THE KITCHEN ACTIVIST
THE KITCHEN ACTIVIST podcast will give you bite-size action steps in each episode you can implement NOW in your kitchen, the most effective place to grow well-being for people and our planet. The host is the award-winning author of EAT LESS WATER and Kitchen Activist Florencia Ramirez.
THE KITCHEN ACTIVIST
No Kitchen? No Problem! Cooking Up Change in a College Dorm
Joaquin Rodriguez, son of Kitchen Activist host Florencia Ramirez, reveals how he cooks nutritious, budget-friendly meals in his NYC college dorm with minimal equipment. His creative approach proves that kitchen activism can thrive anywhere, regardless of kitchen size or equipment limitations.
• Creating nutritious meals with just a mini-fridge, toaster oven, rice cooker, and electric kettle
• Batch cooking beans and rice as affordable, versatile meal foundations
• Using a rice cooker for multiple purposes beyond rice—pasta, reheating, and hard-boiled eggs
• Planning and executing weekly "Friday Feasts" for friends featuring dishes like pozole and jambalaya
• Prioritizing organic ingredients while keeping costs to approximately $50 per week
• Adapting cooking skills learned at home to small-space limitations
• Finding inspiration from recipes online and not being afraid to experiment
• Meal planning based on sales at local grocery stores
• Understanding how food choices impact environmental and personal health
• Sharing costs and food with friends builds community
"Don't limit yourself... with anything, it's trial and error... it just comes down to not limiting yourself and finding inspiration and not being scared to fail, because if you fail, you just try again."
Join the waitlist for the Kitchen Activist Collective membership.
Start Meal Planning to Save the Planet and Money! Click Here to get started.
Join us inside the Kitchen Activist Collective. Learn more here.
Get a copy of the EAT LESS WATER book.
Reach me at info@eatlesswater.com
Hi, welcome. My name is Florencia Ramirez and I'm the host of the Kitchen Activist Podcast. Thank you so much for joining me. And today I have an incredibly special guest, one of the most specialist guests I could think of on the planet, because it is Joaquin, my son, and I asked him to join us on this Kitchen Activist podcast because he is 19 years old, living in a dorm, a college dorm in New York City, and he is cooking.
Speaker 1:And right now I'm pulling together the Kitchen Activist Collective and writing about how our kitchens can become forces of change, as long as we know we have the skill set, we know what we're doing, we're choosing food that we know is in alignment with nature and our desire to increase well-being on the planet and, all you know, saving food, all of these things. But it occurred to me that, as I'm writing about the kitchen, that people will, you know, you might think that, well, I can't do this because I really don't have a kitchen. I don't have a, or I don't have a nice kitchen, or my kitchen is too small, or I have a studio kitchen. We all have different kitchen setups. I've had so many kitchens throughout my life, from non-kitchens to larger kitchens, and so I thought let me talk to Joaquin, because Joaquin is pretty savvy, from what he's telling me, of all of the things that he is able to cook in his dorm room kitchen and also the shared kitchen that he has down the hall.
Speaker 1:Welcome, joaquin, onto the Kitchen Activist podcast. So why don't you just set the scene for us? You know, tell us, show us. I know this will be on YouTube. That's a new thing for this podcast that this will be on YouTube so you can watch it, you can see it. But for those people, those of us who are listening in on to this podcast and can't see your dorm room, can you set the scene for us, describe your dorm kitchen? What are you working with? What kinds of what? What do you have in there? A mini fridge, a hot plate? Go ahead, let us know.
Speaker 2:So I just have a mini fridge, um, and then, as a built-in freezer as well, um, a toaster oven, a rice cooker and a kettle, and I guess I got a cutting board and a knife, yeah. And then there's a shared kitchen on each floor of the dorm I live in, which has a full-size stove and oven so I know for many college students there's a cafeteria.
Speaker 1:So I think I need to back up a little bit. Because you go to hunter college in new york city, there is no meal plan option at your school, so everybody has to cook um or go out to eat, right? And what are you finding that most students are doing in the dorm situation? Cause most students are 18, 19, 20 years old, correct?
Speaker 2:Yeah, um, even older than that. But I see a lot of Trader Joe's frozen food, um, because it's very easy to make and it's relatively affordable. Um, a lot of eggs, um, and I see I see some people like cooking some actual good food, but for the most part I'm seeing like the trader joe's orange chicken and like something to pop in the microwave which you like from time to time as well.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean, trader Joe's orange chicken is delicious, but you can't just rely on that and also it's. It's not the best for you.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so. So when you say it's not the best for you, how do you, how do you know that?
Speaker 2:Well, I guess, from being your son, but also I mean you a good, a good. What's the word A good, a good? Indicator on if something is good or bad for you is you can just take a quick look at the back ingredients and if it's more than like this big, then you know, I don't know how good that is for you.
Speaker 2:So you're, so you're holding your fingers up, showing like a very large list, yeah, very large list, and also there's many words that you can't really pronounce or have no idea what they are. Um, most of the time they're just unneeded preservatives, so so.
Speaker 1:So behind you, if you're watching this, we can see your toaster oven that's sitting on top of your mini fridge, right. So tell us, what does it look like for you, like, how do you approach cooking for one person? I know sometimes and we'll get into this you also are cooking for others friends that are starting to come over to your dorm on Friday night, but before we get there, what does that look like? So, when you sit down and you're planning and you're on a budget, what are you buying?
Speaker 2:what are you, what are you buying? Um, I start off every week by getting uh, dry beans and soaking them overnight and then cooking a big pot of beans so you can have that all throughout the week. And you know, even as simple as just heating up some rice and some beans, it's a fulfilling meal, meal, it's a, it's a complete protein and you could add some salsa or hot sauce onto it or eat it plain, and you could always just build onto that. You can season some chicken or some beef or grill up some veggies, or sometimes I do like some seasoned potatoes that I throw in the toaster oven back there and you throw those on some rice and beans and it's delicious. Um, I think a good thing to do is, uh, you know, keep in mind that. You know, protein keeps you more full. Um, so I kind of like to go for protein first, and you know that's not just meat, it's like, uh, you know, eggs, beans are like a staple in my fridge and in my shopping cart every week.
Speaker 1:Yeah Well, you grew up in my kitchen where beans is a staple.
Speaker 2:Yeah, we're Mexican.
Speaker 1:We're Mexican, but also just beans are. They're magic. I mean I could see why. Yeah, they are the Jack and the Beanstalk with the magic beans. That was really. I feel like talking about what the health, all the health benefits that come with beans, and not only that, but I know, you know this, joaquin, but just beans, how they draw nitrogen from the sky and put it into the ground. So they truly are building health around the planet, not just for us, but also for soil health and helping to sequester carbon. I mean, it just goes on and on. I just love beans. So I'm happy, I'm glad, that you are taking that skill, or taking that my love for beans, to with you to New York. So you told me before we got onto this podcast that you are soaking beans.
Speaker 2:There's a pot behind me on top of the toaster oven right now that I um put there this morning to soak the beans Cause, after this podcast is over, I'm going to go cook them in a fresh pot of beans.
Speaker 1:So take us through. How do you make? How do you make your beans?
Speaker 2:Well, extremely simple. First of all, I get the beans. I like to go to Whole Foods because they have a bulk option. I know not all Whole Foods, or grocery stores for that matter, have bulk, but it's super cheap, even from Whole Foods, which is a notoriously overpriced super cheap, even from Whole Foods, which is a notoriously overpriced grocery store. I get them and then I sort through them, because beans have dirt clots in them and I don't want dirt in my beans. So I sort through them and then I put it through the colander and rinse them out and then I throw them in the pot, cover them with water and salt, let them sit throughout the whole day, or overnight, however long, and then I drain the water you don't have to, but I like to do it and then I re-season it. I put some black crushed pepper, a little bit of cumin, whole cloves of garlic I add, chop up a jalapeno, a couple of them, throw them in there and then set it to boil for like 45 minutes and after that you have a wonderful pot of beans.
Speaker 1:Also salt as well oh yeah, salt for sure, that's.
Speaker 2:That's what softens beans yeah, so when you're starting them to add the salt, yeah, I, I've started doing that more consistently.
Speaker 1:It does make a big difference. Um, so okay, so you're. So you're making beans, protein, some rice, eggs, some vegetables. You're roasting in your, in your electric stove, Are you? What are you doing in your rice cooker?
Speaker 2:Um, well, rice, obviously. Um, you can do hard boiled eggs. You put them on the. There's a little carriage that you can put on top of it while you're boiling stuff.
Speaker 2:Make hard boiled eggs yeah, um and also I just use it to reheat stuff as well. So with the beans, if I you know, nor I only have one pot, so I just throw them in there and let them cook and then, once they start simmering, I know they're done. Um, I use it to reheat a lot of stuff. That's, you know, liquid based oh, oh, that's, that's.
Speaker 1:I hadn't thought about doing it that way I also make pasta like that.
Speaker 2:I put some water and wait for it to boil and make the pasta then inside of your rice cooker inside of my rice cooker because I just wait for it to boil and pasta, like normally if I'm making something for me uh, because my pot is very big and so that wouldn't really make a lot of sense to make your.
Speaker 1:Your pot is really big, but your rice cooker is.
Speaker 2:My rice cooker is very small.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah yeah, because you don't have a microwave, and I know this because we gave you options when we, when we took, when we bought things for your form right and you didn't want a microwave.
Speaker 2:I don't ever use a microwave In my household. I guess our household growing up, we never had a microwave up until like the last two years, but it was never something that I ever needed to use, or I just didn't grow up with using a microwave and or grow up eating a frozen food, and if I need to reheat something like that, I'll just turn on the toaster up and throw it in there and there, and it isn't that often where I need to do something like that.
Speaker 1:So do you have a chef's knife?
Speaker 2:I do. I do have a chef's knife Um, it is very nice one that was gifted to me by you Um a small cutting board, and you don't even have to get a really nice knife. I mean just having a knife and cutting board so you can chop stuff up.
Speaker 1:Well, a chef's knife, I do believe, and it took me many years before I had a nice chef knife, and now that I have one, I understand how it really does up your game right, just like once you learn how to use the chef knife, which is not that hard.
Speaker 1:It does up your game. So I believe, just like I heard it told to me that you should purchase a chef knife the most expensive chef knife that you can afford, and you will keep it for years. Right, I mean that chef knife you will have probably for decades.
Speaker 2:I would yeah, I do need to sharpen it, though I need to get some sharpening stuff. So yeah, yeah you're.
Speaker 1:you're really and I'm not that good at doing this either, but you're supposed to sharpen it after each time you use a chef knife. Just like that quick, that quick sharpen on either side, yeah, and then also you can look into where there's knife sharpening places nearby and they're not that expensive, like $6 or something to sharpen your knife. So tell me about what's been happening on Fridays, because that's kind of a new thing, right for you, but talk to me about that right for you, but talk, talk to me about that.
Speaker 2:So I love to cook if that hasn't been made apparent, but I like to cook for people and I've been doing this since I was younger, and so it's either.
Speaker 2:I have a friend that I from high school that goes to college with me, and he lives in the same building and I kind of go a little higher than I, or I would put more, I would put more effort into this meal than I would take my other ones, um, and I would make something kind of more grand and then invite some friends from that don't live in this building. They'd come out and eat it before we go out for the night, um, just so we could have a filling meal. Because before I started doing this, like on friday specifically, like before we go out for the night, um, just so we can have a filling meal. Because before I started doing this, like on Friday, specifically like before, we'd go out and hang out getting like a deli sandwich or a slice of pizza or like a burger or something like that, which you know are delicious, but they aren't. They are, they don't fill you up in the same way that a very hearty meal would.
Speaker 1:Especially not on your budget, right yeah, no because you're not buying as much pizza.
Speaker 2:Probably that you would want yeah, because I mean if, like a deli sandwich in the area I'm going to, it differs from each deli to each borough, um, it's like six, seven bucks. I mean between the three of us that's like twenty dollars. Um, for 20 bucks you can get a lot of food and cook a lot of food with that, um, and it always tastes better. Not dissing deli sandwiches. They're delicious, but so you're buying.
Speaker 1:are you buying organic products? I won't. Or are organic ingredients?
Speaker 2:I won't tell your mother if you say no for the most part, yeah, I am, because there's only like a what I've seen at least, especially at trader joe's they have a lot of affordable organic products because there's only a one to two dollar difference in between the two and so when you're up knowing that that does make a difference.
Speaker 1:So so I know that you so you say you grew up knowing that that makes a difference. Can you share what that difference is for you? What is that difference?
Speaker 2:I mean your life's work. Your life's work has been, you know, as of recent as my whole life actually is writing the book Eat Less Water about how organic food uses less water and therefore, you know, helps with water shortages. And you know, you know, growing up in California, you see the water shortage everywhere you go. I mean, we've been in like a mega drought for a while and you know I don't know how much of a difference my organic tomato sauce is going to make, but you know, if everyone does do that, then it'll make a bigger difference. As you say, all the time the power is in the collective.
Speaker 1:There is power in the collective, that's true. And I write about in in Eli's water, uh, the a conversation that you and I had where you saw, because it becomes, it becomes so normal to see this where we live, in Oxnard, where you grew up, but to see the, the guy, the farm worker, wearing a hazmat, a white hazmat suit, and spraying pesticides or fumigants on the strawberry field that are just like eerily kind of coming off of out of out of the truck, Right. So in in this in the book, I write about this question that you had walking, joaquin, where we're driving home from piano class, and there is spotlight flooding the rows of strawberries to provide lights for the tractor driver who is spraying pesticides, because they do it also at night, not just during the day day, and you asked what's, what's the light for? I think you were about eight or nine years old and I, you know cause the night gave this. It was, it was just eerie, you know, to see those like billows of of what looks like steam, but it's the fumigants. And he's wearing the hat, the white hazmat suit, and but just like on every inch of his body and his mouth was covered with a surgical mask too. And. But you said, well, when I told you what he was, what he was doing, and you said, well, shouldn't he be wearing a gas mask? And it was like you know, really he should, but because it's so commonplace, we just think it's okay, right, but what it's?
Speaker 1:What's happening to the health of people in our planet as a result of those fumigants that are happening all the time? So here, I know this is a statistic you've heard before, but here in California the average farm worker lifespan is something like 49 years old. And that's here in California. And that's because of what's happening on these conventional farms that you've taken that with you, that um the food, that food value with you, and when you're shopping. So when you are um cooking on Fridays and you are what, what are, what are some of the things that you're cooking and what does that look like? So you're going to class and then what? What does Friday look like?
Speaker 2:So I go to class and I'm done Me and my friend who lives in the building, we're done around like 3.45, 4-ish, so we go there and we either go to Trader Joe's or Whole Foods, depending on what we're making. So we go there. We either go to Trader Joe's or Whole Foods, depending on what we're making, because if we're getting meat, we're going to go to Whole Foods because they have better their butcher and their meat quality is really good. I really look forward to Fridays because it's like I love cooking.
Speaker 2:I kind of plan it out a day or two in advance and, um, either by memory or find a recipe or write down a recipe of what I'm going to make, and then I create like a shopping list on what I need. So, for example, uh, this Friday, um, or tomorrow, so Thursday, I'm going to make jambalaya, which is one of my favorite recipes to make, and I have like a in my notes app, just a simple thing of you know how much I need, and then I can go on the whole foods website and see how much it costs and then put in the price and then add it all together. So I have all the ingredients I need, how many of them I need, or how much weight of it I need and then the price that it costs with it. So I do that for every time, or most of the times I do. I don't always do the price, but I always write everything down that I need. So last week I made so you mentioned the price.
Speaker 1:Go ahead, go ahead.
Speaker 2:Tell us, last week I made pozole, which is a family staple. I actually made it on Christmas this year because my poor mother was sick, and so I think that was the second time I made it. But I would always watch my dad make it, and so this is the first time I think I made it like on my own, like I guess not at home, and it was really simple. It took a while, but my friend came over from his apartment and everyone enjoyed it and it was delicious and I think it was better than anything you guys have made.
Speaker 1:And I know you've told me you've made Mianessa, which is is a chicken, a fried type of chicken, right.
Speaker 2:Like chicken cutlet yeah.
Speaker 1:And some sliced tomatoes and yeah, what else have you made on Fridays?
Speaker 2:I've made a bunch of nachos just cause I always I grill the chicken beforehand um some chicken thighs and season it, um with, just you know, chili powder, um chili powder, garlic powder, onion, salt and pepper and, uh, some lime on it. Let it soak for a bit, throw it on the cast iron, then chop it up and throw it on some nachos. That's another great easy crowd pleaser and anyone can make nachos, because there's no specific measurements for that. It's just, it's very simple.
Speaker 1:And then you're using the beans that you batch cut.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I'm using the beans you know, even just like beans and then making the pan fried Mexican rice and then you could add whatever kind of meat you know, even just like beans, and then making the pan fried Mexican rice and then you could add whatever kind of meat you want, making it a burritos or tacos. So however you want to make it, I also done tortas, which are like a Mexican sandwich with some seasoned skirt steak, and that was delicious. Also made my own salsa for a couple of those meals. But yeah, I kind of just started doing this this Friday thing where I kind of go all out recently, so I don't really have much to say about it, but I'm like progressively trying to get more difficult every time.
Speaker 1:So do you share the cost with of ingredients with your friends generally?
Speaker 2:Uh, sometimes yeah, sometimes no. Uh, just kind of depends. Um, I don't know what's going to happen tomorrow, but uh, if they don't, then they usually just buy me something when I'm out. They'll buy you that uh slice of pizza or that deli sandwich, yeah yeah, kind of just a way to repay me for my labor and the cost of food.
Speaker 1:So meal planning on a budget. How much money are you spending every week for food?
Speaker 2:Um, I normally don't really go out to eat that much, um, unless it's a special occasion or some friends invite me out. So for the most part I'm spending around 50 bucks total and that's groceries and then like, if I want, like a snack in the middle of the day, like a bagel.
Speaker 1:So you're cooking that kind of those feasts $50 a week and even feeding other people and organic ingredients, mostly organic ingredients.
Speaker 2:I'm not going to claim that everything is 100% organic, but I will say the majority of it is organic, um, but I mean, I think it just comes down to planning it out and, um, you know, you, most most grocery stores, um, I guess the major ones have an online thing you can look up and you can check the price of stuff and put them in the location of your grocery store and check it out. So I know, for me, the closest grocery store to me is, or the closest Whole Foods for me is the one to Nomad, um, and I could just go to the Whole Foods website, put in Nomad Whole Foods and just price check everything then and there, show me what's on sale, show me what's not on sale. So sometimes I'll even like if, because the week I did the skirt steak the skirt steak was on sale, so that's why I got it. This week shrimp's on sale, so I'm going to be using some shrimp and my jambalaya.
Speaker 1:Oh nice. I wish I was there to try some. Well, I've had your jambalaya and so I know it's outstanding. I want to thank you so much, joaquin, for joining me and saying yes to this invitation. It just, it just. For me as a mother who has been doing this work, you know, as you shared and one of the biggest rewards for me has been of kitchen activism is to see how my kids, as they've moved on to their own kitchens or their own situations, have taken it with them and that skill, the skills that you've learned in my kitchen, that you are building upon and growing it in your own way. So I'm it just, it's just pretty magnificent for me. But what advice would you give to other students or someone who thinks they can't cook because they're in a dorm or small apartment or have a studio you know kitchenette type situation? What would you say to them? What is the first step that they can take to start cooking?
Speaker 2:Don't limit yourself. I mean, when I first got here this living situation, the dorm I wasn't sure on what I was going to be able to make or if I had the motivation to do it, if I was just going to be making trader joe's frozen food for the rest of my time here. But, um, I was just thinking like, well, I would do the stuff at home, so why not here and also just explore? I mean, you see, there's recipes all the time, you see on your explore page, on Instagram and whatnot, and a lot of them look really good, and just think like, oh, like, save it, save it in a folder somewhere and come back to it when you're grocery shopping and thinking about what you want to do for the week. Like, man, that looked really good.
Speaker 2:I think I want to try that out and with anything, it's trial and error. The first time I made jumble I didn't come out so well, but now I'm I'm pretty, I got it down. So I'm at the point where I'm even trying to like, modify it and see if I can make it even better. Um, so it just comes down to like not limiting yourself and, you know, finding inspiration and not being scared to fail, because you know, if fail, you just try again.
Speaker 1:That is wonderful. Will you do us a favor and write down like a list of what you think are kind of the essentials that you would need in a dorm so that we can share it with folks in the show notes? That would be, I think, really helpful. I know we're winding down on the school year but before you know it, kids or young people will be needing to purchase things for their dorms next fall, you know. So that would be really helpful, I think, for people to to know what are the things that they would need and what would be one other thing that you could use in your dorm that you wish you had.
Speaker 2:Maybe a blender, if anything, but my friend has a blender, so it's basically my blender. But no, I think I have everything that I need here. It'd be a smaller pot too, but you know, I have silverware, I have a can opener, I got a knife cutting board, got all the things I need.
Speaker 1:Well, thank you, Joaquin, so much for joining me here with this discussion. The Kitchen Activist podcast All of these small things that we do add up and will make a difference on this planet, for the health of the planet and for you. So thank you again, Joaquin.
Speaker 2:Of course, thank you.
Speaker 1:I love you.