How Cajun Mamas Guard Their Luxuries And Keep Family Traditions Alive

A grandmother’s milk-carton money stash kicks off a delightfully honest ride through family lore, Cajun tradition, and the small luxuries that keep parents sane. We trade freezer hacks for hiding chocolate, debate the sacred “good towel,” and share why some comforts are worth guarding—especially when you’re trying to raise grateful kids who don’t expect the world on a silver platter.

From Church Point’s courir to the kids’ alcohol-free run with clean music, we map out a family-forward Mardi Gras in Acadia Parish that’s rich with costumes, chicken chases, king cakes, and community. If your only reference is balcony beads, this season flips the script with heritage, hospitality, and a calendar full of can’t-miss events. We sprinkle in listener gems—broccoli-bag decoys, nightstand candy troves, chicken-liver-container disguises—and laugh our way through candy nostalgia, from Werther’s dishes to church runts and the ongoing war against green apple everything.

Under the humor sits a simple truth: boundaries and rituals shape a home. A big mug that stays yours, a bath in quiet, and a chocolate square no one else claims can refill the well so you can give better the rest of the day. We close with an invitation to build traditions your kids will remember—popsicles at grandpa’s shop, a candy jar by the door, and maybe a trip to Cajun Mardi Gras that turns into a story you tell for years.

Subscribe, share with a friend who needs a laugh, and tell us: what little luxury do you keep just for you? Your tip might make someone’s week.

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Transcript

Cold Cash And Clever Hiding Spots

SPEAKER_03 0:00

Found money in quartz sized milk cartons in her freezer, and even in other food containers, medicine bottles, and the toes of her high heels stored away in her closets, written for special occasion on the box. She even went so far as to unsow the hems in curtains and hide money. My grandpa could not get rid of anything without thoroughly examining it, or defrosting all the milk cartons that had the word shrimp written in red. She was very creative. Oh my bag of vegetables made her think of that.

SPEAKER_02 0:32

Could you all said name no burglars gonna get me?

SPEAKER_00 0:37

Welcome to Coffee Talk with the Cajun Mamas. Grab a cup of coffee, settle in, and let's dive into real conversations about life, motherhood, and a little inspiration to brighten your day.

SPEAKER_03 0:50

Welcome to Coffee Talk with the Cajun Mamas. Today we have a lovely episode planned for you. But first we're gonna talk about and thank our sponsor this month, Acadia Parish Cajun Harvest Country. If you know us at all, we are already in Mardi Girl mode.

SPEAKER_02 1:09

We are Mardi Girl will be here in the blink of an eye. In Church Point, it comes on February 15th, that is the Sunday before Mardi Girl. Yes. And in my opinion, my humble, maybe not so humble opinion, is the best Mardi Girl you will ever experience. And she's from Gay Don't. So, yes. That says a lot. Been around the block. Been around for a little bit. And I know a thing or two about the Cajun Mardi Girl. And Church Point is the best.

SPEAKER_03 1:39

Yeah. So if you haven't, if you have never heard about our Mardi Gras, tell us a little bit about what you could experience.

Family-Friendly Runs And Planning Tips

SPEAKER_02 1:46

It's not the traditional New Orleans standing on the balcony throwing beads or catching beads, showing you tatas, none of that, okay? I mean probably some of that, but not us. Not me. You ain't seeing them. No, and we are we have family, we have family-oriented Mardi Gross too. So like February 14th is the adult career the Mardi Girl. That's the run, okay? They dress up in costume and they chase the chickens around. I said the 14th. Okay, it's the 15th. The 14th is the children's run. It's the children's version of the adult run, but there's no alcohol. The music has to be clean. Like it's very family friendly or family oriented. Um, and we're not the only ones that do that either. There are some other ones that do a children's run um and an adult run. So if you want to know the dates of all these traditional Mardi Gras runs happening, you go over to Acadia Tourism.com slash Mardi Gras, and it's all there for y'all. So thank y'all for being sponsors of our podcast this month. What a great month. I know it we're not in February yet, but it's gonna be here really soon. And so we're gearing up. So what a great time for Acadia uh parish, Cajun Harvest Country to sponsor us because we get to just gush about all the Mardi Gras things. Oh yes.

SPEAKER_03 3:02

And you need a plan. You you it's time to plan. It's probably too late to plan, but you need to get it done.

SPEAKER_02 3:09

But if you aspirate the moment, could type a like, let's pack up and go. Now's that's stuff. We got stuff to do.

The Parenting Luxuries We Don’t Share

SPEAKER_03 3:15

All right. So today, um, I thought we would discuss uh we had we recently did a video about the luxuries that parents get, but we don't let our children experience these luxuries yet because they wouldn't appreciate them.

SPEAKER_02 3:32

No, they wouldn't appreciate this yet.

SPEAKER_03 3:34

We don't want to raise entitled children.

SPEAKER_02 3:37

No, we have to make them we have to raise humbled adults, yes, children into adults, you know, and make them appreciate the small things like a piece of dark chocolate, like a piece of dark chocolate. That's mama's, that's daddy's, it's not you wouldn't like it. It's not sweet enough for you. You would not like it. And when my kids were little, little, uh now they know. It was oh, that's spicy. You wouldn't like that it's spicy.

SPEAKER_03 4:04

That's what I would tell them. It's spicy.

SPEAKER_02 4:07

Yeah, it could be anything.

Your Comments: Secret Stashes At Home

SPEAKER_03 4:08

Now everything's gonna be spicy. They're gonna be like, it's spicy. That's what Roz does. It's too tasty, she used to say. Too tasty. How could it be too tasty? Too tasty. Tasty's a good thing. Now it's spicy, it's like not even spicy at all. But okay, so I pulled up the comments from this video. Do we have we talked about we talked about how um some luxuries would be a little piece of dark chocolate or um you know a nice fat bath towel that's all the way dry and not at all frayed.

SPEAKER_02 4:42

Not frayed or holy. Yes. All my holy frayed bath towels that gets put in the kids' bathroom. And I saved the nice pretty fluffy ones for myself in our bathroom.

unknown 4:54

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 4:55

I totally understand.

SPEAKER_03 4:57

So you y'all came back very fiercely in the comments of this video, and I just thought I would I would read some out to you. Yes, and you could comment. These will be new to me because I don't think I have read any of these comments. Okay. Um, so our friend Cecilia, she says she used to hide her chocolate in her bedroom when her kids were younger. They knew not to go fouille in there. The word fouille brought me back. Okay. They never knew I had the good stuff in there. In her bedroom, she would hide her chocolate. Don't go in mom and daddy's bedroom. No. Yes.

SPEAKER_02 5:36

Fouille. Tell everybody what that means.

SPEAKER_03 5:38

Fouille, just don't don't go fooling. Don't go mess with it, yes. Don't go mess it in my room. Another one, uh they hide their stash of food in their nightstand. Another nightstand. I know. That's true. That's very, I would, that would be a slippery slope for me. Because I would I would just be like constantly in there. You know, like those those videos that they like refilling all their candy and stuff like that. Yes. I'm like, first off, I can't be around it. Uh-uh. I would be in that little thing. I'd be refilling it every two days. All the time. Yep. You know? Diabetes. Diabetes. I don't know. I I being that close to chocolate, I don't know. No. No. Um, let's see, put them, those hidden items in a big broccoli bag in the freezer. Broccoli? Yeah. In the peas or some kind of vegetable bag. Yeah. Yeah. Don't mess with that. Now, when we went to Denham Springs, a nice lady gave us a whole bunch of uh Reese's Reese's and I put them in the freezer. And when we got from back from New York, one left. Who found out about it? My husband.

unknown 6:52

Oh.

SPEAKER_03 6:53

Easy can't blame the children. Easy, Chase. But I just thought, how nice would that have been? I ate that last one and I didn't share it with a damn soul.

SPEAKER_02 7:02

Well, I don't blame you. They took all the rest.

SPEAKER_03 7:05

Girardelli sea salt caramel dark chocolate. Oh. She hides these from her adult children.

SPEAKER_02 7:10

Elite. Mm-hmm. So we could still hide when they get bigger? That's okay.

Freezer Tricks, Nightstands, And Broccoli Bags

SPEAKER_03 7:15

I mean, I think I would probably want to display them on the table for when they came. Oh. But you know, so they could say when I go to my mama's house, mama always has something good for us. Yeah. Don't worry. Mama's gonna have something. Yeah. Mm-hmm. But something. This was my favorite. I cannot wait to read this one to you. Uh it says, Koa, my old grandma used to hide money all over her house. I guess because she grew up during the depression period. After she died, we found money in quartz sized milk cartons in her freezer, and even in other food containers, medicine bottles, and the toes of her high heels stored away in her closets, written for a special occasion on the box. She even went so far as to unsew the hems and curtains and hide money. My grandpa could not get rid of anything without thoroughly examining it or defrosting all the milk cartons that had the word shrimp written in red. She was very creative. Oh my bag of vegetables made her think of that. Could you imagine?

SPEAKER_02 8:20

Mamma said, Nang no burglars gonna get me. No, I'm hiding my money in the shrimp. They're not gonna mess with that. Mm-mm.

SPEAKER_03 8:28

Like, could you imagine? Like having to unsow everything. Can't give nothing away. Mamma's, you never know, in an old coat or something, she's got something secret, some money secretly hidden there.

SPEAKER_02 8:39

Gosh, but at what point does she forget where she put things to? You think? Like well, she didn't use it. So she probably forgot about it, you know? Well, believe it or not, my mama did that too. Not I don't think it was to that point where it was like I'd have to ask my papa to see where when she passed, they found money hidden in all kinds of places too.

unknown 9:03

Oh my god.

SPEAKER_02 9:04

I don't remember if it was in the freezer though, but I remember them going through like coats and stuff or boxes here and there. But to unsow the hem on the curtains, now that's creative. Yeah, that's creative.

Grandmas’ Hidden Money And Depression-Era Habits

SPEAKER_03 9:17

I'm just like, man, how much did they miss, you know, around the house? You never know. And nobody will find it.

SPEAKER_02 9:25

Or like in cards and stuff, like the money would still be in the card in the envelope. And she just put that aside.

SPEAKER_03 9:31

Yeah. I ripped those dollars out of there so fast. Who knows where who that came where that came from or how old you know that would have been. Some old$20 bills in there.$20. I mean, maybe five. I don't know. Back then, if you got a$5 bill, that was nice. Um that but that was probably my favorite one. Saved and washed a chicken liver container and put the chocolate in a ziploc bag, placed it in the freezer, and the children would not even touch no chicken liver container.

SPEAKER_02 10:04

Excuse me. I snorted.

SPEAKER_03 10:07

I snorted. Frozen peas. Oh Lord. And then um they talking about um a luxury. It's a simple large coffee mug. That's a luxury. Oh, okay. Like I bought two because I knew it would be hard to find again. Like, that's her mug. Don't mess with that mug. Mm-hmm. That's right. Her 23-year-old told me he broke one, and that's why it's my cup. That's why she got two of them. I don't blame her. You know, you and I'm not sure.

SPEAKER_02 10:40

I have my fur like my yeah, like some of my favorite mugs. I have a couple of them. And uh, yeah, I'm like, don't use that mug for your hot chocolate or whatever. No, that's mama's mug.

SPEAKER_03 10:52

Yeah, that's my good mug. You know, the big ones. Because I don't I don't really want the little ones. They just make me mad. I want it in my big mug so I don't have to get up a thousand times. Let's see. Used to hide sweet in uh sweets in empty coffin containers in the pantry because they didn't drink coffee. They never looked in there, but if I hide sweet anywhere else, they find it. So pick a spot, pick something they don't like to hide. Let me see what else. Big bag of peanut MMs in the workshop freezer.

Candy Nostalgia, Church Snacks, And Flavor Gripes

SPEAKER_02 11:27

My daddy keeps ice cream and popsicles in he has a like a fridge freezer outside in his shop, and the girls know that he he keeps it stocked in there, but he does it on purpose for them. Like popsicles and ice creams and stuff. Yeah, yeah. And during this summer, especially. Can we walk over and get a popsicle? Walk over and get uh an ice cream, yeah. He does that on purpose because he wants a cute and I just when you were talking about how like you would put for our adult kids um when they're adults, like always making sure we have something a little special for them. I mean, my mama always had like little a little candy jar or something out, or like my mother-in-law, when you first walk in her house on the dining room table, there's a doily with uh it almost looks like the pot that you have on your stove, like that with the spice of life on it, but it's just I don't know if it is a pot, but it it's got candy in it, and the girls know like they go there, right? Yes, so I think that's special. Like we have to keep that little tradition type thing going, you know, like this. So they look forward to oh, mama's got something good, you know.

SPEAKER_03 12:37

Well, my old aunt and uncle would go visit them in Texas, and every time we go there, it was like a thing. They would have like nuts, you know, like crack the nuts. Oh, crack them. Yeah, what is it that all about?

SPEAKER_02 12:48

It must have been like a yeah, it must have been a thing at one point because I can remember um going to somebody's house. I don't think it was Mama Mom, but maybe a friend's grandparents or their house or something, and like uh a bowl with like walnuts and a cracker and a crack, you know, a crack.

SPEAKER_03 13:07

I'm like, I feel like they maybe just made those crackers like you and that everybody was like, oh, this is what we've got to get.

SPEAKER_02 13:14

Yeah, and this is elite. This is like the uh the epitome of like, oh, I'm I'm fancy. Yeah, I have real nuts available for you to just crack and eat at your wheel.

SPEAKER_03 13:25

No, in my living room.

unknown 13:28

I don't know.

SPEAKER_03 13:28

No bother the mess. Like I'm dying, you have the shells going everywhere. Yeah, what do you do with them?

SPEAKER_02 13:34

And not pecans either. Like we have an abundance of pecans in Louisiana. Walnut nuts.

SPEAKER_03 13:41

We don't. But they also had like a little cut container of Werthers original.

SPEAKER_02 13:51

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 13:51

And let me just tell you, nothing hits like a Werthers. Nothing hits. Nothing hits like a Worthers. If I had one on this table right now and you were the first one, you would just be like, hmm. Just like the commercials. Maybe it was the commercials that gave you all the warm and fuzzies inside and made you think that they were so good. Or are they really that good?

SPEAKER_02 14:13

I mean they're all right. Uh that type of flavor, like a I know they're not butterscotch, they're like caramel, but like that flavor profile is not my favorite. Now, give me one of those uh strawberries with the gel stuff inside, and you know, strawberry candies. Now that I'll go for that.

SPEAKER_03 14:30

Uh-huh. I can feel it in my teeth right now.

SPEAKER_02 14:34

Yeah, that's like a uh my mama at church had that in her purse. Oh, at church? Yeah. Eating candies in church like that? We were Baptists, we're pretty liberal, you know. Yeah, I just eat candies in church. When you little like to keep me quiet. You know? Like a little kid with a dum-dum in church. Yeah. Well, it it's not as obvious. Yeah. Because, you know, dum dums, you got the stick. But this was just or like my daddy would put runs in his pocket. Okay, and like during church, like, daddy, you got you did you bring some runs? And he would give me one. Whatever, like, uh just to keep me quiet. It's so cute. Yeah, you would crunch on that some hard bambies. Now that I don't know. I'm pretty sure he would have m been like, don't crunch on that. Like, suck on it. Whatever, but yeah. Little banana. Yeah. That was back in the day when they had uh the cherry ones. Cherry, lime, banana, and the orange. Orange. And strawberry. The hearts are the strawberry ones.

SPEAKER_03 15:39

Oh.

SPEAKER_02 15:40

But now they don't have cherry or lime. No, it's like the green apple or something.

SPEAKER_03 15:45

Oh, you have some damn green apple. Hey, nothing pisses me off like green apple. It tastes like bad breath.

SPEAKER_02 15:53

Bad breath!

SPEAKER_03 15:55

Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_02 15:56

It tasted like detergent to me, like some type of soap. I cannot stand that. Or fake grape. I cannot do fake grape. And you know why? I think it's because we grew up on dy. Dimatap. And when you were sick, you had dyetap. So I associate that flavor with badness. And I cannot stand a fake grape. Taste anything. Kool-Aid, uh, Jale Rancha, no suckers, none of that.

Traditions: Treat Jars, Popsicles, And Crackable Nuts

SPEAKER_03 16:22

No, no grape. No, I don't like that either. I have to tell this story right now because I can't stop thinking about it, and it's so funny. And I hope I tell this right because my sister-in-laws are listening to this. So when anytime anybody in our family says dyma tap, their old Mamon, Jace's Momo, she had a a rice pot and the top wouldn't stay on it. So she put a um, she put a a bottle of now that she was older now. Yeah. She put a bottle of dyma tap on the top of it to keep it held down in the microwave. And the dime tap exploded everywhere. Oh was it full of stuff? I mean, I guess I just this that it's always a story that is told because it's just like, why would you do that? Why would you do that? She just said, Oh, I'm a fig is that. Yeah, here. Put a little diamond tap on the top, you know, and it obviously exploded everywhere.

SPEAKER_02 17:22

Just but I wonder if back then it was glass bottles too. You know, could have been like to weigh it down or something. That's interesting. Maybe it was. But but it was microwaved though. Uh huh. Oh well. No.

SPEAKER_03 17:37

I think all bets are off. All bets are off there. Yeah, no, there's a top on it, the liquid, you know. Yeah. That's yeah. So I'm just like wondering what that smelled like. Ricey Dhamma tap. Hot bald dhamma tap.

SPEAKER_01 17:53

A nice hot dhammetap. Uh what's the word I'm looking for? Nightcap.

SPEAKER_03 18:00

Dhamma tap nightcap. Oh my goodness. Could you imagine the smell though? Like if you don't, if you don't like purple, purple taste purple.

SPEAKER_02 18:08

I don't like purple taste.

SPEAKER_03 18:09

Well, I'm sure it smelled the purple in that house. For a while. Oh, for a while. So, um, you know, that that uh it that reminded me of that story because anytime somebody brings up time dime a top, we just all start busting out laughing at them all. Yep. But anyway, um no, a little bit of runs in church. Oh, yeah. Nothing like a little runt. Nothing like a little runt for the runs in church. We used to go to um there was a video store around here called Country Video. And well, there was two. There was Country Video and Main Street Marquis. Um, and Country Video used to be right on the side of Piggly Wiggly. Okay, it was like it was together with Piggly Wiggly and uh a barbershop. So we would go get our videos and they had those little runts, you know, in the little twisty things. You know what I'm talking about? Yeah, like then you turn it and it comes out. I think we saw one like that in in uh New York, and I'm like, ooh, one of some of that. And it was some old old faded. No, that was at oh that was yeah, yeah. Some old faded runs in there, probably 1997. Nobody still got none from there.

Small Joys For Moms And Quiet Moments

SPEAKER_02 19:24

And those are not the even the real runs. You know, there's a knockoff.

SPEAKER_03 19:28

There's a knockoff runt. Oh my gosh, runs are really going through the ringer. Gosh. Yeah. Why would you knock off runs? They're not even that good. Well, the knockoffs are even worse. Okay.

SPEAKER_02 19:41

Just saying. Bet you they taste like bad breath, huh? They taste like stale sugar. Stale sugar. Yeah. Chalky stale sugar.

SPEAKER_03 19:51

They wasn't good in the first place. Don't be hating on runs now. I like runs. Okay. I'm gonna buy you some. You could eat 'em in church.

SPEAKER_02 19:59

No. Oh, not now.

SPEAKER_03 20:01

Can you imagine? Do they still have the heart one though? Yes. Oh, okay. Well, at least that. Oh, the heart.

SPEAKER_02 20:07

The heart, the banana, and the orange. Just forget the rest. That's the three right there. Okay, come all out. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 20:13

Throw them out. Give them to the kids.

SPEAKER_02 20:15

Give them to the kids. That's what you're doing. You don't get the luxury of the banana.

SPEAKER_03 20:19

You have to.

SPEAKER_02 20:20

Yes. You won't even have to hide them. You just take out yours and have the you can leave one or two in there. Leave one or two in there so they don't think you went through them. That's a tip for you. Yeah. Or like the a check' mix. Now, my kids in a checks mix, we all like the rye chips, right? Yeah. Everybody. Um they the other day they opened up a bag of check mix and like they took a rye out and gave it to me. Like they knew I liked that one. I thought that was sweet.

SPEAKER_03 20:51

My kids do that with um gummy bears. They my favorite is the pineapple one.

SPEAKER_02 20:57

The yellow one.

Mardi Gras Events Recap And Farewell

SPEAKER_03 20:58

And so they bring me the pineapple. No, not the yellow. Clear. Clear. Okay. They bring me the pineapple ones because I like those kinds. But I do not like the green.

SPEAKER_01 21:08

We just learned all kind of things today. No purples and no greens.

SPEAKER_03 21:13

No purples and greens. No lemon, orange. Give me all of it. But do not bring me a purple. No purples.

SPEAKER_02 21:21

Alright. Well, y'all let us know in the comments what are some things that you keep for yourself. And we will not judge you whatsoever because as you can hear, we also keep some things just for ourselves. You know, momin' is hard. Moming's not easy. And if you have to hide a little bit of candy to keep for yourself every once in a while, you do what you have to do.

SPEAKER_03 21:42

Just the joy.

SPEAKER_02 21:42

Just a small little joy. Yes. You know. Go get you a little piece out the freezer and go take you a bath. And just quiet for a few minutes.

SPEAKER_03 21:50

In your big warm towel with no phrase on it.

SPEAKER_02 21:53

With no holes in it.

SPEAKER_03 21:56

Yeah. What y'all like to do? What's y'all what's y'all'll little luxury? I liked reading those. Um, that was good comments. That was some fun stuff. Um, thank y'all for hanging out with us today. And especially thank you to Acadia Parish, Cajun Horvest Country for coming with all the fun events in Acadia Parish.

SPEAKER_02 22:14

Yes, all the way from January 6th through Mardi Gras Day on February 17th. You can celebrate with us uh with king cakes, parades, parties, chicken chases, um you name it. We probably got it around here, especially the all the good food that comes along with all these celebrations. If you want a full lineup of all the events taking place in January and February for Mardi Gras season, go to AcadiaTourism.com. Um, more specifically, Acadia Tourism.com slash Mardi Gras. That's the page that has it all there. They got we have Mardi Gras balls too. They have one in rain, they have one in Church Point coming up. Um, and children's runs, children's chicken chases, adult chicken chases. You you're not gonna want to miss out. So planning your trip now, even if it's a last minute spur-the-moment thing, you won't be sorry. Get in the car and go. Yes. Thank you, Acadia Parish, Cajun Harvest Country, for being our sponsor for this month. We'll see y'all next week.

SPEAKER_00 23:12

Thanks for joining us on Coffee Talk with the Cajun Mamas. We hope you enjoyed your cup of coffee and our chat. Don't forget to subscribe and share with your friends. Until next time, keep the coffee brewing and the conversation flowing.