Ina Garten Always Has These 6 Things in Her Refrigerator — and They’ll Come in Handy During the Holidays

Ina Garten’s cooking wisdom is always applicable. Her classic dishes — like the world’s best chocolate cake or a simple French lentil stew — are the kind of recipes that hold up for years and are appropriate for any occasion. And just as timeless is all of her advice on entertaining and cooking at home.

In a 2019 interview with Food & Wine about her then-upcoming season of “Barefoot Contessa: Cook Like a Pro,” Garten spilled the beans on some of her go-to strategies for hosting, which will definitely come in handy for the holiday season. 

To start, the cookbook author and television host says everyone should own multiple sheet pans, declaring, “I have a stack of sheet pans. A lot of people have one. I have eight. If I'm roasting potatoes, sometimes it's better to roast them on two [pans], so they don't steam.” Having more than one surface for baking and roasting would undoubtedly be helpful when you’re balancing different dishes coming in and out of the oven within the same few hours.

The Barefoot Contessa also recommends that if you’re cooking for company, it’s best to make recipes you’ve prepared before. Practice makes perfect, and she says, “Part of being a pro is making something over and over again until you feel confident that you can make it well…. The more you make recipes over and over, the more confident you are.”

One of the best insights that Ina Garten gave us, which we’ll be immediately incorporating into our grocery shopping routine, is what she keeps on hand in her refrigerator and freezer. 

The everyday essentials

The Food & Wine motto is “Upgrade your every day,” and it sounds like that’s what Garten does too. In her fridge, she “always [has] good butter and eggs. Urbani makes a wonderful white truffle butter, so if you need to make a fabulous meal, you can add some pasta and have white truffle pasta.”

Butter and eggs might seem like obvious choices for staple groceries. But the key descriptor here is good eggs and butter. Because you use these items on a daily basis, selecting quality versions of them is a simple way to make your home cooking feel and taste more luxurious. Garten herself has said that her butter of choice is a good French butter, specifically a beurre de baratte from Normandy, which means the dairy has been churned and then molded by hand.

When it comes to eggs, the number of labels like “pasture-raised” or “cage-free” on cartons are endless, but it can be very difficult to decipher whether or not these descriptors are true and how much weight to give them. To get quality eggs you should at least purchase USDA Grade AA. This is the highest grade eggs can receive, and it means they have greater nutritional value, a thicker shell, firm and thick whites, and a round yolk. For the freshest possible eggs, which will definitely taste better, your best bet is to go to a farmers market.

The holiday heavy lifters

In the words of Ina, “I always have soups in the freezer, and chicken stock.” If you’re not familiar with how useful these both are during the holiday season, it’s time to learn. Having homemade soup in the freezer ready to thaw and serve is ideal for when you’re tired of cooking and need something that will be ready in a flash but still make you feel nourished. Or if you have family members crashing on your couch, it’s an easy way to serve them dinner the night before a big holiday.

It’s safe to assume that the stock in the Barefoot Contessa’s freezer is homemade, which means it’s basically liquid gold. Stock is often an afterthought when planning a menu, but it’s a key ingredient in so many dishes during this time of year. Gravy, braised greens, and stuffing all call for broth — and if you use a good quality one, you’ll end up tasting a difference in the end result. So make some homemade stock, put it in a freezer-friendly container, and reap the benefits later.

The beverages everyone will want

We knew Ina Garten was relatable, but that’s never been more the case than when she told us the two alcoholic beverages she always stocks are “vodka and good French Champagne." Presumably, she keeps the former in the freezer and the latter in a wine refrigerator — at least, that’s what we would suggest. Just like everything else on her list of essentials, these are both versatile. Vodka is a neutral spirit that can work well in a wide variety of cocktails, whether you want to make martinis or whip up a batch drink. If you really want to enjoy a beverage the way Ina does, use the vodka to make a cosmopolitan (anyone else remember when she famously taught the world how to make one during the pandemic?).

Besides an icy-cold bottle of vodka, Garten’s other suggestion is to make sure always have a bottle of good Champagne on hand. This makes sense, considering that there’s never a day that I don’t want to sip on a great glass of bubbly, but it’s a great idea during this time of year when you’re inevitably attending dinner parties, hosting other people, and encountering a hundred different scenarios that could call for popping a bottle. Based on both her butter and Champagne recommendations, it’s clear that the Barefoot Contessa loves French ingredients — which shouldn’t be surprising considering how well she knows Paris.