#635 Batch Cooking Basics: The Sabbath Soup Way of Saving Money on Meal Prep
Have you ever had those moments where you’re staring into the fridge at 5 PM, wondering what on earth you’re going to feed your family?
Well, friend, We’ve got some good news for you!
In this episode of Clutter Free Academy, Kathi Lipp and Tonya Kubo discuss the concept of Sabbath cooking and how it can save both time and money. They explain the benefits of meal planning and batch cooking, emphasizing how these techniques can reduce food waste and lower grocery bills. Kathi also discusses her upcoming book, “Sabbath Soup,” which provides a comprehensive guide to this cooking method.
Listeners will discover:
- How to use ingredients you already have on hand
- Batch cooking techniques for soups, salads, and casseroles
- Tips for proper food storage and freezing
- The financial benefits of cooking ahead and reducing food waste
Kathi shares personal anecdotes about her experiences with budget-friendly cooking and offers practical advice for listeners looking to implement Sabbath cooking in their own homes. Plus, here’s the Zucchini Boat recipe Kathi raved about in this episode!
Stuffed Italian Zucchini Boats with Italian Sausage
Preparation Time: 20 minutes Cooking Time: 35 minutes
Ingredients:
- 4 medium zucchini
- 1 lb. Italian sausage
- 1 large onion, chopped
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 can (15 oz) diced tomatoes
- 1 teaspoon dried basil
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- Salt and pepper, to taste
- 2 cups mozzarella cheese, shredded
- 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese, grated
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- Directions:
- Preheat your oven to 375°F and lightly grease a baking sheet or dish.
- Cut each zucchini in half lengthwise and use a spoon or melon baller to hollow out the centers, leaving about a 1/4 inch thick zucchini “boat”. Place the zucchini on the baking sheet.
- In a large skillet, heat the olive oil over medium-high heat. Add the Italian sausage and cook until browned and no longer pink, breaking it up with a wooden spoon as it cooks. Remove the sausage from the skillet and set it aside.
- In the same skillet, add the chopped onion and minced garlic, cooking until the onion is translucent.
- Add the diced tomatoes, basil, oregano, and a pinch of salt and pepper. Stir well and cook for a few more minutes.
- Add back the sausage and cook for another 2-3 minutes until everything is well combined.
- Spoon the sausage mixture into each zucchini boat, pressing it down and filling to the top.
- Top each zucchini boat with a generous amount of mozzarella and Parmesan cheese.
- Bake in the preheated oven for 25-30 minutes, or until the cheese is melted and bubbly and the zucchini is tender.
- Remove from the oven and allow to cool for a few minutes before serving.
Did you miss #634 Time Saving Strategies For Busy Cooks: Sabbath Soup Secrets? Listen in now.
Preorder Sabbath Soup here and receive your free download bonus Sabbath Soup Shortcuts. The preorder bonus ends October 8, 2024.
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Sabbath Soup: Weekly Menus and Rhythms to Make Space for a Day of Rest
Kathi Lipp gives readers an easy-to-follow process for meal planning and prep, so that they can enjoy a full day each week of real rest and refreshment.
Could you use a break from cooking (and everything else) once a week? Not only is rest vital for your mind and body, it’s good for your soul too. God designed us to enter into Sabbath rest one day per week, but as you know, meals still need to be made. Your family still needs to be fed.
Sabbath Soup includes convenient, seasonal meal plans that take the guesswork out of shopping and cooking. More than just a collection of delicious recipes—including main dishes, breads, breakfasts, desserts, salads, sides, and yes, soups—this is your guide to establishing a weekly rhythm and routine of meal planning and prep that allows you to have a true day off.
Do something good for your soul and experience the peace that comes with a full day dedicated to spending time with God, family, and friends. Savor your Sabbath as you proudly proclaim, “Soup’s on!”
Preorder your copy of Sabbath Soup: Weekly Menus and Rhythms to Make Space for a Day of Rest here. Preorder offer ends October 8, 2024.
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Transcript
Well, hey friends, welcome to Clutter -Free Academy, where our goal is to help you take small, doable steps to live every day with less clutter and more life. And I am here with Tonya, who, it’s been a rough week at the Kubo house.
Tonya Kubo (00:28.866)
hahahahah
Kathi (00:30.86)
friend. Monday night I saw on social media that you had canceled an event and I’m like well somebody died because Tonya never cancels events and you had a major illness which fortunately recovered quickly and now Brian Kubo is on the DL.
Tonya Kubo (00:53.905)
Yes, but he is totally like he’s got some next level stuff. I was not contagious. I did not get him sick.
Kathi (00:58.9)
gosh.
Kathi (01:02.844)
Okay, well that’s yes that is very important and even though I’ve been sick this week I have not seen Brian so it’s not my fault but it is kind of funny that we are talking about cooking on this episode when you are not allowed to do that in your home.
Tonya Kubo (01:16.977)
No, only because the smell of anything makes him wretch all over the place. And I don’t want to it up anymore, Kathi. I’ll be honest. I’m not that great of a person, actually. I don’t want to clean up vomit. I’m good.
Kathi (01:21.086)
Okay. Yeah. Yeah, I understand. It was the one thing my mom said it like not in their marriage vows, but before they got married. And my dad, let’s just say my dad was not a hands on dad, but he knew he knew that was his job. Anyway, we’ll move off of vomit. This show is going to require it. Yes.
Tonya Kubo (01:34.014)
Mm -hmm.
Tonya Kubo (01:41.237)
And talk about food!
Kathi (01:49.696)
This show is going to require a trigger warning. So how did you end up feeding the kids last night?
Tonya Kubo (01:55.351)
Panera delivery.
Kathi (01:56.77)
Yes. So here’s what I want to talk about because the you ate cheese and crackers, the kids ate Panera. And I think when we think about saving money when it comes to cooking, we think, OK, austerity. We’re just not we’re not going to do any so. Or if if we don’t do that, then we’re going to order Panera. Like there are 10 ,000 variations in between.
Tonya Kubo (02:03.807)
Yup.
Tonya Kubo (02:15.541)
Mm
Tonya Kubo (02:21.897)
Mm -hmm.
Tonya Kubo (02:26.856)
Right.
Kathi (02:27.05)
And that’s what I wanna talk about today. So we are turning the tables. Tonya is interviewing me because we’re talking about my book, Sabbath Soup, because I wrote it with the concept, some people don’t have the time to cook. We talked about that last week. Some people just are on such a tight budget that cooking for an entire week feels impossible. And then some people just don’t have the energy.
And lots of people have a combination of the two. So I wanted to give ideas for everybody who was in this situation. So Tonya, I’m gonna turn it over to you.
Tonya Kubo (03:04.507)
Yeah, well, so I think we have to start off and I feel like I start every episode about the book this way, but like I think I need you for the benefit of our listeners to explain what you mean when you’re talking about Sabbath cooking.
Kathi (03:17.175)
Mm -hmm.
Kathi (03:21.826)
Yeah, so in Jewish households, is just what, or you know, I wouldn’t say conservative, observant, thank you, thank you. That is the exact word that I would have never gotten to. That there is a 24 hour period where you’re not cooking. Now, I am not religious about this. Look at the double entendre there.
Tonya Kubo (03:31.431)
observant.
Tonya Kubo (03:49.139)
Yeah
Kathi (03:50.498)
Double meaning but what I’m trying to I believe in a Sabbath. I really am at the conclusion Tonya Good spiritual health is good mental health that there is nothing that is a spiritual practice that is anti-mental health and I lived for so many years going 24 -7 and Never truly having a break because even if I said hey guys
Tonya Kubo (04:02.751)
Mm -hmm.
Tonya Kubo (04:09.545)
Mm -hmm.
Kathi (04:19.732)
we’re going to stay at home today, we’re going to watch movies, we’re going to read books, people still wanted to eat. And even can we just also say, and I probably should have saved this for the energy one, but even if you’re ordering food out, there is mental stuff that goes with that. Trying to get, you know, find a place. Of course, I’m coming back to my favorite quote of Abby’s ever, you know, during, during the pandemic.
Tonya Kubo (04:25.449)
Mm -hmm.
Tonya Kubo (04:38.645)
Mm
Tonya Kubo (04:46.407)
Yeah.
Kathi (04:48.802)
I want to go to a restaurant. I want to eat something that mom’s not eating. I want to eat something that dad’s not eating. And Roger’s like, I feel that so deeply. And I understand. Roger is probably more appreciative of somebody cooking for him than Abby is. Because for Abby, that’s just expected. Of course, you’re going to cook, Mom. But.
Tonya Kubo (05:05.641)
Mm -hmm.
Tonya Kubo (05:09.311)
Duh.
Kathi (05:11.618)
There is a factor to all of this. And if you’re on a budget ordering out for food, well, it could be great for a once in a while treat, is probably cannot be your go -to solution. And so Sabbath says for 24 hours I’m not cooking, but I’m still eating. I’m still indulging.
Tonya Kubo (05:16.01)
Mm
Tonya Kubo (05:27.859)
Mm -hmm.
Kathi (05:36.034)
in things that I love. I’m still enjoying food. I am enjoying rest. I’m enjoying connection. I’m thankful for what has been served in the life I have. But we pull back for those 24 hours without a list of to-dos to really connect with those around us and connect with God.
Tonya Kubo (05:59.815)
Okay. So I think then, because I have the benefit of seeing inside the book. I don’t have a copy of the book. I just want to point out to everybody, I don’t get copies of the book any earlier than anybody else does. Okay. There’s certain things that the publisher does not give you special privileges to, but I was going to say, no, you have a copy of some other book that has your cover taped to it or hot glued to it or however it is they make that work.
Kathi (06:17.66)
Right, and I don’t even have a copy of the book. Let’s be clear.
Kathi (06:26.59)
Yes. It’s. It is beautiful and the book inside. Hey, I got a free cookbook. I love it.
Tonya Kubo (06:28.831)
but it looks like a copy of the book and it is beautiful. I was gonna say, yeah, you have a free cookbook, it doesn’t have to be yours. So I know that the book is organized into a series of weekly meal plans. So I want you to help us understand how meal planning and this week-by-week cooking idea ties into your perspective on Sabbath.
Kathi (06:38.572)
Yes.
Kathi (06:43.926)
Mm -hmm.
Kathi (06:56.83)
Yeah, so I will just speak for myself. If I don’t have a plan, every meal is an emergency. Especially when we tend to have kind of the same breakfast every morning. We tend to have very similar lunches. But dinner, I try to have some variety. I try to do some different things. And if I don’t have a plan, then
Tonya Kubo (07:11.56)
you
Kathi (07:22.258)
What ends up happening? You know that frozen pizza you have in there for emergencies? That’s a monday night’s meal like if I don’t have a plan That is my first go -to because roger always wants to make sure i’m not stressed And so his thing is like why don’t we just do the frozen pizza? But here’s the thing that like we were just talking about hey Tonya Do we need to delay some things and you said that’s just kicking the can down the? the road and it’s
Tonya Kubo (07:28.659)
Yeah
Tonya Kubo (07:47.049)
Mm Down the road, yeah?
Kathi (07:48.648)
It’s, you know, because Tuesday’s coming and we need to eat something on Tuesday. So I like to have a plan for a couple of different reasons. One, if I plan out my meals in advance, I can do it one of two ways. I can plan the meals, know the ingredients I need and look for those on sale. Or what I tend to do is say, okay, here’s what we have an abundance of at the house.
Tonya Kubo (07:51.209)
Mm -hmm.
Kathi (08:15.902)
Let’s meal plan around that. How can that fit into something? And so, but I would say if if meal planning is new for you, I would just take a a week’s worth of meals from the book or from, know, you can get them other places if you want to and do that because it is going to be less expensive than you trying to come up with a new meal every day. It’s going to be it’s going to be less expensive than that one.
Tonya Kubo (08:29.779)
Mm -hmm.
Kathi (08:44.852)
Wednesday night when you get super frustrated and you just say I Can’t decide let’s go out to dinner. So this is when we’re when you meal plan on Monday Yeah, you shop on Tuesday or Wednesday you start prepping on Thursday you cook on Friday or Saturday and then you don’t have to worry about meals for the rest of the week and I I’ve been very purposeful in these meal plans to say
Tonya Kubo (08:50.933)
Mm
Kathi (09:12.268)
hey, that thing you’re cooking for your big Saturday night dinner, you’re gonna use those leftovers on Monday. That big pot of soup that you’re reheating on Sunday after church, that’s Tuesday night’s meal as well. So if you have enough people in your family, you may have to double on some of these recipes, but for the most part, you are going to be strategic in what you’re doing. you know, I like…
I’ve put some really budget stretching recipes into the book so that you are, you’re good to go. Like these are things that are often on sale. You may have in your freezer or in your pantry.
Tonya:
Okay. So this sounds great, but what I’d like to do is just recap sort of this money-saving aspect, because I think you and me talk about this so often, Kathi, that it all makes sense in our heads, but I’m not sure it would make sense to a first-time listener. Right? So,
Kathi (11:24.886)
Perfect.
Kathi (11:28.556)
Perfect.
Kathi (11:45.855)
Right, let’s do it.
Tonya Kubo (11:48.789)
Part of the money saving aspect is when you’re meal planning, you’re also looking at your calendar to see what’s going on. Like, are you really eating at home five days a week? Are you eating at home seven? And you’re only shopping for what you actually need. And then because you, and I love this about your meal plans, because there’s this idea of leftovers on purpose, making the big meal on this night and using some of those leftovers a couple nights later, then you’re minimizing food waste, which…
Kathi (11:56.81)
Mm -hmm. Right.
Tonya Kubo (12:18.119)
You know I’ve looked this up, Kathi, because I’m really passionate about this, but that is like the number one cause of overspending in food costs in the US is the amount of food waste. It’s like billions of dollars in the US every year just goes to a landfill.
Kathi (12:21.376)
Yes.
Kathi (12:32.418)
Tonya can we talk about that because I don’t know that I’ve really thought about it this way before but I think many of us have fallen into the Costco syndrome where we are buying in bulk things that we do not consume in bulk and
Tonya Kubo (12:44.999)
yeah.
Tonya Kubo (12:48.511)
Mm -hmm.
Tonya Kubo (12:52.295)
yeah, Brian will tell you all the time. It’s so much cheaper to buy English muffins at Costco and throw one package away than it is to just buy the number of packages week to week from the grocery store that we would use. Now to listeners, I know you can phrase English muffins. That’s not the point of the example. It’s just, that’s what he always says. It’s like, we could buy this and throw half of it away for less money than it would cost to buy just what we needed from a different store.
Kathi (13:13.002)
Yes, yes, right.
Kathi (13:21.692)
Mm -hmm. Yes. Mm -hmm.
Tonya Kubo (13:22.089)
But there is a cost, right, to throwing away food. And I think that that is one of those points that when you really have to watch your budget or when you’re choosing to watch your budget, you can’t lose sight of using up what you have on hand is so valuable. But Kathi, you know, I always talk about how even communism sounds like a lovely thing in theory. It’s in practice where it kind of falls apart. So.
Kathi (13:33.452)
Mm
Kathi (13:46.024)
Hahaha!
Yes!
Tonya Kubo (13:51.667)
Tell me how to prevent the practice of Sabbath soup and week to week meal planning. How do we prevent that from falling apart in practice?
Kathi (14:00.896)
Yeah, so first of all, you may not need to do this kind of cooking every single week. That is okay. You may say, hey, I don’t want to roast a chicken. I think buying a Costco chicken is a perfectly valid option. I think where we fall apart so often is in the extremes. Like if you don’t plan for your whole week,
Tonya Kubo (14:14.717)
Mm
Tonya Kubo (14:25.375)
Hmm.
Kathi (14:30.506)
you’re gonna fall apart. Now, let me be honest with you. I plan for the whole week, almost every week, but also within that week, I have things like, hey, this is where I’m gonna do a Trader Joe’s meal. Or this is the night we’re going out. I think that it’s really important that balance, extreme balance is important.
Tonya Kubo (14:56.297)
Mm -hmm.
Kathi (14:58.484)
that there, like you said, there are some weeks where it doesn’t make sense. But can I tell you all the times that it does make sense to cook ahead? We just went on an RV trip. We took all of our meals to San Jose. And we knew we were gonna be eating out at certain points with certain friends and things like that. But I cooked all the meals for our week ahead of time, froze some of them, put some of them in the fridge.
Tonya Kubo (15:11.861)
Mm
Tonya Kubo (15:24.595)
Mm -hmm.
Kathi (15:28.378)
We spent hardly any unplanned money because we knew exactly what we were doing. are our bill has gone down considerably since we’ve been implementing this system because like today, Tony, you know, it has been a hectic week around here. Roger is not feeling his best. He’s feeling better than Brian. I will assure you of that. But like, you know what?
Tonya Kubo (15:39.605)
Mm -hmm.
Tonya Kubo (15:53.948)
Yeah.
Kathi (15:58.018)
And here’s the other thing that threw me off. I had defrosted some chili and we were using that for taco salad and I got downstairs, I’m like, I was looking through the fridge, where’s the chili? And Roger’s like, yeah, I was extra hungry. And I’m like, well, I’m super glad you enjoyed that. So I could go to the freezer and I pulled out some chicken stew that I had frozen. Like, there’s no panic.
Tonya Kubo (16:14.708)
you
Yeah.
Tonya Kubo (16:24.223)
Mm -hmm.
Kathi (16:27.756)
There’s no, no, we now need to go to Taco Bell or something like that. If we go to Taco Bell, it’s because we want to go to Taco Bell. And so I think that it’s really what you’re doing is in one day, you’re cooking about the equivalent of three dinners. You’re cooking a big soup. You’ve got a big like, you know, something like a casserole or an enchilada casserole or something like that.
Tonya Kubo (16:48.297)
Mm -hmm.
Kathi (16:57.632)
And then you’re also cooking like a meat and potatoes or a meat and rice or a meat, you know, something like that. So there are these three big meals that are going to last you for about six days. or, you know, five days plus you’re gonna have some left over, whatever it is. And then you’re regaining not just time, but energy and money.
Tonya Kubo (17:05.397)
Mm
Tonya Kubo (17:16.725)
Mm -hmm.
Kathi (17:25.494)
because that is not going to waste. You have a plan for the leftovers instead of them just being in the fridge, growing green penicillin. That’s not what we want. So that’s how, if you’re buying all the groceries up front, but then you’re using most of the groceries. And if you have some groceries leftover, like if you have some asparagus leftover or you have some heavy cream, you can freeze that.
Tonya Kubo (17:44.639)
Mm -hmm.
Kathi (17:55.124)
You can throw that into a salad. You can be creative with those leftovers, but you’re using up most of what you’ve bought.
Tonya Kubo (18:04.191)
Got it. Okay, so you’ve talked about making a big pot of this or a big batch of that a few times. So could you share like what are some batch cooking techniques that you feel work really well or maybe lend themselves really well to Sabbath cooking?
Kathi (18:08.31)
Mm -hmm. Mm -hmm. Yeah.
Kathi (18:22.732)
So for sure soup like soup is my go -to soup. I will make every single week I make it on Friday or Saturday put it in the fridge and then reheat it on Sunday for after church like part of this Tonya that saves money time and energy is You’re not saying what are we gonna have after church this Sunday? No, you’re having soup. You’re having soup. It’s easy It’s done. You just add some bread and maybe a salad and you’re good to go
Tonya Kubo (18:26.343)
Okay.
Tonya Kubo (18:44.426)
Mm -hmm.
Kathi (18:52.672)
So I feel like that is a really good thing. Another thing that is interesting for batch, which people may not think about, are salads. So on Thursday, when I’m cutting up like all the mushrooms, all the onions, that kind of stuff, I’m doing that in big batches. And I’m using those onions, not just in salads, but I’m using them in the soup that we’re making or the casserole. And then,
Tonya Kubo (19:01.429)
You
Kathi (19:17.498)
I am cutting up a bunch of romaine lettuce. That’s the lettuce we happen to like in our house. And I am washing it and I’m laying it out so that it dries. That’s the key for it not to turn brown. And I’m storing it with a paper towel. So if you’re looking to save money, cutting up your own romaine lettuce is cheaper than doing say like a bag salad. It’s cheaper than all of that kind of stuff.
Tonya Kubo (19:28.405)
Mm -hmm.
Kathi (19:45.314)
Another thing that I feel like really lends itself, so anything you can do in a crock pot lends itself to this. Casseroles are great. You know, and when I say casseroles, people are like, casserole. Okay, lasagna is a casserole friend. You know, I love to do like a broccoli, cheese, chicken and rice bake. That’s a beautiful thing. Enchiladas can be done as a casserole.
Tonya Kubo (20:00.574)
Right.
Tonya Kubo (20:07.209)
Mm -hmm.
Kathi (20:13.226)
You know, anything where it’s a big pan of things that you know your family will love. And so we do a lot of that type. And then you can think about this as well. Ingredients are great for batch cooking. So Tonya, we’ve talked about this before. You have a bunch of ingredients. What are you gonna make that into?
Tonya Kubo (20:16.403)
Mm -hmm.
Tonya Kubo (20:35.647)
Yeah, I make fried rice. Always.
Kathi (20:36.674)
Yep, I may make another batch of soup. I may make a stir fry. Like right now our garden is bursting with zucchini. We are zucchini 24 seven around here. And so, you know, we have a lot of ingredients on hand. Like we have a lot of mushrooms right now. We have a lot of onions. We’ve got some, you know, we’ve bought on sale.
Tonya Kubo (20:44.693)
Mm -hmm.
Kathi (21:06.272)
ground sausage. So we’re doing a lot of zucchini boats and we’re but you don’t here’s the beautiful thing when it comes to saving money. Yes, I’ve given you recipes unless it’s something you’re baking, you know, like a pastry or something like that. Recipes are suggestions. So if I wanted to make a zucchini boat and if you don’t know what that is, I’ll attach a recipe to here and I didn’t have ground sausage.
Tonya Kubo (21:21.172)
Mm
Tonya Kubo (21:24.511)
right.
Kathi (21:34.516)
I would do that with ground beef and a ton of garlic and onions and mushrooms. And if I really love Roger bell peppers, even though I think they’re disgusting, and we would juice it up in a different way. Just recently, I made my macaroni and cheese, which is a great recipe from the book. And we didn’t have the right kind of cheese, quote unquote. We didn’t have Gruyere.
Tonya Kubo (21:47.167)
Ha
Tonya Kubo (21:50.773)
Mm -hmm.
Kathi (22:03.54)
And so we had this port wine cheese and we did that. It was delicious. consider that when you’re trying to save money, consider recipes suggestions. And that’s when you use the frozen pizza. When you’ve made a recipe and you’re like, well, that did not turn out. OK, that’s fine. You have a frozen pizza. Nobody’s going to die. But you may discover something great along the way.
Tonya Kubo (22:19.516)
Mm -hmm.
Tonya Kubo (22:33.663)
Got it, okay, that’s really helpful. So we’ve talked about what recipes lend themselves really well to cooking in batches or how batch cooking can work out really well. We’ve talked about the money saving aspects. Talk to me about storage.
Kathi (22:51.002)
Yeah, okay, so let me talk about soup because I There there’s a four -step process. Okay, so with soup first of all when I make a pot of soup I let it cool down and I put the whole pot in the fridge. That’s just what I do because Here’s the beautiful thing on Sunday when I come home from church I’m just gonna pull that pot out and put it straight on the the the burner
Tonya Kubo (22:54.761)
Mm -hmm.
Tonya Kubo (23:17.417)
Mm -hmm.
Kathi (23:17.684)
Like it’s a one pot meal. Now before I do that, if it’s just me and Roger, I’m gonna pull some of that stuff out because I know I don’t wanna reheat it like seven times. It does take some of the moisture out. So with a soup, and this is really with almost any kind of food, let it cool down completely, okay? Just before you pack it away, let it cool down completely. While you’re eating it, let it cool down completely. It’s fine. And then,
Tonya Kubo (23:25.257)
Mm -hmm.
Kathi (23:45.204)
Choose your containers. I will tell you I’m loving They’re from Costco and I’ll put them in the comments. They’re just clear containers With a clear top. I’m sorry. I should have looked this up before we did this that snap into place but They are the perfect size There there there’s like a long casserole size. There’s more of like
Tonya Kubo (24:07.967)
Hmm.
Kathi (24:13.802)
I’ve chopped up an onion, let me put that in the container. There’s, I have a little bit of sauce. And then I don’t wanna waste these carrots, I’ll use them on tomorrow’s salad. Those are the four sizes. Yeah, I’m very scientific about this. But once it’s cooled down, you can put it into a container like that. The other thing I have that I really like, they’re called Souper Containers, S -O -U -P -E -R. And I will also put
Tonya Kubo (24:26.291)
Right. I like this.
Kathi (24:43.616)
those in the notes. But those are just a rubber container that are have a square divot that are perfect for a block of soup. And they have a lid that goes on top of it. That’s what I pulled out today when I found out we didn’t have any more chili. And so we’re having chicken stew for lunch. It’s perfect. It’s easy. It’s good to go. So you know, think about the containers. If you’re really struggling with your
Tonya Kubo (24:54.453)
you
Kathi (25:13.236)
your space. Maybe you only have one fridge and you’ve got a large family. It’s okay to freeze things in ziplock bags. It’s not the most economical, but can you reuse ziplock bags? Maybe you used a ziplock bag to store some green onions. That maybe can be used to do a soup. I always freeze things laying down on a cookie sheet.
Tonya Kubo (25:41.823)
Mm -hmm.
Kathi (25:42.41)
so that when you’re storing them in your freezer, they either store flat, they store flat. So you can either store them laying down or up. And make sure you label them with the date because you think you know what that soup is. Can I tell you once it’s frozen? You don’t know what that’s stupid. label and freeze it. so,
Tonya Kubo (26:02.803)
It’s hard to tell.
Kathi (26:08.756)
Sometimes when I’m just looking for something to eat, I’ll just flip through. It’s like a card stack of frozen stuff. And that’s how I freeze like my extra limit. That’s another thing is before how can you make sure that things don’t go to waste? Like somebody gave me a bag of lemons off their tree. And that was awesome. You know, we did lemonade and we did lemon and RST and I did lemon bars. And then I was like, I am lemon doubt.
Tonya Kubo (26:14.101)
Mm
Tonya Kubo (26:37.877)
you
Kathi (26:37.94)
So we just got our juicer out and we juiced all the lemons and we froze that lemon juice and we used it all winter long. It was wonderful. Do the same thing with half and half. Do the same thing with heavy cream. I store it like a cup at a time because I want it pre -measured and I’ll put that in the Ziploc bag and store it like that. So it’s about really making use of everything you have in your house.
Tonya Kubo (26:57.461)
Mm -hmm.
Tonya Kubo (27:07.253)
Mm -hmm.
Kathi (27:07.522)
Use your freezer and your pantry. Clean. The other thing that is great about the once a week cooking process is on Monday, I’m in there like cleaning out my fridge, like saying, what do we have? we could have that on a salad tomorrow. that needs to be eaten today. You know, we are not, we are not wasting money in this house.
Tonya Kubo (27:28.863)
Right.
Tonya Kubo (27:32.741)
Okay, well I’m so glad you brought up the fridge cleaning example because, you know, we’ve talked a lot about financial benefits, but it sounds like fridge cleaning, for instance. There are other advantages to stop cooking. So what would those be?
Kathi (27:46.038)
Yeah, so I think one you get to rest. I think that’s the most important thing. Two, you get to use up what you’ve already bought. The cheapest food you will ever acquire is the food you already have. And I know that sounds like a simple idea, but you know, if it works for you to say, hey, I like this whole week’s plan, except I’ve got a lot of ground beef.
I think I’m going to do spaghetti instead of, you know, this rice dish that Kathi had in there. Please, again, these are ideas. They are not, you’re not going to throw off the system. I want you to use what you have. We all go through lean times. Now, we all have different economic situations. You know, for Roger and I, we are trying to save money right now.
because as you know, Tonya, we’ve made some big investments in our business. And one of the ways that we can control costs is by how much we eat out and what we buy at the grocery store. It’s not that we’re trying to live paycheck to paycheck, but dude, I’ve been there. I have lived that life. I have lived the life where I don’t have, you I’ve got $50 to get us
Tonya Kubo (28:45.098)
Mm
Kathi (29:13.058)
I was a single mom, you know, I have $50 to get us through the end of the month and I need to make this stretch. So I know, I know how, I think it’s really important for us to have the skills to say, this is how I can shop on the cheap, cook on the cheap. You may not need to do it, but it’s like, it’s like, it’s like a CPR class. I pray I never have to use it.
Tonya Kubo (29:15.349)
Mm
Tonya Kubo (29:41.034)
Mm -hmm.
Kathi (29:41.622)
but I’m so glad I’ve got those skills.
Tonya Kubo (29:45.091)
my gosh, this is so good. I’m so glad you have those skills too, because that allows you to transfer them to the rest of us. So Kathi, can you just recap for our listeners the main ways, like what are the actionable tips from this episode? How can Sabbath cooking save them money?
Kathi (29:50.685)
Yes, that’s what we want, right?
Kathi (30:03.223)
Yeah.
Yeah, so, you know, taking a Sabbath from cooking isn’t just about rest. It’s a secret weapon for your wallet. It really is. There are some weeks where you’re going to need to plan better because finances are tight. And so I want you to have the skills to do that. There are going to be other times where you can be a little bit more extravagant. You can buy the fancy chocolate. You can get the good cut of meat. But let’s…
Let’s take them one at a time. One, plan your meals. If you do nothing else, if you do nothing else, plan your meals. Because if you plan your meals for a week, you say this is what we’re going to eat Saturday night through, you know, Friday, you know, Friday night, you are already going to save money. Take inventory of what you have on hand. Use what you already have.
So you’re not just buying fresh ingredients on top of fresh ingredients on top of fresh ingredients. I don’t want you to do that. I also don’t want you to be spending money on meat when you have that in your freezer, when it’s a lean week. So take an inventory of what you have. Prep yourself. So there are times when I am really running out of time where I will buy pre -chopped vegetables. But we all know that chopping your own vegetables saves you money.
Tonya Kubo (31:06.143)
Mm
Tonya Kubo (31:31.753)
Mm -hmm.
Kathi (31:31.818)
So if you can plan like on Thursday, I’m gonna chop all the vegetables and I’m going to pack them away. I’m gonna store them in a way that they’re gonna be great for a while to come. You I do this with strawberries. Like one of the things I do is I will wash and cut strawberries and then I let them completely dry and I put them in mason jars and they last forever. It’s crazy how long they last when if I don’t do that,
Tonya Kubo (31:58.505)
Hmm.
Kathi (32:00.578)
if they just sit in their original container, sometimes it’s three days. I don’t understand strawberries, I really don’t. But I do this with cucumbers. You know, we are big cucumber eaters around here. And so to be able to cut that, you are 10 times more likely to use cut mushrooms than you are mushrooms that are whole. Like just set aside some time to cut.
Tonya Kubo (32:07.509)
You
Tonya Kubo (32:14.805)
Mm
Tonya Kubo (32:26.367)
Mmm.
Kathi (32:29.972)
and then cook. Once you’ve cooked it, you’re not going to not eat it. You’re not gonna say, let’s just chuck it and go to Pizza Hut. No, you’re not gonna do that because you’ve already cooked it. You know how moms always say we have food at the house? Well, lots of times when my mom said that, that we had ingredients at the house. We didn’t have food, we had ingredients. But now you have food at the house. And that’s what I want to help you save money.
Tonya Kubo (32:50.965)
Mm -hmm.
Kathi (32:57.366)
to not feel deprived. I think that’s a big thing too. When we are tied on budgets, we don’t wanna feel deprived and there is not a week’s worth of recipes in here that will make you feel deprived.
Tonya Kubo (33:00.255)
Mm -hmm.
Tonya Kubo (33:10.014)
Nice. Okay, tell us how we can learn more about Sabbath cooking in your book.
Kathi (33:15.168)
Yeah, we’re gonna drop a link in there and we’re gonna give you, if you pre-order the book, because the book doesn’t come out until October 8th, if you pre-order the book, you are going to get a week’s worth of menus and some other ideas and samples and recipes and fun things. So you will get that automatically emailed to you so you can get started right away. So we’ll drop the link into our show notes so you can grab that right away. But the book is available, on Amazon.
Barnes & Noble, your favorite Christian retailer, like anywhere you want, you can buy the book.
Tonya Kubo (33:51.641)
Awesome. Well, thank you so much, Kathi. I have had fun switching roles where I get to ask all the questions and I just appreciate you walking us through these steps that I know for you are habitual at this point, but for many of us, it’s like brand new information.
Kathi (34:09.354)
Well, and thank you for asking me because you’re right. I have the curse of knowledge and so to be able to share this in a new fresh way is so great. So Tonya, thank you for hosting. Thank you for being amazing. And friends, thank you for being here. You’ve been listening to Clutter free Academy. I’m Kathi Lipp. Now, go create the clutter-free life you always wanted to live.