Season 2, Episode 2: WHEN THERE ISN’T ENOUGH FOOD

Transcript

Stephanie Conner: (00:17)
The coronavirus pandemic is affecting all of us in an untold number of ways. One that we are perhaps not discussing enough is its impact on food access and affordability. The food system is stressed. Our bank accounts are stressed, and more and more people aren't eating the foods they should, but don't take it from me. Listen to Dr. Lauri Wright. She chairs the nutrition and dietetics department at the University of North Florida. And is a spokesperson for the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. She also works with food banks and food pantries providing nutrition education, and she's an expert on nutrition therapy and food insecurity.

Dr. Lauri Wright: (01:05)
One thing that we do know, when people are food insecure, when they don't have access to enough food and enough healthy foods, that they have more health-related conditions like diabetes and high blood pressure. Types of foods that they have to rely on can actually contribute to them getting sick. And as a dietician, I can help by teaching them what foods will work within their health condition, where they can get those foods and how to make them taste better, all in an effort to improve their health through the foods that they're accessing.

Stephanie Conner: (01:40)
That is powerful stuff. In the United States we often talk about abundance. Too much food being the cause of a lot of our health problems, but for a lot of families right now, the issue is actually a lack of food and indeed a lack of nutritious food. And whether you're struggling yourself or you've managed to get by unscathed in this economy, this is an issue that is profoundly important. And it's a problem we can all do something about. And some of that, you guessed it, comes down to how we shop and cook.

Stephanie Conner: (02:19)
Welcome to Kiddos in the Kitchen, a Podcast about helping busy adults find the inspiration and information they need to teach the kids in their lives how to cook. I'm your host, Stephanie Conner. And today we're going to talk about an important issue. Food insecurity, and cooking in a way that helps stretch our food budget.

<ad>

Kiddos in the Kitchen is brought to you by Active Voice Communications, a content strategy and copywriting firm that works with food and wellness, healthcare, technology, and education companies across the country. Whether you're looking for content strategy or creation, Active Voice Communications serves as an extension of your team, bringing concepts to life, taking plans to fruition and transforming strategies into results. Learn more at theactivevoice.com.

Stephanie Conner: (03:13)
So first things first, let's talk about some of the terms we'll hear today. I asked Dr. Wright to provide us with some definitions so we're all on the same page. What is the difference between food insecurity, nutrition insecurity and hunger?

Dr. Lauri Wright: (03:30)
Food insecurity is generally referred to as a lack of access to an adequate amount of food for health. It really talks about the amount of food, where nutrition insecurity has more to do about the quality and amount. Nutrition insecurity is when you have a lack of access to adequate amounts of healthy foods. And I think you can see that sometimes in the foods that are donated and food drives. There might be food, but it's the types of food. It's the Beanie Weenies. It's Spam, it's punch instead of milk. There might be some food, but it isn't healthy food. And so long-term, it takes a toll on a person's nutritional health. I would think of nutrition and food insecurity on a continuum. On one side it's when you have enough money and access to get those healthy foods for your optimal well-being. You don't worry about being able to buy the fruits and vegetables.

Dr. Lauri Wright: (04:44)
Somewhere in the middle of this continuum it's when people start to run out of food towards the end of the month before they have enough money to buy more. Or to prevent that from happening, they would really like to buy milk for their children, but that's five or $6 a gallon, and they can buy a two-liter of soda instead for a buck and make it last a lot longer. They start making trade-offs, instead of buying the healthy food, they buy this less healthy food just so it will last longer. They'll have something to put in their stomach, but those long-term impacts can really be detrimental to your health. So it's all really a continuum, and people get really good at making those trade-offs. It's eating the less healthy foods to make their dollar last longer. It's splitting their medications. They take half of the medications that they're supposed to take so that they have enough money for food.

Dr. Lauri Wright: (05:43)
All those trade-offs. People don't realize that so many individuals struggle with this day to day because they are silently making these trade-offs, living with this anxiety and fear all the time, and just getting by with those trade-offs. At the far right side of the continuum is hunger. And that's what you think of when you see those commercials on TV for other countries and you see the starving children, that's hunger. You don't have those trade-offs. The trade-offs don't work. You don't even have the money to buy the less healthy foods, therefore you go hungry.

Stephanie Conner: (06:21)
When we talk about health and nutrition, I think so much of the conversation is around abundance, and how do we consume less, that you kind of forget that there's this other side of the coin, that there are other people facing a much different reality.

Dr. Lauri Wright: (06:36)
Absolutely. There's many different reasons financially, geographically, that people can't access this healthy food, food deserts, or when there isn't a grocery store close by. What happens is when families live in food deserts, they have to rely on the local little stores. A lot of times they go to these little gas station stores or corner stores, or even dollar stores to get the food they need. And in those types of establishments, they don't have the fruits and the vegetables. Sometimes they don't have the fresh meat. So they again are forced to choose the canned meat. They don't even get the fruits and vegetables.

Dr. Lauri Wright: (07:22)
I work a lot with senior citizens, and they often can't access food for reasons that have to do with their functioning. They aren't strong enough to go out to the grocery store or they're short of breath, or their legs hurt and so they can't stand long enough to even prepare their meals. There's a lot of different reasons why people may not be able to access the healthy food that they need for their health.

Stephanie Conner: (07:47)
We are several months into the COVID-19 pandemic, which has impacted many lives. Schools are closed, lives have been lost, businesses destroyed, our economy in ruins. So I asked Dr. Wright how all of this has impacted food insecurity in the United States.

Dr. Lauri Wright: (08:07)
Prior to the pandemic, it was estimated that about one in nine adults were food insecure, and about one in five children were food insecure. After the pandemic hit a lot of things occurred, including people losing their jobs. And also the stress that the impact of the pandemic had on the food system caused food prices to skyrocket. Overall in just a month’s time, we've seen food prices jump 5%, meats have jumped up 20%, eggs have jumped 10%.

Stephanie Conner: (08:47)
Yeah, I was losing my mind that my food bill has gone up. But I feel it.

Dr. Lauri Wright: (08:54)
Yep. It's putting a strain on those that have lost their jobs, and now they are plunged into making those choices between paying their rent and having enough food to feed their family, and even people that have kept their jobs, you're having to tighten your belts a little bit because those prices for food have increased so much. In one estimate, it appears that instead of one in nine adults, we're thinking one in three adults are now having the challenge of food insecurity.

Stephanie Conner: (09:26)
What about children?

Dr. Lauri Wright: (09:27)
The estimate is now instead of one and five, one out of every two children are experiencing some form of food insecurity.

Stephanie Conner: (09:35)
A lot of children access food at their school through school lunch programs, and with schools not in session is that part of this for the kids?

Dr. Lauri Wright: (09:44)
School lunches and breakfast play an important role in forming that safety net for children. Certainly the school nutrition programs have done an amazing job at trying to reach the students even though they're at home and not going to school. So you see some school districts sending the buses out with meals to reach the children, but you can't reach everyone. And some families have been pushed into homelessness or they've had to move from where they were living previously. Sometimes the schools can't even reach them. And that's only one safety net. That is definitely a factor in the rise and feeding insecurity among children.

Stephanie Conner: (10:28)
Those numbers are alarming.

Dr. Lauri Wright: (10:30)
Absolutely. This is long-term impact. This is their ability to learn today, which translates into how successful they will be in the future. These are both short- and long-term impacts and they're real, and they're significant.

Stephanie Conner: (10:46)
Hearing you say one in three and one in two. It just feels insurmountable in some ways. But I do know that there are resources available and there are things that families can do. So I'm hoping that you can share some of those.

Dr. Lauri Wright: (10:57)
When families find themselves with this challenge, there are government programs that have been expanded to help them. That's what these programs like SNAP, we formerly called it food stamps now it's called SNAP, complimentary nutrition assistance programs. Policies have been put in place to expand it to help families meet some of those food needs. In addition to SNAP, there's also lunch programs for younger children, for pregnant women and younger children there's the WICs program.

Dr. Lauri Wright: (11:35)
A lot of the eligibility criteria for seniors has been loosened so they can qualify for Meals on Wheels program. We do have government programs and that's exactly what they were designed for, to help all Americans through these difficult times. Besides the government programs, we have a whole chain of food assistance support in the form of Feeding America, food pantries at churches and clinics. Feeding America has experienced such a dramatic increase in need. You've seen pictures on TV of long lines of families in cars to get boxes of food. And sometimes the combinations of the government programs with these other food assistance programs will make the difference in having adequate amount of food for their health.

Stephanie Conner: (12:31)
In addition to taking advantage of these programs in our communities and government programs, what about things that we can do within our own households to maybe stretch that dollar a little bit more? Whether your’e food insecure or not, everything is feeling just a little bit tighter right now.

Dr. Lauri Wright: (12:47)
With the food costs rising, there is a lot that we can do to make our dollar go longer, to make our food last longer. One of the first things I always recommend is plan out a menu for the week. That does a couple of things. That forces you to go into the pantry and to the refrigerator, and see what you have and what meals could you make from some of the ingredients that you already have, and also make sure that you don't buy what you don't need either. At the grocery store, stick to your list. Stay away from the spontaneous buying. Look at store brands. Many times the store brands are made by the same company as the big brands, but they're just not packaged as fancy. Try to use store brands and look at some of the less expensive, but still nutritious alternatives. Produce is wonderful, but produce goes bad quickly.

Dr. Lauri Wright: (13:44)
Right now we have big sales on raspberries and blueberries, but if you don't eat those quickly, they'll go bad really fast.

Stephanie Conner: (13:51)
Oh I do.

Dr. Lauri Wright: (13:53)
You can look at less expensive, more shelf-stable alternatives. Frozen vegetables are a wonderful alternative. They still have the same vitamins and minerals, but they're certainly going to save you money at the checkout, and they're going to last a lot longer. You can portion out what you need and freeze the rest and they're going to last a lot longer. Canned fruit in their own juices. That's a very good alternative, very nutritious, but it will save you a lot of money. And right now while some of the produce prices are high, that might be a better choice.

Stephanie Conner: (14:27)
What about people who might be doing okay, and they hear this and say, "I'd like to do something to help." What's the best thing to do?

Dr. Lauri Wright: (14:35)
If you are in a position that you can help, one of the things I recommend is donating to the Feeding America in your community, or giving some of your time to the food pantries. That demand on these organizations is great, so if you can spare an afternoon to go in and sort food and hand out bags, it can be done at a social distance, but your time and your money will make all the difference to people in need.

Stephanie Conner: (15:07)
I appreciate you sharing these thoughts, and I wanted to give you a chance to share any final thoughts you had on this topic, if there's anything that we didn't cover that you think it's important for people to hear.

Dr. Lauri Wright: (15:19)
We always have to keep in mind that nutrition is a right that we all have. Our seniors, our families, our children, and we have to make sure that everyone is given that right to enough healthy food for their well-being. The time of COVID has been very challenging, and you've seen heroes out there helping, and this is one way that we can all get involved and help. Donating your time. Even helping Meals on Wheels deliver meals to homebound seniors, or checking on a senior in your neighborhood to see if they have enough. Maybe making an extra portion to take down to them while they're staying safe in their home. There are many different ways that we can help, and it's so critical for our future.

Stephanie Conner: (16:13)
Thank you to Dr. Wright for those insights. And now let's talk about a way you can stretch your own dollar. My next guest has some great perspective on how to save money, waste less, eat healthier, and stay sane in the kitchen.

<ad>
Kiddos in the Kitchen is brought to you by Active Voice Communications. Whether you're looking for content strategy or help writing articles, white papers, reports, blog posts and more, Active Voice is here. Learn more at theactivevoice.com.

Stephanie Conner: (16:52)
Mari Suzuki is the author of the cookbook, "Kitchen Wizard Flexipes." Born and raised in Tokyo, Mari says the women in her family were great cooks and she's always appreciated home-cooked meals, but when she got married nearly 20 years ago, she discovered she couldn't pull off the dinner she wanted to every night. She spent tons of time looking for recipes and trying to decide what to make. She was always shopping at the last minute and she was exhausted. She and her husband ended up eating out a lot as a result, and she was gaining weight to the point that her doctor told her she was pre-diabetic and had high cholesterol and that she may require medication.

Mari Suzuki: (17:43)
I tried everything to avoid this medication stuff. New kitchen tools, 30-minute meals, and then at that time there's no such thing as meal kits or anything, but nothing worked. My husband even suggested that I should take a 12-week home chef basic cooking course. And then I did, but that only made things worse because following recipes exactly only added to my frustration. And I was doing even more last-minute shopping and following somebody else's instruction rather than the actual act of cooking was confusing. I was really at a loss. And then one day I was visiting my family back in Japan. And all of a sudden I was thinking, why are these people able to whip up so many different delicious dishes from such a tiny kitchen? And I started to do a little bit of research, like cookbooks, ask my aunt and then all of that. And then I decided to give their method a try. And the light bulb went off.

Mari Suzuki: (18:46)
Their way of cooking was simpler and a lot more flexible and it was easy to maintain. This information no one tells you about in the US, but it's just common sense. Once I started to use this method, the result was phenomenal. I wasn't stressed out in the kitchen anymore. Meal prep was easy and fun. I was able to decide what's for dinner really quickly, and my food tastes better. And then there were a lot more varieties. And then my doctor never told me that she wanted to put me on medication, thank God. And the biggest surprise of all, we saved $9,000 in the first year alone. Just from not eating out as much, and then using all the food we bought, because in the past, I wasting so much.

Stephanie Conner: (19:29)
That waste part is important. The average American family wastes about a third — a third — of the food they buy. That's about $1,800 a year in food waste. That might be leftovers you never get around to, food that goes bad before you cook it or uneaten food you toss out after a meal. And when so many Americans are struggling to put food on the table, our grocery bills are going up and we're all feeling the economy's pinch right now. This isn't the time to be putting food in the garbage. Mari's flexipes might be one way to combat that.

Mari Suzuki: (20:03)
It's a made-up word. It’s short for flexible recipe.

Stephanie Conner: (20:09)
Mari also doesn't want us buying fancy spices or obscure sauces that we use only once. She's also pretty opposed to stressing out about following recipes precisely or doing rigid planning. Her idea of meal planning is more around having a loose idea of what you could make this week without necessarily having to have things set in stone. And flexipes, as she says, helps save money, reduce stress, and limit prep time.

Mari Suzuki: (20:43)
So you decide what you make based on what you buy and what you have, so there's no wasted food. And number two, narrow down the options enough so that you can decide what's for dinner quicker, yet give you enough flexibility. And then number three, everything gets used up. No more last-minute shopping, no more there's nothing in the fridge. No more I don't know what to do with these whatever the [crosstalk 00:21:12], which is half left and then sitting in the fridge.

Stephanie Conner: (21:08)
Choosing a base and meal prepping are key to this method, which allows you to prep a handful of ingredients that become part of a basic building block that you use for all of your week’s meals.

Mari Suzuki: (21:26)
The benefit, you can cut down prep time and cooking time drastically because when you are prepping half the onion or two onions, the time and effort is pretty much the same, especially when you cook something. It's pretty much exactly the same, but then if you use it for other dishes later on, then you can skip these steps. It really reduce a lot of stress. And then it gives you a peace of mind because these are already done. And then you feel like, okay, all I have to do is throw in another vegetable and then heat it up or change up the sauce, whatever. And that peace of mind is huge. Because of that you can increase variety easily, and then quickly without reinventing the wheel so to speak, so it would save you a ton of time and money.

Stephanie Conner: (22:10)
So, I thought I did understand Mari's method, but I wasn't totally sure. So I asked her to give me an example. We started with an onion.

Mari Suzuki: (22:28)
You cut up your onion for the whole week. You probably want to use that fresh onion in the first few days, maybe for some from of salad or something, but then maybe you can save some for the salad and then cook the rest as a sauteed onion. And then you can use that sauteed onion for a lot of different dishes throughout the week. Now you can go step further. One of the basics I like to use a lot is tomato onion base. So you can use that sauteed onion and then add some chopped tomatoes and then use it as a sauce. With that you can make curry because curry is made with sauteed onion, garlic, and then ginger, and then a lot of Indian spices. And then by having that, you can add that to leftover vegetables or partially cooked sauteed vegetables or chicken or other meat, and then you can make curry really quickly.

Mari Suzuki: (23:27)
Or you can use that tomato and onion based to make ratatouille, or you can add brown meat and then make something like a meat sauce. Or you can add some shrimp and then add some feta cheese and then make this Greek dish called shrimp saganaki. But then by having that mixture of tomato onion base, all of a sudden you can make a lot of dishes throughout the week just by switching up other protein and then vegetables. You can also add some liquid and then vegetables and then make things like minestrone too.

Mari Suzuki: (24:07)
Of course you may not necessarily want to make everything tomato base. Another which is easy to make and that I like is mushroom base. You can use the same sauteed onion and then add some sliced mushrooms and then saute it up. And that you can use it for things like a mushroom risotto. You can throw it in with the omelet, tikka masala, chicken with mustard sauce, beef stroganoff, mushroom soup. You can make a lot of different dishes or just throwing into some other dishes as a sauteed mushroom. And then let's say you have a sauteed mushroom base, mushroom kale, and then some feta cheese or something. By changing the ratio of mushroom kale and feta cheese, you can make practically infinite variety of dishes using exactly the same thing.

Stephanie Conner: (24:56)
And from there we can build. Of course, if you're struggling with ideas you can always check out Mari's cookbook, which gives you several bases to choose from, and ideas for recipes that use those bases. I'll link to that on kiddosinthekitchen.com. But Mari's pretty clear that you and I really can do this even without a cookbook.

Mari Suzuki: (25:24)
In a way you're developing a recipe. You may not necessarily publish it to the whole world, but you're not opening a restaurant or anything. You are creating the dish your family would enjoy. It's actually a lot easier than you think. Just make sure that you trust your senses and taste bud and intuition, and then just trust your own experience as a cook or eater because you already know a lot about cooking. You don't necessarily have to follow a recipe when you're busy. And then that makes your life so much easier.

Stephanie Conner: (25:52)
One thing that struck me during the conversation with Mari is that this style of cooking might actually be helpful when coking with our kiddos. After all, if you're only preparing just one or two ingredients in a night, it might be easier and less stressful to bring the kids into the kitchen. And for kiddos, and for adults for that matter, with a relatively short attention span, this could be a great solution. And now it's time for Kitchen Questions where I ask my guests a few quick questions to understand her and her kitchen a little better.

Child: (26:33)
It's time for Kitchen Questions. I have a question. What would happen if you put a little bit of the wrong ingredient inside a cookie? Why are cupcakes squishy? How often do you burn things on accident? Do you like cake? What is the difference between baking and roasting? What is your favorite recipe?

Stephanie Conner: (26:59)
What is one ingredient you always have on hand in your kitchen?

Mari Suzuki: (27:03)
Everything. I like to keep my pantry and fridge well-stocked, but maybe onions.

Stephanie Conner: (27:10)
If you're going to splurge, where do you go?

Mari Suzuki: (27:13)
I don't eat out that much, but I actually splurge at a place called Berkeley Bowl. It's a great market. It's a combination of Trader Joe's and ethnic market and Whole Foods, and the whole nine yards. And if you come to San Francisco, I will take you there. They have everything. So I tend to splurge or buy a crazy amount of fresh fish [inaudible 00:00:27:41], and then think about like what I can use for, what I can prep for, and then I play in endlessly with these vegetables I buy. How weird.

Stephanie Conner: (27:49)
Do you have a favorite kitchen gadget?

Mari Suzuki: (27:52)
I don't have too many kitchen gadget because I realized that too many kitchen gadget could make things a little too complicated. But my number one go-to is the immersion blender because you can make soup really quickly. For example, you make vegetable soup or something. You can eat it as it is on the first day. And then you puree it the next day, it's completely different soup. And then you don't have to transfer from pot to the blender and then all that, so it's a lot safer too.

Stephanie Conner: (28:20)
Do you prefer a nonstick skillet or a cast iron?

Mari Suzuki: (28:23)
Nonstick.

Stephanie Conner: (28:25)
What desserts do you make at home?

Mari Suzuki: (28:27)
I only make dessert when people come over for dinner, and I prefer to make things like strawberry mousse and then that sort of things, but then I'm also known with my tarte Tatin.

Stephanie Conner: (28:36)
What's that?

Mari Suzuki: (28:36)
Tarte Tatin is French upside-down apple pie. It’s delicious.

Stephanie Conner: (28:37)
Thank you again to Dr. Lauri Wright and Mari Suzuki for joining me today. I'll link to their websites and social media pages from kiddosandthekitchen.com too. I'll also link to the resources that Dr. Wright shared.

Stephanie Conner: (28:47)
All right. Thank you very much for playing the game.

Stephanie Conner: (28:59)
As many as one in three American adults is food insecure right now, and one in two children. In a nation where more than two-thirds of adults are overweight or obese. In a nation of plenty. In supposedly the richest nation on earth. When I talk to experts about nutrition and health, we talk about calories and sugar and the lack of portion control. We talk about how a sedentary lifestyle contributes to an unhealthy population. In America we eat too much, and we eat too much stuff we shouldn't, but a lack of access to food and to healthy food is a serious problem. Far more serious than most of us realize. And it's a growing one, as our economy struggles to get back on line.

Stephanie Conner: (29:59)
With 30 million Americans out of work and food costs rising, we need to be aware of ways to better manage our own household budgets, and of the ways we can help others in our communities. People are lining up at food banks in record numbers. People who used to donate to food banks now desperately need their help. But what kind of food is in those donation boxes? Is it crackers and cookies or is it canned vegetables and rice and dried beans?

Stephanie Conner: (30:37)
When we donate, are we looking for cheap processed boxed foods or are we donating real food? Yes, of course, fresh meat and frozen veggies are a no-go for food banks, I get that, but we can still be mindful about the types of foods we're donating. We can also be thoughtful with the foods we offer to our neighbors who might be struggling. And in our own homes, whether we're operating with less income or are among the more fortunate right now, we can still take steps to reduce our personal food waste. This is good for the family budget as well as for the environment. So this month I encourage you to join me in striving for limited-to-zero food waste. Buy only what you need and use up everything before you shop again, consider trying Mari Suzuki's flexipes method. Challenge yourself to get creative, especially as you get to the end of the week's groceries. Freeze leftovers for a future date, or serve them for lunch the next day. Conduct a thorough inventory before you head to the store. Whatever you do, don't let good food go to waste.

Stephanie Conner: (32:05)
If your family has been hit hard, take advantage of the resources you can. And if you're doing okay right now, join me in donating to the local food bank and to Feeding America. We talk about teaching kids to cook and helping them learn proper knife skills or how to crack an egg or make a ragu from scratch, but managing finances and embracing a low-waste lifestyle are important skills too, and most important of all right now is making sure kids have access to healthy, nutritious foods at all.

Stephanie Conner: (32:45)
So as we move into the holiday season, continuing to manage the realities of the pandemic and its economic fallout, let's take care of one another. Thanks for joining me for Kiddos in the Kitchen. I'm your host, Stephanie Conner, with a reminder from my son.

Conner: (33:19)
If you like my mom’s podcast as much as I do, you can subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Google Play, Stitcher, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Stephanie Conner: (33:39)
That's right, Conner. You can also view the show notes, subscribe to our newsletter, and check out all of our other content at kiddosinthekitchen.com, we’re @KiddosCook on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, and I'll be back next month with another fresh episode. Until then I encourage you to get your kiddos in the kitchen.