Have you ever found yourself frantically running to the grocery store because you’re missing that ONE ingredient you desperately need for a recipe you’re making; maybe thyme, bay leaves, buttermilk, only to use it once and then watch as it slowly melts in the back of your fridge? You’re not alone. With grocery prices soaring, getting the most out of your food budget has never been more important.
On this week’s episode of the HerMoney podcast, Jean Chatzky sat down with Ali Slage, the queen of fast and flexible recipes and “using fewer ingredients in more ways.” Ali shares her philosophy on keeping a “capsule kitchen” with just 40 key ingredients that can be used in endless combinations.
The Secret to Cooking Smarter: Start with What You Have
Jean Chatzky: I realized a long time ago that the thing that I don’t like about cooking is deciding what’s for dinner. And so I don’t decide, my husband decides. Which other parts of the cooking process bother people the most, do you think?
Ali Slagle: I think you hit on a really big one, which is the “What am I going to make for dinner?” And I think if you go online, it can be really overwhelming. What I would recommend, and what I do, is I look in my fridge, and I see what is going to go bad first. It could be as simple as some dill that I should probably use, and start from there. So I’ll have some dill and then maybe I have a protein in the freezer that I could defrost. Then, I start to triangulate and see what will go bad the quickest and what I want to eat.
A “Capsule Kitchen” Can Make Cooking Easier
Jean Chatzky: The premise of your Substack, 40 Ingredients Forever, is, well, it’s right in the title. What are the few things that you think everybody must have in their kitchen at all times if they want to have a prayer of getting dinner on the table?
Ali Slagle: The true answer is I think you should start with the food you really want to eat. If there’s food in your house that you want to eat, you’re probably going to eat it. So for me, that’s chickpeas, pasta, eggs, garlic, lemon, and oil. I think I could live for a really long time with just those ingredients.
Ali Slagle: What might be helpful for people is to spend a couple of weeks writing down everything they’re eating and seeing what trends there are. Then, look around the pantry, and don’t continue to buy what you’re not using.
Ali Slagle’s Number One Hack To Save Money and Time
Jean Chatzky: We talk about food because when I look at people’s budgets to find the places where money is just flowing through their fingers, it’s pretty much always food. And even if it’s not just food, food is almost always on the list. Besides just cooking, what are your best ideas for saving money at the grocery store or saving money on our food budget in general?
Ali Slagle: Something I’ve been thinking about recently, which maybe isn’t a very clear way to save money on your food, is to share the responsibility of making dinner. By having people over for dinner some nights, and then being invited to other people’s houses for other nights.
Ali Slagle: Where I live, we eat at other people’s houses two or three nights a week, and it’s not a dinner party. It’s just whatever people are cooking that night they invite a couple of people over, and then you don’t have to cook that night, you don’t have to do dishes that night, and you get to eat with other people. Breaking it up with your friends is a really nice way to make it enjoyable. It feels like such a pleasure to do, and it’s also just easier, so I don’t know why you wouldn’t do it.
MORE ON HERMONEY:
- We’re Obsessed With Grocery Delivery Apps: Here’s How To Save Some Cash
- New Ways To Buy Groceries And Save Money
- From The Farmers Market To Whole Foods With Starr Edwards
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