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 Now here is your host , ms Kim Chapman .
All right , welcome back to another episode of Money Matters . I am so thrilled to have Ann Milnick , owner of Red Stick Spice , return as a guest , and today we're going to talk about how to do the holidays on a budget .
It's something we deal with every year , multiple months of the year , but I tell you , it really hits us hard back to back Thanksgiving and Christmas . It's like how do you do it ?
Whether you're just cooking a meal for your family , whether you're preparing that potluck dish to bring to work , or if you're having a little get together , you know how can we do that on a budget without breaking the bank , because we still have Christmas gifts to get ? And then also , what do we do with all those leftovers ?
So , anne , thank you so much for coming back and joining us Always a pleasure . I'm excited about this talk today . Oh yeah , I am too , because you know well , normally in my head there's a particular art . I like to ask questions . But you know , I want to start backwards this time when we even talk about leftovers , because I'm thinking about this year .
I'm going to Florida . It's only going to be me and my son . This year we're splitting up going to different places and this kid wants me to still cook a turkey and dressing and greens , and so that's not going to happen .
So I want you to tell me what are some non-traditional things that people can do if they have a small family and that turkey is just going to be a bit too much . What are some ?
suggestions . So one suggestion would be to go 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 Christmas Eve or Christmas Day meal . If you wanted to , you could definitely do that .
If that doesn't work for you , then you want to think about could you buy a turkey that's been cut and only do pieces of it , or just buy a turkey breast ? That would be another way to approach it .
And another way to approach it is just to do something completely nontraditional that's smaller and now he does want his dressing and turkey and all the usual things , but I would just think about mainly that protein , trying to buy it in a smaller portion or pre-cut up . That way you could freeze half of it and only cook a portion of it .
That's a really good idea . I actually think we did that one year . We actually went to Honey Bake Ham and instead of buying a traditional ham , they sold us a couple of slices by the pound . So maybe I can get away with doing the ham and not so much the turkey . What do you think are some ? What have become some more popular non-traditional dishes ?
You know we like to think of Thanksgiving turkey dressing , mashed potatoes , the whole yard . But I know a lot of people want to move away . I actually told them hey , let's just go to a steak restaurant . But what are some things that people can consider ?
Or what do you just think is more popular these days for families that just don't want to have turkey again ?
So that makes me think of the Friendsgiving trend that's been going on for years . So a lot of people friend groups will do Friendsgiving outside of their family's Thanksgiving , and there's rarely a turkey or a ham .
It's more about sides , and more about heartier sides , more like casseroles , so just a whole bunch of casseroles that are really filling and really delicious and they can still have protein in them . But I think of Friendsgiving and how , like my kids , approach Friendsgiving as an alternative .
It still feels very much like a gathering where people are giving thanks and spending time together , but it doesn't necessarily have that centerpiece turkey or centerpiece ham and it's more casseroles , even like a lasagna or a baked ziti or something like that . That's really filling , has protein , but not the traditional turkey .
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 their list . And then some people , hey , they're just average cooks . How can they use spices ?
How can they use everyday spices to take something that may just be an ordinary bland dinner that your family's okay with , but to kind of put a little blur in it so that all your friends are saying , hey , did you check out her dish ? It was really really good , when all they did was maybe add some of your spices to it .
So I would . I would think globally . So let's say you make a roasted sweet potato and what you can . A sweet potato is actually a blank canvas . In my opinion , sweet potatoes can go to the sweet in the sweet direction . A lot of people will do like the brown sugar and pecans on top , and then some people do marshmallows .
I love the marshmallows .
But a sweet potato loves to be on the savory side as well and it loves warm North African and Indian spices . So a curry powder roast on sweet potatoes and then you roast them , or a Moroccan spice would be a really interesting way to change up those sweet potatoes and take them in a different direction .
So , and that's , I can bring any non-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 to bring some like global flavors and and chances are , at your gathering no one else is going to bring some like global flavors and chances are , at your gathering no one else is going to bring something like that .
So you're going to be you're going to get a lot of questions and a lot of interest around those that flavor profile on those sweet potatoes .
Oh , that's really good . That's a really good spin on things . So even you know we'll get to talking about how to do the leftovers , but I want to talk a little bit about how can we prevent doing leftovers . What approach should we take when we're ?
You know , if we know how many people we're going to feed , or at least a good estimate , you know how do we decide whether we're getting a 10 pound turkey or 20 pound turkey ham dressing . How can we take these dishes and make them the right size so that we don't have tons of leftovers ?
So I believe the rule of thumb on turkey is four ounces per person . But here's the thing Don't get so caught up in how much turkey you need . Make sure you make a dish , a really hearty dish , that is part of your menu that's really filling .
Make sure you have a pasta dish maybe a seafood pasta or some , maybe even something Italian like a baked ziti or a lasagna . I tell people , worry less about the turkey and make sure your other dishes that round it out . One of those dishes could be a main dish on its own , so that could be a meal on its own .
Lean on those hearty casseroles that have meat in them . My family does a dirty rice that has ground pork and ground beef in it and that could be a main dish on its own . Make sure you have side dishes that are really hearty and really filling so that you are not leaning on that turkey . I think there's a lot of worry and drama around the turkey .
Way too much .
Right and I think there are ways to have a really lovely meal and have turkey but not be so dependent on the turkey being first of all enough but also perfect . Turkey being first of all enough but also perfect . You know people are so worried about is the turkey going to be too dry ?
And worry less about that and put some energy into making some big nine by 13 pans of something really hearty and really filling . I guarantee you your guests are going to be happy .
So now let's talk about maybe transitioning . So we've got all these leftovers , or maybe we're intentionally buying a lot of things for Thanksgiving . How can we use some of those and refresh them and present them for Christmas ?
Okay , so we on my podcast years ago we did an episode around using gadgets and appliances 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 of people talk about is a waffle iron that you don't use your waffle iron too often .
So then we started talking about things that we waffle and we started having a joke around the shop will it waffle ? So we have folded the sweet potato casserole from the day before into waffle batter and made waffles the next day . We've waffled mashed potatoes Delicious , really , really amazing . We've waffled cornbread dressing and bread dressing . So waffle .
You could make waffles the next morning and approach it like brunch the next morning . You could make waffles the next morning and approach it like brunch the next morning . The thing that ends up being the leftovers the most in my family is cranberry sauce .
And first I want to say one thing about that situation If there is a dish that you make because it's Thanksgiving and we have to have that dish , but no one eats it , I give you permission to stop making that dish . We are that close .
A lot of people need to hear that .
We are this that close . On cranberry sauce , in my family we make it , it's not a big deal , it's pretty easy to make and it just doesn't get consumed and I'm I'm close to calling on the cranberry sauce . However , the next day on the cranberry sauce , However , the next day I'm stuffed from the day before .
I don't really want a huge meal and I'm also , you know , relieved and trying to relax after that big day . So a lot of times in the afternoon or evening the next day I just want like a glass of wine and a snack . I'll put the cranberry sauce over .
I take either feta or goat cheese and whip it with some cream cheese and put that in a dish and put the cranberry sauce on top of that and it's like a great spread . That could be something you could put with a charcuterie board , but it makes a really great spread and with a nice sip the next day .
So that's one way to make use of your cranberry sauce . I think turkey is probably the easiest . We live here in South Louisiana . There's a whole lot of turkey gumbo the next day . Yes , there is . We never have an issue with turkey because my husband loves turkey sandwiches . But if there is an excess of turkey .
I definitely think about those long cooking soups and stews . What sort of soup could you make the next day to put the cooked turkey in ? Just know that that protein is cooked so it doesn't need to cook in the soup or stew you put it in .
It just needs to go in there and warm it .
Yeah , just right at the end to warm it . But you can make a lovely brothy and warm it . Yeah , just right at the end to warm it . But you can make a lovely brothy like a chicken noodle soup , but add your turkey . So I think turkey is the less problematic and I think it's a lot of the sides folks don't need to don't know what to do with .
So pull out your waffle iron , put that cranberry sauce in a really lovely appetizer and have a sip the next day with it . And just remember , with that turkey you want to . If you do have it , you want to add it at the end of the cooking process and not overcook it .
So time is money , and preparing for Thanksgiving , oh my goodness , takes a lot of time . I know women that get up , or even men , you know , before the chickens are up and they're cooking , or even men you know , before the chickens are up and they're cooking . Are there any suggestions or tips that can help you cut down on time for preparation ?
That , may you know ? I don't know . Have they started putting turkeys in air fryers ? Now you know they can cut down on the time that it takes to prepare so many different dishes .
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 you were working at this at the last minute . If you're scrambling at the last minute , I can almost guarantee you you're going to spend more money .
So if you can have a plan , even part of a plan , even just small things that you can tuck in the fridge and freezer , you will definitely save money .
The other part of saving time is to think about you know , in the five days prior , what small things can you do to get you to where you need to be , whether it'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 the gravy . I don't make the gravy the day before .
The other thing I'm going to encourage people to think about and it's a funny word , but it is such a great technique and it's called spatchcock and it's where you cut the backbone out of the turkey . Now you need good poultry shears and some elbow grease , but you're going to cut the backbone out of that turkey .
Now you have that backbone that you can throw in the pan with some water to make a stock , but you're going to . That's going to allow you to flatten the turkey . You are going to cook that turkey 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 a lot of time .
But planning ahead as much as you can , the more you plan ahead , I guarantee you will save money . Those last minute purchases , those sort of panic moment , rushed purchases , you almost always spend more .
So I want to talk a little bit about gadgets . Just the other day my daughter I asked her to peel potatoes and ironically she went in the kitchen drawer and she found a potato peeler . I think I forgot that I had that . I never use it .
I use a knife , but I can say for sure that she wastes a lot less of the potato than I do , because she probably just actually got the skin off . When I use a knife I'm cutting into probably 10 , 15 percent of the potato . So are there other kitchen gadgets that could actually stretch the food a little bit more ?
Yeah , you know , I think about when you're making cookies using a . They make dishers , cookie scoops , those are . A lot of people skip that and say , oh , I'm just going to use my spoon . But when your cookies are all exactly the same size , they cook more evenly and you won't .
The smaller ones are going to burn and those go in the trash and we don't want cookies to go in the trash . So you know , making sure things are a uniform size , that's really helpful and not really a gadget but more of a tip . Your kitchen knife needs to be sharp . Sharp is safe , but sharp is also faster .
You're just going to get there faster and you're going to be . It's going to be less frustration but also less waste when that knife is sharp because you were peeling potatoes with a knife . If that knife was also dull , I guarantee you you're taking off way too much potato .
I know that I am because , like I said , I saw those little bitty , tiny shavings and I think about when I cut a potato , you know hands down , I know that I'm wasting more . And then it makes me think about what other gadgets do I own that I could use ?
That would save me so much more of the food itself , versus just the way that you know steamer and if you have foil , you can ball up foil in the bottom of a pan and put the water where the balls of foil is and then your vegetables sit on top of it .
You have a steamer . So I know I'm answering your question differently , because I just it's less about do you have this gadget and more about me saying you don't necessarily need to buy that gadget , that there are ways to get there without buying that gadget . I'm not a big fan of single use gadgets . I like gadgets to be multitaskers .
So I'm always thinking about do do you need that item ? Could you get there without having to buy that , that gadget and having that drawer full of gadgets ? But I'm glad you found your potato peeler .
It's back in the drawer . Now there are going to be some people listening that says , hey , I will never , ever cook a dish . I'm the go to the store and buy it , or go to the restaurant and buy it . So let's talk about those store dishes again , because you have so many options with these spices .
You know how can we take maybe a store bar little dish and , you know , dress it up so that it is presentable for a Thanksgiving dinner or a holiday party .
So let's think about , let's say , you bought pre-made mashed potatoes and you want to turn that into like a twice-baked potato casserole . You definitely want to get those potatoes in your buttered 9x13 pan .
You want to give them a taste and make sure they have the salt and pepper that they need , and then what you can do is fold an herb blend in there , like an Herbes de Provence , or we have a blend called Spud Spice that's all those you know , chives and yummy potato toppings , exactly and fold that in there and then top that with cheese and bake it .
That saved you a ton of time peeling and boiling and mashing potatoes . So that would be . That would be one store bought cookie 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 that chocolate chip cookie dough is , before you bake it stay with me sprinkle it with smoked salt .
Really .
Yes , so salted caramel , salted chocolate , salted shortbread cookies . You know that's a , that's a thing , that salt is lovely on sweets , and so that would be one way to jazz it up .
Yeah .
Yeah , and everybody be like what do you do with these cookies ?
And it doesn't .
And it's not like oh , this is a smoked salted chocolate chip cookie . It's just a little something where you go , what's going on with this cookie ? This is really interesting . Another thing you could do is buy a frozen apple pie and then we have lots of baking spice blends .
We have an apple pie spice , we have pumpkin pie spice , we have something called British cake spice . All those spice blends in that world are those warm Thanksgiving spices cinnamon , clove , cardamom , nutmeg . Warm Thanksgiving spices , cinnamon , clove , cardamom , nutmeg . So you've got all those beautiful warm spices .
You would combine that with some oatmeal and brown sugar and a little bit of butter and top that frozen apple pie and then bake it and then you've got this beautiful crispy , crisped up sugary topping on top with all these wonderful spices . Because a lot of times those store-bought pies don't to me , don't have quite the oomph that homemade pies do .
But you can get there by playing around with a topping .
So , speaking of frozen things , you know , with all the leftovers that people are going to have and maybe they don't even want them the day after Thanksgiving let's talk a little bit about the proper way or the best way to store things in the freezer so that you know when we do want to pull out a piece of you know meat and maybe have a ham sandwich , or
get ready to maybe do turkey gumbo in February instead of the day after Thanksgiving . What's the best way to preserve this food so that it doesn't get freezer burn and we can use it at a later time ?
So the first thing you want to do is make sure your food is cooled properly before you freeze it , and that's from a safety standpoint . From a quality standpoint , you want to think about air surrounding that food , and any moisture in that food that condenses is going to freeze into ice crystals .
So the way you prevent that is by making sure there's very little air in whatever container it is , so that there's no room for that to form . So zip top bags are a great way . Definitely getting slices of the meat into a zip top bag and just pressing out all of that air .
That's a staple in my house . I put everything in zip lock bags .
But vacuum sealers and a lot of people have one . They'll see us in the teaching kitchen Our chef , Matt , does a lot of portioning and food storage and they'll see him with our vacuum sealer and they'll go oh , I have one of those and I used it one time during deer season and you know they forget they have it and that's a .
It's a very , very handy and important 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 or with a vacuum sealer , is the best way to preserve that food for as long as possible .
Most pre-cooked food in the freezer has about a six-month life , so you want to be prepared to use it within six months . The other thing I would suggest is portioning properly before you freeze .
So I remember my mother would get a big pack of ground beef and then break it down according to how much she used to make us a meal and then portion it that way rather than just putting that whole big pack of ground beef in the freezer I do that all the time Come home from the grocery store .
That's why I keep the Ziploc bags . I will , you know , take that big pack of chicken legs , chicken wings , and then you know , like if we cook four at a time , six at a time , and freeze them accordingly .
Right , Right . So portioning properly is another way to make sure it's also a great way to make sure you're going to use it , Because a lot of times if it's portioned too big when you go to cook something you're like well I don't need that much , and you keep pushing it aside and pushing it aside and before you know it , two years have gone by .
Here comes a hurricane . You got to clean out your fridge . You know it gets thrown away . So I think portioning is one of the smartest things you can do . Portion for your family size or portion for your recipe .
Like , if you say I'm going to use this turkey in a gumbo portion , according to what you would use in that gumbo , versus just freezing all the turkey .
So I have to ask at this time of year , do you specifically offer cooking classes ? Because you have the cooking classes 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 then she wakes up . She realizes , oh my God , what have I done ?
I don't know how to cook a turkey , I don't know how to do a ham . Do you offer , you know , those specialty classes ? And then is it too late you know whether this is December 1st , that they're hearing this for them to sign up and come learn how to cook something real quick .
We teach around the holidays . We teach around the holidays , we teach classes . We teach a class called holiday sides . We also do holiday appetizers because we don't get a ton of turkey questions or ham questions . We get sides , questions like what's a new and interesting side , what can I do with the green bean casserole to make it more interesting ?
Or what is something like my family's game , like what could be something completely different that we do ? So we teach more sides and appetizer classes because we haven't noticed . We know we hear it with our own ears .
That's a pain point for customers and so we have both of those classes on the schedule and then going to our website and putting in search bar Thanksgiving sides , it'll populate recipes that we've done over the years for Thanksgiving sides and Thanksgiving desserts . We also offer that class . We get that question .
You can't have a holiday without desserts .
Right , a lot of people looking for I need a different pumpkin recipe . Nobody eats the pecan pie , the pumpkin pie you know . So we teach those . They're more side oriented classes .
So if I come in and I'm just a blank slate and I just say , please , somebody help me , will I leave feeling like I'm going to go home and be a professional chef you are going to leave very , very successful , feeling very successful .
One hundred percent . That's what we do all day is solve problems .
Okay . So if you've got a problem for the kitchen , ann's got a solution . So any last minute tips for our holiday listeners that you know whether it's how to stretch a budget , just how to make something gourmet or just how to jazz it up and make it different , because we're all so tired of turkey I do .
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 and she does something that made me chuckle because it's something that my mother did and I don't really do it , but she watches the circulars from the local grocery store .
Lot of people think your best bargain is at a big big box store period hard stop . That's where things are the cheapest and Emma spends a lot of time reading the circulars .
She's a librarian so they have the paper newspaper there and she'll read the circulars for the small , your little , small neighborhood grocery stores , which every community has them , and she finds some great bargains . So don't pass over your little local grocery store when you have your big Thanksgiving list and you've got your budget in mind .
Don't assume that the big box store is going to be the solution . The solution could be at your neighborhood grocery store and they would so appreciate you shopping there . Number one and number two , you're going to get in and out way faster than the big busy grocery store .
So I just loved listening to her tell me what food she bought that week at what price , based on her . It just made me think of my mother reading her little grocery store circulars and I just love that .
And I actually think , now that you mention it , that this is a really good time for somebody that wants to think . You know , fast forward into the new year and when you think about holidays , things like cake box mixes they're they're on sale for dirt cheap . You know , bakery things that may have a long shelf life , even if you're not cooking those items now .
This may just be something that you normally cook all the time . This may be a good time to you know , stock your pantry because I tell you flour , you can get things like flour , sugar , things that really do have a good shelf life , that you can buy now for pennies on the dollar . I went to a little local store a couple of months ago .
I'm not a big canned good person , but I mean they were three , four dollars . You know canned goods and I mean you just can't go wrong with that . And I mean canned goods , what ?
Three , four , five years shelf life , so you can't pass up that bargain , whereas you know January , february they'll be back to two dollars a can , where February they'll be back to $2 a can Right , right Absolutely . Yeah Well , Anne , thanks again for stopping by . Hopefully you are saving the life and the holiday dinner for some folks that are listening .
But I can't wait to have you back next year because we're going to definitely talk about how to start the year off right , how to meal prep , stretch that dollar and , of course , if you're going to be dieting and we know we always want to diet at the beginning of the year we start off just all gung ho and then we lose .
You know , we kind of lose the momentum . We're going to have you back to help us keep . How do we keep that momentum ? How do we take those supposed to be lifestyle changing foods ? But how do we take those foods and keep them interesting so that we can stay on our go ? So look forward to having you back . Looking forward to it , Thank you .