Full Fridge Club Anniversary + Online Class Survey (includes a giveaway!)
Last September, I started working every Monday with my pal Emmet Moeller. We have a weekly prepared meal service we call “Full Fridge Club” (Emmet came up with the name and I love it so much). We cook out of Emmet’s commercial kitchen in Kingston, New York where he also cooks for private clients and some other folks use the kitchen space for their businesses, too. Emmet’s kitchen is called Common Table and it’s a sunny, happy, clean + well-organized space. They have created an ideal workplace!
Every Monday we make a completely new menu of healthy, locally-sourced, beautiful dishes that our clients take home and enjoy throughout the week. It’s like having a more affordable private chef. We also extend beyond our clients’ fridges and are committed to mutual aid. Every week, for each customer we cook for, we put at least one meal into one of Kingston’s Community Fridges. Since September 2022, we have put over 1000 meals into the free community fridges. This is the part of our work that makes me the most proud.
I love working with Emmet and our crew (Stephen helps us prep and package and keeps everything running smoothly, Timmy helps us with our clients and also sometimes delivers meals and just brings so much joy into the space, April of
used to help us with dishes and once accidentally sprayed me in the face with the sink faucet and I’ve never laughed that hard, and Isaac now helps with dishes). We are a very queer/trans/trans-affirming crew and working together has reminded me of how powerful it is to create a space where nobody feels like an exception.I look forward to our work every Monday. I get to the kitchen by eight, roll up my sleeves, and Emmet and I go through our menu and figure out who’s doing what. We cook all morning and then everyone comes to help us and together we package up the food, label it, and then sit down to a late lunch together. I bring everything to one of the community fridges while everyone else finishes cleaning up (I don’t know how I got that lucky but I’ll take it). We cook with ingredients from local farms and cook for clients who are so kind. We chat and laugh all day (and, of course, we gossip) and listen to music and it’s just great. It’s become an anchor in my week and I’m so grateful to be a part of it.
Since it’s our one year anniversary, I wanted to tell ya’ll more about it since it’s become such a big part of my food life, and I thought it’d be extra fun to interview Emmet for this newsletter — here goes nothing!
»»»» NEAR KINGSTON, NY + WANT US TO COOK FOR YOU? HEAD HERE!!!! ««««
1. What do you look forward to most about Full Fridge Club?
I really love our Full Fridge Club, so it's hard to narrow it down. I think I have to say my favorite part is collaborating and improvising with you, Julia - collaborative improv isn't something I do a ton of on my other cooking days, and it's such a pleasure to get creative, problem-solve and (sometimes) overthink things with you! It helps remind me of why I love to cook - it is just endless brain entertainment to solve food puzzle after food puzzle. To top it all off, I really feel like I'm part of a very fun team on our FFC cook days - the vibes are always so good!
2. How has FFC impacted you? A business owner, community member, someone who takes home the food...whatever!
Full Fridge Club really marked Common Table pivoting to be more public-facing, which has been pretty fun and healing for me to explore. I used to work in a very public-facing role at a non-profit and eventually I got really burned out. But I took a long break, mostly just cooking for private clients for 8 or 9 years, and now I'm opening that door up again. It's a really good reminder that life is full of phases and cycles and possibilities for trying things out, as humans who are always evolving/endlessly transitioning.
3. We've gotten some really sweet feedback and notes from clients. What has stayed with you the most?
The opportunity to feed people consistently over a long period of time is such a huge and cool honor, and I have been so thrilled to be able to offer that to a wider group of people through Full Fridge Club... it's also such a bonus to see them weekly for pick-up, to chat with them, get to know them and to hear about the ways the food is making their lives easier. And it seems like it really is! People say that it has freed them up to think about other things, to relax, to spend more time with their family, to drop some of the "shoulds" around making their own food... And! The feedback I treasure the most is from folks who found our food in the Community Fridges and then took the time to reach out with their gratitude. Contributing to mutual aid projects in the area feels like a really wonderful obligation we small business owners have, so I don't expect accolades for it... when they come my way I am truly floored and so so grateful.
4. What do you think is the most challenging part of FFC?
Oh I don't have a good answer for this!
5. What are you looking forward to as we enter our second year of FFC?
I'm really excited to just keep doing what we're doing, honestly! Common Table has had a few years in a row of rapid growth, and I'm really looking forward to truly settling into the rhythm of Full Fridge Club, without goals for exponential growth. Let's just keep feeding our community, supporting our local farmers, and bringing that good veggie-forward food to our friends and neighbors. Hopefully we can reach a few more people than last year, and help bring some pleasure and ease into a few more kitchens.
6. What kitchen tool could you not live without? And ingredient?
Oooh so hard to choose! I think the answer might be my metal bench knife, for cooking at work. All credit due to Stephen, our amazing prep cook, for suggesting I buy a few... it helps me move food off my board and into vessels without dropping it everywhere, and it helps me keep my board tidy and prepared for the next task. And ok Julia, ingredient is EVEN HARDER. I'm gratuitously obsessed with cabbage, beets, eggs and smoked paprika. Not necessarily together but maybe together, WHO KNOWS? Each of those ingredients is so goddamn versatile and exciting to work with; they fill me with wonder and awe.
7. First thing to come to mind: what was your favorite thing to eat when you were a kid?
Ok, my insides just shouted "CHEESE!" I loved cheese. Pizza, pierogies, stuffed shells, Lebanese string cheese, grilled cheese, and of course the ultimate best thing: cheesecake. I also really really loved kielbasa with 'kraut, the hummus from Karam's Middle East Bakery, and my Irish grandmother's spaghetti & meatballs. And cheese, did I mention cheese?
My class this Sunday is a hearty vegetarian dinner — we’ll be making the BEST EVER Skillet Cornbread with Cheddar + Green Chiles, a pot of Three Bean Chili, and a crunchy Romaine Salad with Creamy Lime Dressing.
Lastly — I could use your help!!
If you’ve taken one (or more!) of my classes — or if you’ve been interested to try a class — please complete this VERY SHORT SURVEY!! It’s about a dozen short questions (one is your name, lol) and by completing the survey by 10/27 you’ll be automatically entered to win a free class + a signed copy of Simply Julia (happy to personalize it!).
I am figuring out the best way to evolve my classes and I would LOVE TO HAVE YOUR INPUT.
»»»» SURVEY HERE!! COMPLETE IT BY 10/27 FOR A CHANCE TO WIN A CLASS + A SIGNED COOKBOOK! ««««
Okay, that’s it! Thanks ya’ll and see you back here soon!
such beautiful work you guys are doing for free community fridges.
This is so uplifting. I would love to be part of the Monday crew!🧡