The Rachel Cruze Show - How to Cut Your Food Budget in Half with Abby Turner

Episode Date: August 23, 2021

Want to save even more on food? Save and entertain with these cost-cutting tips! Five simple recipes you can make for $15 or less How to entertain friends for less with help from cook and author Abby Turner How much you should spend on groceries—plus tips to save big on the grocery budget Follow me on Instagram @RachelCruze and join the Official Rachel Cruze Community on Facebook. Connect: Visit Abby Turner’s website: https://atabletopaffair.com/ Resources: Start a free trial of Ramsey+! https://bit.ly/3A45Be4 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It is amazing. When you have a plan and you're intentional, you actually save money that way, you guys. Because if you are last minute and you're trying to pick something up to go at a restaurant, you're like, you just end up spending more. But when you can plan it out and you have all the food that you need, you save money. Hey, everyone. Welcome to another episode of the Rachel Crewe Show podcast. I'm so glad that you're here. And I'm so excited for this episode because it's all about food. That's right. Yes. I interviewed author. home chef and hostess with the mostess, Abby Turner. And we talk through how hosting doesn't have to be intimidating while also going over a few easy recipes that won't break the bank. You don't want to

miss this. She has so many great ideas. Then I'll go over five meals that are all under $15. And the best part is you only need five ingredients. This is like every parent's dream. I know. You're welcome, everyone. You're welcome. But first, let's talk about how much we spend on groceries. So take a listen. Okay, here's what's interesting. The average American family of four spends between $600 and $1,300 a month.

Isn't that interesting? But here's why I look at you guys. Any extra money you can save. Any extra money you can save is amazing because it helps you win with your money goals that much faster. Now, I know with groceries, it can feel impossible,

but trust me, it is possible to lower your grocery budget. because some months, it's like, oh, well, actually we don't spend that much because we had X, Y, and Z and Dada, da, da, and other months I was like, how do we spend this much money at groceries? Like, what's going on? I mean, it just like, does like this, depending on our life and all of it. And it's hard to predict. That's what I find hard. I'm like, oh, my gosh, it's just, it can be so overwhelming. And then I'll be honest, too. I even spent a little bit more on groceries a few months in a row because we did like a grocery delivery service. So they marked up some of the items and did all this. But at the time, it was worth it. because of our schedule and everything, and then, oh, it's just, it's nuts. Grocery shopping, we need it, we gotta eat, all the things. Listen, it's just tough. It's just a tough part of the budget when it comes to food. So I get it, I get it.

But I want to help break down how much you should be spending and maybe where you can start saving some money on this. Okay, so that is the question. How much should I spend on groceries? Well, if you're on baby steps one through three, which means you're building up your starter emergency fund of $1,000, or you're paying off all your consumer debt, or you're building up your fully funded emergency fund of three to six months worth of expenses, then I would recommend spending 10 to 15% of your take-home pay on groceries. I'm going to say that with an asterisk,

because remember, this needs to fit your life. Your budget has to be realistic, and also your percentages, they may look different than what I just gave you, depending on your situation, okay? So if you're a millionaire and you're living like no one else, you're on baby step seven, and you're just like rock and rolling, making crazy money, you have no bills, well, 10% of your budget is probably going to be a lot of money. Yeah, you probably don't want to spend all that on food. Or maybe where you live makes a big difference, right? If you live in Kansas versus New York or San Francisco, your grocery bill is going to look different. If you have 21 kids versus if you're single with no kids, your food budget is going to look different. So you really have

to figure out what works with your family. But here's the key is you have to stick with it. So for the Cruz family, we always break out our food category into actually three different categories. You ready? We break out groceries. So, okay, this is what we're buying at the store, all the things. Restaurants.

Restaurants, it is, it's my love language. I love going out to dinner. Winston and I went on a date night and came out of the restaurant category. But I was like, this is what I love. I love being served. I love not having to cook. I love that the dishes get taken away from me and I get to leave the restaurant.

I mean, it is. It's just my love language so much. So I love to see that restaurant category because I take full advantage of it. Yep. There's $15 left. Who do you think is getting a spicy chicken sandwich with American cheese,

large fry and large sweet tea? This one. I'll use it up. Every single penny of that restaurant. It's gone because of me. I will. I love it. And then we actually always break.

to go to Costco. I had to start doing this because for me to enjoy Costco, I love buying in bulk. I love all the special stuff that Costco has. It's like all these stuff that I'm like, this isn't my normal grocery store. I sure. I'll try the street corn that's absolutely delicious and I get like eight packs of it and it's wonderful. And I want to be able to shop freely at Costco. And so when I talk about a budget, it's not constrictive. It's not like, oh, I can't do things. I'm not out of budget. No, remember a budget is permission to spend. You get to spend. and actually enjoy your spending because it's in control. So I get to walk through Costco a little bit more freely and happier because I know,

here's my Costco line item in our budget. So anyways, that's what we do. I know that's probably like really specific for some of you. Some of you it's not specific enough. But that's what we do in the Cruz Household for the food budget. But listen, if you are one that finds, okay, when it comes to grocery specifically, we continue to go over. We continue to go over and over and over and over.

Here are a couple of things that you can do to save money, okay? Number one, meal plan. This is what Winston and I do every Sunday night. We look at the calendar ahead and we say what's going on Monday night, Tuesday night, Wednesday night, Thursday night, Friday night. And we plan everything out. And the nights that we're home and we cook, I know exactly what we're cooking because then the groceries come on Monday. That's our grocery shopping days, Mondays. So I know, and it is amazing.

When you have a plan and you're intentional, you actually save money that way, you guys. Because if you are last minute and you're trying to like impulse buy something and pick something up to go at a restaurant, You just end up spending more, but when you can plan it out and you have all the food that you need, you save money. Number two, make a grocery list. Yes. This is so key. It's kind of that old, one of those old school grocery store. People say, like, don't go hungry. Make a list. Do you know, no, no. All that's true. But the list thing, it's so good because you have it. It's right there. It's right there. So you're not going to impulse by. You just get exactly what you need and everything in one trip. Next, take out cash for groceries. Okay, this is big for those of you, especially if you're just, starting budgeting. This is huge. Cash is amazing. So let's just, as an example, say, you budgeted $600 for groceries every month. Well, you go to the bank, pull out the 600,

you can put in an envelope, put it in your Rachel Cruz wallet, whatever it is, have cash there. Then when you go at the grocery store, you use that cash to pay for your groceries. And the amazing thing is, once the cash is gone, it's gone. It's like a built-in accountability. It's just there, and you're able to say, okay, this is how much. I have left or this is what we have to plan around because it's how the money is. I mean, it's so visual and it is so, so helpful. Next, try discount grocery stores like Aldi. So smart shopping isn't always what you buy, but where you buy. And seriously, people save so much money. Like half their grocery budget is just gone. It's amazing. They can save half of it

just by making a switch on where they shop. So places like Aldi are amazing for that. Also, shop generic. So switching from name brand to generic on things like pet food, shampoo, coffee, medicine, like so much stuff. I mean, you're basically getting the same product, but it's more inexpensive. You save money that way, and it's going to feel like you got to raise. You just feel like, wow, I really did save so much money. And last but not least, use coupons. So there's so many digital coupons now, whether it's money-saving apps or things online. If you just Google the word coupon, it's amazing. You know, with your store with it, like, stuff will come. It's amazing. So take the time and look to say, okay, hey, I can.

can save some money here and there. And again, when it comes to these kind of things, whether it's money-saving apps or coupons, the only way it really saves you money is if you're going to buy the product in the first place. Okay, so don't see the coupon. I'm like, oh, here's some extra stuff I want. No, if it's with the product you need, it's amazing.

That's it. So if you want an easy way to keep track of your grocery budget, means you need a great budgeting tool. And my favorite is every dollar. Yes, this is our budgeting app, and it comes with Ramsey Plus. And so Ramsey Plus will make your money work for you. Learn how to budget, pay off debt, invest, and so much more with Ramsey Plus.

It has our proven step-by-step plan that works. And right now, you've got nothing to lose by starting a free trial. Just text Rachel Plus to 33789 and get your free trial going. All right. I hope this helps you, these little tips, help save money. and you guys, as much money as you can save per month, especially those of you on Babysups 1 through 3, man, you can make so much progress, so much faster

when you are intentional with your money and things like groceries, yep, that can go over the budget really easily. Learning to save on those can change everything. And today's episode, I have, I want to call her like a food experts, a cook, an author, all the things. Abby Turner is here. Abby, welcome to the show. Thank you so much.

I'm so excited. I'm so glad that you're here, and you guys may know her Instagram account, A Tabletop Affair, because I love everything about what you do. You're messaging, your heart, your soul. So kind of tell everyone who's not familiar with you just what you love. Yeah, so I am kind of really in love with the table. I think that there is a lot of great community and connection that comes when you just approach the table. And food is just that natural conduit that kind of gets us there.

And so I started a blog and started an Instagram where it's, all things easy, 30 minutes or less, like really inexpensive, because at the end of the day, it's not about perfection, it's not about presentation, it is about the people. And if we can get there, then, hey, I'll help you. I think it's so good. I know we, I feel like, you know, your parents have, like, phrases that you kind of, like, make fun of them for, and you're going, my dad's is always like, break bread with people. Yeah, break bread with people. Like, if you sit down and you have a meal with someone, there is a level of connection and intimacy that is bigger than if you were just

like texting or, you know, something digitally, right? You know, it's, slows us down and really gets us in that mindset of let's talk. Yeah, let's break the bread. Yes. Let's actually have community and talk about it, right? So, but it's intimidating. So I think some people hold back of, like, invite people over because they feel like they're not a good cook or their table scape is not great and beautiful. But you, like, lower all those boundaries. And you're just like, break those walls down. Right. And it doesn't have to be perfect. Well, Instagram and Pinterest and everything out there has told us that it has to be perfect. We have to be, you know, this perfect chef food network star, name it. Yes. And, you know, you. And, you know,

You don't have to be. You just need to be at the table. And what is better than to be at the table with great food? I know, that's right. Okay, so one of the things that you do is she has different tables, and they all have themes, which I love. So we picked two of them for the show today. And I picked this one, selfishly because I do like popcorn and I have kids.

So this is a deep. But this is the table that connects. So kind of walk me through that idea. Okay, so the table that connects, you know, in the living table, the cookbook, I broke it out into these different tables that we see throughout scriptures. that we see Jesus really breaking bread out, bringing his disciples, teaching us how to be, you know, great servants of people. And so connecting is one of those really big nuggets that's like, let's get with people. And so let's make it easy. I did a popcorn board here. And what I love about it is that

you can do it with kids, you can do it with your girlfriend, you can do with your family, movie night, game night, you name it. Let's just bring people around. And what I love about this is that you could have people bring their favorite item, you just bring the popcorn and then everybody else can bring their accoutre mal. And you know, like, in and just add it in, have some fun bags. And so that's what we did here. Oh, it's so great. Okay, so the idea for this one specifically, it's popcorn, obviously, is like the base. So different types of popcorn. Yeah. Which doesn't take very long to find, right? You can just do this really quick. Yes. But then adding these elements, which adds a level of, like, creativity and just fun. And flavor. Great flavor. So we've got some edamol

P's, which are spicy, for those that are spicy. If you follow me at all, you know I do not do spicy. So I will not be protecting the green peas over there. I'll take those, Abby. I'll take those. And then we've got some yogurt covered raisins, which I mean, everyone loves. Cranberries, because a pop of color is always great.

I mean, who wants just plain white popcorn? Nobody. Give it a little something. Give it a little color. So then we have some honey roasted pecanes. If you're a nut person, I'm not, but, you know. I love it, yes. Put it on the board.

Yes. and M&Ms, and let me tell you a little secret, these are the crunchy Eminemes. Oh, yeah. They're so much better than just the plain ones. They give it a nice little crunch texture. So smart. It's perfect.

And then three different popcorn. I've got your basic, just your white popcorn. And then I've got a chocolate drizzle popcorn, which if you're in the cookbook, I do a smores drizzle popcorn, you could definitely make that or you can just buy it because it's just easy. So good.

Cheddar popcorn. Yes. Oh, it's not expensive, right? And you can just find stuff that you already have in your pantry because this all probably costs what if you have like... I think the entire board, everything together, I spent maybe $25.

So, and we're, I mean, look at how much we just got and you probably could do what, eight or ten people here. So you're looking at like, what, $2.50 a pop? It's so fun. Easy. I like it too because it's so creative. Yeah. It's something different.

And it's those things in life that I realize make the memories, right? Yeah, you know, it is. It's all about the moments. I love the anniversaries. I love the birthdays and the big holidays and the huge family gatherings. but there's something about the Tuesday nights.

The Friday afternoons, the Sundays, like, that you just want to bring people in and connect. And this helps them do that. Hey, come over, let's turn on a movie, bring your favorite popcorn add in, and I'll get the popcorn. Yes, you set it up. They're so creative, and you're like, it's happy turner.

Okay, so this is the table that connects, which I love. And next we're going to talk about the table that serves. Yes, one of my favorites to love. All right, so for the table that serves, what do we have? Okay, the best kind of cake, the breakfast sausage, bunt cake, the boons cake. And it is one of my favorites because it can be used literally, I know that it's in the table that serves, it can be used in any type of serve. If you want to serve your neighbor that just moved in, if you want to serve a new mom that has a sweet little baby,

if you just want to serve, you know, your friend or your mom or your family or just, you know, your kids. So good. It is so easy and comes together in like 45 minutes, like super easy. And what I love is that people always think of dinner. They're always like, oh, yeah, if I'm going to make something and make it for dinner. But when someone gives you breakfast, my sister made these, like, strawberry muffins. When I had babies, she did it every baby because I was like, you got to make me make me this long. And it was like just so different to wake up and you're like, oh, I have breakfast, right?

Like, it's just kind of, I don't know, I love that change. It's wonderful. And I also love that when you have unexpected guests, that's something I talk about at the beginning of the book and the hosting handbook in that, you know, sometimes you just have those friends that just, hey, can I say another night? You're just so fun. I want to say, you're like, what are we going to do next? Well, this is what we're going to do. So, little tip, a little trick, if you make the sausage the night before,

you don't have to spend time or dirty up your pan, making it the next morning. You can just go ahead and throw it in and it just makes it a little bit easy. We're going to start with two cans of biscuits. Do you need both open? Yeah, we need both open. I'll cut and you can pull apart.

How about that? So I'm just cutting these into fourths, and then we're pulling them apart and putting them in. we're going to top all of this off with butter. And how much butter did you say again? Just a tablespoon, so one stick. And I have melted that nice and...

Beautiful. Nice and good. So I'm going to pour that all in there. And then we're going to stick... We can get our hands really messy or you can get a spatula and do it. Either way, you know, if your kids like to get in here, go ahead.

Let them do it. Yeah, let them enjoy, you know. Let them do it. Okay, so then is the fun part, the cake part. So we are going to layer a bun cake pan with the biscuits first. And one thing about the biscuits is that they're going to expand. When you put them into the oven, you know that they're going to grow.

And so our first instinct is to make sure everything's covered. And to layer them, you don't have to because they're going to expand. So now we are going to use our hands, and we're going to just take them and layer them right down in the pan. And again, they can have some separation. And I make three layers, and so divide your biscuit dough into thirds. And we are going to put that sausage all the way around. Yeah, I'm going scarce. I'm going scarce.

That's perfect. That's perfect. And then we are going to take some of this cheese, again, just a third of it, and layer it in there because every bite needs to have a little bit of sausage and a little bit of cheese, right? Yes. Okay, so how many does this serve? So this is going to serve probably 10 to 12. You're talking about less than a dollar for serving.

Yeah, per serving. It's amazing. Let's finish this off. Okay, and then we are going to top it off with the chives. So I'm going to let you put this into the oven. Okay. The oven is on 350. We're going to leave it in there for about 30 minutes.

I know that biscuits usually cook in about 10, but remember, we've added a layer of butter. They have stacked on top of each other. They need a little bit more time. It's thick. It's thick. So good. The finished bun cake. It's done. So beautiful.

Okay, a little tip about this. Yes. When you do the bun cake, when you make a normal bun cake, it's going to come out like this. You see how, oh, that's not as pretty. It's sad. As it flipped over. Amazing. And you have a beautiful, little, little, little muffin.

It's more exciting. It's more exciting. It's more exciting. There you go. Okay, so one part of your cookbook and what you talk about that I love is just the aspect of community, right? We've talked about coming to the table, having people a table that serves, a table that connects.

But I feel like the pandemic. I mean, we walked through 2020. and I feel like we always bring back 2020, but it's just this marker in all of our lives of things that changed. So how do you feel like that affected people getting together? You know, I feel like... Right, I feel like we've kind of been in muscle atrophy, right? We haven't exercised these muscles of hospitality or serving others

or just, I mean, being in the kitchen and cooking a meal for other people. Yes. And so maybe we've tried out the sourdough bread or tried out, you know, different things, but actually having people in your home and exercising that muscle, we haven't done it. Yes. So start small, start easy. You don't have to make Thanksgiving dinner today. Let's do little things like a popcorn board or like an easy breakfast bunk cake that you can take to a neighbor.

As we get back into this kind of posture of obedience, this posture of serving others, I think it's important that we lean into kind of the skill of being in the kitchen again. Like, what does that look like for you? It could just look like cleaning off the table. That table sometimes is home to our soccer shoes or our purse. or our bills or laundry. And sometimes it's just the easiest step of just cleaning it off. So that tomorrow you can actually sit there. And it doesn't always have to be some extravagant meal.

So you keep saying that, which I love, because I think a lot of people watching are busy, they're working. Either friendships or kids are like, I mean, there's just like craziness going on. And they don't feel like they have the time. So what would you say to that person that says, oh, but I'm just so busy? There are so many tips and tricks. lean into your grocery stores. They have done some great work around innovation

in how frozen is almost as fresh as fresh is now. And you can do so much with just a can of crescent rolls. I talk in my book a lot about how I always keep crescent rolls on hand because you can do anything from put some garlic on them and they're ready for dinner or you can slap some brown sugar and there's cinnamon rolls. So you can do a lot with a little and it doesn't have to take all the ingredients.

I get overwhelmed at, you know, when I look at a list of ingredients and it's like 10 deep. It's like, no, I just need a couple of things. And what do you have? Like last minute hosting things. Crescent rolls. Chrescent rolls are always there with, I mean, with butter. Right. But I always love to keep frozen fruit and frozen veggies in the freezer because at any minute

you could take out frozen veggies. You can take out that crescent roll, a can of cream and mushroom soup. And there you go, you've got a chicken pot pie in minutes. So, again, it doesn't take a lot. But it's getting in that muscle memory of what does it look like, what does it feel like to be back in the kitchen. I love it. So great. Well, Abby, thank you. Such a joy. And again, all these stuff, you guys, it doesn't have to break the bank. But it's just that step beyond just staying in your home by yourself, right? You're expanding, you're bringing people in. The hospitality muscles being built again, which I love and appreciate it and doesn't have to break the bank.

It doesn't. Okay, so Abby, where can everyone find you? Yes. Okay, I'm on every social media. Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram, go find me, a table top. affair. I also have a newsletter that comes out every week with just fun recipes. Just tips and tricks to make it easy. And the cookbooks. Yes, and the cookbook. So the living table. And they can pick that anywhere. Anywhere. Amazon, Walmart, Target, Barnes & Noble, anywhere books are sold, right? I love it. I love it. Well, Abby, thank you so much. And hopefully, you guys, this just gives you more ideas, again, to open up your home, to have people in. I have heard so many moms say how stress they get figuring out dinner. Same here. You know, you're driving home and you're just like, oh my gosh, what's going to

happen after this busy day? I have to get home and make some dinner. So, I'm here sharing five meals with just five ingredients that cost less than $15. Can I get an amen? So you will need salt, pepper, and olive oil, but I'm not counting those because typically everyone has those in their pantry. Okay, first up is pesto pasta. And this one is so easy. So it's just, pasta, broccoli, sun-tried tomatoes, pesto, and parmesan. And the pesto sauce is great, because it's a nice variation from just typical red sauce. So you're gonna roast some vegetables,

and in this case, some broccoli. And while they're roasting, you're gonna make your pasta. So you're gonna chop up some tomatoes, get out your pasta sauce and shredded parmesan, combine everything into one pot, wait until the cheese melts, and voila, you have, Meatless Monday, you know? It's just wonderful. So good. And again, so easy and delicious. It's wonderful. And the best part is the cost per serving is only $2.92. All right, next up is a Mexican dish

because I can't live without Mexican. We actually had it last night and two nights before. But what this is is chicken de quitos. So what you're going to do is have tortillas, shredded chicken, cheese, pico de gallo topping, and canned chaplain peppers. And this is a fun recipe because your kids can really help. And you can substitute flour tortillas for corn ones if you need to go gluten-free. So you put a little bit of each ingredient into the tortilla. You roll it up, you bake them or lightly fry them, and that's it. It's a staple, you guys.

So easy and cost per serving is $3 per person. Wonderful. All right, our third meal, let's talk about some comfort food here. and that is sausage and tortellini soup. So if you got any olive garden lovers out there, you get ready, okay? So this is just Italian sausage, chicken broth, kale, cheese, tournolini, and heavy cream. And this is just a quick and simple version of Olive Gardens Zupa Tuscana. That's right, I'm Italian, yeah, got that one right.

But really, it's just comfort soup is what it feels like that's been cooked for hours. But again, no prep really, which is great besides chopping up some kale. So you're going to cook your sausage, cook your tournolini, and then just add everything together. And cost per serving is $2.63. Ah, yes. All right, number four is roasted chicken. So this meal only has four ingredients. Some skin on chicken thighs or chicken breast, that's what you prefer.

Butter, sage, and potatoes. And you just roast them all together in the oven. and cost per serving is $3.50. All right, last but not least, over here is Southern stuffed sweet potatoes. So you roast some sweet potatoes, you fill them with sauteed chicken and cabbage, top with some barbecue sauce and green onion,

and voila, you have a meal. It's delicious. So cost per serving on that was $3.50. Well, I hope you guys love these creative, budget-friendly meals. I know I do. All right, man, food. It's always a hard one, you know, meals and everything, but I pray that this helps you make

life a little bit easier. Well, I hope all of those food tips in this episode helped you guys out. Oh, it's such a big part of life in any direction is a great thing. Well, thanks to Abby for being on the show. And if you guys not subscribe to the podcast, make sure you hit that subscribe button. And if the spirit leads, you can leave a review. Thanks so much for listening. And remember to take control of your money and create a life you love.