Episode 42: When Good Enough IS Good Enough: A Food Reality Check

Ever find yourself eating Target ravioli straight from the package? Same. Join us for an unfiltered chat about feeding families when you're exhausted, overwhelmed, and just trying to get food on the table and also into tiny bellies (and still remember the adults). We're spilling the tea on our grocery shopping fails, weird kid food phases, and why sometimes "good enough" nutrition is actually perfect. Plus: our Costco obsessions and easy meal hacks that actually work.

Grab our Real Mom Meal Guide here

Main Topics & Discussion

The Reality of Mom Life Grocery Shopping

The most relatable mom moment - standing in Target, starving, buying Good & Gather ravioli because survival trumps meal planning. This isn't about perfect nutrition; it's about the real, messy truth of feeding your family when life gets chaotic. We dive into those "I should have gone to Starbucks first" moments every mom knows, capturing that universal experience of grocery shopping with hungry kids.

Finding Your Food Philosophy as a Mom

Cally embraces "function first" food - meals as fuel that can be enjoyable but needn't be elaborate. Emily leans into cooking joy and flavor exploration while adapting to mom life constraints. We explore how motherhood shifts your relationship with food, from "elite grocery shopper" luxury to navigating food waste anxiety when your toddler refuses yesterday's favorite meal. Different food philosophies can work within the same family - there's no one "right" way.

Practical Shopping Strategies That Actually Work

Real mom grocery shopping tactics across multiple stores: Sam's Club basics (natural peanut butter, cheese sticks, crispy chicken splurge), Aldi pickup strategies, and local co-ops for quality dairy. Learn about the CSA subscription revolutionizing one mom's produce game - from kohlrabi confusion to seasonal eating joy. We tackle the processed food reality check: ingredient line boundaries, "natural flavors" battles worth fighting, and why Target's frozen fruit blend sometimes beats expensive organic alternatives.

Links & Discount Codes:

8Sheep Organics: Click this link for 10% off your purchase!

Kindred Bravely: THEREALMOMHUB15 for 15% off!

Host & Show Info

Hosted by: Cally & Emily O’Leary

About the Hosts: We’re real moms and real sisters. We may look and sound alike, but our motherhood journeys are uniquely ours. We all do Motherhood differently, and thank goodness for that. Let’s learn and grow together.

Podcast Website: https://therealmomhub.com/

Like what you hear? Let us know!

• Rate & Review on Apple Podcasts & Spotify – Help others discover the show!
• Join the Conversation – Join us on social (Instagram, Facebook, TikTok), or send us a message at therealmomhub@gmail.com to let us know what you'd like to hear more of.
• Share this epis...

Transcript

Because you don't have the right mug.

Yeah, I don't have the right mug. Can we say this word? Are we allowed?

I'll take one for the team. I got my I got my real mom hub mug right here

with actually mine is really cool It's from Glacier and there's a map of Glacier in the inside. Oh, yeah, that's a good mug

Love it. Hi. Hello How are you?

(...)

You know, I'm fine. I did some last-minute air ning which means Our day is just totally derailed. So I'm I'm honestly just reminding myself that I'm here recording a podcast with you

That is where we are. I'm the moment

(...)

Good and gather ravioli from Target

(...)

which a Little out of ordinary for you very off-brand not a carb girly not a pasta girly Definitely not a ever buy my groceries at Target girly I'm gonna be honest.

It sounds delicious.

(...) It's Fine, like I wish that I was the kind of person where this was like a guilty pleasure for me and I was really yeah And that's not the case. No, you know, I was with Kieran and we were both Starving in a grocery store, which is like the number one. You never do that You never go to the grocery store ever. No, don't go anywhere in public. Hungry.

You know what? I'm gonna I'm gonna give you your first hack right now

Okay, if you are hungry at Target You just let go of all of that. I'm not gonna spend extra money because you know what this is gonna save you money You go to Starbucks You get yourself a latte because whatever kind of milk product you get in it will make you more full And you get Kieran a horizon milk(...) He does he won't drink the milk out of a straw. Okay. They also have pouches

But the milk is usually a better move The only thing is pouch or milk you also get a bunch of napkins because they're gonna spill it all over the cart But then you're not gonna stress by as much food.

Honestly think you're right(...) And I think you're so right, but I would a hundred percent rather have had

(...)

Like a cute little starbies in my hand. Yes eating this good and gather Yeah,

and even though you're like, I don't need to spend five dollars today I bet you spent five dollars on your good and gather pasta

(...)

Yeah

(...)

Which Kieran wanted and then Kieran refused Yeah, that's

horrible

(...)

Yeah, so that's what I'm talking about today. Oh, yeah, we're talking about food

(...)

So I realized Like you and I hang out on the weekends. We go on family trips. We feed each other's kids There's kind of like a communal snack pie like one of the cousin sees another cousin eating something you just eat it Yeah, you just eat it and I love that. I feel like we're mostly aligned and we were raised by the same really nice It's so nice. I don't worry about what they're eating. Mm-hmm

I still was thinking about this though. I actually don't know how you feed your family

Well, and I think that's curious It makes sense and it's funny because I've never been like the foodie Like I feel like our family in general would be considered kind of a foodie family Yeah, and I would say I'm important. I am the least foodie of our family(...) Probably mom and I I would say are maybe like a similar level of like enjoying good food enjoying flavor But I compared to you the rest of you guys were like not

Mean I think you both focus on what food can do for you.

Yes, it's like the functional

(...)

Food is functional and can be enjoyable, but it's like function first

Yeah, yes, and Sadie and I will get together and talk about like five different ways to make rice a different fun texture and then Miri out of things that you can do with that, but we probably have a 20-minute conversation about

Rice or

yeah, and I'm like, you know what? I learned if I salt my rice, it's much better So that's how I'm gonna eat rice for the rest rice. Heck. Yeah My instant pot water or broth if I'm feeling fancy salt. Oh, yeah

But that's what all the like ten condiments are for

(...)

Yeah, but then the base has a nice little savory

Okay, I don't know. I I don't know about okay. Okay.

Oh

(...)

So we're gonna talk about food from both perspectives and we're gonna get the Emily like joy of cooking flavor

(...)

Creation which

has changed since becoming a mom. It just it hits different now Yeah, and I'm gonna I'm gonna pull you about how you're making sure that your family's fed nutritionally. Yes, and

We're both scrunchie as you may have heard on other episodes So I'm really curious about like your value hierarchy when you're at the grocery store What are the the top rules for you know? What are you looking for in terms of how clean your ingredients are like what's crucial for you? And then like where are you?

(...)

Cheating

yeah, and if you listen to the end we are going to compile a list of our Costco favorites like our pantry stock staples that

Really malleable can be made into a bunch of different dishes So I'll take on

the Costco and I don't have a Costco which is horrible But I do have a Sam so I'll deal with that and then also I do love Aldi So I'm gonna go through an Aldi staple list

Yeah, and we'll give you a couple free recipes so we're gonna have a fun little handout after this episode to make sure that you check out the show notes and

Tune

(...)

Okay,

loving about being in the kitchen and or feeding your family this week?

Kieran is just getting more and more verbal and He's so in motion most of the time that when he's in his height chair in the kitchen it's where a lot of the The words or the thoughts of the day are being synthesized Mm-hmm, and he can actually direct me to like what he's curious or excited about to eat, which is really fun

thing that I'm loving which I think is so funny is He's playing he's almost he's playing he's getting water everywhere He's just generally being annoying and so I'm like, no, we don't do that. No, no, thank you I'll try and distract and try to get a bunch of different methods. He's taken to mocking me

(...)

So I'll say no, no, we don't do that with our water and he'll go no no

(...)

Oh

(...)

That's hilarious, it's really funny that is so funny All right. What is difficult about feeding your family besides your good and gather pasta? Is that it?

(...)

It looks really good. I'm looking at that carb going yes, that's what I want.

I(...) Think it's another like it's really been tricky for me to figure out how much to feed this guy because sometimes he's eating three Helpings like he's eating more than I am for lunch sometimes and then other times He's not eating anything and I yeah, he's pooping irregularly. I don't know why I'm like, I don't want to waste all this food So food waste that's my L

Yeah, I forgot about that one and that's big. It's constant. Oh, it

feels so bad. Yeah, it feels really bad We have friends that have pigs. So like sometimes we'll have like a pig bucket for them Which I feel so much better about because any scraps except really pork Just goes in the bucket and then I know like these pigs at least are eating it, you know, like it's just like way better Absolutely. Oh, yeah, I think I'm gonna tell them I'm gonna start giving them pig buckets again Great

love that for you What are you loving about feeding your family this week?

(...) So this is my first summer with a CSA subscription Which stands for a community supported agriculture. I thought about it in the past, but we've a great farmers market So I've always been like I'm just gonna go to the market every Saturday But what I found is I'm not necessarily

(...)

Buying the things that I don't know how to use

Like I'm just getting when the produce isn't in season that I know how to use. I'm just not buying produce there So there's actually like a very small window that I'm buying a ton of produce at the farmers market

Just cuz like a lot of the early spring stuff. I didn't know how to use such as like kohlrabi

Scapes like I've never cooked with scapes before love a garlic scape bok choy

Beats I love but like I don't normally purchase them because my family doesn't eat them. Yeah, that's hard, too

then just like microgreens like I'm not usually just like purchasing microgreens just cuz I'm again like the only one that really would eat them so Now that I have the CSA I mean I'm getting all of that like in the spring and then it's fun too because I'm like learning Like the spring is just green like you just get a box of green It's all just like spring greens and then you start to get like your orange like the carrots start coming up like the beats start Coming up. So that's fun, too

would say actually that's my I'm loving that and that's what's difficult because I have so much produce I'm like, what do I think my fridge is just green? So then I like have to build my meals around it Which is honestly more fun than difficult, but it's definitely new

it's been great. What recommend look for your local CSA. I kind of want to do it now I mean, it's not that expensive compared to just buying produce Actually, I really don't think it is because I'm just cooking

differently, so I'm not buying as many groceries and This plate like we're going through an organic. She it's a mom who has like three kids They even do delivery like if you want to pay extra they'll deliver to your door Okay. Yeah, so me up. Yeah, look it up people. It's amazing.

Okay(...)

I love a farmers market so much and Usually if I see a vegetable that's gorgeous and I don't know what to do with it's a fun challenge for me Okay, so you'd buy it Not always but in a lot of cases

However, I we're not always here on Saturdays That's the other thing and I'm super bummed whenever we miss out. You probably have

a weekday one(...) We do but then like I have to go. Yeah, it's not in your routine I know when they're usually in the afternoon around here, which is all I'm yeah. Yep. So no good.

I Still go to the farmers market if I'm home and I'll get like eggs there There's a local cheese stand there, but I'm not really getting my produce there in the summer Which is working fine?

Okay, so when you're

At the grocery store or you're planning out your your meals for the week

What does that look like what are you focusing on for your family?

(...)

So I have like three different stops that well It depends on what grocery store. So The only like bulk food store we have is Sam's So there's just like a very few items that I'll get it Sam's which I guess I can just go over quick So I'll probably do that once or twice a month

Depending on the season war and if we're doing a lot of running around I'll get those like go-go squeeze fruit and veggie pouches I don't love those mostly it's not the nutrition that bothers me as much as the garbage So that's hit or miss if I'm getting that(...) I'm getting like a natural peanut butter like giant jars of it

giant package of cheese sticks again, I don't like the garbage but my kids eat it. It's just like a really fast easy thing

I'm getting fruit there like I can get bulk like organic fruit, which is good

then

Cheese I'll get like a big block of cheese Although I have to say I'm trying to shift so here's my like my hierarchy my values are shifting I'm really trying to be more conscious about getting local

Because it is more expensive(...) However, I don't always need a ten pound block of cheese like sometimes it goes bad So honestly if I'm buying a smaller quantity and I'm eating it and it's local like everything feels better. So

Yeah, so Sam's like just those few staples and then the one like cheat that I really get at Sam's if I'm there is The what's that brand? It's like They're naturals or something. It's this crispy chicken

It's like a green packaging. I don't they have it at Target it's pretty clean. It's crispy chicken

Aldi, I'll always do a grocery order almost exclusively So I do it online and then Kevin I'll pick it up on his way home.

So that's Probably once or twice a week depending on what I need for like dinner Because I haven't been great about meal planning my whole week lately

(...)

Especially just in the summer. I'm better in the school year because I have to be but in the summer I'm a little more loosey-goosey. Mm-hmm. So Aldi will be

(...)

Mostly like meat would come from Aldi

That's just kind of like if I need Kevin to pick something up. I do a grocery order

(...)

And then my third thing that I do probably once a week is I go to the local like food co-op And that's where I'm getting my milk and my eggs

So I get local low pasteurized milk from them and like the glass bottles It's also a to milk which if you have people in your household that are lactose intolerant that can be easier on their gut Which is why we switched

But I mostly just feel really good about getting the local milk and the low pasteurized because I'm like we're scrunchy not Crunchy, right? It's like I'm not getting raw milk. That's like a little out of my comfort zone(...) Low pasteurized I can get behind because it's just tons more nutrients that don't get cooked out

Yeah, so those are kind of my stuff so I guess my hierarchy is like where am I getting the protein?

The produce is pretty easy because my kids just love fruit and the veg I have to like kind of sneak in still and Then dairy I'm trying to get pretty local

(...)

Because also we live in Wisconsin.

(...) Yeah, and there's not a lot of

Don't you kind of for me I kind of have to look for the small local stuff Yeah, a little easier from a marketing perspective for me as a consumer to know what kind of Wisconsin dairy I was buying

(...)

I Love it. Okay. Yeah, really need to look into that when you're looking at a New food item like how do you feel about processed food? How do you handle that?

Feel like it depends on your definition of processed like literally this morning I googled is cheese a whole food cuz I do is like it's still processed

(...)

But it is like milk. So like Google said yes, I

Guess I'm thinking more so long ingredient lists like

my chicken tenders Yeah, yeah I'm not like I wouldn't say that I'm obsessing over ingredients list

To some people I might be but like to very crunchy people I wouldn't be

I don't recognize an ingredient I'm likely not buying it

one that I'm really Like if it says natural flavors and I trust the brand I'm still gonna buy it. Oh, I just I don't that's funny Yeah, so like all day like there's a lot of organic food at Aldi that'll still have natural flavors

I'll buy it. The other one is melto dextrin

Which is in a ton of organic food.

I have no idea how I don't know what it is So those are like I would say probably once my kids are out of the house or if I have a little more bandwidth Or I can really up our grocery budget. I would Shop in a way that did not involve those things But for my sanity right now, we don't have a ton of processed food So if they do and if it has natural flavors, I'm still buying it

Fair enough, I

so what's your shopping hierarchy look like

changed a

lot.

It needs to change more. I'm working on it

Transcription Pending

(...)

Transcription Pending

Transcription Pending

Transcription Pending

Transcription Pending

Transcription Pending

Transcription Pending

Transcription Pending

Transcription Pending

(...)

Used to being an elite grocery shopper

It would just go to the pretty stores with the really pretty produce and like pick out all the interesting textures and flavors when it was just Kyle and me

not worry about the grocery bill and now I definitely am worrying about the grocery bill so I Have a lot of tweaking to do on that front still but so far here's what my process looks like I am obsessed with Costco. I think it's I Just it's like it's a gift fun for me to go there.

I really think Costco is a gift to moms

(...) totally, I also

Sure that in order to get all of the bulk that they do there are a lot of Practices that I would not be on board with if I did a little digging So that being said I haven't done the digging

In Costco I try and buy as much as possible because the price breaks are so great. So they have these grass-fed beef(...) Organic beef ground beef packets that come in threes. I always have at least three those in my freezer And I'm gonna be making that I mean you could do nachos You can do taco if you could do a Mexican spin for sure. I actually do a lot of like Asian noodle bowls I made the other day.

I Made SOS it was raining. Oh my god You know what I want is mashed potatoes and beef and gravy yeah

(...) Phenomenal like that was a favorite growing up

Yeah, so I always have that in my freezer

They've got actually phenomenal lamb and the pricing is really good.(...) So I always grab a bunch of

Lamb chops and I'll usually break those down and if I'm if I have the time I'll throw them in little court bags like four to a court bag With a bunch of olive oil and seasoning so it's already marinated. So those babies just go on that I'll take them out thaw and they go on the grill That's great. They do these little lamb lollipops. Also. I always grab those I always have those in the freezer It's like a little rack

I'll just like crust that in herbs and we grow that that's great

(...)

Bronzino they sell whole Bronzino, which is a fish case It's a Mediterranean sea bass and it's it's like the chicken of fish. It's sweet. It's tender. It's not oily It's just like a very flaky. I Would feed a Bronzino to Kevin and not tell him and Kevin hates fish

Like it's just so anyways we grill these these babies whole like you just throw them on the grill Olive oil salt pepper a little crusty like blackening on that. It's so freaking good.

We all we yeah, I think I've threw them in my freezer right now Like that's a great meal for Kyle and I will just like split a fish with curin.

I Got I haven't even gotten out of the protein section yet. Oh, they have organic ground turkey. That's always in my freezer for turkey bowls Oh, that's nice

oh they have great frozen protein too. So I always have Joan sausages in my freezer for breakfast Yeah, you can get wild caught Alaskan salmon sockeye. I always have those fillets in my freezer(...) I'm gonna be honest when they're not super fresh. I don't love the texture as much as the farm raised

That's funny.

So embarrassing because in a nutrition standpoint, you're really supposed to be eating wild God,

I only buy the wild but it's really it's an embarrassing to say that I'm saying

(...)

It's just when it's been like frozen. I think like yeah, yes

Yeah, those are my big ones I also raid the produce hard like we always have The little baby cucumbers their broccoli and Brussels sprouts stay fresh way longer

(...)

Odd yeah, I don't know why I read the ingredients just fed. I think it's the packaging

Like is it cut up already? They hear you're getting florets Wow, I

know

then other things that we go through they've got a natural peanut butter I'm not gonna go through like an exhaustive list of what I buy cuz I'll just make a list and y'all can have it

those things that I listed are all so versatile and so easy Mm-hmm and clean because I do try and stay away from things that have a really long ingredient list Mm-hmm, and I do it so that I feel really good about cheating when it's just a really good flavor Like yeah, we always have kupi mayo in the house. I have no idea what's in there crack Maybe who knows like I don't read the ingredient list(...) There are other like fish chips and like crunchy snacks That I'll buy from ethnic grocery stores that we just have stocked. I literally I don't have I want to feel fine about it. We have a couple crackers like Triskids. I always have on hand That I'm like, I don't we're just gonna eat this

Yum(...) Yeah, so Costco and then I always have like in my fridge if it's a good grocery week I always have green onions bunch of green onions. Mm-hmm Those are good in so many different kind of different flavor profiles. I usually have cilantro, too

So I just I usually have like a bunch of glass jars with water and herbs in the fridge A little expensive

G but those are really easy to grow like if you didn't want to

They are my backyard is fully wrapped up.

Yeah, this wasn't your summer summer But I would if you're listening thinking you want that those are very easy to grow in a pot. Yes. Yep. Yep

as you were talking I did realize unfortunately I Do have to go to Walmart(...) for yogurt and granola What? because I Can't do I need Greek yogurt Like that's where I get a fair amount of my protein and I really dislike non-fat Greek yogurt.

Mean, that's just like doesn't fill me up and it tastes bad And then I really don't prefer the full fat Greek yogurt usually and the organic full fat Greek yogurt at Aldi Just like has a gamey flavor to me That I really did you're behaving so much like Emily right now like you about your Greek yogurt about my Greek yogurt So I literally have to go to Walmart. I'll say it. I really dislike going to Walmart. It's just like an unpleasant experience and I go because I can get the fire 5%(...) Greek Which is the move 5% fat it's perfect and then they're simply Elizabeth wait, no Purely Elizabeth. You can get that at Costco the granola Okay, I can't yeah purely Elizabeth granola So it's like a tree now, it's so good and Walmart has really good pricing on it Okay, see that one.

I don't know if I'm gonna buy again because I think reading list isn't super clean Like it's fine, but it's pretty like pretty good.

literally like pulling up the ingredient list. All right, you keep going

Costco you I also get the carry gold. I always have a bunch of carry gold in my freezer

Oh, I have to go to Walmart for that too

my gosh Emily this ingredient list is like really short and clean What are you saying? Maybe I'm thinking of a different or no. I think you are. I mean, there's sugar like it's cane sugar

Yeah, carry gold good hack people because honestly I'm learning that grass-fed butter has a lot of nutrients

(...)

So if you can get like other grass-fed butter great and carry gold is expensive I will fully say that like that's a splurge for sure, but it is grass-fed and it tastes so freaking good

(...)

Yeah, it's what I want on toast on bread. It's so good. It's yeah. Yeah(...)

Okay, we're probably pretty similarly aligned I think I'm more sensitive to like single plastic items like single. Yeah packaged and

(...)

Yeah, I'm definitely more sensitive to the natural flavors which eliminates so much yeah

(...)

But I think that will also shift when I have another kid

Yeah Well, it depends on the season for me like if we're really busy I'm buying more single-serve stuff I will say I've gone away from cheese sticks during seasons of life and it's always harder It's like that's I feel like my one plastic thing that and I did forget at Aldi. They sell the chomps brand like little beef sticks

(...)

Which are individually packaged they're so handy so we'll frequently get like chomps and cheese sticks are just kind of the

the staples in our snack

We're going to a park or something the kids have just sort of learned to expect if they ask for a snack It's either gonna be a cheese stick or a beef stick(...) or fruit

Yeah, that seems reasonable It's just so easy what I'm really curious about is what you guys eat like what have you guys eaten in the past week?

(...)

Like what are you what is sitting down for dinner look like for you? What is what is breakfast lunch and dinner look like for you?

breakfast is pretty seamless Kevin makes eggs like every morning he gets up at five so he can have quiet time So he makes delicious scrambled eggs like he's really good at it go Kev so we usually have scrambled eggs, and then we'll have sourdough because I make sourdough

That's pretty typical

then while he's showering I will make a green smoothie that he'll take to work like as a snack, and I'll have mine as a snack So our green smoothie Okay, here's another stop(...) target has(...) target has Fruit and veg frozen blend love that it's

not organic

But what I like about target is it's not single serve packaged. It's all just in a big bag So you're eliminating a bunch of plastics? Yeah, that's why I'll try to stock up whenever I need diapers at target, and I'll get that wish I would have known that today So we're getting that so I put that in our smoothie. We use just ingredients protein powder Spendy, but it's the only one that doesn't completely fish up my gut

too. And then yeah really impressed and and it tastes good tastes so I'm pretty sure there's natural flavors in there Yeah, there are okay, and then wait

No, not all of them. Oh Like they're chives like I'm pretty sure strictly

has oh just like cinnamon vanilla. Oh Okay, that's a good hack to know and then I also do our collagen powder in

smoothie

(...)

that's our smoothie. So like Kevin does eggs We have sourdough toast with the kids and I'll make a smoothie while he's getting ready for work So that's usually breakfast if it's not eggs and toast. It's oatmeal my kids love oatmeal

And or like once a week we do sourdough discard pancakes

and then dinner

mean this week we have

(...)

Lunch is random. I don't know lunch is like I feel like lunch is almost more stressful for me Sometimes because it's like you have hungry tired kids It's just like a hard time of day leftovers Honestly, my go-to is I get a bunch of Ham just like ham lunch meat. I hate ham lunch meat. My kids devour it So frequently they'll have ham and fruit and cucumbers

That's lunch. That's great. All right, like it's easy. It's not fun. They eat

do have tortillas tortillas I don't eat them because I'm so mad about the amount of junk

sometimes they'll do like a ham and cheese roll-up or like peanut butter and jelly on a tortilla Like if I just need calories in them, we'll do

Dinner like this week We've been doing a lot of stir-fry since getting a CSA purely cuz I'm like, what do I do with all of this? Oh, I can cover it up in a sauce and my kids will likely eat it.

Do you make are you making the sauce?

Are you mostly?(...) So Okay, so I've been getting grass-fed pork ground pork. It's like once a week in the summer. We've had stir-fry With pork whatever veggie I'm trying to use up in my fridge

sauce has been like

(...)

Soy sauce or coconut aminos, but I just used them up and I think soy sauce tastes better Anyways, usually I'll use mostly coconut aminos and then I'll add soy sauce for flavor after

Garlic Ginger I have stopped grating that no time for that. I buy frozen pods of ginger same even Yeah,(...) or the paste tissue like peel a ginger and shred it If

I know that I'm batching or like if I know there's a specific use We almost always have ginger root in our fridge still. Yeah, but if it's such a house I'm using Yeah, yeah, I'm using the squirt tube or whatever.

Yeah, um sesame oil Race vinegar. Here's what I don't know how to do and maybe you can help me I've just been putting some oyster sauce in which is like really junky at least the stuff I have for what?

it it I don't know. It makes it taste delicious like takeout

Like I add it to my sauce, but it's like kind of full of stuff Do you do you put sugar in your sauce? Ah honey usually. Okay. Do you do

is it a texture thing?

I Love a little fish sauce

Yeah, maybe I just need to get that instead is that Well, it's just that's like funny in there.

I don't know. Okay, like it's kind of that added depth Funk, there's nothing that really can replace that flavor as far as I know

Yeah, and are you putting like cornstarch in? No, it's been okay without. Oh, really? It's not super saucy I wouldn't say but it's like very good flavor. Great.

I Don't know. So believe that with white rice. That's pretty standard in our house

made kabobs last night that were actually really yummy. And then this was new

We had some fritters to use of some kohlrabi So it was like shredded kohlrabi shredded carrot

(...)

cheese and egg a

Bunch of spices just all mixed together you bake it. Yeah, they were delicious

But they were so good. That's a lot of shredding. Do you have a food processor?

No, I need one. But honestly, like it was one kohlrabi and like one carrot like it's not Okay. Yeah, it wasn't bad. It's so tasty though

So yeah, we had kabobs and fritters That's like that sounds really healthy. And that's not how it always is in our house Like I just need to throw it out there CSA people Yeah, the CSA it just kind of makes you Yeah, oh we had like ground beef like taco bowls also

like lettuce from the CSA.

What's your cheat meal?

where you get home and you're like, oh my god, it's 30 minutes 45 minutes later than I thought

crispy chicken(...) 100% yeah, cuz I put mine in a salad Kids eat it with ketchup. We always have cucumbers because that's the one vegetable to like eat without complaining Yeah, Kevin will eat as much salad as he thinks he needs to eat plain washing it down with water Yeah,

(...)

the other one that like my family loves and I just need to bat I don't know how much is spaghetti and meatballs and I'm not opposed to spaghetti and meatballs Like I don't want it that much spaghetti in my life, but like once a week or once every two weeks, that's fine.

(...)

I Frequently have pre-made meatballs, which I really don't like I don't feel good about it Making meatballs like just takes kind of a lot and it's kind of gross Yeah, but you

want to get that you don't want to be interrupted in no

(...)

You know rear hands like so that's something if I could batch like

Three months worth of meatballs. My family would be much happier. Like we would be Fed more nutritiously. They'd be thrilled. So that's on my to-do

what about you?

We do a lot of I do a lot of asian cooking I do a lot of asian cooking

it's the easiest way for me to clean up my fridge

See that's what I don't like i'm not good at asian cooking

(...)

Well, like i'm a white girl from the midwest. So it's Definitely a marriage like it's definitely americanized

But like what like when you like, okay, give me a meal

Okay, so If i'm my my cheat meal is also crispy chicken But it looks a little different for us most of the time when it's a crispy chicken night I throw on a pot of rice and I throw that crispy chicken in the oven. They're done at the same time Curing gets his crispy chicken plain with cucumbers. Also the only thing he consistently wants to eat that screen

and then kyle and I i'll just slice it really thinly lay it over a little bit of rice We always have costco kimchi in our house always. Okay side of kimchi

(...)

And then the combo of cilantro and green onion elevates literally anything Yeah, and then I have a bunch of like we have crispy chili oil we have sweet racha

So you're not even having to make a sauce? No, throwing that out there

the I don't even know how you say it. I think it's a japanese family b a c h a n

Sean,(...) okay. I don't know they make a bunch of sauces The big one I get like their standard is actually very clean very low ingredient list delicious

(...)

You can like smother the chicken in that you could just put it on the rice(...) Yum, yeah, I mean obviously we have kupi

And you would put that on your crispy chicken bowl.

Oh like kind of like an aioli rice Like I love a little like my favorite. Yeah, I know my favorite like

Comfort food. I've been craving this before my acid reflux krypton being pregnant literally a bowl of white rice, yes(...) a little bit of

soy sauce, yeah(...) and

True racha and kupi Okay,

the mayo never just his yes Because honestly our bodies especially now want some fat

What's your breakfast routine it changes

Usually eggs right now. We're off eggs kieran's off eggs.

Oh kieran decided

(...)

I just don't know like I can't keep up with him. He really likes peanut butter mixed into his scrambled eggs. That's disgusting So I thought it was this is from kyle's mom. She grew up with it and the first time I saw her do it I was horrified but he ate it and

The way she does it is she puts the peanut butter in while it's still runny So it's almost like a peanut butter mousse. You don't taste the egg. You just taste peanut butter. Oh like well, it's cooking Yeah, and there's a little bit of texture Oh It's like uh, you're not eating eggs. It's like you're eating like a frittata like a peanut butter

funny.

Okay.

Okay, like we're not recommend to be clear

But I think it's not bad. No, and that's great for a baby Oh, especially great hack if you're trying to introduce all those allergens quickly. True. Yeah, like for your six month old That's perfect, which is

around when he's probably eight months when he started loving that. Yeah. Yeah

So it's usually scrambled eggs for him Um,

do overnight oats for Kyle Because he just doesn't eat breakfast right away. So he'll take it into the office with him I hate oatmeal. Kieran loves oatmeal. We'll do the sourdough discard pancakes like once a week

Yeah, it's just really simple. I also do sourdough most of the time um usually egg whites and toast

(...)

Because you don't like the yolk. I just want to be clear here It's not like she's like on this like fit girl Egg white trend. It's purely because she doesn't like egg yolk, which is embarrassing. So weird. Yeah, it's like your worst foodie tendency.

(...) It's a non foodie like it's just embarrassing(...) But I don't yeah, actually

(...)

If you ever got to eat ramen with me, you can have you can have my egg

(...)

It's always embarrassing too. Yeah, that's really sad.

Yeah. Yeah Okay,(...) i'm excited for your one pot meals because I do them and they're fine But it's usually just like a southwest situation That's just like some sludge in a bowl and we you know put enough sauce on it and it's good You know,

the only ones i've done are um chicken thigh

Okay, it's usually like a reverse sear like it's not a reverse sear It's the cold pan sear for crispy chicken skin on one side and then that schmaltz and that fat influences the rice and everything else Oh, yeah, your

one pot meals are way fancier when I say one pot. I mean like instant pot I mean we're like you don't have one putting my stuff in and you're pushing that button

See if i'm on that level for like an I need a dinner plan, it's nachos(...) Okay, yum,

yeah, yep corn chips that is a staple from whatever store i'm at. I don't really care Yeah

Yeah, that's that's probably true for me too.

Yeah, I need a crunchy salty corn chips. Yeah, definitely. Yeah.

Yeah, but with you Honestly, like as long as I have enough things in my pantry for like mexican flavors(...) asian flavors and italian

(...)

or like a mediterranean-ish(...) Like we're good and I have those proteins that I outlined like from costco You can kind of do anything with any of those

Yeah, but you have to understand how to use those flavors, which is not like a natural thing

For I would say most people

Well, i'll put that That sauce. Yeah, there are a few sauces that it helps to have on hand that are clean for aging flavoring That would be great. Like it's good on veg. It's good on like you can do a one pan Like chicken like a sheet pan recipe and just put that on at the end. It's great for marin eating And then for me, it's really about like what kind of chili sauce do you have?

And what kind of fresh herbs do you have?

So good(...) Like a chinese five spice don't know how to use that

Oh I love it on a duck breast christmas.

Okay, I would never like buy a duck breast Give me something else to put it on.

I mean you could do the same thing on chicken. You could do it. Um Like kind of like a warm ground beef situation

(...)

Oh, I have these high protein rice noodles

They're like ramen noodles for those costco. Oh, yeah, I have a pack from costco

They're high protein and they like I can just toss them in a little bit of sesame oil And if I have it green onion(...) maybe even ginger

(...)

Yeah, and then as long as my ground beef is seasoned enough Like you could throw in some five spice a little soy a little ginger a little garlic you can eyeball all this stuff You could throw in mushrooms. You could throw in whatever and then you kind of just toss it over the nudes

Phenom. Okay.

So is the five spice like(...) Is it kind of like using?

I'm trying to think of like a better equivalent than like seasoned salt in american cooking like um,

like chili powder Like do not know how to it is used traditionally, but it's just a delightful kind of like warming spice Okay

Maybe i'll just get some and then i'll call you i'll report back

Sure

It is really good on duck breasts.

Yeah, i'm still probably not buying a duck breast with it(...) Next time you're in milwaukee.

Oh my great. Oh, it's one of my favorite summer meals is like chinese five spice I just crave this sometimes(...) So it's just like one of my favorite flavor combos It's not a recipe or I don't even think i've ever had it in a restaurant, but I make it at least once a summer(...) beautiful like rare duck breasts(...) Five spice seasoning slice really thin so everyone gets their own bunch of fluffy white rice lettuce cups

And then some sort of like funky salty(...) garlicky

(...)

slaw like shaved radish cucumber just like bright crunchy

so you put a little bit of the duck a little bit of the Rice a little bit of the lettuce a little bit of that slot. Oh my god It's just oh and the life favorite combo verbs for summer favorite just all the time all day long. I want all the time cilantro green onion and basil and mint if you have it and mint(...) All of them together put it on any grilled meat A little bit of citrus a little bit of salt done for

so that's different than a chimichurri

Yeah, rough chop throw it

on don't fuss

Yum,

So we're gonna put together some like shopping lists some recipes This is a pain point for everyone I feel like when you just like hear people talking about their go-to's it like sounds new and exciting and sometimes i'm like Oh, wow, they must be so good at this. I don't feel Well, you're more of a foodie. Anyways, am I usually feeding my family nutritious meals? Yes, is it like easy and painless at this point?(...) No So like I just want to throw that out there like it's just probably always a thing during motherhood because also What time does kieran turn into a monster because for my kids, it's like 5 p.m like right before dinner it is like

If kevin's not home yet i'm trying to make food.

Oh my gosh lately It's been when he wakes up from his nap nice for like an hour to three Yeah, yeah, and then like right around the time when carl gets home from work. He's delightful again Yeah, so then kyle's walking into no dinner prep Like a house that hasn't been cleaned. Yeah He never has said anything but i'm standing there like I don't think you understand how much of it like he's been clinging to me and screaming like I don't think you Understand how like difficult this has been because he's like just babbling and so happy to see you right now. Yeah.

Uh-huh Yeah So we'll throw our stuff out there and then if you have any great staples, please send them our way

Because everybody can use some more dinner staples. Yep.

Yep. Yep

(...)

And if we get we get if we get enough community feedback Which you can slide into our dms on instagram or facebook or email us old school

we get enough We'll put together like a whole other thing that we that would be great.

It'd be so good piling.

Yeah Yeah, maybe i'll like put a whole new tab on our website where we can all swap

Honestly, because there's so many places to find recipes like there's resources everywhere But sometimes you just like need your go-to, you know, mm-hmm. Yeah, it's a great place. Yep. Absolutely(...) Okay(...)

your day

You too my kids still

sleeping My too I might go do some meal prep. Oh good for you.

I'm not I'm not Love you. Love you. Bye

(...)