...We're going to be traveling sometime next year for a preliminary discovering of neighborhoods, in prep for buying a house in that wonderful city with so very many of Our Favorite People in the Whole Universe nearby. We'll be staying in a temporary furnished apartment...me for a week or so, my husband and the rest of the family for a month or so.
And of course we're going to have to eat.
But all our meticulously gathered spices and other basic ingredients will be sitting back in our current house, and I'm not in the position to replace all of them, especially since they won't stay fresh long enough if I have twice as many of them as I usually have. We also will have a very limited number of pots and pans and other cooking paraphernalia.
So, here's a preliminary grocery list for ourselves, to get say the morning after arriving in town, that does not involve long recipes with lots of doubling-up-in-two-homes-temporarily ingredients. I got inspired from http://www.thekitchn.com/eating-well-on-the-road-how-to-avoid-incessant-snacking-while-traveling-190907 and from a magazine article I saw in oh 2003ish. It has tasty food that's easy to prepare and -- very importantly -- easy to be inspired by, that will spark many nice dishes and often go well together. It also includes foods that just make us feel fabulous, though that's different for everybody.
produce
a total of enough fruit and vegetables for us for x # of days, including:
fresh washed greens
any other crudités you see and like, eg cucumber
cleaned sliced mushrooms
fresh herbs (remembering you don't have a lot of spices etc sitting at your present home)
avocado
tomato if they're good
onion
fresh fruit
bakery
nice bread
a treat or two, especially if this is a stressful time
packaged
olive oil
balsamic
salt
pepper in one of those disposable grinders
canned beans
canned tomatoes if fresh are not good right now
favorite cereal
cooked rice or polenta or other favorite grain(s)
favorite Italian appetizers such as caponata (be sure they're easy-open or you have a can opener)
olives, pickles, whatever you like
teas, coffee
and anything you need for them such as sugar
dried fruits
tuna
a nice wine (be sure you have an opener or get a twist-top)
nuts, nut butters
your favorite chocolate
anything especially helpful for your favorite dish and/or way to use up leftovers (eg broth) thanks to Julie for this idea!
refrigerated
milk
favorite cheese(s)
hummus
pesto
salsa
favorite juice(s)
kefir
kombucha
(eggs if you have a good pan for them and use them enough)
frozen
broccoli, corn, other favorite frozen vegetables
real-food TV dinners if you see them
other real-food fabulous prepared food you might see
already-cooked or just prepared non-veg eg fish
total convenience
restaurant reservations/plans for at least 2x/week -- it would be a shame not to enjoy one of the biggest reasons we're moving there!
Any more ideas are very welcome! In fact, I'll update my own list and possibly this post with any I really want to try first...
Note: There's a different, looser appraoch I just posted at http://favoritefoodthisweek.blogspot.com/2014/12/shopping-with-kids-and-other-people-who.html .