0:02

Welcome to Money Matters , the podcast

0:04

that focuses on how to use the money you have

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, make the money you need and save

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the money you want Now here

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is your host , ms Kim Chapman

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.

0:14

Welcome to another edition of Money Matters . Do

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you like to cook ? That's okay . Do you

0:19

have to cook ? Because if you do

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, this is going to be the show for you

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. We have a real treat today . Joining

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me is a very special guest , homegrown

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right here in Baton Rouge Anne Milneck

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. She is the owner of Red Stick Spice , and

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so , whether your cooking skills are

0:34

going to be limited to boiling water or hot

0:37

dogs , or maybe you're a little bit fancier

0:39

and you like to do some quiche or beef wellington

0:41

, I

0:45

am sure you're going to walk away with some helpful tip today to help

0:47

cut down on food costs . Welcome , ann hi kim , I'm so excited

0:49

to be here . Thanks for having me I'm excited , and

0:51

if I and and I have been kind of collaborating

0:53

over the last couple weeks to do some little

0:56

videos for social media on

0:58

how to cut down on food costs , because

1:00

everything is rising . I mean

1:02

you're either paying more , getting less

1:04

you , or basically the

1:06

price is just going up through the roof , and

1:08

so , whether that's fast food or groceries , we

1:11

want to be able to help our consumers , you

1:13

know , get more bang for their buck . So that's why

1:15

we have you here , and so I'll just have you just

1:17

kind of start off by telling us a little bit about

1:19

you and how you got started

1:21

in the food industry .

1:23

Sure . So I have

1:25

always loved to cook and

1:28

growing up I watched Julia Child

1:30

on television and told my mom

1:32

that's what I wanted to be . And

1:35

in the 80s , when I graduated high school , she

1:38

wasn't so on board with me going to culinary

1:40

school . So I went to LSU and

1:42

then , when I was 40 , I mentioned to my husband

1:45

that I'd always want to go to culinary school and he said that

1:47

sounds like a good idea . And I went the next day

1:49

and enrolled and got

1:51

a degree from Nichols in

1:54

Thibodeau , louisiana , at the John Foss

1:56

Culinary Institute . So I was

1:58

a non-traditional student

2:00

. I was 40 years old , I had children in

2:02

elementary and middle school and

2:04

so when I got out of school I figured

2:07

out pretty quickly . I did some catering on

2:09

my own and I figured out pretty quickly

2:11

that restaurant work wasn't going to work for me and

2:14

I was a customer of Red Stick Spice

2:16

and I went in one day . I

2:18

was looking for a job and I and but

2:20

I went by to get ingredients for making

2:23

. It was around Thanksgiving and I was making

2:25

my uncle's rice dressing and

2:27

I needed ground bay . I remember

2:29

it very specifically and the

2:32

owners were there . We had gotten to know each other because I was a

2:34

customer and they said , do you want to buy our shop ? And

2:36

I said yeah , they were

2:38

ready to retire and so

2:40

it keeps

2:42

me around what I love , which is

2:45

food , but I don't have the

2:47

hours and wear and tear on my body

2:49

that a lot of traditional restaurant

2:52

chefs experience , which

2:55

just wasn't a good fit for my family at the time

2:57

, and so we

2:59

grew it . We've expanded three times

3:01

. We're looking for a second . We moved location

3:04

to Mid-City . We're looking for a second . You know , we moved location to Mid-City . We're looking for a second

3:06

location . So it's just been a great 12 years working

3:09

in the shop helping

3:11

home cooks make mealtime

3:13

better . It's a gourmet grocery

3:15

store . When you walk in , you're hit by

3:17

the smell of spices . And I would say

3:20

yeah , the

3:22

heart and soul of the shop

3:24

is the spices . We also

3:26

sell olive oils , infused

3:28

olive oils , we sell balsamic vinegars , we have a whole

3:30

line of tea and we teach cooking

3:32

classes . So a big

3:34

part of my moving

3:37

to Mid-City was finding a space where we could

3:39

build in a teaching kitchen and teach cooking

3:41

classes , and we've

3:43

been doing that for six years now .

3:44

And I would say , while we have everybody's interest piqued

3:47

already , go ahead and shout out what that address

3:49

is a website . Let's go ahead and get that

3:51

out so they could have that set as

3:54

they take notes about everything else you're going to share

3:56

with us today .

3:56

We are at 660 Jefferson in Mid-City

3:59

Baton Rouge , so that's the area where Jefferson

4:01

Highway meets Government Street

4:03

and the website is redstickspicecom

4:06

and we have a

4:09

very robust online presence and

4:11

it's a really easy shop to shop

4:13

, whether you come in the shop the brick and mortar or

4:16

shop online Really easy to shop

4:18

and lots and lots of

4:20

local folks shop online and pick up curbside

4:22

.

4:23

And for those of you listening that may not

4:25

be aware that there is more than just salt

4:27

and pepper out there , I tell

4:29

you your taste buds and your aroma

4:31

, your nose , your senses are going to be in for a real

4:34

treat if you decide to stop by there . But

4:36

let's go ahead and get started . So , like I said , we've been

4:38

really collaborating , working on

4:40

trying to provide some tips for our listeners

4:42

in terms of how can they cut down

4:44

on cost . So let's dive in and

4:46

talk about some of the food waste hacks

4:48

that you can share .

4:49

So one thing that came up pretty

4:52

quickly when we started doing our videos was

4:54

that we create a stock bag

4:56

in our freezer . So I

4:58

often talk about pantry staples

5:00

and how important stocking a pantry is

5:02

, and I think of my freezer

5:04

as an extension of my pantry . So

5:07

what we do is , when we

5:09

are cutting aromatics like onion

5:11

, garlic , celery , carrot

5:14

, when we're chopping and cutting

5:16

, those bits and pieces that would normally go

5:18

in the trash bin go into

5:21

a gallon-sized Ziploc bag

5:23

and stashes in the freezer

5:25

. It can be just vegetables

5:27

, it could be vegetable trimmings and you make a vegetable

5:30

stock with it . Or it can also

5:32

be trimmings from chicken

5:34

, so let's say , you don't use

5:37

the wing tips on

5:39

the wings of chicken . Or

5:42

it could be bones left over from

5:44

a cooked chicken , like a rotisserie chicken from

5:46

the grocery store . That can go in the stock

5:48

bag as well . And so our rule of thumb is

5:50

when we can't zip that bag anymore

5:53

, it's time to make

5:55

stock , and that goes in a big Dutch oven

5:57

. You cover it with cold water , you

5:59

bring it up to a nice , good

6:01

, solid simmer just for a minute and then you

6:03

lower the heat and you bubble it away and

6:06

you've just made stock from things

6:08

that would have gone in the trash bin . So

6:10

that is definitely food waste hack

6:12

number one . It is in practice

6:14

in the teaching kitchen . Every single

6:17

day we're using that stock bag

6:19

. The other food

6:21

waste hack and it's more

6:23

about thinking about

6:25

as you're purchasing . If

6:28

you purchase things and you

6:30

throw them away a week later , that's

6:34

where you need to stop and say why

6:37

did I have to throw that away ? Is it because

6:39

I wasn't cooking or because I

6:41

didn't store it properly ? So

6:43

a lot of times it's storage and a lot of

6:45

times it's produce that gets thrown away

6:47

. So that would be . My next hack is

6:50

really wrap , really get to know ways

6:52

to extend the life of

6:54

that produce so you're not throwing it away a week

6:56

later . So herbs

6:59

, things like parsley and cilantro

7:01

they come in a big bunch at the grocery store

7:03

. They're usually sub $1

7:06

for a bunch of parsley , which is

7:08

a great deal , unless you're throwing

7:10

it away five days later . Then it's not a great

7:12

deal . So you want to treat that like

7:14

a bouquet of flowers . So we trim

7:16

the bottom into a glass

7:18

with water sitting on the shelf

7:20

of the fridge and we'll

7:24

refresh that water every few days . Maybe

7:26

. Trim it again and refresh that water . First

7:28

of all , it's pretty . You just open up your fridge door

7:31

and it's pretty . But it will really

7:33

extend the life of those herbs Lettuce

7:36

. Get it washed , get

7:38

it as dry as you possibly can , then

7:40

wrap it in a damp paper towel and

7:43

either put it in a zip top bag or

7:46

put it back in the produce bag

7:48

. You know that plastic produce bag . You

7:51

can put it back in there , but you want to get

7:53

it cleaned and in

7:55

a damp sort of airtight

7:57

environment and that will extend

7:59

it . Think about your freezer . One of

8:01

my biggest mistakes I do it all

8:03

the time , I do it at the shop , I do it at home

8:05

, I still do it is I'm

8:08

tired at the end of the meal

8:10

or putting away the groceries and I'll put it in the freezer

8:12

and I'll tell my brain you're going to remember what it

8:14

is and I never will remember what it is . At

8:17

the very least , date it , even

8:20

if I mean you've got the Sharpie in your hand , go ahead and

8:22

write chicken gumbo and the date

8:24

, but at the very least date it , because

8:27

when everything's dated then you can

8:29

put the FIFO system in place

8:31

First in , first out . So

8:34

you want to be moving those

8:37

, the older things to the

8:39

front so that you use them first . The

8:41

FIFO is what's in place in

8:43

all commercial kitchens in the refrigerator

8:45

, in the pantry and the freezer . And you

8:47

can't do FIFO if you haven't dated

8:49

it . If you have a mystery Ziploc

8:51

in your freezer and you don't know

8:54

the date on it , there's no way to figure out

8:56

if you , when or if you

8:58

even should be eating it . So moving

9:00

those older things to the front

9:02

so that you use them first is a great

9:05

habit to get into .

9:07

I tell you , before we started this series , out of all these

9:09

tips , I think that's the only thing that I

9:11

was doing before I always dated my

9:13

, you know , anything I put in the freezer . When

9:15

I get , you know , raw meat , I'll put

9:17

it in a smaller bags and date it and move it . But

9:20

I tell you , some of the tips you're giving are just

9:22

so practical in terms of , like that stock

9:24

. We all use , you know , onions

9:26

, garlic , celery , and I'm one of those people

9:28

that I like fresh , crisp

9:31

, hard celery and , of course , you know , after

9:33

a couple of days it starts to soften it gets

9:35

kind of rubbery . Exactly . I've learned

9:37

to put it in that cold water . And

9:39

you know it brings it right back or put

9:42

it in the stock pot for later , even the

9:44

leaves . You know things that we throw away . You

9:46

know for

9:49

people that like really love saving the earth when I think about all the tons and tons

9:51

of onion peels and garlic peels and

9:53

things of that nature that I've thrown away

9:55

, that I've could have been , that I could have been making stock

9:57

with . So these are some really good , great tips .

9:59

Thank you . You know food waste

10:02

tips . I think what mine

10:04

sound like more than anything is less

10:07

about food waste tips and more

10:09

about what do we do on the front end to even

10:11

prevent food waste , to even prevent

10:13

that from happening . And

10:16

those are the kinds of things we like to teach

10:18

in terms of storage and thinking

10:20

about how you're storing your

10:22

food and when you should use it .

10:24

So what are some common mistakes people make

10:26

when they're trying to cut down on their grocery expenses

10:28

, and how can they be avoided ?

10:30

So I know this happened to me

10:32

early on when warehouse stores

10:34

became like a big deal to have

10:36

a membership at Costco or Sam's

10:39

. And

10:42

I still hear people talk about it . A Costco run is really fun , don't get me wrong . I people talk

10:44

about it . A Costco run is really fun , don't get me wrong , I'm here for

10:46

it . But if you're not going to

10:49

use that bargain

10:51

buy , then it's

10:53

not a bargain . If you're throwing

10:55

that away , or if you've bought a

10:57

large container of , say , spices and

10:59

it's just sitting in the cabinet for years , that

11:02

wasn't a bargain . So that would

11:04

be tip number one

11:06

or the mistake that I see

11:08

a lot . But in general

11:10

, no matter where you're shopping whether

11:13

it's the grocery store , if you're feeling good about going

11:15

to the farmer's market , if you're not consuming

11:17

it and you're throwing it away , it's a waste

11:20

, it's a waste , it's not a bargain .

11:21

So 20 cucumbers for a dollar .

11:23

Right , it's a waste . It's a

11:25

waste , it's not a bargain . 20 cucumbers

11:28

for a dollar , right ? So if that whole cucumber is definitely , when

11:30

you do the math , more economical than

11:32

going to the salad bar and buying slices

11:34

of cucumbers , but if

11:37

you're not going to peel it and cut

11:39

it and store it properly and eat

11:41

it , then it does make sense to

11:44

go get a portion of sliced

11:46

cucumber from the salad bar to eat

11:48

with your hummus , right then . So

11:50

a lot of people are down on

11:52

you know , pre-cut or pre-prepared

11:55

produce or

11:57

burgers that are already in the patty . But

12:00

if that means you're going to consume

12:02

it and not throw it away , then

12:04

to me that's a bargain , right . The

12:07

other part is a lot of

12:09

really inexpensive food out there

12:11

in the world is also highly processed

12:14

food . Now , I'm not a registered

12:16

dietitian and I don't want to give health advice

12:18

, but I've personally worked

12:20

with a dietitian for years and

12:23

I've learned a little bit about turning that

12:25

package around and looking at the nutrition facts

12:27

. So if it doesn't

12:30

have certain number ratios

12:33

and I also look at a really

12:35

long list of ingredients I know that's a highly

12:37

processed food and In

12:40

terms of at the cash register it

12:42

seems like a really good bargain . They're

12:44

really low in price , but

12:47

they're also low in nutrition . And

12:49

even nutrition aside

12:51

, just feeling satisfied

12:54

, satiety , you know that

12:56

food doesn't have

12:58

the nutrition in it to help you feel

13:00

full , feel

13:06

full . So how is that a bargain if you've not only fed your body something

13:08

that's not good for it , but you're also hungry because it's not a filling

13:10

food , it's not a nutritionally

13:13

dense food . So those

13:15

would be sort of the three big

13:17

ones . That I would talk about is mistakes

13:20

that I hear people talk about . And you

13:23

know why should I bother learning how to make a

13:25

stir fry ? I can just get this stir

13:27

fry for X number of dollars in

13:29

a frozen bag and

13:32

my question would be but what's in it and

13:34

are you going to feel satisfied ?

13:36

And you know is it really even saving money

13:39

at the end , right , right ? So when

13:41

you mentioned earlier in terms of , you know

13:43

, storing foods , freezing food , things

13:45

like that , what would be your top

13:47

recommendations in terms of maybe the most

13:49

common things that people like to freeze

13:51

or store in order to get longevity

13:53

out of it ?

13:54

So , in terms of meat

13:57

going , if you're

13:59

buying in a big package , as

14:01

quickly as you can , think about

14:04

your needs at home , your family

14:06

size , how you're going to cook . Make

14:08

sure you're getting that broken down

14:11

and into those portions

14:13

as quickly as you can , dated and

14:15

in the freezer . So that's

14:18

a really wise buy , as long

14:20

as you get it broken

14:22

down and ready for those individual

14:25

meals . If you're doing that

14:27

, one of the best investments you can

14:29

make is in a vacuum sealer . We

14:32

use one all the time in the teaching kitchen

14:34

. It is also a space

14:36

saver in the way you can

14:38

really flatten things out and get things

14:40

stacked up in the freezer . So

14:42

I love talking about our vacuum sealer

14:45

. My chef in the teaching kitchen , Matt

14:47

, uses it all the time and it's a great time

14:49

saver and money saver for us . So that

14:51

would be number one . I

14:54

talk about zip top bags a lot

14:56

and I do like them for certain

14:58

things , but I prefer glass

15:00

containers for sort of

15:02

day-to-day movement of

15:05

leftovers that

15:07

you're going to consume , not freeze . So

15:09

you make a lasagna , you

15:12

have some left . It would be great for lunches

15:14

the next couple of days . I like glass

15:16

containers for that Because

15:19

it's not only a storage container . It's a

15:21

great microwave container and you can eat

15:23

right out of it . Container

15:25

. It's a great microwave container and you can eat right out of it . So I like glass containers

15:28

and reusing glass jars , like mason jars for storing

15:30

in the fridge to eat again , and

15:32

they are the

15:35

best way to air

15:37

quote recycle glass . So there's

15:40

very little glass recycling going on in the

15:42

world , so reusing glass is

15:44

actually the smartest way to if

15:46

you want to feel like you're recycling glass . So

15:49

at our store we sell spices

15:51

in bulk and so you can buy

15:53

as much or as little as you need . We sell in weight

15:55

and so we love seeing people

15:57

walk in . They walk in with our competitors'

16:00

glass jars that they've washed and

16:02

reused to put our spices in . They

16:04

come in with baby food jars that they're reusing

16:06

or small little canning jars

16:09

like jam and jelly jars . That's

16:11

a great way to think

16:13

about storage and

16:15

good for the earth if that's

16:17

important to you . But a

16:19

great way to think about storage in your kitchen

16:21

and I love it for ease

16:24

of reheating and eating . It can be

16:26

there for kids to heat up after

16:28

school , for after school snacks , but

16:30

a great way to portion things out and

16:32

not put that big

16:35

casserole dish covered with foil

16:37

back in the fridge . I feel like often when I do that that's the dish

16:39

that ends up in the garbage can four days later , Whereas if I portion

16:41

it and it's labeled dish that ends up in the

16:43

garbage can four days later , Whereas

16:45

if I portion it and it's labeled , my

16:48

husband's more likely to take that portion out

16:50

, eat it and eat it . So that's one of

16:52

my favorite tips for storage

16:54

in the kitchen .

16:56

Yeah , it looks absolutely more

16:59

inviting when it's already portioned . It seems

17:01

like it's less work and you know , just have

17:03

that bag or that jar and you could just throw

17:05

it in a microwave . So what are some other

17:07

money-saving kitchen tools that

17:10

you would recommend for home cooks looking

17:12

to trim their grocery budget ?

17:14

So a sheet pan or

17:16

multiple sheet pans good quality sheet

17:18

pans . They need to feel a little bit heavy when

17:21

you pick them up and you shouldn't

17:23

be able to take it and twist it and you can

17:25

twist and warp it .

17:27

I need to throw away my foil pans is what you're saying

17:29

.

17:30

So a good heavy duty sheet

17:32

pan will go miles and miles

17:34

and miles for you in the kitchen

17:36

. So it's everything from

17:38

sheet pan suppers that are

17:41

so popular right now . So definitely

17:43

for those meals that you want to get on a sheet

17:45

pan . It's great for reheating , it's great for

17:47

pizzas . But having a sheet

17:49

pan in the kitchen is

17:51

or good . Sheet pans in the kitchen is

17:54

one of my favorite tools in the kitchen

17:56

. The other is we love parchment

17:58

paper , but foil would work as well . I

18:01

find that when

18:03

it comes to cleanup , that

18:09

for me and my husband and I watched it all when my kids were at home the wheels

18:11

would fall off the bus because everyone's tired and annoyed

18:13

by the evening . And it

18:16

comes to cleanup and that's when that whole

18:18

casserole dish gets shoved in the fridge . And

18:20

so parchment and then cleanup

18:23

. That's really when everyone loses

18:25

it . So being able to clean things

18:28

up quickly knowing I

18:30

think sometimes the dread of cleaning stops

18:32

people from cooking at all , and

18:34

knowing that you can clean up quickly is

18:36

really , really important , and parchment is

18:39

one of our favorite tools

18:41

in the kitchen . Then I

18:43

am not opposed to

18:45

any of the trendy gadgets out there

18:47

right now . A lot of people

18:50

thumb their nose at Instant Pots and things

18:52

like that . For me and my husband

18:54

, now that we're empty nesters , the

18:57

air fryer has just

18:59

become this thing that

19:01

I turn to many

19:04

nights a week and people are like , oh , a chef using

19:06

an air fryer ? But hold on a minute . An

19:08

air fryer is just simply another heat source

19:11

. It's just a tiny convection oven . Is

19:13

what it is a really powerful convection

19:16

oven , and I

19:18

encourage folks to find

19:20

that gadget , whether it is a

19:22

panini press or an instant pot or

19:24

an air fryer or a crock pot , whatever

19:27

it is and just lean into

19:29

it , if that's what gets you there

19:31

, if that's what gets you to a meal at the

19:33

end of the day . Folks

19:35

talk a lot about well , I got one and I don't know how to use

19:37

it , or I don't like the clutter on the counter . I

19:41

hear all of that . But now

19:43

that we're using this air fryer

19:45

and you know these are nights

19:48

when I would have just like said

19:50

you know , ordered food or

19:53

fix some cereal , you

19:55

know , and we've got a nice meal because

19:57

of the air fryer I'm just here to say

19:59

if you're using a gadget and

20:02

it's working for you you're doing

20:04

it right .

20:05

I love my air fryer compared to , like

20:07

you say , heat turning on the oven . You

20:09

have electricity costs , then it heats up your

20:11

kitchen and it's too hot for that in Louisiana

20:13

. That's one of my favorite gadgets , Absolutely

20:16

favorite . Yeah , All right . So when people

20:18

think about reducing costs , especially groceries

20:20

, you know they think about , oh

20:22

you know , buying a cheaper product , maybe something

20:24

that's not as flavorful . So what

20:26

are some ways that people can reduce

20:29

grocery costs without sacrificing

20:31

flavors , sacrificing , you

20:33

know , the integrity of the meal itself

20:35

?

20:45

staples right now because they're so , so important to the home cook . Think about

20:47

the freezer as extension of your pantry . So look at frozen

20:49

vegetables and frozen fruit . Granted

20:52

, you can't make a fresh salad out of them

20:54

, and I'm not saying abandon

20:56

all fresh produce , but

20:58

if you're not eating vegetables

21:01

because of

21:03

either the cost of

21:05

those fresh fruits and vegetables or that

21:07

you know you're going to throw them away , then let's

21:09

find dishes that

21:12

work with frozen fruits and vegetables . So

21:14

, for fruit , it's more than just smoothies

21:17

. There's so many things you can do with them .

21:19

Yes , we learned that .

21:21

We made a dessert called a creeping cobbler and

21:23

it was amazing . We also made

21:25

overnight oats with frozen fruit . So

21:28

there's a whole lot you can do with frozen fruit

21:30

and it

21:32

is just such a bargain and it

21:34

lasts for a long time in your freezer . Same

21:37

with frozen vegetables . So you've got so

21:39

many options with soups

21:42

and stews and long cooking

21:44

dishes that use up frozen

21:46

fruits and vegetables . Then I

21:49

would turn . I talk a lot about beans , kim

21:51

, but they are such a bargain and

21:53

they are nutritionally dense

21:55

and

21:57

they're so versatile . So just make sure

21:59

you're buying canned beans

22:01

, that that's the only ingredient on the

22:03

ingredient list , or

22:10

they might have some salt in them , but nothing else in them . And there's so many things

22:13

you can make with garbanzos . You've got hummus , you know . With garbanzos

22:15

or chickpeas , you can also roast them

22:17

and have a great snack . So there's so many

22:19

things . I say embrace

22:21

the bean you know like . Get to know

22:23

all those canned legumes

22:25

and find ways to

22:28

cook with them . Buy

22:30

your spices in small quantities . Again

22:32

, if you're at the warehouse store

22:34

your membership warehouse store and you're buying

22:36

those big canisters of spices , remember

22:39

a ground spice . You need to move through

22:41

it within six months .

22:44

I think that's worth saying again .

22:45

Yeah six months with your ground

22:48

spices , so they

22:50

don't go bad , but they definitely lose

22:52

their potency . So it really

22:54

makes sense to buy in small quantities

22:56

. A store like mine , you can

22:58

buy as much or as little as you need . You

23:01

can bring in a recipe and we

23:03

will weigh out your half teaspoon

23:05

teaspoon and sell you

23:07

just what you need for that recipe . This

23:09

happens most often in our store at

23:11

Thanksgiving . People come in and

23:13

they say I make my Aunt Helen's spice cake and

23:15

I only make it one time of year . And

23:18

they come in and they buy that teaspoon of cardamom

23:20

right then and that's it . There's no jar

23:22

of cardamom in their cabinet . You can have a jar of cardamom in their cabinet

23:24

. You can have a jar of cardamom in your cabinet as long

23:26

as you're using it all year long

23:29

, but they lose their potency after

23:31

six months . So buying in small quantities

23:33

really makes sense and that

23:35

speaks to . So that

23:37

is called buying in bulk . So people

23:40

think buying in bulk and they see a big

23:42

cart coming out of Costco loaded

23:45

with big you know .

23:47

That's what I would think .

23:48

Right , multi-packs of steaks , and

23:51

that is buying in bulk . But buying in bulk also

23:53

means you're going to the bulk

23:55

aisle or a store like mine which is

23:57

a bulk store , and you're buying

24:00

by weight , only what you need , by

24:06

weight , only what you need . So when you go in a bulk aisle at a grocery store you're

24:08

probably going to find your nuts , grains , seeds , things

24:10

like that , things like rice

24:13

or barley or farro or almonds

24:16

. It's where you want to be

24:18

. For those types

24:20

of ingredients the packaging

24:23

isn't as pretty and you're packing it up

24:25

in a bag , but it is such

24:27

a cost savings to be in that bulk

24:29

section for those items

24:31

. And in my store that's the spices

24:33

, spice blends and salts . You

24:35

can buy as much or as little as you need and keep only

24:38

that on hand .

24:39

It really makes sense because I like to cook . Everybody

24:41

in my family likes to cook , so my spice

24:43

cabinet is full . However

24:45

, if I were to leave here and go start

24:47

plucking out the jars that are over

24:49

six months , I'd probably be left with

24:52

salt and pepper .

24:53

Yeah , yeah . So don't

24:55

throw those jars away . Empty them

24:57

and wash them and then restock

25:00

. You can come in the store and say only

25:02

fill that jar a quarter of the way or only

25:05

fill that jar halfway , so

25:07

that you then stock your pantry with

25:09

things you're going to move through in that

25:11

six months , rather than doing

25:14

what you just described of having to purge your

25:16

whole spice cabinet Exactly .

25:17

So another thing that comes to mind when you think about trying

25:19

to cut down on food costs people like to

25:22

meal prep , so what are some tips

25:24

that you could give about meal prepping that would

25:26

really make a difference in somebody's budget .

25:29

First of all , meal prep is such

25:31

a aesthetic right

25:34

now A lot of photographs of

25:36

influencers and they open their fridge and their

25:38

fridge looks perfect . And I

25:40

get intimidated around that kind

25:43

of perfection and then my brain goes

25:45

to well , just don't do it , you know , just skip

25:47

it , because it'll never look like that . And

25:50

so I'm here to say that's not what

25:52

meal prepping looks like and it also doesn't

25:54

look like all or nothing . Thinking so

25:57

, meal prep also started

25:59

to look and sound a whole lot

26:02

like my entire Sunday

26:04

is spent planning

26:08

and making all the meals for the week and

26:10

getting those loaded in the fridge . And

26:12

that's where Ann , this lady

26:14

, is like nope , not going to

26:16

happen . So I don't like the all

26:18

or nothing thinking around it . For me

26:20

, something is better than nothing . In

26:22

a lot of weeks all I prep are

26:24

my grains . I'll do a pot

26:27

of rice and maybe I love farro , you

26:29

could do quinoa , you could do your pasta , you

26:31

just boil your pasta . So I

26:34

just like having my grain ready to go , because

26:37

a lot of the proteins we cook

26:39

, because it's just me and my husband , I'm just cooking

26:41

, like two pieces of salmon , two

26:43

chicken breasts . That'll come together pretty

26:45

quickly . My grains are done , figure

26:48

out a vegetable . So that's

26:50

what works for me and it doesn't

26:52

mean that's what's going to work for everyone

26:54

. That's the other part of meal prep I don't love

26:57

is a lot of folks tell you this is how you

26:59

should meal prep , and to me , I'm like you should

27:01

meal prep the way that what

27:03

you , and more

27:05

than anything , meal prep , is something you're going to eat and

27:08

not throw away on Friday . That's

27:10

the key .

27:11

Exactly that's what I think is a little intimidating . You

27:13

see somebody meal prep and it's all

27:16

one dish . You know it's all chicken , chicken , chicken

27:18

, all quinoa , quinoa , quinoa , and then

27:20

it's like I might not want that on Wednesday or Thursday

27:22

, Right .

27:24

And I don't have anything against

27:27

. Say , you make a lasagna on

27:29

a Sunday , you know one big thing that's

27:31

great as long as you eat it . Then

27:40

I want you to think about . Let's say then that lasagna doesn't get eaten and it needs

27:42

to go in the freezer . I would really encourage you to freeze it in portions and not put

27:44

that whole lasagna in the freezer . First of all

27:46

, thawing a whole or even a half

27:48

lasagna takes a long time . So

27:51

freeze it in portions , and then the family

27:53

has an option . Let's say there is someone

27:55

who wants lasagna for lunch . They could pull it from

27:57

the freezer and have it ready to go in their

27:59

container and have it as a portion . Have

28:09

it as a portion . So I do like talking about freezing

28:11

, because I can't tell you how many times I have pulled a whole something out . First of all , I didn't

28:13

date it , so I don't know when I put it in there

28:16

and the whole thing has to go in the trash and it just

28:18

didn't make sense for our family . So

28:20

if you don't feel like cooking when

28:22

you're meal prepping again , remember

28:24

something's better than nothing , than chop

28:26

.

28:27

Okay .

28:27

So peel cucumbers , slice

28:30

them . Peel carrots , chop

28:32

them or cut them into carrot sticks

28:34

. Get those greens stored properly

28:37

, rinse the fruit , do

28:39

something , I guarantee you . Then

28:41

on that Tuesday , when you open

28:44

the fridge and you see sliced cucumbers

28:46

, then your brain goes okay .

28:48

That's a win .

28:49

Yeah , I'm 25%

28:52

of the way to a salad and then

28:54

some of the pieces start falling into place

28:56

. So , again , do something rather than

28:58

nothing If you feel like meal

29:01

prep has to look like this perfect event

29:03

. It doesn't Identify

29:05

something in your week that works

29:07

. And a lot of people go to Taco Tuesday

29:10

. People successfully

29:12

so many families successfully have Taco Tuesday

29:14

. Okay , so think about it . Think

29:16

about . Why does Taco Tuesday work

29:18

? What is it about Taco Tuesday ? Is

29:21

it because everybody likes

29:23

tacos ? Is it because you

29:26

put chicken in the crock pot before you leave for work

29:28

and it's done and eat Like what is it about

29:30

your Taco Tuesday that works ? Now think

29:33

about what's working and how could you make

29:35

it work again . How could you take

29:37

it and say , okay , I'm going to

29:39

take these aspects of Taco Tuesday that

29:41

work and now we're going to have

29:43

sandwich Thursday or waffle Wednesday

29:45

. A lot of psychologists

29:48

talk about habit stacking and I don't think that's

29:50

habit stacking . I think that's more just

29:53

trying to emulate what works another

29:55

time in the week . But think about what is

29:57

working , because something's working in your week and

30:00

how could you do it again . And

30:02

that is going to

30:04

eliminate another night that

30:06

you might have ordered takeout . The

30:08

other thing is to

30:10

identify a fallback meal . Okay , so

30:12

there are going to be days when the tire

30:15

is flat , or the meeting ran long

30:17

, or it's

30:19

raining and you don't have an umbrella or

30:21

whatever else might happen Just have

30:24

a headache . Right Immediately

30:26

we pick up our phone and we go to the app to

30:28

order food . What if you had

30:30

a fallback meal that came together

30:32

almost with your eyes closed

30:35

? It was just so easy and

30:37

you always kept those ingredients in

30:39

the pantry . For me it's a black bean

30:41

soup Two cans of black beans salsa

30:43

and I have black bean soup . For me

30:45

it's black bean soup , two cans of black beans salsa and I have black

30:48

bean soup . For my daughter it's hummus . It's

30:50

canned garbanzo . She

30:54

always has tahini . She has a food processor , she makes hummus . My

30:56

son it's tacos . It could be meat , but a lot of times it's carrots

30:58

. He makes a sheet pan carrot taco and he always has

31:00

the tortillas in the freezer . You know he always

31:02

has the components for that meal . It's

31:04

just like standard on his

31:07

shopping list . What if you

31:09

had a fallback meal that came together

31:11

quickly , even when you had a headache , or even

31:13

when you just got back from the

31:15

flat tire getting the tire repaired and

31:17

you could pull that together and I just

31:20

encourage everybody to think about what would that be

31:22

and how would you stock your pantry to

31:24

?

31:24

do that . I am definitely going to steal that idea . I absolutely

31:26

love it because of course when I see our

31:29

consumers come in , our members come in with their budgets

31:31

food is always one of the highest one Meals

31:34

out . Usually it just kind of blows

31:36

their brain when they actually look

31:38

at how much they're spending on meals out . But

31:40

I get it . I understand you had a

31:42

flat tire , you have a headache . That's

31:45

life .

31:45

It's hard .

31:46

It's hard to say no , don't do that

31:48

. Force yourself to go home and cook . But if

31:50

you already have that planned out something

31:53

in your house that's that fallback

31:55

meal that would actually be something

31:57

that you could go to quicker

31:59

and think about it before you drive

32:01

through McDonald's or pick up something

32:03

and then you're just increasing your budget

32:05

. I'm going to have to go figure out what my fallback

32:07

meal is and that's going to be the question that

32:09

I'll start asking everybody what is your fallback

32:12

meal ? That's going to be your homework .

32:13

I like that , I really like that , and is

32:15

it stocked in your pantry at all times ? Like

32:18

not a million ingredients , just what is that meal

32:20

? But you Like not a million ingredients , just what is that meal . But you just always

32:22

have it on hand .

32:24

Mine actually was TJR Friday Little Frozen

32:26

Wings . We won't tell anybody about

32:28

that . All right . So

32:36

for someone new to cooking because of course , there's always someone

32:38

that just wakes up and says , you know , I need to start cooking more . I'm going to be a new spouse

32:40

and I need to be able to , you know , cook gourmet meals

32:42

and I need to be able to , you know , cook gourmet meals . For someone new to cooking , or managing

32:45

their , you know , or managing a new grocery budget where should they start

32:47

in terms of building a cost-effective pantry

32:49

or spice collection ?

32:51

So for a spice collection , you

32:53

need to figure out your space first . Figure

32:56

out where you're going to store them and what

32:58

that container looks like . So

33:00

a lot of our spice , we have a lot

33:02

of spices that are grab-and-go in little

33:05

zip-top bags and I have

33:07

so many customers say I

33:09

had to install a hook in my kitchen to hang all

33:11

these bags , or I got this particular bin to

33:13

hang these bags and I mean I hear that

33:15

. I hear what they're saying . Space

33:17

matters , when you're going to store things matters

33:19

. So I would say , figure that out first . Figure

33:22

out what those containers are . Are they little mason jars ? Are they baby food jars

33:24

? Are they our grab-and-go

33:27

bags ? That's perfectly fine . Then

33:30

start buying . The next

33:32

thing I would say is we do have

33:34

an essential spice

33:36

set that we sell on the website . It's

33:39

11 spices . We've identified 11

33:41

spices and if you have these 11 spices

33:44

in your cabinet .

33:45

Is that KFC ?

33:45

recipe . If

33:48

you have these 11 in your spice cabinet

33:50

, you can do different combinations

33:53

of these spices . And you can pull together

33:55

a Cajun Creole blend . You

33:57

can pull together a Tex-Mex taco blend

33:59

. You can pull together a Moroccan , a

34:02

North African Moroccan blend . You could pull together a Moroccan , a North African Moroccan blend . You

34:04

could pull together a curry powder .

34:05

All right , can I put you on the spot ? Can you name those 11

34:07

spices ?

34:08

Cumin , coriander , onion

34:11

, garlic , turmeric , paprika

34:14

, cayenne . I

34:17

got to seven Kim .

34:19

And I have six of the seven .

34:22

All that to say those

34:24

spices , those individual spices

34:27

, cross cultures

34:29

. So cumin is used not

34:32

just in fajitas , cumin is used

34:34

around the world , paprika is used around

34:36

the world . So , depending on how you combine

34:38

them and in what ratios , you end up

34:40

with a spice blend that leans

34:43

toward a different part of

34:45

the world . And with those 11

34:47

spices , you can pull

34:49

together all those spice blends and , trust me

34:51

, you'll make interesting dishes .

34:53

And this is probably a good time maybe just to talk a little

34:55

bit about your podcast and where they could go

34:57

on your website to find those 11 spices

34:59

, Because I know we have nine parishes

35:02

in our field of membership and I'd probably fail to

35:04

say all nine . So give us a little

35:06

bit of information about where they can find

35:08

this information and about your podcast .

35:10

So my podcast is called Smidgen and

35:12

it's on all the podcast apps and

35:14

each week me and my producer , catherine

35:16

, just tackle a . It might be a

35:18

particular spice , or it might be a particular spice

35:20

, or it might be a style

35:22

of cooking or one

35:25

recipe . It's all based on

35:27

questions we hear in the shop and then I take those

35:29

questions . I really lean in and take those questions

35:31

and take them to the podcast and Catherine and I talk about

35:34

them . They're really fun , they're sub

35:36

25 minutes and really

35:38

easy listen and you're going to walk away with tips

35:41

for cooking On the website at redstickspicecom . You'll see to walk away with tips

35:43

for cooking On the website at redstickspicecom . You'll

35:45

see a tab that says recipes and blog

35:47

. Click there and then we have

35:49

over 800 recipes on the website

35:51

and they all link back to products

35:54

on the website and will give you great ideas

35:56

for putting those 11 spices or our

35:58

spice blends to work in different

36:00

recipes . And I

36:02

think there's a misconception about

36:04

my shop that we are it's

36:07

definitely a specialty gourmet

36:09

grocery store , but that we're

36:11

foodies , or that we're food snobs

36:14

. We're chef run , but it's

36:17

not . We are very much

36:20

here . We are home cooks first

36:22

of all , and we're very much here for the home cook

36:24

. One of the first things that

36:26

happened when I bought the shop

36:28

. It was about day three after

36:30

I bought the shop and I was on the retail floor helping

36:32

customers and then she leaned in and she whispered I still

36:35

make red beans and rice on Mondays . And

36:45

I thought to myself why are we

36:47

? Why are we whispering ? And

36:49

that was interesting to me , that her

36:51

perception was that that

36:54

that was too sort of lowbrow

36:56

for what we were doing in the shop . And that's

36:58

when I went home that night

37:01

. I was talking to my husband and I said

37:03

we have to rebrand the shop like that

37:05

is not . I want to talk . I want

37:07

somebody bring me red beans and rice on Monday first

37:09

of all . But yes , let's

37:12

make red beans and rice on Monday and there's there's

37:14

nothing wrong with

37:17

that . We are here

37:20

for the home cook . We can talk to you about what

37:22

you put in crockpots . I even

37:24

had a conversation the other day with a guy about

37:26

his George Foreman grill . I didn't know

37:28

they existed anymore . We

37:33

had a great conversation about the chicken he makes

37:35

in his George Foreman . And so

37:37

we're here for the home cook , no matter how you're

37:39

cooking . We just want you to get to

37:41

weeknight meals , we

37:43

want you to cook more from whole ingredients .

37:45

Yeah , and so let's talk about that . You know I mentioned

37:48

, you know some of our listeners may be at the very basics

37:50

in terms of you know boiling water , and

37:52

I imagine if you're not very , not

37:54

very great cook , you waste a lot of money because

37:56

you're , you know this is not

37:58

the way it's supposed to be and you're throwing it away . It's

38:00

nasty , you burned it . But you also

38:02

do cooking classes . So tell us about those cooking

38:04

classes . You know who are the cooking classes

38:07

for . Is it for a gourmet cook ? Is it for

38:09

somebody that has a little bit of

38:11

culinary skills ? Who should come ?

38:14

So it's for everyone . So we have everything from

38:16

zero experience

38:19

in the kitchen to folks who , you

38:21

know , really know their way around the kitchen , and

38:30

it's there for everyone . So we do classes about three nights a week and we

38:32

teach everything from the basics . We have a class that's called cooking

38:34

essentials where we teach the you know

38:36

, braise , bake , broil

38:39

. You know all the saute , all

38:41

the basics we teach . Then

38:44

we have fun sounding classes . You know we have themed

38:46

classes . So we teach curries

38:48

, cocktails and cookies and but no

38:50

matter what the , what the name

38:53

of the class sounds like , the same

38:55

thing happens in every class Everyone

38:57

learns knife skills . Every

38:59

, every recipe , as clever

39:02

as the might be , is

39:04

still a recipe we would make at home again

39:06

. So we never want anybody to go

39:08

. Well , that was a really cool Game of Thrones cooking

39:10

class . I'll never make that . That's

39:12

not going to happen . Even in

39:14

a themed class , we make sure there are dishes

39:17

that we would want to make again

39:19

. So you're going to learn the basics

39:21

of heat management . That is , 90%

39:24

of the job in the kitchen is managing

39:26

heat . So we are constantly

39:29

walking around the island turning up

39:31

heat , turning down heat , explaining why we did

39:33

it , explaining what's happening when that skillet

39:35

starts smoking . Heat

39:37

management is really important when you should be moving

39:40

from the stovetop to the oven when

39:42

we use the broiler . You know , I hardly

39:44

used my broiler before and now I use

39:46

it so much more , and now that we teach it in

39:49

the teaching kitchen . So you're going to learn

39:51

all the basics of cooking , you're going to get some

39:53

nice knife skills and you're going to get a packet

39:56

of about eight

39:58

recipes anywhere from eight to 10 recipes

40:00

in every class is taught . You're going to get that packet

40:02

to take home so that you can make them again

40:04

.

40:05

And thank you so much . This was a lot

40:07

of good information . One more time

40:09

, give us information where our listeners

40:12

can find Red Stick and find

40:14

you for some good , good culinary information

40:16

.

40:17

Our brick-and-mortar store is in Mid-City Baton Rouge

40:19

at 660 Jefferson , and

40:21

they can find us online 24-7 at

40:23

redstickspicecom .

40:25

Well , this has been great . I'm

40:27

sure everybody listening learned something

40:30

that they did not know before , and

40:32

then , if they didn't guess what , we will definitely have

40:34

you coming back . I mean , spring , summer

40:36

is going to be here any minute and

40:39

I know that there are some parents out there trying

40:41

to figure out my budget . May be great

40:43

now , but when those hungry kids come home for

40:45

the summer and I need to be able to cook and

40:47

prepare three meals a day with the same

40:49

income , I know that you're going to

40:51

be able to come back and give us some tips for that . So

40:53

thank you so much for joining us .

40:55

This was great , thank you .

41:01

Today's tip is one that just might put some goodies

41:04

in your pocket . So run , don't walk

41:06

to any of neighbor's social media

41:08

sites . Basically , in celebration

41:10

of Financial Literacy Month , neighbors Federal Credit

41:12

Union presents the Seafood and Spice Sweet

41:15

Steaks . It's your chance to spice up your

41:17

savings and indulge in some local favorites

41:19

. Every Monday in April , we're

41:21

going to be serving up some mouth-watering tips

41:23

to help you trim your food budget , and

41:25

we're going to be featuring Chef Ann

41:27

Milnick from Red Stick and Spice . So all

41:30

you have to do is comment , post and tag

41:32

neighbors by midnight on the Wednesday of the

41:34

week to earn your entry to a

41:36

weekly drawing for gift cards to Red Stick Spice

41:38

and Tony's Seafood . Two lucky

41:40

winners will be announced every week live

41:42

on social media . And that's not all

41:45

. We're going to have a grand prize winner that we will

41:47

select at the end of April that can

41:49

win prizes worth $500

41:51

, again for Red Stick Spice and Tony's

41:53

Seafood . So , ready to spice up your savings

41:56

and indulge in culinary delights ? Head

41:58

on over and check out NeighborsFCUorg

42:00

for official contest

42:02

rules and start tagging away .