Speaker 1: Episode three point fifty four, Meal Planning for people who
Speaker 1: hate to cook.
Speaker 2: Welcome to the Frugal Friends podcast, where you'll learn to
Speaker 2: save money, embrace simplicity, and live a life here your
Speaker 2: hosts Jen and Jill.
Speaker 1: Welcome to Frugal Friends podcast. My name is Jen, my
Speaker 1: name is Jell, and today we are doing another meal
Speaker 1: planning episode specifically for people who hate cooking, and maybe
Speaker 1: even for people who hate planning. We'll see when we
Speaker 1: dive in. But this is really for my people. It's
Speaker 1: for me and my people.
Speaker 3: This is the episode I needed. Approximately one decade ago.
Speaker 3: I was always asking people why do you do? How
Speaker 3: do you feed yourself? And how do you feed yourself?
Speaker 3: For years on years it just felt so cumbersome. And
Speaker 3: hopefully this will be the the breath of fresh air
Speaker 3: or the cold glass of water that we all need as.
Speaker 1: We start every day. One of the biggest meal planning
Speaker 1: mistakes that many people make is making a meal plan
Speaker 1: that's unrealistic for your level of love for cooking and
Speaker 1: maybe even your level of like aptitude for it. So
Speaker 1: we'll cover both of those so that you can create
Speaker 1: a meal plan that's on your level of time and
Speaker 1: interest in cooking.
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Speaker 1: All right, let's talk about meal planning. It is one
Speaker 1: aspect of the MELA to save money. On groceries. When
Speaker 1: people ask us how do you save so much money?
Speaker 1: We know, we say the big three housing, transportation, food.
Speaker 1: The biggest part of your food is your groceries, and
Speaker 1: so meal planning, meal prepping, and cooking. Those are the
Speaker 1: big three to saving money on groceries, So reducing that
Speaker 1: food waste by cooking, actually following through with your meal plan.
Speaker 1: So today we are focusing on that one thing, meal planning,
Speaker 1: specifically for people who don't like to cook. And if
Speaker 1: you don't like to plan, don't change the channel. I
Speaker 1: don't know if this is on a channel, but don't
Speaker 1: change it. Don't listen to another podcast. We're going to
Speaker 1: talk about if you don't like to plan, kind of
Speaker 1: how you can modify and figure it out. So if
Speaker 1: you don't like planning, prepping, or cooking, you might have
Speaker 1: to you might have to explore ways to not enjoy
Speaker 1: it but just tolerate it.
Speaker 3: So there's something if you can't go. Yeah, unless you
Speaker 3: also hate eating, but that's not going to be sustainable.
Speaker 1: Yeah, if you hate eating, then definitely look at another
Speaker 1: you can maybe look at the New York Times. They
Speaker 1: released an article about skipping breakfast if you need to
Speaker 1: save money on groceries. Maybe that might be for you,
Speaker 1: but if you love eating, this first article is from
Speaker 1: health Shots and it talks about the six benefits of
Speaker 1: meal planning and hopefully this will help you create a
Speaker 1: little more love from it. What do you think of
Speaker 1: this article, Jill.
Speaker 3: It's good, short and sweet. I think it's helpful for
Speaker 3: us to be reminded again of why should we even
Speaker 3: meal plan in the first place. So that's what this
Speaker 3: first one is going through, just top six reasons why
Speaker 3: this is good, followed by we'll get into another article
Speaker 3: on okay, exactly how can we do this for those
Speaker 3: of us who are short on time? But I think
Speaker 3: this outlines really well, and the first one is that
Speaker 3: meal planning can save time, money, and effort. Really the
Speaker 3: ability to sit down, even if it's just for a
Speaker 3: short amount of time and write out or type out
Speaker 3: if you're digital or a little bit more analog, whatever
Speaker 3: your style is, thinking through the ingredients that you already
Speaker 3: have on hand and what you want to be eating
Speaker 3: in the upcoming week, and even taking into consideration what
Speaker 3: your week is going to look like. Chances are you're
Speaker 3: not going to be home every single night of the week.
Speaker 3: And so having time to put into put some thought
Speaker 3: into it will ultimately save you money, save you money,
Speaker 3: time and effort throughout the week, and reducing the amount
Speaker 3: of time it takes each day then to make decisions,
Speaker 3: maybe gather ingredients, possibly need to stop at the grocery
Speaker 3: store and buy more things. So when we have a
Speaker 3: plan and there's forethought that can go into something. Again,
Speaker 3: doesn't mean it has to be extended and sev or
Speaker 3: completely outside of the type of schedule that you typically hold,
Speaker 3: but at least some amount of time to meal plan
Speaker 3: is definitely going to save you time in the long run.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I love to do it in bed before I
Speaker 1: conk out for the night. Instead of scrolling on Instagram,
Speaker 1: I will be meal planning and or grocery shopping because
Speaker 1: I grocery shop online Walmart dot com. They've got good prices,
Speaker 1: no upcharge for pickup, and it's just convenient for me.
Speaker 1: But a lot of a lot of times, even if
Speaker 1: there is an up charge for pickup, it can still
Speaker 1: be worth it if you're saving so much money on
Speaker 1: impulse purchases. So I would say try it for a
Speaker 1: month and see if you save money on groceries. Grocery
Speaker 1: shopping online. That's just like a bonus tip. But I
Speaker 1: save a lot of time by replacing a habit that
Speaker 1: I would normally be doing anyway, which is the nightly
Speaker 1: scroll before bed, I will replace it with meal planning.
Speaker 1: And sometimes when I'm on my scroll throughout the week,
Speaker 1: I'm saving recipes, Like I'm looking at recipes on Instagram,
Speaker 1: specifically from certain blogs and accounts that prioritize like a
Speaker 1: one pop meal, a freezer meal, six ingredients or less.
Speaker 1: So like there are a lot of blogs that specialize
Speaker 1: in stuff just like that. So if you hate cooking,
Speaker 1: then that's kind of what you're gonna want to veer towards.
Speaker 1: So not just like a even budget like friendly recipes,
Speaker 1: so I love budget bites. They will usually have recipes
Speaker 1: with a shorter ingredients liss that's what we're looking for,
Speaker 1: And we're not scrolling the New York Times Cooking section
Speaker 1: or Food fifty two or stuff like that. That's not
Speaker 1: where we're looking. But so replacing things you'd be doing
Speaker 1: anyway with actions that are a little more beneficial to
Speaker 1: your meal planning. It's a seamless transition, and it will
Speaker 1: second on the list help you eat healthier. So another
Speaker 1: question we get a lot is how do I eat
Speaker 1: healthy on a budget, And the first answer is always
Speaker 1: just start eating at home more. Focus on that first.
Speaker 1: So we think we want to focus first on everything, right,
Speaker 1: if I'm going to save money on meals, I also
Speaker 1: want to eat organic and grass fed and paleo and
Speaker 1: keto and all the other diets. So if you want
Speaker 1: to follow a certain food diet, you will spend more
Speaker 1: on that particular on whatever that diet in particular promotes.
Speaker 1: So obviously Paleo we're spending more money, meat, Keto, we're
Speaker 1: spending more money on you know, dairy and meat and
Speaker 1: stuff like that. But I would say, before you think
Speaker 1: about anything like that, focus on eating more at home first.
Speaker 1: So stop so don't think about the diets. Don't necessarily
Speaker 1: think about the types of food unless you're very like
Speaker 1: you're very committed to more organic and stuff like that.
Speaker 1: Just focus on the simple action of eating at home more,
Speaker 1: tailoring your meal plan so that it is easy enough,
Speaker 1: simple enough, short enough that you all are eating at home.
Speaker 1: That in itself is the first step to eating healthy.
Speaker 1: Because there is so much sodium, sugar, all fat, all
Speaker 1: these other things in takeout that the simple act of
Speaker 1: just eating at home more is healthier. Get that step first,
Speaker 1: then you can move on to diets, organic, all this
Speaker 1: stuff like that.
Speaker 3: Yes, progress over perfection. Just find what works for you
Speaker 3: and keep taking step by step. The third reason on
Speaker 3: here to meal plan is that it reduces stress, which
Speaker 3: I know sounds a little bit counterintuitive because for many
Speaker 3: of us meal planning is an extra step. But I
Speaker 3: can speak from personal experience to say that when we
Speaker 3: do implement on that first step of planning, when we've
Speaker 3: been able to carve out time, whether it's on the
Speaker 3: weekend or a week night like you do, Jen, it's
Speaker 3: going to reduce stress throughout the week to know what
Speaker 3: to expect for that week, to not every single day
Speaker 3: need to be making decisions of what are we going
Speaker 3: to eat tonight? Oh no, I didn't defrost that meat,
Speaker 3: What do I even have in my pantry? And the
Speaker 3: stress and pressure of coming up with a meal, multiple meals,
Speaker 3: really we don't just eat dinner every day on a
Speaker 3: daily basis can be really overwhelming. And so I know
Speaker 3: I've experienced personally when I've taken the time to write out,
Speaker 3: here's what we're going to do this week. I give
Speaker 3: myself the flexibility to change it up, but I at
Speaker 3: least know I've got all the ingredients to do this,
Speaker 3: this and this meal and we can cook that. And
Speaker 3: it has taken a lot of the decision fatigue and
Speaker 3: overwhelm out of especially the week days for me, which
Speaker 3: can be particularly chaotic.
Speaker 1: Yeah. I love how you meal plan, Jill, because it's
Speaker 1: different from how I meal plan. I have a pretty
Speaker 1: like strict this is what I eat at the time,
Speaker 1: I eat it like for every day, and you work
Speaker 1: off of suggestions, off of ingredients. So if you don't
Speaker 1: like to plan, but you're trying to meal plan, then
Speaker 1: take Jill's way of meal planning where she just makes
Speaker 1: a list of this is what I have, these are
Speaker 1: the things I could make with it, and then just
Speaker 1: the night before decide, okay, tomorrow, I am going to
Speaker 1: make this thing on the list, so that you make
Speaker 1: sure you can defrost what you need, that you have
Speaker 1: the things ready to go for the next day. It
Speaker 1: doesn't have to be a week at a time, a
Speaker 1: month at a time. You can have a meal plan
Speaker 1: where you just have options and you just decide. You
Speaker 1: have to decide with some amount of time to prepare,
Speaker 1: but it doesn't have to be like weeks in advance.
Speaker 3: Yeah, well, that was one of the things that stressed
Speaker 3: me out so much with meal planning is inevitably there'd
Speaker 3: be an interruption. Just like budgeting, it's never this static thing.
Speaker 3: There's always shifts and changes, and so maybe by the
Speaker 3: time I get to Friday, my week didn't look like
Speaker 3: how I thought it was going to on Sunday night.
Speaker 3: And so giving myself the flexibility within my meal plan
Speaker 3: that there can be an interruption. You can be invited
Speaker 3: over to somebody else's house, you can up needing to
Speaker 3: just grab a quick takeout meal, and it doesn't throw
Speaker 3: the whole thing off when you just kind of have
Speaker 3: the ingredients for four to five lunches four to five
Speaker 3: dinners each week.
Speaker 1: Next is number four ensures no waste. So that is
Speaker 1: a big part of our wasted grocery budget. Right. We
Speaker 1: work so hard to minimize our grocery budget, but we
Speaker 1: don't look as much at our food waste, and people
Speaker 1: are throwing away food every single week. There are still
Speaker 1: weeks that I throw away food. Even with as careful
Speaker 1: as I am with my meal planning, things just go
Speaker 1: awry and I forget to freeze something. So meal planning
Speaker 1: can reduce your waste. I don't think it ensures no waste,
Speaker 1: but it can drastically reduce the waste that you have.
Speaker 1: And so something we say, like when you're doing your
Speaker 1: ninety day transaction inventory, when you're trying to get a
Speaker 1: hold of your spending, specifically on food, is to look
Speaker 1: at your grocery spending. So your regular groceries spending that
Speaker 1: you are taking on your plan trips to the grocery store,
Speaker 1: check the extra trips to the grocery store that are unplanned,
Speaker 1: and see what the difference is, how much extra you're
Speaker 1: spending per week on groceries. And then also take an
Speaker 1: inventory of the money that you're wasting when you go
Speaker 1: to throw something away, put a monetary value to that.
Speaker 1: That's how much you're over buying. So we want to
Speaker 1: make these plans as simple as possible if we are
Speaker 1: the type of people that don't like cooking, Because if
Speaker 1: you have grand expectations to have a meal plan that
Speaker 1: somebody else created for you, or that it looks like
Speaker 1: somebody else is doing, and you can't do it because
Speaker 1: of time, season, and just enjoyment, just exhaustion at the
Speaker 1: end of the day. Gosh, then you're gonna be wasting food,
Speaker 1: and all of that effort you put into meal planning
Speaker 1: to save money on groceries is gonna be wasted because
Speaker 1: you're gonna have to buy takeout because you're gonna be
Speaker 1: throwing out wasted food. So you want to set yourself
Speaker 1: up early for success and as little waste as possible
Speaker 1: by ensuring you will eat the meals that you make.
Speaker 1: And this often looks like creating meal plans that are
Speaker 1: not perfect. So you might want to create a healthy
Speaker 1: meal plan with healthy dinners seven nights a week so
Speaker 1: that you can be the picture perfect health person that
Speaker 1: you see on Instagram, and it's probably not gonna work
Speaker 1: in reality. In real life. It looks like it works
Speaker 1: on Instagram, but it's very hard to recreate that in
Speaker 1: real life. So give yourself grace to not be perfect,
Speaker 1: to not have the perfect meal plan, and create a
Speaker 1: meal plan that works for you and your family that
Speaker 1: may not look perfect. And when you prove to yourself
Speaker 1: that you can eat at home five nights a week
Speaker 1: or six nights a week, then you can start to
Speaker 1: shape it to be a little healthier, but let's work
Speaker 1: in stages, because gosh, trying to be perfect will just
Speaker 1: lead to a lot of waste in food and in time.
Speaker 3: Oh yes, Number five on here is that meal planning
Speaker 3: can help with portion control. I would say it depends
Speaker 3: on your goals. I think that, as with anything else,
Speaker 3: there's a way to do it that is low waste
Speaker 3: and portion controlled, then there's a way to do it
Speaker 3: that's high waist and reckless abandonment to considerations of abortion.
Speaker 3: But it could result in degrees of portion control as
Speaker 3: we are more aware of what we're putting into our
Speaker 3: shopping carts, more aware of what food do we have
Speaker 3: in the fridge, what are we using up this week,
Speaker 3: what are we cooking, how much of it are we cooking?
Speaker 3: How much of it will we eat? I think this
Speaker 3: one is a little bit comes in time that as
Speaker 3: you are more aware of what am I throwing out?
Speaker 3: What's the dollar amount to? That does that mean for
Speaker 3: how I want to adjust my meal plan for next
Speaker 3: week and my shopping habits. So I think in time,
Speaker 3: certainly it can help with portion control as we become
Speaker 3: maybe more focused on the types of nutrients we want
Speaker 3: to be eating. The healthy meals that we're enjoying will
Speaker 3: get better and better. But certainly I think it is
Speaker 3: on the pros side of the list of meal planning,
Speaker 3: is that we can be more aware of our own
Speaker 3: consumption and ensuring that we're eating the amount and the
Speaker 3: nutrients that our bodies need.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and it helps with leftover if you're the type
Speaker 1: of person that wants to take leftovers for lunch the
Speaker 1: next day, taking those leftovers out before you eat your dinner.
Speaker 1: I think that's the kind of portion control I love
Speaker 1: because everybody has been in that place where they prepared
Speaker 1: a meal that's supposed to serve like have four servings,
Speaker 1: and then at the end you're like, oh, this is
Speaker 1: actually just one big serving. This is a serving and
Speaker 1: a half left. And then you're like, well, now I
Speaker 1: don't know what I'm gonna do with my lunch for
Speaker 1: day two, Or you give your husband the portion and
Speaker 1: you don't know what you're gonna do with your lunch
Speaker 1: the next day. So this can really help in that
Speaker 1: scenario when you are planning for leftovers in mind, then
Speaker 1: you will have then you can say, okay, I've planned
Speaker 1: this to make four servings, so we each have leftovers
Speaker 1: for lunch tomorrow. I'm going to take two servings out
Speaker 1: right off the top, and here is our portion for tonight.
Speaker 1: And then if you're still hungry afterwards, that's where snacks
Speaker 1: come in.
Speaker 3: You got snacky snacks. Nuts, it's nuts, some nuts in
Speaker 3: the freezer.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's maybe I was thinking of a yogurt, but whatever,
Speaker 1: your snack of choices.
Speaker 3: Uh.
Speaker 1: And then the last one is that it adds variety
Speaker 1: to your diet. And this is a this is a
Speaker 1: tricky one. I like this one, but I would say
Speaker 1: not in that you are buying variety, but that you
Speaker 1: are checking your pantry and your fridge and all around
Speaker 1: your kitchen for things that you have not used in
Speaker 1: a while that might be going bad, and you incorporate
Speaker 1: those into your meal plan. We are looking to not
Speaker 1: waste food and to not keep food in the kitchen
Speaker 1: or pantry for longer than we need to. There's some
Speaker 1: stuff that doesn't go bad for a very long time.
Speaker 1: That doesn't mean you have to keep but in your
Speaker 1: in your kitchen for a very long time. I was
Speaker 1: into whole grains, like trying a variety of whole grains
Speaker 1: for a while, and I had farrow. Have you ever
Speaker 1: had farrow or heard of it?
Speaker 3: I don't think I've heard of it. I've never purchased it. Yeah,
Speaker 3: it's not great.
Speaker 1: And I had and I tried that and I realized
Speaker 1: it and I had just some fart like I hadn't
Speaker 1: for so long, and it didn't go bad. But finally
Speaker 1: last week I was like, this needs to leave my kitchen.
Speaker 1: So I made another recipe with it, and it's not.
Speaker 1: If it was horrible, I would have just thrown it
Speaker 1: away and like cut my losses. But it's like, this
Speaker 1: is not horrible, but it's not my favorite. So I
Speaker 1: just never wanted to use it. Finally used it and
Speaker 1: did end up throwing some of it away because again,
Speaker 1: just stuff. I'm not going to force things down, and
Speaker 1: I'm not telling you to do that, but at like
Speaker 1: add variety to your in the form of using the
Speaker 1: things you already have that you may not use often.
Speaker 1: That's how I would say.
Speaker 3: That, let's move on to the next one. What we're
Speaker 3: all really here for this next article comes from Wonderful wonderful. Yeah,
Speaker 3: that's taking it in.
Speaker 1: Wonderful Wonderful from I hope. Her name is Wendy. She
Speaker 1: doesn't even say that her name is Wendy, but I
Speaker 1: hope it is.
Speaker 3: We're all hoping that it's titled how does the Old
Speaker 3: Planned When you absolutely hate cooking? And I love that
Speaker 3: title because it's out the gate telling you exactly what
Speaker 3: to expect here. And many of us it can can
Speaker 3: feel that way, or we go in and out of
Speaker 3: seasons where cooking can just become cumbersome. And I think
Speaker 3: this especially happens for these of us who are in
Speaker 3: busier seasons of life. Whether you've got massive transition happening,
Speaker 3: you've got late nights at work, kids at home, you
Speaker 3: name it there. Even if you enjoy cooking, if you
Speaker 3: don't feel like you have time for it, sometimes that
Speaker 3: can lead us to the disenjoyment of it, if that's
Speaker 3: a word. So here we go. We're picking our favorites
Speaker 3: off of here, and I'll kick us off with the
Speaker 3: first one. If you hate to cook, here's one of
Speaker 3: the things you can do when it comes to meal planning.
Speaker 3: Get someone else to do it for you. I love
Speaker 3: that they started off this way because I think it
Speaker 3: kind of levels the playing field of recognizing. Listen, if
Speaker 3: we really can't stand doing something this badly, that it's
Speaker 3: interrupting our finances, our nutrition, we're eating out constantly because
Speaker 3: we hate it so so much. Then it might be
Speaker 3: maybe one of the alternatives, maybe not for whoever is
Speaker 3: get someone else to do it for you. This could
Speaker 3: be where we hire meal planning services, maybe even meal
Speaker 3: delivery kits so that you also cut out the grocery shopping,
Speaker 3: or having a friend do it for you if you
Speaker 3: want to do some sort of trade disease with them,
Speaker 3: just to get you started on this path that you
Speaker 3: are deciding you want for yourself. I want to be
Speaker 3: able to meal plan. I want to be able to cook,
Speaker 3: even if they're not elaborate meals. I know it's going
Speaker 3: to be better for me and for my wallet to
Speaker 3: be cooking at home. Then okay, if this is the
Speaker 3: biggest barrier, fine, get someone else to do it for you,
Speaker 3: even if it's just for a time.
Speaker 1: Yeah. It mentions a few meal planning services and a
Speaker 1: few meal kits. I don't like that they put them together.
Speaker 1: They are separate. So I love meal planning services. There
Speaker 1: are different I think each of them has its own
Speaker 1: kind of place where they excel. So we love cook
Speaker 1: smarts Frugal friendspodcast dot com, slash cs or slash cook Smarts.
Speaker 1: They do, they cater. They have fewer types of plans,
Speaker 1: so they have a vegetarian, a regular, and a paleo.
Speaker 1: But where they excel is teaching you how to cook.
Speaker 1: So if your disdain for cooking comes more from a
Speaker 1: lack of knowing how to cook, Smarts is it for you?
Speaker 1: It is? I think like eight dollars a month. You
Speaker 1: can try it for two weeks free if you go
Speaker 1: to Frugal friendspodcast dot com slash cs and so I
Speaker 1: love that one. It gives you four meals per week,
Speaker 1: assuming that the other three days you know, sandwiches, leftovers,
Speaker 1: eating out, whatever. I really like those meals. They're pretty easy.
Speaker 1: They give you a variety. I always alter them to
Speaker 1: use the ingredients I have on hand. Some of the spices.
Speaker 1: She does reuse spices a lot, so if you have
Speaker 1: to buy a new spice, you will see it again
Speaker 1: and again and again in that meal plan. So they're
Speaker 1: very big on lowering food waste and videos to teach
Speaker 1: you how to cook and even how to put flavors together.
Speaker 1: So I really like Cooksmarts. They mentioned eat at home
Speaker 1: meal plans in here. This is a lot of like
Speaker 1: kid friendly, big family type meal plans. So if you
Speaker 1: have a larger family, a lot of kids that are picky,
Speaker 1: then eat at home meal plans can be really good.
Speaker 1: There is like no dietary it's all regular if so,
Speaker 1: if you're on a special dietary plan it's not for you,
Speaker 1: then there's E Meals. They have every single type of
Speaker 1: diet like Whole thirty, Paleo, Keto, you know, all in
Speaker 1: on and on and on. So if you have a
Speaker 1: particular diet that is not vegetarian or paleo, check out
Speaker 1: E Meals. I think we have an affiliate link for that.
Speaker 1: I think it might be Frugal friendspodcast dot com slash
Speaker 1: E Meals and you could get something free. Don't quote
Speaker 1: me on that, try it though. So those are kind
Speaker 1: of those are the meal plans I love. They are
Speaker 1: a means to an end. They're not permanent. I would
Speaker 1: say using them for a couple months or a year
Speaker 1: to get you started in the feel of meal planning
Speaker 1: is a great option, but I have never used them
Speaker 1: for longer than a year, and I don't know many
Speaker 1: people who have. Some people love them, though, and they
Speaker 1: do so, and I've seen that in the cook Smarts
Speaker 1: Facebook group there are a lot of long time users.
Speaker 1: And then even more short term are these blue apron
Speaker 1: HelloFresh every plate type of things. These are I am
Speaker 1: coming up into a season that is going to be
Speaker 1: hellish and I need help. That's where meal planning kits.
Speaker 1: Meal kits come in, so I would I would say
Speaker 1: those are to differentiate. But yes, I love meal planning
Speaker 1: services definitely to get you into the feel of meal
Speaker 1: planning and then you and all of them if you
Speaker 1: don't like what they serve you for the week for recipes,
Speaker 1: all of them have an archive that you can switch out,
Speaker 1: even like by ingredient.
Speaker 3: It's also possible that you have a friend who is
Speaker 3: just crushing it in this category and just ask them
Speaker 3: if you can take a peek at their meal plan
Speaker 3: for that week, yeah, and see what they're doing and
Speaker 3: follow along. So lots of opportunities to just have someone
Speaker 3: else do it for you, m hmm, until you get
Speaker 3: to yourself.
Speaker 1: Yes, my next favorite on the list, I know it's
Speaker 1: on your list too, Chill, but I want to talk
Speaker 1: about it. It's three make a list of your easy recipes.
Speaker 1: It's my turn, so I'm encroaching. This is so clutch,
Speaker 1: and if you have older kids, this is a great
Speaker 1: way to get them involved. Our friend Gina over at
Speaker 1: Saving Whiz, she has so many tips for meal planning,
Speaker 1: especially with older kids. She requires her kids to meal
Speaker 1: plan one meal per week, like they choose it, and
Speaker 1: I don't know if they cook it, but they definitely
Speaker 1: choose it. So it's at least one meal per week.
Speaker 1: They're not going to fight her on eating. So I
Speaker 1: would say you can have your kids make a list
Speaker 1: of their favorite easy recipes. This is a great way.
Speaker 1: And my mother in law did this with Travis and
Speaker 1: his siblings. They all had to cook once a week,
Speaker 1: and so you could do that and just make a
Speaker 1: list of things that your family likes, that you like
Speaker 1: making and that you know you will make. So maybe
Speaker 1: that's scrambled eggs, peanut butter, jelly sandwiches, sheep pan dinners, chili,
Speaker 1: something in a crock pot. We'll talk a little bit
Speaker 1: about our favorite like easy recipes at the end of
Speaker 1: the episode. But this is just one time I was
Speaker 1: extra and I actually made a book with all my
Speaker 1: favorite recipes and I had it printed in spiral bound and.
Speaker 3: Just for yourself. Yeah, are you selling this?
Speaker 1: No, it's just it was just for me, and well
Speaker 1: I couldn't sell it. It was other people's recipes, so
Speaker 1: like yeah, yeah, so yeah, and you could do that.
Speaker 1: You don't have to be as extra as I am
Speaker 1: and spiral bound it, but you can have it. It's
Speaker 1: because it's such a pain to sometimes go back to
Speaker 1: your favorite recipe on the internet again and again with
Speaker 1: all those ads and the scrolling. So print it out
Speaker 1: and just have it. Have some like twenty of them
Speaker 1: or something. I love, love love this.
Speaker 3: Yeah. Number four is really heavily related to number three.
Speaker 3: I'm still going to talk about it. Choosing simple and
Speaker 3: quick meals. I think this is super important. Whether you
Speaker 3: hate cooking, don't have time to cook again, whatever your
Speaker 3: barrier to entry is here, knowing what is going to
Speaker 3: be super quick. This is going to be your crock
Speaker 3: pot meals, your sheet pan meals, your almost no cooking,
Speaker 3: no baking meals that you know your family likes. So
Speaker 3: this could even be one of those collect the recipes
Speaker 3: and if you're not one who even has recipes on hand,
Speaker 3: this is another seek out the community. Ask your friends
Speaker 3: and family what are your go to, quick, simple meals
Speaker 3: that your family enjoys, and start compiling them, start trying
Speaker 3: them out. But we want these types of meals that
Speaker 3: are only going to take a few minutes to prep
Speaker 3: in less than an hour to cook, so that again
Speaker 3: that bearer to entry to eating at home is really
Speaker 3: heavily reduced, and so we're not overwhelmed by our meal plan.
Speaker 3: We can sit on a Sunday afternoon and write out
Speaker 3: all these fancy, elaborate meals and say, look, I meal
Speaker 3: planned for the week. But if we're not actually going
Speaker 3: to do it because they're far too complicated, then that's
Speaker 3: just wasted time. So collecting these things that are going
Speaker 3: to be so so easy that it's easier to cook
Speaker 3: at home, do that versus even taking out or going
Speaker 3: out to eat. So compile that. If you know what
Speaker 3: that is already, then great, get it all into one place.
Speaker 3: And if you don't seek out the help of others
Speaker 3: around you Garan Tea others have lists of their easy
Speaker 3: quick meals.
Speaker 1: Mm hmm. Next, I love this one is focus on dinner.
Speaker 1: So when we're making change, we say focus on one
Speaker 1: thing at a time. So instead of meal planning, breakfast, lunch, dinner,
Speaker 1: focus on dinner. Just meal plan dinner and then girl dinner.
Speaker 1: The other meals you know, like just ingredients toast, hard
Speaker 1: boiled eggs, whatever, it is, just girl girl brunch, girl breakfast,
Speaker 1: girl lunch, and then dinner. And I always lunch is
Speaker 1: always leftovers for us. Sometimes I will do if there's
Speaker 1: not enough leftover, if I haven't had portion control, then
Speaker 1: it's turkey and a low carb tortilla with some lettuce
Speaker 1: and mustard. Like that's my girl lunch. And then I'm
Speaker 1: also always doing egg bites and egg cups and overnight
Speaker 1: oats for breakfast. I'll meal prep those on Sunday so
Speaker 1: I don't have to think about it. It's you know,
Speaker 1: I get a dozen eggs and like you know, some oats,
Speaker 1: and I'm meal prep and breakfast for the week, so
Speaker 1: like I don't have to think about it, and I'm
Speaker 1: girl dinnering lunch or doing leftover. So just focus on
Speaker 1: dinner and don't and just make up breakfast and lunch
Speaker 1: you know, as you go along. But you still have
Speaker 1: to meal plan and be and like, okay, I need
Speaker 1: to have the ingredients for girl breakfast and girl lunch.
Speaker 1: But you know, they don't have to be elaborate. You
Speaker 1: don't have to meal you have these beautiful meal prep
Speaker 1: like islands like you see on Instagram with all of
Speaker 1: your breakfasts and a glass container and all of your
Speaker 1: lunches and all of your dinners. Like that's too much,
Speaker 1: just girl breakfast and girl lunch.
Speaker 3: I think it's deciding where you want the majority of
Speaker 3: your variety, and I think for many of us it
Speaker 3: is in dinner. From my perspective, most people are doing
Speaker 3: very similar things for breakfast and maybe even lunches, especially
Speaker 3: if it's leftovers week to week. I know I switch
Speaker 3: out just a rotation of four to five options for
Speaker 3: lunch every week, and those are just the ingredients I
Speaker 3: keep on hand, and then I'll fill in the gaps
Speaker 3: with some of those leftovers on different days. But yeah,
Speaker 3: you don't need to focus on coming up with super cool,
Speaker 3: creative ideas for breakfast and lunch. Keep that simple. Get
Speaker 3: your variety in dinner, and then decide what's working, what's
Speaker 3: not working, and keep refining it for you. The last
Speaker 3: one on this list that I will mention is number six,
Speaker 3: which is to stock up emergency backup meals. I love
Speaker 3: this one. It is such a nice treat when we
Speaker 3: really truly don't have the mental capacity, physical capacity, whatever version,
Speaker 3: and a capacity you want to talk about, to do dinner,
Speaker 3: to take some time when we have it. Let's say
Speaker 3: there is a particular night that we've got a little
Speaker 3: bit of extra time to cook, and maybe we cook
Speaker 3: a double batch of it. Maybe there's a weekend where
Speaker 3: we've got a couple of hours and we can make
Speaker 3: a few different meals that we know are going to
Speaker 3: be freezer friendly. We do have some episodes on that
Speaker 3: our favorite freezer meals, so feel free to cueue up
Speaker 3: that one too. But having these types of meals on
Speaker 3: hand that you know, in a pinch you can pull
Speaker 3: out of the freezer and maybe even pop straight into
Speaker 3: the oven or the crock pot or on the stovetop,
Speaker 3: and you don't even have to think about it. Like
Speaker 3: the night before, it's not even something that you've got
Speaker 3: to think to thaw, but something you can pull out
Speaker 3: and reheat immediately. Because we know we're all going to
Speaker 3: run into those circumstances. Life's going to throw us curveballs.
Speaker 3: We're going to be tired, exhausted, you name it. We
Speaker 3: don't have time to cook. We don't want to cook.
Speaker 3: We hate cooking. And we've got two or three backups
Speaker 3: in the freezer. And you are gonna just kiss yourself.
Speaker 3: So find some extra time do this. It's gonna be wonderful.
Speaker 1: You're gonna kiss the back of your hand.
Speaker 3: That's what I do, honestly.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and these can be freezer meals you make yourself.
Speaker 1: I recently had to buy some kind of frozen, pre
Speaker 1: made freezer meals because I don't have the time right
Speaker 1: now to make freezer meals, but I did need emergency
Speaker 1: backup meals, so I got a couple. I paid a
Speaker 1: little extra, I put them in the freezer, but it's
Speaker 1: gonna be cheaper than takeout in the long run. So
Speaker 1: that is also an option if you are in a
Speaker 1: busy season of life. And then the last one for me.
Speaker 3: Oh oh. If you're in our membership, you know that
Speaker 3: we do give monthly meal plans, which can be helpful.
Speaker 3: But one of the things that we say on there,
Speaker 3: like every Friday, is either a frozen pizza or frozen
Speaker 3: frozen patties that you can make into hamburgers. And so
Speaker 3: we are all about giving ourselves a hand wherever possible.
Speaker 1: Mm hmm. We are not shy about using frozen burgers,
Speaker 1: frozen hot dogs, frozen pizza like stay pulls for us.
Speaker 1: All right, and so the last one for me. I
Speaker 1: already mentioned this before meal plan on your phone. So
Speaker 1: in times when you would be scrolling, whether it's doom
Speaker 1: scrolling or just veg out mindless scrolling, look be looking
Speaker 1: for easy recipes and be adding ingredients to an app
Speaker 1: to make a grocery list. So I personally add it
Speaker 1: right to my Walmart dot com cart. And we are
Speaker 1: not sponsored by Walmart. But hey, Wally World girl, if
Speaker 1: you're listening, I'm here. But any app will do, or
Speaker 1: even a note. You don't need to have an app.
Speaker 1: A lot of people love meal Lime. That's an app
Speaker 1: you can make meal plans and grocery lists in. But
Speaker 1: I honestly will make the grocery list in my notes app.
Speaker 1: I will transfer it to a meal plan that is
Speaker 1: on the fridge. So nobody will ever ask me what's
Speaker 1: for dinner, And if they do, I just look at
Speaker 1: them and I point at the fridge. And if we're
Speaker 1: not crying like I can't read, yes, yeah, he never
Speaker 1: asks what's for dinner. He's just like, I'm hungry, feed me,
Speaker 1: and it's just Travis and I just look at him
Speaker 1: and I'm like, that's me pointing. So transfer it over
Speaker 1: there so everybody knows. My meal plan also has a
Speaker 1: place for lunch options and breakfast options, so everyone knows, like,
Speaker 1: these are what you have available for breakfast, These are
Speaker 1: what you have available for lunch, no set day for them,
Speaker 1: just pick and go as you choose, and by them,
Speaker 1: I mean Travis, but do it on your phone so
Speaker 1: it's with you. Make the grocery list easy to see.
Speaker 1: And if you're the type of person who loves to
Speaker 1: go to Trader Joe's and just buy as the wind
Speaker 1: blows you like into the store through the aisles, this
Speaker 1: can be something where you can go to the Trader Joe's,
Speaker 1: you know, fearless flyer, or to the website and kind
Speaker 1: of plan that trip in advance so you're not blown
Speaker 1: as aimlessly by the wind introners. I don't know what
Speaker 1: it is with the wind in Trader Joe's or other
Speaker 1: specialty stores like that, but it can be pretty vicious
Speaker 1: to your wallet. So you still have the freedom to
Speaker 1: quote unquote impulse buy cool stuff at the grocery store.
Speaker 1: But let's not let those impulse buys get you. Let's
Speaker 1: kind of plan an advance for them. So if you're
Speaker 1: somebody who who I wouldn't say if you're not somebody
Speaker 1: who go to Trader Joe's to do this, because then
Speaker 1: you end up spending more. But if you are somebody
Speaker 1: who makes these extra grocery trips every week, let's either
Speaker 1: a increase your weekly grocery budgets so you don't have
Speaker 1: to make extra grocery trips, or be prepare yourself before
Speaker 1: you go, so you know, like, this is what my
Speaker 1: total will cost if I buy everything that I want
Speaker 1: and how, and this is what I'm actually willing to spend.
Speaker 1: So what are the most important things to me? And
Speaker 1: go in and get those. So you just give yourself
Speaker 1: a little budget for quote unquote impulse grocery spending.
Speaker 3: Do you know what the most important thing to me is?
Speaker 3: And I am fine wherever the wind blows on this one.
Speaker 1: I will be blown away a week.
Speaker 4: That's right, It's time for the best minute of your
Speaker 4: entire week. Maybe a baby was born and his name
Speaker 4: is William. Maybe you paid off your mortgage, maybe your
Speaker 4: car died and you're happy to not have to pay
Speaker 4: that bill anymore. Tough bills, Buffalo bills, bill claim. This
Speaker 4: is the bill of the week.
Speaker 1: Hi, Jen and Jill.
Speaker 5: My bill of the week is this first brand new
Speaker 5: laptop I've ever bought. Before this, I was using my
Speaker 5: brother's old laptop, which I bought for a fraction of
Speaker 5: its price. I bought this new laptop from the money
Speaker 5: I made by listening to other people's bills and writing
Speaker 5: about bills. This is Goldie, who might or might not
Speaker 5: have skipped the fe for the bill of the week entries.
Speaker 5: Thanks Jen and Jil. You guys are the biss Bye.
Speaker 4: What gold.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's listed in here as anonymous, but this is
Speaker 3: Goldie so good.
Speaker 1: That is the dream, the dream team, our content manager
Speaker 1: are everything. Frugal friends manager, She keeps the ship running. Goldie,
Speaker 1: bless you. You are a dream.
Speaker 3: And the wind blew in the most beautiful direction today.
Speaker 3: The sun is shining. It's a light breeze brought to
Speaker 3: you by Goldie Man. There's not really a day that
Speaker 3: goes by that Jen and I aren't either verbal saying
Speaker 3: to each other or texting one another. Goldie is amazing
Speaker 3: and here you go. You all get to hear why
Speaker 3: because she's out here being a frugal friend buying her
Speaker 3: own laptop. Well done, Goldie, and filling in the gaps
Speaker 3: for us when apparently we're low on bills of the week.
Speaker 1: No, I think she No, we're not low on both
Speaker 1: of the week. She like she put herself a little higher.
Speaker 1: I think, uh, so good.
Speaker 3: I'm glad you could do that.
Speaker 1: You have buy every right to cut in line, Goldie.
Speaker 1: We're here for it.
Speaker 3: I'm so elated the wind's going to go today. Well
Speaker 3: it's one Goldie and taking your time, be impatient, getting
Speaker 3: a new laptop when the time was right, and borrowing
Speaker 3: in the meantime. If you all listening, wow, you're welcome.
Speaker 3: I'm so thrilled for you that you're that you're here
Speaker 3: and you get to be introduced to Goldie. But if
Speaker 3: you've got to build to share, if it's about borrowing
Speaker 3: your brother's laptop, buying a laptop, submitting bills because you
Speaker 3: work for the Frugal Friends Aprugal Friends podcast dot com,
Speaker 3: slash bills, submit your bill, Let the wind blow in
Speaker 3: our direction, and now it's time for the lightning round.
Speaker 1: Pew pew, all right, y'all, today's Lightning Round, we are
Speaker 1: going to share some of our favorite no cook meals.
Speaker 1: And no cook, I mean that's in quotations, but like
Speaker 1: very easy fast, So for me, I knew this very quickly.
Speaker 1: First up is absolutely no cook because it's kind of
Speaker 1: made in advance. And this isn't really a suggestion that
Speaker 1: we talked about in the episode, but I will prep
Speaker 1: a lot of mind ingredients that I use a lot,
Speaker 1: So if you follow us on Instagram at Frugal Friends podcast,
Speaker 1: you'll actually see some of this. I posted a reel
Speaker 1: about the my meal prepping onions, so I will prep
Speaker 1: raw onions in my little Mini Ninja food chopper and
Speaker 1: then put them in bags so that when a recipe
Speaker 1: calls for onions, I don't have to chop them. I
Speaker 1: literally just and I don't even defrost onions. Don't defrost
Speaker 1: them because they'll make your fridge smell bad. I will
Speaker 1: go right from freezer to pan and just let the
Speaker 1: pandy frost it because I'll put it in a plastic
Speaker 1: bag and pat it down really thin, so I can
Speaker 1: just break it up in the bag and then pour
Speaker 1: it in. So I'll do stuff like that And another
Speaker 1: thing that I'll do very frequently is shred chicken. So
Speaker 1: I'll get a five pound bag of frozen chicken breasts
Speaker 1: and I will put it all in my pressure cooker
Speaker 1: and cook it and then take it out transfer it
Speaker 1: to my KitchenAid stand mixer. You don't have to have
Speaker 1: one of those, you can have a hand mixer. I
Speaker 1: will shred it all. I hate using forks to shred chicken.
Speaker 1: It is so cumbersome, so I will shred it all
Speaker 1: in the KitchenAid mixer stand mixer.
Speaker 3: I just learned that you could do this, and I
Speaker 3: watch someone do it and it works.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it works. In ten seconds, five pounds of chicken
Speaker 1: are shredded, and then I divide them into five ziploc
Speaker 1: bags and freeze them. And so my first recipe is
Speaker 1: this caprice chicken salad that I make pretty frequently. I'll
Speaker 1: use one one of the bags of shredded chicken with
Speaker 1: some mini mozzarella balls, a small jar of pesto, and
Speaker 1: I will cut up grape tomatoes. So that's literally the
Speaker 1: only prepping is cutting those tomatoes in half, and you
Speaker 1: really don't even have to do that. But then I'll
Speaker 1: just mix all of that to make this like kapreese
Speaker 1: chicken salad, and I can either have that on top
Speaker 1: of some lettuce or just plane, which is usually what
Speaker 1: I do. No cook cold meal. Love it. My other
Speaker 1: go to recently has been this chicken apple sausage kale salad,
Speaker 1: and I shared a very similar recipe to it in
Speaker 1: the friend letter. Every Friday, we will post an easy
Speaker 1: meal like this, like whatever we've been making frequently to
Speaker 1: help you in your meal planning. And I posted this
Speaker 1: one week. But it's literally I'll buy chicken apple sausage,
Speaker 1: cut it up, and I'll put it in the toaster
Speaker 1: ribbon for ten minutes just to kind of crisp it,
Speaker 1: and then it's kale. You got a massage it for
Speaker 1: sixty seconds and then it doesn't taste like buffet filler.
Speaker 1: And then goat. I will use this bag of salad
Speaker 1: topper from Walmart which has like candied walnuts or pecans
Speaker 1: with some uh cran dried cranberries, so that salad topper
Speaker 1: goat cheese, and then I have a Dijon dressing, and
Speaker 1: that together is like life. Those are my two main
Speaker 1: ones right now.
Speaker 3: Oh so hungry, that sounds so good. I love that
Speaker 3: it's a lunch of salad idea, yeah it is, okay,
Speaker 3: mine not gonna sound as healthy as yours. Kilbasa and
Speaker 3: sour kraut is my go to. That's a literal no
Speaker 3: cook meal. I my grandmother is one hundred percent Polish,
Speaker 3: and so I love that kill basa and sour kraut combo.
Speaker 3: And it's basically a hot dog for those of you
Speaker 3: who've ever had kill basa, you know, it's just a
Speaker 3: fancy word for hot dog in the pan with sour.
Speaker 3: So so easy because I can keep the cabasa frozen,
Speaker 3: but then pull it out, put it in a pan
Speaker 3: with a can of sour kraut and put it on
Speaker 3: simmer and it's ready in twenty minutes. Usually then I'll
Speaker 3: also throw some carrot sticks on the side just to
Speaker 3: feel like I'm eating a veggie. My other go to
Speaker 3: meal is fried rice. I love making some fried rice,
Speaker 3: especially when I have leftover rice. So usually if there's
Speaker 3: a meal that calls for rice, I'll make a cup
Speaker 3: or two extra so that then I can make this
Speaker 3: the next day for dinner. And I make my fried
Speaker 3: rice with a bag of frozen veggies, so it makes
Speaker 3: it very very easy to prep with even a few
Speaker 3: days old rice, a bag of frozen veggies, a couple
Speaker 3: of eggs, soy sauce. You're on your way. Another one
Speaker 3: for me is sharkouterie. You know it. That's just that's
Speaker 3: just a fancy word for saying, pull out everything from
Speaker 3: the fridge and put it on a plate for dinner.
Speaker 3: Call it something that's going to be my lunch today.
Speaker 3: That's and that's apples and nuts and cheeses and pita chips.
Speaker 3: And it doesn't have to be super unhealthy veggies, whatever
Speaker 3: raw veggies you have on hand, just kind of throw
Speaker 3: it on a plate. I was talking with a friend
Speaker 3: recently who loves this for her kids, especially through the summer.
Speaker 3: I no kids are at school now, but this could
Speaker 3: even be a nice easy lunch box where she'll just
Speaker 3: kind of change up each week. What's the fruit, what's
Speaker 3: the veggie, what's the meat, what's the cheese she has
Speaker 3: on hand? But that's pretty much every single day is
Speaker 3: a version of a CHARCOOTERI and you get the variety
Speaker 3: in week to week buying different things. And finally, yeah,
Speaker 3: exactly pasta or quinoa salad. I love cooking up just
Speaker 3: a big old batch of pasta or quinoa, and then
Speaker 3: throwing whatever raw veggies and whatever sauces I have. I
Speaker 3: do like to make my own pesto or chimmy cherry,
Speaker 3: and so when I've got that on hand, it's just
Speaker 3: so easy to pour over all this other stuff to
Speaker 3: bring it together and have an easy meal.
Speaker 4: Mm hmm.
Speaker 1: If I'm looking at something with a little bit more prep,
Speaker 1: I love a cob salad. I love a cob salad.
Speaker 1: It's so good. But no blue cheese sub out like
Speaker 1: a feta or something.
Speaker 3: Send your blue cheese to me.
Speaker 1: I'll eat it, yes, I'll send it to your charcuterie board.
Speaker 1: Thank you so much for listening. I hope this encouraged you.
Speaker 1: If you are somebody who doesn't like to plan or cook,
Speaker 1: I hope this encouraged you to be able to meal
Speaker 1: plan in your capacity in a way that makes you
Speaker 1: feel good and allows you to save money on groceries,
Speaker 1: waste less, and reach your financial goals faster and know
Speaker 1: that it can be done different ways. Jill and I
Speaker 1: meal plan and cook in different ways, and we both
Speaker 1: meet our grocery budget goals. So thanks so much for listening,
Speaker 1: and thank you so much for leaving your kind reviews.
Speaker 1: We specially loved this one from Hannah the Dog Lady.
Speaker 1: She says, not like other financial podcasts, when I started
Speaker 1: my financial freedom journey, I tried to find something to
Speaker 1: motivate me. I looked for the podcast that would help
Speaker 1: me and also give me new ideas for savings. I'm
Speaker 1: so glad I found this one. It's not just full
Speaker 1: of fascinating chats about personal finance, but it's also fun.
Speaker 1: I love the personalities of the two hosts and also
Speaker 1: the guests they've had on the show. It's super motivating
Speaker 1: and confidence building.
Speaker 3: Thank you girls, amazing, Thank you Hannah so much, and
Speaker 3: thank the rest. I'm so grateful for the rest of
Speaker 3: you who are listening enjoying the show. If you are
Speaker 3: enjoying it and you haven't left us a review yet,
Speaker 3: please do that on whatever platform you are listening to
Speaker 3: us on.
Speaker 1: See you next time.
Speaker 3: Easy Street, but the.
Speaker 1: Easy Frugal Friends is produced by Eric Sirianni Chill. What
Speaker 1: would you do with one thousand dollars?
Speaker 3: One thousand big ones? Oh, I'm going to be boring
Speaker 3: right now. I'm probably added to one of my sinking funds.
Speaker 3: Which one would I add it to? I probably my
Speaker 3: car fund. I'm going to add it to my car fund,
Speaker 3: sinking fund, so I can feel real prepared for my
Speaker 3: next insurance cost oil change. The next time Eric wants
Speaker 3: to impulse purchase a vehicle, I'll be ready.
Speaker 1: Oh wow, I did the calculations and I posted them
Speaker 1: on Instagram and I'm looking. It is roughly one hundred
Speaker 1: and seventy eight Grande suite cold bruise at Starbucks. So
Speaker 1: maybe that's what I would spend. I'd buy one hundred
Speaker 1: and seventy eight coffees. Wow.
Speaker 3: How long would that last?
Speaker 1: You?
Speaker 3: Like a month?
Speaker 4: Right?
Speaker 1: Yeah? No, I'd buy I buy some kitchen cabinets. That's
Speaker 1: what I would buy. That, That is what I would buy.
Speaker 3: What a thousand dollars cover that?
Speaker 1: Absolutely? Not No, it would cover maybe one cabinet one.
Speaker 1: I would buy one cabinet, maybe two, not even custom.
Speaker 3: Maybe an upper and a lower. It might cover an
Speaker 3: upper and a lower.
Speaker 1: Yes, yes, yeah, not even custom, just like ready to
Speaker 1: assemble stock color cabinet.
Speaker 3: It don't make a dath though in the kitchen.
Speaker 1: It's it's not a huge There's not a lot of cabinets,
Speaker 1: so an upper and a lower goes a long way.
Speaker 3: Do you realize how much we are going to be
Speaker 3: confusing our listeners or not going to be have been,
Speaker 3: most likely with the two of us just doing some
Speaker 3: very similar things. They think they know who's who and
Speaker 3: what's what. First my house was a dumpster fire. Now
Speaker 3: Gen's house is a dumpster fire. And we don't know
Speaker 3: up from down anymore. Everyone's doing kitchen renovations and we
Speaker 3: are becoming one. We're one person, one dumpster.
Speaker 1: Sorry, everybody confuses us. Like every time somebody writes in,
Speaker 1: they say, oh, yeah, Jill this, and I'm like, no,
Speaker 1: that's me. And then they're like, oh, yeah, Gen's this,
Speaker 1: and we're like, no, that's Jill.
Speaker 3: You know what, what a compliment that this is a
Speaker 3: true partnership. You brought your dumpster, I brought my fire,
Speaker 3: and the two have become one.
Speaker 1: Yes, and now I have a fire and you have
Speaker 1: a beautiful kitchen. And soon here's a dumpster somewhere. Let
Speaker 1: the fire go. Yeah, there's a dumpster somewhere. Actually, I
Speaker 1: told Trevis the other day that he would be happy
Speaker 1: living in a dumpster. And then if we moved, we
Speaker 1: just have to get one and he's like, but we
Speaker 1: had one. And I'm like, you're right. So when we
Speaker 1: moved back to our other house, I said he could
Speaker 1: take up residence in the dumpster. And he's like, what
Speaker 1: about when it rains, And I was like, you can
Speaker 1: sit inside the house. He's like, can I bring my
Speaker 1: dumpster inside the house? This is like an actual conversation
Speaker 1: that we had, word for word, and I said, no,
Speaker 1: you cannot bring the dumpster into the house. It's owned
Speaker 1: by the city. It has to stay outside because we
Speaker 1: don't own it. You'd be a renter.
Speaker 3: It's just one side short of being a shipping container,
Speaker 3: and people are turning those into homes. So you're onto something.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, No, I mean I'm you know, I'm letting
Speaker 1: him live his best life, right, but he just can't
Speaker 1: bring his best life into my best life because that
Speaker 1: makes it not the best anymore.
Speaker 3: Well, good luck meal planning and prepping and cooking.