stores to carefully pick out all of your items and bring everything to you. You can shop from all sorts of stores that happen to be near you, including Costco — even if you’re not a member.
It’s a great workaround if you haven’t coughed up the $60 to join the warehouse store. It’s also super useful if you are a Costco member and just happen to be very busy. Note: Prices on Instacart are typically higher than they are in stores, but that’s the tradeoff you make
Keep reading to check out what we’re buying from Costco — via Instacart — this summer.
What would you do with the food scraps that someone left behind? I’m talking about the piece of pizza with a bite haphazardly torn off before it was sent to coagulate in the fridge. The takeout packets of soy sauce scattered across a stranger’s coffee table. A pile of oily fries, stiffening in the glow of a refrigerator light.
In “We Love Leftovers,” episode five from season 17 of Chopped, contestants face a pile of mismatched leftovers. A wedge of German chocolate cake cozies up to a container of leftover chili. Old corn on the cob bumps up against half a pitcher of sangria. Four chefs are given three challenges where they are expected to transform leftovers into something that shines in presentation, taste, and creativity.