The Dairy-Free Staples the Founder of Gregorys Coffee Keeps in His Fridge

You might not expect a coffee chain to stock activated charcoal milk and serve up apple-cider-vinegar-spiked black tea, but Gregorys Coffee isn't like most chains. Sure, the New York City- and New Jersey-based brand stocks pastry faves and good ol' cold brew, but they also have protein bites, golden milk, and yes, the whole range of alt-milks.

Owner Gregory Zamfotis and his wife, Shalaine, have long been pretty health-focused, but when they learned their son was sensitive to dairy, they started discovering whole new ways to experiment in the kitchen—and new fave brands to stock up on. The whole Zamfotis family fridge is pretty aspirational, TBH. Here, he allows a peek inside.

Keep reading to see what Gregorys Coffee owner Gregory Zamfotis keeps in his fridge.

I spy some sparkling water in the top shelf and in the fridge door.

At some point, I just started getting addicted to the carbonation. I think because it lets me drink it a little slower—otherwise I'm just chugging water. At work, I drink a lot of coffee, but when I get home, I drink a decent amount of water. My wife is hydrating all day. The coconut water you see on the door shelf is hers. She's a big coconut water person.

What's on the top shelf next to the eggs?

Those are lean meats: ground chicken meat and ground turkey meat. We use them for meat sauce or if we're making chicken or turkey burgers. We do a lot of meal prep for my son because he has some dairy sensitivities and GI issues. We can't just whip up mac and cheese and feed it to him, so we have to prepare a fair amount of stuff for him. We make zoodles with an arrabbiata sauce with ground chicken or turkey. Or, instead of zucchini noodles we'll use Banza chickpea pasta.

You have a ton of almond milk in there.

Instead of having a glass of milk twice a day, my son has a glass of almond milk, so he just plows through almond milk. I also make him steel cut oatmeal and I use almond milk instead of water for that. Even if I'm scrambling eggs, I'll throw almond milk in there. It winds up going really quickly.

The amount of fruits and veggies you have is very impressive.

I eat an apple every day and my wife squeezes lemon in her water and on our chicken, when we eat that. We're planning on having stuffed peppers, which is what those peppers are for. My wife makes salads for lunch at home, like a spinach salad with carrots, broccoli, celery, and cucumbers. And for my son, we give him baby carrots and kale chips to snack on.

With the grapes, we used to just have them in the bag not pre-washed and it always made them so annoying to snack on because I never know how many grapes I want. I'd go in, wash a few, eat them, and then want some more. Having them pre-washed and in a bowl is so much easier.

What's next to the grapes?

That's gluten-free cookie dough. Every now and then, we'll make some cookies as a treat for the kids. My son doesn't have a gluten sensitivity, but we still try to eat gluten-free as much as we can. And behind that is a beer from this place Blackberry Farms that we've been to a couple times. I saw it at Whole Foods and thought, of course I have to get this!

I see some Kite Hill down there in the bottom drawer.

We use that as a spread, putting it just on that Bread Alone bread. For breakfast, I'll often make my son scrambled eggs and some bread with the chive cream cheese or almond cream cheese—he loves it and so do I, actually. Kite Hill makes some ravioli we really love, too, which is in there.

What are those Once Upon A Farm squeezable juice packets?

They're organic cold-pressed smoothies for toddlers. We try to give him fruits and vegetables as snacks and those are some of the best ones we've found. If we have time, we make our own smoothies, but those are clean, easy, and don't make a huge mess.

Is that homemade granola in the jars?

Yeah. The first one is a mix of almonds, cashews, dark chocolate chips, and sunflower seeds. Next to that is ground flax we use for our smoothies. After working out, I'll make an almond-milk-based smoothie with fruit and flax and hemp protein powder.

Is that coconut yogurt next to the probiotics?

We use so much almond milk that we try to give our son yogurt made with something else, so we mix it up with this coconut milk one, which has great healthy fats. The probiotics are for my son, since he has GI issues—it's especially important since he isn't having milk and cheese.

I see some Bark Thins in there. Do you have a sweet tooth?

I don't, actually! I tend to crave things that are more salty, like nuts or crackers, but my wife loves chocolate, so the Bark Thins are hers. She likes them a little cold.

If this fridge is inspiring you to clean out your kitchen, here are some tips on what to keep and what to toss. And besides stocking up on almond milk and coconut yogurt, here are some other tips on how to live a dairy-free life.