WELCOME TO OUR KITCHEN: When to skimp or splurge at the supermarket!

Hey, I'm Bruce Weinstein and this is the podcast cooking with Bruce and Mark and I'm Mark Scarborough and together with Bruce We have well, I guess been together for 26 years, right? 27 oh, it's a losing time 27 years and we have written three dozen books. We're writing our three dozen than one cookbook right now. We'll tell you more about that later down the line, but this is our podcast about food and cooking. We've got a one minute cooking tip coming up.

We're going to tell you when to splurge and skimp at the supermarket, given these increasingly inflationary times, and we'll tell you what's making us happy in food this week. So let's get started.

One minute cooking tip is about grating cheese. You know, it could be a mess when you try and grate. Soft cheddar or great. A block of mozzarella. It just gets mushy. Sometimes we're talking. We're talking to even semi firm mozzarella, not just even fresh months, which is almost impossible. So here's the trick. Freeze it for 20 minutes. You put your cheese in the freezer, not to freeze it hard, just so it firms up and then you can grade it without a mess without making that cheese paste.

And let me also say about grading cheese while we're on it. If you haven't replaced your box grater in a while, now's the time. Because just like any blade, the blades on your box grater go dull over time and dull blades eventually will not really cut anything.

If you notice, for example, when you grate a carrot that you end up with a lot of little shreds all over the counter, including the bigger shreds from the hulls, then your blades are going dull and are getting off center and all that stuff. Replace your box grater, and not only will you grate better cheese, but you'll grate better vegetables too.

And let me say this, if you're getting a new box grater, and as Mark said, they're sharp, rather than shred the skin off your hands while you're shredding your cheese and your vegetables. Buy yourself a cut proof gloves. They sell them at hardware stores, they sell them on Amazon. You can get one of those and you can shred all the cheese you want without getting your palm into the mix. Oh, can I tell you a story before we go on to the next segment?

Sure. One time I was making an apple pie, Bruce does this. I was making an apple pie and I was using a mandolin, not a box cutter, but a mandolin to shred or cut. thin slices of apples, and I wasn't wearing a cut proof glove, and I wasn't using the hand guard, I know, and I took the skin off one of my knuckles, and I couldn't find it among the apple pieces, so that night, there was a little bit of meat in that apple pie. Wasn't vegetarian.

No, it was no longer a vegan pie under any circumstances, but, uh, anyway. Don't let that happen to you. Learn from my mistakes. Before we get to the next segment of our podcast, let me say that there's a Facebook group Cooking with Bruce and Mark. You can find us there. You can connect with us. We'd love to hear more about your cooking adventures too. We post these podcasts there and you can even continue the conversations we're having there on Facebook.

Okay. On to the next segment splurging and skimping at the supermarket.

I do most of the shopping in this house, so I kind of see what's happening with the prices, and I get dumbfounded at how expensive things like flour and milk have become. It's like crazy. And so I'm always looking for ways to save money at the market. And if you've listened to this podcast for a while, you've probably heard Mark and me talk about using the store apps on your phone where you will get Oh, yes, please.

Discounts, exclusive savings, special offers, and it will really help you save some money. And let me just say that Bruce does most of the shopping, if you don't know, because he's the chef in RTO. It's not just that I'm a princess. It is that. But it's not just that I'm a princess. It's that, in fact, he is the chef. So He's creating most of the recipes for our books. So it's his list mostly to pay attention to. And he's right. Use those apps.

And I should say that you probably know we live in rural New England, but we were in Silicon Valley to visit Bruce's family a month ago, about, I don't know, a while ago. And, uh, the prices in rural New England are nothing compared to Silicon Valley. I couldn't believe it. I thought it was a lot to spend, you know, 6. 99 on a pint of high end vegan ice cream here, that same vegan ice cream. It's 10. 99 in their local store.

We went out to dinner with his sister one night, and we stopped at a big up end chain in Silicon Valley to buy some ice cream for dessert back home, and Bruce wanted a bag of grapes for breakfast. And so we bought five pints of ice cream and a bag of grapes, and it was 65 to walk out of that place. I was like, what? Wait, what just happened to me? Explain that again. So, um, yes, prices are high here in rural New England, but they ain't nothing like Silicon Valley. So let's talk about.

splurging and skimping. Okay. One of the places that I always splurge in the supermarket is in the meat department. I have a feeling that a lot of people feel this way, that if you go and you see the meat is really cheap, it's got to be a reason. So first thing is Ask the butcher why it's priced to sell. This particularly works with ground meat, in which there is pink slime and sludge and all that added to expand the amount of ground meat.

Um, better meat that is truly just ground meat is actually going to be more expensive, and that is a place to, uh, splurge. And also, let's just say that, you know, be careful about less expensive poultry and pork products. Let's just be careful because a lot of times, if you don't know Poultry is injected with a solution. You can see it on the label. May contain up to 15 percent of a solution. And this is a brine that does make the poultry tastier, but you're also paying for that solution.

You're paying for a water weight. Oh, great. Eight 99 a pound for water weight. Yeah, you are. And you're doing that with pork products too. You are. And let's face it. We have bought those super large packages of extra large boneless breasts sometimes. And yes, it has saved me a dollar a pound to buy them. Are they the best chicken I've ever eaten? No, they tend to be tough. They're not very flavorful. In poultry, you get what you pay for.

So if you're looking for tender chicken, you're looking for flavorful, you're going to have to spend a little more. So the meat department is a place I splurge. But you can certainly figure out ways to skimp amongst the canned goods and dry goods. And let me just say that if you don't know, many store brands are actually packaged by the same manufacturers who make the big named brands. And in fact, many times it's just a different label or carton slapped on the product.

So consider store goods in the canned department and dry goods department. Perhaps your go to. That is an excellent way to skim. Yeah. Like beans. I mean, really, if you buy a store brand beans, I don't think you're going to notice a difference in your hummus all that much. And if you're buying unbleached flour, you don't need to spend 9 for the five pound bag. If you're just baking a cake or cookies, or it's going to be the same with the store brand. Yes, exactly.

And this goes even for packaged products like hummus is like dips. Remember that the store brand is often just one of the big brands repackaged. So just be really careful in what you buy. Now, are there differences in home? I Is that the plural? Are there differences in Hawaii out there? Of course there are. There are lots of differences. And in fact, some are much better than others.

Some taste about like mayonnaise and some of them, I love mayonnaise, but not in my home is some taste about like mayonnaise and some have much more of that chickpea flavor. So are there differences? Of course, but also just be a wary customer and know that packaging can be deceiving. Okay. And here's a place that I splurge. And skimp. So this is a weird one. Canned tomatoes. I can skimp on canned tomatoes, just like Mark said, with the beans and all that other stuff.

If I'm dumping them in a soup, if I'm, you know, making something where they're going to disappear, you know, inside of a pot roast, maybe. But let's say I want to make just marinara sauce, or I want to make a bolognese sauce, where the tomatoes are the key ingredient. Right. Then I'm going to splurge and I'm going to get nice San Marzano tomatoes, but be careful. Why, Mark? There's often, again, a packaging problem here.

Many cans of San Marzano tomatoes say San Marzano style tomatoes or Italian style tomatoes. Do not pay the upmark if it's San Marzano style. It's not worth it. Now, let me tell you another place here that's worth the splurge, in my opinion, and that is tomato paste. Tomato paste is most often added toward the end as a thickener or an enricher to a stew or a pan sauce or things like that and cheaper varieties of tomato paste just won't cut it. They're nothing but sweet.

If you go up a little bit and spend a little more on tomato paste and it lasts a long time in the toothpaste tube in your fridge, if you're so willing to buy it that way and reseal it, the can is not really resealable. That tomato paste is actually worth a buck more than the cheaper variety. While we're talking about tomatoes and produce, let me say also, a really good splurge is to pay the dues for a big box store because their produce comes in large containers.

You may think, well, I don't eat that much, but Mark and I belong to one. And we have found that the produce we buy there You know what we're talking about.

Big warehouse stores where you can't where they ought to just charge your credit card 300 when you walk in the door, you know, we could buy giant bags of avocados and giant bags of peppers and there's so much cheap in the supermarket and they don't go bad before we eat them because we find that they are so fresh that The splurge of that membership saves us so much money through the year on produce.

I know we do eat a lot of avocados in our house and it is much cheaper to buy the big thing of avocados at the big box store. But let me also say that you can skimp in a lot of ways on dairy because listen, the store brands also include organic dairy and if that matters to you, don't pay the buck or two bucks or however much more it is.

the quid, if you're listening in the UK or the euro up on the dairy stuff that is branded out and may not just be the store brand in many cases, it's the same thing. Now, there are some manufacturers who insist that let's say their organic milk is Only they're organic milk, and you can do a little research and figure that out. But if you're gonna pay up for organic milk, then skimp by buying the store's brand of organic milk.

And when you're not talking organic, there is so little difference in the taste of standard milk from one brand to the other. Yes. That go ahead and buy the cheapest, but do look at the expiration date because sometimes your store might mark it down because it's going to expire tomorrow or the day after. And if that's the case, that's okay. If you're going to use it right away.

And you're saying this for the U. S. listeners, his podcast, because Europeans and others put milk on the shelf for about 700 years. They have shelf stable, aseptic packaging. I know Mark and I were in Europe, Spain last year and. There was no fresh dairy milk to be had anywhere. All the milk was on the shelves with the Coke. As, well, can I dare say, as it should be. Okay, I'm not going to add that part. I'm just going to say that there you go. This is really the important part to skimp.

Frozen fruits and vegetables are really great because when you find them on sale, you can buy a couple packages and squirrel them away. And if you don't know, many vegetables are picked. unripe and are quote unquote ripened or let us just say change color in transit to your supermarket. But frozen vegetables and fruits most often must be picked very close to ripeness because they are often flash frozen either right in the field or within a couple hours of coming out of the field.

And therefore, the strawberries, let's say, and the frozen strawberries have to be picked very close to ripeness. So remember, frozen vegetables are at times a deal. And if you can find them on sale stock up. Okay, I want to talk about a splurge jarred pasta sauce. And here's why I think that when I go to the store and I look at the jarred pasta sauces that are 1. 99, look at the label, they're made with sugar, sugar, They're made with corn syrup. They're made with reconstituted tomatoes.

When you look at the more expensive jars, they tend to have no added sweeteners. They're made from fresh tomatoes. So read the labels there. I do personally think the flavor of the higher end jarred pasta sauces is worth the splurge. They are, but Here's the thing. Pasta is not. And you can skimp on pasta. And I know that there are all those nasty Italian husbands on TikTok and Instagram who are so snotty about North America. I just hate them.

They're so snotty about everything is terrible in North America. Listen. Is, is pasta, is there a great variety of pasta? Yes, there is. Are there great differences amongst dried pastas, particularly in North America? Yes, there are. But if you're looking for good semolina pasta, then, you know, you don't have to go for the most expensive imported brand.

You can skip that kind of, dare I say, Italian husband induced marketing, and you can buy a Decent semolina pasta dried for less money without all the folder all including store brands, including store brands, and the same thing goes for oats. If you're making oatmeal, that kind of stuff, listen, the store brand is going to save you money.

Over the other stuff and it mostly comes out of the same facility and I should just say just remember if you or someone You know is either celiac or has a wheat allergy in some way. Remember Oats are only good for you if they are certified gluten free Oats are processed mostly in the same facilities that process wheat and there can be wheat dust residual on the oats so, you know great pay for certified Gluten free oats, but by the store brand, seriously. And the last one on our list, butter.

If you're eating butter on toast, if you're eating butter just from the stick form, if you're just eating butter. Eating a stick of butter. That's what I meant, if you're just eating it from the stick. Oh god, gross. Then you splurge and you get really Good butter. If you're baking cookies with it, I know a lot of people are going to argue with me on this and don't argue with me. It does not going to make a difference in the cake.

If you use store brand butter when I was in grad school in Madison, Wisconsin, this is long before Dr. Now and my 600 life. Um, there was a guy brought into the UW Madison Hospital and I was famous with some of the docs and residents there just as graduate school friends. And this guy had been brought in. He had to be airlifted out of his house. He was huge, you know, 800 pounds and he lost like a hundred pounds.

Unfortunately, the guy did die pretty quickly of heart failure, but he did lose like a hundred pounds in the first week. And I said to one of the docs, I said, how come, how could this guy lose a hundred pounds in a week? And the answer was they. took him off his daily snack of two sticks of butter. So yes, that would cause you to lose some weight, to stop eating two sticks of butter a day. I wonder if he skimped or splurged on that.

But just remember this, and we keep saying, go ahead and order those tacos, because everybody on my 600 pound life has a girlfriend or a boyfriend, so don't worry about it. You won't be alone. If that's. If you're not eating the tacos because you're worried, don't worry. Somebody's bringing them those tacos, right? I know, but it's like, come on. You know, like I, I starved myself all through my early thirties so that I would be thin and, you know, be able to attract a guy like Bruce.

Oh, it goes back to my, just my basic philosophy. There's someone for everyone. And I know Mark doesn't agree with me, but there is someone for everyone. I have a much more tragic vision of life. But anyway, I starved myself. I should have just been eating the tacos. Because, you know, what did it matter? Well, anyway, that's a story for another day. So those are our splurge and skimp bits for this podcast. Thanks for listening, and let me remind you that we do have a newsletter.

It's not necessarily connected to this podcast. It comes out about a about twice a month. Sometimes the recipes that appear in this podcast appear in the newsletter a week later, a few days later, sometimes a couple of weeks later. Again, it comes out about twice a month. You can sign up for that by going to our website, Bruce and mark. com or cooking with Bruce and mark. com. Either way goes to the same place. Uh, you can sign up there.

And again, as I always Tell you, I do not capture your name or your email. I don't even see it. I just see the numbers go up or down on the number of subscribes and unsubscribes, and I don't allow the service to capture it either. So you can always subscribe and you can always unsubscribe whenever you want to. You can find that on our website, the form, scroll down the splash page and you'll find it. All right. All right. Last segment.

What's making us happy in food this week, Chinese ribs. I have developed a way. So if you have watched any of my TikTok videos on our TikTok channel, could be Bruce and Mark, you have seen me make char siu chicken and char siu pork. So I have taken my char siu marinade, which I have perfected at this point with fermented red tofu and soy and brown sugar and vinegar and ginger. Red tofu is just not your ever, you, it's not a splurge or a skimp item that's just ridiculous. But go on.

And I puree that all up and I, what I, we had company over the other night and I cut up a rack of baby back ribs and I put them in a Ziploc bag and I poured this red, sweet, luscious marinade over it all day. I put them in the air fryer and I gave them about. 10 minutes at 375. I turned them 10 more minutes. They were luscious. They were delicious. And at that same dinner, what's making me happy were the red oil dumplings.

Bruce made the pork dumplings, Asian dumplings that are so called red oil dumplings. And he put a ton, which is really nice for me, a ton of cucumbers and chopped up scallions and peanuts and all that around them. So it wasn't just the dumplings. And he put fresh. Green Szechuan peppercorns, which are super numbing and then he poured a hot sizzling oil over the top. It was Ridiculous and I can say that four people ate how many dumplings there were 57 dumplings Four people ate 57.

I don't know why my stomach and the whole regular ribs And I don't know why my stomach hurt and how many glass how many? bottles of champagne that I was very careful about, but the rest of it, um, I don't know why my stomach hurt, but boy, it was so good. It was worth the stomachache at midnight. Okay. So I played bridge for an hour on my phone and then fell asleep. So it was worth it because those red oil dumplings were so delicious and I can't wait to have them again.

That's our podcast for this week. Thanks for joining us in our passion. food and cooking. We're glad you're a part of this journey, and we look forward to connecting with you on social media or however we can. And every week we tell you what's making us happy in food. So tell us what's making you happy in food this week on our Facebook page. Cooking with Bruce and Mark. If it's really great, we'll share it and talk about it here on Cooking with Bruce and