The Core Grocery List

shop less, be ready to cook more

Most people have a desire to cook more. So why don’t they? For everyone I asked, the answer lies in the grocery shopping experience.

The general sentiment among my peers was “it feels overwhelming to purchase 100 ingredients for one recipe, and it is nearly impossible to guess the correct quantities. You end up buying too much, wasting money, and letting food go bad. It never seems to go exactly to plan.” It dawned on me then how deeply confused people are about the right way to provision and cook so that it’s easy, flexible and frictionless. I couldn’t believe how much more complicated everyone is making it. IT DOESN’T NEED TO BE SO HARD. With a few clarifications, better routines, and a stocked pantry with core items, all of these problems go away.

What You’re Doing Wrong:

1. Trying too hard to plan. Pick a few things you like to eat repeatedly and always have the pantry stocked for these, then just purchase minor additions or fresh extras (herbs, greens, more protein for a group) as-needed.

2. Trying too hard to make elaborate things. Enough with the complicated TikTok recipes that call for 7 spices you don’t have (each $8.99), niche peppers you can’t find anywhere, and 10 other ingredients that need to be finely chopped when you don’t have adequate knives, cutting boards, or time. Save these for Sundays or special occasions.

To make it right, there are two main steps to follow.

STEP #1: Determine your favorite meal formulas.

1) chicken, peps/onions, + salad. 2) salmon + salad. 3) egg scramble with goat cheese, greens, avo, + herbs.

This is the general format of the foods you like to eat. Make it simple. Is it a roasted animal protein and a fresh salad, a bowl with rice/cauliflower rice base and protein, a scramble with cheese and greens, or pasta with sauce? These are all themes that function as a blueprint for how you like to cook and what ingredients to have around.

Once you understand the building blocks of your favorite formulas, it becomes easy to shop and fill in the gaps as needed. For example, the building blocks of an egg scramble are eggs, cooking oil (grass-fed butter, olive oil), cheese (goat, manchego, cheddar), veg (broccoli, kale, spinach, peppers), and optional extras (avocado, herbs, chili paste, etc.). You can swap ingredients in the same category in and out as needed, making it easy to riff on the same general format but with different flavor variations or just based on what you have. Then, shopping just becomes about replacing the basics or refilling extras in any category.

This is so much easier and requires exponentially less thought (and time) than constantly starting from scratch with brand new, never-before-seen recipes with formats you’ve never tried before (braising, slow cooking) and tools you’ve never used before (grill, food processor, mandolin).

STEP #2: Stock your kitchen at all times with the same core items, leaving small recipe-to-recipe variations for last minute-needs only.

CORE = essential non-perishables and fresh items that you use constantly. When something on this list runs out, replace it, even if you don’t know when you’ll need it next. Almost everything on this list doesn’t go bad or takes very long to do so, so you don’t run the risk of waste. Don’t wait until you need olive oil again to go and run out and get more—this will have you running to the store way more than is needed, which makes cooking feel arduous. Cue throwing in the towel and ordering DoorDash.

If fresh items appear on the Core list, it is either because I reach for them daily so they run out quickly AND/OR they don’t spoil quickly. Unless I’m going on a trip, I replace those immediately.

EXTRAS/LAST MINUTE ADDITIONS = things that go bad quickly, are only needed for some recipes (ie not daily), and/or can easily be picked up on the fly. This is what you go to the store for.

This type of shopping allows us to be way more flexible. If our pantry is generally always stocked with the essentials, then we can improvise based on whatever ingredients we have on hand in each category.

Example Formula—SALMON (Maple-Tamari, Ride or Die) + SALAD (Very Good Salad, Gjusta Kale)

• Core Items (To Never Run Out Of) → avocado oil, extra virgin olive oil, tamari, maple syrup, OG dressing (olive oil, white balsamic vinegar, garlic, lemon, pink salt), almonds (reg + smoked), apples, red onion, goat cheese crumbles, green cabbage, and arugula (refilled only if using in the next few days). I like to have salmon in the freezer so I can take it out in the AM to defrost, but often it isn’t enough for a group or I need it last minute, making it an Extra.

• Extras/Last Minute Additions → lacinato kale, manchego, celery, fresh herbs, and sometimes fresh arugula and salmon if needed.

Notice that the “Extras/Last Minute Additions” category is a much more manageable list for the grocery store. This is when cooking becomes streamlined and simplified.

Don’t miss the crucial tips in How To Make Cooking Easy to help you understand how to be as flexible as possible—what keeps well in the fridge versus not, how to maximize freshness, and simple corners to cut to make your life easier. A KEY tip is to stock the freezer with protein and take it out in the morning to defrost if you want to make it that night. If you don’t end up making it, fine to put back in the freezer, or save to make the next day or day after.