So, after last week’s list, some of the comments on my post (and further thought on my own part) reminded me that there were a ton of must-have foods that I missed.  I think this completes the list, though.  Combined with last week’s list, this makes up a list of foods that I literally stress over if I don’t have them, and in many cases will actually make a special trip to the grocery store to purchase them.

1. Popcorn

I am not sure how I could forget about popcorn, but thank to my friend Becki, who reminded me of it when she told me that popcorn was one of her “can’t live withouts”.  Popcorn has been my favorite snack since I was a child.  I remember my mom popping it in a pot when I was very young, and when we got a microwave we got a microwave popper (ha!) and then later my mom bought huge flats of Act II.  I once burned the Dickens out of my arm on a metal popper that my grandparents had….you would pour oil in the bottom (my grandmother bought bottles of that awful yellow popcorn oil) and add the kernels to that, cover it with a yellow plastic cover that had a butter container in the top.  I loved using that thing.  Except when I burned myself.  When we got married, I used some store credit I got on a returned wedding gift to buy an air popper….but now I have come full circle.  All of my popcorn gets popped in a pot.  No better way!

2. Cheese

Parmigiano-Reggiano, cheddar, feta, cream, Swiss…I could go on and on.  You will always find cheese in my….cheese drawer.  Sometimes I splurge on the expensive stuff (I always buy real Parmigiano-Reggiano, which is always imported from Italy) but most of the time I buy whatever’s on sale in the dairy case.  I’m not ashamed to admit it.  Why?  Because we eat so much cheese that I’d go broke if I always bought the expensive stuff.  Cheese & crackers, a quick grilled cheese to go with soup or eat by itself for dinner, cheese on a bagel….we like cheese.  A lot.  The exception to that would be processed cheese singles.  I haven’t bought those in probably six years….although I will admit that there are certain applications (like a grilled cheese on white bread) where a plastic-wrapped single is almost necessary.  Neither one of us is a fan of goat cheese,either….I realize that’s another one of those “losing my foodie credibility” things, but I just think it’s an acquired taste….that I have yet to acquire.

3. Olive oil

I buy the gigantic can of organic olive oil at Earth Fare for about $22.00 (it used to be $19.95!).  We use it for cooking, baking, popping popcorn (some “real food” and Paleo proponents contend that heating olive oil makes it an unhealthy fat…I have read research both ways and am not yet convinced-anyone got anything for me?).  I also use it for making salad dressing.  And I really want to make olive oil ice cream….although I’ll admit I’m a little frightened of it.

4.  Coconut oil

Coconut oil is “in vogue” now, after many years of being villainized for its saturated fat.  Of course, I think when most people think of coconut oil, they think of the hydrogenated coconut oil that is used to pop movie theater popcorn.  Well, hydrogenated (trans) fat and saturated fat are two different animals.  Coconut oil is now enjoying a new day in the sun as a healthy oil (although, like all oils should still be used in moderation).  It tastes soooooo good.  It’s my favorite popcorn popping oil.

5.  Eggs

Since we don’t eat a lot of meat at home, eggs are an important staple in our diet.  We buy our eggs either from a guy that lives a few streets over or from a lady that my uncle sells them for….both of them raise the chickens in their backyards.  They are less expensive than the eggs that are available at the farmers market.  Let me tell you, the quality of a super-fresh egg cannot be argued.  It’s aMAHzing.  We used to buy “cage-free” (which essentially means….nothing) or organic (which more or less means that they were fed organic feed) eggs at the grocery store, which were (a) expensive; and (b) not nearly as high-quality as the eggs we buy from the people I mentioned above.  The color of the yolks is pretty much unreal.  By the way, I have to laugh every time I hear that a hen is “vegetarian-fed”.  Did you know that chickens are not vegetarians?  They like to eat bugs & worms too.  I see what manufacturers are getting at….the hens aren’t fed the remains of other animals (bleh!) but I like to know that my chickens actually do get to walk around and peck the ground!

6.  Crackers

Philip takes crackers in his lunch every day.  I take crackers on a lot of days as well.  They’re great as a snack, and sometimes (like last night) we eat them alongside soup.  While I still buy plain old white flour saltines sometimes (they’re definitely a comfort food), our favorites are Triscuits.  I recently bought some Ak Mak crackers and thought they were great….they’ll probably become a regular now.  Also, crackers made with nut flour (like Blue Diamond almond crackers) are super yummy, but an occasional purchase because of the price.

7.  King Arthur White Whole Wheat Flour

Of course.  I’ve been grinding my own flour lately, but I mix my (sifted) home-ground flour 50/50 with KA white whole wheat to help with the texture, although I’ve discovered that if I give the flour a few extra minutes to hydrate it turns out better…

8.  Buttermilk!

No, we don’t drink it.  However, buttermilk is great for baking, so I use it almost universally in baking recipes that call for milk (cornbread, biscuits, breads, etc.).  The tang that it adds is irreplaceable.

9.  Since I mentioned buttermilk, I better mention milk, too…

Of course we always have milk in our fridge.  We go through it somewhat sporadically.  I get a gallon every Wednesday at the farmers market.  Some weeks I end up going to the grocery store to get more, and some weeks I have to find creative ways to use up all the milk before it goes bad.  Philip eats a bowl of cereal almost every morning, and we love our Abuelita (although since it’s been super hot even at night lately we haven’t been drinking too much of it).  Milk is definitely a staple.

10.  Oh yeah….Cereal.

Not for me.  I eat cereal very, very rarely.  Like, maybe a couple of times a year, and then it’s generally as a snack, not breakfast.  I hated cereal as a kid.  Philip loves it, though, and happily eats it every single morning.  It’s just a routine for him….a quick bowl of cereal for breakfast….the same breakfast he’s had since he was a child.  We have to buy healthy, non-sugared cereals these days, but there is always a box of cereal in my pantry…and usually another box on top of my fridge.

So, if you didn’t comment last week, tell me: what are the foods that you can’t live without?

So, it dawned on me that I have written about foods that annoy me, foods I won’t touch, and foods that are “guilty pleasure” foods (which clearly I try to live without most of the time)….but I haven’t told you guys which foods I simply. Can’t. Live. Without.  So, here they are…these are the foods that are in my kitchen at all times.  If they are not in my kitchen….then they are in my shopping basket.  Period.

1.  Whole Bean Coffee

I don’t remember the last time I bought ground coffee, but it’s been at least four years.  Maybe more.  I bought a coffee grinder way back when…just a dinky little blade grinder, but it got the job done, especially since I only ground my coffee maybe once a week (we would drink whole bean coffee on the weekend and I would drink pre-ground through the week, since Philip had his weekday coffee at work).  Now, we drink a pot of freshly ground coffee every morning, and sometimes in the afternoon…and I’ve moved on from the blade grinder to a mamma-jamma burr grinder.  Velo coffee is my favorite, of course.  I know I’ve said this before, but it’s the best coffee I’ve ever had.  If you live in Chattanooga and you haven’t had it….you should.  Seriously.

2.  Bacon

I know, duh, right?  Honestly, I couldn’t decide whether bacon or coffee should be first.  Both hold very important places in my kitchen.  Coffee, though, is a daily thing, while bacon is a couple-of-times-a-week thing, so coffee got top billing.  I’ve always loved bacon.  BLTs are my favorite sandwich, and I would pick bacon over sausage in any breakfast situation.  I married someone whose love of bacon is probably even greater than my own.  Last year he had his gall bladder removed and heard all kinds of horror stories about people who couldn’t eat various foods after their gall bladder surgery.  He was terrified that he would not be able to eat bacon again.  Luckily, this was not the case.  Thank God.  Of course, Link 41 bacon is my favorite…but I’ll pretty much take bacon anyway I can get it (except turkey bacon. No way, no how).

3.  Half-and-Half

When I first started buying raw whole milk from Fall Creek Farms, I stopped buying half-and-half to pour in my coffee for a while.  Like, two months.  I made a valiant effort…but eventually I decided I needed my half-and-half.  It’s creamy flavor in coffee is unrivaled (unless you like heavy cream in your coffee…which I do, but I can’t justify that one!).  I buy the two pint carton….yeah, we drink a lot of coffee.

4.  Water

All right, so it’s not something you buy at the grocery store.  Water probably should have been number one on my list, though.  If you have spent much time around me, you know that I don’t drink much of anything else (besides my cup or two of coffee a day).  It didn’t used to be like this; in fact, prior to my first big-girl job, I probably had plenty of days when I didn’t drink  any water, and even after starting my job, I probably only drank about one big cup a day.  Until 2006.  Philip had surgery and had to drink a ton of water to prepare for being under general anesthesia, and I decided to do it along with him.  An amazing thing happened….we realized how dehydrated we had been pretty much our entire lives.  Ever since, we’ve been obsessed.  And if I don’t have my water, I can tell.  It’s not pretty.  I love my Klean Kanteen and take it just about everywhere.

5.  Butter

Hoo boy.  Bacon, half-and-half, butter…..I sound like a heart attack waiting to happen, huh?  Nah.  I mean, I’m not putting bacon on top of bacon (well, with one exception…and that was just one time) or pouring glasses of half-and-half or eating butter like a candy bar.  Seriously, though.  Butter is gooooooooood.  If you can believe it, I used to buy Blue Bonnet.  I’m not lying.  I couldn’t tell you when the change happened.  I don’t really remember.  I just remember that I started buying butter and stopped buying margarine.  I’m so glad I did.  Margarine is a manufactured item.  Butter is food.  End of discussion.  By the way, I buy unsalted butter.  Sometimes salted butter is the lower quality butter and it’s salted to cover up the flavor, and even when that’s not the case….I prefer to add my own salt.

6.  Speaking of Salt….Kosher Salt

Kosher salt lives in four places in my kitchen: (1) a box in my pantry for refills; (2) a covered ramekin by my stove for grabbing pinches to sprinkle; and (3) and (4) two salt grinders, one on each side of the stove, so Philip and I don’t have to reach over each other if we’re both cooking.  I am not kidding.  I also keep a container of sea salt in the pantry, but kosher salt is pretty much the gold standard where cooking is concerned.  By the way, if you are a salt-shunner….just know that most of the sodium in the Standard American Diet comes from processed foods, not from salt added during the cooking of fresh, homemade foods.  Just look at the labels on the back of those boxes.  You might be surprised.  I’ll happily keep salting my food to taste (I never salt at the table because there’s no need) and avoiding bags and boxes as much as possible.

7.  Local Honey

I used to sweeten things mostly with raw cane sugar (it’s basically granulated sugar but less processed than white sugar), but these days I only keep granulated sugar around for baking.  On a day to day basis, the only thing I sweeten is coffee.  I put two spoonfuls of local honey in each mug of coffee.  It makes me happy.  I love the flavor of honey, and, while I am not sure that this has ever been scientifically proven, it has been suggested that consuming local honey may help prevent seasonal allergies since it exposes you to the local pollens.  I figure (a) it tastes good; (b) it’s unrefined sugar; and (c) it supports local business, so why not?

8.  Eggs

It’s funny when I think back to my egg-buying habits as a young married woman.  When I was first “on my own”, a college student living in a dorm apartment, I probably never bought eggs unless I was planning to bake a cake or cookies.  When Philip and I first got married, I’d be willing to bet I probably only went through about a dozen a month.  These days it’s more like three or four dozen a month….and there are some weeks that I can go through two dozen in a week.  Truth.  Eggs are great for people who are mostly meatless but not vegan…we use them to top rice dishes, salads, hash.  We eat them as sides.  And, of course, we bake and make sauces and ice creams with them.  They get a lot of mileage in my kitchen.  I get them from a man who lives near me or  from a lady that my aunt and uncle sell them for (both have backyard chickens).  Much, much better than any grocery store egg I’ve ever had (even the cage-free organic ones).

9.  Fruit

It’s a crying shame that this item didn’t get added until the end.  I really am a healthful eater (most of the time, as long as there are no Doritos in the vicinity) but I really do believe all of the above foods can be part of a healthy diet (I sound like those fast food people right now).  I eat my fair share of fruit.  There’s always a bag of apples in my fridge (Macintosh are my favorite, and I look so forward to the fall when they are in season and are delicious).  Strawberries in the spring, blueberries and peaches in the summer.  Watermelon….pineapple….pears.  I love to keep bananas and pineapple in the freezer for smoothies. I try to make a point of eating fruit twice a day (I really do try to live by the five-a-day fruits and veggies rule).

10.  Maple Syrup

Real maple syrup, that is.  Not maple “flavored” syrup.  We’ve had this discussion before, I believe.  Now, the funny thing is, I grew up thinking Mrs. Butterworth’s was real maple syrup.  It wasn’t until I started dating Philip and saw how excited he got over the real maple syrup served with the pancakes at Cracker Barrel (by the way, last year they started serving syrup that is 50% maple syrup and 50% cane syrup) that I realized I had been wrong all of those years.  For the last several years, it’s just been plain old maple syrup in our fridge….preferably grade B.  And you’ll never see anything else.  Amen.

Now, there are plenty of other things I like to keep around.  I started to make a number eleven so I could include cheese….but I could probably write an entire post dedicated to my favorite cheeses.  Perhaps I will one of these days.

What are your “must-have” foods?

All right, let me start this off by saying….if I was hungry enough, I would eat any of the foods on this list.  I realize that people’s food choices are sometimes based on availability.  This is not meant to be derogatory. Besides, many of these foods are considered delicacies, haute cuisine. That’s my disclaimer!

1. Raw onions

This should come as no surprise to those of you who are regular readers of my blog.  I have never, never, never, never liked raw onions.  Ever.  Got that?  The smell (I mean, I can get past it when I am cutting them, but beyond that…no).  The taste…burning, lasting, never leaving.  The texture-that crunch.  Please make it stop.  I’ve tried.  You have to believe me.  I can do it in salsa, guacamole, etc….as long as it’s chopped up finely enough.  Beyond that no.  Emphatically, no.  I don’t even like to eat a slice of tomato or a lettuce leaf on my sandwich that has touched a raw onion.  I honestly can’t think of any other vegetables I just won’t touch, though.  Fruits, either (except maybe durian, a famously smelly Asian fruit, but then I’ve never even seen one of those in person, so I’m not too concerned…..).

2. Offal

That is, organ meats.  Brains.  Liver.  Etc.  When I was a child, my grandmother would cook chicken livers.  And I would eat them.  Then one day, I guess I learned what a “liver” was.  That put an end to my chicken liver eating.  Sorry.  They might taste wonderful, but there is just something about an internal organ that I just. Can’t. Do.  Philip likes to eat the (cooked) turkey heart at Thanksgiving.  I can’t even watch.  It makes me shiver just thinking about it…..

3. Wine

So it isn’t a food.  Close enough, though.  I’ve said this before…I realize that I totally blow my foodie street cred by proclaiming on my blog that I don’t like wine.  But I just don’t.  I’ve tried, I have.  I just can’t do it.  It’s too sour, too bitter.  Don’t try to make recommendations about what kind of wine I might like.  I won’t.  It’s unnecessary, and I am okay with my lowered foodie status.  I will, however, continue to freely open the bottle when it comes to cooking.

4. Escargots

Snails.  Escargot is French for snail.  They are served on a platter in their little shells.  I’ve heard they are delicious, more or less swimming in garlic butter, but again, no.  They’re snails.

5. Canned ham.  Or potted meat.  Or anything of that nature.

Why, why, why??????  What is so wrong with ham that you need to chop it up and put it in a little can so that it can be spread on a cracker or bread or whatever?  The color is so off-putting, even if it is pretty much the same color as ham.  It’s spreadable ham.  It’s cold.  It just grosses me out.  I used to eat Spam.  Man, I used to love Spam.  Until I realized that I didn’t know what Spam was.  Game over.  There is just something about canned meat.  Canned chopped meat.

6. Generic mayonnaise

When I was a kid, my cousins would always have JFG (my dad called it “junk food groceries”) mayonnaise at their house.  I realize that JFG is technically a brand, but to me it always seemed “generic”.  Anyway, my mom always bought Kraft.  I could always tell the difference.  JFG just tasted off.  I would much rather eat a dry sandwich.  Now, I’ll happily eat some Hellman’s (my sister won’t-it’s Kraft or nothing), and you know I like to make my own, but store-brand?  Not even willing to try.  Oh, I don’t eat Miracle Whip either.  My grandfather used to eat that mess all the time.  Thank God my grandmother liked Kraft mayo or I would have been in trouble.  I remember my aunt making me a sandwich at my grandparents’ house and putting Miracle Whip on it.  I refused to eat it.  She argued with me that it was the same as mayonnaise.  It is not.  Not at all.

7.  Canned potatoes

Have you ever tried them?  The taste is just so bad.  Philip has a great story about canned potatoes.  When he was a kid, he had a babysitter who tried to make him eat canned potatoes.  He flatly refused.  She told him he couldn’t leave the table until he ate the potatoes.  He sat at the table until his mom got there.  I married well.

8.  Bugs

This is one of those biggies that hits me when I watch Bizarre Foods.  Eating bugs is fairly common in other cultures, and I am sure that if I lived in any of those other cultures I would be fine with it.  But I don’t.  So I’m not.  Shows like Fear Factor send me into a tailspin.  Watching people stuff live praying mantises (or whatever) into their mouth really freaks me out.  For the record, I love the show Bizarre Foods but would never watch Fear Factor of my own accord.  I just don’t do reality TV.

9. Any Pepper Hotter than a Jalapeno

I’m a total pansy.  If my food’s too spicy I won’t eat it.  I just can’t.

10. Grit (not grits)

Okay, again…not a food; grit, however, is frequently in food.  I wash my leeks to excess.  I once nearly burst into tears when I bit into a California roll in a restaurant and there was grit in it.  I’ve only eaten clam chowder once, and I won’t do it again because while it tasted fine, it was gritty.  I’m too afraid of the grit.  Like sand between your teeth.  For that matter, I can’t listen to other people chew grit.  I once had a kid in my class who thought it was funny to eat the sand from the sandbox.  I nearly died.  Shopping at the farmers market has made me acutely aware of how carefully I wash my veggies.  Because they are often picked almost immediately before being sold, and because farmers don’t have time to sterilize the food, it’s dirty.  Which I appreciate, because I think we’ve come to expect too much sterility from our food system…but I don’t want to eat grit, so I have become very good friends with my salad spinner.

I guess my list isn’t as long as I thought it was.  I recently conquered one of my food fears, sardines.  Maybe one of these days I’ll overcome some more of these on the list.  Raw onions and wine probably won’t be among them, though.

What are your “under (almost) no circumstances” foods?