This put up initially appeared within the February 17, 2024 version of The Transfer, professional ideas and recommendation from Eater’s eating specialists, direct to your inbox, direct to your inbox. Subscribe now.

I’m a boring residence cook dinner. I’ve only a handful of go-to recipes for lunch and dinner in my arsenal, most of that are variations on the “home meal” theme. To fight this, I went by a part the place I’d purchase one random new condiment or cooking sauce every grocery journey — jarred simmer sauces, spreads, chutneys, or marinated veggies that may very well be thrown in for a brand new burst of taste. As a hack, it labored in that the act of cooking felt extra different and stunning. However most of the time, after utilizing a cooking sauce one or two instances, the vast majority of the jar could be forgotten and left to languish behind the fridge. Fortunately, I’ve come round to a greater, much less wasteful method: I supply these enjoyable, little add-ons from the “further sauces” a part of a restaurant’s supply menu.

On supply apps, most eating places provide these small, $1-3 containers of the sauces or the extras that complement or accompany their meals: dipping sauces, salsas, gravies, aiolis, dollops of scorching sauces, and dabs of house-made vinegars. The trick (and enjoyable, actually) is to consider methods to apply them outdoors of that particular supply meal, or outdoors their supposed functions solely: It appears like channeling the deep flavors and uniqueness of a restaurant meal into my mediocre meal prep at residence.

The highest shelf of my fridge is affected by these tiny one- and two-ounce plastic containers: There’s a Calabrian chile crisp and a dill-forward ranch dressing from a neighborhood pizza cart; I don’t eat ranch with pizza, however I be sure to request a pair further every time we order in for the subsequent day’s salad. (The home-made chile crisp, extra oniony than spicy, provides a little bit of life to principally every little thing.) There’s the creamy, white gold barbecue sauce and “jerk”-like dipping sauce from a neighborhood rotisserie hen joint; the previous was initially supposed to be eaten with hen, however I get it particularly to make use of on oven-roasted potatoes later within the week. There’s often a mole from the neighborhood tamale place (which is blessedly bought in a a lot bigger, half-pint container), in addition to facet orders of curry, each of which I exploit as a simmer sauce for hen thighs and serve with rice. This line of considering works effectively for rounding your weeknight meals with fridge-friendly sides like pickled greens. I at all times, at all times order a facet or two of kimchi to eat with the subsequent day’s meal.

Coming instantly from eating places, all of those merchandise are a lot more energizing than something that I’d discover in a shelf-stable jar. Whereas it’s undoubtedly dearer than getting the same product off the grocery retailer shelf, having a couple of of those tiny containers on the prepared permits me to make use of the smallest of particulars to raise no matter I throw collectively. These restaurant-made treasures are sufficient to make cooking really feel enjoyable and spontaneous, and so they inspire me to really make dinner as a substitute of reaching for the supply app as soon as once more.