Times like these are difficult; there’s no getting around that. Whether you’re self-isolating or simply practising social distancing, you still need to eat. We don’t yet know how long it will take to get things back to normal, but while we’re all home (and thinking about groceries) this is a great opportunity to take a look in your pantry, fridge and freezer and make plans for long-term organisation.

Organising your kitchen is a good idea, even when there isn’t a pandemic. Rozanne Stevens (pictured left) specialises in this area. As culinary director of Dublin City University’s (DCU) Noosphere Institute, she spends her days developing sustainable, waste-free recipes.

“(At DCU) we’ve obviously shut down, so I’m at home trying to finish my next cookbook and working on my food recipe database,” she explains over the phone.

Rozanne studied food and wine in South Africa and became a lecturer before moving to Ireland in 1999, where she became a whole foods chef. A year ago, she set up the zero-waste test kitchen at DCU and has since been working to develop protocols and a detailed recipe database for the catering industry.

“I’ve been reworking a lot of those recipes to suit domestic kitchens,” she says. “I’m also putting together a document explaining how to properly store different foods because I’m concerned about people buying lots of fresh food and it going off and going in the bin.”

Something that concerns Rozanne, at the moment, is the amount of food waste that could occur in the coming days and weeks if people are only buying non-perishables. She feels it’s equally important to be buying the fresh fruits and vegetables that are available and processing these accordingly for future use.

“Right now there’s so much fresh food in supermarkets and people are out buying up all the tinned ingredients,” she says. “I’m not saying don’t buy non-perishables but we should be using the fresh foods that are available to us first and foremost.”

Everyone’s comfort eating right now so, to help get a handle on that, my baking recipes are all quite healthy

Rozanne is making her recipe database available to anyone who could use some help in the kitchen while social distancing. Her recipes cover a range of styles and make use of pantry-staple ingredients, but are also flexible enough that you can substitute some ingredients depending on what you have on hand.

“I’m updating the database daily,” she says. “I’ve broken it down into categories with cross-references. Everyone’s comfort eating right now so, to help get a handle on that, my baking recipes are all quite healthy. I’ve also highlighted what ingredients are essential so there’s some wiggle room in the recipes to use what you have on hand.”

She responds to each email individually, and can develop new recipes for those who want to use certain ingredients or can answer any questions about storing ingredients and best-before dates.

If you would like access to Rozanne’s recipe database, you can contact her at rozannestevens@gmail.com.

Tips for a perfectly stocked kitchen

Fresh vegetables: Chop, portion and freeze. Onions, carrot and celery can be chopped by hand or in a food processor, packaged in 250g portions and frozen directly while other vegetables (broccoli, cauliflower, green beans, etc) should be chopped and blanched in boiling water for one minute, then dried and frozen.

Fresh fruit: Fruit that’s about to go off can be portioned and frozen into smoothie bags. Combine fruits like berries, bananas, mangoes and add some washed spinach, kale or beetroot for added nutrients. Other fruits like pears and apples can be pureed and frozen, while rhubarb can be chopped and frozen as is.

Fresh herbs: Rozanne has a handy template for making a pesto-type sauce out of any fresh herbs you might have on hand. Once they’re made into sauces, they can be portioned and frozen.

Meat and fish: Rozanne recommends going through your freezer, taking out the mince, lamb or chicken you’re storing and cooking it. Cottage pie, lasagne, chili con carne and chicken casseroles can all be portioned into plastic containers with airtight lids and frozen. You save space by using square or rectangular containers. If using glass containers, make sure the glass is freezer-safe.

Pantry items: Making a pantry chart to keep track of what you have isn’t necessary but it’s really helpful to keep you organised. Start with grains – oats, brown rice, quinoa, bulgur wheat, pearl barley and couscous. Next, list dried pulses – red lentils, dried chickpeas and dried white beans. Then, tinned foods – beans, fruit, tuna and sardines. Create a section each for oils, vinegars, soy sauce and spices. Don’t throw out your spices just because they’re past their use-by date – though they aren’t at peak freshness; they’re still useable. Vegetables like potatoes and butternut squash will keep for up to two months in a cool, dry place.

Condiments: Rozanne recommends storing opened condiments in the fridge. This includes Thai curry pastes, jarred pestos and tomato sauces and ketchup or brown sauce. Some of these condiments contain animal proteins that can go rancid at room temperature.

Baking items: Plain and self-raising flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda, dry active yeast, brown and white sugar and vanilla are all pantry staples that will keep at room temperature indefinitely.