Waste Nothing!

What if the secret to better meals and a smaller grocery bill is already sitting in your kitchen? Erika opens up about the moment a simple basket of eggs changed how she cooks, shops, and saves—turning gratitude into a clear rule that cuts waste and boosts flavor. The theme is practical and inspiring: treat food as a gift, respect its value, and build delicious meals from what you already have.

Transcript

Mission And Origin Story

Erika 0:00

Today on Stretch Your Kitchen, you will never guess what I found in my freezer last night! I'm going to tell you all about it as I share the number one most important tip to get started immediately on your own journey toward saving money, making the most of your grocery purchases, and serving up delicious food for you and your family. Great meals don't start in the grocery store, they start in your own kitchen. I'm Erika, and I'm on a mission to prove that thoughtful cooking isn't about buying more, but about using better. Welcome to Stretch Your Kitchen. So I think it's only fitting if I start this very first episode of Stretch Your Kitchen by sharing a little bit about myself. I'm Erika and I'm a mom of five. I didn't always buy in to the importance of stretching your grocery dollars. You see, I grew up in what would probably be considered a wealthy family. Eating out multiple days a week was definitely not unheard of. And wasting food was pretty normal for us. We would leave our leftovers on the plate and didn't really think much of it. Then a real change happened in my life. After graduating college, I became a lay missionary teacher. And let me tell you, money was tight. I mean tight. I learned a lot about spending wisely and stretching my grocery dollars. I had no choice. So fast forward a few years, and money was not quite as tight, but I had a growing family. I had probably a six-year-old, a four-year-old, and a newborn at the time. And I remember I came home from the grocery store and I was putting the groceries away, spaghetti in the pantry, milk in the refrigerator, and the next thing you know, I came upon the eggs. I really cannot tell you to this day what came over me, but I looked at those eggs and for just a moment I stopped. And this feeling of gratitude came over me. You see, I used to feed my kids eggs almost every morning because eggs were so inexpensive at the time. And of course, it's a great source of protein, and I felt good about feeding them something nutritious in the morning. So I would buy several dozens of eggs on every grocery trip. And I looked at those eggs and I just stopped. And I placed them back on the counter. I went into the living room and I grabbed a basket. I placed a cloth napkin in that basket and I unloaded the eggs into that basket. And then I placed it in the refrigerator. You see, for some reason, in that moment, I just realized how fortunate I was to have those eggs. And I didn't want to waste a single one. I realized that it wasn't just about the eggs, though. It was about the fact that I was able to have food in my refrigerator to feed my family. Even on a tight budget, there was food. And in that moment, I just knew that I had to really respect that food or honor that food and definitely be thankful for that food. Those eggs became a daily reminder for me. Each morning when I would open the refrigerator and see those eggs lying in their beautiful basket, I remembered to be thankful. And I didn't want to waste. Ever since then, I really think I've been thinking about food differently. I've been thinking about food as a gift, and I wanted to be thankful and have gratitude for that gift. When you're thankful and when you have gratitude for something, you don't waste. That matters to me, especially now when grocery prices are so high and food insecurity is so far reaching. I don't want to waste. I really think wasting food is tantamount to somebody giving you flowers. Say your spouse or a friend gave you a beautiful bouquet of flowers, and they paid money for it, obviously, and they brought it to you in a nice vase and you put it on your counter and you admired it and you loved it. And then the next morning you came out, looked at those flowers, picked them up, and tossed them in the trash. That is throwing away something of value. So is food waste. It's throwing away something of value. And it doesn't just have financial or economic value, it also has value for our overall physical well-being. Did you know that in the United States, over one third of food is never eaten? And more food reaches landfills than any other material in the municipal solid waste stream. This past year in 2025, the Environmental Protection Agency presented a report that detailed the cost of food waste to American consumers. Do you know that the report found that the cost of food waste to each US consumer, that's every single human in the United States, is approximately $728 per year. For a household of four, that equates to $2,913 in food waste. I repeat, $2,913. I don't know about you, but I could definitely think of a lot better things to do with $2,913 than throw it in the trash. It has been my mission to really minimize food waste while stretching my grocery dollars, but I still want to provide quality food for my family. I knew very early on that my kids would someday grow up and fly the nest. That's what the goal of every parent is, I think. Well, I always wanted them to want to come home because they missed mom's cooking. So throughout their lives, it was so important to me to have delicious meals around the table. I wanted them to miss my cooking. I figured they would always come home if I had something tasty on the table. And they do. And you know, when each one comes home, they always ask me for one specific thing, whatever their favorite is, and I'm happy to comply because food, quality food, delicious food, has been part of their upbringing. But I always try to remember the importance of honoring the food. So stretching my grocery dollars and minimizing food waste was always part of the equation. So that leads me to today. I have been doing this for over 25 years. Stretching my grocery dollars, minimizing food waste, thinking about creative cooking and how I can provide delicious quality food for my family. Maybe for you, money is tight. Groceries are so expensive. Today it's even more important than ever to minimize food waste and stretch grocery dollars. But here's the other thing. I love food. I mean, I really do. I love food. I like delicious restaurant quality meals. There's something about the flavors and the presentation that just really appealed to me. But I know that I can do that within a budget. You see, realizing the benefits of reducing food waste has saved me hundreds of dollars per year. And you can get started now by implementing the single most important rule to stretch your kitchen. So that leads me to today's Kitchen Quest. The Kitchen Quest is where I tackle new topics each week to help you stretch your grocery dollars, minimize food waste, and turn what you already have on hand into delicious, flavorful meals. Today's Kitchen Quest is all about the number one most important rule of living a stretch your kitchen lifestyle. And that is to waste nothing. And in my opinion, that starts with one simple rule: freeze everything. How many times have you cooked a meal only to have leftovers remain in your refrigerator pretty much untouched? Or maybe you eat leftovers for so many days in a row until nobody can even stomach like another plate of spaghetti. Oftentimes we end up throwing away uneaten meals. Some people give them to a dog, which is a whole different topic in and of itself. But that is not only food waste, but it really is a waste of precious grocery dollars too. That's money in your pocket. So I have a simple guideline. Freeze everything. You see, in my house, I have a rule of thumb. I do cook pretty much every night. So whenever we have leftovers, which we usually do, I do leave them in the refrigerator the very next day, in case anyone really enjoyed that meal and wants to have some leftovers. And then the day after that, I freeze everything. So leftovers, I freeze them. If I have veggies that are on the verge of going bad, I freeze them. If I have milk, a day or two away from expiration, I freeze it. Yogurt, freeze it. Extra sauces or gravies, freeze them. Leftover pasta, freeze it. You see, you can freeze just about everything. And by freezing, you waste nothing. When you begin to see the value in wasting nothing, you suddenly see how every ingredient counts in creative cooking. Earlier in the podcast, I said that you wouldn't believe what I found in my freezer yesterday. I found the most delicious gnocchi in Tuscan cream sauce topped with baked pesto salmon. Well, I didn't actually find that as a complete meal ready to just throw into the oven and warm up. What I found was frozen leftover mashed potatoes, some frozen milk, some frozen spinach, some salmon. Well, the salmon was actually a gift, but I had it in my freezer. A friend of mine brought it back from a trip to Alaska. And then I had some cherry tomatoes in the refrigerator. And I knew they were going to go bad in a day or two, so I knew that I needed to use them up. So I thought to myself, spinach, tomatoes, milk. Well, that sounds like the beginning of a delicious Tuscan cream sauce. And mashed potatoes, those can easily be made into a gnocchi. You see, gnocchi is one of the easiest homemade pastas to incorporate into your repertoire of cooking. You just use two cups of potatoes, one to one and a half cups of flour, and one egg. That's all. You just mix that all together, form it into a log, and cut. Then I like to put a little thumbprint in the top of each one to make it feel authentic. But it's so easy to make and it cooks up so quickly. You just throw the gnocchi into a pot of boiling water, and as soon as it floats to the top, usually one or two minutes, it's done. Then the Tuscan cream sauce is simple. Just throw a little shallots and garlic and some olive oil in a pan, let that warm through and flavor the oil, add a little bit of tomatoes into it, let those burst and release their flavor. You could also use a can of sun-dried tomatoes if you had those on hand. Then you just add in a little bit of pesto if you have it. See, I always have pesto in my freezer because I tend to make it in large batches and then freeze it in individual baggies for future use. So I added a teaspoon or two or a tablespoon or two, whatever you like of pesto. And then I deglazed the pan with wine. I love adding a splash of wine or a half cup into any recipe that has an Italian flair to it. It just adds so much flavor. After that, you just add in a slurry of flour and water, and then slowly whisk in the milk, and you have a delicious, hearty Tuscan cream sauce. And that coats the gnocchi so beautifully. For the salmon, I just added pesto all over the top of that salmon, threw it in the oven, baked it, and it was done in 15 minutes. You definitely don't want to overcook salmon. You top that delicious gnocchi with the pesto salmon, and oh my goodness, it is a restaurant quality meal. All made, well, mostly made from leftovers. I'll add that recipe to stretchyourkitchen.com in case you'd like to look at it and make it for yourself. It's so easy. Now, those same ingredients, leftover mashed potatoes, milk, frozen spinach, they could have easily been made into a number of other meals. For example, salmon potato cakes with creamed spinach or a delicious hearty salmon chowder with crusty bread. I'm going to add all of these recipes onto my website at stretchyourkitchen.com in case you'd like to try them for yourself. Again, this meal costs me nothing but leftovers and a little bit of salmon that I had on hand from a friend. But you might have had another protein in your freezer, like chicken or some other type of fish like tilapia. See, that is the beauty of freezing everything. With a little bit of creativity, those leftovers can be reinvented into something completely new and delicious. Let's say I had leftover meatloaf in the freezer. I certainly wouldn't want to waste that. And that can be easily reinvented into chili stuffed peppers, or cheeseburger soup, or a delicious meatloaf breakfast hash. See that would be delicious. You could easily just cube up that meatloaf, dice a few potatoes, some onions, some peppers, some herbs, and make a delicious breakfast hash. Top it with an over-easy or sunny side up egg, and you've got a breakfast, brunch, or lunch that would satisfy anyone. Think about some leftovers that you might have previously thrown away. Like rice. It seems like everyone thinks that they should just throw away leftover rice because I mean, how many days in a row do you want to just eat plain rice? Rice is such a versatile leftover and freezes so well. You could use it to stuff cabbage or peppers. You could make a turkey rice soup. Or if you have a sweet tooth, you can make the easiest rice pudding with leftover rice. What about if you had macaroni and cheese? Well, I love to make homemade baked mac and cheese. It's one of my favorite comfort foods. But it makes an entire tray, so there are always leftovers. I love to turn leftover mac and cheese into a delicious cheesy broccoli noodle soup. You could also make it into a cheesy taco bake if you have kids. They would love that. Other dishes like lasagnas or baked zitis or enchiladas, well, you can easily freeze individual portions. No need to pack a sandwich every day for lunch, just grab a portion, microwave it, and you've got a delicious, satisfying lunch on the go. Have you ever seen a recipe and thought, this sounds amazing, but I really don't want to go to the grocery store and buy a million ingredients? I know I have. Well, by freezing everything, before you know it, you have so many ingredients on hand that open up a world of opportunities in terms of creative meal planning. It's like your own in-house grocery store. And let me tell you, when you cook creatively, the oohs and ahs from the table just melt your heart. I mean, as a mom, I really do need some cheering on from time to time. Don't you? Here's an added bonus. When you freeze everything, it actually becomes a time saver. I didn't need to peel those potatoes and then cook those potatoes and then shred or mash those potatoes to make that gnocchi. That easily cut out 20 minutes of time. If you were thinking about how many ingredients, you think of vegetables and leftovers and anything really that you've thrown away over the course of the year, this could easily add up to hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars in your pocket. Remember that $2,913 per year? Imagine if that were in your pocket. Suddenly that beach vacation doesn't seem so out of reach. I'm sure you've heard the saying, waste not, want not. I'm a believer. I have lived this motto in my kitchen for the past 25 years, and I am so excited to see how this one simple hack leads to greater creativity, greater flexibility in your cooking in the future. One obvious question might be okay, I can't use leftovers or frozen items on hand forever. How practical is that? Well, of course not. Everyone has to eventually shop. So in episode four of Stretch Your Kitchen, I'll be sharing how to shop and restock the Stretch Your Kitchen way. You might also be wondering how would I use all of those frozen tidbits? You will be amazed to see how this simple guideline of freezing everything leads to greater opportunities for creative cooking. And I'm going to share so many tips, tricks, tools, and ideas to get you started. So now it's time for this week's culinary concern. The weekly culinary concern allows me the opportunity to answer your questions and share more ways to help you stretch your kitchen. If you're feeling inspired, don't forget to subscribe to this podcast. Visit stretchyourkitchen.com, and please follow me on Facebook and Instagram at StretchYourKitchen for more tips, tools, and helpful takeaways to minimize waste and maximize flavor. Today's culinary concern comes from my daughter. And that's just because this is my very first episode, and I don't have any followers yet, so I don't have any questions yet. But I would love if you would head over to stretchyourkitchen.com and ask away. Here we go. While my daughter is a grown adult, she's 31 years old and she lives over 3,000 miles from here. She still sees the value in asking me for a bit of advice from time to time. So her question is, is there anything I shouldn't freeze? The answer is yes. Eggs in their shells, that is. But that doesn't mean we should let eggs that are nearing their expiration go to waste. It's never wrong to scramble some eggs up and freeze them into individual portions. They can be pulled out later for breakfast burritos or breakfast bowls. I used to make breakfast burritos for my kids all the time. It was like an assembly line process line up burritos on the counter, add a slice of cheese, add egg, add some sausage, rep. And freeze. And whenever my kids needed them, they were there. Frozen breakfast burritos, a nutritious grab and go breakfast. But of course, the eggs were scrambled. So yeah, it's never wrong to scramble some up, freeze them in individual portions, but just don't freeze them in their shells. Truthfully, there are really just a few food items that don't freeze well. Whole eggs, as I mentioned, and lettuces, lettuces just don't freeze well. But other leafy greens like kales and chards, they do freeze well. Then mayonnaise-based salads like potato salad or egg salad or macaroni salad, they just don't freeze well. But don't worry, in a future episode, I'll be providing some tips on how to handle those large block party sized trays of potato and macaroni salads so that nothing truly goes to waste. So for now, just avoid adding those items to your freezer cash and you'll be good to go. I think it's time to head into our triple T takeaway. Each week, I'll leave you with my Triple T takeaway. That's tips, tools, or tasks to begin implementing the stretch your kitchen lifestyle. These simple takeaways prove that thoughtful cooking isn't about buying more, but about using better. Look in your refrigerator and your cupboard. Examine expiration dates and ask yourself, what is on the verge of expiring or going bad? What am I not planning to eat within the next few days that could go bad? What do I have too much of? What did I maybe buy in bulk and I know I won't use it all at once? Then freeze. That's right. Just freeze. You can worry about it later because it will be safely tucked away for your future consumption. Now, the best way to freeze is to use Ziploc bags. My husband actually calls me the Ziploc Queen. True story. I buy Ziploc baggies in bulk, both quart size and gallon size, because I always want to have the appropriate size on hand. And the best thing about using Ziploc baggies for freezing is that they pretty much lay flat, allowing you to use your freezer space to its fullest capacity. It's much better than large bulky containers. Now be sure to buy the freezer bags, not the storage bags. The freezer bags are designed for long-term storage in the freezer. When freezing, don't forget to add the date to any frozen items. I keep a Sharpie and a basket on my counter so that I always have it on hand to add dates to each item that I place in the freezer. You will be amazed in one month's time just how much inventory you've added to your own personal in-house grocery store. Not by buying more, but by wasting nothing and using better. Remember, waste not, want not. With this one simple task, you are well on your way on the journey to stretch your kitchen. Next week on Stretch Your Kitchen, join the revolution. The recipe revolution, that is. I'm going to provide a whole new perspective on recipes. And it's sure to get you thinking about what you prepare and how you prepare it. Thank you for listening to Stretch Your Kitchen. If you enjoyed this episode or feel that it would be useful to someone else, please leave a review on Podchaser and follow me on Facebook or Instagram at StretchYour Kitchen. And remember, thoughtful cooking isn't about buying more, but about using better.