The Encyclopedia to Replace the Grocery Store

An encyclopedia for the kitchen

The point was never to make another cookbook. The point was to build the whole system.

The Encyclopedia to Replace the Grocery Store was created as a complete grocery-store replacement reference — the kind of book you keep on the shelf and return to again and again, like an old-fashioned encyclopedia.

Over 2,200 recipes, tips, tricks, and flavor combinations in one organized kitchen reference.

The entire idea came from a love of old encyclopedias: complete, serious, useful sets that held a world of knowledge in one place. This book brings that same feeling into the kitchen, gathering the recipes and replacements people usually scatter across websites, notes, screenshots, and memory.

The old encyclopedia feeling

Built to feel like a serious reference set, not a disposable trend.

The thought process behind the book came from a love of old encyclopedias: the weight, the order, the feeling that the answer was somewhere on the shelf.

The hardback edition is split into two volumes, so together they sit on the shelf like an old-fashioned encyclopedia set. The paperback keeps the entire system together in one full 777-page book.

Either way, the purpose is the same: to give you one place to turn when you want to recreate the grocery store from your own kitchen.

What this book actually replaces

The processed-food aisles are the target.

The book is built around the way a grocery store actually works: fresh food, pantry staples, and processed food. The goal is to use the first two to recreate the third.

The grocery-store system inside the book

1

Fresh Foods

The real ingredients: produce, meat, dairy, eggs, and other whole foods that give you the base of the kitchen.

2

Pantry Staples

The shelf-stable building blocks: flours, sugars, grains, seasonings, oils, dry goods, and basic ingredients.

3

Processed Foods

The finished grocery-store items most people buy already made, mixed, bottled, boxed, bagged, seasoned, or prepared.

This is the cookbook for the processed-food section.

Most grocery stores are built around convenience: bottled sauces, seasoning blends, boxed mixes, snack foods, dressings, dips, condiments, baking mixes, prepared staples, and ready-made foods.

The Encyclopedia to Replace the Grocery Store shows you how to take fresh foods and pantry staples and turn them into the processed items you would normally buy.

In plain language: this book helps you replace the processed foods from the grocery store with homemade versions from your own kitchen.

2,200+

recipes, tips, tricks, and flavor combinations inside one full grocery-store replacement encyclopedia.

The promise

Feel more capable every time you open your pantry.

This book is for the person who wants old-fashioned encyclopedia-level kitchen knowledge in a modern grocery world.

Replace more store-bought foods

Make more of the everyday items you usually buy pre-made, boxed, bagged, bottled, mixed, seasoned, or prepared.

Stretch the value of what you already have

Turn pantry staples into more finished foods instead of running back to the store for every craving or missing ingredient.

Use one complete system

Keep one organized reference on hand instead of piecing together recipes, notes, substitutions, tricks, and flavor ideas from everywhere else.

Make your kitchen feel useful again

This is the book for people who want their kitchen to feel like a source of options, not another place where they are stuck.

Choose your edition

Get the version that fits your kitchen.

The full paperback keeps the complete encyclopedia in one giant 777-page reference. The hardback edition is split into a two-volume set designed to sit on the shelf like an old-fashioned encyclopedia.

Best place to start

Full Paperback Edition

The complete 777-page grocery-store replacement encyclopedia in one book.

Buy the Full Paperback

Hardback set

Volume One

The first volume of the shelf-worthy hardback encyclopedia set.

Buy Hardback Vol. 1

Hardback set

Volume Two

The second volume of the shelf-worthy hardback encyclopedia set.

Buy Hardback Vol. 2