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Food People, Parent Picks: we ask our favorite chefs, food writers, and industry insiders who we interview in our Order Up! Series to share the products, books, and bites they can’t live without.
Earlier this week we talked with Brett DuPree, food blogger and host of What’s for Dinner?: The Summit, about the mental load of dinner, teaching a husband who couldn’t boil water, and why she calls no-cook meals the gateway drug to real cooking. Make sure you read that full interview right here, and grab your free Summit ticket today!
Now for the practical half. From the no-cook dinner she’d hand any parent, to the Costco shortcut in her freezer right now, to the rice cooker that’s outlasted her whole marriage, these are the specific things that keep Brett’s kitchen running.
The one no-cook dinner recipe you’d hand a parent first?
Tacos, every time. Pulled pork tacos are the move. Grab pre-cooked pulled pork, warm it up, and load up tortillas with whatever toppings you’ve got.
A husband-proof meal, something with zero kitchen skills that still feels like a win?
A roast beef po-boy, and it’s no-cook. Grab the pre-made roast beef and the gravy, pile it on a hoagie bun with lettuce and tomato, and there you go. Anybody can pull that off and feel proud of it.
Three pantry or fridge staples you always keep on hand?
Tortillas, always. Beans, and I keep fresh ones in the freezer all the time. And stock or bone broth. I make my bone broth in the crock pot and I sneak it into everything, because gut health is a big deal to me.
An Aldi or Trader Joe’s find you’re obsessed with right now?
Trader Joe’s chimichurri. I cannot get enough of it. And I’m an Aldi girl through and through. I love a good dip, and Aldi has a great stock of them: grab the Mexicali dip or the street corn dip and turn it into a street corn pasta salad. Dips are the base for half of what I make.
A store-bought shortcut you’ll defend forever?
The Costco pulled chicken, the big vacuum-sealed pack. I break it up, freeze it in portions, and pull it out whenever I need it. It’s in my freezer right now.
A dinner both your boys will eat with no fight?
Weirdly, salad. It’s all about the crunchy lettuce. If the lettuce is crunchy, you can put anything on top: grilled chicken, taco-salad style, whatever you’ve got. I’ll throw some crushed Doritos on there and they’ll eat the whole thing.
One kitchen tool you always reach for?
My rice cooker, the same one I got at my wedding. It has outlasted everything. That and a salad spinner. I don’t wash the lettuce anymore, that’s the boys’ job. I don’t get the mail and I don’t wash salad.
You do cocktail Fridays. What are you pouring right now?
I’m a wine girl at heart, so usually a spritz. But my husband makes a mean Paper Plane, and I love anything with Aperol in it.
[One Potato note for readers: a Paper Plane is equal parts bourbon, Aperol, Amaro Nonino, and fresh lemon juice, shaken with ice.]
Comfort food when someone in the house is sick?
Chicken and dumplings. Every single time.
A cookbook, creator, or account you love that isn’t your own?
Cookbook: Gwyneth Paltrow’s It’s All Good [Bookshop, Amazon]. I don’t cook especially healthy, but there’s a dressing in there, anchovies, lemon, and olive oil, that goes on anything.
For social media, Megan Keno of Homemade Home. She was on Next Level Chef, she’s been one of my summit speakers, and she can cook literally anything.
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One last thing from Brett:
The important part isn’t the recipe, and it’s not what you cook. It’s making the time to sit down and breathe and regroup with your family at the end of the day. Even if it’s takeout, don’t beat yourself up. Just sit down, breathe through it, and try again tomorrow.
For more tips about balancing the mental load, and enjoying mealtimes with your family, be sure to check out What’s for Dinner?: The Summit running Aug 17–19 with 25+ food experts on budget dinners, picky eaters, the mental load, and freezer prep.
