Inside the Fridge Welcomes Dana Palmer-A Mom of 2 Who Makes Dinner Happen in 30 Minutes or Less

Welcome to the Premier Posting of
Inside the Fridge

Fridge Aficionado: Dana Palmer, 34. Wife and Mom of 3 year old twins from Dallas talks turkey about what its like to feed her family healthy, quick and affordable meals. Photo at right is Dana's actual fridge!





ITF: Where do you shop for food?
DP: Target, Costco and Kroger primarily with some Central Market

ITF: Do you love food shopping or dread it?
DP: Both-I enjoy looking at all of the possibilities but hate that I never end up buying anything different from week to week

ITF: What is the single most important thing on your mind when you are shopping for food?
DP: Quality for a reasonable price

ITF: How often do you shop?
DP: Minimum of once per week usually twice

ITF: How many do you shop for? Ages?
DP: 4: 2 adults (34 and 39) and 2, 3 year olds

ITF: What is your weekly food budget?
DP: Approximately $150-$200

ITF: How many times a week do you eat out? (based on 21 meals/week)
DP: At least 8 per week

ITF: How do you plan your weekly meals? Create a spreadsheet of fly by the seat of your pants?
DP: Usually make the same several meals each week

ITF: What is the most coveted food in the fridge right now for each member of the household? Why?
DP: Me: Myoplex Lite (daily breakfast) Husband: hummus from Costco (daily snack before dinner) Kids: Horizon organic chocolate milk and Yo Baby yogurt

ITF: What is the oldest item in the fridge right now?
DP: Fage yogurt that expired some time last week (it could be worse but we have someone who acts as a fridge monitor for us weekly)

ITF: Do you believe in leftovers?
DP: I personally do not care for leftovers but my husband lives for them so I save more than I prefer to save

ITF: What convenience product can you not live without?
DP: Egg whites in a carton! And hard-boiled eggs already de-shelled from Eggland's Best

ITF: What brands do you swear by? Why?
DP: Boar's Head deli meats because they are the only deli meats that are always pure, no gross parts, fillers, etc.

ITF: What cooking utensil/piece of equipment/appliance do you live for?
DP: Speed Bake feature on our GE Trivection oven-can cook a whole chicken in under 30 minutes!

ITF: When you hear the word "homemade" what is the first thing that comes to mind?
DP: Baked goods that are high quality and yummy

ITF: What food/s are important when recalling food memories?
DP: For me, always sweets

ITF: How have your cooking/shopping habits changed over the last 10 years?
DP: Now I have to buy for my children so I am much more sensitive to how processed certain food are but overall, my habits are pretty much the same for myself and my husband. I do feel that there is a wider variety of places to buy good food without spending a fortune now than ever before

ITF: What are your go-to food/nutrition/culinary/cooking website/s, book or cookbook?
DP: I love Weight Watchers recipes, cookbooks, etc. but I also like the Food Network's website, Allcooks.com and sometimes Cooking Light's website

ITF: What was the last meal you cooked from scratch?
DP: I made meatloaf last week on the night before we went out of town

ITF: What was the last meal you cooked from convenience products?
DP: Rotisserie chicken from Costco with a salad

ITF: If one person could cook for you tonight, who would it be?
DP: Not that picky-as long as it's not me cooking, it sounds good

ITF: What words of wisdom or advice do you have for other folks who are doing their best every day to fill the fridge?
DP: It doesn't have to be fancy or complicated, it just has to be something that interests you and your family, and hopefully its healthy

ITF: What are you working on these days that you'd like to tell us about?
DP: My goal these days is to find some new staple-type meals to add to my weekly menu so that our meals will be a little more varied

ITF: Anything else?
DP: A theme that is very important in our rather busy house is to prepare a meal that can be ready in less than 30 minutes with less than 10 ingredients total. We try to use as few packaged products as possible