Speaker 1: Episode one two, Eating Healthier, more affordably, and Easier with
Speaker 1: Cassie Joy Garcia. Welcome to the Frugal Friends podcast, where
Speaker 1: you'll learn to save money, embrace simplicity, rights, and liver
Speaker 1: with your life. Here your host Jen and Jill dud Dude.
Speaker 1: Welcome to the Frugal Friends podcast. My name is Jen,
Speaker 1: my name is Jill, and today we are talking with
Speaker 1: Cassie Joy Garcia, who is a nutritionist and recipe creator,
Speaker 1: the great mind behind fed and fit dot com about
Speaker 1: not just eating like healthy that wasn't really like the
Speaker 1: goal of this episode, but kind of being able to
Speaker 1: save money on food and follow through with a meal plan,
Speaker 1: but like with the mindset behind it being like prioritizing health.
Speaker 1: So this is just like a fantastic episode. So excited.
Speaker 1: She's super approachable, relatable, lovable, all the things, and she
Speaker 1: just fires off tips for us. We've been doing this
Speaker 1: for three and a half years and we've got a
Speaker 1: whole community around us, and we love talking about food.
Speaker 1: And there's still more that I got out of this
Speaker 1: episode takeaways. I've I learned something in talking with Cassie,
Speaker 1: so I know you all will too. It is not
Speaker 1: uncommon for us to learn new things from our guests.
Speaker 1: But there are just some topics you think like I've
Speaker 1: got a grasp on this, and to know like she
Speaker 1: has a hundred and ten percent grasp on it. It's
Speaker 1: just very cool to be able to chat with people
Speaker 1: who are like experts in their field and like geek
Speaker 1: out over it. And so we know you're going to
Speaker 1: find so much value from this episode. But first, our sponsors.
Speaker 1: This episode is brought to you by our first Live Training,
Speaker 1: so we like to consider ourselves experts in frugality in
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Speaker 1: paying off debt, if you're saving for something like your
Speaker 1: emergency fund or home or some thing like that, these
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Speaker 1: We are doing that Sunday, October at six pm Eastern
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Speaker 1: October seventeen at six pm Eastern. Also brought to you
Speaker 1: by two for One. Everyone loves a classic do one
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Speaker 1: Don't go do one, get one one, get to three. Yeah, okay, okay. Anyways,
Speaker 1: today's interview, as we were just gushing before, this is
Speaker 1: with Cassie Joy Garcia. She has authored several cookbooks primarily
Speaker 1: focused on healthy eating, and this one is specifically around
Speaker 1: saving time in the kitchen. But we know from meal
Speaker 1: planning for so long that you can have a perfect
Speaker 1: meal plan, a perfect budget, whatever, but if you don't
Speaker 1: execute it, it's no good. So we love focusing on
Speaker 1: the execution techniques, and Cassie offers several that are so
Speaker 1: helpful in executing your meal plan, creating a really sustainable
Speaker 1: meal plan and saving money, reducing food waste, all of
Speaker 1: that stuff, and it's so so good. Let's do it, Cassie,
Speaker 1: Welcome to the Frugal Friends podcast. Were so excited to
Speaker 1: chill with you today. Thank you all so much for
Speaker 1: having me. Interviews are our favorites, and talking about food
Speaker 1: is our favorite, so I mean eating our favorite favorite.
Speaker 1: But is gonna be Yeah, this is the second best
Speaker 1: thing is to talk about food with friends. So and
Speaker 1: then here we are. So yeah, we already introduced you
Speaker 1: a little bit, but please tell us a little bit
Speaker 1: about Fed and Fit specifically, I would love to so
Speaker 1: Fed and Fit. I started it this past summer we
Speaker 1: celebrated ten years. So ten years ago as a personal blog,
Speaker 1: and you know, as so many personal blogs in their
Speaker 1: beginning days, it was just all about me and my
Speaker 1: journey and what I was learning, and that just blossomed
Speaker 1: over time. Eventually it wasn't just my mom and my
Speaker 1: dad reading it, and ividely remember the first time I
Speaker 1: had three people on the website in a day and
Speaker 1: I thought someone I don't know it could have it
Speaker 1: could have been an aunt who knows been Anyway, it
Speaker 1: blossomed over time and I had readers ask great questions.
Speaker 1: I was sharing recipes as I had really uncovered a
Speaker 1: new stage of health and wellness in my life, started
Speaker 1: feeling better than ever by way of feeling myself better
Speaker 1: than ever before, and wanted to develop recipes that supported
Speaker 1: that and then share those. And reader started asking great questions,
Speaker 1: and so I went back to become a nutrition holistic
Speaker 1: nutritionists so that I could help support them in that.
Speaker 1: And then my career has really just bloss into this
Speaker 1: really fun tango, if you will, of just trying to
Speaker 1: solve problems for the fed in Fit readers. And also
Speaker 1: as my life has blossomed, you know, I got married
Speaker 1: in that time frame, I had two kiddos, soon to
Speaker 1: be a third in December, and it's just, you know what,
Speaker 1: getting dinner on the table used to be really not
Speaker 1: that big of a deal in my house has turned
Speaker 1: into a really big deal. And so it was a
Speaker 1: problem for me and I love to cook. I was like,
Speaker 1: why is this so difficult? Why is it so challenging
Speaker 1: night after night, day after day. And turns out that
Speaker 1: was a common pain point for our readers, and so
Speaker 1: I wanted to solve that problem and that's where we
Speaker 1: are today. That's an amazing thing about blogging. I mean,
Speaker 1: you've been doing it for a long time. Ten years
Speaker 1: is a long time to do anything, but especially as
Speaker 1: it relates to blogging. I was reading in the intro
Speaker 1: part of your book, how you know when you began
Speaker 1: you had to explain what a blog was to people,
Speaker 1: and like, yeah, that's like how o G you are.
Speaker 1: But also the nice thing about that is being able
Speaker 1: to grow with your readers and vice versa, that as
Speaker 1: you enter into new life stages, there's new things that
Speaker 1: you're discovering, and how sometimes the problems change and the
Speaker 1: ways in which you find solutions change. So I couldn't
Speaker 1: imagine there'd be so many people who can relate to
Speaker 1: on a variety of levels, right, what it was like
Speaker 1: to cook for one person, then two, then kids, and
Speaker 1: how does this all we've together? So really excited for
Speaker 1: your perspective on this. Oh, thank you, and I love
Speaker 1: your honesty and saying like even you love to cook,
Speaker 1: and even with like a spouse and kids, it just
Speaker 1: became like really difficult, and like for the rest of
Speaker 1: us who may not love cooking, like that's a little
Speaker 1: sigh of relief and be like, oh, Okay, I don't
Speaker 1: need to like change this part of my personhood to
Speaker 1: like succeed with it. I just need to learn a
Speaker 1: few shortcut And I know a lot of our listeners
Speaker 1: are like especially interested in, Okay, how do I make
Speaker 1: this work? Also being healthy, because sometimes in the paying
Speaker 1: off debt journey or trying to be frugal, we're told like, okay,
Speaker 1: just eat beans and rice, eat the cheapest things. But like,
Speaker 1: there are a lot of people who who can't do that,
Speaker 1: who because of dietary restrictions, actually cannot do that. I
Speaker 1: had somebody the other day message me and be like
Speaker 1: or maybe it was in club BFF or something, and
Speaker 1: they were like, I I want to eat healthy. I
Speaker 1: don't know how to lower my grocery budget. And I
Speaker 1: was like, well, maybe you maybe you don't. Maybe you
Speaker 1: just need to like either lower something else, like another category,
Speaker 1: or just like learn different techniques for repurposing or whatever.
Speaker 1: So I'm super excited for everything that our listeners are
Speaker 1: going to get from you today. So, like, as someone
Speaker 1: who places a high value on healthy eating, like, how
Speaker 1: can we find that balance between eating healthy and keeping
Speaker 1: the grocery budget manageable? That is such a great question
Speaker 1: and it's a bit of a passion project of mine
Speaker 1: is to try to crack that code in as many
Speaker 1: different areas and ways as possible, and also to acknowledge
Speaker 1: that you know, you're not I just I just have
Speaker 1: to say, you're not doing it wrong. Right if you're
Speaker 1: not buying grass fed beef and pastured chicken, you know,
Speaker 1: an organic milk and all those things, yes, that's ideal,
Speaker 1: but there's nothing wrong with the others. Like I put
Speaker 1: them in the good, better, best category, and so do
Speaker 1: like it's still good, it's still dinner. You know, it's
Speaker 1: still food. And so if you find yourself feeling like, uh,
Speaker 1: you know, you're not quite checking the box because you're
Speaker 1: not leaning into the most healthful or health forward options,
Speaker 1: it doesn't mean that you're doing anything wrong. I just
Speaker 1: wanted to say that, Um, yes, yeah, in general, I
Speaker 1: really believe that, and also I think that, um, I
Speaker 1: just want to reduce as much pain or pain points
Speaker 1: in the kitchen as possible. So if you are looking
Speaker 1: though to optimize and tweet can go a little bit
Speaker 1: at a little bit as you go. I think it's
Speaker 1: good to think about groceries in terms of number one,
Speaker 1: chasing the sales wherever possible. So they still do put
Speaker 1: organic produce on sale, and we think about supply and demand.
Speaker 1: And you walk into the grocery store and you know
Speaker 1: when something is in season, I mean, it's probably going
Speaker 1: to be more affordable to you. You're going to see
Speaker 1: a sale in the center aisle for Brussels sprouts. Let's
Speaker 1: just make something up, all right, Brussels sprouts are on
Speaker 1: sale and they're organic, Oh my gosh, and it says
Speaker 1: it has a little local sticker on it. And the
Speaker 1: reason why they're on sale is because the local farmers
Speaker 1: near you they all all the crops. If you've ever
Speaker 1: gardened anything, it seems like everything is available all at once,
Speaker 1: and you're thinking, goodness, gracious, how am I going to
Speaker 1: eat all this okra? Or at least I have that
Speaker 1: thought in my house. And so everything is available all
Speaker 1: at once, and so there's a lot of supply not
Speaker 1: nearly the same amount of demand. It doesn't spike with it,
Speaker 1: and so they mark the prices down, and so I
Speaker 1: say stock up. Chase those center aisle sales local to
Speaker 1: you is going to be also less expensive because the
Speaker 1: car the price to get it to you was less right,
Speaker 1: they didn't have to ship it in for Argentina. So
Speaker 1: that's one thing is to try to shop as local
Speaker 1: and in season as possible. Another ship sale you can
Speaker 1: usually chase is in the protein section. Whether you lean
Speaker 1: into animal proteins or veggie based proteins, you're typically going
Speaker 1: to have seasons of sales around there. So if grass
Speaker 1: fed beef, for example, it's the same price as conventional
Speaker 1: beef one day, it happens. Every once in a while
Speaker 1: it'll happen. Stock up and that's usually when I'm grabbing
Speaker 1: five or six pounds of ground beef at the grocery
Speaker 1: store and then I freeze all that I know I
Speaker 1: don't need right away. Okay, So those are really great
Speaker 1: ways that you can give yourself a leg up. Another
Speaker 1: quick tip, I hope I'm not. This is not a
Speaker 1: runaway train. I get really okay. Another crick tip that
Speaker 1: I have for you is to think about nutrient density.
Speaker 1: This is we're gonna geek out, so bear with me.
Speaker 1: Nutrient density of what you're investing in. So, for example,
Speaker 1: I would put if you're everyone is on a budget,
Speaker 1: whether they or everyone is working within a budget, right,
Speaker 1: and regardless of what your number is, I always like
Speaker 1: to when I look at what's on my list, prioritize
Speaker 1: between organic slash you know, whatever the category isn't conventional,
Speaker 1: Which one can I get? Right? Can I get away
Speaker 1: with conventional for this category? And which are the ones
Speaker 1: that I if I can, if I've got room in
Speaker 1: my budget, I can splurge on the higher quality one.
Speaker 1: Fats are going to be the most nutrient dense thing
Speaker 1: on your plate, and so I'm talking butter olive oil,
Speaker 1: ge avocado oil, coconut oil, those kinds of ingredients. It's
Speaker 1: one of those things because they're so new tree and dense,
Speaker 1: and because they have are just gonna go a really
Speaker 1: long way, it makes a lot of sense to invest
Speaker 1: in a higher quality for that category, all right, Versus,
Speaker 1: let me think of an example on the other end.
Speaker 1: You know you have there's the clean fifteen. Is that
Speaker 1: the clean fifteen and dirty dozen't yet? It is you know,
Speaker 1: like when we think about the clean fifteen, it means
Speaker 1: that that that produced item isn't necessarily going to carry
Speaker 1: a huge toxic load if you get conventional. So get
Speaker 1: conventional for that item. Um An orange comes to mind.
Speaker 1: You know, something that has a thick skin that you're
Speaker 1: probably not going to eat is a good example of
Speaker 1: something where you can splurge or get conventional on another.
Speaker 1: My other favorite protein to talk about on splurging for
Speaker 1: a slightly higher quality because of nutrient density is an egg. Now,
Speaker 1: I know, when you're standing in front of the eggs
Speaker 1: section at the grocery store and you're looking at your
Speaker 1: options between conventional eggs and pasture raised and cage free
Speaker 1: and all that, you think when you're looking at price
Speaker 1: difference between those two eggs, you might think, oh, my gosh,
Speaker 1: the pastured eggs are three x the price of conventional eggs.
Speaker 1: And that's true, but it's still going to be the
Speaker 1: most affordable protein of all of the animal based proteins
Speaker 1: out there. And so I would almost rather you spend
Speaker 1: the extra three dollars a dozen on the pasture raised
Speaker 1: eggs then even get the grass fed beef over conventional. Wow.
Speaker 1: I never thought of it like that. I just had
Speaker 1: no idea. I just thought you either care about how
Speaker 1: they treat the chickens or you don't. I hadn't put
Speaker 1: the nutrient component into it. Yeah, the nutrients available in
Speaker 1: a pastured egg. If you've I wish I could. I
Speaker 1: could go get an egg for you, but it'd be
Speaker 1: trying to walk. But I love to show the visual
Speaker 1: of when you're looking at an egg. Yolk is such
Speaker 1: a good example. Now there are ways that they can
Speaker 1: buy an engineer feed for chickens, so like just to
Speaker 1: put that disclaimer out there, but generally, a pasture raised
Speaker 1: egg or chicken is going to produce an egg where
Speaker 1: if you crack the egg in your hand or you
Speaker 1: put it on a plate, the yolk is gonna sit
Speaker 1: up right more like a golf ball almost. It's going
Speaker 1: to have more integrity in those protein structures, and it's
Speaker 1: gonna be a deeper shade of orange or yellow, whereas
Speaker 1: the conventional egg is gonna be a little more flat,
Speaker 1: a little more pancake less proteins really holding everything together
Speaker 1: in a little bit more washed out in colorow And
Speaker 1: it's the protein content that keeps that like yolk. Rounder yes,
Speaker 1: that means all the vitamins, the minerals, the proteins. But
Speaker 1: that's then it's such I'm such a fan of a
Speaker 1: whole egg, I'm always going to lean in that direction,
Speaker 1: you know, to eat the whole thing because they're so
Speaker 1: nutrient inse But that's just kind of how a different
Speaker 1: way to think about your your shopping list, you know,
Speaker 1: whereas um some of the I don't know, conventional items
Speaker 1: the crackers and the cookies that they is that you're
Speaker 1: buying in the center of the grocery store, that are
Speaker 1: a luxury product. For really being honest, it's not a
Speaker 1: necessary product. Although it's going to be nice to get,
Speaker 1: you know, maybe organic crackers. That's great if you've got
Speaker 1: room in your budget for that, but it's not something
Speaker 1: that I would say, You're going to get a lot
Speaker 1: of nutrient bang for your buck, and so I'd rather
Speaker 1: you spend that on the fresh mainstays beautiful. That's great.
Speaker 1: And even still, I mean I'm still stuck on this
Speaker 1: egg thing. Even with that, eggs are still very inexpensive
Speaker 1: considering what you get per egg. It just looks more
Speaker 1: expensive because of the eggs that it's sitting next to
Speaker 1: and what we've been conditioned to expect eggs to cost.
Speaker 1: But even still, you're getting a pretty good bang for
Speaker 1: your buck, even when you're getting the more expensive, better,
Speaker 1: more nutrient dense eggs. Amazing. When I say one more
Speaker 1: thing about eggs, we're on it. Now, let's go. I'm
Speaker 1: not a huge fan of egg like eating eggs by themselves,
Speaker 1: but the other day I whipped up an egg with
Speaker 1: this little bit of milk and a little bit of
Speaker 1: shredded cheddar and put it in the waffle iron. And
Speaker 1: Keto people have been doing this, so it's not like
Speaker 1: I've found something new. But that egg was so fluffy
Speaker 1: and so delicious, and I was like, I like egg
Speaker 1: and this is what eggs can be. I like it.
Speaker 1: So if you're looking for a way to incorporate more
Speaker 1: whole eggs in your diet, try them in the waffle iron.
Speaker 1: Just all caution to the wind with you, Jen, I
Speaker 1: don't even care how you're supposed to use this kitchen appliance.
Speaker 1: We're gonna just throw some egg on it. I had
Speaker 1: made waffles and I was like, Okay, the waffle irons
Speaker 1: already dirty. Let me put my egg on there. It
Speaker 1: was life changing, So I'm here for it. That's all.
Speaker 1: That's all I have to say about eggs. Now. There
Speaker 1: is so much more though that we could say. So
Speaker 1: we're gonna get so hijack. But there's so many ways
Speaker 1: you can make them hard, boil them, poach um brum,
Speaker 1: there's more things and put it in stuff. Even as
Speaker 1: it is, I love it. I love it so much.
Speaker 1: It's one of the most versatile things. You're like the
Speaker 1: guy from um Forrest Gump, which but also I don't
Speaker 1: want to move so quickly past all these other tips
Speaker 1: that you've given us. And it really is this beautiful
Speaker 1: blend of how we can eat well and within whatever
Speaker 1: our budget is, like to make that manageable where we're
Speaker 1: not just feeling this pressure to go organic with every
Speaker 1: single thing or to become somebody that we're just not
Speaker 1: if our priorities aren't exactly there, but if we do
Speaker 1: want to care for our bodies, well, there are good
Speaker 1: things that we can be doing, like what's in season.
Speaker 1: It doesn't matter what Pinterest told you looks good and
Speaker 1: you saved the image. Go with what's in season first
Speaker 1: and chopping the produce and the meats first rather than
Speaker 1: all the other I like the turning out the luxury items.
Speaker 1: These are the ways that will help our budget and
Speaker 1: our bodies alliteration. But also you've got a whole other
Speaker 1: concept here that I think is a tip in and
Speaker 1: of itself of how we can feed ourselves well on
Speaker 1: a budget. So you've got this whole thing called a
Speaker 1: dinner series. Can you describe for us what that is,
Speaker 1: how you go about it? Yes. So one, when we're
Speaker 1: looking at what we're spending on groceries, probably the biggest
Speaker 1: leak in our entire budget system for groceries is going
Speaker 1: to be wasted food. Right at least that's the case.
Speaker 1: Maybe I'm maybe I'm projecting this, but that's the case alone.
Speaker 1: And it's and it's all well intentioned, right, and there's
Speaker 1: it's not not not to shame anybody again, but you know,
Speaker 1: we do our best, but we recipe calls for a
Speaker 1: quarter of an onion, We chop up that quarter of
Speaker 1: the onion, We with good intention, placed the rest of
Speaker 1: it in a container in the crisper veggie drawer, and
Speaker 1: then we forget about it until it's a sad set
Speaker 1: onion and we're throwing it away and it's like, what
Speaker 1: did you actually spend on that? Onion just went per
Speaker 1: tablespoon just went way up. And so I think that
Speaker 1: there's a there's got to be a better way where
Speaker 1: we can number one. I'll be honest. Although the efficiency
Speaker 1: as it relates to my grocery budget was nice, it
Speaker 1: was not my primary goal. My primary goal to solving
Speaker 1: the dinner problem was how do I make this just
Speaker 1: easier on me? Because I was exhausted and I wanted
Speaker 1: to not. I wanted to not I wanted to order
Speaker 1: also a luxury. I want to order take out every night,
Speaker 1: is because I was so exhausted. And so what I
Speaker 1: found is that if we weave ingredients from one meal
Speaker 1: together into the next, not only can we yes say,
Speaker 1: because we're using up that thing, we're using up that ingredient,
Speaker 1: but also we're saving on energy because we only have
Speaker 1: to cook something once and then repurpose it into several
Speaker 1: different meals. And so these this dinner series what you
Speaker 1: brought up, and this is how cook one center fix.
Speaker 1: This new book is structured at sixty of these dinner series,
Speaker 1: so a hundred and twenty complete meals, and they're paired
Speaker 1: up so that let's say For example, I just I
Speaker 1: was just making one of the kitchen earlier today, but
Speaker 1: I have three pounds of shredded chicken. So I walk
Speaker 1: you through how to cook chicken so that it's shredded afterwards.
Speaker 1: And again this is one of those things. Lean into
Speaker 1: the sales. Go to the butcher counter first and see
Speaker 1: what they've got. And if grass fed beef is on
Speaker 1: our just beef is on sale, pork shoulders on sale,
Speaker 1: the chicken, whatever it is, Grab that thing and then
Speaker 1: flip to that chapter. My whole this is how it's
Speaker 1: going to be used. And then flip to that chapter
Speaker 1: in the book and say, Okay, I've got a pork shoulder,
Speaker 1: What the heck do I do with it? And I
Speaker 1: walk you through. And so we take that pork shoulder,
Speaker 1: which is a lot of meat. And most folks when
Speaker 1: they do get a pork shoulder or a pork but
Speaker 1: they think I'm gonna be eating carnitas for the next
Speaker 1: seven days because we just think about one dish and
Speaker 1: then we just eat the leftovers. But there's a lot
Speaker 1: of food boardom that comes into play, and then by
Speaker 1: day three you're over it and you want to throw
Speaker 1: it away. Anyways, and so that comes into that food waste.
Speaker 1: So I walk you through how to make that pork shoulder,
Speaker 1: and then once it's cooked, we divide up the cooked
Speaker 1: and shredded pork shoulder into two totally different meals. So
Speaker 1: maybe the first one our carne tests that we serve
Speaker 1: up crisp it. I was a garcia. I feel really
Speaker 1: confident about the curney, this recipe that lots of three
Speaker 1: decades figuring that one out, and then it served up
Speaker 1: with fresh corn. And then the second meal is this
Speaker 1: sticky honey garlic pork I serve over like a white rice.
Speaker 1: So a totally different dinner, totally different meal experience, but
Speaker 1: you're able to extend the use of that protein um
Speaker 1: what you've invested in it in terms of time and money.
Speaker 1: I love it. I am geeking out on this one,
Speaker 1: honestly because I think this speaks to not only me,
Speaker 1: but my husband. I don't know that I've heard that
Speaker 1: term before. Food boredom. I know it. I know it well. Though.
Speaker 1: My husband like will not do leftovers. Love him to death.
Speaker 1: He has so many other skills and qualities that are
Speaker 1: fantastic money will not eat leftovers, which has forced me
Speaker 1: to be creative. But then also it's so lovely to
Speaker 1: run into someone like yourself, Cassie, who's done the work already,
Speaker 1: to say, all right, here we go, here's what we
Speaker 1: can do with the meats, so that we don't end
Speaker 1: up throwing this out and someone doesn't get bored with
Speaker 1: the thing you spend all this time we wearing in
Speaker 1: the kitchen for Yeah, he's not the only one. Like
Speaker 1: I know other people that don't like don't eat leftovers,
Speaker 1: and so this is essentially kind of like a way
Speaker 1: to repurpose leftovers, but like intentionally. Yes, I have a
Speaker 1: dear friend coined it really well. Her name is Michelle
Speaker 1: Tam and she said it's you made best Overs. I
Speaker 1: was like, Hi, pithy genius. That's so good. Gosh, that
Speaker 1: is that's the she's the she no nonpaleon yes website. Yes, okay,
Speaker 1: that's so great. And like you said, it also saves
Speaker 1: energy as well, Like, certainly it probably would be easy
Speaker 1: if we could be the type of people who just
Speaker 1: eat the same thing over and over again. Okay, that
Speaker 1: would be ideal, but you can still get that. Okay,
Speaker 1: cook once a big, massive thing and then repurpose it
Speaker 1: in a couple of different ways, and so acts I
Speaker 1: think like the best of both worlds, or we're not
Speaker 1: putting in a ton of time and energy, but we
Speaker 1: are getting variety. Yes, that's my hope. Yeah, absolutely, I mean,
Speaker 1: and I like even will eat leftovers. I think I
Speaker 1: have enough room in my life for like one day
Speaker 1: of leftovers. Beyond that then yet I totally get the
Speaker 1: food boredom sets in. So this is definitely something that
Speaker 1: I will be incorporated because and it's I hate dishes too,
Speaker 1: and so like the meaty parts of it of the
Speaker 1: meal take like all of the dishes, and so this
Speaker 1: is like cutting out like a day's worth of dishes too,
Speaker 1: which is my arch nemesis. Um. So, speaking of time saving, um,
Speaker 1: what are some of your favorite time saving tips in
Speaker 1: the kitchen, because that's essentially really what helps people stick
Speaker 1: to their meal plan because they can, like plan incorporate
Speaker 1: this dinner series into their meal plan. But like, how
Speaker 1: are we going to stick to it? I love that question.
Speaker 1: So a couple of my favorite tips are, Oh, this
Speaker 1: one's a little wild. I'm gonna give you the wild
Speaker 1: one first. So when you get home from the grocery store,
Speaker 1: you know, when you you already probably have an idea
Speaker 1: of what meals you want to make in mind. When
Speaker 1: you get home from the grocer store, it's top of mind,
Speaker 1: it's fresh. And in two days, when you're ready to
Speaker 1: make that chili that you're planning on making, you will
Speaker 1: have forgotten all the ingredients that go into it. It
Speaker 1: happens to me and I write recipes and I'm like,
Speaker 1: what the what is this call for again? And so
Speaker 1: I have to get out the book or pull up
Speaker 1: the website and go through the list and get all
Speaker 1: the ingredients out and then make the recipe going through
Speaker 1: the listing. When you get home from the grocery store
Speaker 1: and you have all of your ingredients already out in
Speaker 1: this top of mind of what goes with what is
Speaker 1: to store, the magerator organized by meal, get bonus points
Speaker 1: makes it even better and even easier. And I say, y'all,
Speaker 1: throw the can of beans that you're gonna put into
Speaker 1: the chili, put that in the refrigerator with the rest
Speaker 1: of the ingredients you're gonna put into it. So it's
Speaker 1: all together, and it eliminates that time, the rummaging time
Speaker 1: to find all the things that you need and it's
Speaker 1: going to make it so much more likely because when
Speaker 1: it's when it's been a day, it's been a day
Speaker 1: and you're like, Okay, it's five thirty and I got
Speaker 1: I gotta start on this chili. I can't let that
Speaker 1: you know, that beef that I bought go bad, and
Speaker 1: I really got start on it. And you're thinking, I
Speaker 1: find everything, I can't remember what all goes in this stuff.
Speaker 1: You know it's already they're ready for you, so I
Speaker 1: That's one of my favorite tips. Another tip I have
Speaker 1: is that you don't have to be a meal prepper.
Speaker 1: Sometimes when folks think meal prep, they think making seven
Speaker 1: different dishes right and stacked in your refrigerator and you
Speaker 1: grab them and you go. You can also meal prep
Speaker 1: by just doing little things to get you ahead, like
Speaker 1: chopping garlic and onion. So the next time and a
Speaker 1: recipe calls for maybe a quarter of an onion, for example,
Speaker 1: and you already have your cutting board out finished chopping
Speaker 1: up the rest of that onion and put it in
Speaker 1: a little mason jar and seal it and then keep
Speaker 1: that chopped onion in your refrigerator and use it in
Speaker 1: the next five days. Because it's a really good chance
Speaker 1: that majority of the recipes you're gonna cook call for
Speaker 1: garlic and or onion, and that way you can just
Speaker 1: take a spoonful of it, put it in your skillet
Speaker 1: and you don't have to get up the cutting board.
Speaker 1: Another dish you're saving on and that's already done for you.
Speaker 1: Same thing for the garlic. Put in a little mason jar,
Speaker 1: pre mince your garlic versus again a luxury item. Are
Speaker 1: things that are already prepped for you. So if you're
Speaker 1: looking to optimize your grocery list, that would be a
Speaker 1: really great saving is to do your own minced garlic.
Speaker 1: So things like that I think really can save a
Speaker 1: lot of time. Beautiful, Cassie, it is. It is wild.
Speaker 1: You have first tip there, put the can into the fridge,
Speaker 1: just unbridle the unashamed. They are too much today. But
Speaker 1: it strikes me as something similar to your boxed meals?
Speaker 1: Is that the right term for it? Where you get
Speaker 1: the shipment of all of the ingredients, you cook it yourself.
Speaker 1: And there's something fun to that too, And I think
Speaker 1: it it seems easier because you've got all of the
Speaker 1: ingredients right there. You just pull out the bag and
Speaker 1: they're still chopping involved, but you've got all of the
Speaker 1: portions for it, so it's almost like doing that yourself.
Speaker 1: What if you got little clear containers, like four of
Speaker 1: them to put in your fridge and that way you
Speaker 1: just pull out one of your containers and it has
Speaker 1: all of the ingredients in it. I want that for you.
Speaker 1: I really want that for you. Yes, I want that
Speaker 1: for you. Don't spend a ton of money on the
Speaker 1: clear plastic. That might just be group. Yeah, do the
Speaker 1: thing first and then make sure it will work for you.
Speaker 1: But yeah, that is a beautiful eggs on the waffle
Speaker 1: maker and put your canned goods in the fridge. You
Speaker 1: heard it here first, folks. Anyways, No, that is awesome.
Speaker 1: Like I always when I'm doing a recipe, I always
Speaker 1: like think about the mess in plas or something like
Speaker 1: everything out at the same time. But this is just
Speaker 1: taking that one step further and getting everything out ahead
Speaker 1: of time, so and it makes it I think that
Speaker 1: that's also a motivating thing too, when you know you've
Speaker 1: got this and it's all said, it's kind of fun. Yeah,
Speaker 1: we like fun. We do anything to make things more fun,
Speaker 1: and a clear plastic container can just like elevate that.
Speaker 1: It's like, oh, I have my little meal kit, but
Speaker 1: I didn't pay for it. I made it. Yes, I
Speaker 1: love it. And then your tips on the garlic and onion, Yes,
Speaker 1: I have done that before. More. I mean, I love
Speaker 1: garlic and onions, so usually when I chop it up,
Speaker 1: I just use it all all at once. But when
Speaker 1: I don't, I put it away and it's like a
Speaker 1: little gift for myself. Later when I'm making something else,
Speaker 1: it's like, oh, onion, it's already chopped. I'm going to
Speaker 1: get it out of the fridge and use it. It's
Speaker 1: so beautiful when it works out, Oh my gosh. And
Speaker 1: our friend Gina, she doesn't even chop those things anymore.
Speaker 1: She just puts it through the food processor and just
Speaker 1: like you know, blend it all up and or not
Speaker 1: blend it, but like food process it. Throw it in
Speaker 1: that glass container and you're done. Brilliant. Speaking of tips, Cassie,
Speaker 1: I mean, we've already got our money's worth out of
Speaker 1: you today, but I mean we still have more time,
Speaker 1: So here we go. You have a whole section on
Speaker 1: freezing food, which is amazing. I think a lot of
Speaker 1: us don't really know how to like optimize their freezers.
Speaker 1: But what do you feel is the most important thing
Speaker 1: that people should know or take away about freezing food?
Speaker 1: Oh gosh, lean on your freezer if you have the space,
Speaker 1: and if and if you have the space, but you're like,
Speaker 1: I don't know, I've got six two thirds eaten ice
Speaker 1: cream cartons that are taking up the space. You know,
Speaker 1: maybe optimize the space a little bit so you have it.
Speaker 1: Because the freezer can be so powerful, such a powerful
Speaker 1: tool in saving time, money and energy in the kitchen
Speaker 1: and so gosh. Some of my favorite things to do.
Speaker 1: Number one is to yes, when you're shopping in season
Speaker 1: and you get those Brussels sprouts on sale or the
Speaker 1: grassbed beef is on sale, you have a place to
Speaker 1: put it and to stay organized if you can, right so,
Speaker 1: have a section for protein, section for produced things like that, um,
Speaker 1: and then freeze and wash your produce so that's ready
Speaker 1: to go as well. Another tip I have for you
Speaker 1: is if you're going to freeze things like that, I
Speaker 1: say freeesome and containers are actually what you need for
Speaker 1: a meal. So instead of washing and chopping all of
Speaker 1: your Brussels sprouts and putting them in a galan sized
Speaker 1: ziplock bag. You probably don't need five pounds of Brussels
Speaker 1: sprouts at a time, and that's going to de incentivize
Speaker 1: you to use it, because what are you gonna do
Speaker 1: with that big chunk of frozen brussels, And so try
Speaker 1: to freeze them in containers that you know, I can
Speaker 1: just pop this out, put it on a sheet pan
Speaker 1: and it can be part of supper tonight, right, So
Speaker 1: something very very simple. And then my favorite tip for
Speaker 1: the freezer is to freeze your meals, your whole meals
Speaker 1: when you can. So if you are somebody who does
Speaker 1: not like leftovers, but you know that what you've just
Speaker 1: made is more than you need for tonight's dinner, then
Speaker 1: preemptively go ahead and before you just leave it out
Speaker 1: on the counter and serve it up for everybody, cut
Speaker 1: it in half and stored that away in the freezer.
Speaker 1: Label it, use it. I recommend using frozen foods within
Speaker 1: five months. Use it up within five months. And then
Speaker 1: for reheating, some of the best foods that do well
Speaker 1: reheating wise are going to be soups, stews, cast roles,
Speaker 1: things that you can click in the crock pot, anything
Speaker 1: where the ingredients kind of become one with one another,
Speaker 1: like a super stew. Those are very freezer friendly. Things
Speaker 1: that are not very freezer friendly are going to be
Speaker 1: things when you think like a grilled chicken breast with
Speaker 1: a grilled peach salsa. Right, that's a very fresh, separate
Speaker 1: ingredient that's delicious because they're all separate. So things that
Speaker 1: are one. Chili is a great freezer meal, really delicious casserole.
Speaker 1: So try to think about what you're making in your kitchen.
Speaker 1: If you're making an enchel out of castrole like I
Speaker 1: just made today, I'm gonna double the effort to make
Speaker 1: it because doubling this what I'm making is not that
Speaker 1: much more time and energy on my part. Like we
Speaker 1: talked about, the dishes are already dirty, and then I'm
Speaker 1: going to put this in the freezer. And then for
Speaker 1: reheating all of that food, a huge section I have
Speaker 1: in the book I'll just tell all the secrets now
Speaker 1: is just to reheat the way that you cooked it
Speaker 1: the first time for optimal results. Okay, So for example,
Speaker 1: sweet potato fries. If you made sweet potato fries and
Speaker 1: you had too many of them and you wanted to
Speaker 1: they know less in our house. It's probably a terrible game.
Speaker 1: But if you have too many of them and you
Speaker 1: want to freeze them for later, h then you would
Speaker 1: reheat them by putting them on a sheep hand in
Speaker 1: the oven, which is where you cooked them the first time. Right.
Speaker 1: A chili or soup, let it thaw enough the container
Speaker 1: so you can pop it into a pot, put a
Speaker 1: lid on it, and let it come to temperature on
Speaker 1: the stove a castrole, cook it in the oven. And
Speaker 1: so that's a question I get really commonly is And
Speaker 1: of course a microwave is always there for you and
Speaker 1: a pinch it's going to be the fastest. But for
Speaker 1: the best texture, try to reheat where you cook something
Speaker 1: the first time. Beautiful, you are just a powerhouse at tips.
Speaker 1: Just back to back right now that I am because
Speaker 1: I told you I love interviews. I love food. I
Speaker 1: love talking about food, eating food. I really don't like
Speaker 1: making food. But this is inspiring. That tip about not
Speaker 1: freezing all of your stuff together. That took me many
Speaker 1: years to realize that if I just throw it all
Speaker 1: into a bag because it's easy in the moment, I
Speaker 1: hardly ever utilize it. Or I thought everything out and
Speaker 1: then I don't use everything, and then I just throw
Speaker 1: it outcause I feel weird about like refreezing it again.
Speaker 1: So having it in portions is golden. And then speaking
Speaker 1: of giving gifts to yourself, when you're able to put
Speaker 1: like half of your meal away later, like yeah, you
Speaker 1: might not want back to back the same meal, but
Speaker 1: you know you're going to have that meal again, and
Speaker 1: so now you've just like given yourself food for the
Speaker 1: days when you are just super busy and exhausted. Or
Speaker 1: sometimes I've used that for like giving meals to people.
Speaker 1: You know, somebody's always having a baby, so dropping off
Speaker 1: food it's a nice little gesture. Plus you don't have
Speaker 1: to do all the work either, just like this is
Speaker 1: already my freezer. My husband's not going to eat it.
Speaker 1: I actually think that's the best kind of gift to
Speaker 1: someone who has now had two kiddos is when someone
Speaker 1: brings you an already frozen castrole it means eat this
Speaker 1: when you want versus you know it's hot, do you
Speaker 1: want it now? It's hot now? And it's always just
Speaker 1: like always yes, So when you have your thirteenth lasagna,
Speaker 1: you can freeze it and have it in five months
Speaker 1: when you recovered from all the lasagnas, but give it
Speaker 1: to people in a container you don't want back. I
Speaker 1: don't even have kids, and I know that that's the
Speaker 1: nice thing to do. Yes, I am so glad you're freezing.
Speaker 1: Section in your book is so robust because I love
Speaker 1: the freezer because sometimes it's hard to stick to the
Speaker 1: meal plan. And if I miss a meal, then if
Speaker 1: the stuff is already frozen, if I was using like
Speaker 1: frozen stuff in the meal plan, then that's very easy.
Speaker 1: I know that's not going to go bad. I can
Speaker 1: just use it next week or the week after. And
Speaker 1: I found that for me freezing uh, separate ingredients, I'm
Speaker 1: much more likely to use that than I am if
Speaker 1: a whole meal is frozen, like if it's a if
Speaker 1: I do like a curry or something like an individual
Speaker 1: portion for like a lunch, and I'm like, oh, I'll
Speaker 1: just I can bring this for lunch one day that
Speaker 1: I don't have leftovers, There's zero percent chance I will
Speaker 1: eat it. And that is just like me. Other people
Speaker 1: do not have that problem. That is a me thing.
Speaker 1: But if it's a you know, two pounds of carnetas
Speaker 1: that are in the freezer, like then I can do
Speaker 1: that for a completely separate dinner, um with fresh produce.
Speaker 1: And like, I am obsessed with my freezer. I buy
Speaker 1: most of my produce frozen now, and like, even if
Speaker 1: you get it organic, the frozen is cheaper, so you
Speaker 1: can buy like more, you know, organic produce, it's frozen.
Speaker 1: I just love the freezer. I love it. There talk
Speaker 1: about nutrient density. Actually, that's a myth I would love
Speaker 1: to bust, is that frozen foods are inferior to fresh produce,
Speaker 1: and that's just not the case. Um. The reason why
Speaker 1: they are they are harvested and frozen at peak harvest
Speaker 1: and freshness. Like, you're actually probably getting more nutrients from
Speaker 1: your frozen produce than you would be from the produce section.
Speaker 1: I love hearing that. And you throw it in the
Speaker 1: oven and you roast it, it tastes the same. I've
Speaker 1: even I've had listeners reach out to me on Instagram
Speaker 1: and be like, yeah, I roasted that frozen broccoli and
Speaker 1: you were right. It tastes the same. It's so good
Speaker 1: to hear you were right. Were they yelling it at
Speaker 1: you like you're yelling it now? I imagine that. I
Speaker 1: mean I only read it, but I imagine. Yeah, that's
Speaker 1: how they were saying it. I've not had six us
Speaker 1: with frozen Brussels sprouts. They always taste a little bit
Speaker 1: more mushy to me. I'm just gonna be honest. Other
Speaker 1: frozen veggies, absolutely, but Brussels sprouts have not had luck.
Speaker 1: I love it if someone had some tips from me
Speaker 1: on that one. But try your hand, try your very
Speaker 1: many veggies. Speaking of things that we love and are
Speaker 1: obsessed with, let speaks to me besides frozen veggies. The
Speaker 1: bill of the week. That's right, it's time for the
Speaker 1: best minute of your entire week. Maybe a baby was
Speaker 1: born and his name is William. Maybe you've paid off
Speaker 1: your mortgage, maybe your car died and you're happy to
Speaker 1: not have to pay that bill anymore. That bills, Buffalo bills,
Speaker 1: Bill Clinton, this is the bill of the week. Nothing
Speaker 1: speaks to me like frozen veggies. But Cassie, But Cassie,
Speaker 1: the second best thing. I'm sorry, this is the best thing.
Speaker 1: Frozen vegetables are. The second best thing. Is the bill
Speaker 1: of the week. And so we invite our listeners or
Speaker 1: our guests to share their bills with us every week,
Speaker 1: and we would love to hear yours. I would love
Speaker 1: to share it. So I was racking my brain on
Speaker 1: trying to share with pick which one I want to
Speaker 1: share with y'all and I'll keep it food related. I
Speaker 1: wanted to share one with our girls. Maybe I don't
Speaker 1: know if there's time, um, but the food related one.
Speaker 1: My husband is his name is Austin and he's an
Speaker 1: incredibly budget conscious human and I'm very grateful for that. However,
Speaker 1: he will eat Chipotle, not sponsored until like there's zero
Speaker 1: food boardom there. The man will eat it all the time.
Speaker 1: And he's convinced that it is and like a very
Speaker 1: affordable option. And because I've been cooking and I've I've
Speaker 1: been on a mission. My mother raised me to be
Speaker 1: like home cooked meals will always be vegetarily anything you're
Speaker 1: going to find out. And I've been trying to share
Speaker 1: this with him, and we recently went through a tracking
Speaker 1: experience or experiment because I've been cooking from cook ones
Speaker 1: dinner fixed so much lately. When it comes to writing
Speaker 1: a book, I cook from it. Essentially, I develop these recipes,
Speaker 1: make them four to five times, and then send it
Speaker 1: off to the publisher and then about nine months to
Speaker 1: a year agoes by and then I get to start
Speaker 1: cooking for OM and again to be able to remember
Speaker 1: to talk about it and share some of my favorite recipes.
Speaker 1: And we've been doing that NonStop. But I've been able
Speaker 1: to show him line by line because we were we
Speaker 1: were going through quarantine and everything. We were just eating
Speaker 1: out a lot more because we were home a lot
Speaker 1: more and exhausted a lot more. And being able to
Speaker 1: show him how much we're saving by cooking these meals.
Speaker 1: Even though I'm buying groceries three times a week in
Speaker 1: some cases, it's still a significant savings for our family.
Speaker 1: And so that's been really cool. I mean, it's nice
Speaker 1: to feel right in the case of like a tenure
Speaker 1: relationship when you're chatting with somebody, but um, it was
Speaker 1: just so validating to just show that you really can
Speaker 1: serve because nothing against totally. We're still going to eat
Speaker 1: it at least once or twice this week, but you know,
Speaker 1: just to show that there's so much power available if
Speaker 1: you've got the time and energy to cook from home. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and that that is the thing. Time is valuable, and
Speaker 1: sometimes we do want convenience over spending the time that
Speaker 1: it would take to make the knockoff of that item
Speaker 1: or cooking something different. But it's really useful to hear
Speaker 1: your feedback that you actually were able to get so
Speaker 1: involved in the line by line items of our sip
Speaker 1: to even know, because I think sometimes we're not fully aware,
Speaker 1: Like we know how much we bought the chicken four
Speaker 1: but then we bought a bag of onions and we
Speaker 1: used a quarter of one onion, and we just don't
Speaker 1: typically get into the weeds of how much did this
Speaker 1: meal actually cost me. I think most of us can
Speaker 1: realize I'm able to spend less money cooking at a home,
Speaker 1: but we don't always know what is the price per
Speaker 1: serving here. That's awesome and then also a little competition
Speaker 1: between you and your husband, so that's always fun. Is
Speaker 1: there like a knockoff to Pole in the book, of
Speaker 1: course there is absolutely yes. It's the ground beef for
Speaker 1: da bowls are in there, which is funny because I
Speaker 1: get chicken Etchepole, But it's a ground bee for Freedom
Speaker 1: bowl is in there. And we did it was because
Speaker 1: of this exercise, y'all that we I got with the
Speaker 1: team and we did the math. We figured out it's
Speaker 1: four dollars of serving. Is the average dollar cost of
Speaker 1: a meal from cook one s Dinner Fix and then
Speaker 1: to just lean in a little further that's going to
Speaker 1: fluctuate a little bit. I really wanted to give people
Speaker 1: some sort of a compass. And so you know when
Speaker 1: you look on Yelp they have dollar signs for restaurants,
Speaker 1: it's like when a one dollar sign or a three
Speaker 1: dollar are signed restaurant. I wanted to give people a
Speaker 1: little bit of a guide, and so every single Dinner
Speaker 1: series also has that on all of them, and so
Speaker 1: it will show you if it's a one dollar signed
Speaker 1: Dinner series, one four dollar one in the entire book,
Speaker 1: and it's it's a seafood one. So just you know,
Speaker 1: you can cattackle it what if you're ready for a
Speaker 1: special occasion. But most of them are one and two
Speaker 1: dollar signs, and so I just just to give people
Speaker 1: a little idea of what where is this going to land? Me?
Speaker 1: Oh man, I love it. You are just speaking all
Speaker 1: the way into our hearts, souls and minds today. And like,
Speaker 1: if you want to try one of the three dollar signs,
Speaker 1: like you just pair it with a one dollar sign
Speaker 1: and you don't have to feel like guilty about trying
Speaker 1: the three dollar sign or the four dollar sign, one
Speaker 1: like treat yourself, treat yourself and then balance it with
Speaker 1: a one dollar sign. Yes, Oh, I love dying. What
Speaker 1: a good bill, Cassie, thanks so much for sharing that.
Speaker 1: If anyone listening has a bill that you all want
Speaker 1: to share, whether it relates to a competition you had
Speaker 1: with your partner, a realization you had a bill you
Speaker 1: paid off Bill. I don't know any anything about Bill.
Speaker 1: You you you know, we're vague about someone named Bill
Speaker 1: that you're in a feud with and you'd love to
Speaker 1: prove wrong. But kindly visit Frugal Friends podcast dot com
Speaker 1: slash Bill. We'll listen to it. Yes, and now it's
Speaker 1: time for learner. We really let you warm up before
Speaker 1: we show you our true colors. Fassie, so excited. So
Speaker 1: this is uh the part of the show where we
Speaker 1: just get a little vulnerable with what we're doing with
Speaker 1: our food, and so we are all going to share.
Speaker 1: We're all going to share our latest like leftover repurposing
Speaker 1: or best over repurposing. It could be most recent or
Speaker 1: just like most proud of. So Cassie as our guest
Speaker 1: of honor, please go first. I would love to I'm
Speaker 1: gonna I'm gonna lean in to well, I'm cheating. I
Speaker 1: have a book of idea as an examples, so the
Speaker 1: best one. But we like to embarrass ourselves with how
Speaker 1: like mediocre powers are actual knowledge. I'm cheating. Okay, yeah,
Speaker 1: so is one of my favorite things to do, and
Speaker 1: it makes me feel very clever in the kitchen. Is
Speaker 1: I will take if you've ever cooked a brisket a
Speaker 1: brisket before, it's a big cut of beef, and depending
Speaker 1: on where you are in the country, they might be
Speaker 1: it might be a little tricky talking to your butcher
Speaker 1: about explaining what a brisket is. In Texas, it's a
Speaker 1: very straightforward anyway. So we take a brisket, cook it
Speaker 1: up for meal number one, make it really delicious and beautiful,
Speaker 1: Serve it with some sides like a polenta and a slaw. Yum,
Speaker 1: great meal, and then the rest of the brisket if
Speaker 1: you don't just want to have like barbecue style leftovers, again,
Speaker 1: thinly slice it pam syrit until it's a little bit crispy,
Speaker 1: and then make a sticky kind of Asian dark sauce.
Speaker 1: I do this Mongolian beef style brisket with this already
Speaker 1: cooked brisket. It's crisps, and I served it over fluffy
Speaker 1: white rice and it is My husband will see me
Speaker 1: serve the barbecue style brisket on one night and he's like,
Speaker 1: does this mean we get Mongolian beef later this week?
Speaker 1: Oh gosh, are you looking to adopt? I know there's
Speaker 1: a third child on the way, but what's one more
Speaker 1: adult child? I would take it. Oh, I'm practically drooling.
Speaker 1: I think I am like a little bit. That sounds
Speaker 1: so good. It sounds so unattainable for me. I'm not
Speaker 1: gonna lie moncli and beef balls. I just don't know,
Speaker 1: but it sounds so lovely. You can do it, Joe,
Speaker 1: I believe. I'll give you the recipe. I'll send it
Speaker 1: to you and I'll walk you through it. We have
Speaker 1: the book. You've got the book. Yes, that's I want
Speaker 1: to try that. But I like hand holding to call me.
Speaker 1: You just let me know. I just don't know how
Speaker 1: to do it. Maybe you should send me. I mean it,
Speaker 1: let me know, all right, Jen, what you got for us?
Speaker 1: So I did this, I mean full disclosure. I write
Speaker 1: the outline so like I knew what the question was,
Speaker 1: and so I did this, you were already proud of yourself.
Speaker 1: So you're like, how can I weave this into the podcast?
Speaker 1: Like brag. So Cassie, you may be cheating a little,
Speaker 1: but I'm outright like cheating this. Um no. But so
Speaker 1: I use cook Smarts as like my meal planing app
Speaker 1: because like, I have zero mental energy for this in
Speaker 1: my current season. And they had a um something like this.
Speaker 1: So the first day was like this Asian pork sandwich
Speaker 1: with this like hoisten mayo and pickles, and so we
Speaker 1: had that. And so I had a big pork loin
Speaker 1: and I cut it in half and he used half
Speaker 1: for the sandwich and then the other half I cut
Speaker 1: up into little chunks and made like a pork fried rice.
Speaker 1: And I was like, this is I mean, this slab
Speaker 1: of meat was like very affordable because I bought it
Speaker 1: so big and I used it in like two places
Speaker 1: and used it all up brilliant and I loved it.
Speaker 1: And Cassie approves, thank you. I didn't come up with it,
Speaker 1: but like I was so proud that I executed it,
Speaker 1: because that deserves just as much praise as like planning
Speaker 1: it and an attending to agree. Yeah, Eric makes fun
Speaker 1: of me, because that's my husband. He's allowed to make
Speaker 1: fun of me. It's all right. I have like this
Speaker 1: one go to that's the thing. I'll do something once
Speaker 1: and I'll be so proud that, like, look at how
Speaker 1: creative I was, and then and then that's just that's
Speaker 1: what I do. That's how I repurpose things. My classic,
Speaker 1: I'm just gonna say this because it's funny and you've
Speaker 1: probably heard me describe it before. But then I do
Speaker 1: have another one for you. Classic for me is getting
Speaker 1: a road tiss rey chicken eating the road disc reach Again.
Speaker 1: I don't even make it, mind you. I just like
Speaker 1: went to the store and kind of roatiss rey chicken.
Speaker 1: It's like already heated up and ready to go. And
Speaker 1: then I pulled apart the leftover chicken and I make
Speaker 1: chicken salad and we have chicken salad sandwiches the next day. Oh.
Speaker 1: Eric gives me such a hard time for that. Whenever
Speaker 1: we're wondering what should we do for dinner, He's like,
Speaker 1: maybe we should go to rotisserie chicken and then tomorrow
Speaker 1: big chicken salad with the left over. And Eric, that's
Speaker 1: such a good idea chicken called so good. And you
Speaker 1: know what, I stopped buying the cooked chickens because I
Speaker 1: know it's just gonna become chicken salad. So I will
Speaker 1: reheat the portion I'm gonna eat tonight, and the cold
Speaker 1: one is cheaper. Yeah, but I don't even know if
Speaker 1: that counts, because I didn't even make the riftssary chicken.
Speaker 1: All I do is like pull it apart off the bone,
Speaker 1: and I think I'm like little House on the Prairie
Speaker 1: with that. I think, what do you think I think
Speaker 1: it counts. I'm sorry, I would say it's totally counts, y'all.
Speaker 1: I was gonna do a shred of chicken yesterday and
Speaker 1: I bought rotistrie chickens for it instead of cooking it
Speaker 1: from scratched, and I still feel like I made dinner. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean, it's not because it's not that it's like
Speaker 1: five bucks for a rotisserie chicken. I don't know where
Speaker 1: they're getting the chickens from. I don't know how it's
Speaker 1: so inexpensive. I don't really ask why your chicken anyhow.
Speaker 1: Something I also did recently was just a whole pan,
Speaker 1: a sheet pan full of just tons of veggies that
Speaker 1: I roasted, and I used it as a side dish
Speaker 1: one day. Then I used it for omelets, because omelets
Speaker 1: don't just have to be for breakfast, they can be
Speaker 1: for dinner. Use the roast of veggies in an omelet,
Speaker 1: and then get this third thing, veggie rap the next day.
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, I just got real into crushes in these veggies.
Speaker 1: I have this like waffle iron I made like a
Speaker 1: balsamic glaze. Oh there you go, chen, if I want
Speaker 1: to wild, and everything's going on the waffle iron from
Speaker 1: now on. So I was so proud of my shelf
Speaker 1: that week, like side dish, omelet, veggie wrap. My husband
Speaker 1: hardly knew anything different. He's like, this is a totally
Speaker 1: turned meal. I'm like, he didn't know anything. But but
Speaker 1: also he's like, I'd rather have French fries and mac
Speaker 1: and cheese. And I'm like, well, you're welcome. You're not
Speaker 1: dead yet that I'm feeding you veggies. That's so so
Speaker 1: kind of you to do that, Jill, to preserve his
Speaker 1: life with vegetables. I tell him that often. I'm like,
Speaker 1: I don't know what would happen to you without me
Speaker 1: feeding you veggies. It's not manipulative at all. No, he
Speaker 1: loves it. He's fine. Cassie, thank you so much for
Speaker 1: hanging out with us and sharing all of these tips
Speaker 1: because they are all like great money savers. But I
Speaker 1: also want to emphasize, like you are a nutritionist, so
Speaker 1: like your recipes are also healthy, so like I mean,
Speaker 1: I think everyone should check you out. Where can people
Speaker 1: get more from you? Oh? Thank you? Well cook One's
Speaker 1: dinner fix. It's available really everywhere books are sold. And
Speaker 1: then I live on the World Wide Web. I should
Speaker 1: stop saying that I think that funny though I live
Speaker 1: on the Internet. I live, thank you. I live on
Speaker 1: the That is my upgrade. I live on the internet
Speaker 1: over at fed and fit dot com is our website.
Speaker 1: There's nearing twelve dred free recipes for y'all there um.
Speaker 1: And then I'm most active on fed and fit. Instagram
Speaker 1: is the account handle. I'm doing lots of demos right
Speaker 1: now of the dinner series concept, a lot of them.
Speaker 1: And so you want to click through and just visually
Speaker 1: get an idea of what this looks like. That should
Speaker 1: be helpful, awesomely, And you do have such beautiful images
Speaker 1: to coincide your food, which is another amazing motivate or like,
Speaker 1: oh yes I want my table to look like that. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I want to eat those things are pure. So this
Speaker 1: is nice. This is nice. Well, thank you, thank you
Speaker 1: for coming to hang out with us. And uh, I
Speaker 1: am very excited to make some of these one and
Speaker 1: two and four star star, five star, two dollar Sign
Speaker 1: Dinner series. Thank you all so much for having me.
Speaker 1: Thanks Cassie, Well, that was a lot of gasping and
Speaker 1: a lot of hand motions. If you're watching this on YouTube,
Speaker 1: you'll be able to see all of our reactions. You
Speaker 1: probably heard them jaw dropping movements. That was just phenomenal.
Speaker 1: I really, I mean, some people really get to me.
Speaker 1: I've loved all of our interviews and some of them
Speaker 1: are just like next level. Yeah, we're super honored to
Speaker 1: like connect with Cassie. It was you guys who connected us. Ps.
Speaker 1: She put out a call on Instagram of like what
Speaker 1: podcasts her people are listening to, and one of you
Speaker 1: tagged us, and that's how she reached out to us.
Speaker 1: So if you have any other podcasts that you love
Speaker 1: that you want to see us, you know, bring on
Speaker 1: or be on or something, definitely use Instagram and antagon
Speaker 1: us because that's how we were able to get Cassie
Speaker 1: on the show to bring you all of these nuggets.
Speaker 1: So thanks so much for listening. We also want to
Speaker 1: thank you for your kind reviews on iTunes and Stitcher,
Speaker 1: like this one. It just happens to be five stars
Speaker 1: from Life of a Bay Area Fan. It's titled Great
Speaker 1: Way to Learn Basics. I don't remember how I heard
Speaker 1: or found the podcast, but I'm so happy I did.
Speaker 1: They put everything they talk about in simple terms that
Speaker 1: are easy to understand and are a great way to
Speaker 1: see that what works for you might not be what
Speaker 1: others are doing, and that you can make it your
Speaker 1: own for what you need in the moment. I love
Speaker 1: that it's an easy going podcast yet serious at the
Speaker 1: same time, showing you can have fun on the journey.
Speaker 1: Beautiful summary. Serious sometimes is fun, other times just a
Speaker 1: solid blend. I love it. Some people only like serious
Speaker 1: and we're not for them, and sometimes people only like
Speaker 1: fun and we're not for them either. You know, We're
Speaker 1: just We'll meet you in the middle, the radical middle.
Speaker 1: We also want to thank our friends who share these
Speaker 1: episodes on social media. So when you share the latest
Speaker 1: episode and tag us on Facebook or Instagram, we add
Speaker 1: you to our monthly drawing. For every five tags and
Speaker 1: reviews we get each month, we give away a copy
Speaker 1: of the Frugal Friends Workbook, which is an awesome workbook.
Speaker 1: Do it with a buddy, do it by yourself, and
Speaker 1: leaving us reviews is one way of getting at that
Speaker 1: workbook for free. Yes, so keep leaving us reviews on
Speaker 1: iTunes or Stitcher and sending the screenshot to Frugal Friends
Speaker 1: Podcasts at gmail dot com, and don't forget to tag
Speaker 1: us on social We do see it. And if you're
Speaker 1: still listening to this, you definitely need to go to
Speaker 1: Frugal Friends podcast dot com slash training and grab a
Speaker 1: seat to hang out with us on October to speed
Speaker 1: up your financial goal. Get it see you next week.
Speaker 1: Several Friends is produced by Eric Sirianna. So what are
Speaker 1: you making for dinner tonight? Have you been inspired to
Speaker 1: immediately implement Cassie's tips? Are you gonna implement next week?
Speaker 1: Probably next week because I already did my grocery shopping
Speaker 1: for the week. I don't actually remember when I'm making
Speaker 1: for dinner tonight? What are you making? Well? I was
Speaker 1: going to pull out I had made this is actually
Speaker 1: already did one of Cassie's tips unknowingly. I made stuffed
Speaker 1: peppers last week and just made a ton of them,
Speaker 1: and so I froze half of it. So I was
Speaker 1: thinking I could pull out the part that I froze
Speaker 1: the other half that I froze and make it with maduros.
Speaker 1: We've been loving us Some maduros, which is basically fried plantains,
Speaker 1: would be a good combo. However, my brother's in town
Speaker 1: and Eric might want to go out with him for dinner,
Speaker 1: so there's flexibility because of that. It could stay in
Speaker 1: the freezer for another day. I'm not wasting food by
Speaker 1: doing that, and we might just have a night out.
Speaker 1: I'm uncertain. Well, you you call me if you need
Speaker 1: to cook something, if you really need to cook something.
Speaker 1: I don't ever foresee that I need to cook, but
Speaker 1: I know. Thank you.