We’ve all been changing how we live over the past few weeks. It seems like every day we are shifting our expectations and behaviors to address COVID-19. Adjusting to this new reality is hard, and there’s no roadmap. We’re all learning together how to stay calm, centered, and proactive in the face of an invisible threat.
Part of that is being more self-reliant at home. Many of us are hunkered down and going out as little as possible. Most restaurants at this point have shifted to doing take-out or delivery only, and many have shuttered altogether. Even with the option of take-out, most people feel more comfortable with food prepared at home.
It makes sense: You can control the environment inside your home pretty well. Even if everything isn’t always squeaky clean, you know who is using your kitchen and where they have been (or, hopefully, haven’t been). You can’t, however, account for the many steps it takes for a restaurant to get food to your door. Even if a restaurant is taking as many precautions as possible to prevent contamination, there’s still no way to guarantee that food from a restaurant kitchen is truly safe, and some chefs are even starting to say much the same thing.
That said, cooking for yourself every day is not easy or obvious, especially if you are used to supplementing your efforts in the kitchen with eating out, take out, and buying prepared foods.
If you’re like thousands of other Americans, you’re probably stocked up on dried beans, pasta, rice, canned goods, and, apparently, oat milk. So now what?
The good news is that pantry staples are incredibly versatile, but the particulars can evade you when you’re standing in front of a heap of food you probably bought without having a clear plan for how to use it. Beyond that, you might be looking up recipes and finding that many of them don’t address the current situation. Popping out to the grocery store for a couple items is no longer feasible or wise, and since fresh produce is the first thing to go bad, maybe you’ve already used up most of yours. Not to mention the scarcity of some items forcing you to buy others instead, or simply go without.
At Heart, our minds are always focused on food, so we wanted to provide our unique expertise in this difficult time. We put together a snazzy little recipe book, featuring 30 recipes all centered around common, affordable pantry items. The recipes were written with a few things in mind. We want as many folks as possible to be able to cook these dishes, so the recipes are written in a flexible way, with lots of notes and tips for modifying them based on what you have on hand. Recipes containing animal products offer plant-based substitutions.
Second, all the recipes are super affordable. We know that even those of us who had steady work a month ago are facing layoffs, fewer working hours, or pay cuts. Even if those scenarios don’t apply to you, you might be feeling worried about the future and trying to rein in expenses accordingly.
Finally, the recipes are really, truly easy to make. Part of recipe writing is knowing when to harness the full force of techniques and by-the-book cooking philosophy, and knowing when to write in favor of simplified processes for the sake of maximum clarity. It’s not fun to be an inexperienced cook reading a recipe that almost talks down to you by virtue of the language being used. Inclusive recipe writing might make Escoffier turn over in his grave, but it’s going to make a lot of home cooks feel less alone.
These recipes are also a how-to lesson in the importance of shifting your recipe style to suit not only the season but also current events. If you are running a business or managing content for a business, the easiest path forward is just to proceed as normal. But that’s not always the best call. Audiences on social media are digitally savvy and can tell when content is “canned,” meaning scheduled or overly consistent. While consistency is normally a good thing, in very uncertain times it can read as out of touch or oblivious to the myriad concerns facing consumers.
It’s hard to pivot, especially if you have a fleshed out strategy, but consumers respond well to timely, thoughtful content that addresses and validates their concerns. In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, it pays to adjust and innovate rather than release tone-deaf recipes. On a practical level, this means recipes with fewer perishable goods or expensive specialty products, more pantry staples, flexible but clear writing to allow for substitutions, and a nod towards the comfort food category while still being nutrient-dense when appropriate.
The good news for food brands is that cooking and food are very timely subjects. In fact, with more people cooking at home, sales of many food products have spiked. Food and cooking-based content is more relatable and timely than ever. The trick is knowing how to frame it, not only to suit your audience but also to let your consumers and followers know that we’re all in this together.
