Speaker 1: Episode three ninety six, Minimalist Pantry Formula.
Speaker 2: Welcome to the Frugal Friends podcast, where you'll learn to
Speaker 2: save money, embrace simplicity and life.
Speaker 1: Here your hosts Jen and Jill. Welcome to the Frugal
Speaker 1: Friends podcast. My name is Jen, my name is Jill,
Speaker 1: and today we are going to walk you through creating
Speaker 1: a creating your own minimalist pantry formula. So it's not
Speaker 1: going to be the same for everyone. There are certain
Speaker 1: things everyone should keep, and what you keep in those
Speaker 1: categories will depend on you and what you use. But
Speaker 1: we're going to talk about some of that stuff and
Speaker 1: then also how to get started, so how to declutter,
Speaker 1: organize what you already have, that whole sort of thing.
Speaker 1: So I'm very excited because I actually need to do this,
Speaker 1: and so this this one is for me.
Speaker 3: I'm excited because I don't remember well, I guess we'll
Speaker 3: talk about it. The last time we talked about this
Speaker 3: specific type of thing was a very long time ago,
Speaker 3: and I think because of when we've talked about it
Speaker 3: in the past, it has helped me to form my
Speaker 3: what are some of my staples? How am I organizing
Speaker 3: in a way that makes sense? And I feel pretty
Speaker 3: good about the pantry setup that I have. Granted, my
Speaker 3: kitchen's only about a year old, so it's not as
Speaker 3: if I've been in this space for a decade and
Speaker 3: I've got all this build up, so that is part
Speaker 3: of the benefit for me. But I think just re
Speaker 3: emphasizing what's good about it, how can we do it
Speaker 3: in a way that works for us, is excellent. And
Speaker 3: we did send you all a poll in the friend letter.
Speaker 3: For those of you receiving it, you know that there's
Speaker 3: polls at the bottom of every email that you can
Speaker 3: kind of send your vote in. It helps us tailor
Speaker 3: the episodes to be more relevant to you. Sometimes we
Speaker 3: read off a few of your responses, which is fun.
Speaker 3: So of course, if you're not getting the friend letter,
Speaker 3: definitely do that so you can be a part of
Speaker 3: these polls. But we asked do you have a pantry
Speaker 3: stock pile?
Speaker 4: And y'all were all over the map on this one.
Speaker 1: So most people said they are not like in love
Speaker 1: with their stockpile. They either have too much and they
Speaker 1: tighten it up, or they don't have one and they
Speaker 1: wish they did. Eighty five of you said yes, it's perfect.
Speaker 1: I love my stockpile. So this one maybe is just
Speaker 1: going to be like a fun like confirmation, you know,
Speaker 1: episode for you to be like, you know, doing what
Speaker 1: I love this. But if you're like Jesse, who commented
Speaker 1: on this, this episode's truly for you, she says, the
Speaker 1: girl Scouts keep shaking me down for money. I've got
Speaker 1: three new cookie dealers this year, and I'm gonna need
Speaker 1: to add cookie space to my pantry now. And Jesse,
Speaker 1: we are here for you. We will carve out a
Speaker 1: special place in the episode for what to do when
Speaker 1: you have three cookie dealers and how to organize your
Speaker 1: pantry around that.
Speaker 3: I love it so much. They're shaking me down. I
Speaker 3: got new dealers amazing. Well, before we get into how
Speaker 3: to do this, this episode is brought to you by substitutes,
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Speaker 1: All right well to get into just like a few
Speaker 1: more kind of the overall feel that you guys were
Speaker 1: giving us for this episode. A lot of you did
Speaker 1: like your stockpile. The people who actually love their stockpile
Speaker 1: just for reference say that they have enough food to
Speaker 1: last them for a year. So I, personally, that's not me.
Speaker 1: I'm more of a only buy what I need when
Speaker 1: I need it. There's just a few things that I
Speaker 1: keep a stockpile, a minimalist stockpile of And this is
Speaker 1: really I have been going to Sam's Club once a
Speaker 1: month for the past like five months, so this is
Speaker 1: really tested out what I need versus want for a stockpile.
Speaker 1: Where is the law of diminishing returns? Where's the line
Speaker 1: between it saves me money versus I'm just adding clutter
Speaker 1: to my pantry and I'm not actually using it I'm
Speaker 1: wasting food, wasting money.
Speaker 3: Yeah, Yeah, And I think it takes a while to
Speaker 3: really understand where that line is and your threshold of tolerance,
Speaker 3: how much space you actually have to have any version
Speaker 3: of a stockpile. I do think before we get into
Speaker 3: this first article, just really quickly highlighting why we're even
Speaker 3: advocating for a minimalist pantry set up, like the benefits
Speaker 3: of it. I think that when we can really figure
Speaker 3: out what we're going to use, and we've got a
Speaker 3: really good setup and we don't have too much, we're
Speaker 3: not consuming in excess, it can encourage some more whole
Speaker 3: food cooking. When we figure out a system of how
Speaker 3: to buy what we're making, then we can kind of
Speaker 3: know what things can we be buying in bulk making
Speaker 3: on our own, using the pantry staples that we have
Speaker 3: to make some of these condiments that maybe we would
Speaker 3: be spending so much more money on. I think it
Speaker 3: can lead to better meal planning as well. When we
Speaker 3: are able to know what's in our pantry have easy
Speaker 3: access to it, we can form better meal plans around
Speaker 3: those things, which of course is always going to lead
Speaker 3: to less food waste when it's not just stashed full
Speaker 3: of stuff, and things are going bad, they're going stale,
Speaker 3: they're expiring, we're wasting less. And then it can lead
Speaker 3: to a lot of creativity and confidence with substitutions. I
Speaker 3: think that comes with cook looking at home a lot more,
Speaker 3: which I think you're going to cook at home a
Speaker 3: lot more if your pantry set up makes sense to
Speaker 3: you and is full of the things that you know
Speaker 3: you're actually going to eat, uh, And then you can
Speaker 3: just kind of know, these are the things I keep.
Speaker 3: I'm not keeping all these random ingredients or purchasing random ingredients,
Speaker 3: and I'm going to try using what I have, even
Speaker 3: with some of these new recipes, and get creative and
Speaker 3: feel more confident.
Speaker 4: About doing that.
Speaker 3: So those are just some of the benefits that I
Speaker 3: see in really really honing in.
Speaker 4: What you're keeping on hand.
Speaker 1: Yeah, when you walk into someplace, and this is a
Speaker 1: really great indicator if you need a more minimalist pantry.
Speaker 1: If you walk into your pantry or open up your
Speaker 1: pantry and your first feeling is stress, this need you
Speaker 1: need a more minimalist pantry. And minimalist doesn't mean like
Speaker 1: you have one of you just have one can in
Speaker 1: the pantry. Whatever that looks like to you, it means
Speaker 1: you probably if it makes you stressed, you probably first
Speaker 1: need to like declutter and organize and get through some
Speaker 1: of this stuff. And that's what we're gonna kind of
Speaker 1: talk about that process right now.
Speaker 4: Agreed.
Speaker 3: So this first article comes from this simple balance, and
Speaker 3: we're just going to go through this middle portion of
Speaker 3: the article that outlines five easy steps to an organized
Speaker 3: minimalist pantry. I thought that this was a really good
Speaker 3: rundown of what do we do, where do we get started?
Speaker 3: And like any decluttering, organizing minimalist effort, it's going to
Speaker 3: start with pulling everything out of the pantry. This is
Speaker 3: then also your opportunity to wipe down all of your
Speaker 3: shelves and containers and really freshen everything up. But you're
Speaker 3: not going to be able to get at what you
Speaker 3: want your pantry to look at look like unless we
Speaker 3: can gather it all, get our eyes on everything, and
Speaker 3: then see how do we want to manage it from there,
Speaker 3: and then wiping it down is just an added bonus.
Speaker 3: So it's painful, it's gonna be really messy. You're gonna
Speaker 3: probably want to carve out the better portion of an
Speaker 3: afternoon for this.
Speaker 4: But you got to start there.
Speaker 1: And if it's too overwhelming, or maybe you your pantry
Speaker 1: is just a cabinet or two, just start with one
Speaker 1: shelf in the pantry, one side of the cabinet. Start
Speaker 1: with what you can and get rid of that. Get
Speaker 1: rid of those expired things so they're no longer causing
Speaker 1: you stress. And we go to number to step two.
Speaker 1: Group like items and declutter what you know you won't use.
Speaker 1: And in parentheses, she says, be honest. So this is
Speaker 1: this is you know, real honest transparency. Just get rid
Speaker 1: of what you know you won't use. If you are
Speaker 1: like I think I might use this, then then give
Speaker 1: yourself the challenge to use it in the next two weeks.
Speaker 1: And if you don't use it in the next two weeks,
Speaker 1: then it leaves. It goes on your buy nothing group.
Speaker 3: Yeah yeah, put it somewhere where you're gonna be able
Speaker 3: to see it or even create the meal plan around
Speaker 3: that thing. But then if it's not, if it's nowhere
Speaker 3: near the expiration date, you just know you're not going
Speaker 3: to eat it anymore, then you can give that away
Speaker 3: to a local food pantry or like you said, a
Speaker 3: buy nothing group. I like the groupings that they outlined here.
Speaker 3: If that's kind of something that's hard to get your
Speaker 3: mind around.
Speaker 4: And you've got.
Speaker 3: Can goods mixed with cereal, mixed with condiments. One of
Speaker 3: the things the template she uses is canned goods, including
Speaker 3: even curtains of broth would be one category. Baking supplies
Speaker 3: is another. Snacks is one, different from breads and bagels,
Speaker 3: Separate condiments and spreads. Still not everything. You've still got
Speaker 3: your spices, your vinegars, and oils, but you can kind
Speaker 3: of group.
Speaker 4: It in that way.
Speaker 3: I'm sure there's stuff too on the internet of what
Speaker 3: are the different categories of food that I can be
Speaker 3: partitioning this into. But some of that's also going to
Speaker 3: be your own intuitive processes, knowing where how do you
Speaker 3: move throughout the kitchen and what do you want to
Speaker 3: have near the stove, what do you want to have
Speaker 3: near the fridge, And so that's a good place to start,
Speaker 3: but then freedom to create your own system that's going
Speaker 3: to make your kitchen most efficient for you, which then
Speaker 3: leads us to number three, which is evaluate your kitchen
Speaker 3: setup and your pantry shells to determine where these categories
Speaker 3: should live. They then start to use the term zones,
Speaker 3: having different zones for things, and it's exactly what we're
Speaker 3: describing here. How do you work in the kitchen? Where
Speaker 3: do you want things? This can even be height of things.
Speaker 3: So they describe wanting children snacks to be accessible to
Speaker 3: the kids, So that's going on a lower shelf. Adult
Speaker 3: snacks are going higher. The things that she's cooking with
Speaker 3: are next to the stove. So yeah, think through where
Speaker 3: you want things to live and who needs to access
Speaker 3: them most, and start setting it up in a way
Speaker 3: that makes sense for those zones.
Speaker 1: Yeah, this is actually something I have been reading about
Speaker 1: a lot recently. Like we are literally right now in
Speaker 1: the process of assembling our new kitchen cabinets. Everything is
Speaker 1: out of our pantry. This is the first time in
Speaker 1: my life I've ever had a pantry. Usually I just
Speaker 1: have like an upper two upper cabinets, but so this
Speaker 1: is the first time in my life I have ever
Speaker 1: had a pantry, and I am figuring out what lives
Speaker 1: in the pantry, what lives near the stove, what lives
Speaker 1: near the dishwasher, and kind of going The things I've
Speaker 1: been reading are go with how you usually flow, because
Speaker 1: when you are keeping everything in the pantry, and it
Speaker 1: is a you're having to pull everything out when you're
Speaker 1: cooking and then put everything back in. It's it's going
Speaker 1: to be less likely that you cook, So you want
Speaker 1: the lowest barrier to entry to cook at home. And
Speaker 1: that's a little bit what we're going to talk about
Speaker 1: in the next article. But we don't want to fight.
Speaker 1: We good is the enemy of great? I think is
Speaker 1: that how great's the enemy of good? One of those
Speaker 1: we just kind of want everything to be perfect right
Speaker 1: esthetically pleasing, like what we see on social media, even
Speaker 1: if maybe it's not the most it makes the most
Speaker 1: sense for us. And so I'm right now having to
Speaker 1: go through like, okay, so maybe they say you should
Speaker 1: keep this by the oven, but I actually don't use
Speaker 1: this a lot, so maybe it makes more sense to
Speaker 1: put in the pantry, whereas like my protein powder that
Speaker 1: I'm you know, using every day, having that more like out.
Speaker 1: So that's just something you're going to have to figure
Speaker 1: out for yourself. And they were saying, use sticky notes
Speaker 1: to put on different shelves of the pantry and different
Speaker 1: cabinets when you're kind of going through and organizing so
Speaker 1: that you can a like maybe remember a new setup
Speaker 1: and the people in your family can remember it a
Speaker 1: set up so in the future when they're putting away
Speaker 1: dishes and groceries, they kind of will know. But to
Speaker 1: kind of get a feeling for when you move something around,
Speaker 1: like how it feels.
Speaker 3: Yeah, what needs to have is a But I also
Speaker 3: think we need to take into consideration how certain things
Speaker 3: need to be stored. So some things do better in
Speaker 3: the dark versus out in possible sunlight, you know, like
Speaker 3: possibly your oils and like even just vanilla. I know
Speaker 3: that's very specific, but like you're not going to want
Speaker 3: that out on the counter where the sun's constantly hitting it,
Speaker 3: So that needs to be going somewhere within a shelf.
Speaker 3: So that's another thing to be processing too as you're organizing,
Speaker 3: like what does the best proper food storage for longevity
Speaker 3: look like? And then of course number four is a
Speaker 3: little bit talking to maintenance, but making sure that you're
Speaker 3: putting things back in their zones, keeping like items together,
Speaker 3: which goes hand in hand with what you just mentioned
Speaker 3: Jen about possibly putting up notes where things go as
Speaker 3: you're learning a new system, so that it doesn't become
Speaker 3: just chaotic all over again.
Speaker 4: And you've got.
Speaker 3: Can goods in every possible shelf of your kitchen and
Speaker 3: pastas everywhere, but maintaining it putting it back.
Speaker 1: Yeah. And here's another great thing about a minimalist pantry,
Speaker 1: And another reason it's a great idea is that when
Speaker 1: you're putting groceries away, we put them away in the back,
Speaker 1: not in the front. Yeah, first in, first out, So
Speaker 1: we run it like we are pushing as best to
Speaker 1: our ability, pushing the cans up to the front, and
Speaker 1: then we're putting the new cans in the back. Yes,
Speaker 1: so that the little grocery store.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 1: And when you're when you're overwhelming, you have too many things,
Speaker 1: you can't really push things to the front or slip
Speaker 1: them into the back. And so this is going to
Speaker 1: help reduce waste. Uh, it's going to help make sure
Speaker 1: that we're using everything. We're going to avoid buying things
Speaker 1: that we're not sure if we're going to use, because
Speaker 1: they're going to be in the front. And I would
Speaker 1: say also little stickers that you can put dates on,
Speaker 1: Like if there's been something that you haven't used in
Speaker 1: a while, put a sticker with a date on it. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and say like I have to use this by this
Speaker 1: date or it leaves.
Speaker 3: Yeah, well, I think that was even a zone she
Speaker 3: talked about in this article, that she'll even have a
Speaker 3: zone for what they're gonna meal plan that upcoming week,
Speaker 3: things that might be mirroring expiration date. This is the
Speaker 3: I need to use it this week kind of zone,
Speaker 3: cook with it, implement it, and it may not even
Speaker 3: be in its like typical zone.
Speaker 4: She's got to use up zone too.
Speaker 1: So there's another idea, yeah, which leads to the last one,
Speaker 1: which I love love love only by organizational containers or
Speaker 1: baskets if they will truly make your life easier. Nobody's
Speaker 1: gonna see your pantry. You're typically ninety nine percent of
Speaker 1: us or not opening up our pantries to show people
Speaker 1: on social media. Even in this article. I love that
Speaker 1: the pictures of her pantry are not super like door s,
Speaker 1: like they're just things in shelves. She doesn't even have
Speaker 1: a typical pantry, like a walk in pantry. It's just
Speaker 1: like an open up pantry. It's beautiful because it's when
Speaker 1: I look at her pantry, I am not stressed. It's
Speaker 1: not there's no like plastic container, beauty labels or anything.
Speaker 1: But when I look at it, it doesn't stress me
Speaker 1: out because you can see everything.
Speaker 3: One of my favorite things to do in being able
Speaker 3: to organize and corral things together but not feel like
Speaker 3: I have to spend money, is just using some of
Speaker 3: the cardboard boxes, either from non food items or.
Speaker 4: The food items themselves.
Speaker 3: Like if I happen to get a thing of granola bars,
Speaker 3: I just clip the top off and keep it in
Speaker 3: its container. If there's like a nice cardboard box that
Speaker 3: came with something that then I can like dump other
Speaker 3: little snacks into. Like, there are ways to have organization,
Speaker 3: but it doesn't have to mean that we're spending a
Speaker 3: ton of money on plastic stuff. That said, I do
Speaker 3: think that there could be room for certain items going
Speaker 3: into better sealed containers, like your cereals and maybe your
Speaker 3: snacks that kids are getting into often that are not
Speaker 3: individually packaged.
Speaker 4: I say that for.
Speaker 3: Kids, but my experience is some of our guests have
Speaker 3: been getting it, and we don't keep a ton of
Speaker 3: snacks like cheese. It's is one and chips are another
Speaker 3: that like we keep on hand and then we don't
Speaker 3: eat it very often, but we're very judicious about putting,
Speaker 3: you know, a clip on the bag. Well, we've been
Speaker 3: noticing that when we have a lot of guests in town,
Speaker 3: they'll get into the snacks and they may not close
Speaker 3: up the bag.
Speaker 1: I don't know.
Speaker 4: The chimp clip goes stale.
Speaker 3: So I will say we did just buy a couple
Speaker 3: of containers for some of those like very perishable snacks
Speaker 3: that are not individually packaged, primarily for our guests. And
Speaker 3: if you have children that are like my guests who
Speaker 3: aren't going to seal things up, then maybe containers that
Speaker 3: you don't have to get brand new. You can find
Speaker 3: them at the thrift store. You can find them.
Speaker 4: Uh.
Speaker 3: And yeah, they don't have to be like all the
Speaker 3: aesthetically pleasing whatever, just something that's going to seal it
Speaker 3: up better and help your food to last longer. That
Speaker 3: would be my one vote for getting containers.
Speaker 1: Jenna, she's not talking about No, I'm.
Speaker 4: Not talking about you, Jenna.
Speaker 3: You guys are guests that listen.
Speaker 4: To the show. Did I not close that?
Speaker 3: And truly I don't know who it was because it's
Speaker 3: been forever since we went to Try to Eat. Not
Speaker 3: forever because now you're going to think, oh, that's your problem.
Speaker 3: Not they just truly weren't put away but anyways.
Speaker 1: But yeah, so you just get the organizational containers that
Speaker 1: will support your lifestyle. And you really can't tell what
Speaker 1: those organizational containers are until after you have decluttered the pantry.
Speaker 1: You have created a rhythm for yourself and you've lived
Speaker 1: it for several months, you've kind of you've decided what
Speaker 1: length of you know, quote unquote stockpile am I happy with?
Speaker 1: Is it one year or one month or somewhere in between.
Speaker 1: Everyone's going to have a different level of comfort. Yes,
Speaker 1: And what does my space provide for a lot of
Speaker 1: people in the poll were like, I'd love to have
Speaker 1: a stockpile, but I live in a dinty dinty kitchen.
Speaker 1: So what does your space provide for as well? Because
Speaker 1: some of these organizational containers take up more space than
Speaker 1: they really need to. So get into the rhythm, figure
Speaker 1: out what works for you, and then it's any containers.
Speaker 3: Yeah, don't get all the exercise equipment until you're in
Speaker 3: an exercise routine. Don't get all the containers until you've
Speaker 3: decluttered and organized your pantry and now you know.
Speaker 4: What you need.
Speaker 3: Yes, Okay, So this next article comes from Frugal minimalist kitchen.
Speaker 1: A website to find what we are talking about. This
Speaker 1: is the website.
Speaker 3: And with this one, we just want to go through
Speaker 3: what are some of the pantry staples. Now here's the thing.
Speaker 3: We're going to go through this list and give our
Speaker 3: own little take on it. Mind you, this is not
Speaker 3: a shopping list. This is not a list for you
Speaker 3: to go say, ah, I have to keep a lot
Speaker 3: of dry goods on hand. Now you don't unless you
Speaker 3: cook with dry goods. It's more of an idea of
Speaker 3: what are some of the staple with in dried goods.
Speaker 3: What's a good idea of how many of each of
Speaker 3: these staples I need to be having on hand at
Speaker 3: the end of the day. You're gonna need to answer
Speaker 3: that question for yourself after you've kept a pulse on
Speaker 3: how you cook, what you eat, how often you're at
Speaker 3: home doing these things. But just to get a sense
Speaker 3: for what are some of the things that people generally
Speaker 3: might keep you on here.
Speaker 1: And the way I would interpret this list is I
Speaker 1: would say, so like the first you know on dry goods,
Speaker 1: the first thing hears nuts and seeds, and it's saying
Speaker 1: seeds one to three of chia seeds, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds.
Speaker 1: The way I would interpret this is if I'm looking
Speaker 1: at my pantry and I have five different boxes or
Speaker 1: bags of seeds, then I might say, Okay, I probably
Speaker 1: only need three because unless I'm eating seeds every day five,
Speaker 1: Unless I'm eating seeds five days a week, I probably
Speaker 1: don't need five different seeds, right, So think about how
Speaker 1: many times you're consuming seeds each week. I'm really glad
Speaker 1: seeds is the first thing. You think about how many
Speaker 1: times you're consuming them each week, and then maybe have
Speaker 1: that many okay. Or if you're hearing this list and
Speaker 1: we're like chia seeds and you're like, oh my gosh,
Speaker 1: I eat those all the.
Speaker 4: Time and everything.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and I'm just always buying them when I run out.
Speaker 1: Maybe then next time they are on sale, then you
Speaker 1: buy a stock up. So that's how I would when
Speaker 1: I hear this list, That's how I would process it.
Speaker 4: Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 3: So then the next category would be canned items, beans
Speaker 3: and lentils. So this is where we're talking about canned tomatoes, tomatoes, sauce,
Speaker 3: canned fruit, coconut milk, even canned fish or meat like
Speaker 3: canned chicken, and then your beans and lentils, kidney beans, chickpeas,
Speaker 3: black beans, brown lenel, dried chick piece, dried red lentils,
Speaker 3: dried split piece. That's going to have so much to
Speaker 3: do with how you cook. Are you more a person
Speaker 3: who's going to get the dried stuff and you're going
Speaker 3: to soak it in water and then cook it? Like,
Speaker 3: are you ready for the long process? Are you the
Speaker 3: person who is using the can for your beans and
Speaker 3: lentils and that's the way that you need to be
Speaker 3: supplying and stockpiling. Also, how often are you using can tomatoes,
Speaker 3: can tomato sauce? Are you making a lot of soups
Speaker 3: and stews and maybe pastas, then yeah, that's for you.
Speaker 3: If not, you know the canned items that you purchase
Speaker 3: and start to keep inventory of how often am I
Speaker 3: using these things? What would be better to kind of
Speaker 3: keep in my supply and what don't I really need
Speaker 3: for me?
Speaker 4: Personally?
Speaker 3: I don't ever do canned fruit, nothing against it, It's
Speaker 3: just not in my mo I don't use can fruit,
Speaker 3: I don't eat canned fruit. I don't buy canned fruit,
Speaker 3: even if it's on sale. But I am I'm a
Speaker 3: person who likes me some canned chicken for a buffalo
Speaker 3: chicken DT, So I keep that on hand.
Speaker 1: Yes, it's one of those things think about the recipes
Speaker 1: when you're going to a pot luck or your struggle
Speaker 1: meal recipes that you just feel like really safe making.
Speaker 1: Make sure you have those things on hand at all times. So,
Speaker 1: like she's talking, one of her big things is like,
Speaker 1: how do you know how much pasta to have on hand?
Speaker 1: Or were like how many? Because there's so many different
Speaker 1: types of pasta. So she's saying for grains like, oah,
Speaker 1: have an oat if you do overnight oat, baked oats, whatever.
Speaker 1: Oats are one of the things that I will like
Speaker 1: stock up on at Sam's Club because we do an
Speaker 1: oat some kind of oat thing every week. White rice,
Speaker 1: brown rice. I would say, probably you could pick one
Speaker 1: whatever you love most, and then other grains. So she
Speaker 1: says about two of different other grains, but that's optional.
Speaker 1: If you're not adventurous with your grains, don't worry about it.
Speaker 1: And then she says one long pasta and one short pasta. Again,
Speaker 1: if maybe you're just a I would say short pastas
Speaker 1: are great for kids, like the shells, so we definitely
Speaker 1: have shells and spaghetti all the time. And then lasagna.
Speaker 1: If you make lasagna's keep your lasagna noodles on hand.
Speaker 1: Otherwise that's not a struggle meal. Like, I don't think
Speaker 1: you really need to keep lasagna nudes on hand at
Speaker 1: all times.
Speaker 4: I'm not making my own lasagna, yes, not for me.
Speaker 1: Yeah, but then I further like, choose your dried, choose
Speaker 1: your cand and then yeah, see how it goes.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think two to three types of breakfast cereals.
Speaker 3: That's going to depend on your family size. But be
Speaker 3: aware of how many boxes cereal. I think that's one
Speaker 3: of the number one things just from my own perception
Speaker 3: that gets wasted and families, you make it halfway through
Speaker 3: the box and maybe it's starting to get stale at
Speaker 3: that point because you got so many other options. So
Speaker 3: now you've got five boxes, all of which aren't empty,
Speaker 3: and what are you going to do with it? Because
Speaker 3: none of them taste good anymore. We'd be better off
Speaker 3: to go one to two, plow our way through those
Speaker 3: and then get the different variety that we want. Then, yeah,
Speaker 3: your peanut butter, your corn meal, corn starch, which then
Speaker 3: bleeds into baking supplies and this is going to depend
Speaker 3: on how often you bake.
Speaker 1: I don't bake.
Speaker 3: Yeah, so how much flour, sugar, powdered sugar, baking SODA's
Speaker 3: baking powders, vanilla extract do you need to be keeping
Speaker 3: on hand and not going overboard because these things, while
Speaker 3: they are relatively shelf stable, they do expire, And especially
Speaker 3: when it comes to flour and sugar bags, I don't
Speaker 3: know why this is the way that they've chosen to
Speaker 3: package these items, because there's always little bits of flour
Speaker 3: and sugar coming out of it, which tells me it's
Speaker 3: not that well sealed. So if you live in an area,
Speaker 3: which I think is everywhere that ants or other pests
Speaker 3: could be a problem, that's not a great thing to
Speaker 3: be stockpiling in your pantry. For me, the way that
Speaker 3: I approach it is, I've just got a big jar
Speaker 3: that I keep my flower in, and when it's about
Speaker 3: halfway down is when I will purchase more. But if
Speaker 3: I do feel like, oh okay, it's on sale, I
Speaker 3: want to have more bags, I feel like I've I've
Speaker 3: got to seal it better than how it is currently sealed,
Speaker 3: which is a bummer. So yeah, I'm like putting it
Speaker 3: in a bag of some sort, or maybe wrapping it
Speaker 3: in plastic wrap because I don't want animals to get
Speaker 3: to it and ruin the fact that I got it
Speaker 3: on sale.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and it says that once opened, all purpose flour
Speaker 1: lasts six to eight months, and you can store it
Speaker 1: in the refrigerator last up to a year. White flowers
Speaker 1: like cake flour similarly good for a year. Self rising
Speaker 1: flour is an exception because it contains baking powder. And
Speaker 1: I don't know what the exception is there, but so
Speaker 1: I typically will, like when we did our grocery sale
Speaker 1: cycles episode, I will buy my baking supplies around November
Speaker 1: because it's all on sale, and I will that's when
Speaker 1: I will like get rid of last year's stuff, anything
Speaker 1: left over. But that's really it. I don't do. I mean,
Speaker 1: I need these stuffs. I do have to have sugar
Speaker 1: and flour, baking soda, baking powder for stuff.
Speaker 4: I do, yeah, but not a ton right, So that's agreed. Thing.
Speaker 1: I stuck up on it.
Speaker 4: And I've started making my own vanilla.
Speaker 3: If anyone out there is a baker, you probably already
Speaker 3: know about this. But vanilla is so expensive. It's somewhere
Speaker 3: around twenty bucks for a little bottle these days, and
Speaker 3: vanilla beans are also expensive. But it can be as simple,
Speaker 3: I mean, look up a recipe, but it can be
Speaker 3: as simple as two vanilla beans in a dark container,
Speaker 3: because that is one of those things that you need
Speaker 3: to store in a specific way, Like it's recommended that
Speaker 3: it being a darker glass container with vodka, and then
Speaker 3: you let it sit for a few months and there
Speaker 3: you go. You got vanilla, and then you can just
Speaker 3: keep topping it off. You keep the bean in it,
Speaker 3: and you just keep tapping it off with vanilla and
Speaker 3: let it sit and there you go vanilla extract.
Speaker 1: Oh lovely.
Speaker 4: Yeah. Okay.
Speaker 3: So then my final one to chat about on here
Speaker 3: is the herbs and spices category.
Speaker 4: This one was a.
Speaker 3: Hard call out to me. What did they recommend. They're like,
Speaker 3: we recommend that you only keep about I want to
Speaker 3: say it was like fifteen spices, maybe fifteen to twenty
Speaker 3: spices on Iraq, and maybe I'm right around there, but
Speaker 3: they're kind of describing how most people aren't going to
Speaker 3: be using more than salt, pepper or regano, basil, thyme,
Speaker 3: chili flakes, cayenne chili power, paprika, couman. But you're going
Speaker 3: to know what you use more regularly, Like for some
Speaker 3: you do like your curry powder, garam masala, your turmeric,
Speaker 3: and maybe for others you're just keeping it a little
Speaker 3: bit more simple. But we don't need to feel pressured
Speaker 3: to buy the random spice mixes. Like there's so many
Speaker 3: recipes I use that call for Italian seasoning that I
Speaker 3: almost got trapped into. I don't have Italian seasoning, going
Speaker 3: to have to put that on the list, And then
Speaker 3: you look up what's an Italian seasoning.
Speaker 4: And it's a regano. I'm basil.
Speaker 3: It's all the things I already have on hand. So
Speaker 3: you just make your own little mix. You don't need
Speaker 3: a FAHETA seasoning. You don't need if you've got these
Speaker 3: fifteen to twenty spices already on hand, and just a
Speaker 3: quick Google search of what's a substitute. Speaking of substitutions,
Speaker 3: speaking of dupes, there's so much we can make ourselves
Speaker 3: and also replace fresh herbs with some of these dried herbs. Yeah,
Speaker 3: it might compromise some of the flavor a little bit,
Speaker 3: but not I mean, I love me some fresh herbs,
Speaker 3: but if you don't have them on hand, you don't
Speaker 3: got to run out to the store.
Speaker 1: I kill fresh herbs before I ever go to use them,
Speaker 1: so I'm a dry girl all the way. But yeah,
Speaker 1: I will not buy a spice or herb until I
Speaker 1: have used another one. So that's I have a finite
Speaker 1: space available for herbs and spices, and that's the space.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 1: And if they don't fit there, and I'm not going
Speaker 1: to put them somewhere else, yes, So that's kind of
Speaker 1: my rule. And they should all be as close to
Speaker 1: the oven as possible or they don't get used because
Speaker 1: if they're in the pantry or cabinet that's far away,
Speaker 1: I'm too lazy to go over and get them. They
Speaker 1: have to be for a while. They I had a
Speaker 1: spice rack like screwed into the wall, so they were
Speaker 1: just right there. And now with our new cabinets, I
Speaker 1: made sure to do with pull out spice rack cabinet.
Speaker 4: Yes, I love my pull out spice rack cabess.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and then just whittle it down that I mean basically,
Speaker 3: if there's any takeaway from this section of the article,
Speaker 3: it's in each of these categories. Figure out what you
Speaker 3: use regularly, what you don't use, use up everything you
Speaker 3: have or give it away for free, but then allow
Speaker 3: that to inform what you're purchasing going forward. Don't be
Speaker 3: afraid of substitutions. She talks about that a lot with
Speaker 3: the oils and the vinegars, that there's so many diferent
Speaker 3: substitutions that you can use. If you don't have a
Speaker 3: very specific type of vinegar, Well what vinegar do you
Speaker 3: have on hand? And take to the internet and see
Speaker 3: could that be a substitute in the recipe that you're using?
Speaker 3: What else can be utilized? You can mix and match
Speaker 3: some of these things. I mean, don't tell that to
Speaker 3: the chefs and the writers of these recipes, but for
Speaker 3: so many you don't have to follow it exactly to
Speaker 3: a tee. And then I think what this can lead
Speaker 3: to for us is considering what can we cut out?
Speaker 3: Are there things that we've been purchasing that now that
Speaker 3: we've got a better handle on what we're keeping on hand,
Speaker 3: are cooking has improved or using what we've got. Are
Speaker 3: there certain things that now we're ready to just be
Speaker 3: making ourselves or we don't need This person who wrote
Speaker 3: this article described how they're they really aren't buying chips,
Speaker 3: soda candy anymore. As a result of some of this
Speaker 3: minimalist pantry, they just realized that they're not using it
Speaker 3: that much, so they could cut it out. For me,
Speaker 3: I love chips like it's it's my guilty pleasure. Chips
Speaker 3: will always be a part of my pantry. Maybe there'll
Speaker 3: come a day where it's homemade chips. I'm open to that,
Speaker 3: but chips are not getting cut out. But yeah, similarly
Speaker 3: for me, soda, candy, canned fruit. There's just certain things
Speaker 3: that I know I don't need, so I'm not gonna
Speaker 3: buy it. I'll figure out another way, or I'll figure
Speaker 3: out how to make it myself, which has been really fun,
Speaker 3: like making your own mayonnaise, making your own salad, dressing,
Speaker 3: making your own bread.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm not willing to go do any of that,
Speaker 1: but I think if I could give you one takeaway
Speaker 1: from this episode to just get you over the hump,
Speaker 1: is it doesn't have to be a full take everything
Speaker 1: out and reorganize and minimal minimize. Just take out, like
Speaker 1: reach in the back of your cupboards or pantry and
Speaker 1: pull out like ten items, just ten maybe or three
Speaker 1: to five per week, depending on how big your stockpile is,
Speaker 1: if it's smaller three, If you're one of those people
Speaker 1: that's got like a year worth, pull out five and
Speaker 1: try for April to use three to five of those
Speaker 1: older items each week. And let's cut about twelve to
Speaker 1: twenty items out of the stockpile. If you're feeling if
Speaker 1: again you're opening up cupboards or pantry and you're like,
Speaker 1: I should probably cut a little of this out, then
Speaker 1: let's make a goal twelve to twenty items get used
Speaker 1: up and if they don't get if those items don't
Speaker 1: get used up in April, then they get given away
Speaker 1: in the buy nothing group.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 3: I also like, as far as maintenance goes, doing a
Speaker 3: monthly or quarterly or maybe even just buy annually pantry
Speaker 3: challenge to keep.
Speaker 4: Down the build up.
Speaker 3: If you are prone, if you've got a big family,
Speaker 3: you're prone to collecting a lot of things, then challenge
Speaker 3: yourself to do one of those pantry challenges where you're
Speaker 3: only cooking from your pantry for.
Speaker 4: How a said amount of time. You decide a.
Speaker 3: Week, two weeks, a full month, depending on how much
Speaker 3: you have on hand, and that can be a way
Speaker 3: to maintain all the hard work that you just put in.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and then decide what your pantry staples are, maybe
Speaker 1: like five to ten of them, and create an acronym
Speaker 1: around the first letter of each word, and then let
Speaker 1: us know what it is.
Speaker 3: Oh, and have a list of maybe five recipes that
Speaker 3: you can make with those pantry staples. Yes, just for
Speaker 3: those days when your brain can't think.
Speaker 1: Anymore, not that you could, but that you already do
Speaker 1: and that already feel safe. So let those recipes kind
Speaker 1: of guide your pantry formula and then turn it into
Speaker 1: a fun acronym.
Speaker 3: Do you know what we have a fun acronym for.
Speaker 3: It is our guiding light for this podcast. That is
Speaker 3: a staple.
Speaker 1: Yes, And I'm trying to think of what it is
Speaker 1: an acronym for off the top of my head.
Speaker 4: Well, just it's BOTW for.
Speaker 3: The Bill of the week.
Speaker 2: That's right, It's time for the best minute of your
Speaker 2: entire week. Maybe a baby was born and his name
Speaker 2: is William. Maybe you paid off your mortgage, maybe your
Speaker 2: car died and you're happy to not have to pay
Speaker 2: that bill anymore. Dust bills, Buffalo bills, Bill Clinton, this
Speaker 2: is the bill of the week.
Speaker 5: Hey, Jed and Jill, this is Caitlin I'm a longtime
Speaker 5: listener and I was actually featured on your Debt Free
Speaker 5: YouTube series in early t twenty twenty three. I shared
Speaker 5: a little bit about my journey with student loan debt
Speaker 5: and then getting my master's degree where I actually profited money.
Speaker 5: I had just started on my doctorate at the time
Speaker 5: of that recording, and now I am back to share
Speaker 5: my bill. My final tuition bill for my program was
Speaker 5: paid and then reimbursed by my employer, So between comparing
Speaker 5: and price shopping degree programs for value and institutional grant
Speaker 5: and tuition reimbursement from my employer, I am super happy
Speaker 5: and proud to share that my total out of pocket
Speaker 5: expense for my doctorate in education was zero dollars. That's right,
Speaker 5: I got an advanced degree for free. I just finished
Speaker 5: writing my dissertation and I'm preparing for the final defense.
Speaker 5: I hope by the time this airs, I will officially
Speaker 5: be doctor Caitlin. And since my program is pay per term,
Speaker 5: I have time left in my term to finish a
Speaker 5: post doctoral certificate in organizational leadership, so I will definitely
Speaker 5: be taking advantage of this extra freebee. This is just
Speaker 5: a reminder that a quality education does not have to
Speaker 5: be expensive, and there is a difference between paying for
Speaker 5: an educational experience and paying for an academic program.
Speaker 1: Thanks for all you do, Kate, doctor Katelyn oh girls wisdom.
Speaker 1: So good to hear from you. A. Your story was impressive,
Speaker 1: Like when we interviewed you for Debt Free Stories. We
Speaker 1: have all ten of those stories on our YouTube channel
Speaker 1: if you want to check them out. But gosh, getting
Speaker 1: a doctorate for free and just knowing like there was
Speaker 1: nothing special that you did. You did. It's not like
Speaker 1: you had connections that got you these grants, like from
Speaker 1: your parents or whatever. Like Caitlyn, you did. You did this.
Speaker 4: You deserve that, doctor.
Speaker 1: And I hope it's encouraging to other people who are
Speaker 1: especially in education where things can get really disheartening. Gosh
Speaker 1: that Caitlin was able to do it, and so I
Speaker 1: love that.
Speaker 3: I'm going to butcher it now, but I'm gonna want
Speaker 3: that on another bumper sticker. There's a difference between paying
Speaker 3: for an educational experience versus an.
Speaker 1: Academic program program. Yeah, so true, man woo.
Speaker 3: I mean that's what we're seeing with online programs. Online
Speaker 3: programs can be much less expensive. Some people don't like
Speaker 3: it because they're not getting an experience, but they are
Speaker 3: getting an academic program. Oh man, doctor Caitlin, well done.
Speaker 3: We're celebrating with you. If you all are listening and
Speaker 3: you happen to have gotten your doctorate for free somehow,
Speaker 3: some way, or your name is Bill, and maybe you're
Speaker 3: a professor of one of these academic programs, doctor Bill.
Speaker 3: If you're a doctor Bill, oh, that'd be so fun.
Speaker 3: This Morning Brugal Friends podcast dot com slash Bill to
Speaker 3: leave us your bill. We're ready to listen to it.
Speaker 3: And now it's time for the lighting around.
Speaker 1: Okay, what are your top three pantry staples, the things
Speaker 1: that you always have on hand.
Speaker 3: Everything else can go except these three.
Speaker 1: That is the subline.
Speaker 4: Do you have an answer?
Speaker 1: So mine is definitely spaghetti noodles with that would be Marinera.
Speaker 1: And then I know this is weird, but I think
Speaker 1: it's like coconut milk.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I almost wrote that.
Speaker 1: Yeah, because I use it for so many different things
Speaker 1: like my chicken and rice bakes, my curry. Just that's
Speaker 1: a creaminess.
Speaker 3: It's a good substitute, just when making rice instead of
Speaker 3: water or broth, using coconut milk.
Speaker 1: Ask some mango in it, mango coca nut rice. Ooh,
Speaker 1: it's so good.
Speaker 4: You make it?
Speaker 1: Yes, and then ask some curry with it?
Speaker 4: Whoa it good?
Speaker 3: This does check out because there have been I want
Speaker 3: to say I'll go with one to be conservative, but
Speaker 3: it might have been twice. Now that at some sort
Speaker 3: of Christmas holiday gift exchange, you have brought doodles and
Speaker 3: Marinaia sauce as the gift.
Speaker 1: Once. I did that one time, Jill.
Speaker 3: Okay, then maybe you did it a second time as
Speaker 3: a meal delivery, like when we've signed up amongst our
Speaker 3: friend group, Like somebody needs a meal, you just drop off.
Speaker 4: A box and noodles.
Speaker 1: Oh my gosh, No, I'm pretty sure I'm not an uncooked.
Speaker 4: You think so new you think no?
Speaker 1: No, I at least make it, and I'd use a penney.
Speaker 4: That's better. Yeah, Penny is the elevated pennee.
Speaker 3: Is too carabas what spaghetti is to olive garden? Is that?
Speaker 1: Yes? Okay, wow, but it's just wholesome if you've just
Speaker 1: had a baby or you're sick, like just had surgery,
Speaker 1: Like what do you want? You want a hot bowl
Speaker 1: of carbi goodness?
Speaker 4: Yeah?
Speaker 1: Oh, it's just so comforting. Yeah, and I want to
Speaker 1: make people feel good.
Speaker 4: With your nudes.
Speaker 3: Oh man, I really struggled with this one.
Speaker 4: Here we go. This is what I wrote down.
Speaker 3: I did write down four but rice, beans, salt, and
Speaker 3: if I get to add in flour.
Speaker 1: I don't think salt counts. I think you can replace
Speaker 1: salt with flour.
Speaker 4: Okay.
Speaker 3: Now, as much as I really truly don't bake, but
Speaker 3: I am in my sourdough era, so I'm making a
Speaker 3: lot of bread and to me, this feels like if
Speaker 3: I had these things, I can subsist and even enjoy myself.
Speaker 3: I mean rice and beans. I guess it is the staple,
Speaker 3: but you can make rice and beans taste so yummy. Also,
Speaker 3: I'm assuming we're talking pantry staples, and then you get
Speaker 3: your fresh produce.
Speaker 4: So if you can.
Speaker 3: Add produce into a rice and bean combo just rice,
Speaker 3: just beans, bread, yum, you can self sustain carb goodness.
Speaker 1: I think what the takeaway is is we like carbs, carbs, bread.
Speaker 1: Thank you so much for listening. I hope this helped
Speaker 1: you in if you feel like your pantry or your
Speaker 1: cabinets are a little overwhelming, giving you a step one
Speaker 1: to kind of making it a little bit more minimalist
Speaker 1: and how to maintain that. And then if you feel
Speaker 1: like your kitchen is too small you can't have a stockpile,
Speaker 1: maybe you do have space for a minimalist stockpile. And
Speaker 1: maybe this has helped you kind of see what you
Speaker 1: need to take out and focus on keeping. And so
Speaker 1: if this helped you, we would love if you would
Speaker 1: leave us a review on Apple and Spotify. It really
Speaker 1: helps us. It makes us a feel good. But b
Speaker 1: it's a way you can support the show for free
Speaker 1: and help people find it and get the same help
Speaker 1: that you have received. Kind of like Chelsea, who has
Speaker 1: given us two thumbs up and she says great podcast.
Speaker 1: I love the humor and realness of Gen and Jill
Speaker 1: as they share tips that are actually useful and easy
Speaker 1: to start implementing. Thanks Jay and Jay for changing the
Speaker 1: world one wallet at a time. May we all spend
Speaker 1: less and vacation more.
Speaker 4: What a good takeaway? Yeah, not just spending less for
Speaker 4: the sake of spending less.
Speaker 1: But so we can vacation, So we can vacation bar.
Speaker 4: Thanks everyone for listening.
Speaker 3: If you've got a fun review like Chelsea, is that
Speaker 3: you want to share with us, please do it wherever
Speaker 3: you're listening. Give us a rating and review. It does
Speaker 3: help other new people find us. It just helps us.
Speaker 3: We'd appreciate it.
Speaker 1: Yeah, see you next time.
Speaker 4: Bye.
Speaker 1: Frugal Friends is produced by Eric Siriani. Okay, Jill, this
Speaker 1: is how I know the bread people have gone too far.
Speaker 1: I am now seeing social media posts for celebration loves. No,
Speaker 1: it's sour dough with sprinkles in.
Speaker 4: It, so like they want to take over cake.
Speaker 3: Yeah, they don't want cake to exist anymore.
Speaker 1: Yeah, And I was like, that looks disgusting. It's not
Speaker 1: like a cinnamon loaf. It's not like a sweet loaf.
Speaker 1: It is a loaf of bread with sprinkles, and.
Speaker 3: Well that's all it is, because you could make a
Speaker 3: loaf a little bit more sweet.
Speaker 1: Yeah no, no, I know, it's definitely not a savory loaf.
Speaker 1: But it's just a regular sour dough the at least
Speaker 1: the ones I've been seeing. Maybe some people are still
Speaker 1: living in the real world and they create a sweet,
Speaker 1: you know, a dessert loaf and put sprinkles in it.
Speaker 1: But no, these ones that I'm seeing. And then one
Speaker 1: girl was like, die free celebration loaf and none of
Speaker 1: the die free sprinkles are heat stable, so she takes
Speaker 1: celebration loaf out of the oven and the only color
Speaker 1: left is yellow. Oh fuck, this is everybody's gone too far.
Speaker 1: They've gone too far.
Speaker 4: They have the world's gone insane.
Speaker 3: M So all that to say, you know, but that's
Speaker 3: that's what happens to people. Is we get our hands
Speaker 3: on something good and then we jo in it, take
Speaker 3: it to the bottom.
Speaker 4: Of the ocean and ruin it. Yeah, we just have
Speaker 4: to take it so so far.
Speaker 1: So just know when you start adding sprinkles to your
Speaker 1: sour dough, I'm cutting off your supply of flower heard.
Speaker 1: Thank you.