← Frugal Friends Podcast
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- [00:01]
Ben Walter
The Unshakeables podcast is kicking off season two with an episode you won't want to miss. Join host Ben Walter, CEO of Chase for Business as he welcomes a very special Guest, chairman and CEO of JPMorgan Chase, Jamie Dimon. Hear about the challenges facing small businesses and some of the oh moments Jamie has overcome. Listen wherever you get your podcasts. Chase Mobile app is available for select mobile devices. Message and data rates may apply. JP Morgan Chase Bank NA Member FDIC Copyright 2025 JP Morgan Chase and company.
- [00:38]
Disney Cruise Line Narrator
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- [01:07]
Jess Dang
Spectrum Business knows that you put in.
- [01:09]
Disney Cruise Line Narrator
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- [01:13]
Jess Dang
Get Internet, mobile, phone and TV services.
- [01:16]
Disney Cruise Line Narrator
To connect all aspects of your business and see your business made limitless. Learn more@spectrum.com Business Are you still quoting.
- [01:23]
Discover Narrator
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- [01:51]
Jen
Episode 479 meal planning to Save Money and Reduce Food Waste with Just Dang.
- [02:01]
Jill
Welcome to the Frugal Friends Podcast where.
- [02:04]
Jess Dang
You'Ll learn to save money, embrace simplicity and live a richer life.
- [02:11]
Jill
Here are your hosts, Jen and Jill.
- [02:17]
Jen
Welcome to the Frugal Friends Podcast. My name is Jen.
- [02:20]
Jill
My name is Jill.
- [02:21]
Jen
And today we are talking about food waste. How to reduce it, because we believe it is the biggest waste when it comes to your money. We can save dollars by shopping sales, but we waste tens of dollars through throwing away food. And so this is going to be a big focus for us this year. And it's just like not great for the environment either. So that's where we're focusing today.
- [02:53]
Jill
Yeah, pairing these two things together. Important. Not just meal planning, but also how can we meal plan so that we're not throwing away as much food? And Jess is the perfect person to answer these questions.
- [03:06]
Jen
But first, this episode is brought to you by 14 days if you, like me, are thinking about food. I mean we just recently last year said we spend about 20,000 minutes a year just planning food. But what if we could have that food planned for us for two weeks? I love that you can because Cook Smarts, the meal planning service started by Just Dang our guest Today is offering 14 days free and if you pay for a subscription, you get 20% off off. And that's at frugalfriendspodcast.com CookSmarts or if you're short on time frugalfriendspodcast.Com CS either one will get it for you. But we and I know after this interview you are going to want to check it out because so much thought and intention goes into the meal plans that Jess and her team create. And you are definitely going to want to see what that intention is for 14 days. And that's eight meals essentially. Cause they do four meals a week and so get it. Frugalfriendspodcast.com CookSmarts that's with an S at the end. And give yourself couple hundred minutes back over the next few weeks.
- [04:40]
Jill
Yeah, we're all gonna need it. I mean once the holidays are over, it's like we're coming out of a coma and our brains have to work again. But they're not working.
- [04:49]
Jen
And we have these great plans for January and by January 24th they are kind of in the pooper sometimes. So let's revitalize. Let this episode kind of be a rejuvenation for your motivation. Last year we focused a lot on simple meal planning, low ingredient efficient meal planning in an effort to reduce food waste. So leading up to this, if you want to check out those episodes, we've got episode 458, the key to simple and Budget Friendly Meal Plans with Mandy Clentz and episode 416, Simplified Meal Planning where we talk about low ingredient meal plans. So you can search those numbers on our frugalfriendspodcast.com website or search the title +frugal friends in your podcast player to find those episodes.
- [05:44]
Jill
So again, Jess Dang is the founder of Cook Smarts, this online meal planning service that we've been talking about that has been around since 2013. They make some incredible recipes. They're just coming out with an app for the phone, so lots of cool new stuff happening. But they've also been around for a while doing it. So she's able to now share with us from her expert experience. Let's get into it.
- [06:11]
Jen
Jess. Welcome back to Frugal Friends podcast. It's always so lovely having you Here and talking about food.
- [06:19]
Jess Dang
I'm so glad to be back. And this is just the perfect time to be talking about food and saving money on food because food is really expensive right now.
- [06:27]
Jill
You are our dynamite guest. We often don't invite people back to the show except for when they've got some really great, helpful, tangible tips to share. We talk about you in our friend letter as well. So all the time it only makes sense. But here we are talking about not just meal planning, but also food waste. This seems like a really good place to focus on in 2025. But I do want to hear from you before we get to all of that. What you see are some of the biggest mistakes that people make when it comes to meal planning.
- [07:02]
Jess Dang
Oh, gosh. Well, clearly the biggest mistake is if you is just not meal planning, like not doing it and just going. Just like some people can improv, but I think it really involves. It takes a lot of experience. So if you're not someone that can just come up with meals, you know, it's, it's. You really do need a meal plan and go to the grocery store with a list. Because that's the biggest mistake is walking into a grocery store without a list, like knowing what you need to buy. Because then you're just going, you know, you're just buying things you don't know what you're going to be doing with. And that is what I think leads to the biggest amount of food waste. So I think. And also just over complicating it, it's not. It doesn't have to be something that's super complex. It's gotta be something that's simple that you can do every single week. And so at the end of the day, it's like you just think about, like, what are the things that you will do every single week. Make it simple and make sure you have a grocery list and make sure you have a process in place.
- [08:00]
Jill
What would indicate a complicated meal plan to you? Like when, if you were to see it be like, that's too complicated. That's not gonna work.
- [08:08]
Jess Dang
Yeah, well, I think one of the mistakes people make, or maybe the like, like misconceptions is that meal planning means that you're cooking every night, which is definitely not the case. Right. Like, I think to me, meal planning is putting together like what you plan on eating during the week. And that can be a combination of leftovers as well as takeout or even things that are like, you know, frozen, frozen foods that like already in the freezer that are already prepared. So it's really not about feeling like you have to cook every single day. So if I saw a meal plan where someone was like, I'm going to cook every single day and it's like, all in, every day is going to be a new recipe like that to me would be like over, over complicated meal plan. I think a lot of people forget to build in. Like there's leftovers nights, or if you take, you know, you made a big pot of chick slow cooker chicken one night that can be, you know, one meal, but the next night it can be chicken tacos. Right. So there's a lot of efficiencies that can be built into place to make your, not only your meal planning less complex, but also clearly the execution of your meal plan less complex.
- [09:08]
Jill
I appreciate taking some of that pressure off because I think that's been a part of my journey as I've kind of gotten better at meal planning. And cooking at home has been these times where I think it's gotta look really beautiful and every day needs to be new flavors and the healthiest. And even for myself, I've thought I need to keep it exciting and engaging for me, which is true in part. But it then led to, I'm making new meals every single day and using unusual ingredients and it just started to get to be too much. Where then I hate meal planning because I then equated it to, I've got to constantly be doing new and fresh and exciting and innovative and I can't.
- [09:58]
Jess Dang
Keep up with that. Not at all. And I think like everyone has meals that they love, right? And those, if you want to make the meals you love like every single week, that's great. Then you just fill in a little bit and that helps it. If you know, this is like, you know, Monday, I'm cooking a meal, it's one of my top fives. Then you're gonna wanna cook it and actually execute on the plan that you created, right. And then you fill in with like one or two new meals a week. And that to me is like plenty. It's like to have to sort. Cause every time you're starting a new recipe like you are, you really do have to refer to the recipe itself to know how to make the meal. So it's just gonna take longer. So I think a lot of times I talk about these back pocket meals. Everyone should have anywhere from like a dozen to, you know, two dozen back pocket meals that they could make like, you know, in, in their sleep. And you don't need to refer to A recipe, you can wing it a little bit because, you know, maybe you're out of chicken thighs, you can sub in something else. But those are the recipes that I think, you know, you make you two or three every week, and then the rest you kind of fill in with something new that's going to take you a little bit longer. And you save those either for the beginning of the week where you have more energy, or like the weekends, when there's more time.
- [11:07]
Jen
I always say Sunday Jen, who made the meal plan is not the same as Wednesday Jen, who then has to execute it. So Sunday Jen has to be very cognizant of the person. Wednesday Jen and Thursday and Friday, et cetera. Jen is.
- [11:23]
Jess Dang
And that happens to me, too. And I'm a professional meal planner. Like, I do, you know, I make these meal plans, and I'm always constantly trying to, like, be in the kitchen developing new recipes. And I often don't like the Thursday, Friday, like, I don't always stick to the meal plan. I think one of the things, when you talk about food waste, when you're sort of ordering your meal plan, I always try to order for the things that are going to spoil first. Right. So, like, make those as soon as, you know, the days after your grocery shop. So, like, there's just things that are more perishable, like leafy greens, those types of things. Like, I. If I know those are on the menu, I try to make those, you know, early in the. Early in the weeks. They don't spoil. If I save them for the end, maybe you don't have the energy and you're just. Or like someone invites you out to dinner or something. So those things, like the things that are more. That are less perishable, like carrots, potatoes, cabbage, those are the kinds of vegetables that you can kind of save to the end of the week. And so even if you don't end up making that, like, Thursday, Friday meal, those things are going to last for another week or two. And you can always kind of push those meals to the next week. And you're not dealing with, like, you know, spoiled, spoiled vegetables that you have to throw away.
- [12:34]
Jen
I love that you think about that and you consider that. And because your meal plans, they prioritize these ingredient efficiencies. And I would love to hear more of that. That sounds like one of them, what you just said. But, like, using the leafy greens up front. But yeah, tell us about these ingredient efficiencies and, like, how you use them in meal planning.
- [13:01]
Jess Dang
Yeah. So a lot of it is like thinking about proteins, right? You know, those are often the, you know, the main part of the meal. And so if you're spending time cooking proteins, whether it's fish or beans or land roaming proteins like chicken, I always like to think about like, how do we double up on those so that we can have them either for like lunch leftovers or it can be creatively, you know, repurposed into a different whole different meal. And so we have all these things called dependencies within our meal plan service where, you know, one day you might make a big pot of beans and it's like the filler for taco and then you have them ready for stew the next day. Very similar. We made like recently like a big pot of slow cooked pork. And slow cooked pork was, you know, it's great for sandwiches one day and then we used it later on in the week as the protein for a salad. Even if you don't repurpose it for another night's dinner, it's great to have these proteins ready to go for lunches. I don't know, I have, I have three young kids, I'm constantly thinking about like, what am I going to pack them for lunch? And so today is one of those things where like we had made a big batch of tofu earlier, you know, over the weekend. And so I was like, okay, great, I have tofu and I have some leftover rice. So that was their, their lunch today. So just, it doesn't really. Proteins is what's, what's great about proteins is it doesn't really take much extra work, especially if you're like slow cooking it or post, you know, roasting in the oven, maybe a little bit more chopping. But you know, whether you're slow cooking 4 servings of meat or protein or tofu or bean beans versus eight, it's, it's going to take you pretty much the same amount of time. So that's a really great way to, you know, save time not only from the cooking perspective but like also just having one less thing to think about, you know, later on. And it's also, that's a way to like take advantage of sales. I think proteins are one of the things I would say like, you know, do shop the sales for proteins. If there's is a, is there, if there's a good deal on a protein that you use often in your meal planning your cooking like that is one thing that you should take advantage of. Sales. There's a lot of sales I would say, like steer away from because it's kind of like, oh, you know, like I should buy this because it's on sale. But if you are not going to use it, then that's not going to save you money in the long run and also probably cause more food waste.
- [15:18]
Jen
Hmm. How about leftovers? Like in addition to maybe the proteins that you're like cook twice or cook once, use twice sort of thing. Like, what other leftover repurposing things do you use commonly?
- [15:34]
Jess Dang
Oh, we actually have the whole infographic on this I wish I had in front of me. But I, you know, we take things and turn them into, you know, leftover sandwiches. Anything can be made into like a filling for a burrito. Right? Like sort of like things that are like, you know, I like our. Yeah, I think about it remembers like, oh, I had like leftover X, Y and Z and I put into a sandwich or I put it on top of a pizza. You know, a lot of times like you can just take something leftover like the odds and ends of vegetables that you have a little bit left of at the end of a week, throw them into a stir fry. It's really easy also to turn leftovers into, into a, you know, a soup. I honestly think like you can just add like a little bit of broth and some pasta. You have some leftover veggies. Like that's really like a whole new, a whole new meal. So think about things where there's like a lot of ingredients usually mixed together where it doesn't so much matter like what the ingredients are. There's like usually some sort of like you know, foundation or binder, whether it's like bread in sandwich or tortilla in a, in a burrito or like broth in a soup. So those are things I, we often, you know, just will combine and it's, it's. And I think as you, the more you do it, like just like the better you get at it. It's like a fun, creative muscle to flex and then you'll be like, wow, I'm just so awesome in the kitch. Cause I like came up with this, you know, fun new way to like turn my leftovers into something else versus just like throwing them away or just like you know, being sad that you're eating the same meal over again.
- [17:01]
Jill
Yum. It's giving me such great ideas.
- [17:03]
Jen
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- [17:14]
Jill
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- [17:32]
Jen
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- [17:45]
Jill
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- [18:01]
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- [19:11]
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- [19:39]
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- [20:29]
Jess Dang
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- [20:39]
Jill
This is also making me think, though, Jess, about the people who might not feel so confident in the kitchen. Like, when you're saying these things, it's clicking for me, and there's puzzle pieces kind of connecting or dots connecting, whatever. It's all happening. And, yeah, that sounds great. I'm gonna do that. But what do you see for somebody, like, how much does cooking competence play into following through with a meal plan or feeling as though, you know, they can be creative in the kitchen? Like, where does that confidence with cooking and their skill set in the kitchen cut? Like, how does that play into this?
- [21:19]
Jess Dang
Yes, clearly, like, some people are just, like, naturally creative, you know, whether it's in the kitchen or, you know, in visual arts or whatever it is. But I think everyone can get become better at any skill. Right? And for those that don't feel like they have that natural talent, it's just a lot of practicing. Right. Like, I think, you know, sounds like I have young kids, and they're like, I'm not good at this. I'm like, no. Like, it's just because you haven't done it enough. And so I think a lot of it is just putting in that time. And it's one of those things where, like, you know, no one walks into the kitchen knowing how to use a knife, like, proficiently on day one. So I think a lot of it is just putting in that time and that practice and also using all the resources that are out there. There are so many recipe resources. There are so many meal planning resources that are free. Like, you don't need, you know, you have to pay anybody. There's tons on the Internet. And just as you're doing, as you're using them, kind of understand, like, don't just follow it on autopilot, but really understand, like, why, like, what is this recipe? What is the formula or the foundation behind the recipe. And I think when you kind of kind of go down one layer to understand, like, well, most soups start with some, like, onions, and then they put in the. A few more vegetables, and then they put in the protein, you know, whatever it is. So kind of understanding those steps, and I think seeing that those sort of foundation layers of things helps you then go and be creative on your own. Because, you know, like, well, this is how most soup start, or this is how a stir fry is made or how a curry is made. So I think a lot of it, I. I talk about it. The analogy I use is, like, GPS these days, like, we all get into our car, and we put the address into our phone, and we're just on, like, autopilot. We follow, and we're like, oh, we have no idea, like, what our neighborhood looks like or how to actually get from, like, point A to point B. Mellow bones. Yeah. And that's. And that's what's. It is amazing. It's. You know, we can do that. And it's amazing to have, like, just print out a recipe from the Internet or look at it on your iPad and just, like, follow it, but not really think, like, oh, like, why are we doing these things? Or, like, why. How did we get from point A to that finished product? And so I think we just take a little bit of time to just uncover, like, okay, how, like, what were the steps? Why were these ingredients ordered in this way? Oh, like, actually, like, making a curry is really just, like, you know, coconut milk and a little bit of broth and some, you know, like, curry paste. I think, kind of seeing, like, those, like, you know, these sort of core ingredients that go into a lot of the things that we make. If you take the time to, like, uncover that, you could. That. That really helps you then have. Be able to, like, steer away from recipes at some point, right? Like, that you have the confidence to be like, oh, I actually know how to make this, because I know what the core ingredients that go into actually next meal.
- [24:00]
Jill
It's so true. So much of food has become demystified for me as I've spent more time in the kitchen, like, even making my own salad dressings and making my own kind of, like, base ingredients. Not that I'm always and forever gonna make my own mayo or make my own bread or make my own. But it really helps with that barrier to entry to understand that, oh, these things aren't actually that complex. Usually I have the core ingredient to make this thing, and it helps me to Feel more confident in being able to utilize substitutions, to not feel so holden to a certain recipe. Exactly how it is when you can kind of understand a little bit more of the core and foundations. And I think as you're talking too, it's helping me to realize that in some ways, meal planning is a little bit fruitless. If we. We don't consider food waste in that process, that we could just throw out things that we want to eat that week. But if we aren't considering where there's crossover of ingredients and how we might be able to utilize leftovers, we really might not see that much cost savings with it. And so I think it's really helpful to kind of hear what you're describing here of how we can go about meal planning with some of these, like, ingredients that will be efficient throughout the week. And keeping in mind some of these core ways that we can reuse ingredients throughout the week is. Is helpful in pairing these two. Like, yes, start with a meal plan, but, like, if, like, very soon it needs to be paired with thinking about food waste.
- [25:37]
Jess Dang
Yes, it really does. And I think learning how to read a recipe and understand, like, what is important to the recipe. Like, because a lot of times we feel like we have to buy every single thing, a recipe list, in order to make it. Like, there's people just, you know, want to, like, just make sure, like, I have all of this, and I'm gonna make it exactly how it's stated. And I. I don't really believe that there. I think there's a lot of these sort of core ingredients, like spices that you'll. You'll use a lot. Not even, you know, across cuisines, but then there's like, these sort of, you know, like, a little bit more niche things that, like, if you see, like, you only need a quarter teaspoon teaspoon of this, it's like, well, yeah, it'll add, of course, a little bit to the finished product, but, like, you can also miss it. Like, that's how I tell people that you see a recipe and there's like 10 spices listed. Look at the ones where you're, like, putting in a lot of the amount. Like, those are the ones that are really going to create that flavor, that, like, you know, foundational flavor. And the other stuff, like, it's. It'll make a difference. But if you don't have it and you don't want to spend money on it, because then you're like, you bought it and you don't, you know, you use a quarter teaspoon and then you never use it again. Like, that is what. Even if it's. While it's sitting in your drawer, it's still like a. It's. It's waste in terms of it's taking up room. And so I just think it's help people think through. Like, do you need everything in a recipe? And oftentimes you do not. And then they're also like these great kind of crossover ingredients. The way we think about meal planning, it's like, okay, if you, we put a. Some cilantro in one meal, we always try to find another meal to like help you use up the rest of that, like, bunch of cilantro. Right. Because so oftentimes, like, if you really do want to like, buy the herb at all, like, some people are just, we have so many members are like, I just always skip the herbs. And that's totally fine too. But if you are going to, you know, we like, if you are going to buy it, we want to help you use the whole thing. And what's. It's. What's so great is if you actually think about cuisines, there's a lot of crossover. Right. Like, cilantro is used in Latin food, but it's also used in a lot of Asian food. So for us, it's always like, oh, we have cilantro and it's being used in tapas tacos. Like, we'll just find like, you know, so we don't all have two Latin meals in a week. We'll, like, find something Asian because that's also a very popular urban Asian cooking. There's just. Yeah, there's just a lot of crossover when you think about things and sort of look at the Venn diagram of foods and cuisines.
- [27:50]
Jen
Yeah, you, you were the one that got me making my own salad dressings when I was using cook smarts. Yes. And then Jill has said, like, I inspired her, inspired her to make like her own salad dressings and that it.
- [28:05]
Jill
Is all I do now because I'm just like, this is so easy. I'm not falling for this $4.
- [28:11]
Jen
I would waste salad dressings because I just don't want to use that salad dressing over and over. Whereas I could just know the base. You have these fantastic infographics with like these bases for things and then ways to come off of it. And then I have like 12 different options for salad dressings.
- [28:34]
Jess Dang
Yes. Yeah.
- [28:35]
Jen
And Instead of just one or 12.
- [28:38]
Jill
Bottles of dressing, fantastic homemade Asian dressing on my salad for lunch today, you can still taste a little bit all the ingredients.
- [28:46]
Jess Dang
Yeah, like, that's the salad dressing. You. They're all just pantry ingredients that don't go bad. You know, it's vinegar and oil. Like, you know, oil can go bad. But like. Like, most people have those things lying around, and it's so easy to make your own, and you don't have to have all the jar sticks taking up room. But yeah, I think it really goes back to these cooking formulas. Right. It's like. So it's not just we have all these cooking formulas for all the meals we make, and salad dressing is just one of them. But it's like most things you can kind of see, like, what is the formula? And then you can just know, like, oh, yeah, like you said, being able to swap, you know, being able to feel more confident about subbing things because you're like, okay, well, this is just, you know, I can sub the proteins or I can sub these spices or sub the vinegars, and it's. Yeah, it makes a big difference to understand the formulas behind what you're cooking.
- [29:33]
Jen
Yeah. I feel like this has been a game changer for me is learning more about how to cook and all of this stuff because it does open up a lot of things to. That are simple. So, like, my limited meal cooking, you know, is already limited because I don't want to know a lot about it. But when I have ventured out and learned more, like, I can open up this realm of simple cooking and simplicity that I didn't have before. And I will never aspire to do fancy things in the kitchen. It's just like, not my thing. Uh, but, like, it's. It's opened up so much more on this, like, base level for me, and I actually follow through with my meal plan. Cause I can simplify it. So.
- [30:31]
Jess Dang
Yeah, I love that.
- [30:32]
Jen
Yeah. Um, okay, so we've talked about these ingredient efficiencies and kind of like knowing the cooking, like formulas, baseline education. Are there any other heavy hitters for reducing food waste that you love, use, want to talk about?
- [30:51]
Jess Dang
Yeah. So I think a lot of that is. Comes. Comes to shopping. Right. Because that is like sort of the source of the food race. Food waste is how you shop. Right. So I think a lot of it is going always, always going to the store with a list. And not as much as you might want to, like, really trying to stick to that list. I know that sometimes we can be thrown off by Sal. Right. Like, you know, especially now, it's like, oh, food. Food is really expensive. But if it's something that's on sale. And you're like, I, this is not something I, I know how to use or will use often. Like, it's just not, not worth buying that sale product. Right. So I think a lot of it is just making that meal plan, knowing and, and what you just said, like making the meal plan so that like the meals themselves are things you will execute and include nights off, include, you know, leftovers, whatever it is, and going to the store and buying, buying the things that make sense for your life. Right. I think there's a lot of aspirational buying in, in meal in, at the grocery store, we buy things thinking, like, one day I'm gonna cook this. It's like one day I'm gonna like wear this outfit. But it's like, what is your life really like? And really understanding. Like, those are the things that you should, that should, you should put in your cartoon, stick to the meal plan. And I think that will help people reduce a lot, a lot of food waste.
- [32:17]
Jill
Yeah. You know what else helps people just in general?
- [32:23]
Jen
Yeah, it's definitely not a waste.
- [32:26]
Jill
The bill of the week.
- [32:38]
Jess Dang
That's right. It's time for the best minute of your entire week. Maybe a baby was born and his name is William. Maybe you paid off your mortgage.
- [32:48]
Jill
Maybe your car died and you're happy.
- [32:50]
Jess Dang
To not have to pay that bill anymore.
- [32:52]
Jill
Duck bills, Buffalo Bills, Bill Clinton. This is the bill of the week.
- [32:58]
Jess Dang
Yes. Yes, Jess.
- [33:01]
Jen
Every week we yell at our listeners and our guests alike and ask for them to share with us their bill for the week. And we would love to hear yours.
- [33:14]
Jess Dang
I love this. And I'm going a different direction. I'm going like a non frugal direction. So I got, I just got our cook smarts bill. Our cook smarts credit card bill for the month of November. And it was the highest bill we've had for the year. And I'm really happy about that bill. And I want to tell you why. So we are like, we're a very lean company. We're remote. We like, like, we, we run so leanly all year long. But we get together, our meal planning team gets together once a year and we like just go bananas and like, you know, we're very excited to take time off from the kitchen. Right. Like, so this year we went to Charleston and just ate like our hearts out and like, the meals are just so good and it really inspires us to like, get to eat like really interesting meals. There's a lot of, you know, it gets, gives our like creative juices going and So I think a lot of it is like, you know, sort of what you guys preach. It's like you, you do, you're frugal about the things that you need to be frugal about so that you can buy, like, something special for yourself. So you are, like, saving up for those, like, special moments or special things that you want. And for us, that was what, like, you know, we get together just once a year and we don't want to worry about, like, oh, like, is this in the budget? And because all year long we have stuck to the budget and we are, you know, we're a lean company, like I said. And so we just go all out. And I'm always happy to pay that bill because it's like, produces such great memories. And so that is the one time I'm like, I'm totally fine and happy with a higher bill because the rest of the time we were very responsible and good.
- [34:50]
Jen
And I would like to remind the audience you had one of my other most favorite bills of all time.
- [34:56]
Jess Dang
Oh, my gosh. I don't remember.
- [34:58]
Jen
Oh, you paid for your I don't know if she was an employee at the time or co owner maternity leave bill. Yes, you paid maternity leave for her and that was a bill you were happy to pay and all time. One of my favorite bills for the show.
- [35:14]
Jess Dang
Thanks for reminding me of that. I totally forgot. But yeah, we're, you know, we're like a small little company of 12 people and we want people to like, take time off and enjoy meals when we're all together. And yeah, I'm always happy to do that because it's that we were responsible the other times, but then we get to enjoy when, you know, because we were, we were responsible.
- [35:32]
Jill
Oh, this makes me so happy. And I would argue that this is still being responsible with the money. It is still. Yeah, it's an intentional decision and it is aligned with your values and it's supporting the things that make you come alive and inspire you and help you to feel creative. And there's so many things we can point to about why this was a good money decision and we are so supportive of it. Thanks for sharing that. If you all listening, have a bill you want to share. If it's about a high bill that you don't mind paying because it aligns with your values. If it's about not needing to pay a bill, if it's about paying for an employee's maternity leave, you know, we love just celebrating all of it. Googlefriendspodcast.com Bill. Can't wait to hear yours.
- [36:19]
Jess Dang
Love it.
- [36:20]
Jen
2025 is here and Mint Mobile is ready to help you stick to your money goals by saving some serious cash when you make the switch to Mint Mobile. Because right now you can get half off their three month unlimited plan.
- [36:30]
Jill
Mint Mobile is dropping huge savings for the new year by offering any three month plan for only 15 bucks a month. Even their unlimited plan. And you don't have to sacrifice quality wireless service. Mint Mobile provides high speed data and unlimited talk and text delivered on the nation's largest 5G network.
- [36:49]
Jen
Switch to Mint and new customers can get half off an unlimited plan until February 2nd. To get your new wireless plan for just 15 bucks a month and get the plan shipped to your door for free, go to mintmobile.com froogle that's mintmobile.com.
- [37:01]
Jill
Froogle $45 upfront payment required equivalent to $15 a month. New customers on first three month plan only speed slower above 40 gigabytes on unlimited plan. Additional taxes, fees and restrictions apply. See Mint Mobile for details.
- [37:18]
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- [39:17]
Jill
And now it's time for the lightning round.
- [39:23]
Jen
All right, Jess, you're a bill pro. We already know that. All right, you have great bills of the week, but can you. Can you carry it over into the lightning round?
- [39:36]
Jess Dang
Oh, my gosh, I'm nervous.
- [39:37]
Jen
Okay, today's lightning round question. What basic cooking skills do you think everyone should know? Also, I'd like to follow up with what is a basic cooking skill that you kind of learned or mastered way later than maybe you thought you should?
- [39:55]
Jill
Oh, interesting. Double. A double header question.
- [39:58]
Jen
So they could be the same thing, maybe.
- [40:01]
Jess Dang
Okay. Okay. So I think that the cooking skill that every everybody needs is to learn how to use a knife properly. Like, you know, there are. There are knife skills classes in person. I still recommend going in person versus, you know, and then clearly, you know, online is fine, but having someone show you how to hold the knife, telling you, like, what you're doing wrong, because pretty much every time you're in the kitchen, you are chopping something. And I think for so many people, that is, like, the main frustration, because we have people be like, oh, this, like, this meal turned out great, but it took me, like, 45 minutes to chop the vegetables. And I'm like, no, it should not have taken you 45 minutes, making you, like, 20 max. And so I think, like, having that skill is not only, like, saves you time, but also hopefully will save you some, like, cuts and cuts and scrapes in the future. And it is a skill that I think people learn too late or never learn at all. And so they're just always frustrated in the kitchen. So I think that is the one cooking skill. Not the one, but, like, I think that's such a foundational cooking skill that everybody needs to have.
- [41:01]
Jen
I think that's a great birthday gift or Christmas gift. Like, people are up here giving people, like, ax throwing and room destroying. Like, when you ever gonna throw an axe in real life?
- [41:15]
Jess Dang
All right?
- [41:15]
Jen
And when are you ever gonna need to smash a computer in real life?
- [41:18]
Jill
We all know how to do that, right?
- [41:20]
Jen
But give your girl a gift of. Of knives. Give you gifts of knowledge of knives.
- [41:28]
Jill
The silent case.
- [41:29]
Jen
Yes.
- [41:30]
Jill
We love them.
- [41:31]
Jen
I love them.
- [41:32]
Jill
We love knowing things. Oh, man. So many silent kids.
- [41:36]
Jen
Who's next? Is it you or me?
- [41:38]
Jill
Yeah, you.
- [41:39]
Jen
Yes.
- [41:40]
Jill
Okay. You know, I actually have a couple here Getting on my high horse in the kitchen. Okay. But the first one I'll say is knowing what temperature and for how long to cook something or even just heat up food? That's mostly it, just reheating food. Not trying to throw anyone under the bus. But the amount of times that I get asked or hear somebody ask to somebody else, like, how long should I heat this up for? Like, at what temperature should this be? And it's just like, your guess is kind of as good as mine. But like, my guess is really good. Like, why can't we just guess at this? Like, I don't know. In the microwave for two minutes, try it out. Steaks are low. I don't know. In. In the toaster oven for. At 350 for 5 minutes, then go back and take a look, see, is it warm. Do a finger test. Like, it's just like anyone else. Does anyone right now see and, and hear and understand this? Like, I. You got a. I'm not gonna throw anyone under the bus.
- [42:54]
Jen
It's me.
- [42:55]
Jill
You have also got. No, me too. But like, you've gotten phone calls at work to ask you, like, how long to heat something up for? Just like, just microwave skills.
- [43:07]
Jen
My husband.
- [43:08]
Jill
Yes, I said I wasn't gonna throw anyone under the bus. It's not healthier.
- [43:13]
Jen
Ask me how long to microwave something.
- [43:15]
Jill
You can fill it in yourselves. Yeah, I just feel like this is the most. Just basic. You don't even have to know how to cook. Just like, know how to take guesses at temperatures. And timing.
- [43:26]
Jen
It helps me to figure out what the temperatures. Like, what's a bake temperature, what's a roast temperature, what's the broil temperature? Like, it helped me to figure out, like, those things are different. Those denote different temperature ranges. I also think maybe that's a starting point. If you're like us, people should know.
- [43:45]
Jill
How to freeze things. I think just being more brave and daring with the freezer is another thing. Listen, I'm. It's low hanging. I'm on a high horse with low hanging fruit. Like, these are the basics. Like, hey, can I freeze this? I don't know. Give it a try.
- [44:04]
Jess Dang
Yeah.
- [44:05]
Jill
What could go wrong?
- [44:06]
Jen
Take chances, make mistakes.
- [44:08]
Jill
Yeah, you defrost it again and you realize you don't like the consistency. Okay. Not much is lost there.
- [44:16]
Jess Dang
I love the freezing thing because, like, first, like, most things can be frozen. If you walk down your, your grocery store's freezer aisle, like, everything you want to eat has been frozen there.
- [44:28]
Jen
Yeah, right.
- [44:28]
Jill
Pasta's there. Rice is There bread?
- [44:31]
Jen
Is there bread?
- [44:32]
Jess Dang
Yes. All the vegetables. You know, look, just look through all of the, like the TV dinners and you'll see like every. Every meal that you eat has been frozen. So you can. You can freeze your own.
- [44:43]
Jen
Even food that is not frozen was maybe one time frozen.
- [44:49]
Jill
But to your question of what have you learned too? I recently learned with an avocado, you know the trick that people are always like, all right. And then with the pit, like, hack it with a knife and turn it. And then like, how do you get the pit off the knife without slicing your hand open? No, what you can do is identify that it is ripe. So that's another skill, I think people. Oh, that's another one. Picking out. She's still on good quality fruits and veggies. That feels. That feels low hanging. But it's one of the reasons I can't do. I can't do delivery grocery services because they're giving me just subprime veggies and fruits. And I feel like that's a skill that really needs to be honed for people. But the avocados in half, the side that has the pit, you just push on the skin with your thumb, it pops out. No need to slice and dice your hands. I just learned that recently.
- [45:44]
Jen
Wow, that's a good one.
- [45:45]
Jess Dang
Because that is, I think, the, like, the one of the biggest injuries that occupational therapists have to deal with.
- [45:50]
Jill
Like slicing of the sliced hand.
- [45:53]
Jen
Yeah. Again, get you girl a knife class. That's it. I think that's the moral. The moral.
- [46:00]
Jill
All right, Jen, it's your turn. I know I took like five turns, but so I.
- [46:04]
Jen
So I think one of those things that I learned maybe a little later was that the different temperatures for the oven. But I think another thing would be that oil crisps. I was not getting crispy roasted vegetables. If they were crispy, they were burnt. Right. But I didn't get the right crisp on what I wanted because I wasn't using enough oil or I wasn't coating the vegetables fully in oil. And I don't use a ton of oil, but that is what provides the crisp. So that was something I think everyone should know. And I didn't know that till I watched that documentary, the salt, fat, acid. So I learned so much heat. Yeah, I learned so much from that documentary.
- [47:05]
Jill
That was good.
- [47:05]
Jen
That was a good one to learn from.
- [47:07]
Jess Dang
Samin's a genius. And I think that's why often when you get roasted veggies at restaurants, they're better because they are willing to use a Lot, lot, lot more oil than most home cooks want to use at home. But that is, that is really why, if you feel like your roasted veggies are not as good at home as a restaurant, it's because they use a lot of oil. So there you go.
- [47:28]
Jen
There you go.
- [47:29]
Jill
We're all learning something here. If people want to learn more from you, Jessica, and get all your resources, where can I go?
- [47:36]
Jen
Yeah, please brag about Cook Smarts and the new Cook Smarts app. And we've been brag about it all the time in the friend letter, but please, please do.
- [47:47]
Jess Dang
Thank you. Yes. So Cook Smarts go to CookSmarts.com that's with an S, like Book Smarts. If you go to cooksmart.com, you'll see something totally different. But we, yeah, we've. We are now. We launched our meal plan service in 2013, which means there are now, like, over 11 years worth of recipes and meal plans in there. Every week we have a new meal plan. And so that's just a lot of meal plans that we've done. So we've just had a lot of experience really understanding, you know, how do we meal plan simply, but how to also, we meal plan to reduce food waste, and how do we meal plan so that people actually will cook the meal plans? And that's always usually the highest.
- [48:23]
Jen
You listen to the feedback of all of your people that use it. You have a Facebook group, and people are always in their comment, you take into consideration what they say.
- [48:33]
Jess Dang
Yeah, we really understand, like, how people want to cook. And, you know, even though people always say, like, we want healthy meals, it's always like the comfort meals and like, the steak or the heavier things that get the best reviews. And so even though, you know, we, we try to make sure there's lots of light, healthy meals, we also make sure there's also lots of comforting meals that you'll recognize from your childhood as well. But, yeah, we're really excited because we're launching our app in January, our mobile app. We've been a web app since. Since 2013, but really excited for iOS users at least that they were able to download a mobile app. And it's just, it just, it's. It's so nice and slick, and it was such a fun process to work on, and our team has had such a great time putting that together this year. So really excited about that.
- [49:16]
Jill
That's so exciting. I love tools and resources that are going to help solve a very real daily issue.
- [49:22]
Jen
Yeah, I recommend Cook Smarts all the Time for people who are just starting with meal planning, because it is so daunting. And all the things you just said are, like, from ingredient efficiencies to when to. Like, when to use an ingredient throughout the week, et cetera, et cetera. So daunting and so important to success. And when you can pay somebody to do all that thinking for you and teach you what those important things are, like, it's worth every penny for the amount of money that it will save you in the long run.
- [49:57]
Jess Dang
Yeah, I do agree. It's like, if we save you just from, like, one meal of takeout every month, it's. It's totally worth it. But a lot of it, you know, for I. I come from, like, a cooking education background. That was always been my goal, and so I've tried to really work that into the service. So as you're making a meal, you're kind of getting a little bit of a cooking lesson each night, whether it's, like, knife skills of, like, how to properly chop, like, an onion or butternut squash to understanding breaking down some of those cooking formulas. Because, I mean, like, like, at the end of the day, I would love for people to use us, learn, and then feel like they don't need us anymore. You know, that's really my goal, is, like, to help you do this thing that everybody needs to do, because we all need to eat. Some of us choose to eat without meal planning, and it's really stressful, and, you know, it's. It results in a lot of wasted money and food. And so to help people with this, like, really important life skill to me, I think, and feeling like helping them master it and feeling like, oh, now I can go off and do my own thing, then that's. That's great. And so I think, yeah, we helped a lot of people get there, and some people still use this because they don't want to think about it, and some people be like, oh, I feel like I've got it, and then they move on. And that's also really great and gratifying for me.
- [51:04]
Jen
Yay.
- [51:04]
Jill
Beautiful. Thank you so much for being here with us, Jess, and inspiring us and giving us so many great ideas around our food. It's been fun.
- [51:12]
Jess Dang
Thanks, ladies, for having me back. I so appreciate it.
- [51:15]
Jen
That was great. And Jess failed to mention she has an extensive culinary history. She was on the Food Network.
- [51:23]
Jill
Oh, that's right.
- [51:24]
Jen
Yeah. She competed for one of these, like, food chef spots in a TV show. And you know who she lost to? Guy Fieri.
- [51:36]
Jill
Yeah, you're gonna lose to anyone.
- [51:38]
Jen
I guess gonna be Guy Fieri, right? Yeah, that's gonna be it. So she is legit and who you want to learn cooking from?
- [51:49]
Jill
I want her holding my hand.
- [51:51]
Jen
We love. She could come here and just hold both of our hands and we together.
- [51:56]
Jill
We could hold a knife.
- [51:58]
Jen
Two knives. We'll have two extra hands. But they include like videos in the meal plan too. So, like, I remember one time I was making something with wonton wrappers and I did not know how to fold them. And I didn't need to because right there in the meal plan was a little. A short little video telling you how to do it.
- [52:22]
Jill
I am such a visual learner. And again, fricklefriends podcast.com CooksMarts or CS will get you that two week free meal plan and 20% off if you do choose to go with the subscription. If you are the person who's like, yeah, I'm new to this. I need my handheld for a little bit of time. This is gonna be your best time. They don't run sales all the time, so it is worth taking advantage of it when they do.
- [52:48]
Jen
Yeah. And we definitely, we will say in the friend letter when they do. But. But it is something I think everyone should try for a year. And I'm just passionate about cook smarts because they take the time to teach you these skills in the kitchen that extend beyond meal planning. So that's, I mean, that's just why I love them as a service and I just love them as a company. So I'm done. They didn't pay us to do this episode. If you do purchase a subscription through our link, we do get a commission, but, like, nobody's paying us to say this, like a flat fee.
- [53:30]
Jill
So. Thanks so much for being here, everyone. We do hope that this has been helpful and inspiring and helps you to make better meal plans and actually eat the food or be willing to pay for some of that convenience. Let somebody else make the meal plan for you if. Oh, well, we just love your reviews too. We love food and we love your reviews.
- [53:52]
Jen
These are two things I love most in life.
- [53:55]
Jill
Like this one from Sanja6192 gets better every week. You hear that?
- [54:01]
Jen
Yeah. Five stars.
- [54:02]
Jill
I started this podcast in the middle right after hearing Jill on three and 30, and I just kind of skipped around with episodes that interested me. I forget which episode, but one of them had them saying, whatever you do, don't go back to the beginning and listen in order. So of course I had to do exactly that this podcast started out great and got even better age. So many action items and tips. Mindset stuff annoys me. Absolutely. Love all the grocery and investment episodes. Love you ladies and your work.
- [54:36]
Jen
Oh, my gosh. First of all, that's me, Jen on three and 30. And I'm so glad you said that because that was. I was so excited for to do 3 and 30. If you don't. It's a podcast for moms. And I did that interview in my house after our handyman had painted the side of our. He scratched the side of our fridge and then like spray painted over it and the fumes were so strong.
- [55:09]
Jill
Whoa.
- [55:09]
Jen
And I had been sitting in there. I thought it was gonna dissipate. It didn't.
- [55:12]
Jill
So, like, yeah, paint is strong.
- [55:14]
Jen
I was not in a good headspace to do that interview. And I thought I totally botched it. I was like, they're never gonna air it. I did that interview in April and I think it aired in August.
- [55:25]
Jill
Okay.
- [55:26]
Jen
But I was just convinced she wasn't gonna use it. And, oh, look, it's so glad that it helped you and that you thought we got better with age.
- [55:38]
Jill
Like wine. So lovely. If you are listening and you have not given us a rating or review, even if you haven't gone all the way back to the beginning again, please don't. If you've just been listening for, you know, a couple of weeks, a couple of months, a couple of years even, you've not left us a rating or a review, please do that. That would mean the world to us. It's so fun to hear what you have to say about it, but it also is so helpful in other people finding us as well.
- [56:09]
Jen
Yeah. And if you have. If you want to buy our book that is available now, buy what yout Love without Going Broke. We would love of that. And maybe you leave a rating and review for the book. Thank you. Love you. See you next time.
- [56:23]
Jill
Bye.
- [56:25]
Jen
Frugal Friends is produced by Eric Sirianni.
- [56:38]
Jill
Okay, I had a Frugal fail with food.
- [56:43]
Jen
Oh, I love all. I don't love that you had a fail, but if you learned from it. I loved it. Tell me about it.
- [56:51]
Jill
I don't know. I learned from it maybe a little bit, but. So we've been trying out these last two weeks a co working space.
- [57:00]
Jen
Yes.
- [57:01]
Jill
You, me, and Eric. Because we got two weeks free. Speaking of two weeks free somewhere, two weeks free at this co working space. We're like, yeah, let's try it out. Let's see if this is something that would Be worth spending some money on being able to just get out of the house. Have access to some of the extra space that an office like this could provide to us. Anyways, we've been packing our lunches. So, you know, I'm used to working from home and just heating whatever I have in my fridge. So it's been a little bit extra effort to need to think ahead. Pack a lunch. Take it. So yesterday we went just Eric and I, and. And we just decided to pack PB&J sandwiches. And we had leftover sourdough loaf. Bread, which was really good when it was freshly baked, has been fantastic bread to have on hand. It's definitely on its last leg. And we cut it kind of thick. By we, I mean me. I cut it kind of thick.
- [58:03]
Jen
Cause she loves bread.
- [58:05]
Jill
I do love bread. Yeah. But then paired with the peanut butter and jelly, it just. It was so dense and on the verge of being stale and had such a specific kind of flavor that didn't totally coalesce with the peanut butter and jelly. And it made it somewhat inedible. I ended up pulling it apart and more so like, treating it like an open face because it was far too much bread to peanut butter and jelly. But because the bread was so kind of hard and dense. Not crunchy, just dense.
- [58:45]
Jen
Wow.
- [58:45]
Jill
You, like, almost couldn't get enough peanut butter and jelly in the middle, if that makes sense. And then even no matter how. Yeah. So just to help improve the ratio of condiments to bread, I pulled it apart. And even still, I couldn't hardly finish it. I probably ate like a third of the sandwich.
- [59:04]
Jen
Wow.
- [59:05]
Jill
Thank goodness we also brought chippies. Cause I don't entirely hate myself. Absolutely. An apple and an avocado. So these things did sustain us. But Eric and I both were just looking at each other like, this is what frugal feels like. Like, this is what a frugal fail feels like. This is. This is not good. But you know what? It wasn't bad. Like, it wasn't. The food wasn't rancid. So we weren't gonna go out to go get ourselves food. I don't totally know what the takeaway is because we both were like, well, we got fed.
- [59:48]
Jen
You're expensive.
- [59:48]
Jill
Food is in our belly.
- [59:51]
Jen
It's a new season. Like, co working. Even though I don't know if we'll do it long term would be a new season would require new experimenting in the way that we eat and spend money. And this was part of your experimentation.
- [60:07]
Jill
That just, you know, it was especially bad because you've got other people in the space heating up their lunches. Oh, that just sounded so good. Sounded, smelled. There was definitely some Indian food being heated up and here we are with just like the grossest peanut butter and jelly. It felt, it had me having flashbacks to my elementary school days where it is what lunch felt like for me growing up. My mom would always do the grain bird seed bread and the all natural whatever and something homemade which I can appreciate now. But growing up, it never was the cool lunch that you're looking forward to. It was just always something you kind of just suffered through, wishing someone would trade their lunch with you, but knowing if I don't even want this, they're not gonna want it. But I really wanted some of that Indian food.
- [61:09]
Jen
I'm so sorry.
- [61:10]
Jill
It's okay. It's okay. It's just still a little bit fresh for us. But you know we're gonna do better. We're gonna do better next time.
- [61:18]
Jen
Yeah. Good luck. Thanks.
- [61:24]
Ben Walter
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- [61:52]
Jen
Traveling to see your fave sports team.
- [61:54]
Jill
Is cool, but traveling with Amex Platinum for the big game is even better.
- [61:59]
Ben Walter
Right this way.
- [62:00]
Jill
With access to dedicated card member entrances at select events, you can skip the line. And with access to the Centurion Lounge.
- [62:08]
Jess Dang
He shoots a three.
- [62:09]
Jill
You can catch the next game on the way home. That's the powerful backing of American Express. Terms apply. Learn more@americanexpress.com with AmEx card Member entrance access not limited to Amex Platinum Card Stop hitting snooze on new tech. Upgrade the whole team@lenovo.com Unlock AI experiences with the ThinkPad X1 carbon powered by Intel Core Ultra processors so you can work, create and boost productivity all on one device. Win the tech search for business PCs@lenovo.com.
- [62:53]
Disney Cruise Line Narrator
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