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Yay for Adulting! Podcast, Episode 5 - Kitchen Stuff, pt 2
7 Plays15 days ago
Kitchen Stuff Part 2 is here with four generations (Baby Boomer, Gen X, Millennial, and Gen Z). We talk quick meals, bare-minimum cleanup, and the eternal debate: vibes cooking vs measuring exactly.
Progress over perfection.
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Transcript
Cooking Disasters and Takeout Solutions
00:00:04
Speaker
All right, quick question. What's a food you've ruined so badly that you had to order takeout? It would be a pizza. I still have not learned how to make a pizza from scratch. I've bought the pizza ball dough.
00:00:22
Speaker
I've bought the already made dough in the freezer. But it never comes out right. Never. Accepting any and all tips. I don't think I have ever botched a meal so badly that we didn't eat it anyway.
00:00:41
Speaker
So we bought it. We made it. We'll eat. We don't have to like it. We just know we don't do it again. I mean, but what happens after that, then like two hours later, we'll go get, you know, White Castles or something.
00:00:53
Speaker
So, I mean, we'll eat it. It'll still get eaten no matter what it is because we've we've both botched a meal like that. But, you know, getting takeout, getting White Castle, getting McDonald's is never off the table. We just know not that we just know not to be ah not to be offended by it.
00:01:09
Speaker
you go It happens. Oh, I like that. Yeah. So for me, my big menu mess up mistake was when I went to go make actually steak for the first time back at my old apartment. Ended up setting off the fire alarm and smoke detectors or smoke alarms at yeah at the apartment. So i was like, you know what? I'm just going to go and walk to Jets and grab a pizza there for a night. Yeah.
00:01:38
Speaker
Probably tacos. i was I was making tacos and I burned all the tortillas. Oh. So we we just got Taco Bell.
00:01:49
Speaker
Yeah, because that was our that was our last batch of tortillas that we had. But she still had tacos, so. Yep. Yeah.
Meet the Generations Panel
00:02:01
Speaker
Hey, welcome back to EA for Adulting. I'm Lisa. And for today's discussion, we're again joined by four generations. We've got our Baby Boomer. Hi, I'm Mom. Our Gen Xer.
00:02:13
Speaker
I'm Montalee. Our Millennial. Hi, I'm Joseph. And our Gen Z. Hello, I'm Justin. Welcome back. Music.
Simple Meals and Cooking Preferences
00:02:30
Speaker
With eating, especially when you're starting out in your first kitchen, is just to eat, right? You don't need to be fancy. You just want food that isn't burnt, preferably, and maybe tastes good.
00:02:42
Speaker
So what's your I'm tired, but I need to eat meal? My need to eat meal is a PB&J. Quick, easy, delicious.
00:02:53
Speaker
Can't come off a classic. Agree. And it's really hard to mess up. Yeah, that's listen, that's just what it means that you over-jellied or over-buttered your sandwich or under-buttered or under-jellied your sandwich.
00:03:04
Speaker
Can you do that, though? It's all personal preference. My I need to eat meal was PB&J, but I will also do a quick tuna salad sandwich because even that you can get as plain or as fancy.
00:03:18
Speaker
My husband will just use um tuna and mustard and that will be his sandwich. Whereas I will use mayonnaise and relish and olives and lemon juice and and um a little salt and pepper.
00:03:35
Speaker
or v And if I had them, then some hard-boiled eggs. So there, that's how we that's how we make fancy, fancy tuna salad.
00:03:46
Speaker
And then I can add noodles if I want to make it a huge meal. Or just leave the noodles out and just put it on bread. Or eat it with crackers.
Kitchen Cleanup Rituals
00:03:54
Speaker
It was, it I mean, and and I also learned to call it tuna salad, not tuna casserole. I think it was the first time that I made it for my spouse. I called it tuna casserole because that's what we had always called it.
00:04:06
Speaker
But it was cold, not hot. And he did not like that. It's like, oh, this this is what it is. Eat it or starve. I don't i don't care.
00:04:18
Speaker
casserole's aren't supposed to be ah hot normally. Castrols are hot. Salads are cold. So now it's a tuna. and And honestly, you don't want to. It's not like you want to put tuna in the oven anyway.
00:04:30
Speaker
i was going to say, i I like it. Like I like on sandwich bread, like a tuna with cheese on top and then like melted. so Like um a grilled.
Exact Measurements vs. Cooking by Feel
00:04:38
Speaker
Yes. But don't do it at work. Do not put tuna in the microwave.
00:04:42
Speaker
You can always say intern did interd get it ye You can blame an intern.
00:04:50
Speaker
My I'm tired meal and I need to eat is just somebody just nuking a chicken patty and putting it between two pieces of bread having a chicken sandwich. Protein, bread, simple, easy to eat with one hand while running late.
00:05:07
Speaker
For me, it's not necessarily a meal. It's more of a snack because I have a very small appetite. So I would say do those cookie snacks like cookies, cookies. Yeah, like I said, it's not necessarily a meal. It's more of a snack. Yeah.
00:05:20
Speaker
Or you know what? How about those intro protein shakes? I love those. um I like the boost. Boost is good. Muscle milk is probably my personal favorite.
00:05:33
Speaker
After you've cooked, whatever it is you've cooked, either your quick meal or something bigger, future you deserves a kitchen that is not mad at you. And I remind myself of this all the time. So as a reset, a kitchen resets, usually it's put your leftovers away, start the dishwasher or at least rinse and stack the dishes, wipe the counter, and then take out the trash if
Cooking Shortcuts and Tips
00:05:55
Speaker
it stinks. So my question for the panel, what is your bare minimum cleanup rule?
00:06:02
Speaker
ah Mine is to wipe down the counter. I keep a spray bottle with half alcohol and half water. I've been using that since COVID.
00:06:13
Speaker
And now I spray the counter. Let's spray the counter and wipe it down. So that's the main thing for me. If I can't do anything else, that's one thing. The leftovers have to be put away before i go to bed.
00:06:26
Speaker
I do. I mean, I don't wash the dishes. I i married someone to that, but I will rinse them. I will rinse them and they will be stacked in the fridge because i i also set the coffee maker in the morning. And if I don't, then I still need to get to the sink.
00:06:42
Speaker
And I can't do that if they're if the dishes are are just in there all willy-nilly. So I i will i'll rinse the dishes and get them stacked in the sink. We don't have a dishwasher. Or other, I should say, I married the dishwasher.
00:06:54
Speaker
And i will wipe down the counter, especially now because we're smack dab in the middle of aunt scene. So the counters have to be wiped down, the leftovers have to be put away, and the dishes have to be rinsed.
00:07:06
Speaker
But i do not I do not mop and sweep the floor anymore. So there. There, that's that's me. That's me shaking off generational trauma. Good for you.
00:07:17
Speaker
Good for you. Thank you. Real
Trusting Cooking Methods
00:07:19
Speaker
breakthrough. yes I will generally go and take my cooking utensils after they're done being used for like, you know, storing the food and put them on and either the sink or the dishwasher, whichever one is not filled at the time.
00:07:34
Speaker
Yeah. Mine is pretty much the same. My other dishes wash everything down. Like, you know, the pots and pans, we don't push, we don't put that dishwasher. We, uh, we have, you know, our dish detergent, wash it up in the sink, put in one, um,
00:07:48
Speaker
ah We want to make sure we have it ready for, you know, our next meal.
00:07:55
Speaker
Are you a measure exactly person or a vibes person? Oh, I'm definitely a vibes person. My husband is not.
00:08:06
Speaker
He'll be cooking something and he says it needs tablespoon of cinnamon. Okay, no problem. Yeah. Did you put it? Yep, sure did.
00:08:17
Speaker
Yeah, I hardly measure anything. So sometimes when I'm making a cake, though, like baking soda, baking powder, but usually if I'm making a recipe, no, I eyeball it.
00:08:32
Speaker
I measure. i have lots and I have lots of implements for measuring. I do have a kitchen scale. i have one of those scoops that has a measuring device inside of it.
00:08:44
Speaker
I have several measuring cups and measuring spoon sets. I even have a little larger shot glass that has the gradients on it. I know that five tablespoons equals a third of a cup because that's what I use to make coffee overnight.
00:08:59
Speaker
I can just scoop one third in and it it makes 10 cups of coffee. My spouse, on the other hand, is a vibes person, which drives me up the wall, especially making something for the first time. if you're going to make something for the first time, follow the recipe and then you can go off and do your thing.
00:09:18
Speaker
Yeah. But that's not how. It's like, how do you know it that it's correct or that it's this is how it's posted? That drives me bananas, drives me nuts. I lean more towards measure exactly, half the you know, for certain things. Like, usually when I have to scoop up something, but when ask for things for me, like, you know splash and, like, add, like, you know, a sauce or whatever to like, you know, something like picking, then I just eyeball it and it's like, okay.
00:09:43
Speaker
All right. Is it covering all the meats and veggies? Okay, cool. now I don't really need to measure that much. But it's like, oh, hey, you got add, like, X amount of sugar or X amount thing for a flavor. Okay, then I will pay it into the measurements in that regard.
00:09:58
Speaker
ah Yeah, I'm the same way. i like to measure exactly, especially if it's my first time. But if it's something I'm making multiple times, then the next time i know I'm doing.
00:10:09
Speaker
When you first learned to cut, anyone teach you specifically or was it more on the job kind of thing? I learned from my mom, and sometimes she used a recipe, but most of the time she didn't.
00:10:23
Speaker
And so I guess that's where my vibe measurement comes from. Okay.
00:10:30
Speaker
What's your go-to shortcut? ah It's not a shortcut so much as, i guess it's more of a cheat sheet, but I have a metal have a metal guide on the fridge that says, you know, an eighth of a cup equals this many teaspoons equals this many tablespoons equals that. ah Because I'm terrible at math.
00:10:49
Speaker
So, and and fractions, you know. So kids, whenever they whenever you wonder, when am I ever going to use fractions? It's when you're cooking. This is what we lost when they took away home ec.
00:11:02
Speaker
yeah Exactly. So
Adjusting Recipes for Groups
00:11:03
Speaker
that's my shortcut. um one A shortcut I do have, um I have in my cabinets an all-purpose seasoning that I made. It's a tablespoon of salt, pepper, onion powder, and garlic powder.
00:11:19
Speaker
And it's all shaken up and it's in one shaker. And I use that to season everything, whether it's steak or chicken or whatever. As long as I mean, as long as it's something that you don't necessarily want or that you don't mind, you know, being flavored with a little garlic or onion, because not everything needs garlic and onion.
00:11:38
Speaker
But for something like a steak or chicken or even rice, um it's sort of like the house seasoning. So that's what I use to season everything before I cook. I learned early on that when you're going to go and make something or make a meal, it's good to just have your your portions set up ahead of time.
00:11:58
Speaker
like So have your seasonings ready to go already squared out your... ah sauces and your cuts of meats and veggies also like prepared a little bit ahead of times that way just saves on the hassle of doing this stuff like right as you're cooking it as well so you don't have to worry about chopping things and then immediately putting in the pan then as they're cooking in the pan chopping up the meats and add that to it no it's already chopped up you can just add it when it's ready not just racing against the uh the stove to chop onions
00:12:30
Speaker
Do you trust recipes, TikTok, or your own taste buds more? ah Recipes. ah Because every time I use a recipe, you know, everything always works out.
00:12:41
Speaker
And it's, a yeah, it ends up going well. Nice. Okay.
00:12:48
Speaker
There's TSP, which is teaspoon, versus capital TBSP, which is tablespoon. These are very different. You have cups versus ounces. You have pounds versus ounces. you have liquid measuring versus dry measuring.
00:13:06
Speaker
All of those can be confusing, but there are so many tips on the internet that can you add. I was going to say, you you will know the first time you screw up tablespoons and teaspoons. And it's a mistake you don't make twice. I mean... yeah tablespoons be pretty big. Once you see those... Oh, yeah.
00:13:24
Speaker
i was going to say, and with that, you know, you you learn, like when I was younger and began baking, you know, your recipes usually say to use like a teaspoon of vanilla. And I learned as, you know, i was doing my big girl baking that you don't really want to do more than a teaspoon of vanilla because nothing will wreck a cake faster than way too much vanilla.
00:13:47
Speaker
So that's why it's important to do your measurements. Oh, yeah. I think it's important to remember, too, that dry measur me dry measurements, like with cups, is way different than liquid measurings with ounces. And that's why I've i've sort of been gradually moving towards grams and milliliters and embracing the metric system.
00:14:10
Speaker
i mean, a lot of the a lot of those recipes are a little more accurate. um using a kitchen scale for all your dry measurements and even some of your liquid measurements. I mean, a thousand is a thousand. It's really difficult in with using cups, especially because you you may also find out the hard way that not all of your measuring cups and measuring spoons...
00:14:33
Speaker
are uniform there there's no uniformity to it and so if you have it's one thing to use if you have like six and i'm not saying i have six sets of mid i'm saying if you're going to have multiple sets of measuring spoons and measuring cups they should all be from the same manufacturer so you're you so every time you make your recipes they'll be the same because a tablespoon made from Betty Crocker that you get at the dollar store may not be the same tablespoon that you might use from a measuring set from like x OXO.
00:15:07
Speaker
Found that out watching um America's Test Kitchen. Yeah, I have a scale and it does come in handy when something I haven't made before and ah I need to scale it down for two people, then I use that scale to measure it.
00:15:21
Speaker
When the recipe calls for eight, then I can we figure out what I need for two. All right. So the lesson from this section is buy scale and use the metric system.
00:15:34
Speaker
You trust no one. ah Not even Betty Crocker.
Concluding Practical Kitchen Systems
00:15:38
Speaker
but Even Buddy Cocker.
00:15:44
Speaker
When cooking for a group of people, how do you adjust so that it appeals to lots of people? I try to be in the middle of the road. i don't make it too spicy. I don't.
00:15:58
Speaker
or too sweet, um too salty. So I taste it and I try to make it something that I think everybody will enjoy and they can season it more if they want to.
00:16:13
Speaker
I don't. If I'm... Okay. Okay, this might need a little explaining. I don't. Because if I'm making something, unless someone has said that, you know i mean, unless someone has an allergy or they have a sensitivity, they're not going to be eating in any way. But someone is... asked If they're asking me to bring a dish, they're not asking me to bring...
00:16:35
Speaker
a dish that necessarily everybody is going to like because I'm not going to drive myself crazy that way. But I will bring a dish that tastes good, that I think tastes good, that ideally folks will will enjoy, but i'm not going to I'm not going to make it more bland because then people will say that it didn't have any flavor.
00:16:55
Speaker
So I'm going to make a meal. I'm going to make a meal. I'm going to make sure it tastes good that I would eat it. And then that's what I'm serving folks.
00:17:08
Speaker
You don't have to eat. You don't have to eat it. You know, it's not going to hurt my feelings. But sometimes that introduces new foods. I remember when you made a soup once and you said, it has goat cheese.
00:17:23
Speaker
And I thought, what else can I have? But I said, you know, I've never had that. And I tasted it. it's like It was good with what you, I don't know if it was pumpkin soup or...
00:17:36
Speaker
something was it goat it was it the Was it the lamb chili? Oh, yes. Yes. And it was pretty good. So sometimes that introduces people to new food.
00:17:49
Speaker
Lamb chili. It was lamb chili with a goat ura cream sauce that you could put it in. Because it was kind of spicy. So that goat cheese um would sort of tone down that that spicy. Mm-hmm. The spicy and the lamb. Mm-hmm.
00:18:06
Speaker
I generally don't have to do that much like adjusting most of the time. It's like, you know people I'm around like already already have like I would say they have my taste, but they generally have like an understanding, you know, whatever I make.
00:18:18
Speaker
So if I do want to scale it down or scale it up, whatever flavor, I'll just like take a spoonful of whatever, like have it like, you know, like drops of it onto my finger, with whatever it tastes. That's the if if the sauce needs something else to it or, you know, if it needs to be sweeter, spicier, et cetera, et cetera.
00:18:35
Speaker
They already appreciate what you bring to the table, much like how, like, you know, what Monty said earlier. It's like, I'm making the thing that you guys expect me to make, so it's going I'm going to make it the way you guys know how I make it.
00:18:47
Speaker
Probably the same thing. Like, i would um I would definitely taste it first just to see if it needs to add, like, you know, because I like my stuff with flavor. I like my stuff, like, you know... Sweet.
00:18:58
Speaker
Unnecessarily spicy, but like, you know, yes, would probably taste it if it needs a more spice or flavor. I would add more. So to eat to the way that you like it. Pretty much. Yeah.
00:19:10
Speaker
Maybe I would definitely ask like because I've never been in this situation before. So so if so, I would probably ask my people like say like, what do you think? What's your honest opinion?
00:19:21
Speaker
I mean, I hope they're honest, but like, no, what should i do better next time? Getting feedback. I like that. Yes. Yeah. Very Gen Z of you. sir
00:19:34
Speaker
All right, adultlings, that's it for Kitchen Stuff Part 2. If you take nothing else from this conversation, take this. You don't need a perfect kitchen. You just need a few systems that make it easier to feed yourself and clean up so that future you isn't too annoyed.
00:19:50
Speaker
Try one thing from today. our five-minute reset, get a scale, or just admit that you're a vibes person and make peace with it. And going to keep the generation conversations going because everybody's learned something different and somehow we're all still hungry for more small wins.
00:20:08
Speaker
but that's not all we're doing. Coming up, we'll keep the multi-generational panel vibe and we'll dig into things like baby boomer tips that still work, Gen X latchkey life skills, millennial paperwork strategies that keep you sane-ish, and a Gen Z first apartment takeover.
00:20:25
Speaker
More to come. And remember, progress over perfection. See you next time.