November 20, 2024 • 27 mins
Discover the secrets to stress-free holiday cooking with our special guest Anne Milneck, the savvy owner of Red Stick Spice. Anne brings her expertise to help you conquer the kitchen this holiday season, whether you're whipping up a small family feast or hosting a Friendsgiving extravaganza. From freezing portions of classic dishes to choosing smaller proteins like turkey breasts, Anne shares innovative ways to keep your meals delightful and your budget intact. We'll also explore how global spices can transform any side dish into an extraordinary culinary experience.
Unleash your creativity with Thanksgiving leftovers as we tackle the art of reinventing cranberry sauce and turkey. Imagine turning cranberry sauce into an exquisite charcuterie spread or adding leftover turkey to a soul-warming soup. We also offer practical tips on saving time during Thanksgiving prep, including planning ahead and using handy gadgets like air fryers and potato peelers. Efficiency is key, and with our guidance, you'll breeze through your holiday preparations with ease.
In our final segment, we focus on kitchen efficiency and the art of enhancing store-bought foods. From ensuring uniformity with cookie scoops to elevating frozen apple pie with a spiced topping, learn how to make the most of pre-made items. We also prepare for the new year with simple meal prep and budgeting strategies to keep you on track with healthy habits and sustained motivation. Join us for an episode packed with practical advice that promises to make your holidays as enjoyable as they are budget-friendly!
Have an idea for a show or a question for Kim? Send us a text message
Welcome to Money Matters, the podcast that focuses on how to use the money you have, make the money you need and save the money you want – brought to you by Neighbors Federal Credit Union.
The information, opinions, and recommendations presented in this Podcast are for general information only and any reliance on the information provided in this Podcast is done at your own risk. This Podcast should not be considered professional advice.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
Welcome to Money Matters, the podcast that
focuses on how to use the moneyyou have, make the money you
need and save the money you wantNow here is your host, ms Kim
Chapman.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
All right, welcome back to another episode of Money
Matters.
I am so thrilled to have AnnMilnick, owner of Red Stick
Spice, return as a guest, andtoday we're going to talk about
how to do the holidays on abudget.
It's something we deal withevery year, multiple months of
the year, but I tell you, itreally hits us hard back to back
Thanksgiving and Christmas.
(00:35):
It's like how do you do it?
Whether you're just cooking ameal for your family, whether
you're preparing that potluckdish to bring to work, or if
you're having a little gettogether, you know how can we do
that on a budget withoutbreaking the bank, because we
still have Christmas gifts toget?
And then also, what do we dowith all those leftovers?
So, anne, thank you so much forcoming back and joining us
(00:57):
Always a pleasure.
I'm excited about this talktoday.
Oh yeah, I am too, because youknow well, normally in my head
there's a particular art.
I like to ask questions.
But you know, I want to startbackwards this time when we even
talk about leftovers, becauseI'm thinking about this year.
I'm going to Florida.
It's only going to be me and myson.
This year we're splitting upgoing to different places and
this kid wants me to still cooka turkey and dressing and greens
(01:20):
, and so that's not going tohappen.
So I want you to tell me whatare some non-traditional things
that people can do if they havea small family and that turkey
is just going to be a bit toomuch.
What are some?
Speaker 1 (01:33):
suggestions.
So one suggestion would be togo ahead and make it and,
immediately after you cook it,freeze half of it and then that
could be a meal during December.
That could be your ChristmasEve or Christmas Day meal.
If you wanted to, you coulddefinitely do that.
If that doesn't work for you,then you want to think about
could you buy a turkey that'sbeen cut and only do pieces of
(01:58):
it, or just buy a turkey breast?
That would be another way toapproach it.
And another way to approach itis just to do something
completely nontraditional that'ssmaller and now he does want
his dressing and turkey and allthe usual things, but I would
just think about mainly thatprotein, trying to buy it in a
smaller portion or pre-cut up.
(02:18):
That way you could freeze halfof it and only cook a portion of
it.
Speaker 2 (02:22):
That's a really good idea.
I actually think we did thatone year.
We actually went to Honey BakeHam and instead of buying a
traditional ham, they sold us acouple of slices by the pound.
So maybe I can get away withdoing the ham and not so much
the turkey.
What do you think are some?
What have become some morepopular non-traditional dishes?
You know we like to think ofThanksgiving turkey dressing,
(02:42):
mashed potatoes, the whole yard.
But I know a lot of people wantto move away.
I actually told them hey, let'sjust go to a steak restaurant.
But what are some things thatpeople can consider?
Or what do you just think ismore popular these days for
families that just don't want tohave turkey again?
Speaker 1 (02:56):
So that makes me think of the Friendsgiving trend
that's been going on for years.
So a lot of people friendgroups will do Friendsgiving
outside of their family'sThanksgiving, and there's rarely
a turkey or a ham.
It's more about sides, and moreabout heartier sides, more like
casseroles, so just a wholebunch of casseroles that are
(03:20):
really filling and reallydelicious and they can still
have protein in them.
But I think of Friendsgivingand how, like my kids, approach
Friendsgiving as an alternative.
It still feels very much like agathering where people are
giving thanks and spending timetogether, but it doesn't
necessarily have thatcenterpiece turkey or
centerpiece ham and it's morecasseroles, even like a lasagna
(03:45):
or a baked ziti or somethinglike that.
That's really filling, hasprotein, but not the traditional
turkey.
Speaker 2 (03:51):
And you say Friendsgiving and even if we're
talking about something at work,you know you have and you want
to bring a dish.
And some people are really,really phenomenal cooks and I'm
sure you're definitely on theirlist.
And then some people, hey,they're just average cooks.
How can they use spices?
How can they use everydayspices to take something that
may just be an ordinary blanddinner that your family's okay
(04:13):
with, but to kind of put alittle blur in it so that all
your friends are saying, hey,did you check out her dish?
It was really really good, whenall they did was maybe add some
of your spices to it.
Speaker 1 (04:23):
So I would.
I would think globally.
So let's say you make a roastedsweet potato and what you can.
A sweet potato is actually ablank canvas.
In my opinion, sweet potatoescan go to the sweet in the sweet
direction.
A lot of people will do likethe brown sugar and pecans on
(04:45):
top, and then some people domarshmallows.
Speaker 2 (04:46):
I love the marshmallows.
Speaker 1 (04:48):
But a sweet potato loves to be on the savory side
as well and it loves warm NorthAfrican and Indian spices.
So a curry powder roast onsweet potatoes and then you
roast them, or a Moroccan spicewould be a really interesting
way to change up those sweetpotatoes and take them in a
(05:09):
different direction.
So, and that's, I can bring anynon-cook into the kitchen and
get them to roast a sweet potato.
It's doable.
So that would be.
That would be a great way tobring some like global flavors
and and chances are, at yourgathering no one else is going
to bring some like globalflavors and chances are, at your
gathering no one else is goingto bring something like that.
So you're going to be you'regoing to get a lot of questions
(05:30):
and a lot of interest aroundthose that flavor profile on
those sweet potatoes.
Speaker 2 (05:34):
Oh, that's really good.
That's a really good spin onthings.
So even you know we'll get totalking about how to do the
leftovers, but I want to talk alittle bit about how can we
prevent doing leftovers.
What approach should we takewhen we're?
You know, if we know how manypeople we're going to feed, or
at least a good estimate, youknow how do we decide whether
we're getting a 10 pound turkeyor 20 pound turkey ham dressing.
(05:56):
How can we take these dishesand make them the right size so
that we don't have tons ofleftovers?
Speaker 1 (06:03):
So I believe the rule of thumb on turkey is four
ounces per person.
But here's the thing Don't getso caught up in how much turkey
you need.
Make sure you make a dish, areally hearty dish, that is part
(06:23):
of your menu that's reallyfilling.
Make sure you have a pasta dishmaybe a seafood pasta or some,
maybe even something Italianlike a baked ziti or a lasagna.
I tell people, worry less aboutthe turkey and make sure your
other dishes that round it out.
One of those dishes could be amain dish on its own, so that
(06:48):
could be a meal on its own.
Lean on those hearty casserolesthat have meat in them.
My family does a dirty ricethat has ground pork and ground
beef in it and that could be amain dish on its own.
Make sure you have side dishesthat are really hearty and
really filling so that you arenot leaning on that turkey.
I think there's a lot of worryand drama around the turkey.
Speaker 2 (07:11):
Way too much.
Speaker 1 (07:12):
Right and I think there are ways to have a really
lovely meal and have turkey butnot be so dependent on the
turkey being first of all enoughbut also perfect.
Turkey being first of allenough but also perfect.
You know people are so worriedabout is the turkey going to be
(07:35):
too dry?
And worry less about that andput some energy into making some
big nine by 13 pans ofsomething really hearty and
really filling.
I guarantee you your guests aregoing to be happy.
Speaker 2 (07:41):
So now let's talk about maybe transitioning.
So we've got all theseleftovers, or maybe we're
intentionally buying a lot ofthings for Thanksgiving.
How can we use some of thoseand refresh them and present
them for Christmas?
Speaker 1 (07:54):
Okay, so we on my podcast years ago we did an
episode around using gadgets andappliances and there are some
gadgets where people are like,why did I buy this, why don't I
have this?
And one of those that a lot ofpeople talk about is a waffle
iron that you don't use yourwaffle iron too often.
So then we started talkingabout things that we waffle and
(08:16):
we started having a joke aroundthe shop will it waffle?
So we have folded the sweetpotato casserole from the day
before into waffle batter andmade waffles the next day.
We've waffled mashed potatoesDelicious, really, really
amazing.
We've waffled cornbreaddressing and bread dressing.
(08:37):
So waffle.
You could make waffles the nextmorning and approach it like
brunch the next morning.
You could make waffles the nextmorning and approach it like
brunch the next morning.
The thing that ends up beingthe leftovers the most in my
family is cranberry sauce.
And first I want to say onething about that situation If
(09:01):
there is a dish that you makebecause it's Thanksgiving and we
have to have that dish, but noone eats it, I give you
permission to stop making thatdish.
We are that close.
Speaker 2 (09:07):
A lot of people need to hear that.
Speaker 1 (09:09):
We are this that close.
On cranberry sauce, in myfamily we make it, it's not a
big deal, it's pretty easy tomake and it just doesn't get
consumed and I'm I'm close tocalling on the cranberry sauce.
However, the next day on thecranberry sauce, However, the
next day I'm stuffed from theday before.
(09:30):
I don't really want a huge mealand I'm also, you know,
relieved and trying to relaxafter that big day.
So a lot of times in theafternoon or evening the next
day I just want like a glass ofwine and a snack.
I'll put the cranberry sauceover.
I take either feta or goatcheese and whip it with some
cream cheese and put that in adish and put the cranberry sauce
(09:52):
on top of that and it's like agreat spread.
That could be something youcould put with a charcuterie
board, but it makes a reallygreat spread and with a nice sip
the next day.
So that's one way to make useof your cranberry sauce.
I think turkey is probably theeasiest.
We live here in South Louisiana.
(10:12):
There's a whole lot of turkeygumbo the next day.
Yes, there is.
We never have an issue withturkey because my husband loves
turkey sandwiches.
But if there is an excess ofturkey.
I definitely think about thoselong cooking soups and stews.
What sort of soup could youmake the next day to put the
cooked turkey in?
Just know that that protein iscooked so it doesn't need to
(10:36):
cook in the soup or stew you putit in.
Speaker 2 (10:39):
It just needs to go in there and warm it.
Speaker 1 (10:40):
Yeah, just right at the end to warm it.
But you can make a lovelybrothy and warm it.
Yeah, just right at the end towarm it.
But you can make a lovelybrothy like a chicken noodle
soup, but add your turkey.
So I think turkey is the lessproblematic and I think it's a
lot of the sides folks don'tneed to don't know what to do
with.
So pull out your waffle iron,put that cranberry sauce in a
(11:01):
really lovely appetizer and havea sip the next day with it.
And just remember, with thatturkey you want to.
If you do have it, you want toadd it at the end of the cooking
process and not overcook it.
Speaker 2 (11:12):
So time is money, and preparing for Thanksgiving, oh
my goodness, takes a lot of time.
I know women that get up, oreven men, you know, before the
chickens are up and they'recooking, or even men you know,
before the chickens are up andthey're cooking.
Are there any suggestions ortips that can help you cut down
on time for preparation?
That, may you know?
(11:32):
I don't know.
Have they started puttingturkeys in air fryers?
Now you know they can cut downon the time that it takes to
prepare so many different dishes.
Speaker 1 (11:38):
So I have multiple answers to that question.
First of all, in terms of time.
Is money also?
Think of it in terms of If youwere working at this at the last
minute.
If you're scrambling at thelast minute, I can almost
guarantee you you're going tospend more money.
So if you can have a plan, evenpart of a plan, even just small
(12:00):
things that you can tuck in thefridge and freezer, you will
definitely save money.
The other part of saving timeis to think about you know, in
(12:20):
the five days prior, what smallthings can you do to get you to
where you need to be, whetherit's peeling the carrots or I do
a make ahead turkey gravy,where I go and I buy a turkey
neck and I go ahead and make thegravy.
I don't make the gravy the daybefore.
The other thing I'm going toencourage people to think about
and it's a funny word, but it issuch a great technique and it's
(12:42):
called spatchcock and it'swhere you cut the backbone out
of the turkey.
Now you need good poultryshears and some elbow grease,
but you're going to cut thebackbone out of that turkey.
Now you have that backbone thatyou can throw in the pan with
some water to make a stock, butyou're going to.
(13:02):
That's going to allow you toflatten the turkey.
You are going to cook thatturkey in easily.
You're going to save easily 30%of your cooking time, but for
me it's more like 50%.
Oh, wow, yes.
So that's going to save you alot of time.
But planning ahead as much asyou can, the more you plan ahead
(13:27):
, I guarantee you will savemoney.
Those last minute purchases,those sort of panic moment,
rushed purchases, you almostalways spend more.
Speaker 2 (13:35):
So I want to talk a little bit about gadgets.
Just the other day my daughterI asked her to peel potatoes and
ironically she went in thekitchen drawer and she found a
potato peeler.
I think I forgot that I hadthat.
I never use it.
I use a knife, but I can sayfor sure that she wastes a lot
less of the potato than I do,because she probably just
actually got the skin off.
(13:55):
When I use a knife I'm cuttinginto probably 10, 15 percent of
the potato.
So are there other kitchengadgets that could actually
stretch the food a little bitmore?
Speaker 1 (14:06):
Yeah, you know, I think about when you're making
cookies using a.
They make dishers, cookiescoops, those are.
A lot of people skip that andsay, oh, I'm just going to use
my spoon.
But when your cookies are allexactly the same size, they cook
more evenly and you won't.
The smaller ones are going toburn and those go in the trash
and we don't want cookies to goin the trash.
(14:27):
So you know, making sure thingsare a uniform size, that's
really helpful and not really agadget but more of a tip.
Your kitchen knife needs to besharp.
Sharp is safe, but sharp isalso faster.
You're just going to get therefaster and you're going to be.
It's going to be lessfrustration but also less waste
(14:51):
when that knife is sharp becauseyou were peeling potatoes with
a knife.
If that knife was also dull, Iguarantee you you're taking off
way too much potato.
Speaker 2 (14:59):
I know that I am because, like I said, I saw
those little bitty, tinyshavings and I think about when
I cut a potato, you know handsdown, I know that I'm wasting
more.
And then it makes me thinkabout what other gadgets do I
own that I could use?
That would save me so much moreof the food itself, versus just
the way that you know steamerand if you have foil, you can
ball up foil in the bottom of apan and put the water where the
(15:21):
balls of foil is and then yourvegetables sit on top of it.
Speaker 1 (15:38):
You have a steamer.
So I know I'm answering yourquestion differently, because I
just it's less about do you havethis gadget and more about me
saying you don't necessarilyneed to buy that gadget, that
there are ways to get therewithout buying that gadget.
I'm not a big fan of single usegadgets.
I like gadgets to bemultitaskers.
So I'm always thinking about dodo you need that item?
(16:00):
Could you get there withouthaving to buy that, that gadget
and having that drawer full ofgadgets?
But I'm glad you found yourpotato peeler.
Speaker 2 (16:09):
It's back in the drawer.
Now there are going to be somepeople listening that says, hey,
I will never, ever cook a dish.
I'm the go to the store and buyit, or go to the restaurant and
buy it.
So let's talk about those storedishes again, because you have
so many options with thesespices.
You know how can we take maybea store bar little dish and, you
(16:30):
know, dress it up so that it ispresentable for a Thanksgiving
dinner or a holiday party.
Speaker 1 (16:36):
So let's think about, let's say, you bought pre-made
mashed potatoes and you want toturn that into like a
twice-baked potato casserole.
You definitely want to getthose potatoes in your buttered
9x13 pan.
You want to give them a tasteand make sure they have the salt
and pepper that they need, andthen what you can do is fold an
(16:59):
herb blend in there, like anHerbes de Provence, or we have a
blend called Spud Spice that'sall those you know, chives and
yummy potato toppings, exactlyand fold that in there and then
top that with cheese and bake it.
That saved you a ton of timepeeling and boiling and mashing
(17:20):
potatoes.
So that would be.
That would be one store boughtcookie dough, refrigerated or
frozen cookie dough.
One thing you can do.
Chocolate chip chocolate,mainly talking about chocolate
chip cookies.
One thing you can do.
Chocolate chip chocolate,mainly talking about chocolate
chip cookies.
One thing you can do with thatchocolate chip cookie dough is,
before you bake it stay with mesprinkle it with smoked salt.
Speaker 2 (17:39):
Really.
Speaker 1 (17:40):
Yes, so salted caramel, salted chocolate,
salted shortbread cookies.
You know that's a, that's athing, that salt is lovely on
sweets, and so that would be oneway to jazz it up.
Speaker 2 (17:54):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (17:55):
Yeah, and everybody be like what do you do with
these cookies?
Speaker 2 (17:58):
And it doesn't.
Speaker 1 (17:59):
And it's not like oh, this is a smoked salted
chocolate chip cookie.
It's just a little somethingwhere you go, what's going on
with this cookie?
This is really interesting.
Another thing you could do isbuy a frozen apple pie and then
we have lots of baking spiceblends.
We have an apple pie spice, wehave pumpkin pie spice, we have
(18:21):
something called British cakespice.
All those spice blends in thatworld are those warm
Thanksgiving spices cinnamon,clove, cardamom, nutmeg.
Warm Thanksgiving spices,cinnamon, clove, cardamom,
nutmeg.
So you've got all thosebeautiful warm spices.
You would combine that withsome oatmeal and brown sugar and
a little bit of butter and topthat frozen apple pie and then
(18:44):
bake it and then you've got thisbeautiful crispy, crisped up
sugary topping on top with allthese wonderful spices.
Because a lot of times thosestore-bought pies don't to me,
don't have quite the oomph thathomemade pies do.
But you can get there byplaying around with a topping.
Speaker 2 (19:05):
So, speaking of frozen things, you know, with
all the leftovers that peopleare going to have and maybe they
don't even want them the dayafter Thanksgiving let's talk a
little bit about the proper wayor the best way to store things
in the freezer so that you knowwhen we do want to pull out a
piece of you know meat and maybehave a ham sandwich, or get
ready to maybe do turkey gumboin February instead of the day
(19:26):
after Thanksgiving.
What's the best way to preservethis food so that it doesn't
get freezer burn and we can useit at a later time?
Speaker 1 (19:35):
So the first thing you want to do is make sure your
food is cooled properly beforeyou freeze it, and that's from a
safety standpoint.
From a quality standpoint, youwant to think about air
surrounding that food, and anymoisture in that food that
condenses is going to freezeinto ice crystals.
(19:57):
So the way you prevent that isby making sure there's very
little air in whatever containerit is, so that there's no room
for that to form.
So zip top bags are a great way.
Definitely getting slices ofthe meat into a zip top bag and
just pressing out all of thatair.
Speaker 2 (20:16):
That's a staple in my house.
I put everything in zip lockbags.
Speaker 1 (20:20):
But vacuum sealers and a lot of people have one.
They'll see us in the teachingkitchen Our chef, Matt, does a
lot of portioning and foodstorage and they'll see him with
our vacuum sealer and they'llgo oh, I have one of those and I
used it one time during deerseason and you know they forget
they have it and that's a.
(20:41):
It's a very, very handy andimportant tool if you're doing a
lot of freezing.
So getting all of that air out,whether you do it with your
hands, with that zip top bag orwith a vacuum sealer, is the
best way to preserve that foodfor as long as possible.
Most pre-cooked food in thefreezer has about a six-month
(21:04):
life, so you want to be preparedto use it within six months.
The other thing I would suggestis portioning properly before
you freeze.
So I remember my mother wouldget a big pack of ground beef
and then break it down accordingto how much she used to make us
a meal and then portion it thatway rather than just putting
(21:27):
that whole big pack of groundbeef in the freezer I do that
all the time Come home from thegrocery store.
Speaker 2 (21:32):
That's why I keep the Ziploc bags.
I will, you know, take that bigpack of chicken legs, chicken
wings, and then you know, likeif we cook four at a time, six
at a time, and freeze themaccordingly.
Speaker 1 (21:43):
Right, Right.
So portioning properly isanother way to make sure it's
also a great way to make sureyou're going to use it, Because
a lot of times if it's portionedtoo big when you go to cook
something you're like well Idon't need that much, and you
keep pushing it aside andpushing it aside and before you
know it, two years have gone by.
Here comes a hurricane.
You got to clean out yourfridge.
You know it gets thrown away.
So I think portioning is one ofthe smartest things you can do.
(22:07):
Portion for your family size orportion for your recipe.
Like, if you say I'm going touse this turkey in a gumbo
portion, according to what youwould use in that gumbo, versus
just freezing all the turkey.
Speaker 2 (22:20):
So I have to ask at this time of year, do you
specifically offer cookingclasses?
Because you have the cookingclasses that focus around
holiday meals, because, you know, every year there's always that
new naive bride that says, hey,let's invite all the family
over to my house, and and thenshe wakes up.
She realizes, oh my God, whathave I done?
(22:40):
I don't know how to cook aturkey, I don't know how to do a
ham.
Do you offer, you know, thosespecialty classes?
And then is it too late youknow whether this is December
1st, that they're hearing thisfor them to sign up and come
learn how to cook something realquick.
Speaker 1 (22:54):
We teach around the holidays.
We teach around the holidays,we teach classes.
We teach a class called holidaysides.
We also do holiday appetizersbecause we don't get a ton of
turkey questions or hamquestions.
We get sides, questions likewhat's a new and interesting
side, what can I do with thegreen bean casserole to make it
more interesting?
Or what is something like myfamily's game, like what could
(23:17):
be something completelydifferent that we do?
So we teach more sides andappetizer classes because we
haven't noticed.
We know we hear it with our ownears.
That's a pain point forcustomers and so we have both of
those classes on the scheduleand then going to our website
and putting in search barThanksgiving sides, it'll
(23:39):
populate recipes that we've doneover the years for Thanksgiving
sides and Thanksgiving desserts.
We also offer that class.
We get that question.
Speaker 2 (23:47):
You can't have a holiday without desserts.
Speaker 1 (23:49):
Right, a lot of people looking for I need a
different pumpkin recipe.
Nobody eats the pecan pie, thepumpkin pie you know.
So we teach those.
They're more side orientedclasses.
Speaker 2 (24:00):
So if I come in and I'm just a blank slate and I
just say, please, somebody helpme, will I leave feeling like
I'm going to go home and be aprofessional chef you are going
to leave very, very successful,feeling very successful.
Speaker 1 (24:11):
One hundred percent.
That's what we do all day issolve problems.
Speaker 2 (24:14):
Okay.
So if you've got a problem forthe kitchen, ann's got a
solution.
So any last minute tips for ourholiday listeners that you know
whether it's how to stretch abudget, just how to make
something gourmet or just how tojazz it up and make it
different, because we're all sotired of turkey I do.
Speaker 1 (24:32):
I learned something from my daughter recently.
My daughter is in her early 20s, just starting out in her
career.
She lives in New Orleans andshe does something that made me
chuckle because it's somethingthat my mother did and I don't
really do it, but she watchesthe circulars from the local
grocery store.
Lot of people think your bestbargain is at a big big box
(24:56):
store period hard stop.
That's where things are thecheapest and Emma spends a lot
of time reading the circulars.
She's a librarian so they havethe paper newspaper there and
she'll read the circulars forthe small, your little, small
neighborhood grocery stores,which every community has them,
and she finds some greatbargains.
(25:18):
So don't pass over your littlelocal grocery store when you
have your big Thanksgiving listand you've got your budget in
mind.
Don't assume that the big boxstore is going to be the
solution.
The solution could be at yourneighborhood grocery store and
they would so appreciate youshopping there.
(25:39):
Number one and number two,you're going to get in and out
way faster than the big busygrocery store.
So I just loved listening toher tell me what food she bought
that week at what price, basedon her.
It just made me think of mymother reading her little
grocery store circulars and Ijust love that.
Speaker 2 (26:01):
And I actually think, now that you mention it, that
this is a really good time forsomebody that wants to think.
You know, fast forward into thenew year and when you think
about holidays, things like cakebox mixes they're they're on
sale for dirt cheap.
You know, bakery things thatmay have a long shelf life, even
if you're not cooking thoseitems now.
This may just be something thatyou normally cook all the time.
(26:23):
This may be a good time to youknow, stock your pantry because
I tell you flour, you can getthings like flour, sugar, things
that really do have a goodshelf life, that you can buy now
for pennies on the dollar.
I went to a little local storea couple of months ago.
I'm not a big canned goodperson, but I mean they were
three, four dollars.
You know canned goods and Imean you just can't go wrong
(26:44):
with that.
And I mean canned goods, what?
Three, four, five years shelflife, so you can't pass up that
bargain, whereas you knowJanuary, february they'll be
back to two dollars a can, whereFebruary they'll be back to $2
a can Right, right Absolutely.
Yeah Well, Anne, thanks againfor stopping by.
Hopefully you are saving thelife and the holiday dinner for
some folks that are listening.
But I can't wait to have youback next year because we're
(27:08):
going to definitely talk abouthow to start the year off right,
how to meal prep, stretch thatdollar and, of course, if you're
going to be dieting and we knowwe always want to diet at the
beginning of the year we startoff just all gung ho and then we
lose.
You know, we kind of lose themomentum.
We're going to have you back tohelp us keep.
How do we keep that momentum?
How do we take those supposedto be lifestyle changing foods?
(27:28):
But how do we take those foodsand keep them interesting so
that we can stay on our go?
So look forward to having youback.
Looking forward to it, Thankyou.
Welcome to Money Matters, the podcast that
focuses on how to use the moneyyou have, make the money you
need and save the money you wantNow here is your host, ms Kim
Chapman.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
All right, welcome back to another episode of Money
Matters.
I am so thrilled to have AnnMilnick, owner of Red Stick
Spice, return as a guest, andtoday we're going to talk about
how to do the holidays on abudget.
It's something we deal withevery year, multiple months of
the year, but I tell you, itreally hits us hard back to back
Thanksgiving and Christmas.
(00:35):
It's like how do you do it?
Whether you're just cooking ameal for your family, whether
you're preparing that potluckdish to bring to work, or if
you're having a little gettogether, you know how can we do
that on a budget withoutbreaking the bank, because we
still have Christmas gifts toget?
And then also, what do we dowith all those leftovers?
So, anne, thank you so much forcoming back and joining us
(00:57):
Always a pleasure.
I'm excited about this talktoday.
Oh yeah, I am too, because youknow well, normally in my head
there's a particular art.
I like to ask questions.
But you know, I want to startbackwards this time when we even
talk about leftovers, becauseI'm thinking about this year.
I'm going to Florida.
It's only going to be me and myson.
This year we're splitting upgoing to different places and
this kid wants me to still cooka turkey and dressing and greens
(01:20):
, and so that's not going tohappen.
So I want you to tell me whatare some non-traditional things
that people can do if they havea small family and that turkey
is just going to be a bit toomuch.
What are some?
Speaker 1 (01:33):
suggestions.
So one suggestion would be togo ahead and make it and,
immediately after you cook it,freeze half of it and then that
could be a meal during December.
That could be your ChristmasEve or Christmas Day meal.
If you wanted to, you coulddefinitely do that.
If that doesn't work for you,then you want to think about
could you buy a turkey that'sbeen cut and only do pieces of
(01:58):
it, or just buy a turkey breast?
That would be another way toapproach it.
And another way to approach itis just to do something
completely nontraditional that'ssmaller and now he does want
his dressing and turkey and allthe usual things, but I would
just think about mainly thatprotein, trying to buy it in a
smaller portion or pre-cut up.
(02:18):
That way you could freeze halfof it and only cook a portion of
it.
Speaker 2 (02:22):
That's a really good idea.
I actually think we did thatone year.
We actually went to Honey BakeHam and instead of buying a
traditional ham, they sold us acouple of slices by the pound.
So maybe I can get away withdoing the ham and not so much
the turkey.
What do you think are some?
What have become some morepopular non-traditional dishes?
You know we like to think ofThanksgiving turkey dressing,
(02:42):
mashed potatoes, the whole yard.
But I know a lot of people wantto move away.
I actually told them hey, let'sjust go to a steak restaurant.
But what are some things thatpeople can consider?
Or what do you just think ismore popular these days for
families that just don't want tohave turkey again?
Speaker 1 (02:56):
So that makes me think of the Friendsgiving trend
that's been going on for years.
So a lot of people friendgroups will do Friendsgiving
outside of their family'sThanksgiving, and there's rarely
a turkey or a ham.
It's more about sides, and moreabout heartier sides, more like
casseroles, so just a wholebunch of casseroles that are
(03:20):
really filling and reallydelicious and they can still
have protein in them.
But I think of Friendsgivingand how, like my kids, approach
Friendsgiving as an alternative.
It still feels very much like agathering where people are
giving thanks and spending timetogether, but it doesn't
necessarily have thatcenterpiece turkey or
centerpiece ham and it's morecasseroles, even like a lasagna
(03:45):
or a baked ziti or somethinglike that.
That's really filling, hasprotein, but not the traditional
turkey.
Speaker 2 (03:51):
And you say Friendsgiving and even if we're
talking about something at work,you know you have and you want
to bring a dish.
And some people are really,really phenomenal cooks and I'm
sure you're definitely on theirlist.
And then some people, hey,they're just average cooks.
How can they use spices?
How can they use everydayspices to take something that
may just be an ordinary blanddinner that your family's okay
(04:13):
with, but to kind of put alittle blur in it so that all
your friends are saying, hey,did you check out her dish?
It was really really good, whenall they did was maybe add some
of your spices to it.
Speaker 1 (04:23):
So I would.
I would think globally.
So let's say you make a roastedsweet potato and what you can.
A sweet potato is actually ablank canvas.
In my opinion, sweet potatoescan go to the sweet in the sweet
direction.
A lot of people will do likethe brown sugar and pecans on
(04:45):
top, and then some people domarshmallows.
Speaker 2 (04:46):
I love the marshmallows.
Speaker 1 (04:48):
But a sweet potato loves to be on the savory side
as well and it loves warm NorthAfrican and Indian spices.
So a curry powder roast onsweet potatoes and then you
roast them, or a Moroccan spicewould be a really interesting
way to change up those sweetpotatoes and take them in a
(05:09):
different direction.
So, and that's, I can bring anynon-cook into the kitchen and
get them to roast a sweet potato.
It's doable.
So that would be.
That would be a great way tobring some like global flavors
and and chances are, at yourgathering no one else is going
to bring some like globalflavors and chances are, at your
gathering no one else is goingto bring something like that.
So you're going to be you'regoing to get a lot of questions
(05:30):
and a lot of interest aroundthose that flavor profile on
those sweet potatoes.
Speaker 2 (05:34):
Oh, that's really good.
That's a really good spin onthings.
So even you know we'll get totalking about how to do the
leftovers, but I want to talk alittle bit about how can we
prevent doing leftovers.
What approach should we takewhen we're?
You know, if we know how manypeople we're going to feed, or
at least a good estimate, youknow how do we decide whether
we're getting a 10 pound turkeyor 20 pound turkey ham dressing.
(05:56):
How can we take these dishesand make them the right size so
that we don't have tons ofleftovers?
Speaker 1 (06:03):
So I believe the rule of thumb on turkey is four
ounces per person.
But here's the thing Don't getso caught up in how much turkey
you need.
Make sure you make a dish, areally hearty dish, that is part
(06:23):
of your menu that's reallyfilling.
Make sure you have a pasta dishmaybe a seafood pasta or some,
maybe even something Italianlike a baked ziti or a lasagna.
I tell people, worry less aboutthe turkey and make sure your
other dishes that round it out.
One of those dishes could be amain dish on its own, so that
(06:48):
could be a meal on its own.
Lean on those hearty casserolesthat have meat in them.
My family does a dirty ricethat has ground pork and ground
beef in it and that could be amain dish on its own.
Make sure you have side dishesthat are really hearty and
really filling so that you arenot leaning on that turkey.
I think there's a lot of worryand drama around the turkey.
Speaker 2 (07:11):
Way too much.
Speaker 1 (07:12):
Right and I think there are ways to have a really
lovely meal and have turkey butnot be so dependent on the
turkey being first of all enoughbut also perfect.
Turkey being first of allenough but also perfect.
You know people are so worriedabout is the turkey going to be
(07:35):
too dry?
And worry less about that andput some energy into making some
big nine by 13 pans ofsomething really hearty and
really filling.
I guarantee you your guests aregoing to be happy.
Speaker 2 (07:41):
So now let's talk about maybe transitioning.
So we've got all theseleftovers, or maybe we're
intentionally buying a lot ofthings for Thanksgiving.
How can we use some of thoseand refresh them and present
them for Christmas?
Speaker 1 (07:54):
Okay, so we on my podcast years ago we did an
episode around using gadgets andappliances and there are some
gadgets where people are like,why did I buy this, why don't I
have this?
And one of those that a lot ofpeople talk about is a waffle
iron that you don't use yourwaffle iron too often.
So then we started talkingabout things that we waffle and
(08:16):
we started having a joke aroundthe shop will it waffle?
So we have folded the sweetpotato casserole from the day
before into waffle batter andmade waffles the next day.
We've waffled mashed potatoesDelicious, really, really
amazing.
We've waffled cornbreaddressing and bread dressing.
(08:37):
So waffle.
You could make waffles the nextmorning and approach it like
brunch the next morning.
You could make waffles the nextmorning and approach it like
brunch the next morning.
The thing that ends up beingthe leftovers the most in my
family is cranberry sauce.
And first I want to say onething about that situation If
(09:01):
there is a dish that you makebecause it's Thanksgiving and we
have to have that dish, but noone eats it, I give you
permission to stop making thatdish.
We are that close.
Speaker 2 (09:07):
A lot of people need to hear that.
Speaker 1 (09:09):
We are this that close.
On cranberry sauce, in myfamily we make it, it's not a
big deal, it's pretty easy tomake and it just doesn't get
consumed and I'm I'm close tocalling on the cranberry sauce.
However, the next day on thecranberry sauce, However, the
next day I'm stuffed from theday before.
(09:30):
I don't really want a huge mealand I'm also, you know,
relieved and trying to relaxafter that big day.
So a lot of times in theafternoon or evening the next
day I just want like a glass ofwine and a snack.
I'll put the cranberry sauceover.
I take either feta or goatcheese and whip it with some
cream cheese and put that in adish and put the cranberry sauce
(09:52):
on top of that and it's like agreat spread.
That could be something youcould put with a charcuterie
board, but it makes a reallygreat spread and with a nice sip
the next day.
So that's one way to make useof your cranberry sauce.
I think turkey is probably theeasiest.
We live here in South Louisiana.
(10:12):
There's a whole lot of turkeygumbo the next day.
Yes, there is.
We never have an issue withturkey because my husband loves
turkey sandwiches.
But if there is an excess ofturkey.
I definitely think about thoselong cooking soups and stews.
What sort of soup could youmake the next day to put the
cooked turkey in?
Just know that that protein iscooked so it doesn't need to
(10:36):
cook in the soup or stew you putit in.
Speaker 2 (10:39):
It just needs to go in there and warm it.
Speaker 1 (10:40):
Yeah, just right at the end to warm it.
But you can make a lovelybrothy and warm it.
Yeah, just right at the end towarm it.
But you can make a lovelybrothy like a chicken noodle
soup, but add your turkey.
So I think turkey is the lessproblematic and I think it's a
lot of the sides folks don'tneed to don't know what to do
with.
So pull out your waffle iron,put that cranberry sauce in a
(11:01):
really lovely appetizer and havea sip the next day with it.
And just remember, with thatturkey you want to.
If you do have it, you want toadd it at the end of the cooking
process and not overcook it.
Speaker 2 (11:12):
So time is money, and preparing for Thanksgiving, oh
my goodness, takes a lot of time.
I know women that get up, oreven men, you know, before the
chickens are up and they'recooking, or even men you know,
before the chickens are up andthey're cooking.
Are there any suggestions ortips that can help you cut down
on time for preparation?
That, may you know?
(11:32):
I don't know.
Have they started puttingturkeys in air fryers?
Now you know they can cut downon the time that it takes to
prepare so many different dishes.
Speaker 1 (11:38):
So I have multiple answers to that question.
First of all, in terms of time.
Is money also?
Think of it in terms of If youwere working at this at the last
minute.
If you're scrambling at thelast minute, I can almost
guarantee you you're going tospend more money.
So if you can have a plan, evenpart of a plan, even just small
(12:00):
things that you can tuck in thefridge and freezer, you will
definitely save money.
The other part of saving timeis to think about you know, in
(12:20):
the five days prior, what smallthings can you do to get you to
where you need to be, whetherit's peeling the carrots or I do
a make ahead turkey gravy,where I go and I buy a turkey
neck and I go ahead and make thegravy.
I don't make the gravy the daybefore.
The other thing I'm going toencourage people to think about
and it's a funny word, but it issuch a great technique and it's
(12:42):
called spatchcock and it'swhere you cut the backbone out
of the turkey.
Now you need good poultryshears and some elbow grease,
but you're going to cut thebackbone out of that turkey.
Now you have that backbone thatyou can throw in the pan with
some water to make a stock, butyou're going to.
(13:02):
That's going to allow you toflatten the turkey.
You are going to cook thatturkey in easily.
You're going to save easily 30%of your cooking time, but for
me it's more like 50%.
Oh, wow, yes.
So that's going to save you alot of time.
But planning ahead as much asyou can, the more you plan ahead
(13:27):
, I guarantee you will savemoney.
Those last minute purchases,those sort of panic moment,
rushed purchases, you almostalways spend more.
Speaker 2 (13:35):
So I want to talk a little bit about gadgets.
Just the other day my daughterI asked her to peel potatoes and
ironically she went in thekitchen drawer and she found a
potato peeler.
I think I forgot that I hadthat.
I never use it.
I use a knife, but I can sayfor sure that she wastes a lot
less of the potato than I do,because she probably just
actually got the skin off.
(13:55):
When I use a knife I'm cuttinginto probably 10, 15 percent of
the potato.
So are there other kitchengadgets that could actually
stretch the food a little bitmore?
Speaker 1 (14:06):
Yeah, you know, I think about when you're making
cookies using a.
They make dishers, cookiescoops, those are.
A lot of people skip that andsay, oh, I'm just going to use
my spoon.
But when your cookies are allexactly the same size, they cook
more evenly and you won't.
The smaller ones are going toburn and those go in the trash
and we don't want cookies to goin the trash.
(14:27):
So you know, making sure thingsare a uniform size, that's
really helpful and not really agadget but more of a tip.
Your kitchen knife needs to besharp.
Sharp is safe, but sharp isalso faster.
You're just going to get therefaster and you're going to be.
It's going to be lessfrustration but also less waste
(14:51):
when that knife is sharp becauseyou were peeling potatoes with
a knife.
If that knife was also dull, Iguarantee you you're taking off
way too much potato.
Speaker 2 (14:59):
I know that I am because, like I said, I saw
those little bitty, tinyshavings and I think about when
I cut a potato, you know handsdown, I know that I'm wasting
more.
And then it makes me thinkabout what other gadgets do I
own that I could use?
That would save me so much moreof the food itself, versus just
the way that you know steamerand if you have foil, you can
ball up foil in the bottom of apan and put the water where the
(15:21):
balls of foil is and then yourvegetables sit on top of it.
Speaker 1 (15:38):
You have a steamer.
So I know I'm answering yourquestion differently, because I
just it's less about do you havethis gadget and more about me
saying you don't necessarilyneed to buy that gadget, that
there are ways to get therewithout buying that gadget.
I'm not a big fan of single usegadgets.
I like gadgets to bemultitaskers.
So I'm always thinking about dodo you need that item?
(16:00):
Could you get there withouthaving to buy that, that gadget
and having that drawer full ofgadgets?
But I'm glad you found yourpotato peeler.
Speaker 2 (16:09):
It's back in the drawer.
Now there are going to be somepeople listening that says, hey,
I will never, ever cook a dish.
I'm the go to the store and buyit, or go to the restaurant and
buy it.
So let's talk about those storedishes again, because you have
so many options with thesespices.
You know how can we take maybea store bar little dish and, you
(16:30):
know, dress it up so that it ispresentable for a Thanksgiving
dinner or a holiday party.
Speaker 1 (16:36):
So let's think about, let's say, you bought pre-made
mashed potatoes and you want toturn that into like a
twice-baked potato casserole.
You definitely want to getthose potatoes in your buttered
9x13 pan.
You want to give them a tasteand make sure they have the salt
and pepper that they need, andthen what you can do is fold an
(16:59):
herb blend in there, like anHerbes de Provence, or we have a
blend called Spud Spice that'sall those you know, chives and
yummy potato toppings, exactlyand fold that in there and then
top that with cheese and bake it.
That saved you a ton of timepeeling and boiling and mashing
(17:20):
potatoes.
So that would be.
That would be one store boughtcookie dough, refrigerated or
frozen cookie dough.
One thing you can do.
Chocolate chip chocolate,mainly talking about chocolate
chip cookies.
One thing you can do.
Chocolate chip chocolate,mainly talking about chocolate
chip cookies.
One thing you can do with thatchocolate chip cookie dough is,
before you bake it stay with mesprinkle it with smoked salt.
Speaker 2 (17:39):
Really.
Speaker 1 (17:40):
Yes, so salted caramel, salted chocolate,
salted shortbread cookies.
You know that's a, that's athing, that salt is lovely on
sweets, and so that would be oneway to jazz it up.
Speaker 2 (17:54):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (17:55):
Yeah, and everybody be like what do you do with
these cookies?
Speaker 2 (17:58):
And it doesn't.
Speaker 1 (17:59):
And it's not like oh, this is a smoked salted
chocolate chip cookie.
It's just a little somethingwhere you go, what's going on
with this cookie?
This is really interesting.
Another thing you could do isbuy a frozen apple pie and then
we have lots of baking spiceblends.
We have an apple pie spice, wehave pumpkin pie spice, we have
(18:21):
something called British cakespice.
All those spice blends in thatworld are those warm
Thanksgiving spices cinnamon,clove, cardamom, nutmeg.
Warm Thanksgiving spices,cinnamon, clove, cardamom,
nutmeg.
So you've got all thosebeautiful warm spices.
You would combine that withsome oatmeal and brown sugar and
a little bit of butter and topthat frozen apple pie and then
(18:44):
bake it and then you've got thisbeautiful crispy, crisped up
sugary topping on top with allthese wonderful spices.
Because a lot of times thosestore-bought pies don't to me,
don't have quite the oomph thathomemade pies do.
But you can get there byplaying around with a topping.
Speaker 2 (19:05):
So, speaking of frozen things, you know, with
all the leftovers that peopleare going to have and maybe they
don't even want them the dayafter Thanksgiving let's talk a
little bit about the proper wayor the best way to store things
in the freezer so that you knowwhen we do want to pull out a
piece of you know meat and maybehave a ham sandwich, or get
ready to maybe do turkey gumboin February instead of the day
(19:26):
after Thanksgiving.
What's the best way to preservethis food so that it doesn't
get freezer burn and we can useit at a later time?
Speaker 1 (19:35):
So the first thing you want to do is make sure your
food is cooled properly beforeyou freeze it, and that's from a
safety standpoint.
From a quality standpoint, youwant to think about air
surrounding that food, and anymoisture in that food that
condenses is going to freezeinto ice crystals.
(19:57):
So the way you prevent that isby making sure there's very
little air in whatever containerit is, so that there's no room
for that to form.
So zip top bags are a great way.
Definitely getting slices ofthe meat into a zip top bag and
just pressing out all of thatair.
Speaker 2 (20:16):
That's a staple in my house.
I put everything in zip lockbags.
Speaker 1 (20:20):
But vacuum sealers and a lot of people have one.
They'll see us in the teachingkitchen Our chef, Matt, does a
lot of portioning and foodstorage and they'll see him with
our vacuum sealer and they'llgo oh, I have one of those and I
used it one time during deerseason and you know they forget
they have it and that's a.
(20:41):
It's a very, very handy andimportant tool if you're doing a
lot of freezing.
So getting all of that air out,whether you do it with your
hands, with that zip top bag orwith a vacuum sealer, is the
best way to preserve that foodfor as long as possible.
Most pre-cooked food in thefreezer has about a six-month
(21:04):
life, so you want to be preparedto use it within six months.
The other thing I would suggestis portioning properly before
you freeze.
So I remember my mother wouldget a big pack of ground beef
and then break it down accordingto how much she used to make us
a meal and then portion it thatway rather than just putting
(21:27):
that whole big pack of groundbeef in the freezer I do that
all the time Come home from thegrocery store.
Speaker 2 (21:32):
That's why I keep the Ziploc bags.
I will, you know, take that bigpack of chicken legs, chicken
wings, and then you know, likeif we cook four at a time, six
at a time, and freeze themaccordingly.
Speaker 1 (21:43):
Right, Right.
So portioning properly isanother way to make sure it's
also a great way to make sureyou're going to use it, Because
a lot of times if it's portionedtoo big when you go to cook
something you're like well Idon't need that much, and you
keep pushing it aside andpushing it aside and before you
know it, two years have gone by.
Here comes a hurricane.
You got to clean out yourfridge.
You know it gets thrown away.
So I think portioning is one ofthe smartest things you can do.
(22:07):
Portion for your family size orportion for your recipe.
Like, if you say I'm going touse this turkey in a gumbo
portion, according to what youwould use in that gumbo, versus
just freezing all the turkey.
Speaker 2 (22:20):
So I have to ask at this time of year, do you
specifically offer cookingclasses?
Because you have the cookingclasses that focus around
holiday meals, because, you know, every year there's always that
new naive bride that says, hey,let's invite all the family
over to my house, and and thenshe wakes up.
She realizes, oh my God, whathave I done?
(22:40):
I don't know how to cook aturkey, I don't know how to do a
ham.
Do you offer, you know, thosespecialty classes?
And then is it too late youknow whether this is December
1st, that they're hearing thisfor them to sign up and come
learn how to cook something realquick.
Speaker 1 (22:54):
We teach around the holidays.
We teach around the holidays,we teach classes.
We teach a class called holidaysides.
We also do holiday appetizersbecause we don't get a ton of
turkey questions or hamquestions.
We get sides, questions likewhat's a new and interesting
side, what can I do with thegreen bean casserole to make it
more interesting?
Or what is something like myfamily's game, like what could
(23:17):
be something completelydifferent that we do?
So we teach more sides andappetizer classes because we
haven't noticed.
We know we hear it with our ownears.
That's a pain point forcustomers and so we have both of
those classes on the scheduleand then going to our website
and putting in search barThanksgiving sides, it'll
(23:39):
populate recipes that we've doneover the years for Thanksgiving
sides and Thanksgiving desserts.
We also offer that class.
We get that question.
Speaker 2 (23:47):
You can't have a holiday without desserts.
Speaker 1 (23:49):
Right, a lot of people looking for I need a
different pumpkin recipe.
Nobody eats the pecan pie, thepumpkin pie you know.
So we teach those.
They're more side orientedclasses.
Speaker 2 (24:00):
So if I come in and I'm just a blank slate and I
just say, please, somebody helpme, will I leave feeling like
I'm going to go home and be aprofessional chef you are going
to leave very, very successful,feeling very successful.
Speaker 1 (24:11):
One hundred percent.
That's what we do all day issolve problems.
Speaker 2 (24:14):
Okay.
So if you've got a problem forthe kitchen, ann's got a
solution.
So any last minute tips for ourholiday listeners that you know
whether it's how to stretch abudget, just how to make
something gourmet or just how tojazz it up and make it
different, because we're all sotired of turkey I do.
Speaker 1 (24:32):
I learned something from my daughter recently.
My daughter is in her early 20s, just starting out in her
career.
She lives in New Orleans andshe does something that made me
chuckle because it's somethingthat my mother did and I don't
really do it, but she watchesthe circulars from the local
grocery store.
Lot of people think your bestbargain is at a big big box
(24:56):
store period hard stop.
That's where things are thecheapest and Emma spends a lot
of time reading the circulars.
She's a librarian so they havethe paper newspaper there and
she'll read the circulars forthe small, your little, small
neighborhood grocery stores,which every community has them,
and she finds some greatbargains.
(25:18):
So don't pass over your littlelocal grocery store when you
have your big Thanksgiving listand you've got your budget in
mind.
Don't assume that the big boxstore is going to be the
solution.
The solution could be at yourneighborhood grocery store and
they would so appreciate youshopping there.
(25:39):
Number one and number two,you're going to get in and out
way faster than the big busygrocery store.
So I just loved listening toher tell me what food she bought
that week at what price, basedon her.
It just made me think of mymother reading her little
grocery store circulars and Ijust love that.
Speaker 2 (26:01):
And I actually think, now that you mention it, that
this is a really good time forsomebody that wants to think.
You know, fast forward into thenew year and when you think
about holidays, things like cakebox mixes they're they're on
sale for dirt cheap.
You know, bakery things thatmay have a long shelf life, even
if you're not cooking thoseitems now.
This may just be something thatyou normally cook all the time.
(26:23):
This may be a good time to youknow, stock your pantry because
I tell you flour, you can getthings like flour, sugar, things
that really do have a goodshelf life, that you can buy now
for pennies on the dollar.
I went to a little local storea couple of months ago.
I'm not a big canned goodperson, but I mean they were
three, four dollars.
You know canned goods and Imean you just can't go wrong
(26:44):
with that.
And I mean canned goods, what?
Three, four, five years shelflife, so you can't pass up that
bargain, whereas you knowJanuary, february they'll be
back to two dollars a can, whereFebruary they'll be back to $2
a can Right, right Absolutely.
Yeah Well, Anne, thanks againfor stopping by.
Hopefully you are saving thelife and the holiday dinner for
some folks that are listening.
But I can't wait to have youback next year because we're
(27:08):
going to definitely talk abouthow to start the year off right,
how to meal prep, stretch thatdollar and, of course, if you're
going to be dieting and we knowwe always want to diet at the
beginning of the year we startoff just all gung ho and then we
lose.
You know, we kind of lose themomentum.
We're going to have you back tohelp us keep.
How do we keep that momentum?
How do we take those supposedto be lifestyle changing foods?
(27:28):
But how do we take those foodsand keep them interesting so
that we can stay on our go?
So look forward to having youback.
Looking forward to it, Thankyou.
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