dill pickle soup
and my hot tips to grocery shopping in bulk
Happy Sunday and welcome to this week’s edition of dinner, sorted. Let’s get dinner, sorted!
2 things to share this week:
Last week I asked you “what sort of content do you want to see from me” and received a resounding “groceries” and “how you shop” in response.
Ya’ll get me. Grocery shopping is one of my favorite things to do. It’s my first stop in any new city, I love wandering the aisles finding new things I’ve never seen before, and dreaming of all the things I can make. I’m also great with numbers and can generally remember the price of most things, so I consider myself an expert 😉, knowing what to buy where, and when. Needless to say, it’s a very bulky topic (heh), and I could probably write an entire novel. But to spare you a but, I’ll break it down into parts. And this week we will start with my love for Costco and what and how I shop in bulk.PICKLE SOUP🥒 🥒 🥒 🥒 🥒 In cause I haven’t made it clear yet, I’m a pickle girl through and through, and I was blessed last week with a bounty of pickles. So what better way to celebrate than with pickle soup. Even if you’re not a huge pickle fan… EVEN KYLE LIKED THIS and he hates pickles, so this might just be your foray into your pickle era. It’s a classic, but I of course have dinner-fied it with some protein to make it a filling meal on it’s own, and added a few special Rachel touches.
So scroll on down for an in-depth guide, and for this week’s recipe!!
ICYMI: recipes from the week
creamy, crispy leek chicken thighs
this week’s BTS: buying in bulk
Your weekly glimpse into a variety of behind-the-scenes things like how I develop recipes, kitchen fails, deep dives, techniques, and anything else you want to know! If you have a burning question or something you’d love to see, leave a comment below and I’ll include it in an upcoming BTS.
To state the obvious, if you use a lot of it, buy it in bulk. And because this will invariably be different for each household, instead of telling you to buy XYZ, I’ll tell you how I think about things instead when buying in bulk and what I buy to keep my kitchen stocked as a recipe developer and household of 2.
meats
what I will get:
Certain meats I will absolutely buy in bulk, contingent on freezer space. We are a chicken and fish house, so I will generally purchase chicken thighs and breasts, and a large piece of wild salmon in bulk and portion them into Ziploc bags of 2-4 servings before tossing in the freezer.
how to store:
Store in a Ziploc bag with as much air squeezed out as possible. Be sure to label what is in the bag and when you froze it. For extra efficacy, tightly wrap it in saran wrap first, then in a bag. Meat lasts about 6 months in the freezer if it is sealed with as little air as possible, and the only reason not to eat is if it’s freezer-burnt.
what I won’t get:
Steaks or nice cuts of meat. If the meat is the star of the show, I want it fresh, so will purchase it as needed. Scallops - frozen scallops retain a substantial amount of water which causes them to shrink and makes it difficult to brown nicely if you’re using frozen, so I try and buy these fresh if I can.
produce
what I will get: