April 25, 2025 • 39 mins
What happens when a family transforms their kitchen from chaotic to organized? From having no shopping list or meal plan, to setting aside time each week to plan meals before heading out to the store? For Eva, a member of the Kitchen Activist Collective, it sparked a revolution that saved her marriage from food-related arguments, put $6,000 back in her pocket annually, and gave her a powerful way to combat climate anxiety.
Eva began with a simple yet profound step: organizing her kitchen, one of the four pillars of Kitchen Activism. She turned a frustrating space into a welcoming one by decluttering cabinets, creating designated spaces for everything, and establishing systems everyone could follow. The impact was immediate—no more hunting for utensils, duplicate grocery purchases, and significantly less food waste.
Once the organization was in place, meal planning, another step of Kitchen Activism, followed naturally. Eva and her husband developed a Sunday routine: checking what they already have, planning meals for the week ahead, and shopping with purpose at both the farmer's market and grocery stores. Their guiding principle? "Don't buy it if you don't have a plan for it." This intentionality eliminated the waste from buying produce without a strategy and reduced their takeout frequency by at least a third.
The financial benefits were substantial—$50 weekly grocery savings plus reduced restaurant spending added up to roughly $6,000 annually. But the non-monetary gains were equally valuable. Eva discovered she didn't hate cooking; she just hated deciding what to make when her energy was lowest. Her husband uncovered a passion for cooking that transformed their division of kitchen labor. Most importantly, their household tensions around food shopping disappeared.
The most powerful aspect of this kitchen transformation is how it is connected to larger environmental action. By reducing food waste, supporting local farmers, and decreasing packaging from takeout, Eva found a tangible way to combat climate anxiety. As she beautifully puts it, when you're "on the deck trying to save the boat, you're going to feel better than if you're inside in a corner."
Ready to transform your kitchen into a force for personal and planetary good? The Kitchen Activist Collective is open for new members. Join us to discover how your everyday food choices can become powerful acts of change.
Start Meal Planning to Save the Planet and Money! Click Here to get started.
Join us inside the Kitchen Activist Collective. Learn more here.
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Reach me at info@eatlesswater.com
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hi, my name is Florencia and I'm so glad you're
here.
I'm so excited about thisconversation I'm going to dive
into in a few moments with Eva,because Eva gives us a real
clear example of how, when we'reintentional with grocery
shopping, when we meal planwhich are just a few of the core
(00:25):
strategies that I talk about inkitchen activism and also
within the Kitchen ActivistCollective we can transform
what's happening in our homes.
I wanted to bring Eva on as Ihave a quote on my website with
you, eva, quote on my website ofwith you, eva, and you said and
(00:49):
I love this quote because itjust goes to the heart of many
things that we don't think about, because when we think about
meal planning which is how muchmoney we save and also about how
it I always talk about theconnection between meal planning
and being an environmentalactivist.
But what I love about thisquote is you talk about
something even more so this iswhat you said the action steps
(01:12):
I've learned inside thecollective have saved us at
least $50 weekly on groceriesand even more by reducing
takeout.
My husband used to buy the samegroceries every week, whether we
needed them or not.
Now, with meal planning, heonly buys what we need and we
often shop together at thefarmer's market.
Being part of the KitchenActivist Collective has been a
(01:35):
game changer for our budget,kitchen and relationship.
No more arguments aboutgroceries.
With that, I want to introduceyou and your voice and your
story onto this podcast.
Thank you, eva, for coming on.
Speaker 2 (01:52):
Hi, florencia and everyone.
I'm really happy to be here,take part in this podcast
(02:27):
Wonderful.
So when I read that quote, whatdoes that bring up for you, if
you want to just talk about whatyou were thinking about when
you gave me that quote and youtold me that story?
Another bag of potatoes, and wealready have five pounds of
potatoes stored up in the pantry.
It has always been a point oftension how many, really?
How many onions do we need in aweek?
Or how many bananas or tomatoes?
Those were his go-to for somereason, because he would leave
to the supermarket withouthaving checked the kitchen or
having a list, and so we wouldend up with an overflow of those
things and, of course, a lot ofit goes to waste because you
(02:49):
don't get to use it before theyspoil.
So, having been more consciousabout making grocery lists, we
have a board in the kitchenwhere we write what we need, and
he doesn't leave the housewithout checking the
refrigerator, the pantry, to seewhat we need.
And also, with all of us, hesends a text, a group text Does
(03:13):
anyone need anything from thegrocery store?
So everyone in the housebecause we have three young
adults in the house can send intheir grocery list things that
they are running out of, notthings that they just want, but
things that they know they don'thave in the freezer or the
pantry.
So this has well saved a lot ofmoney.
(03:36):
Not only money, but also it haslessened the waste that we
produce in the kitchen.
Speaker 1 (03:44):
So your husband does the grocery shopping and has
done that the way that you havestructured your marriage.
Take us back to what are hisjobs around food, what are your
jobs around food and how do youmanage that?
Before you started the KitchenActivist Collective and started
some of these strategies that Iheard you talk about, like
(04:06):
shopping the kitchen first, forexample, take us back before
that the pre-meal plan days whatdid it look like?
And then we'll go into the post.
You gave us a good overallgeneral sense of what it's like,
but I wanted to dial down alittle bit more.
Speaker 2 (04:22):
Before COVID my husband's job always took him
away from home, so he spent alot of weeks even outside of
California.
So he would come back on theweekends but he would leave
during the week.
We didn't really have a lot ofinteraction with him really
during the week.
So I was the main cook and themain person that would go to the
(04:45):
supermarket and it was a lotfor me.
But having a full time jobduring COVID, he was grounded
and he became interested in thekitchen because he has owns like
that but didn't have the timefor it.
So he became very involved inthe kitchen and so there were a
lot of growing pains with that,because then he wanted to be
involved in the grocery shoppingand so he would take off and
(05:08):
that's when he started wantingto be that person to do the
groceries and so I was happy torelent that part of it, except
he would come back with thingshe didn't need or a lot of jars
of something like a lot of jarsof he would forget if he had
already bought jelly like, andthen he would bring another jar
(05:29):
of jelly the next week.
So if they would yeah and jelly,something that would last
forever, so they would end upwith five jars of jelly of the
same jelly in the pantry.
So there were a lot of I wouldsay more duplicate shopping, and
that's when it all started.
(05:49):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (05:50):
So he was taking over on shopping during COVID, but
who was cooking?
Speaker 2 (05:56):
Yes, that was still me, but then he started wanting
to do some of the cooking.
So he started trying his ownrecipes and trying to learn how
to cook on his own and, becausethat was his favorite way of
doing it just by trial and error, without a recipe.
Without a recipe, yeah, andvery interesting, he created
(06:19):
very interesting meals what wassomething you remember?
Speaker 1 (06:24):
don't remember exactly, just things that were
not very edible but that was inthe early days, because right
before we got onto this call,you just had a wonderful meal
that he cooked for all of you,right?
Speaker 2 (06:45):
Yes, he has been getting better and better and
the best part is that he reallylikes it.
Yeah, he has really discoveredthat cook with him.
So it's great because he does alot of the cooking when I'm
busy.
Because he's after COVID, hisemployer didn't bring him back
to the office so he has beenworking from home all this time
(07:06):
since COVID.
So now he has practically takenover the kitchen in many ways.
So we share the kitchen for thedays that I am not at home
because I'm still out thereworking outside of the home.
So he gets to cook on thosedays.
So he's been cooking a lotlately, like today it's a sunday
, so it's either me or him thatcook on sundays.
(07:29):
We usually make enough foodbecause we know we're gonna be
busy during the first part ofthe week, so we usually make
enough food to last for mondayand maybe tuesday.
So we plan whoever cooks onsunday, we make enough and it
not.
It doesn't have to be enoughfor main dish, but we can create
dishes that can be used as aside dish for something else
(07:53):
that we may make.
Speaker 1 (07:54):
So your Sunday midtime meal is your batch
cooking, and then you sit downand have that.
So for today just to give us,because I love to know what it
is.
I need examples, and I needexamples also because it gives
me good ideas.
Right, that is also what we'redoing here is cross-pollinating.
It's beginning with today, withSunday.
(08:16):
What did he make and how areyou planning to incorporate some
of the leftovers into Mondayand Tuesday?
To incorporate?
Speaker 2 (08:25):
some of the leftovers into Monday and Tuesday.
Today he made cauliflower andpotatoes in a masala sauce like
a tikka masala sauce.
It's a big batch and rice.
Speaker 1 (08:36):
So did he double?
Would you say he doubled ortripled the recipe?
Speaker 2 (08:41):
No, I would say he doubled the recipe.
There were two heads ofcauliflower potatoes and in the
sauce and rice.
That can be a whole meal reallyfor tomorrow, but today we used
it as a side dish with we justreturned from Germany last week
(09:02):
Because he's German, he's German, he's German, and so the kids
were complaining that therestaurants in Germany they
don't make schnitzel as good ashe does, which is true, he makes
a really good schnitzel, hemakes schnitzel.
So schnitzel is pork chop butyou pound it to make it very
(09:23):
thin and then you bread that andI don't know, I don't know how
to make it.
He makes it.
Speaker 1 (09:28):
Oh, but that sounds to me like a milanesa of pork.
Speaker 2 (09:31):
Yes, yes, okay, a milanesa of pork, and of course
that's fried, and then accompanythat with, depending on the
region, right?
But here, because we aremulticultural, we can have it
with masala cauliflower and rice.
For tomorrow we'll have justthe masala cauliflower over rice
(09:52):
for dinner or for lunch andpossibly Tuesday.
I have planned now for usuallyon either Monday night, if we
run out of something, or Tuesdaynight.
It's my day then to cook, andthen I'm going to be making
pasta very simple because I'mreally busy.
So I'll be making pasta withpesto, just basil pesto that
(10:15):
I'll make from scratch and theylove that, so the whole family
can eat pasta.
That'll probably be good, ormaybe some leftovers can be used
for lunch the next day.
Wednesdays is our flex day.
We're all over the place,everybody's everywhere else.
The leftovers is our first come, first serve in the fridge.
Whoever comes can have theleftovers, and we have eggs.
(10:39):
That's our go-to if you run outof leftovers.
Speaker 1 (10:42):
And where are you getting your eggs from?
Oh, we have chickens, yourbackyard chickens.
Speaker 2 (10:47):
Yeah, our backyard chickens, so we make a lot of
things that have eggs.
Yeah, so he made also today.
This morning he was very busy,very industrious.
This morning he made some applepancakes, german apple pancakes
with slices of apples.
So we buy apples and that'sanother thing he loves to have
always in the kitchen is applesso he'll slice them up and he'll
(11:07):
make apple pancakes and we'llhave that for breakfast the next
day, because they can be storedin the refrigerator.
You just warm them up and theykeep very good.
Speaker 1 (11:20):
So you mentioned that your kitchen has changed now
versus how it was before youstarted meal planning.
So the meal plan is somethingthat you started to do when you
were introduced to it with akitchen activist, and that was,
for you, the turning point.
(11:41):
The turning point, what aboutmeal planning?
Shifted everything in the waythat your husband started to
shop for food.
How was that transformative inyour kitchen?
Speaker 2 (11:58):
I think the first thing that I transformed was not
the meal planning, it wasorganizing the kitchen.
And I remember specifically inyour book the part about
organizing the kitchen.
And the kitchen was notwelcoming for anyone Because you
(12:20):
had to find everything, and ifyou have to dig into drawers to
find the one thing you need,it's really difficult to find
pleasure in cooking ifeverything is organized.
So that was my first.
The first thing that I did iswas organize the kitchen.
Now everybody knows whereeverything is and where to put
(12:41):
it back.
So this thing in back, becausewe don't have space in the
cabinets in our kitchen.
So we bought this whole cabinetin the back so that we can
store the bigger pots, thebigger appliances or pots that
we need in the kitchen right infront.
Speaker 1 (12:57):
So those pieces of furniture happened after you
began the kitchen organization?
Speaker 2 (13:02):
Yes, actually right before, we decided we're going
to organize and we need moreshelf space and we needed to get
rid of like half of what we had.
I was going to ask that we havevery small cabinets, so I
wanted everything organized inthe cabinets and I didn't have
space for the Dutch oven, forexample, things like that, or
(13:24):
like your special dishes orwhatever.
So they came to this piece inthe back.
So there's a lot of space inhere, the shelves and that's
where I put the bigger pots liketo make tamales.
Those huge pots to make tamalesand things like that get stored
here and now I had space for allthe things that were left from
(13:46):
my cleaning, and we have spacein the kitchen to store things,
so then it became really easylistening to this and not
watching this on YouTube, thenwhat I'm looking at behind Eva
is a black pantry with glass onthe doors and If you can see, oh
(14:10):
yeah.
Speaker 1 (14:11):
It's very nice, this is where you can organize.
Speaker 2 (14:14):
It has a lot of space to organize.
Speaker 1 (14:19):
Yes, I see the rice cooker.
So that's where you keep allyour appliances in the bottom
part.
Speaker 2 (14:25):
Yes, your food processor is there because it's
bigger and I don't have spacefor it in the kitchen.
Speaker 1 (14:29):
Yes, and the areas where you can see through the
glass doors.
I can see how beautiful andorganized everything is so it's
your wine glasses and it justand it feels good.
Right, like it feels good.
It shifts everything in thekitchen when it's organized.
Just something so simple thatwe all have control over.
Right?
(14:50):
There's so many things that wedon't we can't control about
what's happening in the world orthe environment, but there are
many things that we don't wecan't control about what's
happening in the world or theenvironment, but there are many
things that we can control, likehow organized our cabinets are,
or that we can go througheverything and get rid of the
things that no longer serve usbut might serve somebody else.
(15:10):
So what did you do with the?
Was it difficult to let go ofthe extra mugs or extra glasses
or the extra set of plates, forexample, that nobody was using
but maybe were gifted to you bysomebody?
How did that work out for you?
Speaker 2 (15:27):
For me it's not difficult, but my husband yes,
for my husband it's very painfulto let go of things.
So I had two piles.
One was like the ones that weregoing to go directly to the
trash because they were even tooold to donate and then the
donation pile.
So I started organizing theminto piles.
So he kept sometimes wanting totake things from the donation
(15:50):
pile.
So every time he wanted to keepsomething I had to ask him what
are you going to use it for?
Where are you going to store it?
So he went through that processof having to let go of those
things and they were going to goand someone else was going to
use them and they weren't goingto go to the trash.
Someone else was going to beable to enjoy that his favorite
(16:15):
mug, anyway but it was necessarybecause we had been hoarding so
much through the years.
Speaker 1 (16:22):
So he had many favorite mugs, is what you're
saying.
Speaker 2 (16:25):
Oh yes, Of different shapes.
Speaker 1 (16:30):
And I think I need to also mention that you are in my
writing group, eva's in mywriting group.
She is an incredibly talentedYA writer and I have been
showing you my chapters of theKitchen Activist, which will not
be out until next spring, soyou have a sneak peek of the
(16:51):
kitchen organization chapter,which, in the Kitchen Activist
Collective, is something thatI'm putting together.
We would have these seasonalkitchen organization parties, so
we would come together and allbe on Zoom and just help each
other with ideas, gettingfeedback from others of good
(17:15):
ideas of how to store things,but also just keeping each other
accountable and creating aspace where we can do that,
because it's not a one and donething.
It's like you have tocontinually keep it organized,
but once you have a system inplace, it's a lot of maintenance
because you've already movedout the things that no longer
(17:37):
serve you.
You've already bought the piecesof furniture that worked in the
shape of your kitchen and yourspace that work, and so those,
the harder pieces, you'vealready done the first time and
then it just becomes maintainingit because, you do want to cook
more, like how you mentionedearlier.
If you want to cook, if you openup a cabinet and everything is
(18:00):
shoved in and you can't find thespatula, it also takes longer
for everything and we don't havethe time to spend digging
through all of our things tofind simple essential kitchen
tools that we need to cook agood meal.
Speaker 2 (18:18):
You hit an important point.
You waste so much time tryingto get or dig out of your
drawers what you need or the potthat you need.
That is so much time involvedin finding everything.
So you are saving a lot of timeby spending the time to
organize your kitchen.
And also the maintenance isvery important.
(18:40):
If someone else is putting awaydishes and they're in the wrong
place, you have to take time toput it back where it belongs
and let them know where itactually belongs.
That's part of the maintenance.
And also not buying things.
Unless you mean to replacesomething that you already have.
Just stop accumulating things.
So no one can buy things herefor the house unless it's coming
(19:05):
to replace something that'sbroken practically.
Speaker 1 (19:09):
And that also helps the environment.
Right the overconsumption thatwe do often because we don't
know where our things are so weduplicate.
Not only are we duplicatingfood when our kitchen, pantry
and refrigerator is notorganized and so you don't know
that you actually had that oneingredient in your refrigerator
(19:33):
because it's shoved to the backof the refrigerator so you've
lost it, but that's also thecase with our kitchen tools.
The essentials were we didn'trealize that we had you know
that again the spatula, and sowe go out and buy it.
But then when we do go throughthe process of kitchen
organization we find that we hadfour.
(19:59):
I hadn't remembered about thekitchen organization and that
was what you had tackled firstFor meal planning, when I had
asked you how much money wereyou saving as a result of meal
planning after you had gonethrough the Kitchen Activist,
the beginning part of a pilotprogram that I had put together,
(20:20):
and you had told me that yousave about $50 a week on
groceries.
So when I did the calculation,that's about $200 a month on
groceries, which adds up toabout $2,400 a year.
The larger population, thestatistic is anywhere between
(20:42):
that $1,800 to $2,400 in a yearthat you can save when you waste
less, or that's actually howmuch we are wasting every year
by throwing food away.
That's not used in time.
Because you also talked aboutyour cooking more often, because
when you cook more often thenthat means you're eating out
(21:05):
less often.
And so I did the calculation onthat, because there's five of
you in the house and I estimatedthat if you cut back, would you
say you've cut back a third, atleast a third of the time that
you were eating out.
Speaker 2 (21:25):
Because now you're cooking more often.
Speaker 1 (21:26):
Yes, I agree.
Well, that would be anothersavings of about $347 a month.
Does that sound like a faircalculation?
Speaker 2 (21:35):
Yeah, I mean that's easily because it's five of us.
Yeah, so I know we're nottogether all the time, but if
there's always food at home,that person is not going to go
and spend it outside.
Speaker 1 (21:48):
So that adds up to an additional $4,000 a year.
So overall, your combinedsavings by just meal planning is
about $6,000 a year.
(22:08):
Isn't that it just when I didthe calculation, it just sounds
astounding, right?
When we actually put thenumbers down on the page and do
the calculation of how it addsup very quickly.
Yeah, it's phenomenal of howmuch money that you're saving,
but that's attached to how muchfood you're not throwing out,
that you're saving as well.
(22:29):
Saving as well or you're notgoing out to eat.
I know for myself if I don'tmeal plan, I'll pick up food or
I'll have Michael go picksomething up.
So it's not an intentionalgoing out to eat, because I do
love to go out to eat, but whenI have it in the meal plan, oh,
this, the Friday, we're going togo out to eat, and then I've
(22:51):
chosen the place that we'regoing to go out to eat instead
of oh, we're really hungry, whatshould we go get?
And then you end up sometimesgoing to eat to a place that you
wouldn't have chosen otherwise.
Or there's lots of bags oftakeout plastic and styrofoam
(23:11):
and all the things that sadlycome with takeout food.
So I don't know if that is alsowhat you experience when you
don't meal plan.
Speaker 2 (23:22):
Yes, definitely yes.
When you don't meal plan andthere's no food, someone's going
to go buy something outside,and this is with now, all the
prices going up.
It's really expensive, muchmore expensive than when we
talked, even, and everything hasgone up in price.
Speaker 1 (23:40):
Yeah, and going out to eat has gone up, so much,
usually between $20, $25 aperson.
Speaker 2 (23:45):
This is not restaurant food, this is just
fast takeout somewhere.
Speaker 1 (23:49):
Let's talk about the shopping part, because I know
for myself, actually, when I'msitting on the couch, my day has
ended and I finally get to siton the couch and then I think,
okay, I need to make dinner.
And there's that moment on thedays that I'm really tired,
cause I think naturally therhythm of our day, like our
(24:12):
energy level, goes down aroundthe same time we need to gear up
to cook.
I think it's just like thenatural rhythm and there's those
days where I will think themand there's those days where I
will think I don't feel likemaking anything.
Maybe I could just have Michaelgo pick something up.
(24:32):
But the thing that gets me overthat hump is that I already
have the ingredients sittingthere, so I don't want to waste
it because I've already spentthe money on food and then I
don't have to think about what Ineed to make.
I have to go through thatprocess, like what did I say I'm
going to make tonight?
Oh yeah, I'm going to make stirfry and I have all the
(24:52):
ingredients there.
I can do this because by thetime Michael goes and picks
something up and I would alreadyhave the meal nearly done.
So that's breaking throughthose barriers that we place on
between our energy level and inexecuting the meal.
And then afterwards I'm sohappy that I did and because my
(25:15):
body feels good, I spent lessmoney.
It's just cozy because you'rein your house and you're in your
kitchen and you have your musicon and just the whole thing.
That was a long way to say howdoes it look for you when that
time of the day comes and howyou push through those ideas
(25:36):
that I can't do this.
I can't cook tonight.
Speaker 2 (25:40):
I have to speak only for myself because my husband I
find him cooking sometimes at 12midnight.
He'll be cooking at that timewhenever he's not like I get
really tired, I just want torelax at the end of the day.
But I'll find him cookingsometimes if I stop over for
lunch during work and he'll becooking during this break that
(26:02):
he has, or like at night afterhe's done everything and he
feels, oh, I'm gonna cook fortomorrow, he'll be cooking at
yeah, like I said, like 10o'clock he starts gathering his
stuff, or sometimes midnight andthere's a waft of onions going
up.
In my case, what I do is justmake my life easy, so I only
(26:24):
pick things that will take nomore than 30 minutes to make.
For example, the pasta that Ihave planned.
The pesto is the easiest thingto make.
Just throw it in the foodprocessor.
The ingredients you just pullthem all out.
Plug them all in the foodprocessor, you have your pesto
Taquitos.
You can never go wrong withtacos.
If you have tortillas and youhave any leftover chicken,
(26:47):
roasted chicken, you can maketacos.
Just shred some lettuce andtomatoes and you have tacos.
Just make it easy for yourselfso you have energy at least I
would say, 30 minutes is not abad if you're very tired.
But you're're thinking, okay, Iknow that I can just whip that
up in 15 minutes, you're goingto do it.
(27:07):
But if you have planned thiswhole project, that is, that you
know that is going to be likean hour before you eat, you're
not going to do it because bythe time you get done it's past
your dinner time.
Speaker 1 (27:19):
And it can take 30 minutes because you don't have
to go to the store to buy thethings that you need to come
home and then cook.
Or even what I found when Ifelt like for many years feeling
like I hated making dinner,like I dreaded that time of the
day, and the game changer for mewas meal planning, because what
(27:41):
I realized it wasn't makingdinner.
I hated, it was thinking aboutwhat to make for dinner when my
energy level was at its lowest.
Speaker 2 (27:51):
That's the part that I hate Correct, correct.
Yes, when I say that I make iteasy for myself is something
that I've already planned, andwhen I plan what to make during
the week is always going to besomething that is not going to
take 30 minutes, but theingredients are in the fridge,
right?
Like you say, you make yourlist and when you go do your
groceries either Sunday orwhenever you haven't planned you
(28:14):
make sure that you have thoseingredients, because you went
through your list and you knewwhat you didn't have in your
refrigerator, what you need tohave for that meal.
Speaker 1 (28:23):
So what is the day that you plan?
When do you meal plan?
When does that work for yourfamily?
Sundays Okay, so on Sundays,and what does that look like?
Walk us through that.
Speaker 2 (28:34):
What does it look like?
We get up in the morning.
If we can make the farmer'smarket Sunday morning, we'll go
to the farmer's market and thenwe're already thinking about
what we would like to have thatweek either mushrooms or
something that we know we canfind in the farmer's market, and
then we can incorporate intothe meal.
So we'll start with an ideaokay, I'll need.
Something else that I like toget from the farmer's market is
(28:57):
passion fruit.
You cannot find passion fruitunless you have a plant, but at
the grocery stores you can'tfind them.
So they'll have stuff like thatat the farmer's market that
you're not going to find at yourregular grocery store.
We'll get some passion fruit soyou can make a refreshment for
the week, or nuts or mushrooms.
But we will sit down before weactually go to the farmer's
(29:18):
market and think about what isit that we want to make for the
week, and then my husband willsay, oh, I want to make this, or
that.
He usually knows what he wantsto make.
He is really easy that waybecause he doesn't have to think
about it.
He knows what he wants to makethat.
So he makes it easy, so heknows his ingredients, and then
he'll have to go to therefrigerator before we take off,
(29:40):
and he also does part of theshopping.
He makes sure that he has thoseingredients when he goes to do
his groceries, and that's partof the process.
And then I'm the one who has tothink about okay, what is it
that I'm going to do?
And usually I'll just ask theyoung adults, oh, what is it
that they want?
To have to get suggestions fromthe clan so that I can plan on
(30:02):
that.
But that whole planning has tobe done before we leave to the
farmer's market.
Speaker 1 (30:09):
So you go to the farmer's market, because that's
what we do too.
It sounds exactly like ourSunday morning we get up, we
have breakfast, we sit down, welook to see first what we have
in our kitchen.
We shop our kitchen first.
That's a huge action step aspart of kitchen activism.
So simple, just shop yourkitchen first.
(30:30):
But it's not something that Iused to do.
You just because oftentimesyou're out and about, you're at
the grocery store when you'rethinking about what to put on
your shopping list and you don'tknow what you have and you're
going off of memory with all theother things that we're trying
to remember.
It's just, it was jam-packed inour minds.
(30:50):
There's no way we're going toremember all the contents in our
pantry, in our refrigerator,and then from there go to the
farmer's market and then fromthere to the grocery store right
yes, on the same day, so you goto the grocery store usually on
yes, on the same day, so you goto the grocery store.
Speaker 2 (31:04):
Usually on the same day, because Sundays are the day
that we usually use for mealplanning and grocery shopping
and anything else that needs toget done around the house.
It's not just one grocery store, right?
We usually split our groceryshopping, so he'll go to one
grocery store and I'll do theother, so it's usually three
(31:27):
places that we shop the farmer'smarket and our co-op type of
grocery store.
Speaker 1 (31:33):
Trader Joe's.
So that's how you divide it.
But the farmer's market, you'retogether, because I've seen you
at the farmer's market it's funto go together and then you
have a coffee, or yes, beautifulyeah.
So let me ask you this, evabefore you got into kitchen
activism, how often were yougoing to the farmer's market
(31:57):
versus now?
Speaker 2 (31:59):
I did visit the farmer's market before.
I used to do it, but then Istopped for a while.
But it wasn't with the samemindset.
Like I would go to the farmer'smarket before and we would buy,
let's say, before we had thechickens, we'd buy the eggs and
we would bring produce, and thenwe didn't have a plan for the
produce and sometimes thatproduce would, because you got
(32:20):
so excited.
You know the ideas on how youwere going to eat better, and so
you would end up buying allthese products that then you
didn't get to cook during theweek.
I'm more mindful now when I goto the farms market to not bring
any photos.
The phrase that I use a lotwhen we go shopping is don't buy
it if you don't have a plan forit.
Speaker 1 (32:40):
Oh, I like that just goes to waste.
Yes, that's a really greatmantra.
Don't buy it unless you have aplan for it.
Oh, I like that, it just goesto waste.
Yes, that's a really greatmantra.
Don't buy it unless you have aplan for it.
Speaker 2 (32:49):
Yeah, the only thing that doesn't fall into that is
fruit, because fruit is alwaysgood to have it available, but
everything else, any vegetablethat needs to be cooked, you
need to have a plan for it.
Speaker 1 (33:03):
Do you see meal planning as a form of activism
or empowerment?
Speaker 2 (33:09):
Yes, definitely.
If you reduce waste, you arehelping the planet and you're
helping yourselves, right?
Because if the planet goes, Ithink, the planet will remain
right, but I would like to alsoremain in the planet.
We're helping ourselves byhelping the planet will remain
right, but I would like to alsoremain in the planet.
We're helping ourselves byhelping the planet.
Speaker 1 (33:29):
It was a demonstration where I had young
people with me for climateaction and one of the young she
was in high school at the timeand she was writing on the
poster Save the Earth.
And I said actually it's notthe earth that we're trying to
save, because the earth, as yousaid, the earth will be here.
(33:49):
The earth is going to survive.
It's whether or not we willsurvive as a human species.
If the weather becomes tooextreme, then it becomes too
difficult for us to survive.
The stakes are high, but we arecoming at it from a place of
action and empowerment.
(34:10):
Is this a salve for climateanxiety?
In many ways.
Do you know that you'recontributing to the solution
through your food and wastingless food and aligning yourself
with farmers who are growingfood organically and who are in
(34:32):
alignment with nature?
Do you find that's helping youwhen we're hearing all of this
negative news around what'shappening around the globe, with
our planet around the globe?
Speaker 2 (34:44):
with our planet.
Definitely, you can feel veryhopeless if you listen to the
news and you start believingthat there's nothing that you
can do about it.
And I think it is all hands ondeck.
I think that if you are on thedeck trying to save the boat,
(35:05):
you're going to feel better thanif you're inside in a corner.
That's true, that's how.
We're in the corner, justwaiting for someone else to do
it for you.
It makes you feel empowered andit makes you feel better about
what your part is in this effort.
You're not just waiting forsomeone else to do it.
(35:27):
And if you really think about,like you're mentioning, the
collective, this thing spreadand one friend can bring another
into it.
And movements don't usuallystart by a thousand people doing
one thing.
It usually starts with oneperson and then from there it
just grows.
(35:48):
So that's a movement start.
So we're part of this movementright To incorporate the saving
of the planet and be veryconscious in the kitchen that we
can do our part.
Speaker 1 (36:03):
I love what you just said.
I wonder is there any advicethat you could give someone who
wants to start meal planning,who wants to start using their
food as an action to heal thisplanet?
Where would you suggest thatthey begin?
Speaker 2 (36:22):
Yes, I think organization really organizing
your kitchen.
I'm glad that when I wasreading your chapter, the first
one I read was about kitchenorganization, because I think it
does start there, because onceyou organize your kitchen, you
know where things go, your mindfeels clear and your kitchen
(36:43):
feels more welcoming.
It's a place where you want tobe, spend time in and cook.
I think it just gives you thatmotivation.
I would start by organizing it.
Just start by organizing thekitchen removing the clutter,
creating space, creating space.
Organize your pantry, yourspices, and once you go through
all the spices that you didn'teven remember you had, you're
(37:07):
going to start wanting to usethem.
So that just starts you in thepath.
And then I would say, start themeal planning, because now you
have space to create space too.
Speaker 1 (37:19):
Yeah, I love that.
Thank you so much for coming onand sharing your story, opening
up your kitchen to us, yourpantry, and showing us what
you've done and how you areincorporating kitchen activism
into your daily life and how therewards go well beyond the
(37:42):
money saved, although it's a lotof money, but how it's improved
so many other aspects of yourlife that maybe we don't think
about.
Thank you so much, eva, forbeing here and, for those of you
who are listening, I want youto know that you can also join
us with meal planning andkitchen organization, with meal
planning and kitchenorganization and, if you want to
(38:02):
join us in the Kitchen ActivistCollective, that will be
opening up for new members onEarth Day.
So I hope to see you there aswell, eva.
Thank you again so much, andwe'll just keep at it.
Speaker 2 (38:21):
All right, I'm happy to be here, florencia.
Speaker 1 (38:24):
Thank you.
Hi, my name is Florencia and I'm so glad you're
here.
I'm so excited about thisconversation I'm going to dive
into in a few moments with Eva,because Eva gives us a real
clear example of how, when we'reintentional with grocery
shopping, when we meal planwhich are just a few of the core
(00:25):
strategies that I talk about inkitchen activism and also
within the Kitchen ActivistCollective we can transform
what's happening in our homes.
I wanted to bring Eva on as Ihave a quote on my website with
you, eva, quote on my website ofwith you, eva, and you said and
(00:49):
I love this quote because itjust goes to the heart of many
things that we don't think about, because when we think about
meal planning which is how muchmoney we save and also about how
it I always talk about theconnection between meal planning
and being an environmentalactivist.
But what I love about thisquote is you talk about
something even more so this iswhat you said the action steps
(01:12):
I've learned inside thecollective have saved us at
least $50 weekly on groceriesand even more by reducing
takeout.
My husband used to buy the samegroceries every week, whether we
needed them or not.
Now, with meal planning, heonly buys what we need and we
often shop together at thefarmer's market.
Being part of the KitchenActivist Collective has been a
(01:35):
game changer for our budget,kitchen and relationship.
No more arguments aboutgroceries.
With that, I want to introduceyou and your voice and your
story onto this podcast.
Thank you, eva, for coming on.
Speaker 2 (01:52):
Hi, florencia and everyone.
I'm really happy to be here,take part in this podcast
(02:27):
Wonderful.
So when I read that quote, whatdoes that bring up for you, if
you want to just talk about whatyou were thinking about when
you gave me that quote and youtold me that story?
Another bag of potatoes, and wealready have five pounds of
potatoes stored up in the pantry.
It has always been a point oftension how many, really?
How many onions do we need in aweek?
Or how many bananas or tomatoes?
Those were his go-to for somereason, because he would leave
to the supermarket withouthaving checked the kitchen or
having a list, and so we wouldend up with an overflow of those
things and, of course, a lot ofit goes to waste because you
(02:49):
don't get to use it before theyspoil.
So, having been more consciousabout making grocery lists, we
have a board in the kitchenwhere we write what we need, and
he doesn't leave the housewithout checking the
refrigerator, the pantry, to seewhat we need.
And also, with all of us, hesends a text, a group text Does
(03:13):
anyone need anything from thegrocery store?
So everyone in the housebecause we have three young
adults in the house can send intheir grocery list things that
they are running out of, notthings that they just want, but
things that they know they don'thave in the freezer or the
pantry.
So this has well saved a lot ofmoney.
(03:36):
Not only money, but also it haslessened the waste that we
produce in the kitchen.
Speaker 1 (03:44):
So your husband does the grocery shopping and has
done that the way that you havestructured your marriage.
Take us back to what are hisjobs around food, what are your
jobs around food and how do youmanage that?
Before you started the KitchenActivist Collective and started
some of these strategies that Iheard you talk about, like
(04:06):
shopping the kitchen first, forexample, take us back before
that the pre-meal plan days whatdid it look like?
And then we'll go into the post.
You gave us a good overallgeneral sense of what it's like,
but I wanted to dial down alittle bit more.
Speaker 2 (04:22):
Before COVID my husband's job always took him
away from home, so he spent alot of weeks even outside of
California.
So he would come back on theweekends but he would leave
during the week.
We didn't really have a lot ofinteraction with him really
during the week.
So I was the main cook and themain person that would go to the
(04:45):
supermarket and it was a lotfor me.
But having a full time jobduring COVID, he was grounded
and he became interested in thekitchen because he has owns like
that but didn't have the timefor it.
So he became very involved inthe kitchen and so there were a
lot of growing pains with that,because then he wanted to be
involved in the grocery shoppingand so he would take off and
(05:08):
that's when he started wantingto be that person to do the
groceries and so I was happy torelent that part of it, except
he would come back with thingshe didn't need or a lot of jars
of something like a lot of jarsof he would forget if he had
already bought jelly like, andthen he would bring another jar
(05:29):
of jelly the next week.
So if they would yeah and jelly,something that would last
forever, so they would end upwith five jars of jelly of the
same jelly in the pantry.
So there were a lot of I wouldsay more duplicate shopping, and
that's when it all started.
(05:49):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (05:50):
So he was taking over on shopping during COVID, but
who was cooking?
Speaker 2 (05:56):
Yes, that was still me, but then he started wanting
to do some of the cooking.
So he started trying his ownrecipes and trying to learn how
to cook on his own and, becausethat was his favorite way of
doing it just by trial and error, without a recipe.
Without a recipe, yeah, andvery interesting, he created
(06:19):
very interesting meals what wassomething you remember?
Speaker 1 (06:24):
don't remember exactly, just things that were
not very edible but that was inthe early days, because right
before we got onto this call,you just had a wonderful meal
that he cooked for all of you,right?
Speaker 2 (06:45):
Yes, he has been getting better and better and
the best part is that he reallylikes it.
Yeah, he has really discoveredthat cook with him.
So it's great because he does alot of the cooking when I'm
busy.
Because he's after COVID, hisemployer didn't bring him back
to the office so he has beenworking from home all this time
(07:06):
since COVID.
So now he has practically takenover the kitchen in many ways.
So we share the kitchen for thedays that I am not at home
because I'm still out thereworking outside of the home.
So he gets to cook on thosedays.
So he's been cooking a lotlately, like today it's a sunday
, so it's either me or him thatcook on sundays.
(07:29):
We usually make enough foodbecause we know we're gonna be
busy during the first part ofthe week, so we usually make
enough food to last for mondayand maybe tuesday.
So we plan whoever cooks onsunday, we make enough and it
not.
It doesn't have to be enoughfor main dish, but we can create
dishes that can be used as aside dish for something else
(07:53):
that we may make.
Speaker 1 (07:54):
So your Sunday midtime meal is your batch
cooking, and then you sit downand have that.
So for today just to give us,because I love to know what it
is.
I need examples, and I needexamples also because it gives
me good ideas.
Right, that is also what we'redoing here is cross-pollinating.
It's beginning with today, withSunday.
(08:16):
What did he make and how areyou planning to incorporate some
of the leftovers into Mondayand Tuesday?
To incorporate?
Speaker 2 (08:25):
some of the leftovers into Monday and Tuesday.
Today he made cauliflower andpotatoes in a masala sauce like
a tikka masala sauce.
It's a big batch and rice.
Speaker 1 (08:36):
So did he double?
Would you say he doubled ortripled the recipe?
Speaker 2 (08:41):
No, I would say he doubled the recipe.
There were two heads ofcauliflower potatoes and in the
sauce and rice.
That can be a whole meal reallyfor tomorrow, but today we used
it as a side dish with we justreturned from Germany last week
(09:02):
Because he's German, he's German, he's German, and so the kids
were complaining that therestaurants in Germany they
don't make schnitzel as good ashe does, which is true, he makes
a really good schnitzel, hemakes schnitzel.
So schnitzel is pork chop butyou pound it to make it very
(09:23):
thin and then you bread that andI don't know, I don't know how
to make it.
He makes it.
Speaker 1 (09:28):
Oh, but that sounds to me like a milanesa of pork.
Speaker 2 (09:31):
Yes, yes, okay, a milanesa of pork, and of course
that's fried, and then accompanythat with, depending on the
region, right?
But here, because we aremulticultural, we can have it
with masala cauliflower and rice.
For tomorrow we'll have justthe masala cauliflower over rice
(09:52):
for dinner or for lunch andpossibly Tuesday.
I have planned now for usuallyon either Monday night, if we
run out of something, or Tuesdaynight.
It's my day then to cook, andthen I'm going to be making
pasta very simple because I'mreally busy.
So I'll be making pasta withpesto, just basil pesto that
(10:15):
I'll make from scratch and theylove that, so the whole family
can eat pasta.
That'll probably be good, ormaybe some leftovers can be used
for lunch the next day.
Wednesdays is our flex day.
We're all over the place,everybody's everywhere else.
The leftovers is our first come, first serve in the fridge.
Whoever comes can have theleftovers, and we have eggs.
(10:39):
That's our go-to if you run outof leftovers.
Speaker 1 (10:42):
And where are you getting your eggs from?
Oh, we have chickens, yourbackyard chickens.
Speaker 2 (10:47):
Yeah, our backyard chickens, so we make a lot of
things that have eggs.
Yeah, so he made also today.
This morning he was very busy,very industrious.
This morning he made some applepancakes, german apple pancakes
with slices of apples.
So we buy apples and that'sanother thing he loves to have
always in the kitchen is applesso he'll slice them up and he'll
(11:07):
make apple pancakes and we'llhave that for breakfast the next
day, because they can be storedin the refrigerator.
You just warm them up and theykeep very good.
Speaker 1 (11:20):
So you mentioned that your kitchen has changed now
versus how it was before youstarted meal planning.
So the meal plan is somethingthat you started to do when you
were introduced to it with akitchen activist, and that was,
for you, the turning point.
(11:41):
The turning point, what aboutmeal planning?
Shifted everything in the waythat your husband started to
shop for food.
How was that transformative inyour kitchen?
Speaker 2 (11:58):
I think the first thing that I transformed was not
the meal planning, it wasorganizing the kitchen.
And I remember specifically inyour book the part about
organizing the kitchen.
And the kitchen was notwelcoming for anyone Because you
(12:20):
had to find everything, and ifyou have to dig into drawers to
find the one thing you need,it's really difficult to find
pleasure in cooking ifeverything is organized.
So that was my first.
The first thing that I did iswas organize the kitchen.
Now everybody knows whereeverything is and where to put
(12:41):
it back.
So this thing in back, becausewe don't have space in the
cabinets in our kitchen.
So we bought this whole cabinetin the back so that we can
store the bigger pots, thebigger appliances or pots that
we need in the kitchen right infront.
Speaker 1 (12:57):
So those pieces of furniture happened after you
began the kitchen organization?
Speaker 2 (13:02):
Yes, actually right before, we decided we're going
to organize and we need moreshelf space and we needed to get
rid of like half of what we had.
I was going to ask that we havevery small cabinets, so I
wanted everything organized inthe cabinets and I didn't have
space for the Dutch oven, forexample, things like that, or
(13:24):
like your special dishes orwhatever.
So they came to this piece inthe back.
So there's a lot of space inhere, the shelves and that's
where I put the bigger pots liketo make tamales.
Those huge pots to make tamalesand things like that get stored
here and now I had space for allthe things that were left from
(13:46):
my cleaning, and we have spacein the kitchen to store things,
so then it became really easylistening to this and not
watching this on YouTube, thenwhat I'm looking at behind Eva
is a black pantry with glass onthe doors and If you can see, oh
(14:10):
yeah.
Speaker 1 (14:11):
It's very nice, this is where you can organize.
Speaker 2 (14:14):
It has a lot of space to organize.
Speaker 1 (14:19):
Yes, I see the rice cooker.
So that's where you keep allyour appliances in the bottom
part.
Speaker 2 (14:25):
Yes, your food processor is there because it's
bigger and I don't have spacefor it in the kitchen.
Speaker 1 (14:29):
Yes, and the areas where you can see through the
glass doors.
I can see how beautiful andorganized everything is so it's
your wine glasses and it justand it feels good.
Right, like it feels good.
It shifts everything in thekitchen when it's organized.
Just something so simple thatwe all have control over.
Right?
(14:50):
There's so many things that wedon't we can't control about
what's happening in the world orthe environment, but there are
many things that we don't wecan't control about what's
happening in the world or theenvironment, but there are many
things that we can control, likehow organized our cabinets are,
or that we can go througheverything and get rid of the
things that no longer serve usbut might serve somebody else.
(15:10):
So what did you do with the?
Was it difficult to let go ofthe extra mugs or extra glasses
or the extra set of plates, forexample, that nobody was using
but maybe were gifted to you bysomebody?
How did that work out for you?
Speaker 2 (15:27):
For me it's not difficult, but my husband yes,
for my husband it's very painfulto let go of things.
So I had two piles.
One was like the ones that weregoing to go directly to the
trash because they were even tooold to donate and then the
donation pile.
So I started organizing theminto piles.
So he kept sometimes wanting totake things from the donation
(15:50):
pile.
So every time he wanted to keepsomething I had to ask him what
are you going to use it for?
Where are you going to store it?
So he went through that processof having to let go of those
things and they were going to goand someone else was going to
use them and they weren't goingto go to the trash.
Someone else was going to beable to enjoy that his favorite
(16:15):
mug, anyway but it was necessarybecause we had been hoarding so
much through the years.
Speaker 1 (16:22):
So he had many favorite mugs, is what you're
saying.
Speaker 2 (16:25):
Oh yes, Of different shapes.
Speaker 1 (16:30):
And I think I need to also mention that you are in my
writing group, eva's in mywriting group.
She is an incredibly talentedYA writer and I have been
showing you my chapters of theKitchen Activist, which will not
be out until next spring, soyou have a sneak peek of the
(16:51):
kitchen organization chapter,which, in the Kitchen Activist
Collective, is something thatI'm putting together.
We would have these seasonalkitchen organization parties, so
we would come together and allbe on Zoom and just help each
other with ideas, gettingfeedback from others of good
(17:15):
ideas of how to store things,but also just keeping each other
accountable and creating aspace where we can do that,
because it's not a one and donething.
It's like you have tocontinually keep it organized,
but once you have a system inplace, it's a lot of maintenance
because you've already movedout the things that no longer
(17:37):
serve you.
You've already bought the piecesof furniture that worked in the
shape of your kitchen and yourspace that work, and so those,
the harder pieces, you'vealready done the first time and
then it just becomes maintainingit because, you do want to cook
more, like how you mentionedearlier.
If you want to cook, if you openup a cabinet and everything is
(18:00):
shoved in and you can't find thespatula, it also takes longer
for everything and we don't havethe time to spend digging
through all of our things tofind simple essential kitchen
tools that we need to cook agood meal.
Speaker 2 (18:18):
You hit an important point.
You waste so much time tryingto get or dig out of your
drawers what you need or the potthat you need.
That is so much time involvedin finding everything.
So you are saving a lot of timeby spending the time to
organize your kitchen.
And also the maintenance isvery important.
(18:40):
If someone else is putting awaydishes and they're in the wrong
place, you have to take time toput it back where it belongs
and let them know where itactually belongs.
That's part of the maintenance.
And also not buying things.
Unless you mean to replacesomething that you already have.
Just stop accumulating things.
So no one can buy things herefor the house unless it's coming
(19:05):
to replace something that'sbroken practically.
Speaker 1 (19:09):
And that also helps the environment.
Right the overconsumption thatwe do often because we don't
know where our things are so weduplicate.
Not only are we duplicatingfood when our kitchen, pantry
and refrigerator is notorganized and so you don't know
that you actually had that oneingredient in your refrigerator
(19:33):
because it's shoved to the backof the refrigerator so you've
lost it, but that's also thecase with our kitchen tools.
The essentials were we didn'trealize that we had you know
that again the spatula, and sowe go out and buy it.
But then when we do go throughthe process of kitchen
organization we find that we hadfour.
(19:59):
I hadn't remembered about thekitchen organization and that
was what you had tackled firstFor meal planning, when I had
asked you how much money wereyou saving as a result of meal
planning after you had gonethrough the Kitchen Activist,
the beginning part of a pilotprogram that I had put together,
(20:20):
and you had told me that yousave about $50 a week on
groceries.
So when I did the calculation,that's about $200 a month on
groceries, which adds up toabout $2,400 a year.
The larger population, thestatistic is anywhere between
(20:42):
that $1,800 to $2,400 in a yearthat you can save when you waste
less, or that's actually howmuch we are wasting every year
by throwing food away.
That's not used in time.
Because you also talked aboutyour cooking more often, because
when you cook more often thenthat means you're eating out
(21:05):
less often.
And so I did the calculation onthat, because there's five of
you in the house and I estimatedthat if you cut back, would you
say you've cut back a third, atleast a third of the time that
you were eating out.
Speaker 2 (21:25):
Because now you're cooking more often.
Speaker 1 (21:26):
Yes, I agree.
Well, that would be anothersavings of about $347 a month.
Does that sound like a faircalculation?
Speaker 2 (21:35):
Yeah, I mean that's easily because it's five of us.
Yeah, so I know we're nottogether all the time, but if
there's always food at home,that person is not going to go
and spend it outside.
Speaker 1 (21:48):
So that adds up to an additional $4,000 a year.
So overall, your combinedsavings by just meal planning is
about $6,000 a year.
(22:08):
Isn't that it just when I didthe calculation, it just sounds
astounding, right?
When we actually put thenumbers down on the page and do
the calculation of how it addsup very quickly.
Yeah, it's phenomenal of howmuch money that you're saving,
but that's attached to how muchfood you're not throwing out,
that you're saving as well.
(22:29):
Saving as well or you're notgoing out to eat.
I know for myself if I don'tmeal plan, I'll pick up food or
I'll have Michael go picksomething up.
So it's not an intentionalgoing out to eat, because I do
love to go out to eat, but whenI have it in the meal plan, oh,
this, the Friday, we're going togo out to eat, and then I've
(22:51):
chosen the place that we'regoing to go out to eat instead
of oh, we're really hungry, whatshould we go get?
And then you end up sometimesgoing to eat to a place that you
wouldn't have chosen otherwise.
Or there's lots of bags oftakeout plastic and styrofoam
(23:11):
and all the things that sadlycome with takeout food.
So I don't know if that is alsowhat you experience when you
don't meal plan.
Speaker 2 (23:22):
Yes, definitely yes.
When you don't meal plan andthere's no food, someone's going
to go buy something outside,and this is with now, all the
prices going up.
It's really expensive, muchmore expensive than when we
talked, even, and everything hasgone up in price.
Speaker 1 (23:40):
Yeah, and going out to eat has gone up, so much,
usually between $20, $25 aperson.
Speaker 2 (23:45):
This is not restaurant food, this is just
fast takeout somewhere.
Speaker 1 (23:49):
Let's talk about the shopping part, because I know
for myself, actually, when I'msitting on the couch, my day has
ended and I finally get to siton the couch and then I think,
okay, I need to make dinner.
And there's that moment on thedays that I'm really tired,
cause I think naturally therhythm of our day, like our
(24:12):
energy level, goes down aroundthe same time we need to gear up
to cook.
I think it's just like thenatural rhythm and there's those
days where I will think themand there's those days where I
will think I don't feel likemaking anything.
Maybe I could just have Michaelgo pick something up.
(24:32):
But the thing that gets me overthat hump is that I already
have the ingredients sittingthere, so I don't want to waste
it because I've already spentthe money on food and then I
don't have to think about what Ineed to make.
I have to go through thatprocess, like what did I say I'm
going to make tonight?
Oh yeah, I'm going to make stirfry and I have all the
(24:52):
ingredients there.
I can do this because by thetime Michael goes and picks
something up and I would alreadyhave the meal nearly done.
So that's breaking throughthose barriers that we place on
between our energy level and inexecuting the meal.
And then afterwards I'm sohappy that I did and because my
(25:15):
body feels good, I spent lessmoney.
It's just cozy because you'rein your house and you're in your
kitchen and you have your musicon and just the whole thing.
That was a long way to say howdoes it look for you when that
time of the day comes and howyou push through those ideas
(25:36):
that I can't do this.
I can't cook tonight.
Speaker 2 (25:40):
I have to speak only for myself because my husband I
find him cooking sometimes at 12midnight.
He'll be cooking at that timewhenever he's not like I get
really tired, I just want torelax at the end of the day.
But I'll find him cookingsometimes if I stop over for
lunch during work and he'll becooking during this break that
(26:02):
he has, or like at night afterhe's done everything and he
feels, oh, I'm gonna cook fortomorrow, he'll be cooking at
yeah, like I said, like 10o'clock he starts gathering his
stuff, or sometimes midnight andthere's a waft of onions going
up.
In my case, what I do is justmake my life easy, so I only
(26:24):
pick things that will take nomore than 30 minutes to make.
For example, the pasta that Ihave planned.
The pesto is the easiest thingto make.
Just throw it in the foodprocessor.
The ingredients you just pullthem all out.
Plug them all in the foodprocessor, you have your pesto
Taquitos.
You can never go wrong withtacos.
If you have tortillas and youhave any leftover chicken,
(26:47):
roasted chicken, you can maketacos.
Just shred some lettuce andtomatoes and you have tacos.
Just make it easy for yourselfso you have energy at least I
would say, 30 minutes is not abad if you're very tired.
But you're're thinking, okay, Iknow that I can just whip that
up in 15 minutes, you're goingto do it.
(27:07):
But if you have planned thiswhole project, that is, that you
know that is going to be likean hour before you eat, you're
not going to do it because bythe time you get done it's past
your dinner time.
Speaker 1 (27:19):
And it can take 30 minutes because you don't have
to go to the store to buy thethings that you need to come
home and then cook.
Or even what I found when Ifelt like for many years feeling
like I hated making dinner,like I dreaded that time of the
day, and the game changer for mewas meal planning, because what
(27:41):
I realized it wasn't makingdinner.
I hated, it was thinking aboutwhat to make for dinner when my
energy level was at its lowest.
Speaker 2 (27:51):
That's the part that I hate Correct, correct.
Yes, when I say that I make iteasy for myself is something
that I've already planned, andwhen I plan what to make during
the week is always going to besomething that is not going to
take 30 minutes, but theingredients are in the fridge,
right?
Like you say, you make yourlist and when you go do your
groceries either Sunday orwhenever you haven't planned you
(28:14):
make sure that you have thoseingredients, because you went
through your list and you knewwhat you didn't have in your
refrigerator, what you need tohave for that meal.
Speaker 1 (28:23):
So what is the day that you plan?
When do you meal plan?
When does that work for yourfamily?
Sundays Okay, so on Sundays,and what does that look like?
Walk us through that.
Speaker 2 (28:34):
What does it look like?
We get up in the morning.
If we can make the farmer'smarket Sunday morning, we'll go
to the farmer's market and thenwe're already thinking about
what we would like to have thatweek either mushrooms or
something that we know we canfind in the farmer's market, and
then we can incorporate intothe meal.
So we'll start with an ideaokay, I'll need.
Something else that I like toget from the farmer's market is
(28:57):
passion fruit.
You cannot find passion fruitunless you have a plant, but at
the grocery stores you can'tfind them.
So they'll have stuff like thatat the farmer's market that
you're not going to find at yourregular grocery store.
We'll get some passion fruit soyou can make a refreshment for
the week, or nuts or mushrooms.
But we will sit down before weactually go to the farmer's
(29:18):
market and think about what isit that we want to make for the
week, and then my husband willsay, oh, I want to make this, or
that.
He usually knows what he wantsto make.
He is really easy that waybecause he doesn't have to think
about it.
He knows what he wants to makethat.
So he makes it easy, so heknows his ingredients, and then
he'll have to go to therefrigerator before we take off,
(29:40):
and he also does part of theshopping.
He makes sure that he has thoseingredients when he goes to do
his groceries, and that's partof the process.
And then I'm the one who has tothink about okay, what is it
that I'm going to do?
And usually I'll just ask theyoung adults, oh, what is it
that they want?
To have to get suggestions fromthe clan so that I can plan on
(30:02):
that.
But that whole planning has tobe done before we leave to the
farmer's market.
Speaker 1 (30:09):
So you go to the farmer's market, because that's
what we do too.
It sounds exactly like ourSunday morning we get up, we
have breakfast, we sit down, welook to see first what we have
in our kitchen.
We shop our kitchen first.
That's a huge action step aspart of kitchen activism.
So simple, just shop yourkitchen first.
(30:30):
But it's not something that Iused to do.
You just because oftentimesyou're out and about, you're at
the grocery store when you'rethinking about what to put on
your shopping list and you don'tknow what you have and you're
going off of memory with all theother things that we're trying
to remember.
It's just, it was jam-packed inour minds.
(30:50):
There's no way we're going toremember all the contents in our
pantry, in our refrigerator,and then from there go to the
farmer's market and then fromthere to the grocery store right
yes, on the same day, so you goto the grocery store usually on
yes, on the same day, so you goto the grocery store.
Speaker 2 (31:04):
Usually on the same day, because Sundays are the day
that we usually use for mealplanning and grocery shopping
and anything else that needs toget done around the house.
It's not just one grocery store, right?
We usually split our groceryshopping, so he'll go to one
grocery store and I'll do theother, so it's usually three
(31:27):
places that we shop the farmer'smarket and our co-op type of
grocery store.
Speaker 1 (31:33):
Trader Joe's.
So that's how you divide it.
But the farmer's market, you'retogether, because I've seen you
at the farmer's market it's funto go together and then you
have a coffee, or yes, beautifulyeah.
So let me ask you this, evabefore you got into kitchen
activism, how often were yougoing to the farmer's market
(31:57):
versus now?
Speaker 2 (31:59):
I did visit the farmer's market before.
I used to do it, but then Istopped for a while.
But it wasn't with the samemindset.
Like I would go to the farmer'smarket before and we would buy,
let's say, before we had thechickens, we'd buy the eggs and
we would bring produce, and thenwe didn't have a plan for the
produce and sometimes thatproduce would, because you got
(32:20):
so excited.
You know the ideas on how youwere going to eat better, and so
you would end up buying allthese products that then you
didn't get to cook during theweek.
I'm more mindful now when I goto the farms market to not bring
any photos.
The phrase that I use a lotwhen we go shopping is don't buy
it if you don't have a plan forit.
Speaker 1 (32:40):
Oh, I like that just goes to waste.
Yes, that's a really greatmantra.
Don't buy it unless you have aplan for it.
Oh, I like that, it just goesto waste.
Yes, that's a really greatmantra.
Don't buy it unless you have aplan for it.
Speaker 2 (32:49):
Yeah, the only thing that doesn't fall into that is
fruit, because fruit is alwaysgood to have it available, but
everything else, any vegetablethat needs to be cooked, you
need to have a plan for it.
Speaker 1 (33:03):
Do you see meal planning as a form of activism
or empowerment?
Speaker 2 (33:09):
Yes, definitely.
If you reduce waste, you arehelping the planet and you're
helping yourselves, right?
Because if the planet goes, Ithink, the planet will remain
right, but I would like to alsoremain in the planet.
We're helping ourselves byhelping the planet will remain
right, but I would like to alsoremain in the planet.
We're helping ourselves byhelping the planet.
Speaker 1 (33:29):
It was a demonstration where I had young
people with me for climateaction and one of the young she
was in high school at the timeand she was writing on the
poster Save the Earth.
And I said actually it's notthe earth that we're trying to
save, because the earth, as yousaid, the earth will be here.
(33:49):
The earth is going to survive.
It's whether or not we willsurvive as a human species.
If the weather becomes tooextreme, then it becomes too
difficult for us to survive.
The stakes are high, but we arecoming at it from a place of
action and empowerment.
(34:10):
Is this a salve for climateanxiety?
In many ways.
Do you know that you'recontributing to the solution
through your food and wastingless food and aligning yourself
with farmers who are growingfood organically and who are in
(34:32):
alignment with nature?
Do you find that's helping youwhen we're hearing all of this
negative news around what'shappening around the globe, with
our planet around the globe?
Speaker 2 (34:44):
with our planet.
Definitely, you can feel veryhopeless if you listen to the
news and you start believingthat there's nothing that you
can do about it.
And I think it is all hands ondeck.
I think that if you are on thedeck trying to save the boat,
(35:05):
you're going to feel better thanif you're inside in a corner.
That's true, that's how.
We're in the corner, justwaiting for someone else to do
it for you.
It makes you feel empowered andit makes you feel better about
what your part is in this effort.
You're not just waiting forsomeone else to do it.
(35:27):
And if you really think about,like you're mentioning, the
collective, this thing spreadand one friend can bring another
into it.
And movements don't usuallystart by a thousand people doing
one thing.
It usually starts with oneperson and then from there it
just grows.
(35:48):
So that's a movement start.
So we're part of this movementright To incorporate the saving
of the planet and be veryconscious in the kitchen that we
can do our part.
Speaker 1 (36:03):
I love what you just said.
I wonder is there any advicethat you could give someone who
wants to start meal planning,who wants to start using their
food as an action to heal thisplanet?
Where would you suggest thatthey begin?
Speaker 2 (36:22):
Yes, I think organization really organizing
your kitchen.
I'm glad that when I wasreading your chapter, the first
one I read was about kitchenorganization, because I think it
does start there, because onceyou organize your kitchen, you
know where things go, your mindfeels clear and your kitchen
(36:43):
feels more welcoming.
It's a place where you want tobe, spend time in and cook.
I think it just gives you thatmotivation.
I would start by organizing it.
Just start by organizing thekitchen removing the clutter,
creating space, creating space.
Organize your pantry, yourspices, and once you go through
all the spices that you didn'teven remember you had, you're
(37:07):
going to start wanting to usethem.
So that just starts you in thepath.
And then I would say, start themeal planning, because now you
have space to create space too.
Speaker 1 (37:19):
Yeah, I love that.
Thank you so much for coming onand sharing your story, opening
up your kitchen to us, yourpantry, and showing us what
you've done and how you areincorporating kitchen activism
into your daily life and how therewards go well beyond the
(37:42):
money saved, although it's a lotof money, but how it's improved
so many other aspects of yourlife that maybe we don't think
about.
Thank you so much, eva, forbeing here and, for those of you
who are listening, I want youto know that you can also join
us with meal planning andkitchen organization, with meal
planning and kitchenorganization and, if you want to
(38:02):
join us in the Kitchen ActivistCollective, that will be
opening up for new members onEarth Day.
So I hope to see you there aswell, eva.
Thank you again so much, andwe'll just keep at it.
Speaker 2 (38:21):
All right, I'm happy to be here, florencia.
Speaker 1 (38:24):
Thank you.
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