Get the Most Out of Your Market Produce
I learned how to shop seasonally while working at a butcher shop in Madison, WI. Each week, I was tasked with building the sandwich menu using leftover cuts. I shopped once a week and quickly realized each vegetable had its niche in the prep. Some items didn’t keep well once prepped, so they were best suited to one-day specials or staff meals. Others could be pickled or made into a sauce to last.
Now, when I shop for my house, I think about vegetables in these categories and buy them based on their uses. I don’t decide what I want to make before shopping. I use what’s available at the market as a deciding factor in what I will eat that week.
1. Quick Cookers:
They are vegetables that cook fast, don’t require much prep, and can be added to anything I’m already making. Some of my favorites are green beans, zucchini, okra, broccoli, bok choy, mushrooms, and mustard greens. Once cooked, these are best eaten right away or kept in the fridge for only a day, so I only cook what I’ll eat for that meal. I shop for and keep 3–4 of these in my fridge for the week.
2. Eat It Raw:
I’m not a huge raw vegetable lover! But these are what I will put in my salad or on toast. I only pick up two items that I will exclusively eat raw. They are radishes, lettuce, microgreens, and leafy herbs (cilantro, mint, basil). I might add one more versatile vegetable, like a tomato, that I will cook if I don’t eat it all raw.
3. Plan a Dish Around It:
These take more time and preparation. I will select a dish where these ingredients are the stars of the show. For example, I will make borscht with beets or baba ghanoush with eggplant and plan other components to go with that dip. The vegetables I plan a dish around are eggplant, beets, carrots, roasting peppers, and cooking greens like collards. If I were to try a new vegetable, it would go in this category! If I have limited time to cook, then I will limit what I pick up from this group.
4. Aromatics:
These are a standard culinary category of ingredients that add flavor to your dishes. They include alliums (garlic and onions) and herbs with woody stems: thyme, rosemary, sage, and bay leaf. Aromatics typically last for a while, so I replenish them as I run out.
5. Non-vegetables:
I like to buy fruit, eggs, and bread at the market as well. If my freezer is running low on meat options, I fill it with market selections when I can.
The ingredients you put into each category might be different based on preferences, budget, and the types of food you cook. Before I shop at the market, I inventory what I already have in each of these categories and what needs replenishing. Planning my market shopping this way means that I am more likely to use all the items I buy.
