29 May Inside the Fridge Welcomes Sharon Palmer

Sharon Palmer is a dietitian, plant-based nutrition expert, writer, and author of The Plant-Powered Diet. She has built an award-winning career based on her two great loves: healthy food and writing. Over 850 of her articles have been published in a variety of publications, and Sharon speaks on nutrition for audiences around the world. You can sign up for her newsletter or read her blog The Plant-Powered Dietitian. Sharon lives in the hills overlooking Los Angeles with her husband and two sons. Follow Sharon on Facebook ,Twitter and Pinterest!

ITF:  Where do you shop for food?

SP: I love to go to the farmers market every week to shop for produce. I’m lucky because I live in southern California and produce is available there year round. I am a huge fan of local supermarkets: Trader Joe’s, Sprouts, and Whole Foods, and Fresh & Easy.

ITF: Do you love food shopping or dread it?

SP: I do love shopping, but I always like to have time–I love to spend time on weekends at farmers markets. It’s so fun to walk around and see the colorful, fresh produce and imagine what you can do with it. I do not enjoy shopping on busy nights of the week after work. I prefer doing my shopping on Sunday so I can prepare for the week.

ITF: What is the single most important thing on your mind when you are shopping for food?

SP: The most important thing on my mind when shopping is turning healthy food into delicious meals that my family–especially my sons–will enjoy.  

ITF: How often do you shop?

SP: I like to grocery shop in two steps: My first visit is to the farmers market–either Friday or Saturday in my region–where I pick up local foods, such as fresh produce and sometimes even nuts, legumes, breads, vinegar, honey and olive oil. Then the second part of my shopping is going to a local supermarket to pick up my staples, such as coffee, grains, pasta, spices, canned goods, flour, seeds, and more. 

ITF: What is your weekly food budget?

SP: I know it seems ridiculous, but I spend about $200 a week, sometimes more depending on how much I splurge on in the farmers market. It seems like a lot of money, but my husband and I work at home so our whole family eats almost 3 meals a day at home.

ITF: How do you plan your weekly meals? Create a spreadsheet of fly by the seat of your pants?

SP: I am one of those cooks that likes to “cook from my frig and pantry”. I will buy what ever looks good at the farmers market, stock up on staples at supermarket, and then try to make meals of what I have.

ITF: Do you believe in leftovers?

SP: Yes, I love leftovers. I think food waste is a major problem in this country. It’s been estimated that more than 50% of the food we produce goes uneaten. We always enjoy our leftovers reheated for lunch the next day. Or if I have a lot of leftovers, Thursday night will be our “smorgasbord” where we heat everything up and put out a little buffet for dinner.

ITF: When you hear the word “homemade” what is the first thing that comes to mind?

SP: Homemade means that it has been made with care and thought from original ingredients–they don’t all have to be fresh, it can use canned or frozen vegetables, but it does not come out of a package to be heated in a microwave.

Check out Sharon’s Homemade Endive  Salad with Edamame and Pea Shoots

ITF:  What food/s are important when recalling food memories?

SP: My mother is from the south, so I always enjoyed flavors of the south–black eyed peas, greens, okra, grits, biscuits, corn, cobbler.

ITF: How have your cooking/shopping habits changed over the last 10 years?

SP: I am more dedicated to seasonal, local produce now. I do my best to favor the seasons and foods in my community. I try to buy organic as much as possible. My cooking is more plant-based, as I’m a vegetarian and my family eats a lot of vegetarian meals, as well.

ITF:  What was the last meal you cooked from scratch?

SP: I am testing recipes for my new book The Plant-Powered Year and I perfected Farro White Bean Veggie Burgers, which I served with whole grain buns, lettuce, and tomatoes with a kale salad on the side for dinner last night for my relatives. The burgers were vegan, so it took quite a bit of recipe development to get veggie burgers that would not crumble while being cooked, but I mastered it!

ITF:  What words of wisdom or advice do you have for other folks who are doing their best every day to fill the fridge?

SP: Don’t think of cooking and shopping as a chore. Think of it as “meditation”.

ITF:  What are you working on these days that you’d like to tell us about?

SP: I am working on my next book, The Plant-Powered Year, which is due out in early 2014, and I continue to speak on plant-based nutrition across the country. I am planning a farm to table plant-powered cooking class in Los Angeles this summer.

Thanks Sharon!

If you would like to be featured on Inside the Fridge, please email Robinsbite intern Destini Borchardt- Destini@robinplotkin.com