April 9, 2024 • 50 mins
Got nowhere to place your piling-up girl scout cookies? You’re in for the ride! In this episode, Jen and Jill walk through creative ways to make a minimalist pantry. Figure out your next kitchen or pantry setup, the items you might use, and those that need to go!
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Episode three ninety six, Minimalist Pantry Formula.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
Welcome to the Frugal Friends podcast, where you'll learn to
save money, embrace simplicity and life.
Speaker 1 (00:18):
Here your hosts Jen and Jill. Welcome to the Frugal
Friends podcast. My name is Jen, my name is Jill,
and today we are going to walk you through creating
a creating your own minimalist pantry formula. So it's not
(00:38):
going to be the same for everyone. There are certain
things everyone should keep, and what you keep in those
categories will depend on you and what you use. But
we're going to talk about some of that stuff and
then also how to get started, so how to declutter,
organize what you already have, that whole sort of thing.
(00:59):
So I'm very excited because I actually need to do this,
and so this this one is for me.
Speaker 3 (01:05):
I'm excited because I don't remember well, I guess we'll
talk about it. The last time we talked about this
specific type of thing was a very long time ago,
and I think because of when we've talked about it
in the past, it has helped me to form my
what are some of my staples? How am I organizing
(01:26):
in a way that makes sense? And I feel pretty
good about the pantry setup that I have. Granted, my
kitchen's only about a year old, so it's not as
if I've been in this space for a decade and
I've got all this build up, so that is part
of the benefit for me. But I think just re
emphasizing what's good about it, how can we do it
(01:48):
in a way that works for us, is excellent. And
we did send you all a poll in the friend letter.
For those of you receiving it, you know that there's
polls at the bottom of every email that you can
kind of send your vote in. It helps us tailor
the episodes to be more relevant to you. Sometimes we
read off a few of your responses, which is fun.
(02:08):
So of course, if you're not getting the friend letter,
definitely do that so you can be a part of
these polls. But we asked do you have a pantry
stock pile?
Speaker 4 (02:18):
And y'all were all over the map on this one.
Speaker 1 (02:21):
So most people said they are not like in love
with their stockpile. They either have too much and they
tighten it up, or they don't have one and they
wish they did. Eighty five of you said yes, it's perfect.
I love my stockpile. So this one maybe is just
(02:41):
going to be like a fun like confirmation, you know,
episode for you to be like, you know, doing what
I love this. But if you're like Jesse, who commented
on this, this episode's truly for you, she says, the
girl Scouts keep shaking me down for money. I've got
(03:01):
three new cookie dealers this year, and I'm gonna need
to add cookie space to my pantry now. And Jesse,
we are here for you. We will carve out a
special place in the episode for what to do when
you have three cookie dealers and how to organize your
pantry around that.
Speaker 3 (03:20):
I love it so much. They're shaking me down. I
got new dealers amazing. Well, before we get into how
to do this, this episode is brought to you by substitutes,
the restaurant wait staffs ors nightmare, the kids maybe favorite
school day, the grocery drop the grocery drop off toss up.
(03:43):
Substitutes can be hit or missed, but we're gonna go
with a big old hit like substitutions and food that
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of email, full of info about freebies and the best
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(04:06):
name brands and so much more virual Friends podcast dot
com substitutes sometimes better than the real thing?
Speaker 1 (04:15):
Hmm, may I refer to them as dupes Ooh maybe?
Speaker 4 (04:22):
Yeah? Kind of yes, Okay, I think you totally could.
Speaker 1 (04:25):
All right well to get into just like a few
more kind of the overall feel that you guys were
giving us for this episode. A lot of you did
like your stockpile. The people who actually love their stockpile
just for reference say that they have enough food to
last them for a year. So I, personally, that's not me.
(04:47):
I'm more of a only buy what I need when
I need it. There's just a few things that I
keep a stockpile, a minimalist stockpile of And this is
really I have been going to Sam's Club once a
month for the past like five months, so this is
really tested out what I need versus want for a stockpile.
(05:13):
Where is the law of diminishing returns? Where's the line
between it saves me money versus I'm just adding clutter
to my pantry and I'm not actually using it I'm
wasting food, wasting money.
Speaker 3 (05:30):
Yeah, Yeah, And I think it takes a while to
really understand where that line is and your threshold of tolerance,
how much space you actually have to have any version
of a stockpile. I do think before we get into
this first article, just really quickly highlighting why we're even
(05:50):
advocating for a minimalist pantry set up, like the benefits
of it. I think that when we can really figure
out what we're going to use, and we've got a
really good setup and we don't have too much, we're
not consuming in excess, it can encourage some more whole
(06:10):
food cooking. When we figure out a system of how
to buy what we're making, then we can kind of
know what things can we be buying in bulk making
on our own, using the pantry staples that we have
to make some of these condiments that maybe we would
be spending so much more money on. I think it
(06:30):
can lead to better meal planning as well. When we
are able to know what's in our pantry have easy
access to it, we can form better meal plans around
those things, which of course is always going to lead
to less food waste when it's not just stashed full
of stuff, and things are going bad, they're going stale,
they're expiring, we're wasting less. And then it can lead
(06:53):
to a lot of creativity and confidence with substitutions. I
think that comes with cook looking at home a lot more,
which I think you're going to cook at home a
lot more if your pantry set up makes sense to
you and is full of the things that you know
you're actually going to eat, uh, And then you can
just kind of know, these are the things I keep.
I'm not keeping all these random ingredients or purchasing random ingredients,
(07:16):
and I'm going to try using what I have, even
with some of these new recipes, and get creative and
feel more confident.
Speaker 4 (07:25):
About doing that.
Speaker 3 (07:26):
So those are just some of the benefits that I
see in really really honing in.
Speaker 4 (07:32):
What you're keeping on hand.
Speaker 1 (07:34):
Yeah, when you walk into someplace, and this is a
really great indicator if you need a more minimalist pantry.
If you walk into your pantry or open up your
pantry and your first feeling is stress, this need you
need a more minimalist pantry. And minimalist doesn't mean like
(07:55):
you have one of you just have one can in
the pantry. Whatever that looks like to you, it means
you probably if it makes you stressed, you probably first
need to like declutter and organize and get through some
of this stuff. And that's what we're gonna kind of
talk about that process right now.
Speaker 4 (08:14):
Agreed.
Speaker 3 (08:14):
So this first article comes from this simple balance, and
we're just going to go through this middle portion of
the article that outlines five easy steps to an organized
minimalist pantry. I thought that this was a really good
rundown of what do we do, where do we get started?
And like any decluttering, organizing minimalist effort, it's going to
(08:39):
start with pulling everything out of the pantry. This is
then also your opportunity to wipe down all of your
shelves and containers and really freshen everything up. But you're
not going to be able to get at what you
want your pantry to look at look like unless we
can gather it all, get our eyes on everything, and
(09:03):
then see how do we want to manage it from there,
and then wiping it down is just an added bonus.
So it's painful, it's gonna be really messy. You're gonna
probably want to carve out the better portion of an
afternoon for this.
Speaker 4 (09:20):
But you got to start there.
Speaker 1 (09:21):
And if it's too overwhelming, or maybe you your pantry
is just a cabinet or two, just start with one
shelf in the pantry, one side of the cabinet. Start
with what you can and get rid of that. Get
rid of those expired things so they're no longer causing
(09:42):
you stress. And we go to number to step two.
Group like items and declutter what you know you won't use.
And in parentheses, she says, be honest. So this is
this is you know, real honest transparency. Just get rid
of what you know you won't use. If you are
like I think I might use this, then then give
(10:06):
yourself the challenge to use it in the next two weeks.
And if you don't use it in the next two weeks,
then it leaves. It goes on your buy nothing group.
Speaker 3 (10:14):
Yeah yeah, put it somewhere where you're gonna be able
to see it or even create the meal plan around
that thing. But then if it's not, if it's nowhere
near the expiration date, you just know you're not going
to eat it anymore, then you can give that away
to a local food pantry or like you said, a
buy nothing group. I like the groupings that they outlined here.
(10:36):
If that's kind of something that's hard to get your
mind around.
Speaker 4 (10:39):
And you've got.
Speaker 3 (10:40):
Can goods mixed with cereal, mixed with condiments. One of
the things the template she uses is canned goods, including
even curtains of broth would be one category. Baking supplies
is another. Snacks is one, different from breads and bagels,
Separate condiments and spreads. Still not everything. You've still got
(11:03):
your spices, your vinegars, and oils, but you can kind
of group.
Speaker 4 (11:08):
It in that way.
Speaker 3 (11:09):
I'm sure there's stuff too on the internet of what
are the different categories of food that I can be
partitioning this into. But some of that's also going to
be your own intuitive processes, knowing where how do you
move throughout the kitchen and what do you want to
have near the stove, what do you want to have
(11:30):
near the fridge, And so that's a good place to start,
but then freedom to create your own system that's going
to make your kitchen most efficient for you, which then
leads us to number three, which is evaluate your kitchen
setup and your pantry shells to determine where these categories
(11:50):
should live. They then start to use the term zones,
having different zones for things, and it's exactly what we're
describing here. How do you work in the kitchen? Where
do you want things? This can even be height of things.
So they describe wanting children snacks to be accessible to
the kids, So that's going on a lower shelf. Adult
(12:12):
snacks are going higher. The things that she's cooking with
are next to the stove. So yeah, think through where
you want things to live and who needs to access
them most, and start setting it up in a way
that makes sense for those zones.
Speaker 1 (12:29):
Yeah, this is actually something I have been reading about
a lot recently. Like we are literally right now in
the process of assembling our new kitchen cabinets. Everything is
out of our pantry. This is the first time in
my life I've ever had a pantry. Usually I just
have like an upper two upper cabinets, but so this
(12:51):
is the first time in my life I have ever
had a pantry, and I am figuring out what lives
in the pantry, what lives near the stove, what lives
near the dishwasher, and kind of going The things I've
been reading are go with how you usually flow, because
when you are keeping everything in the pantry, and it
(13:13):
is a you're having to pull everything out when you're
cooking and then put everything back in. It's it's going
to be less likely that you cook, So you want
the lowest barrier to entry to cook at home. And
that's a little bit what we're going to talk about
in the next article. But we don't want to fight.
(13:35):
We good is the enemy of great? I think is
that how great's the enemy of good? One of those
we just kind of want everything to be perfect right
esthetically pleasing, like what we see on social media, even
if maybe it's not the most it makes the most
sense for us. And so I'm right now having to
(13:58):
go through like, okay, so maybe they say you should
keep this by the oven, but I actually don't use
this a lot, so maybe it makes more sense to
put in the pantry, whereas like my protein powder that
I'm you know, using every day, having that more like out.
(14:19):
So that's just something you're going to have to figure
out for yourself. And they were saying, use sticky notes
to put on different shelves of the pantry and different
cabinets when you're kind of going through and organizing so
that you can a like maybe remember a new setup
(14:41):
and the people in your family can remember it a
set up so in the future when they're putting away
dishes and groceries, they kind of will know. But to
kind of get a feeling for when you move something around,
like how it feels.
Speaker 3 (14:58):
Yeah, what needs to have is a But I also
think we need to take into consideration how certain things
need to be stored. So some things do better in
the dark versus out in possible sunlight, you know, like
possibly your oils and like even just vanilla. I know
that's very specific, but like you're not going to want
(15:19):
that out on the counter where the sun's constantly hitting it,
So that needs to be going somewhere within a shelf.
So that's another thing to be processing too as you're organizing,
like what does the best proper food storage for longevity
look like? And then of course number four is a
little bit talking to maintenance, but making sure that you're
(15:41):
putting things back in their zones, keeping like items together,
which goes hand in hand with what you just mentioned
Jen about possibly putting up notes where things go as
you're learning a new system, so that it doesn't become
just chaotic all over again.
Speaker 4 (15:59):
And you've got.
Speaker 3 (16:00):
Can goods in every possible shelf of your kitchen and
pastas everywhere, but maintaining it putting it back.
Speaker 1 (16:07):
Yeah. And here's another great thing about a minimalist pantry,
And another reason it's a great idea is that when
you're putting groceries away, we put them away in the back,
not in the front. Yeah, first in, first out, So
we run it like we are pushing as best to
(16:27):
our ability, pushing the cans up to the front, and
then we're putting the new cans in the back. Yes,
so that the little grocery store.
Speaker 4 (16:36):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (16:36):
And when you're when you're overwhelming, you have too many things,
you can't really push things to the front or slip
them into the back. And so this is going to
help reduce waste. Uh, it's going to help make sure
that we're using everything. We're going to avoid buying things
that we're not sure if we're going to use, because
(16:57):
they're going to be in the front. And I would
say also little stickers that you can put dates on,
Like if there's been something that you haven't used in
a while, put a sticker with a date on it. Yeah,
and say like I have to use this by this
date or it leaves.
Speaker 3 (17:15):
Yeah, well, I think that was even a zone she
talked about in this article, that she'll even have a
zone for what they're gonna meal plan that upcoming week,
things that might be mirroring expiration date. This is the
I need to use it this week kind of zone,
cook with it, implement it, and it may not even
be in its like typical zone.
Speaker 4 (17:37):
She's got to use up zone too.
Speaker 1 (17:41):
So there's another idea, yeah, which leads to the last one,
which I love love love only by organizational containers or
baskets if they will truly make your life easier. Nobody's
gonna see your pantry. You're typically ninety nine percent of
us or not opening up our pantries to show people
(18:03):
on social media. Even in this article. I love that
the pictures of her pantry are not super like door s,
like they're just things in shelves. She doesn't even have
a typical pantry, like a walk in pantry. It's just
like an open up pantry. It's beautiful because it's when
(18:27):
I look at her pantry, I am not stressed. It's
not there's no like plastic container, beauty labels or anything.
But when I look at it, it doesn't stress me
out because you can see everything.
Speaker 3 (18:42):
One of my favorite things to do in being able
to organize and corral things together but not feel like
I have to spend money, is just using some of
the cardboard boxes, either from non food items or.
Speaker 4 (18:55):
The food items themselves.
Speaker 3 (18:57):
Like if I happen to get a thing of granola bars,
I just clip the top off and keep it in
its container. If there's like a nice cardboard box that
came with something that then I can like dump other
little snacks into. Like, there are ways to have organization,
but it doesn't have to mean that we're spending a
ton of money on plastic stuff. That said, I do
(19:21):
think that there could be room for certain items going
into better sealed containers, like your cereals and maybe your
snacks that kids are getting into often that are not
individually packaged.
Speaker 4 (19:35):
I say that for.
Speaker 3 (19:36):
Kids, but my experience is some of our guests have
been getting it, and we don't keep a ton of
snacks like cheese. It's is one and chips are another
that like we keep on hand and then we don't
eat it very often, but we're very judicious about putting,
you know, a clip on the bag. Well, we've been
noticing that when we have a lot of guests in town,
(19:56):
they'll get into the snacks and they may not close
up the bag.
Speaker 1 (19:59):
I don't know.
Speaker 4 (20:00):
The chimp clip goes stale.
Speaker 3 (20:02):
So I will say we did just buy a couple
of containers for some of those like very perishable snacks
that are not individually packaged, primarily for our guests. And
if you have children that are like my guests who
aren't going to seal things up, then maybe containers that
you don't have to get brand new. You can find
(20:23):
them at the thrift store. You can find them.
Speaker 4 (20:26):
Uh.
Speaker 3 (20:27):
And yeah, they don't have to be like all the
aesthetically pleasing whatever, just something that's going to seal it
up better and help your food to last longer. That
would be my one vote for getting containers.
Speaker 1 (20:38):
Jenna, she's not talking about No, I'm.
Speaker 4 (20:40):
Not talking about you, Jenna.
Speaker 3 (20:41):
You guys are guests that listen.
Speaker 4 (20:44):
To the show. Did I not close that?
Speaker 3 (20:50):
And truly I don't know who it was because it's
been forever since we went to Try to Eat. Not
forever because now you're going to think, oh, that's your problem.
Not they just truly weren't put away but anyways.
Speaker 1 (21:02):
But yeah, so you just get the organizational containers that
will support your lifestyle. And you really can't tell what
those organizational containers are until after you have decluttered the pantry.
You have created a rhythm for yourself and you've lived
(21:24):
it for several months, you've kind of you've decided what
length of you know, quote unquote stockpile am I happy with?
Is it one year or one month or somewhere in between.
Everyone's going to have a different level of comfort. Yes,
And what does my space provide for a lot of
people in the poll were like, I'd love to have
(21:45):
a stockpile, but I live in a dinty dinty kitchen.
So what does your space provide for as well? Because
some of these organizational containers take up more space than
they really need to. So get into the rhythm, figure
out what works for you, and then it's any containers.
Speaker 3 (22:05):
Yeah, don't get all the exercise equipment until you're in
an exercise routine. Don't get all the containers until you've
decluttered and organized your pantry and now you know.
Speaker 4 (22:14):
What you need.
Speaker 3 (22:15):
Yes, Okay, So this next article comes from Frugal minimalist kitchen.
Speaker 1 (22:24):
A website to find what we are talking about. This
is the website.
Speaker 3 (22:30):
And with this one, we just want to go through
what are some of the pantry staples. Now here's the thing.
We're going to go through this list and give our
own little take on it. Mind you, this is not
a shopping list. This is not a list for you
to go say, ah, I have to keep a lot
of dry goods on hand. Now you don't unless you
(22:53):
cook with dry goods. It's more of an idea of
what are some of the staple with in dried goods.
What's a good idea of how many of each of
these staples I need to be having on hand at
the end of the day. You're gonna need to answer
that question for yourself after you've kept a pulse on
(23:15):
how you cook, what you eat, how often you're at
home doing these things. But just to get a sense
for what are some of the things that people generally
might keep you on here.
Speaker 1 (23:29):
And the way I would interpret this list is I
would say, so like the first you know on dry goods,
the first thing hears nuts and seeds, and it's saying
seeds one to three of chia seeds, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds.
The way I would interpret this is if I'm looking
at my pantry and I have five different boxes or
bags of seeds, then I might say, Okay, I probably
(23:51):
only need three because unless I'm eating seeds every day five,
Unless I'm eating seeds five days a week, I probably
don't need five different seeds, right, So think about how
many times you're consuming seeds each week. I'm really glad
seeds is the first thing. You think about how many
times you're consuming them each week, and then maybe have
(24:13):
that many okay. Or if you're hearing this list and
we're like chia seeds and you're like, oh my gosh,
I eat those all the.
Speaker 4 (24:22):
Time and everything.
Speaker 1 (24:23):
Yeah, and I'm just always buying them when I run out.
Maybe then next time they are on sale, then you
buy a stock up. So that's how I would when
I hear this list, That's how I would process it.
Speaker 4 (24:38):
Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 3 (24:39):
So then the next category would be canned items, beans
and lentils. So this is where we're talking about canned tomatoes, tomatoes, sauce,
canned fruit, coconut milk, even canned fish or meat like
canned chicken, and then your beans and lentils, kidney beans, chickpeas,
black beans, brown lenel, dried chick piece, dried red lentils,
(25:03):
dried split piece. That's going to have so much to
do with how you cook. Are you more a person
who's going to get the dried stuff and you're going
to soak it in water and then cook it? Like,
are you ready for the long process? Are you the
person who is using the can for your beans and
lentils and that's the way that you need to be
(25:24):
supplying and stockpiling. Also, how often are you using can tomatoes,
can tomato sauce? Are you making a lot of soups
and stews and maybe pastas, then yeah, that's for you.
If not, you know the canned items that you purchase
and start to keep inventory of how often am I
using these things? What would be better to kind of
(25:47):
keep in my supply and what don't I really need
for me?
Speaker 4 (25:51):
Personally?
Speaker 3 (25:52):
I don't ever do canned fruit, nothing against it, It's
just not in my mo I don't use can fruit,
I don't eat canned fruit. I don't buy canned fruit,
even if it's on sale. But I am I'm a
person who likes me some canned chicken for a buffalo
chicken DT, So I keep that on hand.
Speaker 1 (26:13):
Yes, it's one of those things think about the recipes
when you're going to a pot luck or your struggle
meal recipes that you just feel like really safe making.
Make sure you have those things on hand at all times. So,
like she's talking, one of her big things is like,
how do you know how much pasta to have on hand?
(26:37):
Or were like how many? Because there's so many different
types of pasta. So she's saying for grains like, oah,
have an oat if you do overnight oat, baked oats, whatever.
Oats are one of the things that I will like
stock up on at Sam's Club because we do an
oat some kind of oat thing every week. White rice,
(26:58):
brown rice. I would say, probably you could pick one
whatever you love most, and then other grains. So she
says about two of different other grains, but that's optional.
If you're not adventurous with your grains, don't worry about it.
And then she says one long pasta and one short pasta. Again,
if maybe you're just a I would say short pastas
(27:21):
are great for kids, like the shells, so we definitely
have shells and spaghetti all the time. And then lasagna.
If you make lasagna's keep your lasagna noodles on hand.
Otherwise that's not a struggle meal. Like, I don't think
you really need to keep lasagna nudes on hand at
(27:42):
all times.
Speaker 4 (27:42):
I'm not making my own lasagna, yes, not for me.
Speaker 1 (27:45):
Yeah, but then I further like, choose your dried, choose
your cand and then yeah, see how it goes.
Speaker 3 (27:56):
Yeah, I think two to three types of breakfast cereals.
That's going to depend on your family size. But be
aware of how many boxes cereal. I think that's one
of the number one things just from my own perception
that gets wasted and families, you make it halfway through
the box and maybe it's starting to get stale at
that point because you got so many other options. So
(28:18):
now you've got five boxes, all of which aren't empty,
and what are you going to do with it? Because
none of them taste good anymore. We'd be better off
to go one to two, plow our way through those
and then get the different variety that we want. Then, yeah,
your peanut butter, your corn meal, corn starch, which then
(28:40):
bleeds into baking supplies and this is going to depend
on how often you bake.
Speaker 1 (28:47):
I don't bake.
Speaker 3 (28:49):
Yeah, so how much flour, sugar, powdered sugar, baking SODA's
baking powders, vanilla extract do you need to be keeping
on hand and not going overboard because these things, while
they are relatively shelf stable, they do expire, And especially
when it comes to flour and sugar bags, I don't
(29:11):
know why this is the way that they've chosen to
package these items, because there's always little bits of flour
and sugar coming out of it, which tells me it's
not that well sealed. So if you live in an area,
which I think is everywhere that ants or other pests
could be a problem, that's not a great thing to
be stockpiling in your pantry. For me, the way that
(29:34):
I approach it is, I've just got a big jar
that I keep my flower in, and when it's about
halfway down is when I will purchase more. But if
I do feel like, oh okay, it's on sale, I
want to have more bags, I feel like I've I've
got to seal it better than how it is currently sealed,
which is a bummer. So yeah, I'm like putting it
(29:54):
in a bag of some sort, or maybe wrapping it
in plastic wrap because I don't want animals to get
to it and ruin the fact that I got it
on sale.
Speaker 1 (30:03):
Yeah, and it says that once opened, all purpose flour
lasts six to eight months, and you can store it
in the refrigerator last up to a year. White flowers
like cake flour similarly good for a year. Self rising
flour is an exception because it contains baking powder. And
(30:24):
I don't know what the exception is there, but so
I typically will, like when we did our grocery sale
cycles episode, I will buy my baking supplies around November
because it's all on sale, and I will that's when
I will like get rid of last year's stuff, anything
(30:46):
left over. But that's really it. I don't do. I mean,
I need these stuffs. I do have to have sugar
and flour, baking soda, baking powder for stuff.
Speaker 4 (30:56):
I do, yeah, but not a ton right, So that's agreed. Thing.
Speaker 1 (31:00):
I stuck up on it.
Speaker 4 (31:02):
And I've started making my own vanilla.
Speaker 3 (31:05):
If anyone out there is a baker, you probably already
know about this. But vanilla is so expensive. It's somewhere
around twenty bucks for a little bottle these days, and
vanilla beans are also expensive. But it can be as simple,
I mean, look up a recipe, but it can be
as simple as two vanilla beans in a dark container,
(31:26):
because that is one of those things that you need
to store in a specific way, Like it's recommended that
it being a darker glass container with vodka, and then
you let it sit for a few months and there
you go. You got vanilla, and then you can just
keep topping it off. You keep the bean in it,
and you just keep tapping it off with vanilla and
let it sit and there you go vanilla extract.
Speaker 1 (31:47):
Oh lovely.
Speaker 4 (31:49):
Yeah. Okay.
Speaker 3 (31:50):
So then my final one to chat about on here
is the herbs and spices category.
Speaker 4 (31:56):
This one was a.
Speaker 3 (31:57):
Hard call out to me. What did they recommend. They're like,
we recommend that you only keep about I want to
say it was like fifteen spices, maybe fifteen to twenty
spices on Iraq, and maybe I'm right around there, but
they're kind of describing how most people aren't going to
(32:17):
be using more than salt, pepper or regano, basil, thyme,
chili flakes, cayenne chili power, paprika, couman. But you're going
to know what you use more regularly, Like for some
you do like your curry powder, garam masala, your turmeric,
and maybe for others you're just keeping it a little
(32:38):
bit more simple. But we don't need to feel pressured
to buy the random spice mixes. Like there's so many
recipes I use that call for Italian seasoning that I
almost got trapped into. I don't have Italian seasoning, going
to have to put that on the list, And then
you look up what's an Italian seasoning.
Speaker 4 (32:57):
And it's a regano. I'm basil.
Speaker 3 (33:01):
It's all the things I already have on hand. So
you just make your own little mix. You don't need
a FAHETA seasoning. You don't need if you've got these
fifteen to twenty spices already on hand, and just a
quick Google search of what's a substitute. Speaking of substitutions,
speaking of dupes, there's so much we can make ourselves
(33:23):
and also replace fresh herbs with some of these dried herbs. Yeah,
it might compromise some of the flavor a little bit,
but not I mean, I love me some fresh herbs,
but if you don't have them on hand, you don't
got to run out to the store.
Speaker 1 (33:36):
I kill fresh herbs before I ever go to use them,
so I'm a dry girl all the way. But yeah,
I will not buy a spice or herb until I
have used another one. So that's I have a finite
space available for herbs and spices, and that's the space.
Speaker 4 (33:57):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (33:58):
And if they don't fit there, and I'm not going
to put them somewhere else, yes, So that's kind of
my rule. And they should all be as close to
the oven as possible or they don't get used because
if they're in the pantry or cabinet that's far away,
I'm too lazy to go over and get them. They
have to be for a while. They I had a
(34:18):
spice rack like screwed into the wall, so they were
just right there. And now with our new cabinets, I
made sure to do with pull out spice rack cabinet.
Speaker 4 (34:27):
Yes, I love my pull out spice rack cabess.
Speaker 3 (34:30):
Yeah, and then just whittle it down that I mean basically,
if there's any takeaway from this section of the article,
it's in each of these categories. Figure out what you
use regularly, what you don't use, use up everything you
have or give it away for free, but then allow
that to inform what you're purchasing going forward. Don't be
(34:53):
afraid of substitutions. She talks about that a lot with
the oils and the vinegars, that there's so many diferent
substitutions that you can use. If you don't have a
very specific type of vinegar, Well what vinegar do you
have on hand? And take to the internet and see
could that be a substitute in the recipe that you're using?
What else can be utilized? You can mix and match
(35:15):
some of these things. I mean, don't tell that to
the chefs and the writers of these recipes, but for
so many you don't have to follow it exactly to
a tee. And then I think what this can lead
to for us is considering what can we cut out?
Are there things that we've been purchasing that now that
we've got a better handle on what we're keeping on hand,
(35:39):
are cooking has improved or using what we've got. Are
there certain things that now we're ready to just be
making ourselves or we don't need This person who wrote
this article described how they're they really aren't buying chips,
soda candy anymore. As a result of some of this
minimalist pantry, they just realized that they're not using it
(36:00):
that much, so they could cut it out. For me,
I love chips like it's it's my guilty pleasure. Chips
will always be a part of my pantry. Maybe there'll
come a day where it's homemade chips. I'm open to that,
but chips are not getting cut out. But yeah, similarly
for me, soda, candy, canned fruit. There's just certain things
(36:21):
that I know I don't need, so I'm not gonna
buy it. I'll figure out another way, or I'll figure
out how to make it myself, which has been really fun,
like making your own mayonnaise, making your own salad, dressing,
making your own bread.
Speaker 1 (36:36):
Yeah, I'm not willing to go do any of that,
but I think if I could give you one takeaway
from this episode to just get you over the hump,
is it doesn't have to be a full take everything
out and reorganize and minimal minimize. Just take out, like
reach in the back of your cupboards or pantry and
(37:00):
pull out like ten items, just ten maybe or three
to five per week, depending on how big your stockpile is,
if it's smaller three, If you're one of those people
that's got like a year worth, pull out five and
try for April to use three to five of those
(37:20):
older items each week. And let's cut about twelve to
twenty items out of the stockpile. If you're feeling if
again you're opening up cupboards or pantry and you're like,
I should probably cut a little of this out, then
(37:41):
let's make a goal twelve to twenty items get used
up and if they don't get if those items don't
get used up in April, then they get given away
in the buy nothing group.
Speaker 4 (37:52):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (37:53):
I also like, as far as maintenance goes, doing a
monthly or quarterly or maybe even just buy annually pantry
challenge to keep.
Speaker 4 (38:02):
Down the build up.
Speaker 3 (38:04):
If you are prone, if you've got a big family,
you're prone to collecting a lot of things, then challenge
yourself to do one of those pantry challenges where you're
only cooking from your pantry for.
Speaker 4 (38:17):
How a said amount of time. You decide a.
Speaker 3 (38:20):
Week, two weeks, a full month, depending on how much
you have on hand, and that can be a way
to maintain all the hard work that you just put in.
Speaker 1 (38:28):
Yeah, and then decide what your pantry staples are, maybe
like five to ten of them, and create an acronym
around the first letter of each word, and then let
us know what it is.
Speaker 3 (38:40):
Oh, and have a list of maybe five recipes that
you can make with those pantry staples. Yes, just for
those days when your brain can't think.
Speaker 1 (38:50):
Anymore, not that you could, but that you already do
and that already feel safe. So let those recipes kind
of guide your pantry formula and then turn it into
a fun acronym.
Speaker 3 (39:03):
Do you know what we have a fun acronym for.
It is our guiding light for this podcast. That is
a staple.
Speaker 1 (39:11):
Yes, And I'm trying to think of what it is
an acronym for off the top of my head.
Speaker 4 (39:16):
Well, just it's BOTW for.
Speaker 3 (39:20):
The Bill of the week.
Speaker 2 (39:32):
That's right, It's time for the best minute of your
entire week. Maybe a baby was born and his name
is William. Maybe you paid off your mortgage, maybe your
car died and you're happy to not have to pay
that bill anymore. Dust bills, Buffalo bills, Bill Clinton, this
is the bill of the week.
Speaker 5 (39:53):
Hey, Jed and Jill, this is Caitlin I'm a longtime
listener and I was actually featured on your Debt Free
YouTube series in early t twenty twenty three. I shared
a little bit about my journey with student loan debt
and then getting my master's degree where I actually profited money.
I had just started on my doctorate at the time
of that recording, and now I am back to share
my bill. My final tuition bill for my program was
(40:16):
paid and then reimbursed by my employer, So between comparing
and price shopping degree programs for value and institutional grant
and tuition reimbursement from my employer, I am super happy
and proud to share that my total out of pocket
expense for my doctorate in education was zero dollars. That's right,
I got an advanced degree for free. I just finished
(40:38):
writing my dissertation and I'm preparing for the final defense.
I hope by the time this airs, I will officially
be doctor Caitlin. And since my program is pay per term,
I have time left in my term to finish a
post doctoral certificate in organizational leadership, so I will definitely
be taking advantage of this extra freebee. This is just
a reminder that a quality education does not have to
(41:00):
be expensive, and there is a difference between paying for
an educational experience and paying for an academic program.
Speaker 1 (41:07):
Thanks for all you do, Kate, doctor Katelyn oh girls wisdom.
So good to hear from you. A. Your story was impressive,
Like when we interviewed you for Debt Free Stories. We
have all ten of those stories on our YouTube channel
if you want to check them out. But gosh, getting
(41:30):
a doctorate for free and just knowing like there was
nothing special that you did. You did. It's not like
you had connections that got you these grants, like from
your parents or whatever. Like Caitlyn, you did. You did this.
Speaker 4 (41:51):
You deserve that, doctor.
Speaker 1 (41:53):
And I hope it's encouraging to other people who are
especially in education where things can get really disheartening. Gosh
that Caitlin was able to do it, and so I
love that.
Speaker 3 (42:08):
I'm going to butcher it now, but I'm gonna want
that on another bumper sticker. There's a difference between paying
for an educational experience versus an.
Speaker 1 (42:16):
Academic program program. Yeah, so true, man woo.
Speaker 3 (42:22):
I mean that's what we're seeing with online programs. Online
programs can be much less expensive. Some people don't like
it because they're not getting an experience, but they are
getting an academic program. Oh man, doctor Caitlin, well done.
We're celebrating with you. If you all are listening and
you happen to have gotten your doctorate for free somehow,
(42:43):
some way, or your name is Bill, and maybe you're
a professor of one of these academic programs, doctor Bill.
If you're a doctor Bill, oh, that'd be so fun.
This Morning Brugal Friends podcast dot com slash Bill to
leave us your bill. We're ready to listen to it.
And now it's time for the lighting around.
Speaker 1 (43:09):
Okay, what are your top three pantry staples, the things
that you always have on hand.
Speaker 3 (43:19):
Everything else can go except these three.
Speaker 1 (43:23):
That is the subline.
Speaker 4 (43:26):
Do you have an answer?
Speaker 1 (43:28):
So mine is definitely spaghetti noodles with that would be Marinera.
And then I know this is weird, but I think
it's like coconut milk.
Speaker 4 (43:48):
Yeah, I almost wrote that.
Speaker 1 (43:50):
Yeah, because I use it for so many different things
like my chicken and rice bakes, my curry. Just that's
a creaminess.
Speaker 3 (44:05):
It's a good substitute, just when making rice instead of
water or broth, using coconut milk.
Speaker 1 (44:12):
Ask some mango in it, mango coca nut rice. Ooh,
it's so good.
Speaker 4 (44:18):
You make it?
Speaker 1 (44:19):
Yes, and then ask some curry with it?
Speaker 4 (44:24):
Whoa it good?
Speaker 3 (44:26):
This does check out because there have been I want
to say I'll go with one to be conservative, but
it might have been twice. Now that at some sort
of Christmas holiday gift exchange, you have brought doodles and
Marinaia sauce as the gift.
Speaker 1 (44:48):
Once. I did that one time, Jill.
Speaker 3 (44:50):
Okay, then maybe you did it a second time as
a meal delivery, like when we've signed up amongst our
friend group, Like somebody needs a meal, you just drop off.
Speaker 4 (45:00):
A box and noodles.
Speaker 1 (45:03):
Oh my gosh, No, I'm pretty sure I'm not an uncooked.
Speaker 4 (45:09):
You think so new you think no?
Speaker 1 (45:11):
No, I at least make it, and I'd use a penney.
Speaker 4 (45:17):
That's better. Yeah, Penny is the elevated pennee.
Speaker 3 (45:21):
Is too carabas what spaghetti is to olive garden? Is that?
Speaker 1 (45:27):
Yes? Okay, wow, but it's just wholesome if you've just
had a baby or you're sick, like just had surgery,
Like what do you want? You want a hot bowl
of carbi goodness?
Speaker 4 (45:41):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (45:41):
Oh, it's just so comforting. Yeah, and I want to
make people feel good.
Speaker 4 (45:48):
With your nudes.
Speaker 3 (45:52):
Oh man, I really struggled with this one.
Speaker 4 (45:56):
Here we go. This is what I wrote down.
Speaker 3 (45:58):
I did write down four but rice, beans, salt, and
if I get to add in flour.
Speaker 1 (46:04):
I don't think salt counts. I think you can replace
salt with flour.
Speaker 4 (46:08):
Okay.
Speaker 3 (46:09):
Now, as much as I really truly don't bake, but
I am in my sourdough era, so I'm making a
lot of bread and to me, this feels like if
I had these things, I can subsist and even enjoy myself.
I mean rice and beans. I guess it is the staple,
(46:29):
but you can make rice and beans taste so yummy. Also,
I'm assuming we're talking pantry staples, and then you get
your fresh produce.
Speaker 4 (46:38):
So if you can.
Speaker 3 (46:39):
Add produce into a rice and bean combo just rice,
just beans, bread, yum, you can self sustain carb goodness.
Speaker 1 (46:53):
I think what the takeaway is is we like carbs, carbs, bread.
Thank you so much for listening. I hope this helped
you in if you feel like your pantry or your
cabinets are a little overwhelming, giving you a step one
to kind of making it a little bit more minimalist
and how to maintain that. And then if you feel
(47:16):
like your kitchen is too small you can't have a stockpile,
maybe you do have space for a minimalist stockpile. And
maybe this has helped you kind of see what you
need to take out and focus on keeping. And so
if this helped you, we would love if you would
leave us a review on Apple and Spotify. It really
(47:38):
helps us. It makes us a feel good. But b
it's a way you can support the show for free
and help people find it and get the same help
that you have received. Kind of like Chelsea, who has
given us two thumbs up and she says great podcast.
I love the humor and realness of Gen and Jill
(48:00):
as they share tips that are actually useful and easy
to start implementing. Thanks Jay and Jay for changing the
world one wallet at a time. May we all spend
less and vacation more.
Speaker 4 (48:11):
What a good takeaway? Yeah, not just spending less for
the sake of spending less.
Speaker 1 (48:15):
But so we can vacation, So we can vacation bar.
Speaker 4 (48:18):
Thanks everyone for listening.
Speaker 3 (48:19):
If you've got a fun review like Chelsea, is that
you want to share with us, please do it wherever
you're listening. Give us a rating and review. It does
help other new people find us. It just helps us.
We'd appreciate it.
Speaker 1 (48:31):
Yeah, see you next time.
Speaker 4 (48:33):
Bye.
Speaker 1 (48:35):
Frugal Friends is produced by Eric Siriani. Okay, Jill, this
is how I know the bread people have gone too far.
I am now seeing social media posts for celebration loves. No,
(49:02):
it's sour dough with sprinkles in.
Speaker 4 (49:05):
It, so like they want to take over cake.
Speaker 3 (49:09):
Yeah, they don't want cake to exist anymore.
Speaker 1 (49:12):
Yeah, And I was like, that looks disgusting. It's not
like a cinnamon loaf. It's not like a sweet loaf.
It is a loaf of bread with sprinkles, and.
Speaker 3 (49:27):
Well that's all it is, because you could make a
loaf a little bit more sweet.
Speaker 1 (49:32):
Yeah no, no, I know, it's definitely not a savory loaf.
But it's just a regular sour dough the at least
the ones I've been seeing. Maybe some people are still
living in the real world and they create a sweet,
you know, a dessert loaf and put sprinkles in it.
But no, these ones that I'm seeing. And then one
(49:54):
girl was like, die free celebration loaf and none of
the die free sprinkles are heat stable, so she takes
celebration loaf out of the oven and the only color
left is yellow. Oh fuck, this is everybody's gone too far.
(50:15):
They've gone too far.
Speaker 4 (50:17):
They have the world's gone insane.
Speaker 3 (50:20):
M So all that to say, you know, but that's
that's what happens to people. Is we get our hands
on something good and then we jo in it, take
it to the bottom.
Speaker 4 (50:32):
Of the ocean and ruin it. Yeah, we just have
to take it so so far.
Speaker 1 (50:37):
So just know when you start adding sprinkles to your
sour dough, I'm cutting off your supply of flower heard.
Thank you.
Episode three ninety six, Minimalist Pantry Formula.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
Welcome to the Frugal Friends podcast, where you'll learn to
save money, embrace simplicity and life.
Speaker 1 (00:18):
Here your hosts Jen and Jill. Welcome to the Frugal
Friends podcast. My name is Jen, my name is Jill,
and today we are going to walk you through creating
a creating your own minimalist pantry formula. So it's not
(00:38):
going to be the same for everyone. There are certain
things everyone should keep, and what you keep in those
categories will depend on you and what you use. But
we're going to talk about some of that stuff and
then also how to get started, so how to declutter,
organize what you already have, that whole sort of thing.
(00:59):
So I'm very excited because I actually need to do this,
and so this this one is for me.
Speaker 3 (01:05):
I'm excited because I don't remember well, I guess we'll
talk about it. The last time we talked about this
specific type of thing was a very long time ago,
and I think because of when we've talked about it
in the past, it has helped me to form my
what are some of my staples? How am I organizing
(01:26):
in a way that makes sense? And I feel pretty
good about the pantry setup that I have. Granted, my
kitchen's only about a year old, so it's not as
if I've been in this space for a decade and
I've got all this build up, so that is part
of the benefit for me. But I think just re
emphasizing what's good about it, how can we do it
(01:48):
in a way that works for us, is excellent. And
we did send you all a poll in the friend letter.
For those of you receiving it, you know that there's
polls at the bottom of every email that you can
kind of send your vote in. It helps us tailor
the episodes to be more relevant to you. Sometimes we
read off a few of your responses, which is fun.
(02:08):
So of course, if you're not getting the friend letter,
definitely do that so you can be a part of
these polls. But we asked do you have a pantry
stock pile?
Speaker 4 (02:18):
And y'all were all over the map on this one.
Speaker 1 (02:21):
So most people said they are not like in love
with their stockpile. They either have too much and they
tighten it up, or they don't have one and they
wish they did. Eighty five of you said yes, it's perfect.
I love my stockpile. So this one maybe is just
(02:41):
going to be like a fun like confirmation, you know,
episode for you to be like, you know, doing what
I love this. But if you're like Jesse, who commented
on this, this episode's truly for you, she says, the
girl Scouts keep shaking me down for money. I've got
(03:01):
three new cookie dealers this year, and I'm gonna need
to add cookie space to my pantry now. And Jesse,
we are here for you. We will carve out a
special place in the episode for what to do when
you have three cookie dealers and how to organize your
pantry around that.
Speaker 3 (03:20):
I love it so much. They're shaking me down. I
got new dealers amazing. Well, before we get into how
to do this, this episode is brought to you by substitutes,
the restaurant wait staffs ors nightmare, the kids maybe favorite
school day, the grocery drop the grocery drop off toss up.
(03:43):
Substitutes can be hit or missed, but we're gonna go
with a big old hit like substitutions and food that
taste better than even the original recipe and boring newsletters
being substituted for the frid butter. It's the best kind
of email, full of info about freebies and the best
substitute products that are better and more cost effective than
(04:06):
name brands and so much more virual Friends podcast dot
com substitutes sometimes better than the real thing?
Speaker 1 (04:15):
Hmm, may I refer to them as dupes Ooh maybe?
Speaker 4 (04:22):
Yeah? Kind of yes, Okay, I think you totally could.
Speaker 1 (04:25):
All right well to get into just like a few
more kind of the overall feel that you guys were
giving us for this episode. A lot of you did
like your stockpile. The people who actually love their stockpile
just for reference say that they have enough food to
last them for a year. So I, personally, that's not me.
(04:47):
I'm more of a only buy what I need when
I need it. There's just a few things that I
keep a stockpile, a minimalist stockpile of And this is
really I have been going to Sam's Club once a
month for the past like five months, so this is
really tested out what I need versus want for a stockpile.
(05:13):
Where is the law of diminishing returns? Where's the line
between it saves me money versus I'm just adding clutter
to my pantry and I'm not actually using it I'm
wasting food, wasting money.
Speaker 3 (05:30):
Yeah, Yeah, And I think it takes a while to
really understand where that line is and your threshold of tolerance,
how much space you actually have to have any version
of a stockpile. I do think before we get into
this first article, just really quickly highlighting why we're even
(05:50):
advocating for a minimalist pantry set up, like the benefits
of it. I think that when we can really figure
out what we're going to use, and we've got a
really good setup and we don't have too much, we're
not consuming in excess, it can encourage some more whole
(06:10):
food cooking. When we figure out a system of how
to buy what we're making, then we can kind of
know what things can we be buying in bulk making
on our own, using the pantry staples that we have
to make some of these condiments that maybe we would
be spending so much more money on. I think it
(06:30):
can lead to better meal planning as well. When we
are able to know what's in our pantry have easy
access to it, we can form better meal plans around
those things, which of course is always going to lead
to less food waste when it's not just stashed full
of stuff, and things are going bad, they're going stale,
they're expiring, we're wasting less. And then it can lead
(06:53):
to a lot of creativity and confidence with substitutions. I
think that comes with cook looking at home a lot more,
which I think you're going to cook at home a
lot more if your pantry set up makes sense to
you and is full of the things that you know
you're actually going to eat, uh, And then you can
just kind of know, these are the things I keep.
I'm not keeping all these random ingredients or purchasing random ingredients,
(07:16):
and I'm going to try using what I have, even
with some of these new recipes, and get creative and
feel more confident.
Speaker 4 (07:25):
About doing that.
Speaker 3 (07:26):
So those are just some of the benefits that I
see in really really honing in.
Speaker 4 (07:32):
What you're keeping on hand.
Speaker 1 (07:34):
Yeah, when you walk into someplace, and this is a
really great indicator if you need a more minimalist pantry.
If you walk into your pantry or open up your
pantry and your first feeling is stress, this need you
need a more minimalist pantry. And minimalist doesn't mean like
(07:55):
you have one of you just have one can in
the pantry. Whatever that looks like to you, it means
you probably if it makes you stressed, you probably first
need to like declutter and organize and get through some
of this stuff. And that's what we're gonna kind of
talk about that process right now.
Speaker 4 (08:14):
Agreed.
Speaker 3 (08:14):
So this first article comes from this simple balance, and
we're just going to go through this middle portion of
the article that outlines five easy steps to an organized
minimalist pantry. I thought that this was a really good
rundown of what do we do, where do we get started?
And like any decluttering, organizing minimalist effort, it's going to
(08:39):
start with pulling everything out of the pantry. This is
then also your opportunity to wipe down all of your
shelves and containers and really freshen everything up. But you're
not going to be able to get at what you
want your pantry to look at look like unless we
can gather it all, get our eyes on everything, and
(09:03):
then see how do we want to manage it from there,
and then wiping it down is just an added bonus.
So it's painful, it's gonna be really messy. You're gonna
probably want to carve out the better portion of an
afternoon for this.
Speaker 4 (09:20):
But you got to start there.
Speaker 1 (09:21):
And if it's too overwhelming, or maybe you your pantry
is just a cabinet or two, just start with one
shelf in the pantry, one side of the cabinet. Start
with what you can and get rid of that. Get
rid of those expired things so they're no longer causing
(09:42):
you stress. And we go to number to step two.
Group like items and declutter what you know you won't use.
And in parentheses, she says, be honest. So this is
this is you know, real honest transparency. Just get rid
of what you know you won't use. If you are
like I think I might use this, then then give
(10:06):
yourself the challenge to use it in the next two weeks.
And if you don't use it in the next two weeks,
then it leaves. It goes on your buy nothing group.
Speaker 3 (10:14):
Yeah yeah, put it somewhere where you're gonna be able
to see it or even create the meal plan around
that thing. But then if it's not, if it's nowhere
near the expiration date, you just know you're not going
to eat it anymore, then you can give that away
to a local food pantry or like you said, a
buy nothing group. I like the groupings that they outlined here.
(10:36):
If that's kind of something that's hard to get your
mind around.
Speaker 4 (10:39):
And you've got.
Speaker 3 (10:40):
Can goods mixed with cereal, mixed with condiments. One of
the things the template she uses is canned goods, including
even curtains of broth would be one category. Baking supplies
is another. Snacks is one, different from breads and bagels,
Separate condiments and spreads. Still not everything. You've still got
(11:03):
your spices, your vinegars, and oils, but you can kind
of group.
Speaker 4 (11:08):
It in that way.
Speaker 3 (11:09):
I'm sure there's stuff too on the internet of what
are the different categories of food that I can be
partitioning this into. But some of that's also going to
be your own intuitive processes, knowing where how do you
move throughout the kitchen and what do you want to
have near the stove, what do you want to have
(11:30):
near the fridge, And so that's a good place to start,
but then freedom to create your own system that's going
to make your kitchen most efficient for you, which then
leads us to number three, which is evaluate your kitchen
setup and your pantry shells to determine where these categories
(11:50):
should live. They then start to use the term zones,
having different zones for things, and it's exactly what we're
describing here. How do you work in the kitchen? Where
do you want things? This can even be height of things.
So they describe wanting children snacks to be accessible to
the kids, So that's going on a lower shelf. Adult
(12:12):
snacks are going higher. The things that she's cooking with
are next to the stove. So yeah, think through where
you want things to live and who needs to access
them most, and start setting it up in a way
that makes sense for those zones.
Speaker 1 (12:29):
Yeah, this is actually something I have been reading about
a lot recently. Like we are literally right now in
the process of assembling our new kitchen cabinets. Everything is
out of our pantry. This is the first time in
my life I've ever had a pantry. Usually I just
have like an upper two upper cabinets, but so this
(12:51):
is the first time in my life I have ever
had a pantry, and I am figuring out what lives
in the pantry, what lives near the stove, what lives
near the dishwasher, and kind of going The things I've
been reading are go with how you usually flow, because
when you are keeping everything in the pantry, and it
(13:13):
is a you're having to pull everything out when you're
cooking and then put everything back in. It's it's going
to be less likely that you cook, So you want
the lowest barrier to entry to cook at home. And
that's a little bit what we're going to talk about
in the next article. But we don't want to fight.
(13:35):
We good is the enemy of great? I think is
that how great's the enemy of good? One of those
we just kind of want everything to be perfect right
esthetically pleasing, like what we see on social media, even
if maybe it's not the most it makes the most
sense for us. And so I'm right now having to
(13:58):
go through like, okay, so maybe they say you should
keep this by the oven, but I actually don't use
this a lot, so maybe it makes more sense to
put in the pantry, whereas like my protein powder that
I'm you know, using every day, having that more like out.
(14:19):
So that's just something you're going to have to figure
out for yourself. And they were saying, use sticky notes
to put on different shelves of the pantry and different
cabinets when you're kind of going through and organizing so
that you can a like maybe remember a new setup
(14:41):
and the people in your family can remember it a
set up so in the future when they're putting away
dishes and groceries, they kind of will know. But to
kind of get a feeling for when you move something around,
like how it feels.
Speaker 3 (14:58):
Yeah, what needs to have is a But I also
think we need to take into consideration how certain things
need to be stored. So some things do better in
the dark versus out in possible sunlight, you know, like
possibly your oils and like even just vanilla. I know
that's very specific, but like you're not going to want
(15:19):
that out on the counter where the sun's constantly hitting it,
So that needs to be going somewhere within a shelf.
So that's another thing to be processing too as you're organizing,
like what does the best proper food storage for longevity
look like? And then of course number four is a
little bit talking to maintenance, but making sure that you're
(15:41):
putting things back in their zones, keeping like items together,
which goes hand in hand with what you just mentioned
Jen about possibly putting up notes where things go as
you're learning a new system, so that it doesn't become
just chaotic all over again.
Speaker 4 (15:59):
And you've got.
Speaker 3 (16:00):
Can goods in every possible shelf of your kitchen and
pastas everywhere, but maintaining it putting it back.
Speaker 1 (16:07):
Yeah. And here's another great thing about a minimalist pantry,
And another reason it's a great idea is that when
you're putting groceries away, we put them away in the back,
not in the front. Yeah, first in, first out, So
we run it like we are pushing as best to
(16:27):
our ability, pushing the cans up to the front, and
then we're putting the new cans in the back. Yes,
so that the little grocery store.
Speaker 4 (16:36):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (16:36):
And when you're when you're overwhelming, you have too many things,
you can't really push things to the front or slip
them into the back. And so this is going to
help reduce waste. Uh, it's going to help make sure
that we're using everything. We're going to avoid buying things
that we're not sure if we're going to use, because
(16:57):
they're going to be in the front. And I would
say also little stickers that you can put dates on,
Like if there's been something that you haven't used in
a while, put a sticker with a date on it. Yeah,
and say like I have to use this by this
date or it leaves.
Speaker 3 (17:15):
Yeah, well, I think that was even a zone she
talked about in this article, that she'll even have a
zone for what they're gonna meal plan that upcoming week,
things that might be mirroring expiration date. This is the
I need to use it this week kind of zone,
cook with it, implement it, and it may not even
be in its like typical zone.
Speaker 4 (17:37):
She's got to use up zone too.
Speaker 1 (17:41):
So there's another idea, yeah, which leads to the last one,
which I love love love only by organizational containers or
baskets if they will truly make your life easier. Nobody's
gonna see your pantry. You're typically ninety nine percent of
us or not opening up our pantries to show people
(18:03):
on social media. Even in this article. I love that
the pictures of her pantry are not super like door s,
like they're just things in shelves. She doesn't even have
a typical pantry, like a walk in pantry. It's just
like an open up pantry. It's beautiful because it's when
(18:27):
I look at her pantry, I am not stressed. It's
not there's no like plastic container, beauty labels or anything.
But when I look at it, it doesn't stress me
out because you can see everything.
Speaker 3 (18:42):
One of my favorite things to do in being able
to organize and corral things together but not feel like
I have to spend money, is just using some of
the cardboard boxes, either from non food items or.
Speaker 4 (18:55):
The food items themselves.
Speaker 3 (18:57):
Like if I happen to get a thing of granola bars,
I just clip the top off and keep it in
its container. If there's like a nice cardboard box that
came with something that then I can like dump other
little snacks into. Like, there are ways to have organization,
but it doesn't have to mean that we're spending a
ton of money on plastic stuff. That said, I do
(19:21):
think that there could be room for certain items going
into better sealed containers, like your cereals and maybe your
snacks that kids are getting into often that are not
individually packaged.
Speaker 4 (19:35):
I say that for.
Speaker 3 (19:36):
Kids, but my experience is some of our guests have
been getting it, and we don't keep a ton of
snacks like cheese. It's is one and chips are another
that like we keep on hand and then we don't
eat it very often, but we're very judicious about putting,
you know, a clip on the bag. Well, we've been
noticing that when we have a lot of guests in town,
(19:56):
they'll get into the snacks and they may not close
up the bag.
Speaker 1 (19:59):
I don't know.
Speaker 4 (20:00):
The chimp clip goes stale.
Speaker 3 (20:02):
So I will say we did just buy a couple
of containers for some of those like very perishable snacks
that are not individually packaged, primarily for our guests. And
if you have children that are like my guests who
aren't going to seal things up, then maybe containers that
you don't have to get brand new. You can find
(20:23):
them at the thrift store. You can find them.
Speaker 4 (20:26):
Uh.
Speaker 3 (20:27):
And yeah, they don't have to be like all the
aesthetically pleasing whatever, just something that's going to seal it
up better and help your food to last longer. That
would be my one vote for getting containers.
Speaker 1 (20:38):
Jenna, she's not talking about No, I'm.
Speaker 4 (20:40):
Not talking about you, Jenna.
Speaker 3 (20:41):
You guys are guests that listen.
Speaker 4 (20:44):
To the show. Did I not close that?
Speaker 3 (20:50):
And truly I don't know who it was because it's
been forever since we went to Try to Eat. Not
forever because now you're going to think, oh, that's your problem.
Not they just truly weren't put away but anyways.
Speaker 1 (21:02):
But yeah, so you just get the organizational containers that
will support your lifestyle. And you really can't tell what
those organizational containers are until after you have decluttered the pantry.
You have created a rhythm for yourself and you've lived
(21:24):
it for several months, you've kind of you've decided what
length of you know, quote unquote stockpile am I happy with?
Is it one year or one month or somewhere in between.
Everyone's going to have a different level of comfort. Yes,
And what does my space provide for a lot of
people in the poll were like, I'd love to have
(21:45):
a stockpile, but I live in a dinty dinty kitchen.
So what does your space provide for as well? Because
some of these organizational containers take up more space than
they really need to. So get into the rhythm, figure
out what works for you, and then it's any containers.
Speaker 3 (22:05):
Yeah, don't get all the exercise equipment until you're in
an exercise routine. Don't get all the containers until you've
decluttered and organized your pantry and now you know.
Speaker 4 (22:14):
What you need.
Speaker 3 (22:15):
Yes, Okay, So this next article comes from Frugal minimalist kitchen.
Speaker 1 (22:24):
A website to find what we are talking about. This
is the website.
Speaker 3 (22:30):
And with this one, we just want to go through
what are some of the pantry staples. Now here's the thing.
We're going to go through this list and give our
own little take on it. Mind you, this is not
a shopping list. This is not a list for you
to go say, ah, I have to keep a lot
of dry goods on hand. Now you don't unless you
(22:53):
cook with dry goods. It's more of an idea of
what are some of the staple with in dried goods.
What's a good idea of how many of each of
these staples I need to be having on hand at
the end of the day. You're gonna need to answer
that question for yourself after you've kept a pulse on
(23:15):
how you cook, what you eat, how often you're at
home doing these things. But just to get a sense
for what are some of the things that people generally
might keep you on here.
Speaker 1 (23:29):
And the way I would interpret this list is I
would say, so like the first you know on dry goods,
the first thing hears nuts and seeds, and it's saying
seeds one to three of chia seeds, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds.
The way I would interpret this is if I'm looking
at my pantry and I have five different boxes or
bags of seeds, then I might say, Okay, I probably
(23:51):
only need three because unless I'm eating seeds every day five,
Unless I'm eating seeds five days a week, I probably
don't need five different seeds, right, So think about how
many times you're consuming seeds each week. I'm really glad
seeds is the first thing. You think about how many
times you're consuming them each week, and then maybe have
(24:13):
that many okay. Or if you're hearing this list and
we're like chia seeds and you're like, oh my gosh,
I eat those all the.
Speaker 4 (24:22):
Time and everything.
Speaker 1 (24:23):
Yeah, and I'm just always buying them when I run out.
Maybe then next time they are on sale, then you
buy a stock up. So that's how I would when
I hear this list, That's how I would process it.
Speaker 4 (24:38):
Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 3 (24:39):
So then the next category would be canned items, beans
and lentils. So this is where we're talking about canned tomatoes, tomatoes, sauce,
canned fruit, coconut milk, even canned fish or meat like
canned chicken, and then your beans and lentils, kidney beans, chickpeas,
black beans, brown lenel, dried chick piece, dried red lentils,
(25:03):
dried split piece. That's going to have so much to
do with how you cook. Are you more a person
who's going to get the dried stuff and you're going
to soak it in water and then cook it? Like,
are you ready for the long process? Are you the
person who is using the can for your beans and
lentils and that's the way that you need to be
(25:24):
supplying and stockpiling. Also, how often are you using can tomatoes,
can tomato sauce? Are you making a lot of soups
and stews and maybe pastas, then yeah, that's for you.
If not, you know the canned items that you purchase
and start to keep inventory of how often am I
using these things? What would be better to kind of
(25:47):
keep in my supply and what don't I really need
for me?
Speaker 4 (25:51):
Personally?
Speaker 3 (25:52):
I don't ever do canned fruit, nothing against it, It's
just not in my mo I don't use can fruit,
I don't eat canned fruit. I don't buy canned fruit,
even if it's on sale. But I am I'm a
person who likes me some canned chicken for a buffalo
chicken DT, So I keep that on hand.
Speaker 1 (26:13):
Yes, it's one of those things think about the recipes
when you're going to a pot luck or your struggle
meal recipes that you just feel like really safe making.
Make sure you have those things on hand at all times. So,
like she's talking, one of her big things is like,
how do you know how much pasta to have on hand?
(26:37):
Or were like how many? Because there's so many different
types of pasta. So she's saying for grains like, oah,
have an oat if you do overnight oat, baked oats, whatever.
Oats are one of the things that I will like
stock up on at Sam's Club because we do an
oat some kind of oat thing every week. White rice,
(26:58):
brown rice. I would say, probably you could pick one
whatever you love most, and then other grains. So she
says about two of different other grains, but that's optional.
If you're not adventurous with your grains, don't worry about it.
And then she says one long pasta and one short pasta. Again,
if maybe you're just a I would say short pastas
(27:21):
are great for kids, like the shells, so we definitely
have shells and spaghetti all the time. And then lasagna.
If you make lasagna's keep your lasagna noodles on hand.
Otherwise that's not a struggle meal. Like, I don't think
you really need to keep lasagna nudes on hand at
(27:42):
all times.
Speaker 4 (27:42):
I'm not making my own lasagna, yes, not for me.
Speaker 1 (27:45):
Yeah, but then I further like, choose your dried, choose
your cand and then yeah, see how it goes.
Speaker 3 (27:56):
Yeah, I think two to three types of breakfast cereals.
That's going to depend on your family size. But be
aware of how many boxes cereal. I think that's one
of the number one things just from my own perception
that gets wasted and families, you make it halfway through
the box and maybe it's starting to get stale at
that point because you got so many other options. So
(28:18):
now you've got five boxes, all of which aren't empty,
and what are you going to do with it? Because
none of them taste good anymore. We'd be better off
to go one to two, plow our way through those
and then get the different variety that we want. Then, yeah,
your peanut butter, your corn meal, corn starch, which then
(28:40):
bleeds into baking supplies and this is going to depend
on how often you bake.
Speaker 1 (28:47):
I don't bake.
Speaker 3 (28:49):
Yeah, so how much flour, sugar, powdered sugar, baking SODA's
baking powders, vanilla extract do you need to be keeping
on hand and not going overboard because these things, while
they are relatively shelf stable, they do expire, And especially
when it comes to flour and sugar bags, I don't
(29:11):
know why this is the way that they've chosen to
package these items, because there's always little bits of flour
and sugar coming out of it, which tells me it's
not that well sealed. So if you live in an area,
which I think is everywhere that ants or other pests
could be a problem, that's not a great thing to
be stockpiling in your pantry. For me, the way that
(29:34):
I approach it is, I've just got a big jar
that I keep my flower in, and when it's about
halfway down is when I will purchase more. But if
I do feel like, oh okay, it's on sale, I
want to have more bags, I feel like I've I've
got to seal it better than how it is currently sealed,
which is a bummer. So yeah, I'm like putting it
(29:54):
in a bag of some sort, or maybe wrapping it
in plastic wrap because I don't want animals to get
to it and ruin the fact that I got it
on sale.
Speaker 1 (30:03):
Yeah, and it says that once opened, all purpose flour
lasts six to eight months, and you can store it
in the refrigerator last up to a year. White flowers
like cake flour similarly good for a year. Self rising
flour is an exception because it contains baking powder. And
(30:24):
I don't know what the exception is there, but so
I typically will, like when we did our grocery sale
cycles episode, I will buy my baking supplies around November
because it's all on sale, and I will that's when
I will like get rid of last year's stuff, anything
(30:46):
left over. But that's really it. I don't do. I mean,
I need these stuffs. I do have to have sugar
and flour, baking soda, baking powder for stuff.
Speaker 4 (30:56):
I do, yeah, but not a ton right, So that's agreed. Thing.
Speaker 1 (31:00):
I stuck up on it.
Speaker 4 (31:02):
And I've started making my own vanilla.
Speaker 3 (31:05):
If anyone out there is a baker, you probably already
know about this. But vanilla is so expensive. It's somewhere
around twenty bucks for a little bottle these days, and
vanilla beans are also expensive. But it can be as simple,
I mean, look up a recipe, but it can be
as simple as two vanilla beans in a dark container,
(31:26):
because that is one of those things that you need
to store in a specific way, Like it's recommended that
it being a darker glass container with vodka, and then
you let it sit for a few months and there
you go. You got vanilla, and then you can just
keep topping it off. You keep the bean in it,
and you just keep tapping it off with vanilla and
let it sit and there you go vanilla extract.
Speaker 1 (31:47):
Oh lovely.
Speaker 4 (31:49):
Yeah. Okay.
Speaker 3 (31:50):
So then my final one to chat about on here
is the herbs and spices category.
Speaker 4 (31:56):
This one was a.
Speaker 3 (31:57):
Hard call out to me. What did they recommend. They're like,
we recommend that you only keep about I want to
say it was like fifteen spices, maybe fifteen to twenty
spices on Iraq, and maybe I'm right around there, but
they're kind of describing how most people aren't going to
(32:17):
be using more than salt, pepper or regano, basil, thyme,
chili flakes, cayenne chili power, paprika, couman. But you're going
to know what you use more regularly, Like for some
you do like your curry powder, garam masala, your turmeric,
and maybe for others you're just keeping it a little
(32:38):
bit more simple. But we don't need to feel pressured
to buy the random spice mixes. Like there's so many
recipes I use that call for Italian seasoning that I
almost got trapped into. I don't have Italian seasoning, going
to have to put that on the list, And then
you look up what's an Italian seasoning.
Speaker 4 (32:57):
And it's a regano. I'm basil.
Speaker 3 (33:01):
It's all the things I already have on hand. So
you just make your own little mix. You don't need
a FAHETA seasoning. You don't need if you've got these
fifteen to twenty spices already on hand, and just a
quick Google search of what's a substitute. Speaking of substitutions,
speaking of dupes, there's so much we can make ourselves
(33:23):
and also replace fresh herbs with some of these dried herbs. Yeah,
it might compromise some of the flavor a little bit,
but not I mean, I love me some fresh herbs,
but if you don't have them on hand, you don't
got to run out to the store.
Speaker 1 (33:36):
I kill fresh herbs before I ever go to use them,
so I'm a dry girl all the way. But yeah,
I will not buy a spice or herb until I
have used another one. So that's I have a finite
space available for herbs and spices, and that's the space.
Speaker 4 (33:57):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (33:58):
And if they don't fit there, and I'm not going
to put them somewhere else, yes, So that's kind of
my rule. And they should all be as close to
the oven as possible or they don't get used because
if they're in the pantry or cabinet that's far away,
I'm too lazy to go over and get them. They
have to be for a while. They I had a
(34:18):
spice rack like screwed into the wall, so they were
just right there. And now with our new cabinets, I
made sure to do with pull out spice rack cabinet.
Speaker 4 (34:27):
Yes, I love my pull out spice rack cabess.
Speaker 3 (34:30):
Yeah, and then just whittle it down that I mean basically,
if there's any takeaway from this section of the article,
it's in each of these categories. Figure out what you
use regularly, what you don't use, use up everything you
have or give it away for free, but then allow
that to inform what you're purchasing going forward. Don't be
(34:53):
afraid of substitutions. She talks about that a lot with
the oils and the vinegars, that there's so many diferent
substitutions that you can use. If you don't have a
very specific type of vinegar, Well what vinegar do you
have on hand? And take to the internet and see
could that be a substitute in the recipe that you're using?
What else can be utilized? You can mix and match
(35:15):
some of these things. I mean, don't tell that to
the chefs and the writers of these recipes, but for
so many you don't have to follow it exactly to
a tee. And then I think what this can lead
to for us is considering what can we cut out?
Are there things that we've been purchasing that now that
we've got a better handle on what we're keeping on hand,
(35:39):
are cooking has improved or using what we've got. Are
there certain things that now we're ready to just be
making ourselves or we don't need This person who wrote
this article described how they're they really aren't buying chips,
soda candy anymore. As a result of some of this
minimalist pantry, they just realized that they're not using it
(36:00):
that much, so they could cut it out. For me,
I love chips like it's it's my guilty pleasure. Chips
will always be a part of my pantry. Maybe there'll
come a day where it's homemade chips. I'm open to that,
but chips are not getting cut out. But yeah, similarly
for me, soda, candy, canned fruit. There's just certain things
(36:21):
that I know I don't need, so I'm not gonna
buy it. I'll figure out another way, or I'll figure
out how to make it myself, which has been really fun,
like making your own mayonnaise, making your own salad, dressing,
making your own bread.
Speaker 1 (36:36):
Yeah, I'm not willing to go do any of that,
but I think if I could give you one takeaway
from this episode to just get you over the hump,
is it doesn't have to be a full take everything
out and reorganize and minimal minimize. Just take out, like
reach in the back of your cupboards or pantry and
(37:00):
pull out like ten items, just ten maybe or three
to five per week, depending on how big your stockpile is,
if it's smaller three, If you're one of those people
that's got like a year worth, pull out five and
try for April to use three to five of those
(37:20):
older items each week. And let's cut about twelve to
twenty items out of the stockpile. If you're feeling if
again you're opening up cupboards or pantry and you're like,
I should probably cut a little of this out, then
(37:41):
let's make a goal twelve to twenty items get used
up and if they don't get if those items don't
get used up in April, then they get given away
in the buy nothing group.
Speaker 4 (37:52):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (37:53):
I also like, as far as maintenance goes, doing a
monthly or quarterly or maybe even just buy annually pantry
challenge to keep.
Speaker 4 (38:02):
Down the build up.
Speaker 3 (38:04):
If you are prone, if you've got a big family,
you're prone to collecting a lot of things, then challenge
yourself to do one of those pantry challenges where you're
only cooking from your pantry for.
Speaker 4 (38:17):
How a said amount of time. You decide a.
Speaker 3 (38:20):
Week, two weeks, a full month, depending on how much
you have on hand, and that can be a way
to maintain all the hard work that you just put in.
Speaker 1 (38:28):
Yeah, and then decide what your pantry staples are, maybe
like five to ten of them, and create an acronym
around the first letter of each word, and then let
us know what it is.
Speaker 3 (38:40):
Oh, and have a list of maybe five recipes that
you can make with those pantry staples. Yes, just for
those days when your brain can't think.
Speaker 1 (38:50):
Anymore, not that you could, but that you already do
and that already feel safe. So let those recipes kind
of guide your pantry formula and then turn it into
a fun acronym.
Speaker 3 (39:03):
Do you know what we have a fun acronym for.
It is our guiding light for this podcast. That is
a staple.
Speaker 1 (39:11):
Yes, And I'm trying to think of what it is
an acronym for off the top of my head.
Speaker 4 (39:16):
Well, just it's BOTW for.
Speaker 3 (39:20):
The Bill of the week.
Speaker 2 (39:32):
That's right, It's time for the best minute of your
entire week. Maybe a baby was born and his name
is William. Maybe you paid off your mortgage, maybe your
car died and you're happy to not have to pay
that bill anymore. Dust bills, Buffalo bills, Bill Clinton, this
is the bill of the week.
Speaker 5 (39:53):
Hey, Jed and Jill, this is Caitlin I'm a longtime
listener and I was actually featured on your Debt Free
YouTube series in early t twenty twenty three. I shared
a little bit about my journey with student loan debt
and then getting my master's degree where I actually profited money.
I had just started on my doctorate at the time
of that recording, and now I am back to share
my bill. My final tuition bill for my program was
(40:16):
paid and then reimbursed by my employer, So between comparing
and price shopping degree programs for value and institutional grant
and tuition reimbursement from my employer, I am super happy
and proud to share that my total out of pocket
expense for my doctorate in education was zero dollars. That's right,
I got an advanced degree for free. I just finished
(40:38):
writing my dissertation and I'm preparing for the final defense.
I hope by the time this airs, I will officially
be doctor Caitlin. And since my program is pay per term,
I have time left in my term to finish a
post doctoral certificate in organizational leadership, so I will definitely
be taking advantage of this extra freebee. This is just
a reminder that a quality education does not have to
(41:00):
be expensive, and there is a difference between paying for
an educational experience and paying for an academic program.
Speaker 1 (41:07):
Thanks for all you do, Kate, doctor Katelyn oh girls wisdom.
So good to hear from you. A. Your story was impressive,
Like when we interviewed you for Debt Free Stories. We
have all ten of those stories on our YouTube channel
if you want to check them out. But gosh, getting
(41:30):
a doctorate for free and just knowing like there was
nothing special that you did. You did. It's not like
you had connections that got you these grants, like from
your parents or whatever. Like Caitlyn, you did. You did this.
Speaker 4 (41:51):
You deserve that, doctor.
Speaker 1 (41:53):
And I hope it's encouraging to other people who are
especially in education where things can get really disheartening. Gosh
that Caitlin was able to do it, and so I
love that.
Speaker 3 (42:08):
I'm going to butcher it now, but I'm gonna want
that on another bumper sticker. There's a difference between paying
for an educational experience versus an.
Speaker 1 (42:16):
Academic program program. Yeah, so true, man woo.
Speaker 3 (42:22):
I mean that's what we're seeing with online programs. Online
programs can be much less expensive. Some people don't like
it because they're not getting an experience, but they are
getting an academic program. Oh man, doctor Caitlin, well done.
We're celebrating with you. If you all are listening and
you happen to have gotten your doctorate for free somehow,
(42:43):
some way, or your name is Bill, and maybe you're
a professor of one of these academic programs, doctor Bill.
If you're a doctor Bill, oh, that'd be so fun.
This Morning Brugal Friends podcast dot com slash Bill to
leave us your bill. We're ready to listen to it.
And now it's time for the lighting around.
Speaker 1 (43:09):
Okay, what are your top three pantry staples, the things
that you always have on hand.
Speaker 3 (43:19):
Everything else can go except these three.
Speaker 1 (43:23):
That is the subline.
Speaker 4 (43:26):
Do you have an answer?
Speaker 1 (43:28):
So mine is definitely spaghetti noodles with that would be Marinera.
And then I know this is weird, but I think
it's like coconut milk.
Speaker 4 (43:48):
Yeah, I almost wrote that.
Speaker 1 (43:50):
Yeah, because I use it for so many different things
like my chicken and rice bakes, my curry. Just that's
a creaminess.
Speaker 3 (44:05):
It's a good substitute, just when making rice instead of
water or broth, using coconut milk.
Speaker 1 (44:12):
Ask some mango in it, mango coca nut rice. Ooh,
it's so good.
Speaker 4 (44:18):
You make it?
Speaker 1 (44:19):
Yes, and then ask some curry with it?
Speaker 4 (44:24):
Whoa it good?
Speaker 3 (44:26):
This does check out because there have been I want
to say I'll go with one to be conservative, but
it might have been twice. Now that at some sort
of Christmas holiday gift exchange, you have brought doodles and
Marinaia sauce as the gift.
Speaker 1 (44:48):
Once. I did that one time, Jill.
Speaker 3 (44:50):
Okay, then maybe you did it a second time as
a meal delivery, like when we've signed up amongst our
friend group, Like somebody needs a meal, you just drop off.
Speaker 4 (45:00):
A box and noodles.
Speaker 1 (45:03):
Oh my gosh, No, I'm pretty sure I'm not an uncooked.
Speaker 4 (45:09):
You think so new you think no?
Speaker 1 (45:11):
No, I at least make it, and I'd use a penney.
Speaker 4 (45:17):
That's better. Yeah, Penny is the elevated pennee.
Speaker 3 (45:21):
Is too carabas what spaghetti is to olive garden? Is that?
Speaker 1 (45:27):
Yes? Okay, wow, but it's just wholesome if you've just
had a baby or you're sick, like just had surgery,
Like what do you want? You want a hot bowl
of carbi goodness?
Speaker 4 (45:41):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (45:41):
Oh, it's just so comforting. Yeah, and I want to
make people feel good.
Speaker 4 (45:48):
With your nudes.
Speaker 3 (45:52):
Oh man, I really struggled with this one.
Speaker 4 (45:56):
Here we go. This is what I wrote down.
Speaker 3 (45:58):
I did write down four but rice, beans, salt, and
if I get to add in flour.
Speaker 1 (46:04):
I don't think salt counts. I think you can replace
salt with flour.
Speaker 4 (46:08):
Okay.
Speaker 3 (46:09):
Now, as much as I really truly don't bake, but
I am in my sourdough era, so I'm making a
lot of bread and to me, this feels like if
I had these things, I can subsist and even enjoy myself.
I mean rice and beans. I guess it is the staple,
(46:29):
but you can make rice and beans taste so yummy. Also,
I'm assuming we're talking pantry staples, and then you get
your fresh produce.
Speaker 4 (46:38):
So if you can.
Speaker 3 (46:39):
Add produce into a rice and bean combo just rice,
just beans, bread, yum, you can self sustain carb goodness.
Speaker 1 (46:53):
I think what the takeaway is is we like carbs, carbs, bread.
Thank you so much for listening. I hope this helped
you in if you feel like your pantry or your
cabinets are a little overwhelming, giving you a step one
to kind of making it a little bit more minimalist
and how to maintain that. And then if you feel
(47:16):
like your kitchen is too small you can't have a stockpile,
maybe you do have space for a minimalist stockpile. And
maybe this has helped you kind of see what you
need to take out and focus on keeping. And so
if this helped you, we would love if you would
leave us a review on Apple and Spotify. It really
(47:38):
helps us. It makes us a feel good. But b
it's a way you can support the show for free
and help people find it and get the same help
that you have received. Kind of like Chelsea, who has
given us two thumbs up and she says great podcast.
I love the humor and realness of Gen and Jill
(48:00):
as they share tips that are actually useful and easy
to start implementing. Thanks Jay and Jay for changing the
world one wallet at a time. May we all spend
less and vacation more.
Speaker 4 (48:11):
What a good takeaway? Yeah, not just spending less for
the sake of spending less.
Speaker 1 (48:15):
But so we can vacation, So we can vacation bar.
Speaker 4 (48:18):
Thanks everyone for listening.
Speaker 3 (48:19):
If you've got a fun review like Chelsea, is that
you want to share with us, please do it wherever
you're listening. Give us a rating and review. It does
help other new people find us. It just helps us.
We'd appreciate it.
Speaker 1 (48:31):
Yeah, see you next time.
Speaker 4 (48:33):
Bye.
Speaker 1 (48:35):
Frugal Friends is produced by Eric Siriani. Okay, Jill, this
is how I know the bread people have gone too far.
I am now seeing social media posts for celebration loves. No,
(49:02):
it's sour dough with sprinkles in.
Speaker 4 (49:05):
It, so like they want to take over cake.
Speaker 3 (49:09):
Yeah, they don't want cake to exist anymore.
Speaker 1 (49:12):
Yeah, And I was like, that looks disgusting. It's not
like a cinnamon loaf. It's not like a sweet loaf.
It is a loaf of bread with sprinkles, and.
Speaker 3 (49:27):
Well that's all it is, because you could make a
loaf a little bit more sweet.
Speaker 1 (49:32):
Yeah no, no, I know, it's definitely not a savory loaf.
But it's just a regular sour dough the at least
the ones I've been seeing. Maybe some people are still
living in the real world and they create a sweet,
you know, a dessert loaf and put sprinkles in it.
But no, these ones that I'm seeing. And then one
(49:54):
girl was like, die free celebration loaf and none of
the die free sprinkles are heat stable, so she takes
celebration loaf out of the oven and the only color
left is yellow. Oh fuck, this is everybody's gone too far.
(50:15):
They've gone too far.
Speaker 4 (50:17):
They have the world's gone insane.
Speaker 3 (50:20):
M So all that to say, you know, but that's
that's what happens to people. Is we get our hands
on something good and then we jo in it, take
it to the bottom.
Speaker 4 (50:32):
Of the ocean and ruin it. Yeah, we just have
to take it so so far.
Speaker 1 (50:37):
So just know when you start adding sprinkles to your
sour dough, I'm cutting off your supply of flower heard.
Thank you.
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