If your diet is all or mostly plant-based, your mind might start to delve into the dark side of things the longer we’re forced to stay under quarantine thanks to the awful novel coronavirus.
For example, what happens if grocery stores shut down and you’re forced to, gulp, eat the decades-old Spam in the cupboard? Or, worse yet, you’ve thought about which parts of your roommate you’d snack on should you be forced to go full zombie. (Experts suggest to snack on fat pads first, by the way.)
The good news is that we’ve yet to see evidence of society nosediving into that type of chaos (yet). So why not stock up on all of your plant-based goodies before then? To help you figure out the must-haves we’ve recruited help from the dude who formulated the Beyond Burger—celebrity chef (Bill Gates, Ellen Degeneres, Paul McCartney, and Ron Howard are some of his clients) and co-founder of Outstanding Foods, chef Dave Anderson.
Here are the plant-based essentials to have in your pantry to get through this quarantine.
“For perishables, you gotta have some veggies – again, basics like onions, carrots, celery, garlic, ginger, greens and fresh herbs go a long way nutritionally and present so many cooking variations and inspirations,” Anderson says.
He recommends pairing them with Outstanding Foods’ pigless pork rinds (made of pea protein and rice).
“You can also grind them up and use them as a breading for just about anything you can think of – tofu, plant-based meat analogs, vegetables like cauliflower or zucchini. They have tons more flavor than flour or bread crumbs and they’re packed with protein.”
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Natalia Lisovskaya
Preserve your produce
Does this situation sound familiar? You buy a bunch of produce and, despite your best efforts, some of it goes bad. Those bananas go past the point of making bread with them, and your avocado pile resembles a creature from another planet. How do you avoid this?
Anderson’s first tip: Stay away from the freezer. ” My produce NEVER winds up in the freezer,” he says.
“For extending the life of produce, I am a huge fan of old-school preservation methods like pickling, fermentation, preserving, etc,” he continues. “When I find myself with vegetables that I need to use up fast, I’ll do a quick pickle – this works great for things like onions, cucumbers, beets, carrots, Brussels sprouts, etc. For things like cabbage or cauliflower or mushrooms I’ll turn to lacto-fermentation.”
When it comes to fruits, try making a jam or marmalade, which will keep in the fridge much longer if you jar it properly.
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The Leftovers
“The fun is in challenging yourself to be creative with the leftovers, because the possibilities are truly endless,” Anderson says. “We will purposely make large batches the first night so that there is plenty left over for a few more meals. It can be a real time saver in the kitchen!”
For example, if you make something like black beans with veggies and rice one evening, try to re-purpose it into a burrito or even a veggie burger.
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Shelf-stable foods
Besides the obvious things – like dried beans, grains, nuts, and flour – Anderson recommends these items for plant-based people going on lockdown.
Vital wheat gluten: You gotta have protein! If you have this stuff around, there are so many meat-like textures that you can create. And it’s a flour, so it’s shelf-stable.
Seasonings and sauces: nutritional yeast (cheesy or poultry flavor if you roast it), miso (salty and funky and cheesy), soy sauce, vinegars (pickle those veggies – it will preserve them and it makes a yummy snack), and dry spices (all kinds of blends are possible).
Tofu: “It’s old school, but tofu is so versatile and has lots of protein. You can marinate it and cut it in to cubes and bake it, you can season it and grill it, you can make a scramble or blend it up and make a ricotta-flavored cheese.”
