First, let's go back to basics.

Seasoning your food is necessary.

“Having just condiments is pretty sad, but not having condiments at all is a whole different level of low.”

1SweetChick

“I'll never forget the time I was invited to eat at my aunt's boyfriend's house (why, I have no clue). I had to have been around 11 or so.

The man had no salt. No salt-like product. How do you not own salt? If you choose not to eat salt for whatever reason, how do you not own salt for people you invite over? It's like the one basic seasoning.

I'm 41 and whenever that comes to mind I still get annoyed at the idea of it.”

Mannerly808

​Yes to all of this.

“Some kinda hot sauce, I go for cholula and sriracha.

Yo I'm very aware you don't need them in the fridge to stay good. Also thanks for the recommendations everyone!”

BewareTheLobster

“We keep El Yucateco, Cholula, Louisiana, Tabasco, Huichol, Valentina, and Tapatío.

Also often keep a more home style jalapeño and tomatillo or chile de árbol salsa. Once in awhile the molcajéte will show up with various salsas in it, or whatever was left over from the last trip to the taqueria.

I could go for some chile morita salsa. And carnitas.”

CoherentLogic

For the sake of adapting.

“Anything that can be used on bread. Cheese, pâté, any kind of savoury spread.

I lost all pleasure to cook when my partner died, and bread+spreadables is my usual go-to.

Oh, and eggs.

ETA: thank you all so much for the awards, they are really heartwarming; but please, please, please, keep your money and use it for a charity nearby instead, if you can."

LadyOfSighs

“When my grandfather died it was the exact same for my grandmother. She went from being an amazing cook who stood in the kitchen for hours making a three-course menu for a simple family visit to living with easy and ready-made foods. In the past, she never would have touched those. I heard that this is a fairly common concomitant of grief but that it gets better over time.

I wish you all the best!"

Whitelieslatenight

Emergency quesadillas.

“Shredded cheese and tortillas. Gotta be able to make a quesadilla at the drop of a hat.”

NoSoul2335

“Up your quesadilla game by buying the cheese in a block and shredding it yourself. It's cheaper and melts better; the pre-shredded stuff has additives it to keep it from clumping.”

Thedankoctopus

​Then there are the nonsensical universal things that we keep in our fridge, despite no reason to.

Don’t eat after phase three.

“Leftovers that I will never actually eat.”

Wehosh

“Leftovers go through 3 phases. 1) I can still eat this because I just cooked it yesterday but I won't. 2) it's been 2-3 days, I should really eat that now before it goes bad. 3) why did I even save that, now it's been 4 days and it's definitely bad but I don't want to throw it out and let it sit in my garbage can so might as well wait until garbage day.

Edit: yes I get it. You can eat leftovers after 4 days. That's great. Personally I have leftover fish in my fridge from Thursday and it's in phase 3. But if you want to eat food a week after it's been cooked be my guest.”

Blaine_The_Mono

​Every grandma has this.

”A strange jar of something completely unlabelled and hidden toward the back. It stays there for years and keeps people guessing.”

Turboyabby

“Please stop coming to my grandma's house.”

BoozeAddict

Who needs to bake it anyway?

“Cookie dough, I don't care if it's edible or not I'm eating it.”

Riceperfect

“There have been way too many times in my house where the cookie dough has never made it to the oven.

ETA: This comment made me want cookies. I managed to get most of them baked.”

SummerOfMayhem

​And don’t forget the go-to snacks that always have a home in the fridge, especially for those wild nights.

​All of this is accurate.

“Pickles. Best anytime snack.”

Litkit1658

“People don't believe me when I say that eating them before you go to bed will diminish one's hangovers until they try it themselves. I mostly stick to my Mexican roots and eat a bowl of pozole or street tacos for hangover prevention before I crash out but pickles are great when I'm totally smashed and just want to pass out. Pickle juice is also great in the morning if you do wake up with a slight headache. Salud!

Iamabucket

​Smart ideas all around.

“Barbecue sauce.

Also sandwich supplies (sans bread cuz refrigerated bread is weird) cuz sandwiches are fantastic quickie "meals"."

Ezekiel2121

“I keep bread in the freezer, then give it a quick trip through the toaster to make it edible."

Bsmdphdjd

This is a gourmet meal on its own.

“Bacon. So many things.

Fresh Broccoli. Roasted with oil and salt is magic.

A variety of cheeses.

Real Butter. Cook almost everything in it."

Fiddlen*tz

Out of all of these, the hot sauce one really spoke to me. Nothing like a fresh pepper filled with hot sauce as my go-to drunk snack.

Take this list to the grocery store, and stop ordering pizza for once.