The Rachel Cruze Show - Stop Letting Food Eat Up Your Budget

Episode Date: June 24, 2019

Food is one of the biggest budget-busters out there, so this is a category where we can all cut back! If you can save just a couple hundred dollars a month in your food budget, you’ll be amazed at how much faster you can get out of debt and build up that emergency fund. So in this episode, you’ll learn: How to adjust your food budget based on the season of life you’re in How much the average family spends on groceries and where you land on the spectrum Easy meal plans that feed a family for under $125 per week from my guest, Debt Kickin’ Mom Mouth-watering summer recipes that  will keep your food budget in check Resources (everything mentioned in this episode): Show Notes Page Zander Insurance Financial Peace University Chef Marlon’s Recipes Debt Kickin’ Mom’s Powerful Story Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We were spending about $1,000 a month on groceries. You figured out how to feed six mouths a week for $125. Oh, yeah. I realize that there's four steps in really saving the most money on groceries. My favorite man of summer, Marlon. Just open up your spice cabinet. That's it. Just open up your spice cabinet.

It feels like you can do it so budget-friendly. You just got to know what you're looking for. How many people you feed? Keep us simple. Hey, guys, welcome to another episode of the Rachel Cruise Show podcast. and I love this episode because we're talking about a subject that is near and dear to my heart right now, my pregnant hearts. Food. Yes. Oh, man. I don't know. Ladies, if any of you have experienced pregnancy, that first trimester, it's just like, ugh, nothing sounds good. It's just terrible. And then you get into the good part of pregnancy where food tastes amazing and that's where I am.

So this episode came at a perfect time for me because we are able to talk about this topic, which is going to help you with your money. But also, I'll just be honest, selfishly, it was just really fun. So I hope you guys enjoy this episode. All right, today we're going to talk about one of my favorite things, food. Now, this is one of the best places that you can save money and use that money to pay off debt. So we're going to bring on debt-kick-in mom to show us how she feeds her family of six for only $125 a week.

Yeah, that's right. And then my friend, Chef Marlon, will be on, who I love, and he is going to give us an amazing summer recipe that feeds a family of four for under $25. But you guys, listen, food is expensive, and this is a huge budget buster. In fact, here's what the average American family spends

on groceries each month. So this doesn't include eating out at restaurants, just grocery. Now, these ranges came from USDA, and there's lower ends, there's higher ends, and I saw the averages, and I was like, what? So then I thought, I have to go into my Facebook community to figure out, okay, how much do they spend on food? Because they're killing it in, like, all areas. So it was fascinating comparing the two groups. Now, the single person in America spends anywhere from $165 to $330 a month in groceries.

And in the Facebook community, they're spending $284. So good job, guys. Family of two, on average, is spending $388 to $769, but a family of two in our Facebook community is spending $346. The average family of four in America is spending $650 to $1,294 a month in groceries. But the average family of four in the Facebook community is spending $545. $5. Okay, if you're falling on the higher end of those numbers, listen, it's possible to cut back, and you're probably going to want to join the official Rachel Cruz Facebook community, because they're going to give you tips and encouragement along the way because they are obviously killing it. Now, that was just groceries, and groceries is not the only place we spend money on food, is it?

We go out to eat. Yes, I love going on to eat. I love restaurants. It's one of my love languages. Now, the average household in America spends $250 a month eating out at restaurants. But in my Facebook community, the average family only spends $150 a month. So good. Now, listen, if you're in debt, this is a place going out to eat. This is a place where you can cut back. Don't go out to eat. It's amazing what a couple of $100 a month can do by just throwing it at your debt.

You can get out of debt so much quicker. Now, if you're looking to make some real progress of getting out of debt, make sure you take Financial Peace University. The average family who goes through Financial Peace University pays off $5,300 in debt and saves $2,700 in just 90 days. That's an $8,000 turnaround. It's incredible. Now, when you sign up, you're going to get access to every dollar plus,

which automatically tracks all of your expenses there in that fancy budget app. And it's really going to give you a reality check because when you click that little every dollar app on your phone, you're going to be able to track all of your expenses. And some of you guys don't even know what you're spending each month. So make sure to click the link and the show notes to find out more. All right, it's important to remember that your food budget is not static. Okay, it's going to reflect your life.

But the stage of life we're in is Amelia is four, Caroline is two. And Caroline, sweet, sweet baby Caroline. We love her, but we don't love her at restaurants. No, she is terrible. So the last like three times we've been out to eat Wednesday I've looked at each other and we're like, what are we doing here?

This is miserable. And half of us are like up and down from the table, taking her in or out because she won't sit in her high chair. I mean, it's just like, it's terrible. And then we're sitting there and we're having to tip a waiter and you're just spending extra money. You're just like, oh my gosh, this is not good. So our seasonal life right now,

we are not going out to eat a lot. If we do go out to eat, we get food to go and bring it home. So it's good to realize, okay, what season are we in with kids and also like the literal seasons. A lot of times people in the summer go out to eat more because you go out to eat with friends, maybe after work, you go hang out with your friends at a restaurant or something. So just kind of know what your life looks like and your budget should reflect that. And you always need to be looking ahead. This is important. Like do you have big trips coming up? What's happening? Your food budget is going to reflect your life. All right. Up next is debt kick and mom, who you'll recall from a few episodes ago was on with her husband. and they paid off $77,000 in debt. Now, she's back to show us how she feeds her family of six for only $125 a week, you guys. Okay, I'm so glad you're here. Yes.

Because you are an expert. I really would. I would call you an expert when it comes to grocery shopping for a family. That's sweet. Thank you. It's true, because you do it so well. So tell me a little bit about you and your husband. You guys paid off $77,000 in debt.

a big reason you did that is because you cut expenses. Yes. Like food. Yes. So what's like, how have you figured this out? And like what's your, what's your, what are you all about? How are you doing this? Yeah. So I really honed in on the grocery budget because that was our biggest expense next to our mortgage. It was like we were spending about $1,000 a month on groceries to feed six mouse. So four children, me and my husband. And that was just such a big grocery bill that I knew that with some more planning and being very intentional in the grocery budget and learning to cook because that's something that I did not know how to do. So when I say learning to cook, that keep that very loosely, learning very simple, easy recipes. How to boil the water, put the new...

Exactly, right? Turn on the crock pot. Like, learning those things. I knew that if I could kind of hone in on some of that, I could cut our grocery bill. And as a stay-at-home mom, that was like something that I really had felt like I had control over with finances. So I, you know, it took some practice, but I really, I made it a goal. And I put my mind to it and I was like, look, I'm going to be a home economist. And I'm going to figure this out. And I started really paying attention to our food. And one of the, one of the biggest things that changed everything for me was discovering Aldi, the grocery store Aldi, was. Which we are not sponsored. We'd be happy to sponsor if you would like. This is not an Alldy sponsored segment, but the truth is the truth.

It is. And that's the thing I think that some people don't realize that, like, you know, just changing where you shop could save you so much money. You know, so just thinking outside the boxing, we get in our habits of going to the neighborhood grocery store. And it's like, you know, there's other places. And so. So with all that you figured out how to feed six mouths a week for $125. Oh, yeah. $125 a week.

Okay. So walk me through, how do you do that? Yeah. So what I figured out is that we were wasting a lot of food. We were wasting a lot of food. You go to the grocery store and you spend money on food. And then if you're throwing it away, you're literally throwing away money. Sell me my husband.

I know. I always talk about this. Like our produce drawer? Yes. Oh, it's so bad. It is, but it's true. It's true. Okay.

And here's the thing. Like in our society and in our culture, we view it out. healthy to fill up our shopping carts with all this produce. And it's visually healthy. You have this abundance of produce. But literally, if you are throwing all that produce away, it is not healthy. Right? We can't argue that. If you're not eating it, it's not benefiting your health in any way. So that was something that I really picked up on. I started paying attention to how much food that we were wasting. And I was like, nope, we are not throwing away food anymore. So that was my biggest, that was my biggest aha moment. So I kind of came up. I, you know,

And I didn't realize it was a method until I found myself kind of just doing it regularly. I realized that there's four steps in really saving the most money on groceries. The first thing is constantly taking inventory of what you have on hand. So checking that produce drawer often, before you even go to the grocery store, before you meal plan, taking inventory of what you have. What do you have in the pantry? What do you have in the freezer? What do you have that needs to get eaten up?

So taking inventory. That's huge. And part of that, because I'll speak totally, this is just my personal perception in life and how I view things. Because it's about being organized, too. Because I'm not the most organized person in the world. So when you open up my pantry, I hate to say it. I need to get bit. I need to make it prettier so I can see everything.

But I get stuffed, just get stuffed. Yeah. And so I'll go buy three cans of black beans for some Mexican thing I'm doing. And then I look, I'm like, oh, I had two there. So, you know, and not that it's like going to cost you an arm and a leg for a can of beans. But so it's things that I have. and I just did not take inventory. So I think that that's a great point.

And doing it every single week. So for me, that's what worked. I know some people like to do like monthly grocery planning and stuff like that. But for me personally, it was easier to keep track of what we had and stay organized if I just did it weekly. And I found that I could do it quicker because it wasn't so overwhelming because every week I was kind of checking in with my inventory. So then after I take inventory, then I meal plan around my inventory. So making sure that we are planning our meals around the food that needs to get eaten up. Because we don't want it to go to waste.

We don't want to have to throw that food away. So if there's, you know, you have an abundance of spinach and romaine, then plan some salads that you're going to have to be able to eat that up or figure out a way to eat that up. So meal planning around your inventory. That's step two. That's great. Yeah. And then from there, creating your grocery list based off of that meal plan and then only buying the things at the grocery store

that you need to complete your meal plan to be able to feed your family. So really, the grocery list is huge, but you're only making that grocery list on things that you need, and then you got to stick to it when you go to the grocery store. But this is huge. I do this. And I like, I do. I make that list. And I've done good. It takes some practice. Yeah. But once you learn to be diligent with it, you're like, yeah, this is exactly what I need. And I'm good. And when you leave the grocery store, there's not this sense of like, oh my gosh, I totally busts the budget. Or, man, I just, I shouldn't have bought that, but I just felt this impulse too. It's all right there. It's kind of like your accountability partner. It is. Yeah. Oh, it's huge. You got to go in with a list. You really do. You got to go in with a list. And, you know, it makes grocery shopping less of a chore. You go in and you stick to your list and you come on out. And because you have meal planned and you've taken inventory, you know you have food at home that needs to get eaten up. And now you've meal planned. You've been organized and you've created a meal plan based off of that. And your list is going to buy all the things that you need to fill in the gaps there. Then, you know, you can be confident knowing that you can be confident knowing that you

can stick to your list, go in the grocery store, only buy what you need and leave. Yes, that's how you save money. And then from there, you know, I do, after I've done that, after I've really, I'm already meal planned and created my grocery list, then I will take a look at the sales ads and I'll figure out what's on sale. And I stick to my grocery budget. So whatever is left in my grocery budget after I've already planned for the week and know what I need to buy, then I'll take that little bit of surplus. If there is any, then I'll look at the sales. And then I'll kind of say, okay, well, maybe I can buy some meat that's on sale that I can

stick in my freezer. Sure. And then when the next week comes around, and I take inventory, that's part of my inventory that now I'll meal plan around, but I bought it at its lowest price. Yes. So that's really hard. To take advantage of the sales, but you're doing it within reason. Within reason.

Yeah. That's great. And, you know, it's a little bit different perspective because a lot of times you hear people say that to save money on groceries, you should meal plan around the sales. I found that that didn't really work as well for me. You will save money. If you meal plan and you buy things on sale, you will save money. But I found that a lot of times when I would focus on just what was on sale, I would either overbuy or my meal plan wasn't quite right. And then I'd still end up throwing away the things at home that didn't get eating up in time. I'd still end up throwing away food.

So I found that when I really shifted my focus to like this idea of zero food waste, or less food waste. Like, stop throwing away the food that you already have at home. Meal plan around that. When I really honed it on that, obviously, when you're not throwing away as much food, you're not throwing away as much money, and you're going to save money. Okay, so walk me through real quick, just like a few dinner, because dinner's the tough spot. Yeah. For at least, I'll say the cruises. Like breakfast, you can kind of get your oatmeal, you know, you can kind of get your basics. I agree. And lunch somewhat. Dinners can be hard. So off the top of your head, not to put you on the spot too much.

Like, name off just a couple of, like, really cheap dinner. Oh, my goodness. Yeah, I have a ton of cheap dinners that, and this has been, like I said, three years on the debt-free journey of really honing in and being intentional in this area has really helped me to kind of, that's why I have all these ideas. I did not start off with it. Yes, that's good. That's good. Yeah. So, I mean, right off the top of my head, I can think of buying whole chickens, and I cook them in the crock pot, and it's so easy to do. I mean, at Aldi, they're about 95 to 97 cents per pound. That's so much cheaper to buy a whole chicken, and then you have that whole chicken to work with.

So buying a whole chicken, you can cook it in the crock pot and put a little bit of terriaki sauce on the side or barbecue sauce, depending on how you want to serve it, boiling up some rice, and then maybe some steamed broccoli or something. That makes it really easy dinner. You can do it very quickly. And then I like to use any of that leftover meat from that whole chicken. I can use that leftover meat to shred up that chicken,

and then you can make it into tacos, burritos, chicken noodle soup, chicken pot pie, chicken and rice. There's so many possibilities. And then I really also like, you know, like beans and rice. That gets a bad rap sometimes. But you can make some good, I mean, think about like my inner Chipotle. Like what? Make those gradable.

Yes, bowls. I love it. So I like to cook black beans. And again, I'll cook them in the crock pot because it's so easy. And then you can just do it. You can set it in the morning and it'll cook your black beans. And I cook a whole bunch at one time. and then you can freeze black beans and use them later on.

You can make a burrito bowls with those black beans over some rice, chop up some veggies to go on top with a little bit of sour cream and cheese. You can use those beans in a quick and easy chili. Just add some salsa and some corn and maybe some diced onion and bell pepper. Like you can, those are some of the quick, easy meals that are so super frugal. Well, and you're great because you post a lot of this. You have like a big Instagram following. Yeah.

Through your journey, debt kick and mom. So, guys, weekly, you're talking about food. That's like your thing, your bread and butter, because she's so good at it, about how to still be healthy, but you're doing it again with these great tips, but you're doing it on a budget and you're saving money. So, girl, you're awesome. I'm inspired. Yeah. Good. So great.

Thanks so much for coming on. Yeah. Thank you so much for having me. This is fun. Good. Thanks. Yes. Isn't she awesome, you guys?

I'm so glad that you got to hear from her. And I talked to a lot of women who are full-time stay-at-home moms, and they kind of take their home life as really their job, which I love. And what she did is she took it so seriously that she said, okay, I'm going to look at our family's food budget, and I'm going to take control of that. And that's a place that I can save my family money. And so she really did contribute financially so much to her family by just being intentional with their grocery budget and even just switching to a store that's cheaper. I mean, it's just so great. I love it so much. and I was thinking about it for you guys,

there's another way for you all to take care of your family, and that is by getting life insurance. I cannot stress enough how important this is, you all. It is an absolute must for everyone. Now, I know it's so easy to get caught up in the day-to-day stuff, but we need to make sure our family's taking care of now and in the future. Term life insurance does just that. It will make sure that your family is taken care of financially

if something unexpected happens. Term life insurance is also really inexpensive. It can secure your family for a fraction of what it costs to get whole life insurance. And actually, over half the population thinks term life insurance costs more than it does. Now, Winston and I use Zander insurance. Zander makes things super easy. They walk you through every step of the process. They shop all the top carriers to find you the best rates and make sure you get exactly what you need for your family.

So go to zander.com to get a quote today. All right. coming up next is my good friend, Chef Marlin. Okay, I don't know if you remember him, but he came on the Rachel Cruz show, the video version of it last year and made a terrific summer recipe. So I was like, Marlon, I got to have you back. It's summer again. So again, what we do with this podcast is we pull the audio from the Rachel

Cruise show, the video version that you can check out on YouTube and Facebook. So in this segment, we're actually cooking and he's grilling and the food is absolutely incredible. So go check out the video version so you can actually see the recipes being cooked, but there's still a lot of value in this segment. That's why I really wanted to keep it in here because he proves that you can feed a family, especially during the summer, thank you, grilling, for really inexpensive. Like the meal that we make is for a family of four for under $25. It's super budget friendly and it's an incredible meal. So here is the segment of me and Marlin, grilling.

Are you guys at summertime, which means grilling is here. So I brought my favorite man of summer, Marlon, back. Hello. Marlon, thanks for coming back on. Not a problem. It's been like a year, I guess, since you've been back on the show. And you had a fantastic recipe for us last time. And I'm not to lie, I loved you too, because you quoted my mom, Sharon Ramsey,

without even knowing. Do you remember what the quote was? Just open up his spice cabinet. That's it. Just open up your spice cabinet. But Marlin is a master at the grill. So what are we going to make today? We're going to do some lemon-peppered chicken wings and chicken legs.

Yum. With grilled vegetables, some pineapple. And if we think we have extra pineapple, you might do some pineapple juice. We may or may not do some pineapple juice to make sure to stick around for that. Okay, the one thing I do love about the summer, Marlon, is the food that you can make, especially on the grill. It feels like you can do it so budget-friendly.

Pretty much everything's budget-friendly. You just got to know what you're looking for. How many people you're feeding. Right. Keep it simple. I love it. Okay. Where are we going to start?

We'll do some vegetables. Okay. So we got some red onion. We got some zucchini. We got some squash. Yeah. Real simple vegetables. Just chop them up.

Grill up real easy. Yes. Yes. And then the onion. Okay. So zucchini and squash for me. That's a good, I mean, like, that's something that we do a lot. I don't usually grill red onion.

It's different. It's, it's aromatic. It smells real good when you grill it or saute it, how you want to. Okay, okay. And you just take it. A little olive oil. Do a little salt and pepper. Yes.

And then we're going to jazz it up and just add a little sprung with some lemon pepper. Lemon pepper. Ooh, that smells really good already. On a grill, it smells. You soon have your neighbors like, hey, you're talking to get that going on there. Can I come?

You're like, no, listen, we got our budget. We know who we're feeding. You can't be interrupting my dinner. Oh, I love it. So great. That's good. Okay. Next up.

Next up, we got chicken legs and chicken wings. Okay. Sit there. And this is super inexpensive. I think we bought, like, all. this for like under $10, like all this meat. You can find wings and legs cheap family packs all day long. So good.

Okay, some olive oil. Olive oil. Back to her. Yes, okay. Do you want to do that? I love seasoning. And back to the lemon pepper. Mm-hmm.

Yeah, I mean, I'm in. And then we're going to jazz it up a little bit. Oh, what are we going to do? What are we going to do? Right over the top. Nice. What's your favorite barbecue sauce so you can buy the store? I'm a sweet baby raised, man.

I'm not even going to lie to me. You opened up my fridge right now? I feel like we're like kindred. I'm like we're the same cook. So you got that marinating. I have this marinating overnight. It's best to let me marinate overnight. So all the flavor is silly question.

Aluminum foil over it's sick in the fridge. Yes. Let it sit there. Easy, easy. Beautiful. And then we got sliced pineapple. Okay, yes. Easy.

Put that on the grill. Okay, perfect. So you got chicken wings, chicken legs, grilled vegetables, fruit. That's how you cook some chicken because you have a chicken restaurant in Nashville. Have a fried chicken restaurant? Tell us about it. It's called Slow Burn Hot Chicken out of Madison, Tennessee.

And we're known for hot chicken in Nashville, but his? I have 10 hot heat levels that can take you from no heat to you might want to call your doctor. But it's worth it. It's worth it. Okay, so chicken, you grilled it for about how? About 20, 25 minutes because it's done. And then how long would you say it took the pineapples? Pineapples probably about seven to ten minutes.

Okay, veggies? Veggies. Same about seven to ten minutes. Okay, perfect. So while it's on the grill, you guys, then you're, you can make some pineapple juice. Homemade pineapple juice. So what you do?

Nice up some pineapples. A whole pineapple. Okay, one big pineapple. One cup of water. Okay. And two good tablespoons of sugar. Mm-hmm. So easy.

Very easy. The ingredients. After it blend it, you'll strain it. Oh, gosh. Put me on a Caribbean island. Good knife. Oh, that is so good. Marlon, thank you.

Seriously. So fun. So good, you guys. Okay, to get all these recipes, click the link in the show. notes. And the best part is you can feed a family for all this stuff for under $25. So great, Arlen, thanks again. The pleasure.

The best. I'm not kidding when I say, go click the link in the show notes. Get this recipe. Winston and I made this meal the other night and it's so delicious and it's really easy. I mean, that pineapple juice too. I mean, what? It was so good. I like wine and glass right now as I'm talking about it. But I really did. I love this episode because food is. It is a big deal in life and in our budget. And here's the deal, you guys. You have to keep track of what you're spending in this category because it is so easy to get off track and spend a ton of money if you're not intentional.

And this is an area in your budget that you really can cut back by just making a few simple decisions that you can put that extra money towards paying off debts, your emergency funds. A little bit of money can go a long way in your financial journey. So thanks to Marlin for The Great Recipe and for Debt Kick and Mom for coming on and sharing all of her great tips. And thank you guys for listening. And if you've not yet subscribed to this podcast, make sure you do that as well. And if the spirit leads, you can leave a review if you would like. And again, everything that we've talked about in this episode is in the show notes. Well,

thanks you guys again for listening. And remember to take control of your money and create a life you love. So if you guys enjoyed this podcast, we have more from the Ramsey Network for you to check out like Christy Wright's Business Boutique podcast. Hey, I'm Christy and I help women all over the country take their ideas and passions and hobbies and turn them into profitable businesses. If you have an idea in your head or a dream in your heart and you've ever wondered if you could make money doing it, I'm here to help. Join us on the Business Boutique podcast where we are equipping women to make money doing what they love. To hear full episodes, just search Business Boutique or wherever you listen to podcasts or go to businessboutique.com.