The Art of Scrounge

What to make when there is nothing in the house. And what to always keep in the house.

We have all been there. You are starving and there is nothing to eat at home. You’re sick and tired of eating the same things. You are spending too much on take out. You hate going grocery shopping all the time. Nobody else will decide what they want to eat. Or worse, they refuse to eat what you have or want. And of course the classic—unexpected guests for dinner.

The repetitive stress of these examples is how people come to hate the chore of cooking and develop unhealthy eating habits.

The solution is to keep a good basic inventory. You don’t have to have huge stocked freezer in the garage, awesome as that can be. You don’t need to buy bulk at Costco and waste as much as you eat. You just need to have a variety of dry, canned, and frozen ingredients, and a few condiments, and you’ll have an endless variety of combinations to whip up last minute.

The Italians have a classic dish they call Pasta Puttanesca. Because every Italian woman has pasta, tomatoes, olives, garlic and anchovies in the cupboard, even a prostitute can whip up a quickie dinner.

In our house, we call it The Art of Scrounge. The ability to make something out of nothing is a great source of Sueiro cooking pride. There is ALWAYS something to eat here.

These are the essentials that I always have on hand.