WEBVTT - Cooking at Home on a Budget with Beth Moncel #181 0:00:00.120 --> 0:00:02.480 Welcome to How the Money. I'm Joel and I and 0:00:02.560 --> 0:00:04.920 Matt and today we're discussing cooking at home on a 0:00:04.960 --> 0:00:27.960 budget with Beth Monsell. Joel, we are all spending a 0:00:28.000 --> 0:00:30.319 lot more time indoors, getting to know our kitchens a 0:00:30.320 --> 0:00:33.120 little better, and not going out to restaurants. That's why 0:00:33.159 --> 0:00:36.600 we're happy to have Beth Moncell joining us today. Before 0:00:36.600 --> 0:00:39.520 Beth was a food blogger, she was a microbiologist after 0:00:39.520 --> 0:00:42.639 earning a degree in nutritional science. And now she has 0:00:42.680 --> 0:00:45.559 a massively popular site called Budget Bites, where you can 0:00:45.600 --> 0:00:49.120 find simple, delicious recipes that are designed for folks with 0:00:49.200 --> 0:00:52.360 small budgets. Beth has published a cookbook and she has 0:00:52.360 --> 0:00:54.680 developed a really cool mobile app as she continues to 0:00:54.680 --> 0:00:57.480 help others discover the joy of cooking while saving money. 0:00:57.720 --> 0:01:00.360 After housing and transportation. For most of us, food is 0:01:00.360 --> 0:01:03.280 our next biggest expense every month. So we're excited to 0:01:03.280 --> 0:01:06.200 talk with an expert who sits at the intersection of 0:01:06.319 --> 0:01:09.520 food and money. Beth, thanks so much for joining us 0:01:09.560 --> 0:01:12.160 on the podcast. Thank you. I'm so excited to be here. 0:01:12.280 --> 0:01:14.920 You guys, we're so excited to have you. Bet. It's 0:01:15.400 --> 0:01:17.440 fun to have a food expert because Matt and I 0:01:17.520 --> 0:01:18.920 we talked about it sometimes, but we don't really know 0:01:18.920 --> 0:01:20.720 what we're talking about. Let's be honest, I definitely don't 0:01:20.720 --> 0:01:24.000 know what I'm talking about. But we have a beer 0:01:24.040 --> 0:01:26.680 on every episode, Beth, because Matt and I really like 0:01:26.760 --> 0:01:29.440 craft beer, and it's also kind of this intentional thing 0:01:29.480 --> 0:01:31.520 where we're spending money on the things that matter to 0:01:31.640 --> 0:01:34.199 us right now while saving well for the future. Today 0:01:34.240 --> 0:01:36.320 on the show, we're drinking a beer called Whimsical Nature 0:01:37.000 --> 0:01:39.880 thanks to listener Doug sending in our way and so Bet. 0:01:39.920 --> 0:01:42.240 The first question we ask every guest is what is 0:01:42.360 --> 0:01:45.960 your craft beer equivalent? What do you explourage on now 0:01:46.240 --> 0:01:48.360 while you're still trying to like save and be thoughtful 0:01:48.440 --> 0:01:52.120 about your money for future times. Um. So, I am 0:01:52.160 --> 0:01:56.800 a plant person. I love house plants and outside plants, 0:01:57.080 --> 0:01:59.920 and they can be pretty expensive, but they bring me 0:02:00.000 --> 0:02:02.120 so much happiness it's totally worth it, even if they 0:02:02.160 --> 0:02:05.600 end up dying, which a lot of them. But my 0:02:05.720 --> 0:02:07.520 favorite thing, like you know, if I want to go 0:02:07.640 --> 0:02:10.440 treat myself is to go to the nursery, pick out 0:02:10.440 --> 0:02:13.720 a new plant, a really cool planter, and that plant 0:02:13.760 --> 0:02:17.200 will bring me happiness for a long time. That is awesome. 0:02:17.680 --> 0:02:19.920 Kate's gonna listen to this episode because she's actually she 0:02:20.040 --> 0:02:22.280 keeps up with you, you know, on social media and 0:02:22.639 --> 0:02:25.520 follows your recipes. As she's listening to this, she's gonna 0:02:25.520 --> 0:02:28.880 do some fist pumps because she totally has gotten into 0:02:28.960 --> 0:02:31.480 the plants over the past couple of years. And I'm 0:02:31.520 --> 0:02:33.800 we're totally with you, because sometimes they do die. Like 0:02:33.919 --> 0:02:36.560 right here behind we've got we've got this one tree 0:02:36.680 --> 0:02:40.160 that has seen better days. For sure. We're not totally 0:02:40.200 --> 0:02:43.160 sure why it's so sad, but totally understand it can 0:02:43.160 --> 0:02:46.600 still bring happiness even though it has less leaves than 0:02:46.600 --> 0:02:49.120 it used to. I think Beth is Kate's like spirit 0:02:49.160 --> 0:02:54.519 animal basically to be done with that spirit food bogger whatever. Yeah, well, Beth, 0:02:55.000 --> 0:02:56.360 we want to kind of dive into kind of your 0:02:56.400 --> 0:02:59.000 backstory a little bit regarding just with you know, your 0:02:59.040 --> 0:03:01.560 history with food. Did you grow up cooking? Have you 0:03:01.600 --> 0:03:05.280 always been a home chef? Yeah, I mean somewhat. I 0:03:05.320 --> 0:03:08.000 wouldn't call myself a home chef, um, but I did 0:03:08.040 --> 0:03:10.160 grow up in a big family. We had seven people 0:03:10.200 --> 0:03:12.079 in our family, so my mom was pretty much cooking 0:03:12.160 --> 0:03:14.440 NonStop every day, you know, just to keep us fed, 0:03:14.880 --> 0:03:17.359 So I learned a lot about the basics just by 0:03:17.360 --> 0:03:19.320 watching her and hanging out in the kitchen while she 0:03:19.440 --> 0:03:23.519 was cooking. And um I you know, through that experience, 0:03:23.680 --> 0:03:26.600 learned that cooking can be fun and it can be 0:03:26.680 --> 0:03:29.720 a way to express yourself artistically. And I've always been 0:03:29.760 --> 0:03:32.960 a creative type, so I enjoyed that part of cooking. 0:03:33.080 --> 0:03:36.000 And then I've also always really been into science, so 0:03:36.120 --> 0:03:38.040 I enjoyed that aspect of it too, Like you know, 0:03:38.200 --> 0:03:41.000 rainy days, I would experiment with candy making or things 0:03:41.080 --> 0:03:44.760 like that, which are very, um, you know, science heavy 0:03:44.800 --> 0:03:48.880 with food. So I did grow up learning the basics. 0:03:49.000 --> 0:03:51.160 And then, as you mentioned before, I got a degree 0:03:51.160 --> 0:03:53.360 in nutritional science and that taught me a little bit more, 0:03:53.640 --> 0:03:56.320 although that really didn't involve cooking too much. I think 0:03:56.360 --> 0:04:00.920 we only even had one cooking class. But then after graduation, 0:04:00.960 --> 0:04:04.760 when I started a blog, that's when I really started learning. 0:04:04.800 --> 0:04:06.880 So over the past ten eleven years that I've been 0:04:06.920 --> 0:04:10.680 doing this, just forcing myself to try something new every week, 0:04:10.920 --> 0:04:14.200 that's where I've learned most of my skills. So so 0:04:14.320 --> 0:04:16.680 what led you to start the budget Bites blog? Then 0:04:16.760 --> 0:04:19.760 it sounds like it was a learning experience for you, 0:04:19.839 --> 0:04:21.400 like you were learning how to cook food. It wasn't 0:04:21.440 --> 0:04:24.440 necessarily just to start teaching out the get go. What 0:04:24.440 --> 0:04:26.400 what made you started? Right? Yeah? I was definitely a 0:04:26.400 --> 0:04:28.680 personal project at first, and then after it started, I 0:04:28.720 --> 0:04:30.640 realized there was a huge need for it, so it 0:04:30.720 --> 0:04:33.160 kind of transitioned to something I was doing for everyone else. 0:04:33.240 --> 0:04:35.960 But um so, after I earned my first degree, which 0:04:36.120 --> 0:04:39.159 was a nutritional science, my student loans went back into 0:04:39.200 --> 0:04:41.599 repayment and I had decided at that point not to 0:04:41.640 --> 0:04:44.560 become a registered dietitian. So there I was with like 0:04:44.800 --> 0:04:47.960 an enormous amount of student debt and working at a 0:04:48.040 --> 0:04:49.880 job that was like, I don't know, ten or thirteen 0:04:49.920 --> 0:04:52.720 dollars an hour, which is not enough to cover your 0:04:52.720 --> 0:04:56.680 basic needs and loans. So I was like, all right, 0:04:56.720 --> 0:05:00.960 I've already cut out every little bit of extra spending 0:05:01.120 --> 0:05:04.320 in my budget. The only thing that has any malleability 0:05:04.320 --> 0:05:06.520 at all was my food budget. Like everything else was 0:05:06.560 --> 0:05:08.640 a set expense. So I'm like, Okay, I have to 0:05:08.640 --> 0:05:11.960 cut back somewhere. But I have this degree in nutritional science, 0:05:11.960 --> 0:05:14.279 so I know how important it is for me to 0:05:14.360 --> 0:05:17.279 eat good food and eat food that I'm satisfied with 0:05:17.400 --> 0:05:21.320 so I started really diving deep into how I was 0:05:21.400 --> 0:05:24.760 spending money on food, and so I started tracking everything, 0:05:24.760 --> 0:05:26.880 and I think that needs to be the first step 0:05:26.920 --> 0:05:29.320 for everyone is to actually figure out where your food 0:05:29.320 --> 0:05:32.840 money is going. And then I started implementing the techniques 0:05:32.880 --> 0:05:35.320 that we had learned in school in our food service 0:05:35.400 --> 0:05:39.960 management courses on how to you know, manage the budget 0:05:40.080 --> 0:05:42.640 of a large food scale operation, like uh, you know, 0:05:42.800 --> 0:05:46.640 uh commercial kitchen or uh school kitchen, things like that. 0:05:46.720 --> 0:05:49.440 And I started applying those techniques to my kitchen at home, 0:05:49.800 --> 0:05:53.040 and that's where everything kind of clicked. So it's things 0:05:53.080 --> 0:05:56.200 like reducing your food waste, um, making sure you have 0:05:56.240 --> 0:05:58.400 a plan for everything you buy, you know, stuff like that. 0:05:58.680 --> 0:06:01.520 So I started doing that at home, and I started 0:06:01.520 --> 0:06:03.719 getting really excited about the things I was cooking and 0:06:03.760 --> 0:06:06.080 how cheap they actually were when you actually take the 0:06:06.080 --> 0:06:08.080 time to figure out how much it costs to make 0:06:08.120 --> 0:06:10.880 a pot of soup or something. And I posted that 0:06:10.960 --> 0:06:13.719 on my personal Facebook and people started asking for the 0:06:13.760 --> 0:06:16.880 recipes and I was like, hmmm, maybe I should put 0:06:16.880 --> 0:06:19.919 this stuff online. And I didn't even really know what 0:06:19.960 --> 0:06:21.720 a blog was at that time. It just like knew 0:06:21.760 --> 0:06:24.320 the words. So I started googling how to start a blog, 0:06:24.440 --> 0:06:26.680 and I went from there and it just has not 0:06:26.720 --> 0:06:29.039 stopped since. I feel like back then there was just 0:06:29.080 --> 0:06:32.400 like Deuce and like Cup of Joe, like the o 0:06:32.600 --> 0:06:35.480 G bloggers that I feel like everybody. I mean I 0:06:35.520 --> 0:06:37.120 was familiar with them too, but like two years ago, 0:06:37.160 --> 0:06:39.640 like those were I mean, those were huge blogs kind 0:06:39.640 --> 0:06:42.320 of sparked that whole revolution. Yeah, it is funny because 0:06:42.360 --> 0:06:45.080 when I started, I thought food blogging was staturated at 0:06:45.120 --> 0:06:50.719 that point. Little did you know part could go. Yeah. So, 0:06:50.760 --> 0:06:52.160 I mean, so one of the cool things that you 0:06:52.200 --> 0:06:55.240 do on your site is like you incorporate so obviously 0:06:55.279 --> 0:06:57.559 you have these recipes and they keep cost in mind, 0:06:57.920 --> 0:07:01.920 but you actually incorporate the price of you know, not 0:07:01.960 --> 0:07:03.960 only the ingredients, but like what the cost comes out 0:07:03.960 --> 0:07:06.160 to per serving. What led you to do that? Is 0:07:06.200 --> 0:07:08.039 it just because that's what you're tracking yourself, and you 0:07:08.080 --> 0:07:10.480 saw the need for that because there aren't a lot 0:07:10.520 --> 0:07:14.840 of other recipe blogs who present that information like you do. Yeah. So, 0:07:14.880 --> 0:07:17.440 I think a reason most other blogs don't do it 0:07:17.480 --> 0:07:20.240 is because that pricing information is not going to be 0:07:20.280 --> 0:07:23.520 the same for anybody else. Prices very so much like 0:07:23.640 --> 0:07:26.119 even from storage store within a city or from city 0:07:26.120 --> 0:07:27.920 to see, even day to day. I worked in a 0:07:27.960 --> 0:07:31.120 grocery store, so I saw how often prices changed on items. 0:07:31.160 --> 0:07:35.080 But the reason I'm including it is just for example purposes, 0:07:35.120 --> 0:07:38.480 so people can see how much one single ingredient can 0:07:38.520 --> 0:07:43.240 totally skew the price of an entire recipe. So UM, 0:07:43.280 --> 0:07:46.160 I started doing this because this is the method that's 0:07:46.240 --> 0:07:50.240 used in commercial kitchens to figure out how much their 0:07:50.320 --> 0:07:52.360 food should cost and how much it is costing them, 0:07:52.400 --> 0:07:54.280 so they know how much, you know, like profit to 0:07:54.280 --> 0:07:56.360 make off of it. And I think it's a really 0:07:56.400 --> 0:07:58.600 good technique to use at home too. So when you 0:07:58.640 --> 0:08:02.200 start doing that, you see which ingredients you can have 0:08:02.240 --> 0:08:04.240 a little bit more leniency with, which are going to 0:08:04.320 --> 0:08:07.200 be your inexpensive based ingredients like the pasta, the rice 0:08:07.280 --> 0:08:10.840 of beans, inexpensive vegetables, and which ingredients you need to 0:08:10.880 --> 0:08:13.720 be really careful about how much you use, like cheese 0:08:13.720 --> 0:08:16.360 and meat and nuts and stuff like that. So I 0:08:16.400 --> 0:08:18.720 think it's a really important lesson for people to learn, 0:08:18.960 --> 0:08:21.360 So I want to give that example. UM. I think 0:08:21.360 --> 0:08:24.240 it's even better if people try it themselves at least once, 0:08:24.240 --> 0:08:26.440 because it can be a really eye opening experience, But 0:08:26.560 --> 0:08:28.559 I want to have that example out there for people 0:08:28.600 --> 0:08:31.640 just so they can at least see it very cool. Yeah, Beth, 0:08:31.720 --> 0:08:33.440 you said that you worked at the grocery store, So 0:08:33.480 --> 0:08:37.280 as an insider, what would you say for us normal 0:08:37.280 --> 0:08:40.559 folks going to the grocery store? Are the biggest things 0:08:40.559 --> 0:08:43.480 that you saw in play that part people from their 0:08:43.480 --> 0:08:46.520 money as they go about shopping, and so like, how 0:08:46.559 --> 0:08:48.840 can we actually save money the grocery store? As someone 0:08:48.840 --> 0:08:50.880 who worked in one, yeah, so I think that was 0:08:50.920 --> 0:08:53.400 a really valuable experience for me because the grocery store 0:08:53.400 --> 0:08:56.839 I worked at was Whole Foods and also known as 0:08:56.880 --> 0:09:01.040 Whole Paycheck. But if you know you're looking for there, 0:09:01.120 --> 0:09:04.559 you can actually get some really great deals, even at 0:09:04.559 --> 0:09:07.880 a place like Whole Foods. So the way that people 0:09:08.040 --> 0:09:11.920 end up blowing all their money is the impulse purchases 0:09:12.600 --> 0:09:15.560 or Trader Joe's and Whole Foods and grocery stores like that. 0:09:15.600 --> 0:09:17.880 And I think regular grocery stores are kind of getting 0:09:17.880 --> 0:09:20.520 on board with this. They are making food more of 0:09:20.559 --> 0:09:24.120 an experience. They're getting you with these really fun foods, 0:09:24.160 --> 0:09:27.080 the prepackaged like, oh, that looks like it would be 0:09:27.120 --> 0:09:29.439 so much fun to eat. For dinner, so people are 0:09:29.440 --> 0:09:32.320 going there and having these food experiences instead of just 0:09:32.360 --> 0:09:35.200 getting like basics implies. You know, so if you stick 0:09:35.240 --> 0:09:37.880 to the basics and you have a plan, you won't 0:09:37.920 --> 0:09:41.480 blow your budget. Beth, you mentioned budgeting and how you 0:09:41.520 --> 0:09:44.920 started with tracking your expenses, you know, when it went 0:09:44.920 --> 0:09:47.200 to groceries, Like, do you still do that now for 0:09:47.240 --> 0:09:49.680 folks or I mean, is that what you recommend or 0:09:50.360 --> 0:09:53.480 is there a like maybe a per person amount that 0:09:53.480 --> 0:09:55.760 folks should be shooting for. Like, so I mentioned that 0:09:55.800 --> 0:09:59.160 because I'm a super number numbers nerd and I've tracked 0:09:59.360 --> 0:10:03.040 my family's grocery budget over the past ten years and 0:10:03.240 --> 0:10:06.200 we have consistently very normal thing to do, super normal 0:10:07.960 --> 0:10:10.280 to do. Yeah, and so like I know, for us, 0:10:10.320 --> 0:10:13.240 we average about a dollar per person per meal. Um, 0:10:13.280 --> 0:10:15.760 and that hasn't really changed as we've added kids and 0:10:15.800 --> 0:10:18.480 we're super cheap, we're pretty frugal. But do you recommend 0:10:18.480 --> 0:10:20.840 that for folks to shoot for a dollar amounts or 0:10:21.000 --> 0:10:23.839 should they take other things into consideration? Um? Well, I 0:10:23.880 --> 0:10:26.800 don't think I would recommend one general amount for anybody 0:10:26.840 --> 0:10:29.160 because everyone is so different. Not only do you have 0:10:29.200 --> 0:10:32.240 different sized bodies that require different amounts of foods um. 0:10:32.240 --> 0:10:35.040 But everyone has a different budget and different lifestyle, so 0:10:35.120 --> 0:10:37.240 when you're thinking about your food budget, you do need 0:10:37.280 --> 0:10:41.360 to take into consideration not only how much food you need, 0:10:41.440 --> 0:10:43.920 but how much convenience you need, and that mix is 0:10:43.960 --> 0:10:47.240 going to be different for everybody. So I think the 0:10:47.320 --> 0:10:50.240 first thing that you need to do is track how 0:10:50.320 --> 0:10:53.199 much you're spending on food, not just groceries, but eating 0:10:53.200 --> 0:10:55.760 out for I would say at least a month. Just 0:10:55.800 --> 0:10:57.840 do it once just so you know what you're starting 0:10:57.880 --> 0:11:00.440 point is, and then set a goal and go from there. 0:11:00.600 --> 0:11:04.079 And you can set multiple goals, like small goals at first, 0:11:04.200 --> 0:11:06.720 with one large goal, or you can you know, shoot 0:11:06.760 --> 0:11:09.720 straight for the stars. But I think it's a lot 0:11:09.760 --> 0:11:11.679 better people start small. You know, you have a high 0:11:11.760 --> 0:11:14.240 rate of success that way, But you can figure out 0:11:14.320 --> 0:11:16.840 what your goal is that way, like how much you 0:11:16.880 --> 0:11:19.760 need to spend personally for your own lifestyle and your 0:11:19.760 --> 0:11:22.000 own body needs, because like I said, it's just gonna 0:11:22.000 --> 0:11:25.800 be different for everybody. Yeah, Beth, let's let's set up 0:11:25.800 --> 0:11:28.480 this fictitious scenario where someone has had a long day 0:11:28.480 --> 0:11:31.800 at work and they're not sure what to cook for dinner. 0:11:32.000 --> 0:11:34.360 Nobody really actually experiences that on a day to day 0:11:34.360 --> 0:11:36.640 basis is totally ficti. They've just made this up right, 0:11:36.840 --> 0:11:41.960 very hypothetical. Right, Well, what recipe is there that prevents 0:11:41.960 --> 0:11:44.640 people from grabbing the easy takeout on the way home? 0:11:44.679 --> 0:11:46.520 Because speaking of budgets, like, that's something that blows our 0:11:46.520 --> 0:11:48.880 budget right the last minute going out to dinner or 0:11:48.920 --> 0:11:50.640 pick something up on the way home, or even worse, 0:11:51.000 --> 0:11:54.160 grub having it because the delivery fees are atronomical. So like, 0:11:54.160 --> 0:11:55.959 what are your favorite quick and easy meals to prevent 0:11:56.040 --> 0:11:59.640 us from taking the quick, easy, but expensive option. Yes, 0:11:59.720 --> 0:12:01.640 there's so many things that you can do that are 0:12:01.679 --> 0:12:04.240 going to be just as fast or faster than getting 0:12:04.240 --> 0:12:06.760 take out, and it's gonna taste way better. So I 0:12:06.800 --> 0:12:09.520 think probably the easiest thing is some sort of stir fry. 0:12:09.760 --> 0:12:12.080 The reason that those are so popular with takeout is 0:12:12.120 --> 0:12:14.800 because they're so fast and easy and you can literally 0:12:14.840 --> 0:12:16.800 put anything into them. So you can do that at 0:12:16.840 --> 0:12:20.480 home to grab whatever leftover vegetables you have in your fridge, 0:12:20.640 --> 0:12:22.480 chop them up, throw them in a really hot skillet 0:12:22.480 --> 0:12:24.480 for like two minutes. If you want to do some 0:12:24.559 --> 0:12:27.360 sort of meat or like you know, frozen tramp or something, 0:12:27.360 --> 0:12:29.160 you can throw those in there too, And then the 0:12:29.200 --> 0:12:32.200 sauce first or fry is so simple, just some soy sauce, 0:12:32.240 --> 0:12:34.400 maybe some chili garlic sauce and maybe a little brown 0:12:34.400 --> 0:12:37.160 sugar to kind of balance those flavors and that's all 0:12:37.240 --> 0:12:39.280 you need. Pop that over some rice and you're like 0:12:39.360 --> 0:12:41.960 done in fifteen minutes. So something like that. Or you 0:12:41.960 --> 0:12:45.560 can go like the roasted vegetable and meat drought like again, 0:12:45.600 --> 0:12:48.240 whatever vegetables you have, throw them in a hot oven 0:12:48.320 --> 0:12:51.120 with a little oil and like whatever your favorite seasoning is, 0:12:51.559 --> 0:12:54.000 and you know, roast those and while the roasting, cook 0:12:54.080 --> 0:12:56.199 up some meat and you have like a really balanced 0:12:56.200 --> 0:13:00.600 dinner with like zero effort. That sounds amazing. Yeah, so mean, 0:13:00.640 --> 0:13:02.520 is this something that you do personally? Like is this 0:13:02.600 --> 0:13:06.240 something you do yourself? Well? So these days the only 0:13:06.280 --> 0:13:09.600 thing I eat are leftovers from my photo shoots and 0:13:09.800 --> 0:13:13.920 like recipe testing, so I really know the life of 0:13:14.000 --> 0:13:18.400 a recipe cookbook. Like we don't cook for ourselves at 0:13:18.440 --> 0:13:20.720 home like ever anymore. It's just like whatever I have 0:13:20.800 --> 0:13:22.760 left over from that day's photo shoot, that's what it 0:13:22.800 --> 0:13:25.199 gets eaten. But that's not that's not a terrible life 0:13:25.240 --> 0:13:26.959 to live, No, not at all. It's a it's a 0:13:26.960 --> 0:13:30.760 pretty perk of the job. Well the sturfright certainly that 0:13:30.760 --> 0:13:32.880 that description kind of had me getting a little hungry 0:13:32.960 --> 0:13:34.680 right there. Yeah, Actually, like the way you're describing, I 0:13:34.679 --> 0:13:37.080 was like, wow, that does sound so I could totally 0:13:37.080 --> 0:13:39.400 do that because my wife is for sure like the 0:13:39.600 --> 0:13:41.160 the you know, she does all the cooking for our 0:13:41.200 --> 0:13:43.640 family and she loves it. It's one of her passions. 0:13:43.640 --> 0:13:45.599 But I hear you say this, I'm like, oh, that 0:13:45.640 --> 0:13:48.400 sounds like that's totally something I could do. And I'm 0:13:48.400 --> 0:13:51.000 a complete novice, so yeah, if it sounded like something 0:13:51.000 --> 0:13:53.080 I can do, then it's probably something that pretty much 0:13:53.080 --> 0:13:55.320 everybody can do. Awesome. Well, Beth, you know you you 0:13:55.400 --> 0:13:57.880 hinted that some of these different practices basically that you're 0:13:57.920 --> 0:14:00.240 able to that you learned when it came to these 0:14:00.280 --> 0:14:03.640 commercial applications of cooking, like just being in the food industry. 0:14:03.880 --> 0:14:06.040 And so after the break, we're gonna talk about maybe 0:14:06.080 --> 0:14:08.600 some different ways that we can take these different strategies 0:14:08.600 --> 0:14:12.080 and approaches and apply those two cooking at home, and 0:14:12.120 --> 0:14:14.600 how we can use those practices to save us money. 0:14:14.720 --> 0:14:25.480 We'll get to that right after the break. We're back 0:14:25.520 --> 0:14:27.960 from the break, we're talking with death Monsell about cooking 0:14:28.000 --> 0:14:30.040 at home on a budget, which, I gotta be honest, 0:14:30.080 --> 0:14:31.800 pretty much all of us can stand to learn something 0:14:31.840 --> 0:14:34.080 from this conversation. Well, and by the way, we're calling 0:14:34.080 --> 0:14:36.800 you Beth Mondseell. But like, do folks call you budget bites? 0:14:38.240 --> 0:14:41.520 Because I mean you're known online as budget bites. I 0:14:41.560 --> 0:14:44.680 think most people call me Beth actually know anyway, I 0:14:44.680 --> 0:14:48.040 don't see people just call Matt. How the money? Now? 0:14:48.080 --> 0:14:51.000 So like how the money? Matt? No, not really but 0:14:51.200 --> 0:14:53.840 all right, So, Beth, we were just talking about the 0:14:53.840 --> 0:14:56.640 expense of you know, the quick meal, picking it up 0:14:56.640 --> 0:14:58.960 on the way home because you don't want to cook something. Well, 0:14:59.240 --> 0:15:01.000 I've heard it said be or some people have this 0:15:01.080 --> 0:15:04.040 reaction to eating at home and they say, eating well 0:15:04.080 --> 0:15:07.600 at home is too expensive and there's all these reasons 0:15:07.880 --> 0:15:11.640 that I can't do it because buying the better products 0:15:11.640 --> 0:15:13.640 at the grocery store cost too much money. So what 0:15:13.640 --> 0:15:15.480 would you say to people that say that eating well 0:15:15.560 --> 0:15:18.280 at home costs too much? Well, I think it depends 0:15:18.320 --> 0:15:21.280 on what their definition of well is. Do they just 0:15:21.360 --> 0:15:25.120 mean tasty or are they talking about ingredients that are 0:15:25.200 --> 0:15:28.280 like locally sourced and things like that. Um, so it's 0:15:28.280 --> 0:15:30.200 going to depend a little bit on that. But I 0:15:30.240 --> 0:15:33.680 think the main thing is I think they're probably just 0:15:33.800 --> 0:15:37.160 choosing their wrong recipes. If you just keep it really 0:15:37.240 --> 0:15:41.520 simple and stick to really basic, simple ingredients and less 0:15:41.560 --> 0:15:44.760 package stuff, your bill is going to be lower than 0:15:44.800 --> 0:15:47.680 eating out, like, no question. I mean, because when you're 0:15:47.680 --> 0:15:50.720 eating out, you're paying for the communians with someone else 0:15:50.840 --> 0:15:53.760 making it for you. You buy the single ingredients on 0:15:53.800 --> 0:15:57.160 their own, and you spend fifteen thirty minutes putting together, 0:15:57.400 --> 0:16:00.120 and it's a fraction of the cost. Even when you 0:16:00.160 --> 0:16:03.560 go for those higher price items like organic or you know, 0:16:03.680 --> 0:16:06.520 something local. There's just no question about it. If you're 0:16:06.680 --> 0:16:11.480 trying to make really fancy things like beef wellington, maybe 0:16:11.480 --> 0:16:14.640 it's gonna be really expensive. But those aren't the only 0:16:14.680 --> 0:16:18.760 foods that are good. I mean, really basic cuisine is delicious, 0:16:18.920 --> 0:16:22.000 especially when you're making it at home because it's fresh. Yeah, 0:16:22.000 --> 0:16:24.080 I will say, you had dule over your salivating talking 0:16:24.080 --> 0:16:26.600 about veggies and stir fry when normally he is a 0:16:26.680 --> 0:16:30.240 kind of beef welling. Well. Yeah, Like, what are some 0:16:30.280 --> 0:16:33.160 other ways than that we can reduce that cost? You 0:16:33.200 --> 0:16:36.480 know that we're able to maintain a pretty slim budget 0:16:36.600 --> 0:16:39.480 at home, you know, while we're cooking nutritious meals that 0:16:39.480 --> 0:16:42.600 we're proud of. Yeah. So it's funny because people always 0:16:42.640 --> 0:16:46.240 say that eating healthy is really expensive, But the same 0:16:46.280 --> 0:16:49.240 principles that I learned for eating healthy in my degree 0:16:49.280 --> 0:16:51.720 for nutritial science are the exact same principles that I 0:16:51.840 --> 0:16:54.480 use for cooking on a budget, and those are things 0:16:54.560 --> 0:17:00.200 like sticking to whole grains, beans, and vegetables. So people 0:17:00.280 --> 0:17:02.720 like vegetables are so expensive, but they don't have to be. 0:17:02.840 --> 0:17:05.840 I think they're expensive when you are focusing on the 0:17:05.880 --> 0:17:09.760 really trendy, like super foods, but that totally discounts how 0:17:09.840 --> 0:17:14.680 valuable really basic vegetables are, like sweet potatoes, carrots, onions, cabbage. 0:17:14.920 --> 0:17:17.720 Those are all like a dollar a pound, which is 0:17:18.800 --> 0:17:22.439 a fraction of what something like ground beef costs, and 0:17:22.960 --> 0:17:25.800 they're super healthy. You fill up your diet with those things, 0:17:25.960 --> 0:17:29.400 and you're gonna be sitting pretty, you know, and not 0:17:29.520 --> 0:17:32.160 spending a lot of money. Yeah. Speaking of the principles 0:17:32.200 --> 0:17:34.120 that you follow, Beth, you kind of did a write 0:17:34.200 --> 0:17:36.520 up on your website of some of the principles that 0:17:36.600 --> 0:17:39.160 you follow in order to reduce how much you spend 0:17:39.200 --> 0:17:41.399 on food and how other people can kind of do 0:17:41.520 --> 0:17:43.679 the same. One of the things you mentioned is is 0:17:43.680 --> 0:17:46.040 planning your meals ahead. So can you talk to us 0:17:46.040 --> 0:17:48.480 a little bit about meal prep or make a head 0:17:48.480 --> 0:17:50.960 meals and how those can help us save money. Yeah, 0:17:51.000 --> 0:17:53.200 I think the planning a head thing is really important. 0:17:53.440 --> 0:17:57.080 Even aside from meal meal prep. It's when you go 0:17:57.160 --> 0:17:59.880 to the grocery store without having any sort of plan 0:18:00.000 --> 0:18:02.440 in mind, You're just gonna grab a bunch of random things. 0:18:02.720 --> 0:18:04.680 Those things will probably go to waste because you didn't 0:18:04.680 --> 0:18:06.520 have a plan to use them in the first place, 0:18:06.680 --> 0:18:08.960 or you didn't have a set plan, so you might 0:18:08.960 --> 0:18:11.760 be missing other ingredients that you need. So even if 0:18:11.760 --> 0:18:14.080 you pick like one or two recipes a week that 0:18:14.160 --> 0:18:16.080 you know you're gonna make and plan when you're going 0:18:16.119 --> 0:18:18.440 to make them so that you actually do um, that's 0:18:18.440 --> 0:18:21.240 gonna save you so much money and you know you 0:18:21.280 --> 0:18:23.640 won't be tempted to go eat out those nights or 0:18:23.680 --> 0:18:26.560 whenever you eating the leftovers. So having the plan before 0:18:26.640 --> 0:18:30.240 you go into the grocery store is so important. And 0:18:30.280 --> 0:18:33.200 then as far as meal prep goes, this is really 0:18:33.240 --> 0:18:35.520 just something that I like to do personally. It's not 0:18:35.640 --> 0:18:39.960 for everyone, um, but I really appreciate having leftovers. Kind 0:18:39.960 --> 0:18:42.480 of like we were saying before, it's it's another way 0:18:42.520 --> 0:18:45.960 to prevent those busy nights where you want to order 0:18:46.080 --> 0:18:48.680 Postmates or something because you're just too tired to cook. 0:18:48.720 --> 0:18:51.440 So I like to cook batch meals of things like 0:18:51.960 --> 0:18:55.399 soups and stews, pasta, diicious things that I can freeze 0:18:55.440 --> 0:18:58.640 single serving portions of. And if I have a variety 0:18:58.640 --> 0:19:00.600 of those stashed in my freezer, if I get to 0:19:00.640 --> 0:19:02.680 a night where I'm just like too tired to cook, 0:19:03.040 --> 0:19:05.720 I can grab something out of the freezer, something homemade, 0:19:05.880 --> 0:19:08.760 something delicious, something I know I love, and reheat it 0:19:08.800 --> 0:19:11.480 really quickly in the microwave and I don't spend any 0:19:11.480 --> 0:19:17.200 eggtra money that way. I love leftovers, Like I'm with you, 0:19:17.280 --> 0:19:19.320 Like every day I work from home, and so I 0:19:19.440 --> 0:19:20.920 come walking out of my office, I can come to 0:19:20.960 --> 0:19:22.479 back to the house and I take a look at 0:19:22.480 --> 0:19:24.280 in the fridge and I'm just always looking for just 0:19:24.320 --> 0:19:26.320 a solid leftover from the past day or a couple 0:19:26.359 --> 0:19:29.280 of days ago. And specifically, I feel like for me, 0:19:29.280 --> 0:19:31.440 at least, the best way, I always fry up an egg, 0:19:31.800 --> 0:19:34.639 and ideally I can find a leftover that I can 0:19:34.680 --> 0:19:36.880 put a fried egg on top. It's like, yes, the 0:19:37.400 --> 0:19:41.920