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Speaker 1: Welcome to How the Money. I'm Joel and I and

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Speaker 1: Matt and today we're discussing cooking at home on a

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Speaker 1: budget with Beth Monsell. Joel, we are all spending a

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Speaker 1: lot more time indoors, getting to know our kitchens a

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Speaker 1: little better, and not going out to restaurants. That's why

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Speaker 1: we're happy to have Beth Moncell joining us today. Before

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Speaker 1: Beth was a food blogger, she was a microbiologist after

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Speaker 1: earning a degree in nutritional science. And now she has

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Speaker 1: a massively popular site called Budget Bites, where you can

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Speaker 1: find simple, delicious recipes that are designed for folks with

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Speaker 1: small budgets. Beth has published a cookbook and she has

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Speaker 1: developed a really cool mobile app as she continues to

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Speaker 1: help others discover the joy of cooking while saving money.

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Speaker 1: After housing and transportation. For most of us, food is

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Speaker 1: our next biggest expense every month. So we're excited to

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Speaker 1: talk with an expert who sits at the intersection of

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Speaker 1: food and money. Beth, thanks so much for joining us

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Speaker 1: on the podcast. Thank you. I'm so excited to be here.

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Speaker 1: You guys, we're so excited to have you. Bet. It's

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Speaker 1: fun to have a food expert because Matt and I

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Speaker 1: we talked about it sometimes, but we don't really know

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Speaker 1: what we're talking about. Let's be honest, I definitely don't

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Speaker 1: know what I'm talking about. But we have a beer

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Speaker 1: on every episode, Beth, because Matt and I really like

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Speaker 1: craft beer, and it's also kind of this intentional thing

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Speaker 1: where we're spending money on the things that matter to

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Speaker 1: us right now while saving well for the future. Today

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Speaker 1: on the show, we're drinking a beer called Whimsical Nature

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Speaker 1: thanks to listener Doug sending in our way and so Bet.

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Speaker 1: The first question we ask every guest is what is

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Speaker 1: your craft beer equivalent? What do you explourage on now

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Speaker 1: while you're still trying to like save and be thoughtful

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Speaker 1: about your money for future times. Um. So, I am

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Speaker 1: a plant person. I love house plants and outside plants,

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Speaker 1: and they can be pretty expensive, but they bring me

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Speaker 1: so much happiness it's totally worth it, even if they

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Speaker 1: end up dying, which a lot of them. But my

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Speaker 1: favorite thing, like you know, if I want to go

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Speaker 1: treat myself is to go to the nursery, pick out

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Speaker 1: a new plant, a really cool planter, and that plant

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Speaker 1: will bring me happiness for a long time. That is awesome.

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Speaker 1: Kate's gonna listen to this episode because she's actually she

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Speaker 1: keeps up with you, you know, on social media and

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Speaker 1: follows your recipes. As she's listening to this, she's gonna

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Speaker 1: do some fist pumps because she totally has gotten into

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Speaker 1: the plants over the past couple of years. And I'm

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Speaker 1: we're totally with you, because sometimes they do die. Like

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Speaker 1: right here behind we've got we've got this one tree

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Speaker 1: that has seen better days. For sure. We're not totally

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Speaker 1: sure why it's so sad, but totally understand it can

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Speaker 1: still bring happiness even though it has less leaves than

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Speaker 1: it used to. I think Beth is Kate's like spirit

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Speaker 1: animal basically to be done with that spirit food bogger whatever. Yeah, well, Beth,

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Speaker 1: we want to kind of dive into kind of your

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Speaker 1: backstory a little bit regarding just with you know, your

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Speaker 1: history with food. Did you grow up cooking? Have you

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Speaker 1: always been a home chef? Yeah, I mean somewhat. I

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Speaker 1: wouldn't call myself a home chef, um, but I did

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Speaker 1: grow up in a big family. We had seven people

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Speaker 1: in our family, so my mom was pretty much cooking

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Speaker 1: NonStop every day, you know, just to keep us fed,

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Speaker 1: So I learned a lot about the basics just by

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Speaker 1: watching her and hanging out in the kitchen while she

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Speaker 1: was cooking. And um I you know, through that experience,

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Speaker 1: learned that cooking can be fun and it can be

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Speaker 1: a way to express yourself artistically. And I've always been

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Speaker 1: a creative type, so I enjoyed that part of cooking.

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Speaker 1: And then I've also always really been into science, so

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Speaker 1: I enjoyed that aspect of it too, Like you know,

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Speaker 1: rainy days, I would experiment with candy making or things

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Speaker 1: like that, which are very, um, you know, science heavy

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Speaker 1: with food. So I did grow up learning the basics.

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Speaker 1: And then, as you mentioned before, I got a degree

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Speaker 1: in nutritional science and that taught me a little bit more,

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Speaker 1: although that really didn't involve cooking too much. I think

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Speaker 1: we only even had one cooking class. But then after graduation,

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Speaker 1: when I started a blog, that's when I really started learning.

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Speaker 1: So over the past ten eleven years that I've been

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Speaker 1: doing this, just forcing myself to try something new every week,

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Speaker 1: that's where I've learned most of my skills. So so

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Speaker 1: what led you to start the budget Bites blog? Then

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Speaker 1: it sounds like it was a learning experience for you,

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Speaker 1: like you were learning how to cook food. It wasn't

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Speaker 1: necessarily just to start teaching out the get go. What

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Speaker 1: what made you started? Right? Yeah? I was definitely a

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Speaker 1: personal project at first, and then after it started, I

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Speaker 1: realized there was a huge need for it, so it

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Speaker 1: kind of transitioned to something I was doing for everyone else.

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Speaker 1: But um so, after I earned my first degree, which

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Speaker 1: was a nutritional science, my student loans went back into

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Speaker 1: repayment and I had decided at that point not to

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Speaker 1: become a registered dietitian. So there I was with like

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Speaker 1: an enormous amount of student debt and working at a

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Speaker 1: job that was like, I don't know, ten or thirteen

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Speaker 1: dollars an hour, which is not enough to cover your

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Speaker 1: basic needs and loans. So I was like, all right,

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Speaker 1: I've already cut out every little bit of extra spending

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Speaker 1: in my budget. The only thing that has any malleability

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Speaker 1: at all was my food budget. Like everything else was

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Speaker 1: a set expense. So I'm like, Okay, I have to

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Speaker 1: cut back somewhere. But I have this degree in nutritional science,

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Speaker 1: so I know how important it is for me to

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Speaker 1: eat good food and eat food that I'm satisfied with

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Speaker 1: so I started really diving deep into how I was

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Speaker 1: spending money on food, and so I started tracking everything,

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Speaker 1: and I think that needs to be the first step

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Speaker 1: for everyone is to actually figure out where your food

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Speaker 1: money is going. And then I started implementing the techniques

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Speaker 1: that we had learned in school in our food service

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Speaker 1: management courses on how to you know, manage the budget

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Speaker 1: of a large food scale operation, like uh, you know,

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Speaker 1: uh commercial kitchen or uh school kitchen, things like that.

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Speaker 1: And I started applying those techniques to my kitchen at home,

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Speaker 1: and that's where everything kind of clicked. So it's things

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Speaker 1: like reducing your food waste, um, making sure you have

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Speaker 1: a plan for everything you buy, you know, stuff like that.

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Speaker 1: So I started doing that at home, and I started

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Speaker 1: getting really excited about the things I was cooking and

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Speaker 1: how cheap they actually were when you actually take the

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Speaker 1: time to figure out how much it costs to make

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Speaker 1: a pot of soup or something. And I posted that

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Speaker 1: on my personal Facebook and people started asking for the

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Speaker 1: recipes and I was like, hmmm, maybe I should put

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Speaker 1: this stuff online. And I didn't even really know what

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Speaker 1: a blog was at that time. It just like knew

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Speaker 1: the words. So I started googling how to start a blog,

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Speaker 1: and I went from there and it just has not

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Speaker 1: stopped since. I feel like back then there was just

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Speaker 1: like Deuce and like Cup of Joe, like the o

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Speaker 1: G bloggers that I feel like everybody. I mean I

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Speaker 1: was familiar with them too, but like two years ago,

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Speaker 1: like those were I mean, those were huge blogs kind

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Speaker 1: of sparked that whole revolution. Yeah, it is funny because

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Speaker 1: when I started, I thought food blogging was staturated at

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Speaker 1: that point. Little did you know part could go. Yeah. So,

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Speaker 1: I mean, so one of the cool things that you

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Speaker 1: do on your site is like you incorporate so obviously

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Speaker 1: you have these recipes and they keep cost in mind,

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Speaker 1: but you actually incorporate the price of you know, not

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Speaker 1: only the ingredients, but like what the cost comes out

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Speaker 1: to per serving. What led you to do that? Is

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Speaker 1: it just because that's what you're tracking yourself, and you

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Speaker 1: saw the need for that because there aren't a lot

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Speaker 1: of other recipe blogs who present that information like you do. Yeah. So,

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Speaker 1: I think a reason most other blogs don't do it

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Speaker 1: is because that pricing information is not going to be

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Speaker 1: the same for anybody else. Prices very so much like

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Speaker 1: even from storage store within a city or from city

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Speaker 1: to see, even day to day. I worked in a

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Speaker 1: grocery store, so I saw how often prices changed on items.

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Speaker 1: But the reason I'm including it is just for example purposes,

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Speaker 1: so people can see how much one single ingredient can

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Speaker 1: totally skew the price of an entire recipe. So UM,

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Speaker 1: I started doing this because this is the method that's

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Speaker 1: used in commercial kitchens to figure out how much their

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Speaker 1: food should cost and how much it is costing them,

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Speaker 1: so they know how much, you know, like profit to

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Speaker 1: make off of it. And I think it's a really

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Speaker 1: good technique to use at home too. So when you

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Speaker 1: start doing that, you see which ingredients you can have

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Speaker 1: a little bit more leniency with, which are going to

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Speaker 1: be your inexpensive based ingredients like the pasta, the rice

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Speaker 1: of beans, inexpensive vegetables, and which ingredients you need to

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Speaker 1: be really careful about how much you use, like cheese

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Speaker 1: and meat and nuts and stuff like that. So I

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Speaker 1: think it's a really important lesson for people to learn,

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Speaker 1: So I want to give that example. UM. I think

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Speaker 1: it's even better if people try it themselves at least once,

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Speaker 1: because it can be a really eye opening experience, But

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Speaker 1: I want to have that example out there for people

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Speaker 1: just so they can at least see it very cool. Yeah, Beth,

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Speaker 1: you said that you worked at the grocery store, So

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Speaker 1: as an insider, what would you say for us normal

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Speaker 1: folks going to the grocery store? Are the biggest things

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Speaker 1: that you saw in play that part people from their

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Speaker 1: money as they go about shopping, and so like, how

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Speaker 1: can we actually save money the grocery store? As someone

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Speaker 1: who worked in one, yeah, so I think that was

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Speaker 1: a really valuable experience for me because the grocery store

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Speaker 1: I worked at was Whole Foods and also known as

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Speaker 1: Whole Paycheck. But if you know you're looking for there,

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Speaker 1: you can actually get some really great deals, even at

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Speaker 1: a place like Whole Foods. So the way that people

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Speaker 1: end up blowing all their money is the impulse purchases

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Speaker 1: or Trader Joe's and Whole Foods and grocery stores like that.

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Speaker 1: And I think regular grocery stores are kind of getting

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Speaker 1: on board with this. They are making food more of

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Speaker 1: an experience. They're getting you with these really fun foods,

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Speaker 1: the prepackaged like, oh, that looks like it would be

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Speaker 1: so much fun to eat. For dinner, so people are

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Speaker 1: going there and having these food experiences instead of just

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Speaker 1: getting like basics implies. You know, so if you stick

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Speaker 1: to the basics and you have a plan, you won't

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Speaker 1: blow your budget. Beth, you mentioned budgeting and how you

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Speaker 1: started with tracking your expenses, you know, when it went

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Speaker 1: to groceries, Like, do you still do that now for

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Speaker 1: folks or I mean, is that what you recommend or

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Speaker 1: is there a like maybe a per person amount that

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Speaker 1: folks should be shooting for. Like, so I mentioned that

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Speaker 1: because I'm a super number numbers nerd and I've tracked

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Speaker 1: my family's grocery budget over the past ten years and

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Speaker 1: we have consistently very normal thing to do, super normal

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Speaker 1: to do. Yeah, and so like I know, for us,

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Speaker 1: we average about a dollar per person per meal. Um,

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Speaker 1: and that hasn't really changed as we've added kids and

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Speaker 1: we're super cheap, we're pretty frugal. But do you recommend

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Speaker 1: that for folks to shoot for a dollar amounts or

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Speaker 1: should they take other things into consideration? Um? Well, I

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Speaker 1: don't think I would recommend one general amount for anybody

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Speaker 1: because everyone is so different. Not only do you have

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Speaker 1: different sized bodies that require different amounts of foods um.

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Speaker 1: But everyone has a different budget and different lifestyle, so

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Speaker 1: when you're thinking about your food budget, you do need

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Speaker 1: to take into consideration not only how much food you need,

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Speaker 1: but how much convenience you need, and that mix is

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Speaker 1: going to be different for everybody. So I think the

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Speaker 1: first thing that you need to do is track how

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Speaker 1: much you're spending on food, not just groceries, but eating

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Speaker 1: out for I would say at least a month. Just

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Speaker 1: do it once just so you know what you're starting

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Speaker 1: point is, and then set a goal and go from there.

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Speaker 1: And you can set multiple goals, like small goals at first,

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Speaker 1: with one large goal, or you can you know, shoot

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Speaker 1: straight for the stars. But I think it's a lot

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Speaker 1: better people start small. You know, you have a high

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Speaker 1: rate of success that way, But you can figure out

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Speaker 1: what your goal is that way, like how much you

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Speaker 1: need to spend personally for your own lifestyle and your

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Speaker 1: own body needs, because like I said, it's just gonna

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Speaker 1: be different for everybody. Yeah, Beth, let's let's set up

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Speaker 1: this fictitious scenario where someone has had a long day

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Speaker 1: at work and they're not sure what to cook for dinner.

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Speaker 1: Nobody really actually experiences that on a day to day

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Speaker 1: basis is totally ficti. They've just made this up right,

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Speaker 1: very hypothetical. Right, Well, what recipe is there that prevents

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Speaker 1: people from grabbing the easy takeout on the way home?

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Speaker 1: Because speaking of budgets, like, that's something that blows our

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Speaker 1: budget right the last minute going out to dinner or

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Speaker 1: pick something up on the way home, or even worse,

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Speaker 1: grub having it because the delivery fees are atronomical. So like,

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Speaker 1: what are your favorite quick and easy meals to prevent

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Speaker 1: us from taking the quick, easy, but expensive option. Yes,

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Speaker 1: there's so many things that you can do that are

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Speaker 1: going to be just as fast or faster than getting

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Speaker 1: take out, and it's gonna taste way better. So I

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Speaker 1: think probably the easiest thing is some sort of stir fry.

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Speaker 1: The reason that those are so popular with takeout is

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Speaker 1: because they're so fast and easy and you can literally

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Speaker 1: put anything into them. So you can do that at

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Speaker 1: home to grab whatever leftover vegetables you have in your fridge,

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Speaker 1: chop them up, throw them in a really hot skillet

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Speaker 1: for like two minutes. If you want to do some

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Speaker 1: sort of meat or like you know, frozen tramp or something,

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Speaker 1: you can throw those in there too, And then the

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Speaker 1: sauce first or fry is so simple, just some soy sauce,

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Speaker 1: maybe some chili garlic sauce and maybe a little brown

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Speaker 1: sugar to kind of balance those flavors and that's all

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Speaker 1: you need. Pop that over some rice and you're like

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Speaker 1: done in fifteen minutes. So something like that. Or you

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Speaker 1: can go like the roasted vegetable and meat drought like again,

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Speaker 1: whatever vegetables you have, throw them in a hot oven

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Speaker 1: with a little oil and like whatever your favorite seasoning is,

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Speaker 1: and you know, roast those and while the roasting, cook

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Speaker 1: up some meat and you have like a really balanced

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Speaker 1: dinner with like zero effort. That sounds amazing. Yeah, so mean,

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Speaker 1: is this something that you do personally? Like is this

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Speaker 1: something you do yourself? Well? So these days the only

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Speaker 1: thing I eat are leftovers from my photo shoots and

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Speaker 1: like recipe testing, so I really know the life of

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Speaker 1: a recipe cookbook. Like we don't cook for ourselves at

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Speaker 1: home like ever anymore. It's just like whatever I have

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Speaker 1: left over from that day's photo shoot, that's what it

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Speaker 1: gets eaten. But that's not that's not a terrible life

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Speaker 1: to live, No, not at all. It's a it's a

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Speaker 1: pretty perk of the job. Well the sturfright certainly that

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Speaker 1: that description kind of had me getting a little hungry

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Speaker 1: right there. Yeah, Actually, like the way you're describing, I

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Speaker 1: was like, wow, that does sound so I could totally

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Speaker 1: do that because my wife is for sure like the

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Speaker 1: the you know, she does all the cooking for our

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Speaker 1: family and she loves it. It's one of her passions.

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Speaker 1: But I hear you say this, I'm like, oh, that

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Speaker 1: sounds like that's totally something I could do. And I'm

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Speaker 1: a complete novice, so yeah, if it sounded like something

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Speaker 1: I can do, then it's probably something that pretty much

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Speaker 1: everybody can do. Awesome. Well, Beth, you know you you

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Speaker 1: hinted that some of these different practices basically that you're

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Speaker 1: able to that you learned when it came to these

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Speaker 1: commercial applications of cooking, like just being in the food industry.

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Speaker 1: And so after the break, we're gonna talk about maybe

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Speaker 1: some different ways that we can take these different strategies

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Speaker 1: and approaches and apply those two cooking at home, and

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Speaker 1: how we can use those practices to save us money.

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Speaker 1: We'll get to that right after the break. We're back

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Speaker 1: from the break, we're talking with death Monsell about cooking

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Speaker 1: at home on a budget, which, I gotta be honest,

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Speaker 1: pretty much all of us can stand to learn something

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Speaker 1: from this conversation. Well, and by the way, we're calling

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Speaker 1: you Beth Mondseell. But like, do folks call you budget bites?

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Speaker 1: Because I mean you're known online as budget bites. I

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Speaker 1: think most people call me Beth actually know anyway, I

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Speaker 1: don't see people just call Matt. How the money? Now?

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Speaker 1: So like how the money? Matt? No, not really but

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Speaker 1: all right, So, Beth, we were just talking about the

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Speaker 1: expense of you know, the quick meal, picking it up

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Speaker 1: on the way home because you don't want to cook something. Well,

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Speaker 1: I've heard it said be or some people have this

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Speaker 1: reaction to eating at home and they say, eating well

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Speaker 1: at home is too expensive and there's all these reasons

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Speaker 1: that I can't do it because buying the better products

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Speaker 1: at the grocery store cost too much money. So what

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Speaker 1: would you say to people that say that eating well

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Speaker 1: at home costs too much? Well, I think it depends

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Speaker 1: on what their definition of well is. Do they just

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Speaker 1: mean tasty or are they talking about ingredients that are

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Speaker 1: like locally sourced and things like that. Um, so it's

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Speaker 1: going to depend a little bit on that. But I

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Speaker 1: think the main thing is I think they're probably just

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Speaker 1: choosing their wrong recipes. If you just keep it really

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Speaker 1: simple and stick to really basic, simple ingredients and less

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Speaker 1: package stuff, your bill is going to be lower than

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Speaker 1: eating out, like, no question. I mean, because when you're

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Speaker 1: eating out, you're paying for the communians with someone else

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Speaker 1: making it for you. You buy the single ingredients on

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Speaker 1: their own, and you spend fifteen thirty minutes putting together,

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Speaker 1: and it's a fraction of the cost. Even when you

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Speaker 1: go for those higher price items like organic or you know,

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Speaker 1: something local. There's just no question about it. If you're

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Speaker 1: trying to make really fancy things like beef wellington, maybe

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Speaker 1: it's gonna be really expensive. But those aren't the only

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Speaker 1: foods that are good. I mean, really basic cuisine is delicious,

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Speaker 1: especially when you're making it at home because it's fresh. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: I will say, you had dule over your salivating talking

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Speaker 1: about veggies and stir fry when normally he is a

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Speaker 1: kind of beef welling. Well. Yeah, Like, what are some

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Speaker 1: other ways than that we can reduce that cost? You

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Speaker 1: know that we're able to maintain a pretty slim budget

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Speaker 1: at home, you know, while we're cooking nutritious meals that

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Speaker 1: we're proud of. Yeah. So it's funny because people always

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Speaker 1: say that eating healthy is really expensive, But the same

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Speaker 1: principles that I learned for eating healthy in my degree

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Speaker 1: for nutritial science are the exact same principles that I

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Speaker 1: use for cooking on a budget, and those are things

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Speaker 1: like sticking to whole grains, beans, and vegetables. So people

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Speaker 1: like vegetables are so expensive, but they don't have to be.

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Speaker 1: I think they're expensive when you are focusing on the

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Speaker 1: really trendy, like super foods, but that totally discounts how

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Speaker 1: valuable really basic vegetables are, like sweet potatoes, carrots, onions, cabbage.

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Speaker 1: Those are all like a dollar a pound, which is

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Speaker 1: a fraction of what something like ground beef costs, and

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Speaker 1: they're super healthy. You fill up your diet with those things,

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Speaker 1: and you're gonna be sitting pretty, you know, and not

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Speaker 1: spending a lot of money. Yeah. Speaking of the principles

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Speaker 1: that you follow, Beth, you kind of did a write

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Speaker 1: up on your website of some of the principles that

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Speaker 1: you follow in order to reduce how much you spend

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Speaker 1: on food and how other people can kind of do

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Speaker 1: the same. One of the things you mentioned is is

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Speaker 1: planning your meals ahead. So can you talk to us

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Speaker 1: a little bit about meal prep or make a head

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Speaker 1: meals and how those can help us save money. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: I think the planning a head thing is really important.

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Speaker 1: Even aside from meal meal prep. It's when you go

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Speaker 1: to the grocery store without having any sort of plan

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Speaker 1: in mind, You're just gonna grab a bunch of random things.

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Speaker 1: Those things will probably go to waste because you didn't

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Speaker 1: have a plan to use them in the first place,

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Speaker 1: or you didn't have a set plan, so you might

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Speaker 1: be missing other ingredients that you need. So even if

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Speaker 1: you pick like one or two recipes a week that

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Speaker 1: you know you're gonna make and plan when you're going

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Speaker 1: to make them so that you actually do um, that's

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Speaker 1: gonna save you so much money and you know you

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Speaker 1: won't be tempted to go eat out those nights or

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Speaker 1: whenever you eating the leftovers. So having the plan before

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Speaker 1: you go into the grocery store is so important. And

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Speaker 1: then as far as meal prep goes, this is really

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Speaker 1: just something that I like to do personally. It's not

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Speaker 1: for everyone, um, but I really appreciate having leftovers. Kind

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Speaker 1: of like we were saying before, it's it's another way

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Speaker 1: to prevent those busy nights where you want to order

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Speaker 1: Postmates or something because you're just too tired to cook.

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Speaker 1: So I like to cook batch meals of things like

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Speaker 1: soups and stews, pasta, diicious things that I can freeze

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Speaker 1: single serving portions of. And if I have a variety

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Speaker 1: of those stashed in my freezer, if I get to

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Speaker 1: a night where I'm just like too tired to cook,

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Speaker 1: I can grab something out of the freezer, something homemade,

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Speaker 1: something delicious, something I know I love, and reheat it

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Speaker 1: really quickly in the microwave and I don't spend any

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Speaker 1: eggtra money that way. I love leftovers, Like I'm with you,

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Speaker 1: Like every day I work from home, and so I

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Speaker 1: come walking out of my office, I can come to

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Speaker 1: back to the house and I take a look at

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Speaker 1: in the fridge and I'm just always looking for just

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Speaker 1: a solid leftover from the past day or a couple

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Speaker 1: of days ago. And specifically, I feel like for me,

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Speaker 1: at least, the best way, I always fry up an egg,

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Speaker 1: and ideally I can find a leftover that I can

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Speaker 1: put a fried egg on top. It's like, yes, the

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Speaker 1: unofficial slogan is put an egg on it, like land

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Speaker 1: where they're like put a bird on it. I'm like,

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Speaker 1: I can put a fried egg on pretty much anything.

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Speaker 1: I'm like, hey, Kate, check this out. I made this.

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Speaker 1: Rolls her eyes at me. Well, So when it comes

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Speaker 1: to like meal prep, that's how you describe batch cooking, right,

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Speaker 1: Like you're making all these single serve things ahead of time.

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Speaker 1: Do you have a strategy and approach for like portioning

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Speaker 1: that out? And I'm talking about the actual containers, Like

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Speaker 1: do you use tupperware that's like it's like made to

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Speaker 1: you handle like a full meal? Or do you use glass?

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Speaker 1: Do you use like the like the cheap circle you know,

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Speaker 1: industry containers that you can buy like pieces at once.

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Speaker 1: So I think I'm going to write a blog post

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Speaker 1: about this soon because everyone struggles with tupperware. Yeah. So

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Speaker 1: I started out with the blue zip top or blue

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Speaker 1: zip block containers, you know what I'm talking about, Like

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Speaker 1: you can buy them the packs of like four or

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Speaker 1: six and the store. I still really like those because

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Speaker 1: they are very durable, they're super inexpensive. They come in

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Speaker 1: a bunch of different shapes and sizes. They can go

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Speaker 1: straight from the freezer to the microwave. UM I find

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Speaker 1: those are really useful. But I have also gotten into

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Speaker 1: the glass containers, and I like the really simple ones

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Speaker 1: made by either Pyrex or anchor Hackeing I think is

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Speaker 1: the other brand that makes a really good priced UM

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Speaker 1: glass container. So they don't have any a shield, bells

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Speaker 1: and whistles like dividers or anything. The lids are really

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Speaker 1: simple plane lids. They don't have like clamps on over anything,

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Speaker 1: but there's still water tight. So I think those really

431
00:21:09,680 --> 00:21:12,640
Speaker 1: simple glass containers are awesome, and those are my two

432
00:21:12,680 --> 00:21:16,040
Speaker 1: big choices. I don't like those black containers that a

433
00:21:16,119 --> 00:21:18,280
Speaker 1: lot of people use for meal prep that you buy

434
00:21:18,280 --> 00:21:21,199
Speaker 1: in packs of twenty, like you were saying, because you know,

435
00:21:21,280 --> 00:21:24,080
Speaker 1: the main reason is because they feel cheap and gross,

436
00:21:24,200 --> 00:21:25,960
Speaker 1: and your meal is just not going to be very

437
00:21:26,000 --> 00:21:28,680
Speaker 1: enjoyable when you're eating it off of a gross plastic

438
00:21:28,760 --> 00:21:33,200
Speaker 1: tray like you're in a school cafeteria. Right, Yeah, I

439
00:21:33,240 --> 00:21:34,560
Speaker 1: feel like so much of that does have to do

440
00:21:34,640 --> 00:21:37,280
Speaker 1: the experience. I think back to my bachelor days, I

441
00:21:37,320 --> 00:21:40,879
Speaker 1: would throw everything in ziplock bags and man leftovers in

442
00:21:40,880 --> 00:21:43,560
Speaker 1: a ziplock bag. Just don't do it for me, you know, Like,

443
00:21:43,600 --> 00:21:45,320
Speaker 1: who wants to see a bunch of mashed potatoes like

444
00:21:45,359 --> 00:21:48,080
Speaker 1: smear down the side of a nipluck bag, Like it's

445
00:21:48,119 --> 00:21:50,200
Speaker 1: going to encourage you to not eat that stuff. Yeah,

446
00:21:50,359 --> 00:21:52,399
Speaker 1: when I see people eating up the paper plates, I

447
00:21:52,400 --> 00:21:56,760
Speaker 1: get really sad. I'm like, oh, that looks so unenjoyable, totally.

448
00:21:57,640 --> 00:21:59,679
Speaker 1: So speaking of the containers, that you put them in,

449
00:22:00,440 --> 00:22:03,960
Speaker 1: containers that go well in the freezer is a great thing, right,

450
00:22:04,000 --> 00:22:07,240
Speaker 1: so that you can store for the future. So how

451
00:22:07,280 --> 00:22:10,080
Speaker 1: long in your opinion, can food typically last in the

452
00:22:10,119 --> 00:22:11,960
Speaker 1: fridge before you have to move it to the freezer?

453
00:22:12,000 --> 00:22:14,080
Speaker 1: And then what are the foods that are kind of

454
00:22:14,400 --> 00:22:18,640
Speaker 1: perfect candidates to buy and freeze as you're kind of

455
00:22:18,840 --> 00:22:23,560
Speaker 1: prepping for food in the future. So when you are

456
00:22:23,560 --> 00:22:26,600
Speaker 1: planning to freeze something, you want to freeze it sooner

457
00:22:26,640 --> 00:22:29,280
Speaker 1: than later because the longer it stays in the refrigerator,

458
00:22:29,440 --> 00:22:33,240
Speaker 1: the more likely things are to grow on it, basically,

459
00:22:33,440 --> 00:22:35,199
Speaker 1: so you want to catch it at its freshest, but

460
00:22:35,200 --> 00:22:37,440
Speaker 1: you don't want to chill it completely in the refrigerator first,

461
00:22:37,480 --> 00:22:41,320
Speaker 1: So I usually say overnight because that will help maintain

462
00:22:41,359 --> 00:22:44,360
Speaker 1: the quality after it's freeze frozen and thought, so chill

463
00:22:44,400 --> 00:22:47,160
Speaker 1: it overnight in refrigerator and then you know, pick however,

464
00:22:47,240 --> 00:22:50,400
Speaker 1: main servings you wanna freeze, pop them in the freezer,

465
00:22:50,520 --> 00:22:51,879
Speaker 1: and then they're going to be good in the freezer

466
00:22:51,960 --> 00:22:54,600
Speaker 1: for about three months, sometimes longer. So what happens in

467
00:22:54,680 --> 00:22:56,720
Speaker 1: the freezer is that food just kind of slowly dries

468
00:22:56,760 --> 00:22:59,320
Speaker 1: out over time and gets that freezer burn. So I

469
00:22:59,400 --> 00:23:02,760
Speaker 1: usually reckon then three months, but I am you know,

470
00:23:02,960 --> 00:23:05,200
Speaker 1: admittedly I eat things that are in their way longer

471
00:23:05,280 --> 00:23:07,600
Speaker 1: than three months. So it just depends on what your

472
00:23:07,640 --> 00:23:10,640
Speaker 1: tolerance is for a texture and flavor changes. And then

473
00:23:10,720 --> 00:23:13,920
Speaker 1: things that you can buy and stash in the freezer.

474
00:23:14,040 --> 00:23:17,480
Speaker 1: So definitely um expensive things like meat, if you want

475
00:23:17,480 --> 00:23:19,639
Speaker 1: to buy a larger quantity of meat, usually get a

476
00:23:19,680 --> 00:23:21,399
Speaker 1: better price. So what I do is like buy a

477
00:23:21,480 --> 00:23:25,160
Speaker 1: larger pack and then I divide it into single recipe portions,

478
00:23:25,200 --> 00:23:26,600
Speaker 1: pop that in the freezer, and then I could just

479
00:23:26,640 --> 00:23:29,120
Speaker 1: grab one out whenever I need to make something. Cheese

480
00:23:29,160 --> 00:23:31,639
Speaker 1: is also a great thing to keep in the freezer

481
00:23:31,680 --> 00:23:33,840
Speaker 1: because again it's less expensive if you buy a larger

482
00:23:33,880 --> 00:23:37,240
Speaker 1: quantity and it freezes super well. Um, most of the time,

483
00:23:37,280 --> 00:23:41,919
Speaker 1: you can't tell any difference with the frozen and thought cheese.

484
00:23:41,960 --> 00:23:44,359
Speaker 1: The only thing it's not good for is slicing because

485
00:23:44,359 --> 00:23:45,960
Speaker 1: it gets a little bit more crumbly, so you're not

486
00:23:45,960 --> 00:23:48,560
Speaker 1: gonna want to make sandwich slices out of it. But

487
00:23:48,720 --> 00:23:50,840
Speaker 1: for everything else it's perfect. And there are a lot

488
00:23:50,880 --> 00:23:53,240
Speaker 1: of other things like breads I like to keep frozen

489
00:23:53,280 --> 00:23:56,560
Speaker 1: since I don't eat them very quickly, so to prevent

490
00:23:56,600 --> 00:23:58,639
Speaker 1: them from getting moldy, I just stash them in the

491
00:23:58,640 --> 00:24:00,600
Speaker 1: freezer and grab a slice or two out whenever I

492
00:24:00,640 --> 00:24:03,680
Speaker 1: needed things like that. So you're just talking about buying

493
00:24:03,680 --> 00:24:06,200
Speaker 1: things in bulk sometimes, like buying cheese or something like that.

494
00:24:07,080 --> 00:24:09,480
Speaker 1: Which are So do you shop at Costco? How do

495
00:24:09,480 --> 00:24:11,120
Speaker 1: you feel about the warehouse clubs as a place where

496
00:24:11,119 --> 00:24:14,359
Speaker 1: people to go in order to buy food and save money. Um, so,

497
00:24:14,400 --> 00:24:16,000
Speaker 1: I'm really not a fan of them, But I think

498
00:24:16,080 --> 00:24:18,359
Speaker 1: that's just a person. I think we just became not friends.

499
00:24:19,600 --> 00:24:23,200
Speaker 1: Well here's the reason, since it's just me and my boyfriend,

500
00:24:23,200 --> 00:24:25,320
Speaker 1: and for a long time it was just me, I

501
00:24:25,400 --> 00:24:28,760
Speaker 1: don't I just didn't need that much stuff, you know

502
00:24:28,760 --> 00:24:33,200
Speaker 1: what I mean. So like having to pay the membership fee,

503
00:24:33,240 --> 00:24:34,840
Speaker 1: I don't think really would have paid off for me.

504
00:24:34,880 --> 00:24:36,520
Speaker 1: If you have a big family, I think it could

505
00:24:36,640 --> 00:24:39,119
Speaker 1: totally be great. But if you don't have a lot

506
00:24:39,119 --> 00:24:41,359
Speaker 1: of storage space too, that's another issue, which is something

507
00:24:41,440 --> 00:24:44,240
Speaker 1: I've never really had a lot of storage space, whether

508
00:24:44,280 --> 00:24:47,240
Speaker 1: it be just in my kitchen or apartment in general,

509
00:24:47,400 --> 00:24:49,520
Speaker 1: or even in my freezer. So again, buying in bulk

510
00:24:49,600 --> 00:24:53,400
Speaker 1: wasn't really you know, a good option, but buying slightly

511
00:24:53,480 --> 00:24:56,199
Speaker 1: larger quantities at a regular grocery store, not like at

512
00:24:56,200 --> 00:25:00,240
Speaker 1: a normal storage like at a non bulk store. It's

513
00:25:00,240 --> 00:25:03,160
Speaker 1: still a little bit more than you know, their normal packages,

514
00:25:03,320 --> 00:25:05,600
Speaker 1: but it's not such a huge quantity that you're gonna

515
00:25:05,640 --> 00:25:08,080
Speaker 1: have storage issues. Yeah, Joel showing it up to his

516
00:25:08,160 --> 00:25:11,159
Speaker 1: house with like thirty pounds of turkey. Look, Emily, I've

517
00:25:11,160 --> 00:25:13,240
Speaker 1: got thirty pounds of turkey. She's like, that's great. What

518
00:25:13,760 --> 00:25:15,919
Speaker 1: have we gonna do with that every night for the

519
00:25:15,920 --> 00:25:18,960
Speaker 1: next two years? Right? Right? Uh? Well, that that leads

520
00:25:19,000 --> 00:25:20,880
Speaker 1: us to ask them like where, like where are your

521
00:25:21,000 --> 00:25:24,520
Speaker 1: your favorite places to shop for your different ingredients? Yeah, so,

522
00:25:24,760 --> 00:25:26,400
Speaker 1: I mean this has changed a lot over the years.

523
00:25:26,440 --> 00:25:29,080
Speaker 1: I've been doing this for eleven years. I think now

524
00:25:29,280 --> 00:25:32,200
Speaker 1: So my current favorite is Aldi. I finally moved to

525
00:25:32,240 --> 00:25:35,479
Speaker 1: a city that has an Aldi two years ago, and

526
00:25:35,560 --> 00:25:39,359
Speaker 1: it's very close to my house and I am loving it. Man, Okay,

527
00:25:39,400 --> 00:25:43,359
Speaker 1: so you're no longer friends with Joel because he's totally

528
00:25:43,359 --> 00:25:46,480
Speaker 1: in love with Costco. But we're in the Aldi family.

529
00:25:46,520 --> 00:25:48,760
Speaker 1: We've got one. It's like maybe two miles from our house.

530
00:25:48,760 --> 00:25:50,680
Speaker 1: It's not even that not even that far, but like

531
00:25:50,720 --> 00:25:52,600
Speaker 1: I can ride my bike there. We got an Aldi

532
00:25:52,640 --> 00:25:56,960
Speaker 1: tattoo on his back like Superman, just except for it's

533
00:25:56,960 --> 00:25:59,280
Speaker 1: on my back. You're right, Yeah, No, I love my

534
00:25:59,280 --> 00:26:01,200
Speaker 1: little Aldie. I love that it's small so I can

535
00:26:01,240 --> 00:26:03,960
Speaker 1: like get in and out without having like this huge ordeal.

536
00:26:04,040 --> 00:26:05,879
Speaker 1: Like I think that's another reason why Costco is not

537
00:26:06,040 --> 00:26:09,640
Speaker 1: for me, Like it's just too much to deal. But yeah,

538
00:26:09,640 --> 00:26:12,320
Speaker 1: it's it's colost convenient and easy, and I love that

539
00:26:12,359 --> 00:26:14,440
Speaker 1: they have like a mix of the basics and then

540
00:26:14,480 --> 00:26:17,399
Speaker 1: also kind of like more trendy items, Like there's a

541
00:26:17,440 --> 00:26:20,040
Speaker 1: lot of gluten free, a lot of organic. They're some

542
00:26:20,119 --> 00:26:21,760
Speaker 1: fun stuff, but not so much that I'm going to

543
00:26:21,840 --> 00:26:25,119
Speaker 1: blow my grocery budget. Yeah, it's a good place, so

544
00:26:25,119 --> 00:26:27,680
Speaker 1: I'm not Yeah, what items do you like to get

545
00:26:28,280 --> 00:26:30,480
Speaker 1: organic or and like what items you know, do you

546
00:26:30,520 --> 00:26:33,600
Speaker 1: just not care about getting organic? So this is interesting.

547
00:26:33,680 --> 00:26:38,760
Speaker 1: Last year I did a partnership with stony Field Organic

548
00:26:38,800 --> 00:26:41,200
Speaker 1: where I got to go out to one of their

549
00:26:41,600 --> 00:26:44,640
Speaker 1: farms out in Vermont and learn all about the organic

550
00:26:44,680 --> 00:26:47,280
Speaker 1: farming process. And it was so cool, Like I learned

551
00:26:47,320 --> 00:26:49,760
Speaker 1: so much that I didn't know about organic because before

552
00:26:49,800 --> 00:26:51,639
Speaker 1: then I didn't really have an opinion about it. I'm like,

553
00:26:51,680 --> 00:26:54,320
Speaker 1: I don't have enough information to even have an opinion.

554
00:26:54,840 --> 00:26:57,480
Speaker 1: But I really loved the farming technique for so many

555
00:26:57,520 --> 00:26:59,960
Speaker 1: different reasons, not just health reasons. I think it's great

556
00:27:00,160 --> 00:27:03,760
Speaker 1: for the environment, it's great for the farmers with their

557
00:27:03,920 --> 00:27:06,200
Speaker 1: business model, you know, like all of that stuff. So

558
00:27:06,400 --> 00:27:08,720
Speaker 1: the thing I try to buy organic when I can now.

559
00:27:08,760 --> 00:27:11,880
Speaker 1: But I think probably the most important in my opinion,

560
00:27:11,920 --> 00:27:14,439
Speaker 1: which might not be that informed, is probably like the

561
00:27:14,480 --> 00:27:17,680
Speaker 1: meat and dairy products. Okay, so meat and dairy are

562
00:27:17,720 --> 00:27:19,920
Speaker 1: ones that you prioritize organic, and then a lot of

563
00:27:19,960 --> 00:27:22,719
Speaker 1: the other ones just not as important. I mean, I

564
00:27:22,720 --> 00:27:25,320
Speaker 1: guess I don't have super strong but I don't know

565
00:27:25,359 --> 00:27:27,679
Speaker 1: if I can say they're not important, but you know,

566
00:27:27,760 --> 00:27:30,679
Speaker 1: for you at least, Yeah, in my my half hearted

567
00:27:30,720 --> 00:27:34,360
Speaker 1: attempt to do better. Yeah, I'll buy the organic when

568
00:27:34,359 --> 00:27:37,560
Speaker 1: it's available. But I wanted to ask you another way

569
00:27:37,560 --> 00:27:40,879
Speaker 1: I think that we obliterate our food budget sometimes is

570
00:27:41,320 --> 00:27:43,680
Speaker 1: by kind of the portions that we put on our plates.

571
00:27:44,119 --> 00:27:47,120
Speaker 1: And we've kind of especially when we're going out to eat,

572
00:27:47,160 --> 00:27:50,199
Speaker 1: the portion that we get is often absurdly sized, right,

573
00:27:50,600 --> 00:27:53,200
Speaker 1: and so is entre for you and your family, right,

574
00:27:53,560 --> 00:27:56,040
Speaker 1: But it's but everyone in your family gets their own,

575
00:27:56,280 --> 00:27:58,280
Speaker 1: and so Matt. Now we've talked about sharing an entree

576
00:27:58,560 --> 00:28:01,880
Speaker 1: with your spouse, with your partner, and how that can

577
00:28:01,920 --> 00:28:03,760
Speaker 1: be a good way to save money when you're eating

578
00:28:03,760 --> 00:28:07,040
Speaker 1: out at least, how do you control your portions when

579
00:28:07,119 --> 00:28:10,000
Speaker 1: you're cooking at home. Is there kind of the best

580
00:28:10,040 --> 00:28:12,479
Speaker 1: way to create a portion size that works for you

581
00:28:12,600 --> 00:28:15,160
Speaker 1: so that you're not eating too much? Yeah? I think

582
00:28:15,160 --> 00:28:16,920
Speaker 1: it's gonna be a little bit of a learning curve

583
00:28:16,920 --> 00:28:19,720
Speaker 1: for everybody, because again, you know, people need different amounts

584
00:28:19,760 --> 00:28:22,120
Speaker 1: of food. But what I do, I think the most

585
00:28:22,160 --> 00:28:24,640
Speaker 1: important thing to do is to portion it as soon

586
00:28:24,680 --> 00:28:27,960
Speaker 1: as you're finished cooking, because if you chill the entire

587
00:28:28,080 --> 00:28:30,760
Speaker 1: batch of whatever you're cooking in one big, you know,

588
00:28:31,000 --> 00:28:34,280
Speaker 1: bowl or container or whatever. You then have to portion

589
00:28:34,359 --> 00:28:37,840
Speaker 1: yourself each time you want to serve yourself, and that's

590
00:28:37,840 --> 00:28:40,040
Speaker 1: going to change depending on how hunger you are. So

591
00:28:40,120 --> 00:28:43,080
Speaker 1: if it's already free portioned, then you don't have that

592
00:28:43,200 --> 00:28:46,360
Speaker 1: variable and you might eat that portion and then feel fine,

593
00:28:46,360 --> 00:28:48,600
Speaker 1: Whereas if you had portioned it right before you ate

594
00:28:48,680 --> 00:28:51,000
Speaker 1: and you're starving, you would have given yourself twice as

595
00:28:51,080 --> 00:28:54,600
Speaker 1: much and spent twice as much basically on that meal. Yeah,

596
00:28:54,600 --> 00:28:57,120
Speaker 1: there's a problem with us as people, right, like, like

597
00:28:57,240 --> 00:28:59,240
Speaker 1: it takes so long for us to realize that we're full.

598
00:28:59,800 --> 00:29:02,160
Speaker 1: I guilty of this, and I just keep eating. Like

599
00:29:02,280 --> 00:29:04,480
Speaker 1: if there's like we normally keep it on the table

600
00:29:04,520 --> 00:29:06,280
Speaker 1: because our girls want more, and we make sure that

601
00:29:06,320 --> 00:29:08,120
Speaker 1: we're not wasting food by giving them too much on

602
00:29:08,160 --> 00:29:09,800
Speaker 1: their plate, and then we end up having to toss

603
00:29:09,840 --> 00:29:11,640
Speaker 1: it on the trash. But then the problem is I've

604
00:29:11,640 --> 00:29:14,400
Speaker 1: got this giant cast iron, you know, skillet full of

605
00:29:14,440 --> 00:29:16,920
Speaker 1: like stir fryers, and it's made and I just keep

606
00:29:17,320 --> 00:29:19,840
Speaker 1: eating and I don't stop because it's sitting right there

607
00:29:19,840 --> 00:29:22,120
Speaker 1: in front of me. But yeah, like you said, removing

608
00:29:22,160 --> 00:29:24,360
Speaker 1: that from you kind of creating these guardrails to kind

609
00:29:24,360 --> 00:29:25,840
Speaker 1: of keep you from doing that to begin with, I

610
00:29:25,840 --> 00:29:29,120
Speaker 1: think is wise and something I should probably do. Yeah,

611
00:29:29,120 --> 00:29:31,400
Speaker 1: And I just I think that most people don't realize

612
00:29:31,600 --> 00:29:35,080
Speaker 1: how much of a literal interpretation that is of their budget.

613
00:29:35,240 --> 00:29:38,400
Speaker 1: Like the more you eat, the more like dollars you're

614
00:29:38,440 --> 00:29:40,560
Speaker 1: you know, eating. I don't know how I want to

615
00:29:40,600 --> 00:29:42,840
Speaker 1: put it, but you have wasted money basically that I

616
00:29:42,880 --> 00:29:47,160
Speaker 1: am consuming that I do not need to consume. Our

617
00:29:47,320 --> 00:29:50,440
Speaker 1: entire culture is kind of based on food as entertainment,

618
00:29:50,520 --> 00:29:52,800
Speaker 1: so it can take a while to kind of rewrite

619
00:29:52,800 --> 00:29:55,320
Speaker 1: that habit in your brain and figure out other ways

620
00:29:55,360 --> 00:30:00,400
Speaker 1: to entertain yourself or keep yourself intellectually stimulated without using food.

621
00:30:00,440 --> 00:30:03,600
Speaker 1: Is that tool, Well, that's I love that best. So

622
00:30:03,720 --> 00:30:06,640
Speaker 1: these are all ways that we can cook at home

623
00:30:06,960 --> 00:30:09,200
Speaker 1: for less money basically, and you know, we we've kind

624
00:30:09,200 --> 00:30:12,440
Speaker 1: of been knocking on grub hub. But like there's also

625
00:30:12,520 --> 00:30:14,560
Speaker 1: these different you know, meal in a box things like

626
00:30:14,600 --> 00:30:18,040
Speaker 1: blue Apron. What are your thoughts on those? Like is

627
00:30:18,080 --> 00:30:20,680
Speaker 1: that a smart way to to get folks started cooking

628
00:30:20,720 --> 00:30:23,120
Speaker 1: if that's not something they've done before. I think it

629
00:30:23,320 --> 00:30:25,920
Speaker 1: can be a useful tool, but I don't think it's

630
00:30:26,000 --> 00:30:29,160
Speaker 1: a good tool to use long term, um, I think

631
00:30:29,160 --> 00:30:32,400
Speaker 1: it can help people get over the intimidation of cooking

632
00:30:32,680 --> 00:30:35,000
Speaker 1: or inspire them to try new flavors, which is always

633
00:30:35,000 --> 00:30:38,720
Speaker 1: a great thing. But as far as something to use

634
00:30:38,800 --> 00:30:41,120
Speaker 1: on a day to day basis, I feel like it's

635
00:30:41,120 --> 00:30:44,600
Speaker 1: just way too much packaging and you can just get

636
00:30:44,600 --> 00:30:47,960
Speaker 1: better prices for the ingredients on their own. Sure. I

637
00:30:48,000 --> 00:30:50,920
Speaker 1: appreciate those thoughts, and we've got we're gonna we've got

638
00:30:50,920 --> 00:30:52,280
Speaker 1: some more questions for you that we want to get

639
00:30:52,280 --> 00:30:54,640
Speaker 1: to after the break, and specifically for folks who are

640
00:30:54,640 --> 00:30:57,440
Speaker 1: considering something like, you know, a meal delivery service, but

641
00:30:57,680 --> 00:31:00,320
Speaker 1: because they just haven't gotten used to being the kitchen,

642
00:31:00,360 --> 00:31:02,040
Speaker 1: they don't know how to go about it. Let's talk

643
00:31:02,040 --> 00:31:05,360
Speaker 1: about some kitchen cooking skills and and how to get

644
00:31:05,360 --> 00:31:07,080
Speaker 1: better in the kitchen. Let's get to that right after

645
00:31:07,080 --> 00:31:17,320
Speaker 1: the break. All right, we'll back to the break. We're

646
00:31:17,320 --> 00:31:20,680
Speaker 1: talking with Beth Mansel and her website is budget bites

647
00:31:20,720 --> 00:31:25,080
Speaker 1: dot com, and Beth, I love how accessible your recipes are.

648
00:31:25,080 --> 00:31:27,240
Speaker 1: I've been kind of going over them on your website

649
00:31:27,520 --> 00:31:31,080
Speaker 1: and there's nothing that seems too terribly difficult for me,

650
00:31:31,120 --> 00:31:33,440
Speaker 1: and as a complete amateur in the kitchen, that makes

651
00:31:33,440 --> 00:31:36,320
Speaker 1: me feel good and I love too. You've even got

652
00:31:36,360 --> 00:31:39,080
Speaker 1: tips to spice up a bowl of instant ramen, and

653
00:31:39,440 --> 00:31:43,200
Speaker 1: I might have recently purchased a Costco size box of

654
00:31:43,280 --> 00:31:47,640
Speaker 1: instant ramen, so I do need your tips on how

655
00:31:47,760 --> 00:31:50,080
Speaker 1: to spice up that bowl of instant ramen, make it

656
00:31:50,120 --> 00:31:54,000
Speaker 1: actually taste good and especially for our college listeners. Um also,

657
00:31:54,280 --> 00:31:57,320
Speaker 1: how can they take instant ramen and make it better? Sure, Yeah,

658
00:31:57,360 --> 00:31:58,880
Speaker 1: that's one of my favorite things to do. I'm one

659
00:31:58,880 --> 00:32:01,120
Speaker 1: of those rare people that not o d on ramen

660
00:32:01,200 --> 00:32:04,320
Speaker 1: during my college years, so I still love it, but

661
00:32:04,480 --> 00:32:06,640
Speaker 1: I try to, you know, kind of limit it because

662
00:32:06,640 --> 00:32:08,960
Speaker 1: it's probably not something you should eat every single day.

663
00:32:09,000 --> 00:32:10,640
Speaker 1: But I do have some ways to make it more

664
00:32:10,680 --> 00:32:13,960
Speaker 1: tasty and kind of up the nutritional value a little bit.

665
00:32:14,360 --> 00:32:16,480
Speaker 1: So UM Ramen is one of my favorite things to

666
00:32:16,600 --> 00:32:19,800
Speaker 1: use for using up the leftovers in your refrigerators. So

667
00:32:19,840 --> 00:32:21,200
Speaker 1: when you get to the end of the week and

668
00:32:21,240 --> 00:32:23,400
Speaker 1: you see you've got all these vegetables in your refrigerator

669
00:32:23,480 --> 00:32:26,520
Speaker 1: that you didn't use, you can just like toss those

670
00:32:26,600 --> 00:32:31,040
Speaker 1: into your pot of ramen. So things like um, leftover spinage,

671
00:32:31,120 --> 00:32:34,640
Speaker 1: you could do, mushrooms, you can do. What else do.

672
00:32:34,720 --> 00:32:38,240
Speaker 1: I like to put in there bell peppers, um, green onions,

673
00:32:38,280 --> 00:32:40,800
Speaker 1: So any little leftovers like that that you have, you

674
00:32:40,800 --> 00:32:43,400
Speaker 1: can throw that into the broth. I also like to

675
00:32:44,480 --> 00:32:46,959
Speaker 1: kind of beef up the broth a little bit, so

676
00:32:47,040 --> 00:32:49,960
Speaker 1: to speak, with things like garlic and ginger, which I

677
00:32:50,120 --> 00:32:52,320
Speaker 1: almost always have on hand, and then you can add

678
00:32:52,360 --> 00:32:55,720
Speaker 1: like other sauces, things like toasted sects. Me oil is

679
00:32:55,800 --> 00:32:58,280
Speaker 1: really good, just a couple of dashes of that, maybe

680
00:32:58,320 --> 00:33:02,240
Speaker 1: some hot sauce. I even experimented recently with putting canned

681
00:33:02,240 --> 00:33:06,400
Speaker 1: coconut milk into the broth, and that was absolutely amazing, Like, yeah,

682
00:33:06,760 --> 00:33:09,400
Speaker 1: sounds good. Yeah, that's something hits on that before as well.

683
00:33:09,440 --> 00:33:11,160
Speaker 1: If it kind of takes it to that, like takes

684
00:33:11,160 --> 00:33:14,440
Speaker 1: it from instat raman to like tie ramen level. Yeah.

685
00:33:14,960 --> 00:33:16,640
Speaker 1: Would you ever go math throughout and put a Friday

686
00:33:16,720 --> 00:33:18,760
Speaker 1: in it? Oh? Absolutely, I do that all the time.

687
00:33:18,920 --> 00:33:21,479
Speaker 1: Actually I don't fry it. I just like poach it

688
00:33:21,600 --> 00:33:24,040
Speaker 1: or self boil it and put it in. Oh nice.

689
00:33:25,040 --> 00:33:26,920
Speaker 1: Oh and you mentioned ginger as well. You said you

690
00:33:26,920 --> 00:33:28,440
Speaker 1: always have that on hand. Is that because you have

691
00:33:28,520 --> 00:33:30,920
Speaker 1: those little ginger tubes that you get at aldi? Um no,

692
00:33:31,120 --> 00:33:34,120
Speaker 1: So when I do Yeah, I do fresh because it's

693
00:33:34,160 --> 00:33:36,960
Speaker 1: way less expensive. And so if you buy like a

694
00:33:37,040 --> 00:33:38,920
Speaker 1: knob of ginger, and you can buy any size, A

695
00:33:38,960 --> 00:33:41,120
Speaker 1: lot of people don't realize you can break those ginger

696
00:33:41,160 --> 00:33:43,680
Speaker 1: knobs apart, kind of like you separate a bunch of

697
00:33:43,720 --> 00:33:45,560
Speaker 1: bananas if you only want a few, So you can

698
00:33:45,560 --> 00:33:47,480
Speaker 1: break off a piece of ginger bring it home. I

699
00:33:47,560 --> 00:33:49,320
Speaker 1: like to wash it really good because I don't bother

700
00:33:49,400 --> 00:33:51,440
Speaker 1: peeling mine, and then I just stash it in the

701
00:33:51,440 --> 00:33:54,680
Speaker 1: freezer in a freezer bag. And when it's frozen, it's

702
00:33:54,800 --> 00:33:58,080
Speaker 1: way easier to grate with, like um, a fine hole

703
00:33:58,160 --> 00:34:01,440
Speaker 1: cheese grater, because normally it has is like stringy bits

704
00:34:01,480 --> 00:34:03,080
Speaker 1: in it that kind of clog up the greater, but

705
00:34:03,080 --> 00:34:04,880
Speaker 1: when it's frozen that doesn't happen. So I keep a

706
00:34:04,920 --> 00:34:06,840
Speaker 1: knob in the freezer at all times, and when I

707
00:34:06,880 --> 00:34:08,319
Speaker 1: need to use it, great off as much as I

708
00:34:08,360 --> 00:34:11,120
Speaker 1: need and pop it back in the freezer. Awesome tip.

709
00:34:11,520 --> 00:34:14,680
Speaker 1: Yeah that's the secod alright, Beth. What about folks who

710
00:34:14,760 --> 00:34:17,840
Speaker 1: are looking to get started in cooking at home but

711
00:34:17,880 --> 00:34:20,560
Speaker 1: they're completely overwhelmed? Right, Like, these are folks who haven't

712
00:34:20,560 --> 00:34:22,840
Speaker 1: spent much time in the kitchen. What are some practical

713
00:34:22,880 --> 00:34:26,760
Speaker 1: steps to making cooking less intimidating for them. Um. So, first,

714
00:34:26,920 --> 00:34:29,960
Speaker 1: pick a really really simple recipe. I mean maybe like

715
00:34:30,000 --> 00:34:32,360
Speaker 1: a pot of soup, because that for soup, all you

716
00:34:32,400 --> 00:34:34,680
Speaker 1: do is throw stuff in a pot and heat it up. Um,

717
00:34:35,040 --> 00:34:38,200
Speaker 1: you know, things like that. And then also take advantage

718
00:34:38,360 --> 00:34:41,239
Speaker 1: of YouTube and things like that. There are so many

719
00:34:41,320 --> 00:34:43,880
Speaker 1: tutorials out there, video tutorials to show you how to

720
00:34:43,960 --> 00:34:47,120
Speaker 1: chop and clean things. If there's a vegetable you're unfamiliar with,

721
00:34:47,480 --> 00:34:49,840
Speaker 1: I guarantee you can find a video on how to

722
00:34:50,080 --> 00:34:53,520
Speaker 1: clean and prep that um vegetable. But start small. I

723
00:34:53,560 --> 00:34:56,000
Speaker 1: think that's the most important thing. Don't go for that

724
00:34:56,040 --> 00:34:58,800
Speaker 1: really fancy recipe on your first go, you know, stick

725
00:34:58,800 --> 00:35:00,640
Speaker 1: to that simple ster fry or a pot of soup

726
00:35:00,960 --> 00:35:03,080
Speaker 1: and work your way up from there. What would we

727
00:35:03,120 --> 00:35:06,480
Speaker 1: as a civilization do without YouTube? I know, how did

728
00:35:06,480 --> 00:35:09,640
Speaker 1: we survive? Right? Seriously? How do we learn anything before YouTube?

729
00:35:09,840 --> 00:35:12,319
Speaker 1: We went to the library, I guess we did, you'r.

730
00:35:12,400 --> 00:35:14,360
Speaker 1: It's a totally different way of learning. But YouTube is

731
00:35:14,400 --> 00:35:16,239
Speaker 1: like so easy at our fingertips. I use it all

732
00:35:16,239 --> 00:35:19,160
Speaker 1: the time, Beth. Most folks know that you're supposed to

733
00:35:19,160 --> 00:35:21,919
Speaker 1: have a couple of nice knives, maybe a couple of

734
00:35:22,040 --> 00:35:24,360
Speaker 1: good thick pots and pans. But what are some of

735
00:35:24,400 --> 00:35:26,759
Speaker 1: the tools that a lot of people overlook that are

736
00:35:26,760 --> 00:35:29,080
Speaker 1: really useful in the kitchen as they kind of begin

737
00:35:29,160 --> 00:35:32,080
Speaker 1: to cook more at home. Um, So I use my

738
00:35:32,160 --> 00:35:34,040
Speaker 1: cheese graters all the time. So you can either get

739
00:35:34,080 --> 00:35:36,200
Speaker 1: like a box grater that has different sized holes on

740
00:35:36,239 --> 00:35:39,279
Speaker 1: each side, or I just have a flat one with

741
00:35:39,360 --> 00:35:41,719
Speaker 1: large holes and a flat one with small holes. And

742
00:35:41,760 --> 00:35:44,160
Speaker 1: I use that not for just cheese, but I great

743
00:35:44,200 --> 00:35:46,080
Speaker 1: a lot of different vegetables on that too, So I

744
00:35:46,320 --> 00:35:49,920
Speaker 1: great carrots, a lot for different like surfries or pull offs. Um,

745
00:35:50,280 --> 00:35:55,200
Speaker 1: great potatoes on it. Other vegetables like zucchini are really

746
00:35:55,200 --> 00:35:57,640
Speaker 1: good to great sometimes, so those get a lot of

747
00:35:57,760 --> 00:36:00,600
Speaker 1: use in my kitchen. Things like don't forget about your

748
00:36:00,600 --> 00:36:03,200
Speaker 1: measuring cups and measuring spoons. I like to have a

749
00:36:03,200 --> 00:36:05,399
Speaker 1: set of at least three cutting boards so I don't

750
00:36:05,440 --> 00:36:08,080
Speaker 1: have to cross contaminate with like raw meat or fish,

751
00:36:08,080 --> 00:36:11,000
Speaker 1: and then my vegetables. And then a rolling pin is

752
00:36:11,080 --> 00:36:14,000
Speaker 1: kind of surprisingly useful not only for baking goods, but

753
00:36:14,920 --> 00:36:16,919
Speaker 1: I use it to like pound meat if I need,

754
00:36:17,080 --> 00:36:19,280
Speaker 1: you know, my chicken breast to be and even thickness

755
00:36:19,360 --> 00:36:21,720
Speaker 1: or something like that, or to crush, you know, graham crackers.

756
00:36:21,760 --> 00:36:24,360
Speaker 1: If you're making a dessert stuff like that, ye smash

757
00:36:24,360 --> 00:36:26,520
Speaker 1: out some nuts or something. Yeah, so you mentioned the

758
00:36:26,520 --> 00:36:28,160
Speaker 1: box grater. I feel like I always have a hard

759
00:36:28,160 --> 00:36:30,799
Speaker 1: time with cheese graders, right like box graders. It can

760
00:36:30,840 --> 00:36:33,400
Speaker 1: always feel so awkward, like you sometimes you've got this

761
00:36:33,440 --> 00:36:36,080
Speaker 1: big block of cheese or whatever it is. Is there

762
00:36:36,080 --> 00:36:38,520
Speaker 1: a way to make that easier because I feel like

763
00:36:38,520 --> 00:36:40,120
Speaker 1: a lot of times it just feels so awkward and

764
00:36:40,120 --> 00:36:41,440
Speaker 1: it always feels like I'm not doing it right. I

765
00:36:41,440 --> 00:36:42,800
Speaker 1: don't know if this is if you're going to have

766
00:36:42,800 --> 00:36:44,200
Speaker 1: a good answer for me, but I want to I

767
00:36:44,239 --> 00:36:45,400
Speaker 1: want to see if you do. It sounds like a

768
00:36:45,440 --> 00:36:50,680
Speaker 1: personal problem. I remember, I don't know. It's not like

769
00:36:50,719 --> 00:36:52,239
Speaker 1: maybe I just need to spend more time in the

770
00:36:52,320 --> 00:36:54,920
Speaker 1: kitchen and then it wouldn't feel award. This isn't a

771
00:36:55,080 --> 00:36:57,840
Speaker 1: noop chef therapy, Matt, Come on, I mean, you do

772
00:36:57,960 --> 00:36:59,920
Speaker 1: need to be careful of your fingers. I have like

773
00:37:00,160 --> 00:37:05,719
Speaker 1: grated my knuckles. But you know, other than that, it's well,

774
00:37:05,960 --> 00:37:08,000
Speaker 1: like what about so there's there's some like some great

775
00:37:08,040 --> 00:37:10,240
Speaker 1: tools to have, Like, what about some of those fancier

776
00:37:10,239 --> 00:37:14,480
Speaker 1: appliances that are popular these days, like instant pots, air fryers,

777
00:37:14,640 --> 00:37:17,319
Speaker 1: things like that. Are those worth having on hand? I

778
00:37:17,400 --> 00:37:20,520
Speaker 1: am a big proponent of just keeping things simple. Um,

779
00:37:20,560 --> 00:37:23,360
Speaker 1: I don't like specialty gadgets. I did buy an instant

780
00:37:23,400 --> 00:37:26,200
Speaker 1: pot a few years ago because I had always wanted

781
00:37:26,200 --> 00:37:28,399
Speaker 1: a pressure cooker to begin with, and then that came

782
00:37:28,440 --> 00:37:30,000
Speaker 1: on the scene and I'm like, oh, that sounds like

783
00:37:30,040 --> 00:37:33,040
Speaker 1: it could actually be really useful for multiple things. But

784
00:37:33,080 --> 00:37:36,520
Speaker 1: then after I got it, I realized not that great.

785
00:37:36,800 --> 00:37:40,040
Speaker 1: I mean, I think an instant pot is good, like

786
00:37:40,080 --> 00:37:42,160
Speaker 1: a slow cooker, for a few things that it does

787
00:37:42,280 --> 00:37:43,960
Speaker 1: really well, But the rest of the time, I think

788
00:37:43,960 --> 00:37:46,000
Speaker 1: it's so much easier to just cook in a regular

789
00:37:46,040 --> 00:37:48,439
Speaker 1: pot on the stovetop. You're not one of those people

790
00:37:48,480 --> 00:37:50,560
Speaker 1: that are making like cheesecake. I feel like that's one

791
00:37:50,560 --> 00:37:51,759
Speaker 1: of the things that are like and you can make

792
00:37:51,840 --> 00:37:57,120
Speaker 1: cheesecake with it at home all the time, right the

793
00:37:57,239 --> 00:37:59,680
Speaker 1: staple in my yeah, Like I mean, I have maybe

794
00:37:59,680 --> 00:38:01,920
Speaker 1: like it's a year tops and it's great when I

795
00:38:01,960 --> 00:38:04,239
Speaker 1: have it, but like I'm not you don't necessarily buy

796
00:38:04,239 --> 00:38:07,239
Speaker 1: something just to make cheesecake. Right now. I think the

797
00:38:07,280 --> 00:38:10,440
Speaker 1: things that it's valuable for are the pressure cooking options,

798
00:38:10,480 --> 00:38:14,000
Speaker 1: because um, it's so fast, but you can do all

799
00:38:14,000 --> 00:38:16,120
Speaker 1: those same things in a slow cooker with more time,

800
00:38:16,160 --> 00:38:17,680
Speaker 1: And a slow cooker is going to be like twenty

801
00:38:17,680 --> 00:38:21,040
Speaker 1: five dollars versus a hundred dollar plus instant pots. So

802
00:38:21,160 --> 00:38:23,440
Speaker 1: I would rather just spend less and you know, have

803
00:38:23,560 --> 00:38:26,120
Speaker 1: it take a longer time. We're all about the cheaper

804
00:38:26,160 --> 00:38:29,040
Speaker 1: device that does the exact same thing. If you needed

805
00:38:29,080 --> 00:38:32,759
Speaker 1: to write and Beth, what other important skills or techniques are?

806
00:38:32,800 --> 00:38:34,719
Speaker 1: Are things that you encourage people to learn? Are there

807
00:38:34,719 --> 00:38:36,920
Speaker 1: like nice skills that we need to master? Is there

808
00:38:36,920 --> 00:38:39,200
Speaker 1: anything else? I mean, Matt obviously needs to master the

809
00:38:39,239 --> 00:38:41,680
Speaker 1: cheese greater, that's something I need to improve on right

810
00:38:41,760 --> 00:38:43,719
Speaker 1: bone up on that, But are there any other techniques

811
00:38:43,800 --> 00:38:46,200
Speaker 1: that are really useful, like basic things as we kind

812
00:38:46,200 --> 00:38:48,560
Speaker 1: of attempt to do more work in the kitchen. Yeah,

813
00:38:48,600 --> 00:38:51,120
Speaker 1: so I think, like you mentioned, knife skills are probably

814
00:38:51,560 --> 00:38:53,840
Speaker 1: one of the most important things, and that's really just

815
00:38:53,880 --> 00:38:57,960
Speaker 1: gonna come with practice. So even if it's uncomfortable or

816
00:38:58,280 --> 00:38:59,799
Speaker 1: you feel like you don't do it good now, just

817
00:39:00,040 --> 00:39:02,040
Speaker 1: keep doing it and you will get better at it.

818
00:39:02,320 --> 00:39:04,719
Speaker 1: Watch those YouTube videos if you need to. I think

819
00:39:04,760 --> 00:39:07,560
Speaker 1: another really important skill to have is knowing how to

820
00:39:07,680 --> 00:39:11,560
Speaker 1: roast things in the oven. Um, like vegetables. It's a

821
00:39:11,600 --> 00:39:14,160
Speaker 1: really simple technique, but if you don't know like a

822
00:39:14,239 --> 00:39:17,440
Speaker 1: couple of the hints, it can all go very wrong. Um,

823
00:39:17,520 --> 00:39:20,279
Speaker 1: and you'll have with soupy vegetables. But having that one

824
00:39:20,360 --> 00:39:22,480
Speaker 1: technique is going to allow you to make a lot

825
00:39:22,520 --> 00:39:25,719
Speaker 1: of really really delicious meals. Nice. Yeah, well, can you

826
00:39:25,760 --> 00:39:28,040
Speaker 1: dive into that You're you're talking about roasting veggies. You know,

827
00:39:28,040 --> 00:39:29,319
Speaker 1: it sounds like a great way to get some of

828
00:39:29,320 --> 00:39:32,680
Speaker 1: that nice roasted flavor on those old vegetables that you

829
00:39:32,719 --> 00:39:34,200
Speaker 1: mentioned earlier that you know that we don't want to

830
00:39:34,200 --> 00:39:35,400
Speaker 1: go bad in the fridge, Like, how do you make

831
00:39:35,400 --> 00:39:38,120
Speaker 1: sure that you have these roasted vegetables that are actually

832
00:39:38,160 --> 00:39:42,560
Speaker 1: flavorful and not just soggy. Yeah, So roasting vegetables like

833
00:39:42,680 --> 00:39:45,960
Speaker 1: roasting vegetables makes just about any vegetable taste better because

834
00:39:46,000 --> 00:39:48,560
Speaker 1: you got like a concentration of the flavors as the

835
00:39:48,600 --> 00:39:51,359
Speaker 1: evaporation happens, and then you get the caramelized edges, which

836
00:39:51,520 --> 00:39:54,520
Speaker 1: add another layer of flavor. Um. But in order for

837
00:39:54,600 --> 00:39:57,480
Speaker 1: that to happen. You have to make sure that um,

838
00:39:57,520 --> 00:40:00,480
Speaker 1: the vegetables are not too crowded on your sheet pan

839
00:40:00,600 --> 00:40:03,280
Speaker 1: or whatever you're roasting them in, because when they get crowded,

840
00:40:03,320 --> 00:40:06,640
Speaker 1: all of the moisture that's evaporating how the vegetables gets trapped,

841
00:40:06,680 --> 00:40:08,680
Speaker 1: and then you basically just end up stewing them in

842
00:40:08,719 --> 00:40:12,680
Speaker 1: their own juices, and that does not create a desirable

843
00:40:12,760 --> 00:40:16,040
Speaker 1: flavor or texture. So make sure that everything is kind

844
00:40:16,040 --> 00:40:18,560
Speaker 1: of spaced out evenly, and then making sure that they're

845
00:40:18,560 --> 00:40:21,080
Speaker 1: coated in enough oil. If you try to cut back

846
00:40:21,120 --> 00:40:23,640
Speaker 1: on the oil too much when you're roasting vegetables, they

847
00:40:23,680 --> 00:40:26,520
Speaker 1: just kind of dry out and end up like a

848
00:40:27,080 --> 00:40:31,040
Speaker 1: hydrated vegetable instead of getting those really nice caramelized edges.

849
00:40:32,360 --> 00:40:34,759
Speaker 1: Very nice. Yeah, Beth, I'm going to go home make

850
00:40:34,840 --> 00:40:38,480
Speaker 1: some stir fry some veggies. Appropriately sounds like you've converted

851
00:40:38,520 --> 00:40:41,120
Speaker 1: Joel to being a vegetarian. A vegetarian friend of ours

852
00:40:41,239 --> 00:40:43,080
Speaker 1: is gonna be like High five and his wife because

853
00:40:43,120 --> 00:40:45,279
Speaker 1: they all the time. Joel makes fun of them because

854
00:40:45,280 --> 00:40:48,680
Speaker 1: they don't eat as much bacon as he does. I

855
00:40:48,760 --> 00:40:50,719
Speaker 1: do like bacon, But but this has been such a

856
00:40:50,719 --> 00:40:52,279
Speaker 1: great conversation. I feel like I learned a lot, and

857
00:40:52,560 --> 00:40:54,279
Speaker 1: I hope and I know that this is going to

858
00:40:54,360 --> 00:40:56,240
Speaker 1: be just a lot of great infot for our listeners

859
00:40:56,280 --> 00:40:58,919
Speaker 1: as well. So where can they go find out more

860
00:40:59,000 --> 00:41:01,560
Speaker 1: about you and what you're up to? Um? So you

861
00:41:01,560 --> 00:41:04,080
Speaker 1: can visit my website, which is budget bites dot com

862
00:41:04,120 --> 00:41:07,160
Speaker 1: and it's b y t E s or Instagram is

863
00:41:07,160 --> 00:41:09,399
Speaker 1: probably the next best place to find me, and that's

864
00:41:09,440 --> 00:41:12,360
Speaker 1: just at budget Bites. You're like, you're huge on Instagram.

865
00:41:12,600 --> 00:41:14,560
Speaker 1: How many followers do you have at this point? Well?

866
00:41:14,560 --> 00:41:18,479
Speaker 1: Maybe two? Oh yeah, just a cool You're you're almost

867
00:41:18,520 --> 00:41:21,640
Speaker 1: Kim Kardashian level. Bit. She's like, I'm not a numbers person,

868
00:41:21,680 --> 00:41:26,040
Speaker 1: but Instagram really late, so I didn't have very much

869
00:41:26,080 --> 00:41:28,839
Speaker 1: of that pre algorithm time, so you know, only two

870
00:41:28,880 --> 00:41:32,400
Speaker 1: seventy five. Well, I mean that's the thing. Beautiful, delicious

871
00:41:32,400 --> 00:41:35,080
Speaker 1: looking food certainly lends itself to a visual medium. And

872
00:41:35,120 --> 00:41:38,440
Speaker 1: when you're making simple, amazing recipes like you are, that

873
00:41:38,440 --> 00:41:40,319
Speaker 1: that folks can make at home, but they see how

874
00:41:40,360 --> 00:41:43,200
Speaker 1: beautiful it looks, they think, man, that's a beautiful piece

875
00:41:43,239 --> 00:41:45,000
Speaker 1: of broccoli that was roasted, and I want to eat

876
00:41:45,040 --> 00:41:50,359
Speaker 1: that universal language. Everyone loves food. It brings people together. Um,

877
00:41:50,440 --> 00:41:53,359
Speaker 1: so I think it has a very wide appeal. Very cool. Well,

878
00:41:53,640 --> 00:41:56,200
Speaker 1: we appreciate this conversation. Will definitely link to to you

879
00:41:56,360 --> 00:41:58,319
Speaker 1: in our show notes. Will we'll tag you in our

880
00:41:58,360 --> 00:42:00,960
Speaker 1: Instagram post for this episode. Thank you so much for

881
00:42:00,960 --> 00:42:03,200
Speaker 1: for talking with us about food and just again, like,

882
00:42:03,320 --> 00:42:05,719
Speaker 1: we can save so much money if we're able to

883
00:42:05,719 --> 00:42:08,239
Speaker 1: rein in our grocery budget every single month, because it's

884
00:42:08,239 --> 00:42:11,360
Speaker 1: one of those recurring expenses. And we really appreciate all

885
00:42:11,400 --> 00:42:13,600
Speaker 1: the tips that you've given us today. So thanks so much,

886
00:42:13,840 --> 00:42:17,160
Speaker 1: Thank you guys, so much fun. Thanks again, Beth, Matt.

887
00:42:17,239 --> 00:42:20,200
Speaker 1: That was a great conversation. Much needed. I think to

888
00:42:20,239 --> 00:42:23,560
Speaker 1: get a food expert in on the show because you know,

889
00:42:23,600 --> 00:42:25,479
Speaker 1: we've talked about saving money. We like all the we

890
00:42:25,480 --> 00:42:28,040
Speaker 1: we like saving money on groceries. Some of us like Costco,

891
00:42:28,880 --> 00:42:31,160
Speaker 1: not Beth. But I mean I don't know how to

892
00:42:31,200 --> 00:42:34,480
Speaker 1: cook of the stuff that she has on her website,

893
00:42:34,480 --> 00:42:35,799
Speaker 1: but I think it's stuff that I can learn now

894
00:42:35,840 --> 00:42:38,399
Speaker 1: after having that conversation. Yeah. Absolutely, Yeah. So what's your

895
00:42:38,400 --> 00:42:40,680
Speaker 1: your big takeaway from this episode? My big takeaway was

896
00:42:40,719 --> 00:42:44,040
Speaker 1: stir fry. Dude, two words, stir fry, because I think

897
00:42:44,040 --> 00:42:47,000
Speaker 1: it's something that I can easily put to use. I

898
00:42:47,040 --> 00:42:50,680
Speaker 1: can take vegetables that are a couple of days old, tossum,

899
00:42:50,960 --> 00:42:54,000
Speaker 1: you know, on the stove, and create myself a decent

900
00:42:54,000 --> 00:42:57,040
Speaker 1: meal that I can actually like. And I think that's

901
00:42:57,080 --> 00:42:59,640
Speaker 1: the problem sometimes with leftovers. People don't want to eat

902
00:42:59,680 --> 00:43:01,879
Speaker 1: leftover is because they're worthy, they're not gonna taste very good.

903
00:43:01,880 --> 00:43:04,200
Speaker 1: And especially when it comes to like vegetables that are

904
00:43:04,200 --> 00:43:05,920
Speaker 1: a couple of days old. So anyway that we can

905
00:43:05,960 --> 00:43:08,480
Speaker 1: spice those up, make them taste good and actually enjoy them,

906
00:43:08,600 --> 00:43:10,520
Speaker 1: I think he's gonna help our budget and it's gonna

907
00:43:10,520 --> 00:43:12,920
Speaker 1: be good for us to write. And so that was

908
00:43:12,960 --> 00:43:15,440
Speaker 1: my big takeaway. I'm gonna start doing stir fries more frequently,

909
00:43:15,800 --> 00:43:17,759
Speaker 1: and I think Evilly is gonna be happy that I do. Yeah,

910
00:43:17,760 --> 00:43:21,080
Speaker 1: you and me goes like you're all about the stuffry. Well,

911
00:43:21,080 --> 00:43:23,399
Speaker 1: I'll kind of dovetail into that one a little bit too. Um,

912
00:43:23,440 --> 00:43:26,319
Speaker 1: not stir fries specifically, but just her approach, which is

913
00:43:26,440 --> 00:43:29,480
Speaker 1: that cooking like it doesn't have to be this super organized,

914
00:43:29,600 --> 00:43:31,760
Speaker 1: orderly thing where you have to have the perfect recipe

915
00:43:31,800 --> 00:43:34,120
Speaker 1: and all the right ingredients, and sometimes these ingredients are

916
00:43:34,120 --> 00:43:36,400
Speaker 1: gonna be exotic. It literally can be just things you

917
00:43:36,440 --> 00:43:38,680
Speaker 1: have already in your fridge, and you can just start

918
00:43:38,719 --> 00:43:40,840
Speaker 1: adding stuff until it tastes good, right, Like you mentioned,

919
00:43:40,880 --> 00:43:42,560
Speaker 1: like throwing that soy sauce on there, getting some of

920
00:43:42,560 --> 00:43:44,680
Speaker 1: that fresh ginger. I think that's one of the cool

921
00:43:44,719 --> 00:43:46,759
Speaker 1: things about cooking on a stovetop like that is that

922
00:43:46,800 --> 00:43:49,800
Speaker 1: it doesn't require an exact science. Right, We're not baking

923
00:43:49,800 --> 00:43:52,000
Speaker 1: a cake. It's something that you can be a little

924
00:43:52,000 --> 00:43:56,480
Speaker 1: more improvisational on, right. Uh. It doesn't require exact temperatures,

925
00:43:56,480 --> 00:43:59,480
Speaker 1: it doesn't require you making sure you know the veggies

926
00:43:59,480 --> 00:44:02,880
Speaker 1: are cookedly, thoroughly through to avoid making sure you're not

927
00:44:02,920 --> 00:44:05,200
Speaker 1: going to get sick. Like that's that's perfect for me.

928
00:44:05,239 --> 00:44:07,880
Speaker 1: I need to those error proof resives. Yeah, exactly. And

929
00:44:07,960 --> 00:44:10,239
Speaker 1: so hearing her talk about that gave me confidence for

930
00:44:10,280 --> 00:44:12,520
Speaker 1: the next time I've got all four kids and I'm

931
00:44:12,520 --> 00:44:14,120
Speaker 1: at home and trying to figure out, you know what

932
00:44:14,200 --> 00:44:16,960
Speaker 1: meal I'm going to cook. Gave me, Yeah, gave me confidence.

933
00:44:17,040 --> 00:44:18,840
Speaker 1: And I think this pair as well with how we

934
00:44:18,880 --> 00:44:21,040
Speaker 1: talk about money. I think a lot of times folks

935
00:44:21,280 --> 00:44:23,960
Speaker 1: when they think about money, it's just this massive, overwhelming

936
00:44:24,000 --> 00:44:25,680
Speaker 1: thing and they feel like they have to get everything

937
00:44:25,680 --> 00:44:28,880
Speaker 1: perfectly lined up. When it doesn't necessarily have to be

938
00:44:28,920 --> 00:44:31,480
Speaker 1: that way. You can start with something as simple as

939
00:44:31,520 --> 00:44:34,319
Speaker 1: tracking or spending to get you on a budget, just

940
00:44:34,360 --> 00:44:36,200
Speaker 1: like she was talking about when it comes to kind

941
00:44:36,200 --> 00:44:38,759
Speaker 1: of dialing in your food budget. It doesn't have to

942
00:44:38,760 --> 00:44:40,640
Speaker 1: be this perfect thing when it comes to food or

943
00:44:40,719 --> 00:44:42,800
Speaker 1: our money. You can just start off easy and small,

944
00:44:43,080 --> 00:44:44,480
Speaker 1: and if you can think about it in a way

945
00:44:44,520 --> 00:44:47,920
Speaker 1: that's approachable, you're gonna be much more likely to continue

946
00:44:47,960 --> 00:44:49,880
Speaker 1: to do that action, and you're gonna be much more

947
00:44:49,880 --> 00:44:52,879
Speaker 1: likely to succeed because you keep up with it. Yeah. Yeah,

948
00:44:52,880 --> 00:44:54,400
Speaker 1: And I think going back to the food thing for

949
00:44:54,400 --> 00:44:57,239
Speaker 1: a second, to that one of the things we didn't

950
00:44:57,280 --> 00:44:59,000
Speaker 1: talk about with Beth, but it's so true is that

951
00:44:59,120 --> 00:45:00,759
Speaker 1: the more you can use those leftovers, the more you

952
00:45:00,800 --> 00:45:04,080
Speaker 1: could utilize food that you've already cooked to actually make

953
00:45:04,120 --> 00:45:06,800
Speaker 1: it tasty and eat it, we're gonna minimize food waste,

954
00:45:07,120 --> 00:45:10,040
Speaker 1: and food wastes is a huge problem in the developed

955
00:45:10,040 --> 00:45:11,880
Speaker 1: the world that we just we just throw away a

956
00:45:11,880 --> 00:45:14,840
Speaker 1: lot of stuff that's very edible, and it also affects

957
00:45:14,840 --> 00:45:17,680
Speaker 1: our budget to this extreme right where we're actually throwing

958
00:45:17,680 --> 00:45:20,440
Speaker 1: away edible food, We're throwing away meals, and then we

959
00:45:20,480 --> 00:45:22,360
Speaker 1: have to go either buy more stuff or we go

960
00:45:22,360 --> 00:45:24,960
Speaker 1: out to eat to to have something to eat that

961
00:45:25,120 --> 00:45:28,279
Speaker 1: night or that day. And when we can actually make

962
00:45:28,320 --> 00:45:30,719
Speaker 1: things last a little bit longer, we can reuse and

963
00:45:30,840 --> 00:45:32,640
Speaker 1: some of the things that we've already cooked, and we're

964
00:45:32,680 --> 00:45:34,400
Speaker 1: gonna have more money left at the end of the

965
00:45:34,440 --> 00:45:36,839
Speaker 1: month because we did that. That's huge. So, yeah, food

966
00:45:36,840 --> 00:45:38,879
Speaker 1: waste major problem, and I think you know, if we

967
00:45:39,000 --> 00:45:42,399
Speaker 1: take Beth route, we're on our way of solving it absolutely. Man. Well,

968
00:45:42,480 --> 00:45:46,880
Speaker 1: something that we never waste is beer. So this episode

969
00:45:46,920 --> 00:45:49,160
Speaker 1: we had a Whimsical Nature, which is a beer by

970
00:45:49,280 --> 00:45:52,440
Speaker 1: Phase three Brewing Company out of Illinois. This one was

971
00:45:52,440 --> 00:45:54,719
Speaker 1: sent to us by Doug. So, Doug, thanks so much

972
00:45:54,719 --> 00:45:57,680
Speaker 1: for for sending us this beer. Joel, what were your

973
00:45:57,719 --> 00:46:00,360
Speaker 1: thoughts on this? I'm gonna go ahead and spoil it

974
00:46:00,400 --> 00:46:03,319
Speaker 1: a little bit, delicious beer because this one was so good. Yeah,

975
00:46:03,480 --> 00:46:05,319
Speaker 1: I mean, I don't think we've talked trash about a

976
00:46:05,320 --> 00:46:08,239
Speaker 1: beer yet, although we've had some that were definitely not

977
00:46:08,239 --> 00:46:10,480
Speaker 1: as good as others. We've gotten creative and how we

978
00:46:10,520 --> 00:46:13,080
Speaker 1: talked about some of those beers. But this is top

979
00:46:13,120 --> 00:46:15,040
Speaker 1: to your range, man. This is so good. This is

980
00:46:15,120 --> 00:46:18,400
Speaker 1: so good. So to me, this beer tasted like ripe hops.

981
00:46:18,800 --> 00:46:20,600
Speaker 1: My palate was assaulted with a lot of hops in

982
00:46:20,600 --> 00:46:22,719
Speaker 1: this one. Like normally hops are I mean hops like

983
00:46:22,760 --> 00:46:24,480
Speaker 1: you get the dust and the oils off of hops, right,

984
00:46:24,520 --> 00:46:26,359
Speaker 1: But like the way you're describing it almost as if

985
00:46:26,400 --> 00:46:28,479
Speaker 1: the hop was juicy. Yes, it was, and it totally

986
00:46:28,480 --> 00:46:30,640
Speaker 1: totally was. It felt like I was biting into something

987
00:46:30,640 --> 00:46:34,640
Speaker 1: almost and it was had some floral notes, had some

988
00:46:34,760 --> 00:46:38,640
Speaker 1: kind of orange flavors present, but overall just a delicious

989
00:46:38,680 --> 00:46:41,400
Speaker 1: I PA that I thoroughly enjoyed. Yeah. Man uh and

990
00:46:41,440 --> 00:46:43,440
Speaker 1: this was a double I p A by the way.

991
00:46:43,600 --> 00:46:46,840
Speaker 1: To me, it had this bright, almost like fizzy orange

992
00:46:46,880 --> 00:46:48,960
Speaker 1: juice like character. I've described other beers this way as well,

993
00:46:49,000 --> 00:46:50,520
Speaker 1: where it kind of almost reminds me of sunny d

994
00:46:50,840 --> 00:46:53,400
Speaker 1: and the best way possible, But it kind of had

995
00:46:53,440 --> 00:46:55,279
Speaker 1: that going on for me. It sort of reminds me

996
00:46:55,360 --> 00:46:58,839
Speaker 1: of a like a refreshing orange drink, which certainly lends

997
00:46:58,880 --> 00:47:00,319
Speaker 1: us off to some of these warmer us that we're

998
00:47:00,320 --> 00:47:02,319
Speaker 1: starting to experience now, at least what we are in

999
00:47:02,320 --> 00:47:04,360
Speaker 1: the South. Sure, yeah, I mean we drink I p

1000
00:47:04,520 --> 00:47:07,400
Speaker 1: s all year round, but man, getting a really juicy

1001
00:47:07,800 --> 00:47:10,040
Speaker 1: what I would describe as almost kind of effervescent. Phzzy.

1002
00:47:10,120 --> 00:47:12,680
Speaker 1: I p like this as it's warming up. Yeah, it

1003
00:47:12,680 --> 00:47:14,480
Speaker 1: really gets me a pump for the summer. Yeah man,

1004
00:47:14,520 --> 00:47:16,160
Speaker 1: all right, now we gotta in this episode because I'm

1005
00:47:16,239 --> 00:47:18,960
Speaker 1: hungry after that conversation with Beth. But for folks who

1006
00:47:18,960 --> 00:47:20,400
Speaker 1: want the show notes for this episode, they want to

1007
00:47:20,400 --> 00:47:22,319
Speaker 1: find out more about Beth, well, they can find that

1008
00:47:22,400 --> 00:47:24,879
Speaker 1: on our website at how to money dot com. Yeah, Joel.

1009
00:47:24,880 --> 00:47:27,440
Speaker 1: Along with those show notes, you can find other helpful

1010
00:47:27,560 --> 00:47:30,360
Speaker 1: articles up there as well. In particular, one article we

1011
00:47:30,400 --> 00:47:33,200
Speaker 1: have up there is about choosing the right credit card

1012
00:47:33,239 --> 00:47:35,920
Speaker 1: based on how you spend your money. And so if

1013
00:47:36,000 --> 00:47:37,799
Speaker 1: you are looking for a new credit card, we would

1014
00:47:37,800 --> 00:47:39,440
Speaker 1: recommend you check that one out. You can go do

1015
00:47:39,520 --> 00:47:42,360
Speaker 1: how to money dot com forward slash credit cards, and

1016
00:47:42,400 --> 00:47:44,200
Speaker 1: if you were to sign up via any of those links,

1017
00:47:44,200 --> 00:47:46,600
Speaker 1: that helps out the show. So, Joel, that's gonna be

1018
00:47:46,640 --> 00:47:49,879
Speaker 1: it for this episode, Buddy. Until next time, Best Friends Out,

1019
00:47:49,960 --> 00:47:50,839
Speaker 1: Best Friends Out.