In an exclusive conversation with the lifestyle project WAVE by RBC-Ukraine, food blogger Yana Gordunovska talked about what her fridge actually contains and why it doesn't hold dozens of products sitting around unused for years. Her main principle is to keep a trusted "base" of ingredients at home, from which she can quickly put together different dishes depending on her mood, without any extra planning, rather than buying things that will eventually go bad on the shelf. Read more about her approach to food and her favorite set of ingredients in the article on Wave RBC.UA.
Fridge staples: minimal extras, maximum usefulness
Among the permanent residents of Gordunovska's fridge are eggs, cottage cheese, milk, plain yogurt, kefir, cheese and butter. In addition to dairy products and eggs, there is always meat for preparing various dishes, as well as seasonal vegetables, fruits, berries and fresh herbs. According to the blogger, this set of ingredients keeps her fridge from turning into a "food warehouse" and prevents her from storing things that won't be eaten in time.
Kitchen shelves: a dry base for variety
Separately, the food blogger keeps grains, flour, bread, chia seeds, cocoa, baking powder, nuts and spices on her kitchen shelves. It is precisely this simple dry base, she says, that allows her to avoid eating the same breakfast every day, combining ingredients according to her current mood and available time.
Mood-based breakfasts: sweet and savory options
If she's in the mood for something sweet, she can make pancakes, syrniki (cheese cakes) or fluffy oladyi (buckwheat pancakes) from the same base. For a savory breakfast, waffles, croque madame or shakshuka work well. Gordunovska makes both sweet and savory versions of pancakes using one universal recipe, changing only the filling. For a sweet version without added sugar, she uses banana pancakes, where the sweetness comes from a ripe banana.
Her favorite recipe: lazy oatmeal
A special place in her diet is occupied by lazy oatmeal — a recipe for mornings when she doesn't feel like spending time cooking. It requires a banana, oats, yogurt, milk, chia seeds and cocoa: everything is mixed in the evening and left in the fridge overnight, and in the morning she simply takes out the ready oatmeal and adds fresh berries or fruit. "This is one of those recipes that best matches my approach to food: minimal effort, maximum pleasure," the blogger explains. She also singles out cottage cheese, which is used in several dishes — from classic syrniki to lazy vareniki (dumplings) and homemade waffles.
The philosophy of repetition, not novelty
Gordunovska admits that she doesn't try to constantly buy new products just for the sake of variety: her kitchen is built around a few favorite ingredients that are easy to combine with one another. "I love recipes that you want to repeat in real life. Not just to photograph beautifully once, but to cook today, then again next week and a month later," she says. According to her, this set of ingredients is enough to cook something new every day, and beyond that, "imagination takes over."
