004. the right way to use your cookbooks + develop a pantry. a julia julia cheat code for cooking.

ADHD Friendly way to deciding on what to cook. Legumes are HEAVY in rotation.

Last year, almost everyday, on a regular weekday evening, I was half dressed standing in my kitchen dressed like Winne the Poo and scratching my head like Tiger trying to figure what the fuck I’m going to make for dinner screaming to myself that I only have ingredients but not food. Which is crazy to say, when we have normalized processed foods (like Trader Joe’s Frozen meals) to be considered food and not single ingredients that actually give us the nutrients and energy we need.

ADHD will sometimes have me thinking that I can’t cook because I can’t think on the fly of what to make based on the ingredients I have. Because I have struggled to make a decision, I will often opt for toast or eating tuna out of can, when I actually have rice, nori seaweed, avocado, fur-kaki, chili crisp, and kewpie mayo RIGHT THERE.

But the problem wasn’t skill, it was decision fatigue. Staring into my pantry, running through all the possible meal combinations in my head, felt like scrolling Netflix for 45 minutes only to rewatch the same comfort show. Too many options = paralysis. And paralysis = takeout or in my case eating shredded cheese out the bag.

The stages of dread I experience deciding what to eat for everyday

You’re wondering what Julia Powell or Julia Child’s has to do with anything. Without watching it again, Julie & Julia, the movie with Meryl Streep and Amy Adams. Julie Powell had a blueprint: she cooked her way through Mastering the Art of French Cooking. No guesswork, no doom-staring into the fridge.

Remembering Julia Julia has inspired me to think about how I can approach cooking in way thats creative with structure. A pantry filled with essentials that supported her cooking. Recipes that built on each other. A system.

So I decided to do the same but not with French food, but with the flavors I actually crave, Jamaican, Trinidadian, Guyanese, or Lebanese and Yemeni flavors. I started buying cookbooks with ingredient & technique crossover. Code Noir, Bellyful, Black Rican Vegan, Motherland, for all Caribbean Cuisine. And more recently Keep it Zesty, Souk to Table.

The only people on my roster

I started stocking my pantry on purpose instead of just accumulating random ingredients I’d use once and forget about. And that’s how I landed on what I now call The Cookbook Pantry Method.

Here’s a friendly roadmap I’ve used to build up my pantry over time. A little effort upfront makes life so much easier later on.

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The Cookbook Pantry Method

1. Choose a cookbook that fits your flavor palette and has at least 8-10 recipes you want to try.

Find one that matches your favorite cuisine or cooking style (e.g., plant-based, Mediterranean, quick meals)

👉 Refer to my post on choosing a solid cookbook here. There’s a lot of trash out there.

I’m using My America, Code Noir, Black Rican Vegan, Motherland, Bellyful since there is overlap. And Keep it Zesty, Souk it to the Table. (If you’re in NYC, please visit Edy’s Grocer for treats and all Lebanese pantry items).

2. Read the pantry section.
   Most good cookbooks have a list of pantry essentials. Start there.

   🗣️🗣️🗣️🗣️🗣️🗣️🗣️🗣️🗣️🗣️🗣️🗣️🗣️🗣️🗣️🗣️🗣️🗣️🗣️🗣️🗣️🗣️🗣️🗣️🗣️🗣️🗣️🗣️🗣️🗣️🗣️🗣️🗣️🗣️🗣️🗣️

   Also make sure you live in an area where able to actually find shit. If you’re not in a place like NYC, think about what communities live in your neighborhood or county and google “Indian Grocer near me”

   I.e. Theres tons of Southeast Asians and Jamaicans in Capital Region of Upstate NY. I’ve found 3 Indian Grocers and one Jamaican Grocer specializing in Carribean products.

3. Make a master grocery list
   Write down the staples mentioned in the cookbook: spices, oils, grains, canned goods, condiments. I just used the notes section in my phone and have it pinned at the top.

   1. Group by category or by grocery aisle (e.g., Spices, Dry Goods, Proteins) for easier shopping.

   2. Take this list to the store so you don’t forget anything.

4. Pantry inventory list
   Take stock of what you already have in your cabinets and fridge. Make sure you organize your pantry by category to find things easily.

   ADHD Pro tip: Use a magnetic whiteboard on your fridge to keep track of perishables and plan to use them before they go bad.

5. Choose 5–10 recipes and stock up gradually.
   Pick a handful of recipes to start with and prioritize the most common ingredients. Bookmark them with tabs to easily refer back to them. Literally all the recipes within the cookbooks mention have more or less the same recipes with a different twist.

   Budget tip: Restock in phases instead of buying everything at once.

6. Organize for accessibility.
   Put frequently used items where they’re easy to reach.

   1. Use baskets or clear storage bins to group categories (e.g., all grains in one, all baking ingredients in another).

   2. I use quart + pint containers to store ingredients with flimsy packaging

** I don’t have the spoons to make my pantry pretty **

Step 7: Cook with what you have.
Before running to the store, check your pantry inventory list first. You’d be surprised what already have. I have 2.5 bottles of nutritional yeast.

If something’s missing, lean on substitutions. I didn’t have bread crumbs, but I had crackers and threw them in the food processor to create bread crumbs. Herbs and leafy greens like spinach, arugula, and kale are interchangeable. Get it? got it?

• The Flavor Bible is a lifesaver here. It’s available on Scribd, and the vegetarian edition is particularly helpful for swaps.

I had a friend visit me recently who is vegetarian and doesn’t like mushrooms. Rather than chicken guisado, I made her chickpea guisado with avocado, tostone. And another snack with Z’tar spiced chick peas with, protein flatbread, and Cucumber mint tzatziki.

My vegetarian friends keep me on my toes.

Step 8: Rotate your stock.
Use the oldest items first. Track what you run out of and restock as needed.

Meal Planning & Prep Tips

1. Set your weekly menu. Decide how many meals you want to plan and what leftovers you actually are gonna wanna eat.

2. Be fucking for real please. Identify busy days for quick meals and more relaxed days for involved recipes.

• Always read the recipe in full before you start. Please trust me, this will save you from quitting mid-recipe.

** I only do recipes that are one page long with no more than 10 ingredients but have to make the exception for Indian food.

3. Choose recipes with overlapping ingredients For example, jerk chicken or mushrooms one night, then turn leftovers into a wrap, with avocado, sweet plantain, rice. you get it. Or my fav chicken cutlet, chicken caesar salad/sandwich, parm etc.

4. Batch prep when possible. Chop veggies, cook grains, or marinate proteins ahead of time. Use downtime to make sauces or spice blends. I use a food processor, but if you don’t have knife skills CHOP!

A great cookbook will have a recipe for spice blends/paste they will frequently use throughout the cookbook. I have Jollof Rice mix ready by the pint.

** You should know: The smaller you cut your veggies, the faster it will spoil. When veggies are cut, they release water, water breeds bacteria, mold, etc. If you use a food processor make sure you use it within the week or freeze what you don’t use.

5. Fold that bitch no yoga matttt. Stay flexible Substitute or skip it if you can’t find an ingredient. Highly recommend substitute. USE THE FLAVOR BIBLE and Keep your pantry staples versatile for moments like this.

6. Visualize your plan. Write your menu on a calendar or whiteboard for easy reference. Include recipe page numbers or flag it in the book with post its.

7. Repeat or not. At the end of the week, apply what works and let everything else fly.

Let me know if this is something you’d actually try. Also what are your favorite cookbooks with little to no misses? I also figure this is a great way to actually cook your way through a cookbook.

Cheers to hopefully edible and preferably good food and even better planning.

Stay Spicy,

Brittany