Full Fridge Club: February 2025
No spring chicken...yet!
Welcome to the club!
Editor’s note: In order to share all of our musings and photos, this newsletter will be clipped by most email providers. To read our entire newsletter, click on the link that says “view entire message” or you can read in full on the Substack app.
February was a lovely month for us here at Common Table. Yes, everything around us seems as though it is spinning out of control, but in our delightful, nourishing community, there are always moments of joy and connection— the perfect combination to feel grounded and supported.
In celebration for another year of the Common Table crew, we had a Bowling Extravaganza at our local alley, Patel’s Lanes. It was a glorious night where our team finally had the chance to all commune and welcome our loved ones into the revelry.
An exciting update for Full Fridge Club: we’ve expanded our club to the Northern Hudson Valley! In collaboration with EAT Catskill, we are now offering a pick-up location in Catskill, NY!
Soooo… if you— or someone you know— have been interested in trying out FFC, but the drive down to Kingston was an obstacle, you can now join the club! Learn about Full Fridge Club, try us out with a one-off order, or even become a weekly subscriber. You can enter the code “NEWBIE” at checkout for 15% off your first order! And remember, for every FFC client, we put at least one meal into our community fridges. By the end of February, we were able to give out over 2,500 free meals to our locals!
And that is all thanks to you. <3
Okay, Spring has sprung, so let’s Dish. It. Out!
February Menus
These are our previous month’s menus, along with photos and insights from one of our chefs…
Monday, February 3rd
Julia: Scarcity can sometimes inspire the most creativity. During February in the Hudson Valley, our access to fresh, seasonal produce is not nearly as abundant as it is in most other months. So this is when we dig deep into the cold storage and come back with as much flavor and color as we can. Enter homemade pickles and precious greens grown in covered tunnels, kohlrabi given its due with lots of crispy garlic and a fresh, crunchy slaw that almost — almost — feels like warmer weather is nearby.
Monday, February 10th
Julia: This menu was inspired by Angelica Kitchen, the late, great vegan restaurant in New York’s East Village that ran for forty years. Eryn, Emmet, and I all loved it. You can read “obituaries” for it here in The New Yorker and over here in Bon Appétit. Creating “homage” menus for some of our favorite places is a really nice way to honor their memories.
Monday, February 17
Julia: We always look for excuses to get Stephen to make his wonderful kimchi. For this menu, we featured it in a warming stew. We included a few other Korean-inspired ingredients throughout the dishes without having the week be a fully Korean menu (lots of scallions in the baked egg thing, mustard greens as a side dish, gochujang in the creamy dressing for the wedge salad). We like flexibility and variety!
Monday, February 24
Julia: The inspiration for this menu was, to be totally honest, a tip I saw on social media about freezing a whole head of cabbage, then defrosting it to make the leaves easy to separate for stuffed cabbage (rather than separating the raw leaves and blanching them — see here!). Just like we sprinkled some Korean ingredients throughout last week’s menu, this week’s menu was inspired by a few Eastern European staples — caraway seeds, sauerkraut, salad olivier, stuffed cabbage.
*Intrusive Queer Thought*
This is where one of us of the Common Table crew let our little queer minds run amok! This month, Timmy shares more trans art, because we ALL need it…
If you’re not following sweatermuppet, you’re missing out! He takes phrases and images from historical LGBTQ media— as well as his own original ideas— and creates beautiful art edited to look aged and photocopied: modern art with a vintage feel with timeless wisdom. You can order stickers, prints, shirt, mugs, totes, and even tattoo prints from his website.
And that was our February!
Below, for paid subscribers, you’ll find our Side Dish, where Stephen recounts the newest episode of his favorite homemade TV show. You will also find two recipes from our February FFC Menus, scaled down and tested by Julia Turshen: Curried Cashew Spread and Sautéed Mustard Greens with Chilis & Garlic.
If you’d like to help our work with keeping our local free fridges full, but you don’t live locally to order a Full Fridge Club service, you can always sponsor meals here!
And, if you are local and interested in learning more about Full Fridge Club, check out our website.
Thank you all for joining the club and we’ll see you next month!
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