How many people does your fridge need to feed?
My boyfriend and I have one fridge and the other is our roommate’s. So ours feeds two and his feeds one. This used to be my boyfriend’s family’s apartment, and they had two fridges.
What do you usually eat for breakfast?
On the weekends I’m more savory. I like to make omelettes or cut up some tomatoes and basil. We grow basil; right now we have purple basil and we’re not really liking it. During the week I usually get either banana nut bread, pistachio bread, or a croissant to go from a coffee shop. And I always get a large iced tea. I don’t like hot drinks.
Is there anything you eat every day?
Iced tea. Grapefruit juice. I used to be into orange juice and lately I’m going back to it, but I like it from concentrate. I like how strong the flavor is.
Every week?
I eat a lot of chocolate. I don’t like dark chocolate, only milk chocolate, and I feel like nobody likes milk chocolate any more. I like it with rice crispies in it.
What item are you forbidden from purchasing right now?
String cheese. I had an addiction. I was buying two large packs from Target every week and each pack had 24. I would eat eight before bed every night. At first it was six a night, and when I got up to eight, I started to feel bad in the morning, so then I stopped all together. I went cold turkey. I also stopped eating sunflower seeds. They were too salty, and I was eating so many it started to hurt my tongue.
What’s the most delicious thing in here?
My boyfriend works for a catering company and he gets a lot of champagne for free. We used to have something we called “champagne Sundays” because he was getting so much. But I think the most delicious thing might be the cooked potatoes and carrots, or the quinoa mix with red beans and lemon zest.
The oldest?
My boyfriend used to be a bar manager and he used to bring home the edamame they would get for the bar on Costco runs, and we still haven’t finished it. This single egg roll has been in here for a while.
Anything you regret buying?
This parsley. I always buy stuff that I only need a little bit of and then it always ends up getting old.
What's your guilty pleasure?
I really, really love Jamaican food. There’s this one place by mom’s house in the South Bronx that I used to eat at once a week when I was living over there. It’s close to Yankee Stadium. I try to go whenever I visit my mom, but I know how unhealthy it is. Everything is fried. But it’s so, so delicious. It’s comfort, soul food.
Where do you do most of your food shopping?
The Bravo supermarket. And I don’t buy anything there, but I like to walk around the farmer’s market in Union Square. I always want the peaches. They’re my favorite food but I’m allergic to them. I’m allergic to a lot of fruits. A month after I turned 18 I was eating some white cherries and my lips got swollen and my throat started to close up. I thought I was going to die. But, I’ve figured out that I can eat the fruits I’m allergic to when they’re cooked! And I drink milk when I have a reaction, and it calms it.
How much do you spend on groceries each week?
I try to stay at $50, but it always winds up being $60 or $70.
How often do you go grocery shopping?
Three or four times a month—about once a week, especially recently because I’ve been trying to cook more for work. We just got a Crockpot.
What percentage of your meals do you prepare at home?
I cook dinner at home and for work I usually make a sandwich: tuna fish, or something with cold cuts, or sometimes peanut butter and jelly.
Is there anything in here that we would have found in your childhood fridge?
Definitely ice cream. There’s none in there right now but there’s always a time in the month, or every couple of months, when I want a lot of ice cream, so I just wait for that, and then I don’t stop myself. Also, the biscuits that come in a can.
What do you wish you had in here?
Milk.
Kimalisa, 24, is a hairdresser. She’s holding a jar of Hellman’s mayonnaise, and she lives in Washington Heights in Manhattan.