‘The Pioneer Woman’: The 1 Food Ree Drummond Always Keeps In Her Refrigerator
The Pioneer Woman star Ree Drummond didn’t set out to be a celebrity chef; the mother of four stepped onto the cooking scene when she started her blog back in 2006. Now, the Food Network star is one of the world’s most notable home cooks. Fans love her for her simplicity — and it turns out, she keeps the same foods in her refrigerator as the rest of us.
Ree Drummond started out as a blogger
When Drummond was younger, she envisioned a career in law. She originally attended the University of Southern California and had plans to move to Chicago for law school. However, while back home in Oklahoma, she met Ladd Drummond at a bar — and from there, her plans changed. Rather than go on to become a lawyer, Drummond fell in love with a cowboy and rearranged her life to join him on his ranch on Oklahoma.
The Drummonds welcomed four kids, and as a stay-at-home mom, Drummond began blogging about her hectic life. The Drummond ranch is so big and so far from town that she chose to homeschool her kids as a way of preventing them from driving more than an hour each way to school. The Pioneer Woman was born out of Drummond’s daily life, which included cooking plenty of food for her hungry family. It exploded with fans, and Food Network eventually picked it up as a series. From there, Drummond became a household name — completely by accident.
Drummond always keeps typical ingredients on hand
Drummond’s pantry, freezer, and refrigerator are always stocked with simple household ingredients that anyone would have on hand. Living on a massive ranch, it likely isn’t a quick drive to the grocery store, and Drummond loves preparing make-ahead meals that she stores in her freezer.
If Drummond is cooking with ingredients in her refrigerator, she always has one thing on hand: Cheddar cheese. “Just gimme cheddar, and I’ll grate or slice it when I need it!” Drummond wrote in her 2017 cookbook. Actually, Drummond keeps plenty of cheese on hand at all times. Out of her “15 favorite fridge staples” in the book, she included six different cheeses: Cheddar, feta, cream cheese, mozzarella, Monterey jack, and Parmesan.
‘The Pioneer Woman’ has gained fans for its simple recipes
The Pioneer Woman premiered nearly a decade ago, and Drummond’s refrigerator staples are just one of the reasons the show must go on. The home-cook-turned-celebrity-chef creates recipes using ingredients that aren’t overly complicated; almost all of them can be purchased at local grocery stores rather than requiring a trip to a specialty store.
Drummond has built an empire based on simple recipes, though she didn’t do it on purpose. She now owns a restaurant, bakery, and store in downtown Oklahoma, plus she has a cookware line and magazine. And at the end of the day, she’s still a hard-working mom to Alex, Paige, Bryce, and Todd.
