For almost six months, we have been giving you a look inside the fridges of celebrities, chefs and influencers in our series, The Fridge Files. We’ve learned a lot of interesting info along the way too. Whitney Port has never eaten pasta, her friend Lo Bosworth likes bird saliva in her soup, Haylie Duff hates raw onions and Iron Chef Marc Forgione thinks okra is disgusting.
In this edition of The Fridge Files, we are going behind the scenes and into the refrigerators of the editors and writers who bring SheKnows and StyleCaster to life. Like most Fridge Files, we’ve included a picture of our fridges and answered some questions about what’s inside. Take a peek at what we make sure to always keep in stock, read about some of our favorite healthy snacks for ourselves and our kids and learn about some of our go-to meals for busy weeknights.
Amelia Edelman, Sr. Parenting Editor
Tell us a little bit about what’s in your fridge.
Amelia Edelman: Usually too much seltzer and hot sauce, not enough real food. A lot of Kroger-brand organic stuff (because it’s somewhat cheap for organic?) and weird toddler snacks that I end up eating myself because that’s my life now.
What about your freezer?
AE: Van’s multigrain waffles, endless Quorn vegan “chicken nuggets” and “sausage” that I trick my 2-year-old into eating. He gets the real stuff at his dad’s house but so far hasn’t noticed mine are vegan, I don’t think.
Are there any items you always make sure to keep in stock?
AE: My son seems to drink his weight in milk every day, so there’s that. I do tend to postpone grocery shopping until absolutely necessary, so there’s always the one day when I look in the fridge like, “Hmm, what shall we have for dinner? Pickles?!” I think pickles and cheese are the two foods we’re never out of.
What’s your go-to healthy snack?
AE: Well, aside from pickles and cheese… carrots and hummus is probably the healthiest thing my kid is willing to eat — ever. He also likes Siggi’s yogurt but only coconut or blueberry, he emphasizes. So I eat a lot of that too. I’m on the toddler diet because it’s easier than buying different things for myself.
What about snacks for Silas?
AE: See above… He’s also pretty into graham crackers and those weird fruit/veg purée baby food pouches. I feel a little weird that he has, like, two baby food pouches a day and is almost 3 years old… but they’re healthy, so who cares.
What’s one of your favorite weeknight meals?
AE: I’m constantly telling people that Blue Apron is the only reason I cook at all. I love that it’s just like, “Here’s your food. Cook it,” and I don’t have to think about it. If I’m trying to cook something that isn’t what Blue Apron tells me to make, it’s likely going to be some sort of quinoa stir-fry mess using 90 percent of the contents of my fridge.
What would you say is your signature dish?
AE: I’m really not much of a cook, but if I have to pretend I am, I’ll make a veggie chili that definitely passes the test.
Nikki Brown, Beauty Editor, StyleCaster
Tell us a little bit about what’s in your fridge.
Nikki Brown: So, my fridge situation is pretty sad. I do my best to meal prep, but most of the time, I make a big smoothie batch in the morning and buy lunch at work. So we’ve got a mix of leftovers, veggies that are probably going bad and half-used condiments. I need a fridge-tervention!
What about your freezer?
NB: My freezer is not much more exciting. Besides ice cube trays — because I love a cold drink — and leftover alcohol from my from my Fourth of July cookout, there’s frozen fruit for my smoothies.
Are there any items you always make sure to keep in stock?
NB: I always keep frozen fruit in stock for smoothies. Everything else really just depends on the week and how busy my schedule is.
Kenzie Mastroe, Lifestyle Editor
Tell us a little bit about what’s in your fridge.
Kenzie Mastroe: My fridge is actually a little less stocked than usual right now. I like to cook most of my meals, so it’s usually full of fresh fruits and veggies, but I just came back from a two-week trip to Tanzania, so I haven’t done a ton of grocery shopping yet. While in Tanzania, I fell in love with Amarula, so I have a bottle of that in there and, of course, tons of seltzer water. I drink, like, six cans a day, so I always keep a ton in the fridge. I’m pretty sure there’s, like, 10 different kinds of cheese in my fridge at any given time. It’s my favorite food. I drink black iced coffee every day — even in the winter — so I have some bottles of that in there as well.
What about your freezer?
KM: I have a couple of bags of frozen fruit — berries, pineapple and peaches for breakfast smoothies. I have tons of frozen items from Trader Joe’s. They have the best frozen-foods section. My favorites are their guilt-free mac and cheese and balsamic-glazed veggies. I also have some frozen wild-caught salmon fillets and pho broth in there as well.
Are there any items you always make sure to keep in stock?
KM: I always have at least four or five cases of seltzer water in my fridge and pantry. I keep chicken stock on hand at all times too because it’s so versatile. Sometimes, I cook quinoa or rice in it to give it some extra flavor, I use it to deglaze a pan and make a quick sauce or throw a bunch of leftover veggies in some broth for a quick soup.
What’s your go-to healthy snack?
KM: Greek yogurt and honey is a pretty common go-to. I also really enjoy pickled veggies. Carrots, in particular, are my favorite! They’re perfect when you’re craving something salty and crunchy.
What’s one of your favorite weeknight meals?
KM: I am a big soup fan. It’s so easy to throw together after a busy day, and it’s a great way to use up leftover food. My favorite is probably pozole verde because it’s so comforting and has so many different flavors. I also love throwing a bunch of veggies and a protein (usually chicken or salmon) on a sheet pan, drizzling it with olive oil, salt and pepper and roasting it for a quick and easy dinner that requires very little cleanup.
What would you say is your signature dish?
KM: Cacio e pepe! My friends and family are always asking me to make it for them. I add diced guanciale, which actually makes it kind of similar to carbonara (just without the eggs), and I use bucatini instead of spaghetti. I also toast the peppercorns in a hot pan before I grind them, and it makes them so much more flavorful.
Cristina Velocci, Director of Editorial Operations
Tell us a little bit about what’s in your fridge.
Cristina Velocci: I live in a house with my husband and 14-month-old son, Ryan, so even though we now have the snazzy Sub-Zero fridge we’d always dreamed of (and even a second fridge in the basement!), we’re also busy working parents who’ve, out of necessity, become creatures of habit when it comes to meal planning, which is to say: Our fridge is kind of sad and boring these days. That’s why you’ll find deli meats (convenience!) and beer alongside staples such as eggs, bread, garlic and coffee. So, so much coffee.
What about your freezer?
CV: We are big stans for Costco and stock up on bulk meat that we can portion and save for later use, so our freezer is filled to the brim with chicken breasts, ground turkey and beef, sausage links, wild salmon fillets and bags of peeled and deveined shrimp. There are usually some meatballs, black bean soup or chili that I batch-produced and cheese tortelli1-ounce portions of apple and blueberry purées for mixing in oatmeal, baby food muffins and pesto white bean burgers that I can quickly bust out in a bind.
Are there any items you always make sure to keep in stock?
CV: We always have lots of Stonyfield Organic YoBaby yogurts on hand for Ryan’s go-to breakfast and at least one half-gallon carton of Lactaid (the baby has a slight sensitivity to lactose, and he goes through one every week). You’ll also find a couple of cartons of various fresh berries and kiwis for Ryan to nosh on and a huge Costco-size tub of hummus that my husband dips pretzels into and easily crushes on his own. Whenever the Big Y [New England supermarket chain] has a sale on Fage yogurts for $1, we buy — no joke — 40 at a time because they’re otherwise kind of pricey, so you’ll typically find an army of those in there as well.
What’s your go-to healthy snack?
CV: We always have a 4-pound bag of trail mix from Costco in the pantry, and it’s basically my own personal feed bag for that 3 p.m. slump.
What about snacks for Ryan?
CV: Ryan gets either an Aussie Bites, which we buy in bulk from Costco, or a cashew cookie-flavor Lärabar with a cup of milk when he gets up from his afternoon nap.
What’s one of your favorite weeknight meals?
CV: There are two that my husband constantly requests and that I make on repeat. The first is these mini salsa turkey meatloaves from Iowa Girl Eats that I pair with a roasted green veggie (usually string beans or broccoli). The recipe makes four, so we get two nights of dinner out of it in one go, and I even make Ryan a few teeny-tiny ones for the week. The second is Ina Garten’s Asian grilled salmon, which I serve with roasted sweet potatoes and this chili-lime roasted asparagus. It’s a really flavorful and fancy-feeling meal, yet it’s super-simple to prepare, so we feel like we hit the jackpot with that one.
What would you say is your signature dish?
CV: Either my chicken cutlets or homemade meatballs, both of which were recipes that were passed down from my Nonna to my mom and then to me.
Lindsey Lanquist, Lifestyle Editor, StyleCaster
Tell us a little bit about what’s in your fridge.
Lindsey Lanquist: This is embarrassing, but none of the food in my fridge is mine. OK, the butter in the bottom-right drawer is mine. And the Indian takeout toward the left of the bottom shelf — the silver thing atop a white box atop a container — is mine. But the rest of the food belongs to my roommates. I live with two of my best friends from college, and I’ve had a hectic month — from a work conference to a bachelorette party to New York Fashion Week to now. I feel like I haven’t really had a moment to breathe — and I definitely haven’t had a moment to go to the grocery store. I’ve been buying a ton of meals out, but I hope to get back into meal-prep mode sometime soon.
What about your freezer?
LL: Same deal. Except this time, literally, none of it is mine. I don’t buy a lot of frozen foods anyway, save the occasional carton of ice cream.
Are there any items you always make sure to keep in stock?
LL: When I’m on top of my shit, I always have: butter — nailed it — eggs, soy milk, lots of shredded cheese (for last-minute pasta nights), mustard and mayonnaise — always good to have condiments. I eat breakfast at work, so it’s really lunch and dinner that I’d need to stock up for. And I usually meal prep those right after I go to the grocery store, meaning the spinach, broccoli, chicken, etc. that I’ve stocked up on gets cooked before it makes it into my fridge. I keep pasta on hand for last-minute lazy dinners, which is where the shredded cheese comes in, and I usually have some beans in my kitchen cabinets as well. I feel like they’re just good to have around.
What’s your go-to healthy snack?
LL: Two soft-boiled eggs — or a cup of mint tea with soy milk in it.
What’s one of your favorite weeknight meals?
LL: Well, my guilty-pleasure meal of choice is pasta sautéed in olive oil — and covered in shredded cheese. It’s an embarrassingly easy thing to make and it’s hella unhealthy, so it seems like a meal fit for a college student, not a twentysomething living and working in New York City. That said, sometimes you want to exert minimal effort and yield maximal deliciousness, and that’s what this meal does for me. I also love ordering Indian food on Seamless, which I’m usually able to stretch to two or three meals.
What would you say is your signature dish?
LL: You know what? I’m just gonna commit to it: cheese pasta. I’m also a whiz with spinach — creamed, sautéed, you name it — and I’m getting increasingly good at soft-boiling (and soft-frying) eggs. I also make incredible fudgy brownies, but I haven’t done that in a while.
Kim Zapata, Staff Writer
Tell us a little bit about what’s in your fridge.
Kim Zapata: My fridge is a bit of a mish-mosh between healthy foods and prepared snacks. I mean, I always have fresh fruit on hand — grapes, strawberries, raspberries and the like — vegetables, cow’s milk and almond milk, but I also have a drawerful of cheese and some — very — sneaky chocolates.
What about your freezer?
KZ: Much like my fridge, my freezer is a mix. Right now, it is full of chicken thighs, breasts, preseasoned fish and frozen dinners because sometimes, I just need a meal on the go. I also have pumpkin ice cream — yum! — and ice pops for the kid.
Are there any items you always make sure to keep in stock?
KZ: Since I am pregnant, I always have carbs on hand. They are the only thing that goes down easy. Crackers are also a must and that aforementioned cheese. Seriously. My husband, daughter and I really, really like cheese.
What’s your go-to healthy snack?
KZ: Right now, my go-to healthy snacks are Parmesan cheese crisps. They are crunchy, salty and help me get protein in my body even when my stomach says otherwise.
What about snacks for Amelia?
KZ: My daughter’s favorite snacks vary. A lot. But some of her favorites are Goldfish, pretzels, fruit snacks, Oreos — because who doesn’t love an Oreo? — and strawberry applesauce.
What’s one of your favorite weeknight meals?
KZ: Since I get home pretty late, dinner is almost always prepared in advance. In fact, I cook massive quantities of food on the weekend. Some of our favorite weeknight meals are pulled chicken, Asian-inspired chicken, spaghetti with red sauce and sausage or meatballs and tacos. Takeout is also a once- or twice-a-week indulgence.
What would you say is your signature dish?
KZ: My signature dish is either butternut squash mac and cheese or cornflake “fried” chicken. They are both fan favorites.
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