The Frozen Staple I Always Have in Case of Emergency

There’s a lot of cooking happening in my household. Yesterday I had the urge to make corn muffins; today my partner Bill decided to braise some chicken to shred for tacos. It’s a thing we enjoy, most of the time. Until work piles up.

The joy of being self-employed is always worrying about future work so you say yes to everything and then panic when the deadlines roll in. During the hectic weeks, we rely on Emergency Dinners. Think: soup from the freezer, refried bean quesadillas, a big bowl of popcorn.

But my signature emergency dinner stems from my adolescence when my mom told my teenage siblings and me to fend for ourselves because she was sick of cooking for bottomless pits. We’d open a freezer filled with corn dogs, Red Baron pizzas, and coconut shrimp. Life was good. To this day, my freezer always has a box of corn dogs.

I’m an adult who can do whatever she wants, so I can and will have corn dogs for dinner when my heart yearns for carnival food. Is life not a circus? Nothing makes sense and I’m dangling from a trapeze most of the time. The joy of eating food on a stick cannot be overstated. I like to pair my corn dogs with a salad, but I’ll let you make that call for yourself. My favorite corn dogs are the turkey ones from Trader Joe’s — they’re plump and juicy, with a cushioned wrapping that’s barely sweet. Air frying the corn dogs gets them nice and crispy on the outside, though it can risk charring the stick, so keep an eye on them.

A few years ago, I worked with a registered dietitian because my body was confusing me (Hi, Anthea!), and when I sent her a photo of my corn dog and salad plate, she was happy for me. The plate was half vegetables, and she knew I needed the emotional-support corn dog. She gave me the validation I needed: Yeah, you cook for yourself nearly every damn day of the week, and that’s hard as hell! How do you give yourself a break and still have a meal that tastes good? I’ll be dipping my corn dogs in multiple mustards, not a dirty pan in sight. Step right up, folks.

So, please tell me: What’s your emergency dinner?

Alex Beggs is a writer and copywriter who lives with her partner in Michigan. She writes a Trader Joe’s review column for Bon Appétit and has also written an etiquette column and a Thanksgiving piece that won an ASME award. For Cup of Jo, Alex has written about sexy books, cold cake, and bad hair days.

P.S. The #1 thing we’d tell new parents about family dinner, and a favorite meal that requires no utensils.