Speaker 1: Episode start a cook at Home challenge this month. Welcome
Speaker 1: to the Frugal Friends podcast, where you'll learn to save money,
Speaker 1: embrace simplicity, gay and live with your life. Here your
Speaker 1: host Jen and Jill. Oh Yeah, cooking at Home and
Speaker 1: kitchen Welcome back to the Frugal Friends podcast. My name
Speaker 1: is Jen, this is Jill, and I am super excited
Speaker 1: about today's episode because it's going to be really interactive.
Speaker 1: It's not just a spewing information, but you can actually
Speaker 1: take action on what we're going to be talking about today.
Speaker 1: I'm so excited. Yeah, I really like the content of
Speaker 1: this one. I'm looking forward to getting into it. We've
Speaker 1: talked a lot about food, but I think this is
Speaker 1: another spin on it and a more fun way to
Speaker 1: be able to do the thing that seems to be
Speaker 1: really difficult for all of us. Yeah, because I'm all
Speaker 1: about like, if you're not good at something, just dive
Speaker 1: headfirst into it and fumble along the way and don't
Speaker 1: hire it out, you know, dive head first, don't hire
Speaker 1: your cooking out. Just do it and figure it out
Speaker 1: and make spaghetti until you figure out how to do
Speaker 1: a carbonara, which I've never done, but maybe by the
Speaker 1: end of this, I will maybe we'll see there could
Speaker 1: be new things on the horizon. When you dive straight in,
Speaker 1: something else you can dive right into. Was our sponsors.
Speaker 1: Today's episode is also brought to you by Stainless Steel.
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Speaker 1: stainless steel when it's time to adult in the kitchen.
Speaker 1: That's amazing. I also that that was It was funny
Speaker 1: but also helpful because I did not know that you
Speaker 1: wait for the pan to get hot and then put
Speaker 1: your oil in. Yeah. I've watched a lot of the
Speaker 1: Food Network channel while on maternity leave, and and yes
Speaker 1: that is a cardinal rule. I guess wait till it's hot.
Speaker 1: I hate the sound of metal on metal, so when
Speaker 1: I cook with stainless steel, I have to use like
Speaker 1: a wooden spoon or a rubber spoon. Yeah, but otherwise
Speaker 1: it's good stuff. Yeah. Same with your cast iron. You
Speaker 1: shouldn't use metal on your cast iron. That's another thing
Speaker 1: I learned from the Food Network. Use a wooden spoon
Speaker 1: makes my teeth feel funny. Yeah, okay, alright, let's get
Speaker 1: into these articles. Yes, I'm so excited. We are at
Speaker 1: the end of September right now, but whenever you're listening
Speaker 1: to this, we want to challenge you to cook at
Speaker 1: home for thirty days. And not only is it going
Speaker 1: to save you money and be healthier, but it's also
Speaker 1: going to hone your cooking skills. So this first article
Speaker 1: is from Mind, Body Green, and it's one of their
Speaker 1: chefs actually did a thirty day cook at home challenge
Speaker 1: and found that it helped her in all these things.
Speaker 1: And I just loved everything she wrote. So that's where
Speaker 1: we're going to go through. First. This was a really
Speaker 1: excellent article. A lot of times I skimmed through articles,
Speaker 1: this one actually hooked me. I read the whole thing,
Speaker 1: even even the paragraphs before they give you all the
Speaker 1: tips that you normally just you know, skip to. I
Speaker 1: read the paragraphs because she's a really good writer. But
Speaker 1: also what she had to say about this did really
Speaker 1: inspire me and motivate me. Now, she went real deep
Speaker 1: into this cooking at home challenge, where it also meant
Speaker 1: that any level of prepared food like she was even
Speaker 1: making her own pasta, wasn't doing jarred sauces. So we
Speaker 1: don't have to go that deep into it, but that's
Speaker 1: what she did. Yeah, she is a chef, so hers
Speaker 1: wasn't to save money. It was to reconnect with cooking
Speaker 1: because she found that she hadn't been cooking for herself
Speaker 1: because she was cooking to make a cookbook and that
Speaker 1: was her job. It did end up saving her money,
Speaker 1: but basically some good things and so to motivate you
Speaker 1: all who are listening to kind of share some of
Speaker 1: those things, but obviously will link the article in the
Speaker 1: show notes you can check it out for yourself. But
Speaker 1: one important thing about cooking for yourself that they pointed out,
Speaker 1: and it's a good reminders that you get to control
Speaker 1: every ingredient when you're cooking at home, and so making
Speaker 1: your own food give us voice and choice. I know
Speaker 1: that sounds really dramatic, but it's an important thing for
Speaker 1: us just as humans to have. But then to think
Speaker 1: about what we're putting into our body. We get to
Speaker 1: decide what those ingredients are. We may decide that they
Speaker 1: are processed ingredients. Okay, fine, but at least you know
Speaker 1: you've chosen that rather than just what's given to you
Speaker 1: in prepared foods or at restaurants. So I thought that
Speaker 1: was a really inspiring thing to say, Yeah, I want
Speaker 1: to choose. I want to be able to go to
Speaker 1: the grocery store and decide which let us looks most
Speaker 1: appetizing to me and get that rather than just take
Speaker 1: what's given to me. Yeah, And she also like included
Speaker 1: So their rule was you could buy pre prepared whatever
Speaker 1: you needed, like an extra equipment to make so they
Speaker 1: didn't make their own tortillas or wine or anything. So
Speaker 1: if you're trying to save money, maybe you are cutting
Speaker 1: out the more expensive things. But I liked that she
Speaker 1: said with any new die it over restricting is an
Speaker 1: express route to failure. So while I love her story,
Speaker 1: you don't have to do it exactly like she did it.
Speaker 1: Think of what you're already eating, like she was eating
Speaker 1: cookies and stuff. She didn't cut out cookies, like even
Speaker 1: though she's like a health and fitness. Like writer and chef,
Speaker 1: she was still eating cookies. She just made sure to
Speaker 1: make them at home, and that inherently she ate fewer
Speaker 1: cookies because she had to make them to eat them.
Speaker 1: But think of like what you're already eating, and just
Speaker 1: try and incorporate that into what you're making. So don't
Speaker 1: try and do I love that she didn't try and
Speaker 1: change too many things up like her one big change
Speaker 1: was just cooking at home. And so for her in
Speaker 1: this process, another discovery that she made is how much
Speaker 1: it caused her togetherness, not only with her husband, who
Speaker 1: it sounds like, partnered with her in this. So that
Speaker 1: is a key aspect of this, and we'll talk about that,
Speaker 1: like finding a buddy to do this with a Also
Speaker 1: it caused them to host that when they were invited out,
Speaker 1: they would explain the challenge that they were doing with
Speaker 1: their friends and said, yeah, so we're not going to
Speaker 1: join you out for dinner, but you're welcome to come
Speaker 1: over here. And so what she found was she was
Speaker 1: hosting midweek which she might not normally have done, and
Speaker 1: her friends just pitched in. They both arrived at her
Speaker 1: house at the same time. She didn't put the pressure
Speaker 1: on herself of creating this elaborate meal, but prepped the
Speaker 1: meal together and enjoyed that time not just cooking together,
Speaker 1: but then also eating the meal and so realizing the
Speaker 1: togetherness that it afforded for her, and even what that
Speaker 1: provides for our health. Like if we think about ourselves
Speaker 1: as whole people, mind, body, soul, all of these things,
Speaker 1: it's feeding that of cooking together, eating together, enjoying extended
Speaker 1: time around the table, that it really nourished all of
Speaker 1: these parts of her. Yeah, and let's be honest with
Speaker 1: we took the same amount of time on a weeknight
Speaker 1: to arrive, prepare the meal, eat it, and clean up
Speaker 1: as it would have been to go to a restaurant.
Speaker 1: Pick a restaurant, go to it park, decide what you want, maybe,
Speaker 1: wait for seating, wait for the food and all that.
Speaker 1: So I think sometimes we deceive ourselves and we're saying
Speaker 1: we don't have enough time to have people over and cook,
Speaker 1: But in reality it took about the same time and
Speaker 1: was more intimate and more nourishing, Especially if we can
Speaker 1: break down expectations of what it's going to be to
Speaker 1: have people over. It doesn't mean that the meal is
Speaker 1: all prepared and you're like Mary Poppins pulling it out
Speaker 1: of a bag. No one saw it happen, Where did
Speaker 1: it come from? Like, they can be a part of
Speaker 1: the process and it doesn't have to be elaborate. I
Speaker 1: know good friends of ours had us over recently and
Speaker 1: we did d I Y pizzas. So they had made
Speaker 1: the dough ahead of time and that they had in
Speaker 1: their freezer to pull out for events like the US
Speaker 1: And then they had just a bunch of edgies in
Speaker 1: their fridge or bring your own veggies kind of a thing.
Speaker 1: And we all made our own and popped them in
Speaker 1: the oven and sat around and chatted until each one
Speaker 1: of our pizzas was done. It was just, yeah, a
Speaker 1: really creative way of enjoying some healthier pizza, but also
Speaker 1: more time together too. I mean, restaurants can be loud,
Speaker 1: you don't engage as much with one another. Yeah. I
Speaker 1: love how Mate pizza. It's so delicious. I love her
Speaker 1: quote she said, there's eating and then there's nourishment, and
Speaker 1: I'll take the ladder any day of the week. Just
Speaker 1: such a great summary of what just the peripheral impact
Speaker 1: of eating at home, cooking, inviting people over can do.
Speaker 1: That goes beyond just like shoving food down our throats,
Speaker 1: even if it is healthy food. Yes. Another quote that
Speaker 1: I liked from this said, after spending years interviewing hundreds
Speaker 1: of the world's best doctors and reading thousands of studies,
Speaker 1: many of whom and which contradict each other, I found
Speaker 1: that the most universally agreed upon health tip is to
Speaker 1: stress less. No matter what we're eating, if we're eating
Speaker 1: it together, we're healthier. You can see that. Jill and
Speaker 1: I feel the same way about eating, like we really
Speaker 1: love we love it as like its social aspect. I
Speaker 1: think cooking it just adds an element to that. I've
Speaker 1: also found too that as as friends have been vulnerable
Speaker 1: enough to like let me into their cooking process and
Speaker 1: vice versa, I've learned a bunch so for me, I
Speaker 1: even prefer this. Like Jen, when I was there visiting
Speaker 1: you in Florida, I learned about massage and Kale. I
Speaker 1: did not know that that was a thing until we
Speaker 1: were cooking together and You're like, no, this is what
Speaker 1: you do, and I'm like, what just happened to this? Kale? Well,
Speaker 1: I learned how to massage Kale from having lunch at
Speaker 1: another friend's house and she made the salad with massage
Speaker 1: kale and that's how I learned it. And so it's
Speaker 1: just it's so so good. And so we talk a
Speaker 1: lot about like sharing relationships with friends over meals. But
Speaker 1: this can be the same thing with families. If you've
Speaker 1: got children that you want to connect with more, dinner
Speaker 1: time is when you do it. And sometimes being in
Speaker 1: a family can be really isolating, Like I know right
Speaker 1: now having a three month old, I'm like feeling that
Speaker 1: isolation pretty intensely at times, and just having friends over
Speaker 1: for a meal or going to somebody's house is enough
Speaker 1: to kind of bring my spirits up. So like that's
Speaker 1: a great way if you're feeling the isolation as a
Speaker 1: as a new parent, or as a frugal person who's
Speaker 1: not spending as much money, this is an amazing way
Speaker 1: to reconnect. So I think it'd be really helpful to
Speaker 1: go through some of these How two's that the author
Speaker 1: gives in this article of all right, what what does
Speaker 1: this look like? If we're going to engage in a
Speaker 1: thirty day challenge, it can bring out the competitive side
Speaker 1: of us, which might be a motivator too. So we'll
Speaker 1: go through this and the first one that she mentions
Speaker 1: is set a realistic amount of time. So don't say
Speaker 1: you're only going to cook at home for a year
Speaker 1: if you've never done anything like this before. Uh, you
Speaker 1: could use her example as a guide of thirty days.
Speaker 1: If that even seems too overwhelming, try two weeks. Whatever
Speaker 1: it is that's going to be realistic. Don't try and
Speaker 1: set yourself up for failure, because that's never gonna That's
Speaker 1: never good for anybody. Yes, her next one is decide
Speaker 1: what homemane means to you. She included bread, tortillas, wine
Speaker 1: in her Okay list, but she made her own sauces,
Speaker 1: So figure out your level of cooking comfort and do
Speaker 1: what feels good for you. Like I'm super busy sometimes,
Speaker 1: so on those nights, like I'm not going to make
Speaker 1: my own sauce even but some Italian person might be
Speaker 1: really confident in sauce making and throw all those things
Speaker 1: in the pot and go. So you just have to
Speaker 1: figure out what your comfort level is and decide what
Speaker 1: your homemade is. She also says to find a buddy.
Speaker 1: So for her, she did the challenge with her husband,
Speaker 1: but it could be a friend or coworker, or family member,
Speaker 1: which helps make it more enjoyable, but also helps it
Speaker 1: become more of a challenge when you're doing it together
Speaker 1: with another person. I don't even being able to set
Speaker 1: it up competition wise between you and a coworker, even
Speaker 1: if you're not doing it in the same kitchen. It
Speaker 1: could be swapping story sharing recipes ideas. All these things
Speaker 1: can be really beneficial. And then you have like a
Speaker 1: set person that if you want to hang out with,
Speaker 1: you both know you're not going to go to a restaurant,
Speaker 1: so you can go over to the other person's house
Speaker 1: and like eat food. So that's really cool. Um. And
Speaker 1: the next one is hold yourself accountable. So she documented
Speaker 1: her challenge on her insta grand account. Um, and she
Speaker 1: has beautiful food photography. I probably would not do that,
Speaker 1: and I do not have great food photography. But she
Speaker 1: invited all of her followers to join in, and we're
Speaker 1: inviting you to join in. So figure out where you
Speaker 1: want to document yours on Facebook or Instagram, Twitter. I'd
Speaker 1: probably do it on Twitter if I still use Twitter,
Speaker 1: It's probably safer. I love how people are using our
Speaker 1: Facebook community group as a place to be able to
Speaker 1: hold accountable there's some people who are doing a no
Speaker 1: spend challenge currently and are updating on what they're doing
Speaker 1: instead of going out and spending money, And it's engaging
Speaker 1: other people and giving some great ideas of what you
Speaker 1: can be doing. So we absolutely encourage that. Yeah, and
Speaker 1: we'll probably make a thread for you guys to share
Speaker 1: what you're making in the month of October so people
Speaker 1: can get ideas, tips and just share their experiences with
Speaker 1: trying to cook at home for a month. Yeah. And finally,
Speaker 1: the last tip she gives is don't put other restrictions
Speaker 1: in place, meaning don't make this the time that you're
Speaker 1: also trying to cut out sugar or any other type
Speaker 1: of diet thing that you're trying to do. This is
Speaker 1: more a practice of learning to cook at home and
Speaker 1: warding off some of the temptations to just go get
Speaker 1: a quick meal that isn't going to be the cheapest
Speaker 1: or healthiest or whatever. Just kind of training yourself to
Speaker 1: cook at home, but not putting all kinds of other
Speaker 1: rules in place. Again, don't set yourself up for failure.
Speaker 1: I love this one. And she even said without even
Speaker 1: trying to eat healthier, she lost weight just from knowing
Speaker 1: the things that went into her food and putting them
Speaker 1: in there herself, and she saved money. It doesn't sound
Speaker 1: like that was the goal for her. It probably would
Speaker 1: be for for myself, but she it sounds like from
Speaker 1: her what she ate that they were probably more expensive
Speaker 1: and green, but she's still saved money. So I'm sure
Speaker 1: that for us frugal folks, we will be sure to
Speaker 1: save money if we endeavor to do this challenge. Yes,
Speaker 1: So now more on the cooking side. Our next article
Speaker 1: um is from help guide dot org and it's called
Speaker 1: cooking at Home. And so there's the big barrier to
Speaker 1: entry for people cooking at home I think is skill
Speaker 1: level and time. This article kind of speaks to both
Speaker 1: of those and had a lot of great information in it.
Speaker 1: Does Oh my word, it just kept going. I thought
Speaker 1: that the article was going to end, and it didn't.
Speaker 1: It kept going so long. Yeah, I think it's really
Speaker 1: important for us to go through the obstacles. But I
Speaker 1: do want to mention here that they've got a great
Speaker 1: section of listing out all the benefits of cooking at home.
Speaker 1: So if motivation is a struggle for you, definitely check
Speaker 1: this part out because they go into health benefits, emotional
Speaker 1: and social benefits, and just great lists in the midst
Speaker 1: of that of how much it can be really good
Speaker 1: for us to practice this. It doesn't mean that, oh,
Speaker 1: now now that we've done this challenge, we have to
Speaker 1: cook every single meal at home. No, that's not realistic.
Speaker 1: We will go out sometimes, but just to be aware
Speaker 1: of and a little bit more mindful in the decisions
Speaker 1: of where we're eating, what we're eating, and the benefits
Speaker 1: that can go along with eating at home. So check
Speaker 1: that out. It's it's a little bit of overlap with
Speaker 1: the previous article, but some really specifics on what you
Speaker 1: can receive emotionally, socially, health wise by doing this. Yeah,
Speaker 1: let's let's go over these obstacles. Yeah. So the first obstacle,
Speaker 1: which I have said before and it has been true,
Speaker 1: mind you, but I think we've all said this, and
Speaker 1: that is I don't have time to cook. So, yes,
Speaker 1: we've all been there, and I'm not gonna lie. It
Speaker 1: is time to plan, shop, cook, eat clean. That's a
Speaker 1: lot of things that you have to do rather than
Speaker 1: just like going through the drive through or grabbing some
Speaker 1: take out. But some of the ideas that are given
Speaker 1: here to kind of get over this obstacle are to
Speaker 1: shop online. So whether you've got lunch break at work
Speaker 1: or a little bit of time in the morning, rather
Speaker 1: than jumping on Facebook, put together in online grocery order
Speaker 1: and get it delivered to your door. So that cuts
Speaker 1: out that piece, oh my excuse is getting chipped away
Speaker 1: at slowly but surely. Also another way to get over
Speaker 1: this obstacle is to get friends and family involved, so
Speaker 1: trade off some of the shopping or clean up duties.
Speaker 1: So if you cooked, maybe your spouse or your child
Speaker 1: can clean that night or put it in put it
Speaker 1: in this thing for the next day, you know, and
Speaker 1: to be able to multitask too, so if you are
Speaker 1: on the phone or you want to catch up on
Speaker 1: some you know, audio book or whatever, to be able
Speaker 1: to do that wall you are cooking, so that you
Speaker 1: kind of feel like you're making the most of your
Speaker 1: time and not just quote unquote wasting it cooking. You
Speaker 1: can try a cook at home delivery service to It's
Speaker 1: definitely not going to be your most frugal option, but
Speaker 1: it could help get your feet in the door because
Speaker 1: they already do the grunt work of meal planning and
Speaker 1: then the shopping. So that does cut out even more.
Speaker 1: And to use fresh ingredients so it doesn't have to
Speaker 1: even mean that you are putting things in the oven
Speaker 1: or on the stove. Consider just doing salads or raw
Speaker 1: foods so that it's not taking up a whole lot
Speaker 1: of time. Yes. Um. And also, if you wanted to
Speaker 1: try the first part to shop online if there's a
Speaker 1: Walmart near you, which probably there is, you can use
Speaker 1: Frugal Friends podcast dot com slash Walmart. You get ten
Speaker 1: dollars off your first pick up. So try that. Yeah,
Speaker 1: try that, and uh see if that helps with the
Speaker 1: time issue. And you can go through ebates when you
Speaker 1: do it too, Yes, you can. Yes. So number two,
Speaker 1: it's cheaper to eat fast food, which actually I've been
Speaker 1: eating a lot of fast food lately just to get
Speaker 1: out of the house and get my baby to stop crying.
Speaker 1: And it is not cheap anymore. It's not. It's like, gosh,
Speaker 1: things that used to be like fifty cents are now
Speaker 1: like four or five bucks, So it says. A study
Speaker 1: from the University of Washington School of Public Health revealed
Speaker 1: that people who cook at home tend to have healthier
Speaker 1: overall diets without higher food expenses. Another study found that
Speaker 1: frequent home cook spent about sixty dollars per month less
Speaker 1: on food than those who ate out more often. And
Speaker 1: third potential obstacle. I've said this one too, I'm too
Speaker 1: tired to cook at the end of a long day.
Speaker 1: I get that. Let's prepare for that. Let's assume on
Speaker 1: Tuesday night we're gonna be tired. So what might we
Speaker 1: be able to do on the weekend? So or in
Speaker 1: the morning. So, so here's some ideas for that. One
Speaker 1: Loading up a slow cooker or a insta pot with
Speaker 1: some meat and vegetables in the morning so that when
Speaker 1: you come home it's basically ready for you. You can
Speaker 1: take it out of the slow cooker and and eat it.
Speaker 1: You're so tired, but look, dinner's made. Also consider making
Speaker 1: meals in bulk, so freezing things, but also if it
Speaker 1: will last in the fridge, doing that pre chopping stuff
Speaker 1: so that all you have to do is throw it together.
Speaker 1: You don't have it doesn't require a lot of energy.
Speaker 1: Another idea to also some future thinking and prepping ahead
Speaker 1: of time, but cooking your main protein once a week
Speaker 1: so that you're not every single night making something new.
Speaker 1: But you know, slow cooking a chicken or roasting some
Speaker 1: turkey or or whatever kind of meat it is. That
Speaker 1: then you can use throughout the week in some quick
Speaker 1: throw together things such as soup, salad, sandwiches, burritos, pasta dinners,
Speaker 1: rice dishes, all these things. You can kind of spread
Speaker 1: that meat out over a lot of different dishes that
Speaker 1: don't take long once the meat is made. Yeah, that
Speaker 1: also saves money because meat is our most expensive part
Speaker 1: of the grocery bill. So if you're getting a whole chicken,
Speaker 1: you're saving more per pound, you're eating less meat throughout
Speaker 1: the week, and you can incorporate more affordable protein options.
Speaker 1: So that's a great suggestion. So number four is one
Speaker 1: that I have used often. It's I don't know how
Speaker 1: to cook. That should get us out of cooking, right.
Speaker 1: If I don't, I don't know how to do it.
Speaker 1: I don't know how to clean the bathroom, can't. So
Speaker 1: here are some tips. Um, it's usually perfectly okay to
Speaker 1: skipping and radient or substitute one thing for another. I
Speaker 1: do that all the time because there's no way I'm
Speaker 1: getting these obscure spices or these vegetables that I can't
Speaker 1: get from all d or anything like that, So I
Speaker 1: I substitute and eliminate things all the time. You can
Speaker 1: look online or buy a basic cookbook for simple recipe ideas,
Speaker 1: and we'll throw some out at the end, but don't
Speaker 1: try and make elaborate meals every night of the week
Speaker 1: or even a lot of the week. Like you don't
Speaker 1: know how to cook, you can still do it cook
Speaker 1: at Home Challenge. It's just going to be a lot
Speaker 1: more simple than the things you're seeing on epicurious dot com. Yeah. Well,
Speaker 1: and I think services like cook smarts can help with
Speaker 1: that because they already give you ideas of like That's
Speaker 1: one of my biggest obstacles is just the creativity of
Speaker 1: what do I even make? How do I make it?
Speaker 1: How can I utilize things for multiple meals? And cook
Speaker 1: smarts does all of that, which is fantastic, and they're
Speaker 1: still running running their deal for for first time users.
Speaker 1: You get your first three weeks free for Friends podcast
Speaker 1: dot com slash cook Smarts. Yes, and I've just started
Speaker 1: back using them because my life is just too crazy
Speaker 1: right now to meal plan and I have been using
Speaker 1: a lot of things in my cupboard that you would
Speaker 1: think I would have to meal plan for the things
Speaker 1: in my cover to use them. But actually, I don't
Speaker 1: know how they know that I have these things in
Speaker 1: my cover that I'm not using. I've been using them
Speaker 1: with the meal plan, or I've been I've been able
Speaker 1: to substitute things that like one time they wanted apricots,
Speaker 1: but I had peaches that I needed to use, So
Speaker 1: peaches it is. So it's it's really great. Something I've
Speaker 1: even found is that when we engage in challenges like
Speaker 1: this where we're going hard and heavy for a short
Speaker 1: amount of time, it's almost like a crash course or
Speaker 1: like a greenhouse effect of these barriers that used to
Speaker 1: be barriers. I'm recognizing, Oh that's simpler than I thought,
Speaker 1: or oh, I'm gaining more tips than if I just
Speaker 1: did this one off every now and again, and it
Speaker 1: is kind of really cumbersome because I don't know what
Speaker 1: I'm doing. I'm fumbling around, But kind of a crash
Speaker 1: course like this is really helpful to even see that, oh,
Speaker 1: I'm learning these flavors or new techniques, and now it
Speaker 1: does feel more attainable to do this a couple of
Speaker 1: times a week going forward, even once the challenge is over.
Speaker 1: So yeah, even don't be afraid to let this process
Speaker 1: teach you new things or or help you in getting
Speaker 1: over some of these obstacles. Another obstacle is just simply
Speaker 1: I hate being in the kitchen. Don't put me in there.
Speaker 1: I don't like it. So if you hate the idea
Speaker 1: of just being in your kitchen, well, I mean, first
Speaker 1: of all, this is an on the list, but I
Speaker 1: would say, like, make it pretty, like maybe put some
Speaker 1: nice flowers or a plant, turn on the lights, you know,
Speaker 1: wipe down the counters, make it a space that might
Speaker 1: be a little bit more appealing. But they also recommend
Speaker 1: playing your favorite music or having a nice glass of
Speaker 1: wine while you're cooking, dancing around as you chop and peel.
Speaker 1: But that does make a difference for me. I know
Speaker 1: that if I'm making it an event that i'm doing,
Speaker 1: rather than just like, quick, get this done so I
Speaker 1: can get onto the next thing, is much more enjoyable.
Speaker 1: So and then they also say, or listen to an
Speaker 1: audio book or a podcast. You could listen to us
Speaker 1: this podcast as you cook, which how fun would that be?
Speaker 1: And feel like you have rugal friends cooking with you. Yeah,
Speaker 1: lose yourself in a good story with an audio book,
Speaker 1: whatever the case is. You know, make it easier on yourself. Don't.
Speaker 1: Don't make it something that you have to push through.
Speaker 1: But the things that you enjoy, incorporate it. Taste test
Speaker 1: while you're cooking, eat while you're cooking. Who doesn't like that? Yeah,
Speaker 1: just make sure it's like not raw eggs or look
Speaker 1: at those raw beef. I feel like Osha is going
Speaker 1: to make us put a disclaim around that, all right.
Speaker 1: And then number six, the last one is even if
Speaker 1: I cook a healthy meal at home, I can't get
Speaker 1: my family to eat it, which is Yeah, that's a
Speaker 1: big one. So over time you can wean your family
Speaker 1: and yourself off the taste of take out and packaged food.
Speaker 1: It takes time, it's not easy. It's like some kids
Speaker 1: are just bullish about chicken nuggets, so they recommend start small.
Speaker 1: So maybe you do need to just cook once or
Speaker 1: twice a week to give everyone's taste buds a chance
Speaker 1: to adjust. Young children love to cook and find it
Speaker 1: fun to eat what they've helped make. So if you
Speaker 1: can incorporate sides or something that your kids can be
Speaker 1: a part of making, that's a huge step to get
Speaker 1: them to eat it and the childhood impulse to imitate
Speaker 1: is strong. So the more you're kids see you eating
Speaker 1: healthy food, the more likely they are to follow suit.
Speaker 1: So it's just about repetition and participation. And this could
Speaker 1: also mean so yeah, that those are great tips for
Speaker 1: younger kids, but I'm even thinking like teenagers or spouses
Speaker 1: who have palettes that only want French fries all the time,
Speaker 1: love you eric um, that could mean practicing copying some
Speaker 1: of those things but in a little bit healthier way.
Speaker 1: So rather than frying chicken, trying to grill or bread,
Speaker 1: you know, just breading it and putting it in the oven,
Speaker 1: or trying to make some French fries at home, still
Speaker 1: not going to be the healthiest thing, but far better
Speaker 1: than what you're going to get from a fast food restaurant.
Speaker 1: So even practicing or getting other people on board, like
Speaker 1: getting the buy in first of hey, this is something
Speaker 1: I really want to try and doing a challenge, Will
Speaker 1: you guys do this with me? Can we find together
Speaker 1: ways that we can eat these things that we really
Speaker 1: love but in a bit more healthy or or less expensive,
Speaker 1: Even if you don't come at it with the word healthy,
Speaker 1: just yeah, that's expensive and we're gonna try and do
Speaker 1: this at home. We're going to try and do a
Speaker 1: challenge and get buy in that way. Yeah, you know
Speaker 1: what other ways we can get by with? Oh, I
Speaker 1: know we got buy in with this one. Yes, it's
Speaker 1: time for the bill of the week. That's right, it's
Speaker 1: time for the best minute of your entire week. Maybe
Speaker 1: a baby was born and his name is William. Maybe
Speaker 1: you paid off your mortgage, Maybe your car died and
Speaker 1: you're happy to not have to pay that bill anymore.
Speaker 1: That's built buffalo bills, Bill Clinton, this is the bill
Speaker 1: of the week. All right, jenn and Jill, This is Melinda.
Speaker 1: I was calling to oh you that my bill of
Speaker 1: the week is that my husband and I recently went
Speaker 1: to the bank and paid off our house. After seven
Speaker 1: and a half years of paying and saving. We've done it,
Speaker 1: so it feels good. Thanks congratulations, Melinda. Oh my gosh, reeing,
Speaker 1: I literally have goose bumps right now. Just how amazing
Speaker 1: that must feel the actual action of walking to the
Speaker 1: bank and paying the final payment. And you own your
Speaker 1: house like the largest living expense that we have. You
Speaker 1: own it now. So fantastic, Melinda. I'm so glad that
Speaker 1: we're the ones that you get to share that with
Speaker 1: and celebrate with. I hope you're celebrating, whether that's cooking
Speaker 1: at home or maybe having a meal out. You would
Speaker 1: deserve it. I was literally talking about this last week
Speaker 1: and about paying off our house and we have a
Speaker 1: waste to go and so I know it can be done.
Speaker 1: And you're an inspiration, Melinda. Thank you so much for
Speaker 1: sharing that. If you have a bill of a week
Speaker 1: to share with us, maybe you've paid off your house,
Speaker 1: maybe it's something a little smaller, like a student loan
Speaker 1: that's in the six figures, who knows, but you can.
Speaker 1: We would love to hear about it. Visit Frugal Friends
Speaker 1: podcast dot com, slash bill and leave us a Google
Speaker 1: voicemail or speak pipe and uh we'll share it on
Speaker 1: the air. Yes. And now it's time for the lightning
Speaker 1: It's time. It's that time. Yes, And we've talked about
Speaker 1: the importance of it, and we've talked about some of
Speaker 1: the barriers that come with it. So let's get down
Speaker 1: to some lightning strike strategies for how we're going to
Speaker 1: do this challenge this month. Yeah, let's get it done. Okay,
Speaker 1: So how you can cook it home for a month
Speaker 1: number one, prep some freezer meals and double some recipes
Speaker 1: that will freeze well. So this is where you can
Speaker 1: use what you already have at home. I know I've
Speaker 1: seen some people do just pantry challenges of what do
Speaker 1: I already have that I can use up? So use
Speaker 1: up some of those things. Prep a ton of it,
Speaker 1: chuck it in the freezer, pull it out throughout the month.
Speaker 1: And I know you've probably heard me talk about this before,
Speaker 1: but if you're a new listener, something that I love
Speaker 1: to do is cooking with friends in big batches and
Speaker 1: swapping some of those meals that you've made so that
Speaker 1: you have even more variety that you can be putting
Speaker 1: into your freezer, or do it separately and just and
Speaker 1: swap some of your freezer meals. Doesn't even have to
Speaker 1: be in a shared kitchen. So that's a really great
Speaker 1: way to pair some relational time with some cooking time,
Speaker 1: with some saving money time, just all of it together. Yes,
Speaker 1: I had a day that I set aside and I
Speaker 1: made about twelve freezer meals, like before the baby came,
Speaker 1: and it's been so helpful on nights where I'm out
Speaker 1: of food, I don't feel like going to the grocery
Speaker 1: store and I have these freezer meals, and all I
Speaker 1: did I bought frozen chicken, so like it was cheaper
Speaker 1: because it was just going back from the freezer, So
Speaker 1: why would I buy fresh chicken and threw it in
Speaker 1: with all these like different things, And it was a
Speaker 1: great help. The next strategy is repurpose leftovers so you
Speaker 1: can only eat one meal so many times before you
Speaker 1: just chuck it in the garbage. Because I literally always
Speaker 1: make chili and there's enough chili for like two weeks,
Speaker 1: and I don't know how it happens, Like I can't
Speaker 1: eat leftovers more more than like one or two times,
Speaker 1: two times if it's like really really delicious, usually just once.
Speaker 1: So figure out how you can repurpose your left overs.
Speaker 1: Putting things in a soup, making a fried rice, putting
Speaker 1: stuff in pasta or a salad or stir fry. Lots
Speaker 1: of great articles on how to repurpose leftovers. Cook Smarts
Speaker 1: actually has a great infographic we can link to. But yeah,
Speaker 1: definitely figure out how to repurpose your leftovers, because nobody
Speaker 1: should be made to eat chili four days in a row. No,
Speaker 1: that's torture. Also, meal plan once for the entire month.
Speaker 1: So what this is coming out on September. That today
Speaker 1: is September, so you've got a couple of days to
Speaker 1: meal plan for the entire month of October. And so
Speaker 1: that could be through on your own, right if you're
Speaker 1: if you're good like that, you could do that on
Speaker 1: your own, or you could use cook Smarts like we've
Speaker 1: already mentioned. And again you get your first three weeks
Speaker 1: free if you use the promo code Frugal Friends podcast
Speaker 1: dot COM's slash CS. So I apologize earlier I said
Speaker 1: you could use either okay, okay, so coogle Friends podcast
Speaker 1: dot com slash cs and they'll give you three weeks.
Speaker 1: So that's three weeks down. Then you've only got one
Speaker 1: week to do on your own, or you can pay
Speaker 1: them money for everything that they just did for you.
Speaker 1: But you get off if you use the promo code
Speaker 1: frugal on anything you buy from that. So see what
Speaker 1: you will win, win win win, all right, And the
Speaker 1: last tip, don't be afraid of eating cereal for dinner,
Speaker 1: So have provisions to make a sandwich and omeline, case
Speaker 1: of DS movie whatever. Some days you're just not going
Speaker 1: to be able to cook a dinner and you won't
Speaker 1: have leftovers for lunch, YadA, YadA, So just have provisions
Speaker 1: available that you can still quote unquote cook or eat
Speaker 1: at home and not take out from Chipotle. So cereal
Speaker 1: for dinners is nothing to be ashamed of. Hashtag lowering
Speaker 1: your standards, storry my life. That's pretty much a story
Speaker 1: of my life. Yes, all right, well, you guys, this
Speaker 1: is we're coming to the end. But that's okay. There's
Speaker 1: still more you can get from us, like our Frugal
Speaker 1: Friends book club. So this month we are reading The
Speaker 1: Minimalist Home by Joshua Becker. We're actually wrapping it up
Speaker 1: because it's the end of September, but still read it.
Speaker 1: It's fantastic because Joshua Becker is great and we interviewed him,
Speaker 1: so you can check that episode out too, all the
Speaker 1: way back there. But you can get new fresh stuff
Speaker 1: from him from his book. Yes, and if you want
Speaker 1: a free copy of The Minimalist Home, um leave us
Speaker 1: a review on iTunes or Stitcher. Screenshot the review and
Speaker 1: send it to Frugal Friends podcast at gmail dot com.
Speaker 1: We'll select one winner for every five reviews we get
Speaker 1: each month, and you'll get a used book from Amazon,
Speaker 1: nice secondhand and Jen speaking of good reviews that could
Speaker 1: potentially win books, I was just scrolling through and found
Speaker 1: a really fantastic review. That's just it's worth sharing, you know,
Speaker 1: for anybody who wants to wants to know what it
Speaker 1: looks like. So this one comes from Britt mp l
Speaker 1: s says thanks Self Care Podcast Suggestion. Hey, thank you
Speaker 1: for your podcast. I appreciate the accessibility of the solutions
Speaker 1: you offer. Also that you aren't littered with sponsorship that
Speaker 1: are sneakily trying to make me not be so frugal. Yes, yes,
Speaker 1: so uh, this one was sprinkled with some some links,
Speaker 1: but only because it is actually saving you money. We're
Speaker 1: just we're just trying to share some helpful things and
Speaker 1: we're trying to increase that three dollars an hour, or
Speaker 1: we're trying to get to four, trying to make you know,
Speaker 1: closer to minimum wage off this pod. We're going, we're
Speaker 1: trying to increase with inflation. Yeah, So thanks for your review, guys.
Speaker 1: We love your reviews, especially when they are like that one,
Speaker 1: you know, accompanied by five stars. It's great. Yes, and
Speaker 1: she also had it was much longer than that, and
Speaker 1: she recommended that we do a frugal self care episode
Speaker 1: which is on the list, so be prepared for that one.
Speaker 1: Be pre bread. And in the meantime, stay frugal, stay sweet,
Speaker 1: stay weird, and stay cooking, Yes, cooking, cooking, See you next. Sweet.
Speaker 1: Frugal Friends is produced, edited and mixed by Eric Syria.
Speaker 1: Will he keep that in? Who knows? Job? Can we
Speaker 1: take this opportunity to talk about episode sixty nine? Yeah?
Speaker 1: So all that happened. So I'm sitting at my computer
Speaker 1: trying to do some work, and I get a text
Speaker 1: from Chris Browning, the host of Popcorn Finance Good Friend,
Speaker 1: and he shows me a screenshot of his phone and
Speaker 1: it said got an extra episode of Frugal Friends. And
Speaker 1: all it said was up sixty nine. There are no
Speaker 1: subtitles needed, no nothing, just And at first I didn't
Speaker 1: even think about the number. I just saw that there
Speaker 1: was an episode release when it shouldn't be really, and
Speaker 1: so I went in mostly what was concerning to you? Yeah?
Speaker 1: And and then I went in there and I rescheduled it.
Speaker 1: And then I realized after somebody posted in the Frugal
Speaker 1: Friends community group on Facebook that it was episode sixty nine,
Speaker 1: with no explanation coming at you on a Saturday. I
Speaker 1: think I think a lot of people were horrified and
Speaker 1: a lot of people were ecstatic. I think I think
Speaker 1: that was probably one of our most polarizing moves we
Speaker 1: really I don't a man. All I had to say
Speaker 1: was that it is scandalous Saturday, because I had no
Speaker 1: other words. Yeah, I just said that, don't worry that
Speaker 1: Friday will be a more g rated title. Yeah. Yeah,
Speaker 1: And that's what that's what Eric gets for trying to
Speaker 1: be proactive. He was being so good about getting these
Speaker 1: episodes done so he could go and enjoy himself at
Speaker 1: podcast Movement. And that's what at what happens, We horrify
Speaker 1: our listeners. No good deed goes unpunished. So yeah, um,
Speaker 1: well that was that was a fun yeah, fun thing.
Speaker 1: We all need a good laugh. Yeah, And it's ever
Speaker 1: it's I mean forever going to be memorialized up sixty
Speaker 1: nine in the Frugal Friends community, you know what. And
Speaker 1: it highlights the fact that we are the Frugal Friends. Right.
Speaker 1: We've got my husband editing doing the soundtracks, the sound
Speaker 1: engineering producing it like it's all in house. So sometimes
Speaker 1: you get up sixty nine on Saturday because this is frugal. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean Eric is a professional, but he has a
Speaker 1: professional but he's doing it on Saturday. So yeah, if
Speaker 1: we make three dollars an hour, he makes zero dollars
Speaker 1: an hour. Yeah, goodness, bless his heart. YEP, someday. Sorry. Bye,