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Bougie on a Budget: 17 Hacks to Slash Your Christmas Food Bill with Chelsea Goodwin (Plus Her Menu For Under $100 You Can Steal) · She's On The Money

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  Speaker 1: My name is Tatasha Bamblet. I'm a proud First Nations
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  Speaker 1: woman and I'm here to acknowledge country t glennyan Ganya, Niana,
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  Speaker 1: Kaka yah Ya, bin Ahaka Nian our gay In Nibina,
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  Speaker 1: yakarum jar Dominyama, Domaghawakaman, damon imlan Bumba, bang Gadabomba in
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  Speaker 1: and now in wakah ghana on yak raum jar Watnadaa. Hello,
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  Speaker 1: beautiful friends, we gather on the lands of the Aboriginal people.
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: We thank acknowledge and respect the Abiginal people's land that
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  Speaker 1: we're gathering on today. Take pleasure in all the land
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  Speaker 1: and respect all that you see. She's on the Money
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  Speaker 1: podcast acknowledges culture, country, community and connections, bringing you the tools,
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  Speaker 1: knowledge and resources for.
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  Speaker 2: You to thrive. She's on the Money. She's on the Money.
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  Speaker 3: Hello and welcome to She's on the Money, the podcast
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  Speaker 3: that is here to help you have a very merry
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  Speaker 3: Christmas without a very scary grocery bill. Last year, Australian
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  Speaker 3: households spend about five hundred bucks on Christmas food and
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  Speaker 3: drinks alone, and with grocery prices climbing higher than ever.
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  Speaker 2: This year, I thought, absolutely not.
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  Speaker 3: We are not doing another Christmas shop where the checkout
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  Speaker 3: gives you heart palpitations. So today's episode is all about
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  Speaker 3: building a gorgeous Christmas feast without the financial stress.
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  Speaker 2: I'm Victoria Devine and girls is not just me.
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  Speaker 3: With me is the woman who can turn ten bucks
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  Speaker 3: into dinner and somehow make it taste really expensive. You
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  Speaker 3: might remember her from our episode on feeding your family
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  Speaker 3: for ten dollars, And she's back and I am thrilled.
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  Speaker 3: She has come all the way from Tasmania and she's
• 2:00
  Speaker 3: in my studio in real life. Welcome back to the show,
• 2:03
  Speaker 3: Chelsea Goodwin.
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  Speaker 2: Oh my goodness, I am so happy to be here, Victoria.
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  Speaker 3: So I am just excited to meet you in person.
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  Speaker 3: Like we had this really cool interview.
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  Speaker 2: It was all online. That's fine, but we vibed.
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  Speaker 3: I love watching your stuff, and to see you in person,
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  Speaker 3: I'm like, oh, she is actually sunshine.
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  Speaker 2: I know you're sunshine in the form of a human,
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  Speaker 2: and I love that you are so sweet.
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  Speaker 3: Let's get into Christmas because I also love Christmas, so
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  Speaker 3: do I. I've got Christmas nails, You've got a red
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  Speaker 3: jump up.
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  Speaker 2: We are ready for this.
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  Speaker 3: So I wanted to start first question first, cab off
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  Speaker 3: the rank, not even about budget.
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  Speaker 2: What does Christmas look like for you? I love Christmas.
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  Speaker 2: It's Christmas is such a joyful time. It's like where
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  Speaker 2: I have a small family, so I never had this
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  Speaker 2: sort of big, huge family Christmas. So now it's just
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  Speaker 2: me and my three kids and it's us at home.
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  Speaker 2: We do a Christmas Eve dinner. My dad's side of
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  Speaker 2: the family are Africa American. They're all in America, so
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  Speaker 2: they don't join us for Christmas, but we bring Christmas. Yes,
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  Speaker 2: we bring the culture onto the dinner tables. So we
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  Speaker 2: have like a soul food beast on Christmas Eve. It's
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  Speaker 2: delicious and we invite friends over. And then on Christmas
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  Speaker 2: Day it's usually something a bit more traditional, so we
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  Speaker 2: have sort of like your traditional Euro Aussie Christmas. And
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  Speaker 2: I try when I can to volunteer on Christmas Day.
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  Speaker 2: So if we have time in the day, if there's
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  Speaker 2: somewhere that needs help, yes we'll rock up and we'll
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  Speaker 2: cook food, serve food, or do whatever we need to do.
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  Speaker 3: We did that growing up. That was really important for
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  Speaker 3: my mom. My mom was like, you guys need.
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  Speaker 2: To learn what the world looks like and Christmas is
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  Speaker 2: about giving, it is.
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  Speaker 3: So we would go down to I want to say,
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  Speaker 3: ye soup kitchen, but it was like I can't remember
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  Speaker 3: the establishment that we did it at, but I'm assuming
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  Speaker 3: it was like a Vinie's or something. And we go
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  Speaker 3: down and like serve Christmas lunch and then come back
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  Speaker 3: and have our dinner together as a family, and same
• 4:01
  Speaker 3: as you family, but they're all inter state, so we
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  Speaker 3: often just have like a little small Christmas all together.
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  Speaker 3: And yeah, I feel like that really helps bring back
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  Speaker 3: the sense of gratitude that you have on Christmas, and
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  Speaker 3: like you're probably teaching your kids a lot through that
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  Speaker 3: as well, I really hope.
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  Speaker 2: So I mean this Christmas, we are cooking for over
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  Speaker 2: one hundred people, so that is really stretching the limits
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  Speaker 2: of my ability. Hundred people, hundred people, So that's that's
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  Speaker 2: I just want on that. Yeah, Luckily most of the
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  Speaker 2: food is donated, so we don't have to worry bud judget.
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  Speaker 2: Great budget, great budget, but it's going to be so
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  Speaker 2: much fun. Oh, I love that. All right.
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  Speaker 3: Pivoting back to your family Christmas thought, what parts of
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  Speaker 3: Christmas are you happy to spend on and what parts
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  Speaker 3: are you like, absolutely not.
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  Speaker 2: Okay, I am a thrifty queen when it comes to presents.
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  Speaker 2: So we do thrift shopping for our Christmas presents. And
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  Speaker 2: that's something that I started doing. So we're not in
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  Speaker 2: the same family, Kid's quite possible. Yeah, would basically look
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  Speaker 2: like sisters. I know, can't you tell? Yes, So we
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  Speaker 2: buy our presence at thrift shops. I used to do
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  Speaker 2: that when my kids were really young and I couldn't
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  Speaker 2: afford to buy presents to them and didn't want to
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  Speaker 2: go into debt or lay by presents for them, so
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  Speaker 2: I would buy things, often new, from thrift stores for
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  Speaker 2: their Christmas presence and they never knew the difference. So
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  Speaker 2: now we're a bit more open about it, and we
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  Speaker 2: do it as a family. So we'll go with ten
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  Speaker 2: dollars each to go and get a present for each person,
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  Speaker 2: and it's like this really exciting sort of true chunt.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah it is. It's fun and it's really like when
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  Speaker 2: you open it up, it's always a surprise to see
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  Speaker 2: what the rest of the families managed to put together.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, one hundred percent. We do handmade, homemade or second hand.
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  Speaker 3: It's like one of my family sides and it's literally
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  Speaker 3: so fun, Like it's one of my favorite parts because
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  Speaker 3: you just it's like a challenge in a way, because well,
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  Speaker 3: I can't plan a gift, I can't do the research
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  Speaker 3: for the gift. I actually have to get out there
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  Speaker 3: and kind of get my hands dirty to find something.
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  Speaker 2: But when you find the perfect then you're like, this
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  Speaker 2: is it exactly, and it's sort of feel good aspect,
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  Speaker 2: and I feel like, you know, there is this like
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  Speaker 2: massive amount of over consumption in our society and we
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  Speaker 2: have all of these things that we receive as gifts
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  Speaker 2: and don't use. So you know, if we get something
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  Speaker 2: from the thrift store that we don't love, we just
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  Speaker 2: donate it back exactly, and.
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  Speaker 3: We don't feel bad because the gift actually already served
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  Speaker 3: its purpose.
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  Speaker 2: That's exactly right.
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  Speaker 3: So before you mentioned I'm slightly envious that you have
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  Speaker 3: two styles of Christmas meals that you cook. You've got
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  Speaker 3: your soul food and then on the flip side, you've
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  Speaker 3: got something more traditional.
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  Speaker 2: What do you think or which style do you think
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  Speaker 2: is cheaper to make? I'd say purely because of the
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  Speaker 2: mac and cheese that I make for Christmas Eve dinner
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  Speaker 2: and cheese being so expensive the traditional dinner is probably
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  Speaker 2: cheaper because you said yes, because if I make a
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  Speaker 2: proper mac and cheese, we're talking like like three. Yeah,
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  Speaker 2: there's so much so that just blows the budget but
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  Speaker 2: totally worth it, and we always have leftovers a traditional one.
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  Speaker 2: I feel like I've got down to kind of a
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  Speaker 2: fine art where you know, we never spend more than
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  Speaker 2: one hundred dollars. You know, even if I'm cooking for
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  Speaker 2: eight people, no matter how many people are there, it's
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  Speaker 2: under one hundred and I just make it work.
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  Speaker 3: No, that actually doesn't make sense to me because the
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  Speaker 3: charcuterie board I have in my head is already going
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  Speaker 3: to cost like eighty dollars and I'm already like I've.
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  Speaker 2: Maybe we need canutary board, Victoria.
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  Speaker 3: But like, sorry, that might be in line with my values.
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  Speaker 3: You mentioned you give yourself a one hundred dollar budget
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  Speaker 3: for you like it doesn't go over Yeah, how far
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  Speaker 3: out are we planning this menu?
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  Speaker 2: Like? Or how well in advance? Too far? So as
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  Speaker 2: soon as i know who I'm cooking for, which is
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  Speaker 2: usually kind of the first week or so of December, yeah,
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  Speaker 2: I can then start planning. So if I know if
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  Speaker 2: it's just my family. If it's just four of us,
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  Speaker 2: go for it. If I might have, you know, two
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  Speaker 2: or three extra coming along, I can figure that out.
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  Speaker 2: And then I start planning what I'm going to make,
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  Speaker 2: how much of everything I need, and then I cost
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  Speaker 2: it all out.
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  Speaker 3: You're gonna have to give me examples because we can't
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  Speaker 3: say to my community. Oh yeah, So Chelsea does hook
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  Speaker 3: Christmas dinner for one hundred dollars, and then we move
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  Speaker 3: on from that, like everybody is wondering, like how including me, it's.
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  Speaker 2: Not possible, including dessert, including out everything. Sorry, she's just upgreen.
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  Speaker 2: We're including the meat, the sides, and the dessert.
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  Speaker 3: What meat are we cooking for under one hundred dollars?
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  Speaker 2: All right? So hit me out here. The humble roast
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  Speaker 2: chicken perfect, yeah, which I think a lot of people
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  Speaker 2: overlook because they think if I do a roast chicken
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  Speaker 2: on Christmas Day, first, it's a little bit povo Like, No,
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  Speaker 2: it's not. I don't think it is. But I think
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  Speaker 2: people avoid it because it just seems like a regular dinner.
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  Speaker 2: But we're gonna pimp your chicken. You are gonna pimp
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  Speaker 2: your chicken up. You're going to serve the best roast chicken.
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  Speaker 2: Anybody has ever had the best seasoned, stuffed, most beautiful looking,
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  Speaker 2: crispy skinned roast chicken. And if you've got more than
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  Speaker 2: you know, see more than five people, you just cook two.
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  Speaker 4: Yep.
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  Speaker 2: So I would do a roast chicken. I do stuffing.
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  Speaker 2: Like with any of my meal plans in my books,
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  Speaker 2: we're always making sure that we're using multiple ingredients in
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  Speaker 2: multiple recipes.
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  Speaker 3: That has been literally life changing for me, Like the
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  Speaker 3: way that you have made my meal prep and I
• 9:21
  Speaker 3: don't meal prep, Like I have openly said this, like
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  Speaker 3: I'm not going to pretend that I follow your meal
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  Speaker 3: plan to a t, but I adore that I can
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  Speaker 3: pick up your meal plan.
• 9:30
  Speaker 2: And get a lot out of it.
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  Speaker 3: And like sometimes I'm a little bit lazy, Chelsea, I'm
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  Speaker 3: really sorry, like cost twelve because I've gone for Connection
• 9:39
  Speaker 3: twelve at the moment, because I've also been like I'm
• 9:42
  Speaker 3: not shopping around. I'm not going to multiple supermarkets to
• 9:45
  Speaker 3: get the specials. I just want the Chelsea Goodwin, like
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  Speaker 3: the special give it to me because I know if
• 9:49
  Speaker 3: I make this, I'm going to have like a meatball
• 9:52
  Speaker 3: sub the next day and I'm going to have like
• 9:54
  Speaker 3: meatballs for something else, and it's been.
• 9:56
  Speaker 2: Literally so helpful with a toddler. I'm sorry, genius. I
• 10:00
  Speaker 2: wish I had discovered this when I had toddlers. It
• 10:03
  Speaker 2: took me a little bit longer.
• 10:06
  Speaker 3: It's insane. But like when you find a food that
• 10:09
  Speaker 3: they like, I mean, use it in a number of
• 10:11
  Speaker 3: different ways.
• 10:12
  Speaker 2: Yeah, it's great. So yeah we do that at Christmas
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  Speaker 2: as well, so things like, you know, I love nuts
• 10:18
  Speaker 2: in a salad, so I'll get walnuts or pecans. But
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  Speaker 2: then you can also put that in the stuffing. Okay
• 10:23
  Speaker 2: that the chicken too, exactly, and you could do sort
• 10:27
  Speaker 2: of like a steamed greens or a sauteed greens and
• 10:30
  Speaker 2: then do them with some sprinkled or toasted nuts on
• 10:32
  Speaker 2: them as well. So you're using that tiny little packet
• 10:35
  Speaker 2: of nuts.
• 10:37
  Speaker 3: Yeah exactly, not using half a packet of nuts, putting
• 10:39
  Speaker 3: the half in the cupboard and then being like what
• 10:41
  Speaker 3: were those?
• 10:41
  Speaker 2: I think they're stale? Exactly, So I do you know
• 10:44
  Speaker 2: this gorgeous chicken, we make it look beautiful. It's a
• 10:46
  Speaker 2: cent a piece of the table, or have some rosemary
• 10:48
  Speaker 2: sticking out of its little but yeah, perfect, Yeah, we
• 10:52
  Speaker 2: love that stuff it then for our sides. I'll do
• 10:55
  Speaker 2: my salad. So I love a nutty salad. I love
• 10:58
  Speaker 2: fruits in salad as well. So would you pair or apple?
• 11:01
  Speaker 2: We're doing a little bit of cheese, you know, get
• 11:03
  Speaker 2: a bit of fetter from the deli, like just as
• 11:05
  Speaker 2: much as you need. Yeah, and then that where you're
• 11:07
  Speaker 2: not paying not too much exactly for the salad. A
• 11:11
  Speaker 2: beautiful vinegarette, which is using pantry staples. Usually most people
• 11:14
  Speaker 2: have that at home. A bit of olive oil, bit
• 11:16
  Speaker 2: of vinegar.
• 11:17
  Speaker 1: Uh.
• 11:18
  Speaker 2: I would do you know, some green beans or something
• 11:20
  Speaker 2: like that, and like a scalloped potatoes stop it. Yeah,
• 11:25
  Speaker 2: So I love a car Bi side because that fills
• 11:28
  Speaker 2: everybody up. And he does cheesy goodness, but it's like
• 11:30
  Speaker 2: not as expensive as mac and cheese. Who that's right.
• 11:34
  Speaker 2: And then the cream we're using that for the potatoes,
• 11:37
  Speaker 2: but we're also going to use that for dessert.
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  Speaker 3: I saw that coming. Yeah, that's the part that I
• 11:41
  Speaker 3: saw coming. The nuts though, I was like smart.
• 11:44
  Speaker 2: And also I would also usually put cranberry in the
• 11:47
  Speaker 2: stuffing as well, and cranberry is in the salad that
• 11:49
  Speaker 2: is quite festive. You got color, You've got a bit
• 11:51
  Speaker 2: of everything. Happening there.
• 11:52
  Speaker 3: I'm obsessed. I'm obsessed, like I think that that is geenus.
• 11:56
  Speaker 3: But what are we cooking for dessert? Okay, we're doing
• 11:58
  Speaker 3: it because like in my head, you're saying budget and
• 12:00
  Speaker 3: I'm saying chocolate ripple cake.
• 12:02
  Speaker 2: I love chocolate and I'm so sorry that family I.
• 12:06
  Speaker 3: Grew up in chocolate ripple cake at Christmas. Non negotiable.
• 12:11
  Speaker 2: It's so ausy, isn't it. Oh my goodness, No, we're
• 12:14
  Speaker 2: not having chocolate ripple cake. It has to be something festive.
• 12:16
  Speaker 2: So I would usually do like mini meringues, which again
• 12:21
  Speaker 2: egg whites, where use the yolks make a lemon curd?
• 12:26
  Speaker 2: Oh fancy? And so I put a bit of lemon
• 12:28
  Speaker 2: curd whipped cream.
• 12:31
  Speaker 3: And everyone's fruits so fancy. None of this sounds budget.
• 12:35
  Speaker 2: It is so budget. Can I tell you I actually
• 12:37
  Speaker 2: costed this entire menu, out entire thing, and I think
• 12:40
  Speaker 2: it came to just over sixty dollars And this was
• 12:42
  Speaker 2: just like two weeks ago. So we've got the numbers fresh, yes,
• 12:46
  Speaker 2: and I will meet with full menu. I shared this
• 12:50
  Speaker 2: a couple of years ago in my Facebook group. Back
• 12:53
  Speaker 2: then it was I think feeda family are four for fifty.
• 12:55
  Speaker 2: Now we're looking out sixty something. But let's not do
• 12:58
  Speaker 2: let's still bring the mood down. I just want to
• 13:00
  Speaker 2: hear about the chicken. Yeah, so I'll do up the
• 13:03
  Speaker 2: whole menu and I'll can we have that so I
• 13:05
  Speaker 2: can share that with my community. I will put it
• 13:08
  Speaker 2: in the show notes.
• 13:09
  Speaker 3: Guys, Chelsea's going to give us the menu and we
• 13:12
  Speaker 3: can do Christmas for under one hundred bucks. And then
• 13:15
  Speaker 3: we have to like send Chelsea lots of nice messages
• 13:18
  Speaker 3: on Christmas because and.
• 13:19
  Speaker 2: I'll cheat at us as solid. Send me your questions,
• 13:21
  Speaker 2: but not on Christmas Day. You just have some level, Yes,
• 13:24
  Speaker 2: send me your free Christmas questions about the menu.
• 13:27
  Speaker 3: So obviously, I would say, having had small family Christmases
• 13:34
  Speaker 3: for as long as I can remember, still over cater
• 13:38
  Speaker 3: so I see you one hundred dollars budget and I
• 13:40
  Speaker 3: go sligh, no worries. I then go, but we might
• 13:46
  Speaker 3: need some extras, and we might need like a cheese platter,
• 13:49
  Speaker 3: and like, I want to make sure that I don't
• 13:50
  Speaker 3: not have anything. Like the idea that the shops are
• 13:53
  Speaker 3: closed on Christmas gives me a little bit of anxiety
• 13:55
  Speaker 3: because I'm like, oh my God, like what if I
• 13:57
  Speaker 3: don't have like a little side dish, or what if
• 13:59
  Speaker 3: I haven't hated enough. So I would say that over
• 14:02
  Speaker 3: catering is not just a Victoria problem. It seems to
• 14:05
  Speaker 3: be a thing that we all do because we all
• 14:07
  Speaker 3: talk about maybe this is a real Aussie tradition, Christmas
• 14:10
  Speaker 3: leftovers on Boxing Day. How do you plan to minimize
• 14:13
  Speaker 3: waste while not being all consumed by the idea that
• 14:16
  Speaker 3: you won't have enough? Well, because like at Christmas, I
• 14:19
  Speaker 3: don't want to not have enough.
• 14:20
  Speaker 2: I feel exactly the same, and I think anybody that
• 14:24
  Speaker 2: comes from like if you come from certain cultural backgrounds,
• 14:27
  Speaker 2: it's like a sin to not have enough, and almost
• 14:30
  Speaker 2: like a sin to not send people home with leftovers
• 14:33
  Speaker 2: as well. You're packaging up the containers staying this home.
• 14:36
  Speaker 2: So I'm all for that. I think if I don't
• 14:40
  Speaker 2: have food leftover after Christmas, I feel like I've done
• 14:43
  Speaker 2: something wrong, just because it means that maybe people haven't
• 14:46
  Speaker 2: had enough to eat. So I always try and make
• 14:49
  Speaker 2: a little bit more than I think I need, so
• 14:51
  Speaker 2: I don't look at that as food waste if it's
• 14:54
  Speaker 2: going to be eaten. I think the problem is when
• 14:56
  Speaker 2: those leftovers become food waste, yeah, because you don't have
• 15:01
  Speaker 2: a plan for them. So you know, things like your
• 15:03
  Speaker 2: Christmas ham. You know, we do this big giant Christmas
• 15:05
  Speaker 2: ham and we love ham, right, but then you have
• 15:07
  Speaker 2: all this leftover ham and by the twenty eighth you'd rather,
• 15:11
  Speaker 2: you know, eat sand than eat another piece of ham,
• 15:14
  Speaker 2: because it's you couldn't be.
• 15:16
  Speaker 3: In my family, we basically are ham fiends all through January.
• 15:21
  Speaker 2: But I know not everybody is. Not everybody does love
• 15:25
  Speaker 2: it that much. So it's just figuring out what you
• 15:27
  Speaker 2: can do with it and trying to figure that out
• 15:29
  Speaker 2: before Christmas. So you've got the ingredients, whether you want
• 15:32
  Speaker 2: to turn it into a kiche or use it for
• 15:34
  Speaker 2: fried rice, or if you don't have a plan, just
• 15:38
  Speaker 2: stick it in the freezer. Yeah, it's a good point.
• 15:40
  Speaker 2: So to make sure that you don't have waste. I
• 15:41
  Speaker 2: feel like waste comes into it with things like leafy
• 15:44
  Speaker 2: green salads. Youa salad, you dress it, and then you
• 15:49
  Speaker 2: really like nobody likes to eat that the next day.
• 15:52
  Speaker 2: So just being careful with those sort of foods to
• 15:54
  Speaker 2: make sure that you don't have excess.
• 15:56
  Speaker 3: No, that's scat actually, because I would say salad waste house, Like,
• 16:01
  Speaker 3: maybe we dress the salad at the table and then
• 16:03
  Speaker 3: you can put the leafy greens back in the fridge
• 16:05
  Speaker 3: and they'll be okay for sandwiches and stuff for the
• 16:07
  Speaker 3: rest of the week. Yes, And also, guys, we're not
• 16:10
  Speaker 3: talking about Chelsea scolloped potatoes here. There's no such thing
• 16:13
  Speaker 3: as food waste with that item, I'll eat it out
• 16:17
  Speaker 3: of the fridge, no worries.
• 16:18
  Speaker 2: I literally do that. Yep.
• 16:20
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I just oh, I'm just getting the milk for
• 16:22
  Speaker 3: my tea, no worries, and a cheeky piece of sculpted
• 16:25
  Speaker 3: potato with my fingers.
• 16:27
  Speaker 2: I threw it all of my children with a spoon
• 16:31
  Speaker 2: and lifting the lid or the foil of the lid,
• 16:34
  Speaker 2: and yeah, getting in there. They're good kids. I like it.
• 16:37
  Speaker 2: I love to do on Christmas.
• 16:40
  Speaker 3: I feel like it's often it's a lot of pressure,
• 16:42
  Speaker 3: but it's always like about catering for a crowd. What
• 16:46
  Speaker 3: are your tips for creating a menu for a large
• 16:48
  Speaker 3: group of people, because I feel like it's twenty twenty five,
• 16:52
  Speaker 3: it's the end of twenty twenty five, and I'm not
• 16:54
  Speaker 3: willing to speak on that. But everyone has different dietares
• 16:58
  Speaker 3: and requirements these days, and then that adds a layer
• 17:01
  Speaker 3: of complexity, and then your stuffing's not gluten free, and
• 17:04
  Speaker 3: then like you know, all of those really fun things,
• 17:08
  Speaker 3: how are we dealing with that? Or you like, no, girlfriend,
• 17:12
  Speaker 3: I'm from a family where that doesn't exist.
• 17:15
  Speaker 2: I mean, I'm latose intolerant and I still eat cream,
• 17:18
  Speaker 2: so'm I'm val. I know what we do, but I
• 17:22
  Speaker 2: do respect other people's intolerances and allergies. I always will
• 17:27
  Speaker 2: cater for that. I think there are enough products and
• 17:30
  Speaker 2: affordable products now where you can buy these latose free
• 17:34
  Speaker 2: gluten free alternatives. Like whether it's breadcrumbs for your stuffing
• 17:37
  Speaker 2: or whatever it is that you need, you can make
• 17:39
  Speaker 2: it work. And there are so many wonderful meals that
• 17:42
  Speaker 2: you can make. I mean, I do still find catering
• 17:45
  Speaker 2: for vegans hard sometimes, but best friends for vegan just
• 17:49
  Speaker 2: where as well, Like if you're having people over and
• 17:52
  Speaker 2: they have really specific dietary requirements, there's nothing wrong with
• 17:54
  Speaker 2: like asking them to bring a meal or liking them
• 17:58
  Speaker 2: to bring an ingredient that maybe you could substitute, because
• 18:02
  Speaker 2: they know better than anybody else what's going to work.
• 18:05
  Speaker 2: But yeah, I'd say, just don't stress, and I think
• 18:07
  Speaker 2: one of the things people do when they're catering for
• 18:09
  Speaker 2: big groups is they just they try and do too much.
• 18:12
  Speaker 2: So just simplify.
• 18:15
  Speaker 3: Yeah, totally, totally, And I know that we talked about
• 18:19
  Speaker 3: it before. You volunteer on Christmas Day.
• 18:21
  Speaker 4: You are.
• 18:22
  Speaker 2: I knew you would, You're just a wholesome human being.
• 18:25
  Speaker 4: Of course you do.
• 18:27
  Speaker 2: I'm assuming that when you do that, it's obviously cooking
• 18:30
  Speaker 2: for a lot of people.
• 18:31
  Speaker 3: You said one hundred people, which is just so many people,
• 18:34
  Speaker 3: and then you're on a tight budget. Yes, most of
• 18:36
  Speaker 3: the food is donated, but like there are going to
• 18:38
  Speaker 3: be things that you need to top up with and
• 18:40
  Speaker 3: like work out how we're going to you know, you've
• 18:43
  Speaker 3: got six million potatoes, but how are we going to
• 18:45
  Speaker 3: make a dish out of this?
• 18:47
  Speaker 2: What has that taught you about making food? Stretch plan,
• 18:51
  Speaker 2: perm plan, plan plan, that's all that coming. Yeah, it's
• 18:55
  Speaker 2: really like it's a day's long process. And even if
• 18:58
  Speaker 2: I was cooking for say twelve people I or even
• 19:01
  Speaker 2: ten people in my house, you know, like a large
• 19:03
  Speaker 2: dinner party, I would still start prepping food the day
• 19:08
  Speaker 2: before or two days before, and I would be planning
• 19:11
  Speaker 2: at least a week before. We're not shopping Christmas Eve.
• 19:15
  Speaker 2: No wait, please don't do that. Don't do it to yourself,
• 19:17
  Speaker 2: don't do it to your saof I know exactly, but
• 19:21
  Speaker 2: I think it's like it's even little things like where
• 19:24
  Speaker 2: I've run into trouble, as things like not having enough
• 19:27
  Speaker 2: oven space for the things that I want to cook.
• 19:29
  Speaker 2: You know, you're like, oh, this tray and this tray
• 19:32
  Speaker 2: and this tray need to go in at the same
• 19:34
  Speaker 2: time and they're not going to fit or alternatively, like
• 19:37
  Speaker 2: they need to be at different temperatures and I've got
• 19:39
  Speaker 2: to cook them at the same time. But because if
• 19:41
  Speaker 2: you haven't.
• 19:42
  Speaker 3: Planned what you don't have three ovens. That's so crazy.
• 19:47
  Speaker 3: My new house has the smallest oven. Like I'm not
• 19:50
  Speaker 3: complaining yet, like a sixty centimeter oven does not fit the.
• 19:54
  Speaker 2: Bill for hosting.
• 19:55
  Speaker 4: I know.
• 19:55
  Speaker 2: It's so hard. So that's where you've got to think, like, Okay,
• 19:58
  Speaker 2: what can I pre make and maybe then instead of
• 20:00
  Speaker 2: having to cook it from scratch, which I just eat,
• 20:03
  Speaker 2: to reheat it smart or like can I use my
• 20:05
  Speaker 2: air fryer for certain yeah, like what can be done
• 20:09
  Speaker 2: on the stovetop? Or can I ask somebody to heat
• 20:12
  Speaker 2: this in their oven at home and bring it along
• 20:15
  Speaker 2: with them.
• 20:15
  Speaker 3: I reckon a pre made scullot potato definitely, three heats
• 20:20
  Speaker 3: perfect there because you can do it all, add a
• 20:22
  Speaker 3: little sprinkling of cheese back.
• 20:25
  Speaker 2: In, reheat it, and then just grill the chocke It
• 20:27
  Speaker 2: never had a fen. Yeah, what are you talking about?
• 20:30
  Speaker 3: What do you think is the biggest mistake people make
• 20:33
  Speaker 3: when they're shopping for Christmas food?
• 20:35
  Speaker 2: Like say, like you mentioned shopping on Christmas Eve, leaving
• 20:38
  Speaker 2: it till the last ning. Don't I've done that. I've
• 20:41
  Speaker 2: done that before. But the worst thing is that then
• 20:45
  Speaker 2: you know you'll go, especially if you live regional like
• 20:48
  Speaker 2: I do, you go to the one supermarket that everybody
• 20:50
  Speaker 2: is at and.
• 20:51
  Speaker 3: It's right beside the Kmar because I know where you live,
• 20:54
  Speaker 3: and the coals and the cama is chaos at Christmas?
• 20:57
  Speaker 2: Don't you do that to yourself? Completely chaotic? And they
• 21:00
  Speaker 2: may have run out of like that one thing that
• 21:02
  Speaker 2: you really need. Yeah, and it's so incredibly stressful. You
• 21:05
  Speaker 2: don't want to be having to drive like an hour
• 21:07
  Speaker 2: to try and find something or completely change your menu
• 21:10
  Speaker 2: because you've left everything to the last minute. The other
• 21:13
  Speaker 2: thing I would say is that I know. Sometimes people
• 21:15
  Speaker 2: will buy like gourmet ingredients to specific recipes and they'll
• 21:22
  Speaker 2: use a tiny bit and then it goes in the
• 21:24
  Speaker 2: fridge and it's forgotten about. And you spent all this
• 21:27
  Speaker 2: money on this thing that you didn't really need, or
• 21:29
  Speaker 2: you could have bought something else or made something else,
• 21:32
  Speaker 2: and you have the food waste you spent the money.
• 21:35
  Speaker 2: It's like a whole of thing. I actually have a
• 21:37
  Speaker 2: rule that I'm allowed to try more than one new
• 21:40
  Speaker 2: recipe when I'm cooking for a crowd. So it's fair. Yeah,
• 21:44
  Speaker 2: i have to stick with in my comfort zone, and
• 21:46
  Speaker 2: I'm allowed one new recipe, one new thing that I
• 21:49
  Speaker 2: can experiment on, and if that goes bad, it's okay
• 21:52
  Speaker 2: because everything else will turn out. So I think, yeah,
• 21:56
  Speaker 2: just make your life easier.
• 22:00
  Speaker 3: Totally agree, And I think it's all about Sometimes you're like, well,
• 22:03
  Speaker 3: it's Christmas, we should get the bougie version, but you
• 22:06
  Speaker 3: probably should just be getting the fetter from the deli,
• 22:09
  Speaker 3: not the Meredith Scots Cheese. Like, even though yes, that's
• 22:13
  Speaker 3: bougie and it's fair you love the Meredith, nobody is
• 22:15
  Speaker 3: going to notice it when it's on the top of
• 22:18
  Speaker 3: a salad they're really not. They're not going to notice,
• 22:21
  Speaker 3: I promise. And I also just love the idea that
• 22:24
  Speaker 3: you're going to give us this menu, right so that
• 22:25
  Speaker 3: we can have our one hundred dollars Christmas and do
• 22:28
  Speaker 3: our roast chickens. But sorry, she's giving us the whole menu.
• 22:31
  Speaker 3: You can just cut and paste that into your coal's delivery.
• 22:34
  Speaker 3: You don't even have to go to the shops. Literally, yeah,
• 22:37
  Speaker 3: and like everything will be delivered and if you do
• 22:39
  Speaker 3: it early enough, if there's something missing, you just pop
• 22:42
  Speaker 3: out for one thing. Oh it's a money win, all right.
• 22:45
  Speaker 3: I feel like that's a good strategy. And we've got
• 22:47
  Speaker 3: that sorted and nailed. Let's go to a really quick
• 22:50
  Speaker 3: break and then after the break, I think we're going
• 22:52
  Speaker 3: to get into the really fun part. We're going to
• 22:54
  Speaker 3: talk more about food, the meats, the sides, the specific desserts,
• 22:59
  Speaker 3: and all of the delicious bits that I would say
• 23:01
  Speaker 3: can get Meredith Scots cheese fetter expensive if you're not careful,
• 23:06
  Speaker 3: So guys, don't go anywhere.
• 23:12
  Speaker 2: Welcome back, my friends.
• 23:13
  Speaker 3: Now, I wanted to start with one of the most
• 23:16
  Speaker 3: expensive things on the Christmas menu, and that is always
• 23:20
  Speaker 3: the meat.
• 23:21
  Speaker 2: Even if you're vegetarian.
• 23:23
  Speaker 3: Even if you're vegan, the like options are still expensive,
• 23:26
  Speaker 3: Like the alternatives are cooked. You mentioned that you do
• 23:29
  Speaker 3: a roast chicken earlier, which I think is genius. But
• 23:32
  Speaker 3: what other if you're like, well, you're right you said before,
• 23:36
  Speaker 3: some people think that chicken on Christmas povo.
• 23:39
  Speaker 2: They don't like that.
• 23:40
  Speaker 3: Yeah, what other options do we have? What meat cuts
• 23:43
  Speaker 3: are we looking for? Because for me, I'm not gonna lie.
• 23:47
  Speaker 3: If I showed up to Christmas and told my dad
• 23:49
  Speaker 3: we're having chicken, he'd be like, we have lamb on Christmas,
• 23:54
  Speaker 3: and lamb that's that's not budget Eric Divine.
• 23:58
  Speaker 2: Yeah, look, I think you've just got to with those things.
• 24:03
  Speaker 2: Sometimes you've really got a plan ahead. Yeah. So it's
• 24:06
  Speaker 2: a matter of like if you want I mean, if
• 24:08
  Speaker 2: you want really high quality, beautiful butcher's meat, anything you
• 24:11
  Speaker 2: get is going to be expensive. If you're happy to
• 24:14
  Speaker 2: go to the supermarket which is still great quality meat
• 24:17
  Speaker 2: and take advantage of the specials, you've got some options there.
• 24:21
  Speaker 2: So hams can be really budget friendly and you don't
• 24:25
  Speaker 2: have you can buy the half leg, you don't have
• 24:26
  Speaker 2: to get the full leg. Diet a full leg when
• 24:28
  Speaker 2: it's on special. Sometimes they mark them down. I mean,
• 24:31
  Speaker 2: this is where you're taking kind of a risk. Like
• 24:34
  Speaker 2: sometimes you might get them cheaper on Christmas Eve if
• 24:37
  Speaker 2: you get in there.
• 24:38
  Speaker 3: But I'm not going to encourage you to do that
• 24:41
  Speaker 3: either because there's no discount.
• 24:43
  Speaker 2: Had I would not be leaving your you know, the
• 24:47
  Speaker 2: main event the meat until Christmas Eve. Another thing that
• 24:51
  Speaker 2: people aren't too keen on.
• 24:53
  Speaker 3: Here, but I love is turkey. So you can try
• 24:57
  Speaker 3: and sell me on turkey. Yeah, I feel like it's
• 24:59
  Speaker 3: very American.
• 25:00
  Speaker 2: It is very American.
• 25:02
  Speaker 3: It's giving Thanksgiving, it is giving Thanksgiving, but we're not
• 25:06
  Speaker 3: doing a whole turkey, right because that just seems terrifying.
• 25:09
  Speaker 3: But in your sixty centimeters exactly, it's you've got to
• 25:13
  Speaker 3: look at what you've got.
• 25:14
  Speaker 2: So and they do come in different sizes also, so
• 25:17
  Speaker 2: you can get smaller turkeys and you can get like
• 25:19
  Speaker 2: the big bazooka turkey that you're going to need a
• 25:22
  Speaker 2: giant oven for. But you can also buy the frozen
• 25:25
  Speaker 2: portions as well. That's genius, which and they're often half price. Yeah,
• 25:30
  Speaker 2: Like I've picked them up half price. I actually buy
• 25:32
  Speaker 2: them and slice the cook them and slice them up
• 25:33
  Speaker 2: for sandwich meat genie because it's cheaper than buying turkey
• 25:36
  Speaker 2: at the deli, so they can be delicious. You know,
• 25:39
  Speaker 2: a bit of cranberry sauce. It's giving festive. It is
• 25:43
  Speaker 2: giving festive. I love turkey, not everybody does, but that's
• 25:47
  Speaker 2: a great option lamb as well. Like we just look
• 25:49
  Speaker 2: for the specials, and it really depends on what is
• 25:51
  Speaker 2: going on with Lamb prices as far as weather at
• 25:54
  Speaker 2: that particular time. It is affordable or not. So that's
• 25:58
  Speaker 2: something you just have to look at and see whether
• 26:00
  Speaker 2: that's in your budget. But usually, like Lamb legs are
• 26:02
  Speaker 2: going to be a lot cheaper than Lamb shoulders, but
• 26:05
  Speaker 2: Lamb legs are so beautiful slow roasted. Yeah, cook humble
• 26:10
  Speaker 2: hook shoulder one hundred percent. Yes, that's another really budget
• 26:13
  Speaker 2: friendly cut which is beautiful, crackling. You can slow cook that.
• 26:17
  Speaker 2: I think it's genius.
• 26:18
  Speaker 3: Would you also say, because you said before and it
• 26:21
  Speaker 3: got me thinking, you said they have the frozen portions,
• 26:24
  Speaker 3: would you.
• 26:24
  Speaker 2: Start looking right now to go okay cool?
• 26:28
  Speaker 3: I could buy my meat and freeze it and then
• 26:30
  Speaker 3: defrost it a few days before Christmas or properly defrost.
• 26:33
  Speaker 3: But then we get a good deal and we prepared
• 26:36
  Speaker 3: and we know that it's not going to be sold
• 26:37
  Speaker 3: out on.
• 26:37
  Speaker 2: Christmas depending on the meat. So obviously, if it's something
• 26:41
  Speaker 2: that's already frozen, bang it in the freezer, you have
• 26:43
  Speaker 2: no problem. Poultry, I'm happy to freeze ham. No, not,
• 26:49
  Speaker 2: We're not going to freeze the ham. Just need to
• 26:51
  Speaker 2: say that because I'll be able to see the hams
• 26:54
  Speaker 2: in the freezer. But yeah, it really just depends on
• 26:56
  Speaker 2: the meat itself. But poultry definitely.
• 26:58
  Speaker 3: What about seafood. I'm sorry, but I'm just thinking about
• 27:02
  Speaker 3: myself in this moment. Okay, my dad wants lamb on Christmas. Yeah,
• 27:06
  Speaker 3: my mum would probably start a riot if we didn't
• 27:10
  Speaker 3: have some form of seafood.
• 27:11
  Speaker 2: Okay, I feel like it's a very Australian thing to have.
• 27:15
  Speaker 3: Is what cost effective ways could people integrate this if
• 27:18
  Speaker 3: they were like, oh, I really.
• 27:19
  Speaker 2: Want to seafood Christmas. I get it, but I don't
• 27:23
  Speaker 2: get it because I'm not a huge seafood lover. She
• 27:26
  Speaker 2: wants the turkey, I do. I want the turkey. I
• 27:29
  Speaker 2: want the lamb, I want the chicken.
• 27:30
  Speaker 3: But if my fingers do not smell like prawn's by
• 27:33
  Speaker 3: the end of Christmas, day.
• 27:35
  Speaker 2: I have not had a good Christmas Aussie Christmas that
• 27:38
  Speaker 2: I've ever been to. At other people's house, there is
• 27:41
  Speaker 2: always a huge prom platter, So I totally get that.
• 27:44
  Speaker 2: I actually love oysters. They're my Yeah see, you can't
• 27:48
  Speaker 2: sell me. See but I mean this little tidbit about
• 27:52
  Speaker 2: the sea. Oh stop it. I would do anything for
• 27:56
  Speaker 2: a dozen oysters. Keep that in my brain. A love them.
• 28:02
  Speaker 2: Here's the thing though, Oysters expensive, right if you're eating
• 28:06
  Speaker 2: them at a restaurant. I used to purchase them, and
• 28:09
  Speaker 2: you can do this with any seafood. But I sourced oysters.
• 28:13
  Speaker 2: This is when I was living in Brisbane, so up
• 28:14
  Speaker 2: until about a year ago, I source them from a
• 28:17
  Speaker 2: wholesaler that sells to restaurants but also sells to the public.
• 28:20
  Speaker 2: So I was getting my oysters for just over a
• 28:22
  Speaker 2: dollar each. Oh that's kind of deal. And that's that
• 28:25
  Speaker 2: is budget friendly. So if I sell people, oh I
• 28:27
  Speaker 2: had oysters, they think, oh, you know, you're a joke, Chelsea.
• 28:29
  Speaker 2: I thought you were, you know, the budget cooking you
• 28:32
  Speaker 2: know guru. But I had free and there was like
• 28:34
  Speaker 2: a platter of them, and you make a little mignonette
• 28:37
  Speaker 2: like you can do. You can pick them up on
• 28:39
  Speaker 2: Christmas Eve. Yeah, but the same places that do the oysters.
• 28:42
  Speaker 2: There's usually other seafood places that also sell to the
• 28:45
  Speaker 2: public and to restaurants that you can source your seafood
• 28:48
  Speaker 2: from and at great prices and pick it all up
• 28:51
  Speaker 2: the day before Christmas. On that note, as well as
• 28:54
  Speaker 2: far as food wholesalers, I think something that a lot
• 28:56
  Speaker 2: of people don't know is that a lot of these
• 28:58
  Speaker 2: wholesalers that sell to restaurants sell things like, you know,
• 29:02
  Speaker 2: like your big boxes of really nice frozen Aaron Cheeney
• 29:05
  Speaker 2: and things like that. Yeah, yeah, like you can buy that,
• 29:08
  Speaker 2: you can go. They will sell direct to public, a
• 29:11
  Speaker 2: lot of them. I used to have an account with one,
• 29:13
  Speaker 2: and I was just you know, that was just me.
• 29:16
  Speaker 2: I was in business or anything. But yeah, that's great
• 29:19
  Speaker 2: if you're wanting to cater for larger groups, but maybe
• 29:22
  Speaker 2: wanting some little shortcuts, you can pick up that really
• 29:27
  Speaker 2: high quality food that is just needs to be reheated
• 29:32
  Speaker 2: and at a really good price. I will make room
• 29:34
  Speaker 2: in my oven for that one. Yeah.
• 29:36
  Speaker 3: Now, I feel like I'm very good at getting confused
• 29:39
  Speaker 3: around Christmas time as to how many grams of things
• 29:44
  Speaker 3: people need and I'm saying that because I don't think grams,
• 29:48
  Speaker 3: but I go, oh, okay, we were talking about the
• 29:50
  Speaker 3: pork before, we're going to go buy a pork shoulder.
• 29:53
  Speaker 3: And then I get analysis paralysis because I'm looking at
• 29:55
  Speaker 3: all the pork shoulder options and one's one killer, and
• 29:57
  Speaker 3: one's one point five and one's two, and I'm like, well,
• 30:00
  Speaker 3: which one do I need? Obviously they impact the price,
• 30:02
  Speaker 3: but like it's going to shrink a little bit. How
• 30:04
  Speaker 3: many grams per person are we allocating? When it comes
• 30:07
  Speaker 3: to a protein.
• 30:08
  Speaker 2: It's really hard because then you've got you've got bone
• 30:11
  Speaker 2: less and bone in meat as well, so that comes
• 30:13
  Speaker 2: into it. What I would say is that if you
• 30:15
  Speaker 2: are buying from a soupermarket, often it will give you
• 30:18
  Speaker 2: a guide on the packet, so it will say, you know,
• 30:21
  Speaker 2: the lamb I've noticed in the pork often has that,
• 30:23
  Speaker 2: So that will say feeds six or something like that,
• 30:26
  Speaker 2: and that is a fairly good approximation. The problem is
• 30:30
  Speaker 2: that we all know our families.
• 30:33
  Speaker 3: And when you met my husband, because a six person
• 30:35
  Speaker 3: thing is not that's not six maybe three?
• 30:38
  Speaker 2: I have you know a six foot four seventeen year
• 30:41
  Speaker 2: old at home? Oh yeah, that's something we worse than
• 30:43
  Speaker 2: a husband. Actually, when it comes to food consumption, anybody
• 30:46
  Speaker 2: that has growing teenagers are very very hungry partners. Oh
• 30:50
  Speaker 2: look I eat a lot at Christmas. So if you're
• 30:53
  Speaker 2: buying from a butcher, I would always talk to them
• 30:55
  Speaker 2: and just say, look, i'm feeding five very hungry adult
• 31:00
  Speaker 2: is this going to be enough? And they will tell
• 31:02
  Speaker 2: you it's hard to give an exact you know, gram
• 31:05
  Speaker 2: per person approximate. Disappointing but also totally relatable.
• 31:10
  Speaker 3: No, totally, but I like the idea that we can
• 31:12
  Speaker 3: check the packets and it will be a bit of
• 31:14
  Speaker 3: a guideline and we're so sorry. The idea of asking
• 31:16
  Speaker 3: the butcher as you're getting it genius. I'd be like,
• 31:19
  Speaker 3: this is now your problem. And then if on Christmas
• 31:21
  Speaker 3: I run out, I'd be like, butcher said, well, let's
• 31:26
  Speaker 3: move on from grams of meat and actually talk about sides.
• 31:30
  Speaker 3: Because you were selling me before scarlet potatoes, some greens
• 31:34
  Speaker 3: with some like little nuts on top ten out of ten?
• 31:38
  Speaker 2: How can we keep the costs down there?
• 31:40
  Speaker 3: And then how can we make ove is maybe a
• 31:42
  Speaker 3: little bit more fancy on Christmas?
• 31:44
  Speaker 2: Okay, I think sides are something that people struggle with
• 31:47
  Speaker 2: as sides like creativity because you know it's easy to
• 31:51
  Speaker 2: choose your protein and do you know glazer ham and
• 31:54
  Speaker 2: make it look all pretty. But then it's like what
• 31:55
  Speaker 2: do we serve it with? I mean I always I
• 31:57
  Speaker 2: love cut Like carbs are great for Christmas because you
• 32:00
  Speaker 2: want people's bellies to be full. So potatoes are fantastic.
• 32:03
  Speaker 2: Anything you can do with potatoes, mash them, you know, potato,
• 32:07
  Speaker 2: bake potato salad, like roast potatoes, potato Christmas. You heard
• 32:12
  Speaker 2: it here first. Yeah, if potatoes aren't on your menu,
• 32:15
  Speaker 2: get them on your menu because they are so budget friendly.
• 32:19
  Speaker 2: You can do so much with them, and they're very filling,
• 32:22
  Speaker 2: which is fantastic, and they taste great. I would usually
• 32:25
  Speaker 2: do a green side, a potato side, and a salad
• 32:28
  Speaker 2: as a minimum.
• 32:29
  Speaker 3: Do you feel a great carrots because like I don't
• 32:32
  Speaker 3: feel like it's Christmas without carrots in my house.
• 32:35
  Speaker 2: But like we're not just boiling some carrots like they
• 32:38
  Speaker 2: have to be roasted. Yeah, I mean I love it
• 32:41
  Speaker 2: like a just a tray of mixed roast vegetables. Yeah. Yeah,
• 32:44
  Speaker 2: So if you've got some carrots, some pumpkins, some sweet potato,
• 32:48
  Speaker 2: I'm always thinking about color as well, So how is
• 32:50
  Speaker 2: it going to look when it's on the table. You know,
• 32:52
  Speaker 2: if you've got some white potatoes, you've got your kind
• 32:54
  Speaker 2: of your brown meat, you got your green side, and
• 32:58
  Speaker 2: then you know, bringing something it does make it feel
• 33:01
  Speaker 2: more festive. It does. We do eat with our eyes.
• 33:03
  Speaker 2: We want people to sort of when you put the
• 33:06
  Speaker 2: food on the table, so I think, and when it's
• 33:09
  Speaker 2: on your plate as well, thinking about what it's going
• 33:11
  Speaker 2: to look like when you've got all of the little
• 33:13
  Speaker 2: portions on your plate. So carrots are great for that.
• 33:16
  Speaker 2: And again like two dollars a bag can't go wrong.
• 33:20
  Speaker 4: See.
• 33:20
  Speaker 3: I love carrots and I feel like there's such a
• 33:23
  Speaker 3: budget friendly side. You can pin them out with some nuts,
• 33:26
  Speaker 3: honey carrots.
• 33:29
  Speaker 2: Honey buttered carrots, like sorry, sorry, that's just my childhood
• 33:34
  Speaker 2: maybe coming out honey carrots only came out on special occasions. Yeah,
• 33:39
  Speaker 2: that's not a week night meal.
• 33:40
  Speaker 3: You get boiled carrots with your meat and three veedge,
• 33:43
  Speaker 3: But on Christmas you get roasted carrots and wondrous them
• 33:48
  Speaker 3: with honey, and that is next level.
• 33:50
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 33:50
  Speaker 2: No, I think there are so many ways you can
• 33:52
  Speaker 2: jazz them up. I love even just a simple herb butter,
• 33:56
  Speaker 2: even if you're just going to stem them and do
• 33:58
  Speaker 2: them with a herb butter. I mean that's something I
• 34:00
  Speaker 2: would have for a regular dinner, but I would happily
• 34:02
  Speaker 2: eat that as well on Christmas. Or you can sort
• 34:06
  Speaker 2: of put some warm spices, you know, some cinnamon and cuman,
• 34:09
  Speaker 2: depending on what you're serving it with. That works fabulously
• 34:12
  Speaker 2: on pumpkin as well. So many things we can do
• 34:15
  Speaker 2: with these very very cheap vegetables. Genius.
• 34:19
  Speaker 3: And you pooh poohed my charcuterie board before you said, Victoria,
• 34:23
  Speaker 3: are you sure you need that?
• 34:24
  Speaker 2: And I mean, I maybe love sharkuterie so much, but
• 34:29
  Speaker 2: it is really hard to do it on a budget,
• 34:31
  Speaker 2: especially you know, if you're doing it for a large group.
• 34:34
  Speaker 2: So what nibbles or like a little entreys are we
• 34:38
  Speaker 2: adding in?
• 34:39
  Speaker 3: Because like, find the type of host if you came
• 34:42
  Speaker 3: to my house for dinner, I feel naked if I've
• 34:44
  Speaker 3: not got something on the table for you to like
• 34:46
  Speaker 3: snack on while I finish cooking dinner, I feel, I
• 34:51
  Speaker 3: know what snacks or little entrees or nibbles.
• 34:54
  Speaker 2: Are we offering?
• 34:55
  Speaker 3: Okay, because I think so many of us default to
• 34:58
  Speaker 3: going I'll describe a car full of cheeses and some
• 35:00
  Speaker 3: biscuits and then all of a sudden that was your
• 35:02
  Speaker 3: home deposit.
• 35:03
  Speaker 2: Yeah, and look they shark utero boards or grazing platters
• 35:09
  Speaker 2: are fantastic because there's very little effort involved apart from
• 35:13
  Speaker 2: making it look beautiful. I like that, you know, and
• 35:16
  Speaker 2: that is fun, right, we love that. I love crostini,
• 35:21
  Speaker 2: oh yum.
• 35:22
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 35:22
  Speaker 2: So you know you buy like the ononderull and ninety baguette, Yeah,
• 35:25
  Speaker 2: from the supermarket. You slice it up, you top it with.
• 35:29
  Speaker 2: You can do some whipped fetter, you could do some
• 35:31
  Speaker 2: goats cheese doesn't have to be expensive, and then you
• 35:35
  Speaker 2: can do anything on top. So I like, you know,
• 35:38
  Speaker 2: it depends what your menu is. But I love seasonal fruits. Yeah,
• 35:41
  Speaker 2: so even something like strawberries, like sliced strawberries with some
• 35:44
  Speaker 2: boss stomach Oh stop vinegar on them, get friendly, yes,
• 35:49
  Speaker 2: exactly when they're in season, which they are in summer.
• 35:52
  Speaker 2: Like you can do berries. You could do like relled peach.
• 35:54
  Speaker 2: I was about to say, yeah, you pea, you know it,
• 35:59
  Speaker 2: or even just shut up because tomatoes will also be affordable.
• 36:04
  Speaker 2: So just thinking of, you know, working around whatever ingredients.
• 36:08
  Speaker 2: You know, maybe a bit early for figs, but if
• 36:11
  Speaker 2: you happen to expensive, yeah, I mean I have fig farms,
• 36:16
  Speaker 2: so if it must be nice, yeah, I know. Do
• 36:19
  Speaker 2: you know my nana? So my nana also lives in Tasmania.
• 36:23
  Speaker 3: Yeah, she has the biggest and best looking fig tree
• 36:26
  Speaker 3: I've seen in my life, and she hates figs.
• 36:29
  Speaker 2: I would die for a fig tree that was later
• 36:32
  Speaker 2: with fruit. I will send you to her house. She Oh,
• 36:36
  Speaker 2: the figs are falling again and I have to clean
• 36:38
  Speaker 2: them up because she throws them all out. People would
• 36:41
  Speaker 2: pay her that coligious it is, so yeah, whatever you
• 36:46
  Speaker 2: can get your hands on. And on that note though,
• 36:49
  Speaker 2: I mean, there will be people in your neighborhood that
• 36:53
  Speaker 2: have excess of certain things. So whether it's you're nana
• 36:57
  Speaker 2: with the figs. Where I used to live in Brisbane
• 37:00
  Speaker 2: and our neighbor would put out bundles of rosemary and
• 37:03
  Speaker 2: put it on the community page and ask if people
• 37:06
  Speaker 2: wanted it. We had people with lemon trees who could
• 37:08
  Speaker 2: not use all the lemons. So there's nothing wrong with
• 37:12
  Speaker 2: getting on your Space community page and saying, hey, does
• 37:17
  Speaker 2: anybody have this? You know, if you might want rosemary
• 37:19
  Speaker 2: to decorate the table, but you're not going to go
• 37:22
  Speaker 2: out and buy you know exactly from decoration. I would
• 37:27
  Speaker 2: never recommend that there will be somebody with a rosemary bush.
• 37:30
  Speaker 2: It would be happy for you to trim it. You
• 37:31
  Speaker 2: can come. I've got one in my front yard. There
• 37:34
  Speaker 2: you go, you can have a turn. That's fine. In fact,
• 37:36
  Speaker 2: it's benefiting me. Yes, I love that. All right.
• 37:40
  Speaker 3: So now we've covered manes, we've covered out entrees. I'm
• 37:44
  Speaker 3: actually really excited. I feel like a festive brusheedder that
• 37:47
  Speaker 3: would look festive on the table as well. We've got
• 37:49
  Speaker 3: the reds, we've got the greens.
• 37:51
  Speaker 2: It's perfect. It looks strategic, and no one's going to
• 37:54
  Speaker 2: think budget when it looks strategic and it's delicious. Hundred
• 37:58
  Speaker 2: about it. Restaurants exactly. It's one of my favorite things. Also,
• 38:02
  Speaker 2: why is it so expensive when we order it restaurants? Yeah,
• 38:05
  Speaker 2: it's so basic. Another story for another day. Let's move
• 38:09
  Speaker 2: on to desserts.
• 38:10
  Speaker 3: You did mention the merangue, obviously fantastic, but what other
• 38:13
  Speaker 3: dessert recipes do you think?
• 38:15
  Speaker 2: Whole were on a budget, So I would be looking
• 38:17
  Speaker 2: for anything that you can make with pantry staples. It
• 38:21
  Speaker 2: depends obviously how confident and comfortable you feel with cooking,
• 38:26
  Speaker 2: but things like, you know, I love a trifle.
• 38:30
  Speaker 4: I know.
• 38:31
  Speaker 2: Not everybody's canceled. Nope, nobody wants. I'm so sorry.
• 38:38
  Speaker 3: It's like the time I told people online that I
• 38:41
  Speaker 3: thought that matcha Lates tasted like agriculture, and I thought
• 38:44
  Speaker 3: I had.
• 38:45
  Speaker 2: Okay, now you're canceled. Started a revolt.
• 38:48
  Speaker 3: Yeah, but like trifle, is that not just soggy cake
• 38:51
  Speaker 3: and jelly?
• 38:52
  Speaker 2: No, And here's the thing, like I like to take
• 38:55
  Speaker 2: something like that and then think, you know, whether it's
• 38:58
  Speaker 2: a pavlova or a trifle, and just okay, what can
• 39:01
  Speaker 2: I do to step this upper notch? So instead of
• 39:07
  Speaker 2: you know, using raspberry jelly from the supermarket, do we
• 39:12
  Speaker 2: get like plain gelatin and we flavor it ourselves? Do
• 39:15
  Speaker 2: we go for like do we go for a tropical
• 39:18
  Speaker 2: sort of trifle or do we go One year I
• 39:20
  Speaker 2: made what I called a Persian trifle. Okay, yeah, totally.
• 39:24
  Speaker 2: It was like the most expensive thing on my menu
• 39:27
  Speaker 2: that year. I still made it work budget wise, but
• 39:29
  Speaker 2: I had like pistachies on the top. Maybe I would try, yes,
• 39:35
  Speaker 2: pome I bought a pomegranate, right, yeah, I know, but
• 39:41
  Speaker 2: if everything else is cheap, you can you can blow
• 39:44
  Speaker 2: out on these little things that make it really special.
• 39:46
  Speaker 2: Pomegranates also very festive, So yeah, just looking at those
• 39:52
  Speaker 2: boring desserts and how do we elevate this, How do
• 39:56
  Speaker 2: we bring in different flavors, using the seasonal fruits and
• 40:00
  Speaker 2: making it special. Yeah, I feel like that's a good idea.
• 40:02
  Speaker 3: And I feel like at Christmas time as well, like
• 40:05
  Speaker 3: coals and woolies, they drop like usually like a pavlover
• 40:09
  Speaker 3: wreath or something, so if you're not a chef, but
• 40:12
  Speaker 3: I like them very budget friendly because by the time
• 40:16
  Speaker 3: you make a pavlover from scratch as well, eggs are
• 40:19
  Speaker 3: not cheap anymore, Like eggs aren't quote the pantry staple
• 40:22
  Speaker 3: they want and sorry, five dollars Christmas wreath that you
• 40:26
  Speaker 3: can pimp out with all of those things.
• 40:29
  Speaker 2: You look like you've tried, but you've also stuck to budget,
• 40:31
  Speaker 2: So like that can be smart too. Yeah, there's nothing
• 40:34
  Speaker 2: wrong with a storeboard merangue. Oh no, whether you're buying
• 40:37
  Speaker 2: the many merangues, and there are so many different ones
• 40:39
  Speaker 2: now take it, whether it's the wreath or just the
• 40:41
  Speaker 2: regular pavlover and again they will be on sale at
• 40:45
  Speaker 2: some point in this sort of December, and.
• 40:48
  Speaker 3: They keep it like you can pop them in the pantry.
• 40:51
  Speaker 3: Like if you look at those fine those due dates,
• 40:53
  Speaker 3: it's usually like a month or even two exactly.
• 40:56
  Speaker 2: Now.
• 40:56
  Speaker 3: I know that you make a lot of things from
• 40:58
  Speaker 3: a scratch, So I can't see in Goodwin's kitchen a
• 41:02
  Speaker 3: Coles wreath. That's fine, it's still a good option. I
• 41:04
  Speaker 3: know if you came to my house and I had it,
• 41:06
  Speaker 3: you would happily devour it. But I know you would
• 41:08
  Speaker 3: make it from scratch, because that's you. But what are
• 41:11
  Speaker 3: you making from scratch that maybe other people aren't making
• 41:14
  Speaker 3: from scratch that could help our budgets this year? I think,
• 41:17
  Speaker 3: please say gravy. Of course, of course, gravy. That is
• 41:21
  Speaker 3: one of those things.
• 41:22
  Speaker 2: I will only make things from scratch generally if it's
• 41:27
  Speaker 2: either going to save me a lot of money or
• 41:29
  Speaker 2: the end result is going to be fast superior to
• 41:31
  Speaker 2: the absolutely supermarket product. And sometimes it's not, so it's
• 41:35
  Speaker 2: not worth it. Gravy, it is always worth it, or
• 41:40
  Speaker 2: even if you use some of the supermarket product in
• 41:43
  Speaker 2: your own homemade gravy, if you need a bit extra,
• 41:45
  Speaker 2: that's fine, but using the pan juices from a delicious roast,
• 41:49
  Speaker 2: it's always going to be better. I think also, like
• 41:51
  Speaker 2: other condiments like saurces, dips, dressings, that sort of thing
• 41:56
  Speaker 2: are always fantastic, made from scratch and generally pretty easy.
• 41:59
  Speaker 3: It has been drummed into me from a very young
• 42:02
  Speaker 3: age that I should never buy solad dressing. My mom
• 42:06
  Speaker 3: is literally like, absolutely not. You can make that at home.
• 42:10
  Speaker 3: And I remember one time I came home with I
• 42:13
  Speaker 3: don't know, gone through a phase as a teenager, like
• 42:15
  Speaker 3: Italian dressing, and my mother was like, you did not
• 42:17
  Speaker 3: pay for that, did you? And I was like, of
• 42:19
  Speaker 3: course I did, but she was like deeply offended. She
• 42:23
  Speaker 3: was like, you already have all of those ingredients in
• 42:25
  Speaker 3: the pantry and they would have been free, and you can.
• 42:28
  Speaker 2: What I do is like have a little salad dressing
• 42:31
  Speaker 2: jar in my fridge, so it's so handy just to
• 42:35
  Speaker 2: have like a just a plain vinaigrette that you can
• 42:38
  Speaker 2: put over anything during the week. And yeah, look, I'm
• 42:43
  Speaker 2: okay with people buying convenience foods if it's going to
• 42:46
  Speaker 2: make their life easier, But if you have that just
• 42:49
  Speaker 2: a little bit of time. If sushi too, it does,
• 42:52
  Speaker 2: it's nicer.
• 42:53
  Speaker 3: Do you know what One of my favorite gifts was
• 42:55
  Speaker 3: a complete side note if anyone's thinking of like, oh
• 42:58
  Speaker 3: my goodness, I don't know what to get my friend
• 42:59
  Speaker 3: for Chris, I got given this jar.
• 43:02
  Speaker 2: It was like a tall jar and it has a really.
• 43:05
  Speaker 3: Nice lid and spout on it, and it's literally for
• 43:08
  Speaker 3: salad dressing. And it has little markings on it and
• 43:11
  Speaker 3: little recipes all the way around, like just in black prints,
• 43:14
  Speaker 3: so it's kind of like standard vinigarette or whatever, and
• 43:17
  Speaker 3: it'll say like up to here with olive oil, up
• 43:19
  Speaker 3: to here with red wine vinegar and a like dollop
• 43:22
  Speaker 3: of like.
• 43:23
  Speaker 2: Garlic or whatever, and the ratios yes, and now that
• 43:27
  Speaker 2: I just read my salad dressing jar. It's so silly.
• 43:31
  Speaker 3: But even if you get something and it's like, oh thanks,
• 43:34
  Speaker 3: but I use it, it lives in my fridge even
• 43:36
  Speaker 3: if it's empty, because then all the reminder.
• 43:39
  Speaker 2: Yeah, like otherwise I won't use it. Do not buy
• 43:42
  Speaker 2: the Italian salad dressing.
• 43:44
  Speaker 3: But it has like a little French style and it's
• 43:46
  Speaker 3: like basically like a vinegar like they usually use white
• 43:49
  Speaker 3: wine vinegar, olive oil and then they say put some
• 43:52
  Speaker 3: Dijil mustard in it, and I'm like, okay, that's perfect,
• 43:54
  Speaker 3: Like it's just right.
• 43:56
  Speaker 2: There on the jar. I love a practical gift and yes, no,
• 44:01
  Speaker 2: that's amazing.
• 44:01
  Speaker 3: I know I'm running out of time, so I'll stop
• 44:03
  Speaker 3: talking about gift giving because we meant to be here
• 44:05
  Speaker 3: for food. But the other thing, and the last thing
• 44:07
  Speaker 3: that stresses me out about food at Christmas is when
• 44:10
  Speaker 3: someone says, let's have drinks.
• 44:13
  Speaker 2: Can you bring a p late? What's on?
• 44:15
  Speaker 3: Like, Chelsea, what are you making? What am I taking
• 44:18
  Speaker 3: to the Christmas drinks? On to the dinner?
• 44:21
  Speaker 2: You're going to keep things simple, like if I was
• 44:23
  Speaker 2: bringing something along to like a lunch or a dinner
• 44:25
  Speaker 2: and I knew there would be you know, they were
• 44:27
  Speaker 2: taking care of the meat and they just wanted sides.
• 44:31
  Speaker 2: My go to would be a potato salad. And that
• 44:33
  Speaker 2: sounds so boring and you're fully thinking salad, Chelsea, but like, sorry,
• 44:38
  Speaker 2: everybody eats that drinks me exactly. The thing is, people
• 44:42
  Speaker 2: love a great potato salad. So if you can knock
• 44:44
  Speaker 2: your potato salad out of the park, like I love
• 44:47
  Speaker 2: a really herbaceous potato salad, with all the mustards, and
• 44:51
  Speaker 2: you know, like the way the seasoning is perfect and
• 44:55
  Speaker 2: nice and creamy and all the art ins, and so
• 44:58
  Speaker 2: it's not Cole's Deli, not clus delli potato salad. It's
• 45:02
  Speaker 2: also really cheap to make generally, like if you've got
• 45:05
  Speaker 2: the herbs in your garden or somebody else's garden, yep, And.
• 45:08
  Speaker 3: We're not boiled eggs and bacon and all of those
• 45:12
  Speaker 3: other things that are expensive.
• 45:14
  Speaker 2: If you've got them, add them in. But you don't
• 45:16
  Speaker 2: have to, yeah, Like it can just be the potatoes,
• 45:19
  Speaker 2: the herbs, the dressing. Also, like I don't want to
• 45:21
  Speaker 2: have to be heating things up at somebody else's house,
• 45:23
  Speaker 2: So I'm always thinking, like, what can I just stick
• 45:26
  Speaker 2: in the fridge when I get there, and then I
• 45:28
  Speaker 2: can pull it out, pop it on the table and
• 45:30
  Speaker 2: it's done. I think there are two things in life
• 45:32
  Speaker 2: that are true.
• 45:33
  Speaker 3: You cannot trust people who don't like dogs, and you
• 45:35
  Speaker 3: cannot trust people who don't have potato salad. So I
• 45:38
  Speaker 3: feel like that's the crowd pleasing winner of your suggestion
• 45:40
  Speaker 3: from you. I love it, Chelsea. I have sadly run
• 45:45
  Speaker 3: out of time with you. My timer is flashing and
• 45:47
  Speaker 3: it's saying Victoria any longer, and the community is going
• 45:50
  Speaker 3: to riot. Thank you for hanging out with us today,
• 45:53
  Speaker 3: Thank you for hanging out in person with me today.
• 45:56
  Speaker 3: I just know that my community is not just taking notes,
• 45:59
  Speaker 3: They're running to the section to make sure that they
• 46:01
  Speaker 3: can get your recipes now, guys, don't forget. I am
• 46:05
  Speaker 3: absolutely going to link Chelsea's links in the show notes
• 46:07
  Speaker 3: because I know that everyone is going to want to
• 46:09
  Speaker 3: follow you if they're not already, and they should already
• 46:11
  Speaker 3: be following you because you've already been on the show before, guys,
• 46:14
  Speaker 3: get to it. And a tiny little Christmas tip from
• 46:17
  Speaker 3: me that Chelsea doesn't know about if you are stuck
• 46:21
  Speaker 3: on what to buy someone for Christmas and you don't
• 46:23
  Speaker 3: want to buy them at jar with some writing on it, Honestly,
• 46:28
  Speaker 3: Chelsea's new book is the best option. It's called Money
• 46:31
  Speaker 3: Saving Meal Plans with Chelsea. And will put all of
• 46:34
  Speaker 3: the details in the show notes for you for that
• 46:36
  Speaker 3: as well. Plus I'm going to add the menu that
• 46:39
  Speaker 3: you generously have offered to give our community, of course,
• 46:42
  Speaker 3: and if you loved this episode, my friends, make sure
• 46:44
  Speaker 3: that you are subscribed so that you never miss what's
• 46:47
  Speaker 3: coming next, and the She's on the Money team and
• 46:49
  Speaker 3: I will see you on Friday.
• 46:52
  Speaker 2: Bye. Did buy?
• 46:59
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• 47:01
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• 47:05
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• 47:09
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• 47:12
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• 47:14
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• 47:18
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• 47:20
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