La Colombe Coffee Roasters CEO and co-founder Todd Carmichael doesn’t just have one fridge. He has three. “I have a very big household,” he explains. His clan consists of himself and his wife, four children, a nanny, his mother-in-law, and three dogs—some are plant-based, and some are meat eaters. And that’s who’s gathered around the table on a quiet day. “The kids usually have two or three friends over for dinner, so there can be 10 to 14 people for lunch or dinner at any given time,” he says.
Needless to say, Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays are big meal-prep days in the Carmichael house. During these sessions, meat, pasta, and stir-fry ingredients are pre-cut and cooked to be thrown together throughout the week. All of that is hidden away in his two secondary fridges, as are “smellier” foods, like cheeses and salamis. But here, he opens the door to his “on-deck” fridge—AKA the one housing the family’s go-to snacks, coffees (of course), and the fruits and veggies they eat on repeat.
Scroll down to see what Carmichael and his big (!) family enjoy on the reg.
Olives
“I snack on olives or dates while I cook. That keeps me away from whatever I’m making.”
Cottage cheese
“I eat a quart of cottage cheese every night. It’s just something I’ve done since I was an athlete. It’s an incredible source of protein and prohibits you from overeating carbs and the stuff you’re trying to stay away from. And I just freakin’ love it.”
$1.50
Yogurt
“Every single night, all of us have yogurt for dessert—mostly Flips for the kids—and the fruit and yogurt are for mom and dad.”
$4.49
Fresh fruit
“My kids snack on this after school. They’ll come home, grab some fruit, and then start working on their homework.”
Beyond Meat grilled chicken strips
“We have both herbivores and carnivores in our family. My two youngest are meat eaters—and I am—but my two oldest girls and wife aren’t. So if I’m baking or saucing something, I always do two versions, one with Beyond Meat and the other with a meat I can trace. We don’t eat industrial meats. And for some meals we only use Beyond Meat.”
$5.49
La Colombe draft lattes
“When I’m formulating a new drink and I come to the point where I think I’m there, then I bring it home. My daughters drink it for a couple weeks and then give me their final opinions. These are the ones that are their favorites. They like the vanilla and seasonal flavors, whereas the pure black is for me. In Ethiopia, [coffee] is part of how families get together. So in the morning, we all have coffee together.”
$6.99
Broccoli
“We’re insanely addicted to broccoli and Brussels sprouts. All of my kids come from Ethiopia and they came home with certain foods that they’d already grown accustomed to. There’s a certain type of broccoli that grows in Ethiopia, and it’s key to the foods that they eat. So I stuck with it because it’s such great protein. Most parents struggle with getting their kids to eat it—I get complaints if it’s not on the menu.”
Kale
“We have salads at almost every meal. I like to chop the kale really thin and add olive oil and lemon juice. The lemon juice breaks it down slightly, making it easier to chew.”
Salad dressing
“We have so many salad dressings because we literally eat salad at every meal. You could throw out two random ingredients—like turmeric and olives—and I bet we have a salad dressing of it.”
$3.05
Whipped cream
“Whipped cream has a history in my house. I was doing mental experiments to figure out how to make a texturized draft latte in a can, which is the holy grail for a lot of people in the coffee industry. One day when my wife wasn’t looking, I took the whipped cream and blasted it into my son’s mouth. It was that moment when I thought, ‘That’s how you make a draft latte, the texturized cream!’ So I always remember that moment when my son and I invented the draft latte.”
Spear's Spears pickles
“John Spear is on the branding team at La Colombe and he makes his own pickles. So this jar of pickles was made by him.”
For the record, coffee is officially good for you. And this is what the whole nitro cold brew trend is all about.
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