Back in those blissful days when I actually had time to go grocery shopping, I remember practicing Defensive Cookery: the art of concocting an artful (and in most cases, edible) meal out of stuff that looks like it's on the verge of going bad. These days my fridge gets so empty (this morning it contained one eggplant) that I now find myself cooking in a different way: Emergency Food Prep.
Emergency Food Prep saved me from eating raw eggplant for breakfast this morning (I hope I would have just skipped breakfast instead of subjecting myself to that, though I usually don't get a chance to eat lunch until 3:00, so skipping breakfast is a really, really bad idea). In this case, the Prep was corn bread-- 4 jars of [gluten-free, dairy-free] corn bread mix I had put together earlier in the week "just in case". The idea is to make a bunch of something all at once so I don't have to try to make a meal when I have 15 minutes before school or 15 minutes before my violin students arrive or whatever. I always do this with salad and soup, and to a lesser extent with other things.
Corn Bread Rations
1/2 cup + 2 Tablespoons corn meal
1/4 cup brown rice flour
2 Tablespoons tapioca flour
2 Tablespoons potato starch flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
pinch of ground nutmeg
Put in a jar with a lid. When emergency hits, shake contents vigorously, pour into a mixing bowl, and add these ingredients that have been whisked together:
1 egg
2 Tablespoons oil
1 Tablespoon honey
1/3 cup water (use 1/2 cup if you're making pancakes)
Make pancakes in severe emergencies. If you have 20-25 minutes, pour some oil in an 8-inch cast iron pan, heat it up in the oven, and pour batter in. Bake at 350°F for 20-25 minutes.
