Apr 10, 2023
With Gayle Schindler, Chef, Author, and Food Blogger
With the skyrocketing cost of grocery bills, it’s more important than ever before to shop wisely and avoid food waste. Instead of eating out, ordering in, or a last-minute trip to the grocery store, you can save time and money by having everything you need on hand to whip up delicious meals. While strategies such as cutting coupons and buying sale items in bulk help reduce food costs, you can save even more money with careful planning. Using items you already have on hand in your pantry, you can prepare multiple dishes with common ingredients, expand your meal options and avoid unnecessary purchases. Plus, eating at home is a great way to ensure that you and your family eat healthy meals. Great meals begin with a well-stocked kitchen and pantry and if becoming a more organized cook and reducing your food costs is important to you, you’ll want to listen to my interview with Gayle Schindler, Chef, Food Blogger and author of the new cookbook, Stocked: Flavor Bombs and Staples For Your Kitchen. Rather than simply providing recipes, Gayle’s cookbook teaches you how to shop, stock, and prepare meals. It’s a “one-stop shop” for everything you need to know, to set up an organized, efficient kitchen and pantry so you can begin enjoying a variety of delicious meals with ingredients you already have on hand.
What You’ll Hear on This Episode:
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Stocked isn’t your typical cookbook. How did Gayle come up with the
idea and such a unique format for this book that she calls a “cooking book”?
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Why was it important to focus more on shopping, storing, and prepping
food rather than simply providing recipes?
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What are some of the most important things to keep in your pantry?
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How can stocking your kitchen save you money and time and help you eat healthier?
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What things does Gayle always keep in her pantry?
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Why does Gayle take things out of their original packaging when she gets home from shopping?
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What can you do with leftovers?
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The importance of food safety in your home.
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What do “sell by” and “use by” labels really mean?
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What is a “flavor bomb”?
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What are some of Gayle’s favorite meal prep shortcuts?
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Most of us fall back on the same tired old meal choices. How can we get
out of that rut?
Today’s Takeaway:
During the course of our conversation last year, when I initially interviewed Gayle, she realized that not everyone knows how to properly stock their pantry and organize their kitchen. Sometimes the universe provides us with an opportunity in the most unexpected way. Gayle recognized that and it led to her journey of writing this cookbook. She not only discovered a gap in the market for a unique approach, but she also brought her wealth of knowledge and personal experience. Writing this book allowed her to share her passion for cooking and love of food with others. She wrote this book as a guide to show that food prep and meal planning don’t have to be a chore. Instead, it can be fun and enjoyable as well as a time-saving, cost-efficient way to prepare our meals. The next time you’re struggling to come up with what to make for dinner, before you run to the store or order takeout, why not raid your pantry first? Gayle’s cookbook provides plenty of delicious meal suggestions using ingredients you already have on hand. For example, that can of condensed tomato soup combined with a bit of Tabasco, cheddar cheese, Worcestershire, and mustard might make a terrific sauce for frozen fish. In addition, using food you already have in the house, can help reduce your overall grocery costs. Remember that food doesn’t just nourish our bodies. When we create healthy and enjoyable meals to share with our loved ones, we also feed our souls. Every day is a gift and the gift we get from taking the time to plan ahead and think about how we shop, cook and prepare those meals is a gift we give to ourselves but it also sets a wonderful example for our loved ones on how to stock their own kitchen and pantry. I’m Florine Mark and that’s “Today’s Takeaway”.
Quotes:
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“Making sure that you have what you need in your kitchen is a much more natural way to work through your kitchen.” — Gayle [4:20]
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“The packaging that comes into the store it's not always the best one to store it in.” — Gayle [10:41]
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“A flavor bomb is my sort of my vernacular for ingredients that add a ton of flavor to your foods that are not sugar or salt.” — Gayle [21:51]
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“This is not a cookbook, it is a cooking book. And it's really a book about grocery shopping. And when you talk about grocery shopping, you have to talk about reading labels.” — Gayle [25:42]
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“All natural doesn't mean anything. Arsenic is natural too and it's not anything you want.” — Gayle [26:55]
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“Always having something ready to go, always having those fresh vegetables so I can always throw a salad together with something on top of it.” — Gayle [33:02]
Brought to You By:
Mentioned in This Episode:
Gayle Schindler, Chef, Food Blogger, and author
Stocked: Flavor Bombs and Staples For Your Kitchen