No, no, this isn’t a list of all the dals and vegetables you will find in Mom’s kitchen. All of that makes for a series of great meals, sure, but you’re a babe in a hurry. One who is on the move 24/7 and one who wants to eat well. So, let’s get together what you need.

In The Smart Girl’s Fridge
Milk. Low fat, low cream, whatever you desire.
• Tomato puree. Great for soup and curries. It can even be used to make juice.
• Eggs. Have one lot hard-boiled, but in their shells.
• Butter. Margerine. Lard (great for making pie crust).
• A ‘dubba’ of hard cheese for grating on top of sandwiches, pasta, salads.
• Cheese spread. This you can make yourself, using milk, grated cheese and all-spice seasoning.
• Mayo. Low fat.
• A perennial pile of long-lasting fruits and veggies like onions, potatoes, ginger, garlic, oranges, mosambi, lemons, apples. And whatever else the season brings.
• Herb-infused oils to drizzle over breads and rotis. Infuse sprigs of parsley, basil, and thyme in olive oil and there you have them.
• Ripe, red tomatoes for instant bruschetta.
• Small portions of bacon or salami for a quick spaghetti-sauce. Dunno how to make the sauce? Mix a measured amount of the shredded cold meats into a tomato puree-and-capsicum-based sauce. Voila!
• Ice cream for instant dessert. Whatever the season!
• Yoghurt, flavoured. Or plain creamy dahi. A BIG bowl of it.
• Frozen wine in ice cubes for cooking purposes. All you need to do is toss a couple of cubes into the wok with the bird for yummy chicken in wine.
• Lemon juice, pre-prepared.
• Liquid stock, made from the water you boil meat or chicken or veggies in.

In The Smart Girl’s Store Cupboard
• Coffee.
• Tea.
• Cocoa powder.
• Bread, plain and flavoured. Buns.
• Salt. Garlic salt.
• Wheat flour, aka atta.
• White flour, aka maida.
• Crackers. A dieting gal’s best snack.
• Sugar. Brown sugar. Powdered sugar.
• Cinnamon, powdered or in sticks.
• Pasta. Every kind there is, for varying (yours as well as your guests’) tastes.
• Cereals, whatever your family fancies.
• Oats. Makes a nifty porridge as well as soup thickener.
• Tinned fish. Salmon and for ‘jaldi’ snacks on toast or a pizza base.
• Beans. Small, large, kidney-shaped, red, white, yellow... all of it is delicious. Oh, and baked beans in tomato sauce for that impromptu TV meal.
• Rice. Wild, brown, Basmati.
• Tomato sauce, ketchup or the spicy kind.
• A spice box with basil, mint oregano, rosemary, thyme, parsley, at the very least.
• Wine, table or cooking kind. The inexpensive kind, in other words.
• Honey.
• Jams. Marmalade. A tub or two of strawberry preserve.
• Olive oil.
• Vegetable oil. To be used as sparingly as possible.
• Vinegar, white and red.
• Essences, vanilla, rose, etc.
• Chutneys. Mango, tomato, carrot...we aren’t telling you to make them, cadge them from a kitchen–friendly pal, your mom or grandma. Or, better still... buy them at the nearest market.
• Yeast.
• Mustard.
• A bottle of ‘paanch phorun’ if you have ‘Bong’ friends.
• Soya sauce.
• Chilli sauce.
• Worcestershire sauce.
• Roasted nuts. Great for a snack, even better for a quick garnish. And ooooh, so healthy, so tasty.
• Paper towels so your pinkies stay clean and the fried food stays that much less oily.
• Silver foil to wrap your lunch in, to keep baked food warm and to seal in the flavour of cooked

Keep at hand, a tin of coffee or tea

Honey has medicinal value and it’s tasty as well

Cheshire cheese is the oldest Cheddar-type cheese, and the oldest named cheese in Britain. There are three varieties, a white, a ‘red’ (actually yellow in colour), which are dyed with annatto, and a blue-veined variety originally considered undesirable when it occurred accidentally.