#83: Cut Your Grocery Budget in Half with Alli Powell of The Grocery Getting Girl

Alli Powell is the money-saving woman behind The Grocery Getting Girl! Alli and her husband started budgeting seriously in 2018 and she was able to cut her grocery bill in half with some budget-friendly planning.
Alli joined me on the podcast to talk all about grocery budgeting and this episode is chock-full of tips! We cover how she found the time to start preparing food at home with two little kids and full-time jobs, how she price-shops different stores, and how she creates her budget meal plans.
 Look no further for answers to all your grocery budgeting questions! Enjoy!

Get Alli's E-book: https://grocerygettinggirl.com/my-shop/ols/products/how-to-save-on-groceries-e-book-by-alli-powell

Connect with Alli:
www.grocerygettinggirl.com

https://www.instagram.com/grocerygettinggirl/

https://www.tiktok.com/@grocerygettinggirl

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Transcript

Roni: [00:00:00] to the Plan to Eat podcast. Where I interview industry experts about meal planning, food and wellness. To help you answer the question. What's for dinner. 

Hello, and thank you for joining me for another episode of the Plan to Eat podcast. Today, I have an interview with Alli Powell. She is also known as the grocery getting girl.

She is a mom of two. She runs a blog and social media site called grocery getting girl. And her focus is on keeping food costs. As low as possible. She shares a lot about meal plans, budgeting, saving money on groceries. And that is all of what we talk about today. She has so many excellent tips and tricks for how you can save a little money at the grocery store.

Some ways to think about prices on groceries. And I think you're going to get a lot from this episode, if you are concerned about the cost of your grocery [00:01:00] bills and inflation has been hitting you really hard. So without further ado, here's the interview. Well, Ali, thank you so much for joining me on the podcast today.

Alli: Thanks for having me.

Roni: So let's get started by having you just give an introduction of who you are and what you do.

Alli: Awesome. Well, my name is Ali Powell. I'm known on Instagram as the grocery getting girl, and I have kind of an affordable food blog. I share with people how I save money on groceries and kind of what I do every day to feed my family on a budget in a high cost of living area.

Roni: Where is your high cost of living area that you're

Alli: I'm, I live in San Diego, California

Roni: yeah. Okay. Yeah. I live in, we live in Northern Colorado and so we're not quite the same issue, but it is very similar. You know, Colorado has really blown up in the last few years and we've noticed some differences for sure.

Alli: and it's tough and it's tough with, you know, inflation. We've seen prices go up drastically in a short period of time. It's hard to navigate.

Roni: Yeah, it [00:02:00] feels like, uh, particularly the grocery store is the place where inflation really hasn't gone down there, you know, we've seen inflation go down in other areas, other sectors, but the, the food that we're purchasing doesn't really seem to have budged a whole lot.

Alli: I agree. I completely agree. And it's kind of scary to, cause I record so many of the things I buy at the grocery store, looking back at videos from a couple of years ago, I was paying half of what I'm paying now for the same items, like, you know, just brand name, English muffin, stuff like that, that, you know, they were 2 now they're like 4 and it's like, whoa, that's changed a lot.

Yeah.

Roni: Wow. That's so interesting that you had that since you've been doing the blog and Instagram and everything. It's actually kind of cool case study to be able to see the side by side.

Alli: Right? Kind of like, you know, unintentional chronological grocery journey.

Roni: Yeah. Wow. Cool. Well, why don't you tell me a little bit about your blog and how you got started doing that?

Alli: Yeah, for sure. So, , I started my blog, my website and everything at 2019. I had been working in corporate it for 10 years and I [00:03:00] really am a really creative person. I wasn't using any of my creativity. So I started this up as kind of like a side hobby. And then within a month I got laid off. So I, used the severance money to start my business up and the grocery getting girl page was a big part of it.

Um, I run a marketing agency and I do a lot of social media, so I wanted to have kind of a page of my own. I also. I really wanted to share how we drastically cut our food spend. Um, when I was working in the corporate world, we were spending tons of money with no plan, it was all reactive. And we kind of had to wake up cAlling, realized we had to change our lifestyle.

And so I cut my grocery spend in half and I was pretty impressed with what I did. And so I was like, okay, I want to share this with other people because I think it could be beneficial. And I think it has been so far.

Roni: Wow. That's, uh, that's a pretty big deal to cut your groceries in half. Like me thinking about doing that sounds like really intimidating.

Alli: Yeah, right. And it was at first because the way we were eating out a lot, we weren't putting a lot of time and effort into [00:04:00] planning. And really, once we kind of put a plan in place, kind of like with budgeting your money, like, it can just be such a game changer of all of a sudden, okay, well, we have three meals planned out for the week.

We don't have to eat out or go drop stop by the grocery store, what have you. And, um, it was minor changes that kind of started to snowball that allowed me to really. Really cut it in half, which was cool.

Roni: Yeah. So I read on your website that you started implementing Dave Ramsey's baby steps for your budgeting overall. I'm not totally familiar with that. Can you enlighten me on what those baby steps are?

Alli: Definitely. Yeah. So it's, he has these principles of basically, you know, what you need to do to pay off your debt. And at the time we had had a lot of debt. Um, so we started following the principles. Not exactly. One of the things he says is like eat rice and beans every night if you have to, to save money.

And that's like, not something we could do. He also thinks, You should get to a point where credit score isn't important. And I don't agree with that. I think everybody needs a good credit score, but this man had some really great insight [00:05:00] on small changes that you can make that will make a big impact. So one of the things that he talked about was food.

I kind of took his principles and applied that, um, to the food category. And what I would do is I would keep track of what I was spending. I would get the cash back at the ATR at the register. When I was at the grocery store, I'd keep that cash walking at the bank every day. Month, every month with a cash payment, which was also really motivating 'cause I had hundreds of dollars in my hands that I was putting towards debt, not what I wanted to use it for.

Um, so that was extremely helpful. And it helped to pay off all of our credit card debt.

Roni: Oh my gosh. Wow. Wow. That's a big deal. Uh, we've talked to a woman on the podcast before who helps people who are, she calls them like hot mess. Like you're in your hot mess phase of your life and people who are really in debt. And she does a, a similar, like a similar system, except she does it with rewards.

Like you, if you go under budget for a week, you then get to spend that money that you were under budget on, on something that was like enjoyable to you. You're, if you're living by [00:06:00] your budget, you're already paying down your debt and things like that. And any of that extra money is like, Oh, this is my like fun money.

And maybe you only have 15 that week is your fun money. But, um, it is really interesting to, to have that motivation to, whether it's paying off your debt or to have something for fun, to really think about, like, how can I maximize my dollars so that I get to use this for something else, um,

Alli: Absolutely. Absolutely. And to thinking it's kind of an outside of the box way. 'cause finances, people don't like to talk about it. And it's a really all encompassing topic. Where do I start? How do I start? So to put something in place like that, that's easy to follow, but then it also rewards you, people are going to be really successful at that for

Roni: Mm hmm. Yeah. So why don't you talk about some of the changes that you implemented specifically about around groceries and meals? I know meal planning is one of the things that you first implemented. So talk to me about your meal planning process.

Alli: that was by far the biggest change. And that was the biggest savings for us because we [00:07:00] actually started to put a plan in place. We were so busy. Our children were very little, they were toddlers, we were working full time. So we text each other every day around three o'clock. What do you want to do for dinner?

We figured out one of us would go by the store and every night we're spending like 50, 60 at the store to get things we probably already have at home. Yeah. Um, and so in 2017, we kind of, we saw a financial planner. We had kind of a wake up call and we realized we had to change some things. And so that was one of the first things I did when I was pregnant, I had kind of gotten into the freezer meal thing.

And that was my first step is I took some time on weekends and I started prepping freezer meals cause I was so overwhelmed with the thought of doing it after I got off work, that was all that was realistic for me. So I started with that. It was three meals a week and it was something to give me a guideline.

And it really. They took off from there. From there, I liked the idea and I saw how much we were saving. So I started cooking one night and now, gosh, I mean, my kids are a lot older, but I do cook seven nights a week and partially because I enjoy it. But a big part of it is every [00:08:00] time we go out to a restaurant, we can't get out of there for under a hundred dollars.

And there's four of us. We, we don't have a huge family. So that was the main one. Like

Roni: Mm hmm.

Alli: meal planning. That was huge. Um, from there, I also changed the grocery store that I was shopping at. I was shopping at a higher end store. The store that I shop at now is a self proclaimed no frills store. So you bag your own groceries.

Sometimes the produce can be a little funky in some areas, but it is a significant cost savings to what I was spending before. I mean, coming in way, way under, um, and that's fine. I will shop in a no frill store if I'm going to come in at half the cost of, you know, what I did before. Um, I also utilized a store that we have locally here in Southern California called the 99 cent only store, which just announced that they're closing.

Um, but they have really They have a full grocery section and I would create a grocery list. I would start there and then I would supplement the things that I needed at the grocery store. And that was, that's originally how I cut it in half is, you know, getting these things at an off [00:09:00] brand store. You wouldn't think to go to that are half the cost of the store and then supplementing from there.

A lot of times I was feeding us for like around a hundred dollars a week, which was a huge change from where we were at before, but Um, and then from there, it was little things. I implemented a freezer stash and started keeping a lot of things in the freezer because the freezer is a huge way to maximize shelf life of food and really get your money's worth.

And then it just, it, a little things from here and there, like another, uh, another big one was also keeping my bulk shopping in check and only buying what I truly needed in bulk. That was another big one. I would say those are the big four for sure.

Roni: I am super guilty of that. I'm going to Costco and being like, Oh, this seems like such a good deal on this thing, whatever. And, but I don't actually need it, you know?

Alli: It's such Costco's such a slippery slope. You get in there and you're like, I know I use this.

Roni: Yes. Yes. 

Alli: Yeah. And you also can't walk out of there for under like 400.

Roni: oh yeah, I know. Yeah. Particularly if you're doing a lot of shopping, I actually [00:10:00] have the benefit of living in a really small house, so I don't, I can't buy all of the things that Costco cause I have nowhere to put it.

Alli: We're not allowed.

Roni: Yeah. So, So you mentioned that before all of this, you guys were eating out a lot.

Did you have to kind of like teach yourself how to cook a lot of the recipes? Were you, did you already have a lot of cooking skills before this and you guys were just choosing not to cook at home? Or did you have to teach yourself how to cook in this process as well?

Alli: No cooking skills whatsoever. I was not raised in a home where cooking happened often. I was never taught how to make anything. When I was in college, I really, I started watching Rachel Ray and her show. And that's how I started really learning how to cook. She's, um, Great teacher. She's got some great recipes.

But yeah, it wasn't. I had a few recipes here and there. But yeah, we were just so busy that it wasn't. And even that's kind of where the freezer meals came into play. The thought of cooking was so overwhelming, especially on a busy night. I didn't have a lot of like familiar recipes. And so the thought of it [00:11:00] was really overwhelming. Um, but again, once I started with those freezer meals, you do have to do some sort of cooking and I'm doing that on the weekends and I'm starting to be like, make a routine out of it.

And I realized like, okay, I can cook one night a week. I can do that. You know, and you can kind of baby steps into it, especially when you see how much you're saving. Pinterest

Roni: Yeah. Did you, did you find your recipes like on Pinterest or did you have like a blogger or somebody who was like the person that was your go to?

Alli: Pinterest was huge for me, and I still have so many Pinterest boards because one really great thing about Pinterest. I mean, you can do this on Google as well. But, um, this week I had noodles and carrots and I wanted to do some sort of Asian stir fry with it to use up those two things I had. So I put both of those into Pinterest.

It gave me a few different Asian recipes, like a few different ideas that sounded really good. Not only is it kind of stretching what I would, it's making me think outside the box a little bit more. But I'm also finding new recipes in this process, recipes that I'm [00:12:00] coming to love. And then some recipes I don't like, and I know not to make those again.

Both are beneficial because I'm working through recipes that I find for my family and I make over and over again.

Roni: So tell me about the trade off of the, of like the time, because, because you mentioned that, you know, all of this was really overwhelming at first and you felt like you didn't have time for it, but now you're cooking seven nights a week. And I'm assuming that, you know, things in life have changed overall, but what were some of the.

I guess, I mean, like you have to make sacrifices for things. A lot of the times, you know, like, uh, we, I talked to somebody from, you need a budget a while ago, and she talked about the different levers of both time and money, and a lot of times you have to spend more time to save more money and cooking is, is a good example of that, even at the grocery store, you know, buying.

A block of cheese versus shredded cheese is like, there's a, there's a time savings and a cost of time, more time expenditure, but a cost savings in that. So where did you find these set time, like pieces of time that [00:13:00] you could sacrifice to be able to spend more time on cooking, or did it just become. So necessary because of the budget.

Alli: That's such a great question. Cause I, that was me exactly. Like. How do I do this? What? How do I figure out like how to get the stuff? Once I get off work at five o'clock, home by 545, my children are little, they're going to bed by 745. How do I squeeze that in? So it started out with like, thankfully, my husband and I make a really good team.

And when I was doing those freezer meals on the weekends, we would make a plan where he would take them out. Or we would, he would plan to have them in the backyard so I can just sort of be uninterrupted. If we didn't do that and I didn't have that tag team effort, there's no way I could have set the time apart for it.

And then from there, it really became a habit, like, you know, atomic habits. Like you really start doing it and you realize like, Along with what you're saying, you're seeing in the budget that it's helpful, but it was also nice for him because now he gets this special time that he sets apart [00:14:00] with our kids where they're going to the park or he's taking them over to our local lake.

And that was an unexpected benefit of it, of his dad time with the kids while I at home did something really necessary and beneficial as prepare to feed us for a week. Like it was an unexpected benefit for both of us, but that formed a habit. And I built on it from there. So we would do the same thing with rolling into dinners.

I think it was Thursday night was the dinner that we had planned. And he was on it. I would get home. I would change, like, get into my cooking clothes. And he immediately, like, had a show on for them, was doing what he had to do. And sometimes they'd run in or whatever. But it was very, very planned. And now Thursday nights, my kids aren't even home.

They're at practices. So like we're at a different stage in life. It's a lot easier, but again, it goes back to, there was a lot of planning and we had to plan out ahead of time. Thursday night is the night that I cook and you watch the kids and build a habit on it from there.

Roni: Hmm. I mean, I see a ton of unintended consequences with that too, of like cooking. I mean, at [00:15:00] first I'm cooking can feel intimidating and overwhelming, but once you get used to it, it is kind of a meditative process. And so it's almost like you get to have a little bit of time for yourself built into that as well, where you're like dads with the kids, I get it.

I'll just like be in a calm space and cook like mental deload space here. Yeah.

Alli: And that's how I discovered that I loved it so much. You don't know if you like something if you're not doing it regularly, finding new recipes, finding out you can make tortillas yourself. There's all these things that you can create. It's almost addicting. And you want to keep doing it because it's therapeutic.

It feels good. It makes it creates a nourishing meal for your family and you're saving money. Like overall, it just makes you feel so good.

Roni: Mm hmm. Yeah. You mentioned that when we spoke before that you feel like budgeting has become addicting for you, like it has this snowball effect into your life and you're constantly trying to pull the levers and find different ways to save money. I think that's really cool.

Alli: good [00:16:00] addiction.

Roni: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So I'm also curious about like dealing kind of like emotionally with these lifestyle changes, because if you went from being a family that kind of like didn't plan anything at all, you didn't have to live on a budget to being on a budget and planning everything out.

I feel like there would be. A lot of feelings that go along with that. Right.

Alli: Yeah, definitely. Especially when you're getting out of old habits. We're used to taking the kids out to dinner and doing things like that and changing your routine anytime is hard and it's tiring. We weren't coming home and cooking dinner because we didn't have the effort for it. And that one night that I was cooking dinner, gosh, it's such a busy day because you're, you're up at six dealing with your kids.

And then by the time you get home, it's. You've worked all day in between there and it's six and here you are wrapping things up with a meal. It's not always your favorite thing to do. You don't always love it. But again, when you realize the bigger picture of, you know, [00:17:00] I have children to provide for, I want to be able to have savings for them.

I want to be able for them to have a life, a nice lifestyle. It's important for me to take the time, even though I'm tired, even though I don't want to do this to set aside and do it. Because little did I know it created such a huge habit that became such a huge part of my life. But yeah, I remember, I remember especially at first, like we took a vacation and that was the first vacation we had taken since we were on a budget and looking at things through budget eyes.

It was kind of bleak, you know, 70 and we were like, we're there for a wedding and we're wanting to go to the bar with our friends and have cocktails with them and stuff. But we're like, we've also got stuff in our room. It's a lot more affordable Do we need to take the kids to the lodge for hot chocolate or like?

At first it was a tough pill to swallow, but it became really rewarding when we saw that we were able to pay down and eliminate the credit card debt. And that's really what kept us going.

Roni: Yeah. Yeah, there's I think there's a lot of those [00:18:00] aspects of it that are more like not necessarily peer pressure, but just kind of peer driven of you see what the people around you are doing. Um, and. In particular, if that's a lifestyle that you're used to having, it's really hard to change. And it also probably feels like, oh, wow, like they must make so much more money than us, or they must be so much more comfortable than us.

So as far as finances are concerned, when really you have no idea what's going on with somebody's finances on the inside.

Alli: Absolutely. Yeah. Yeah. But it's that comparison syndrome is very real and social media just puts it in everybody's face. You know, it's the highlight reel and budgeting meal planning that there is nothing of a highlight about that. You're doing the nitty gritty. To do what you have to do to adult and it can look really glamorous online.

I know exactly what you're saying, but you kind of when you see the reward and what it means for your kids in the long run, you're like, okay, I have to keep doing this.

Roni: Did you, were there other, um, side effects that you [00:19:00] noticed from cooking more, eating at home more, did you guys start eating together as a family? More often? Like, was that a benefit as well?

Alli: There have been so many benefits. Um, we definitely have started eating together more as a family. We, my family is very involved in the meal plan. It's up on the refrigerator every week. And if somebody has a problem with it, I am open to suggestions as long as you give me a couple nights before that meal is planned.

There's been times that, and that's why I do it. I want everybody to be on the same page. I want dinner to Get eaten. And if there's something I've planned that they don't want, I'll happily accommodate something else if we've got it on hand because I want the meal to be eaten. So we're starting to eat together more, which is fantastic. We're having a say in what we want to To eat together. We're doing really fun meals together because we're know, we know we're eating together, so we have a hibachi at home night where we pull out our griddle grill and we do like a hibachi night.

Also, one thing that's amazing to see is my 12-year-old daughter has a huge interest in cooking and food [00:20:00] and baking. I'm not a baker. She loves to bake. She got home from school yesterday and made herself some crepes. It was amazing like seeing. Again, this was not something I didn't grow up in a kitchen.

I was never taught how to cook. That would have been something that was amazing to have. And the fact that I'm passing that onto my daughter and she's learning early on how to make herself things in the kitchen, she's not going to be unprepared when she gets out on her own. It makes my heart so happy.

These unexpected rewards of my planning and her seeing my dedication in the kitchen, my son has a little bit of an interest. He's starting to get there. But it just warms my heart to see how happy time in the kitchen makes her.

Roni: Oh, that's amazing. Yeah, I would bet that would be so rewarding. And, and I feel like even if your son isn't like interested in it right now, I feel like seeing that being modeled for him, you know, then when he grows up and goes off to college, or even after that, at least he knows he could call you and be like, Hey, mom, like, I'm not really sure how to make it.

Spaghetti or whatever the [00:21:00] thing is and knows that like, you're a resource because he watched you do this night after night growing up.

Alli: Absolutely. And he's, we've taught him a few basic things like he can make himself scrambled eggs. So I'm like, okay, dude, anytime you're hungry, you can always do these scrambled eggs. It's always a good snack. So little things here and there just, you know, they have those foundations that I didn't have.

And that that's amazing to know.

Roni: I also really like that you are bringing in these fun and different recipes. You know, you mentioned that you started your blog because you wanted a creative outlet and now it feels like you've really expanded that into trying different recipes, like really reaching outside of the box. And because I think that cooking is such a creative process.

And so it's really fun to see that that's, it's like growing your creative processes growing in that way.

Alli: Absolutely. Last night, we did a recipe where I used soba noodles for the first time because I had had them before, but I wanted my kids to try them. And again, this was a recipe that was focused on [00:22:00] using up two things I already had in my fridge. So that's neat, too, is, you know, the different recipes with fun ingredients.

They have to try it. Sometimes they like it. Sometimes they don't. That's okay. But exposing them to these new foods, you know, expanding their palate and really their options as well.

Roni: Yeah, I want to, uh, switch a little bit to get into some of the practical, do you have tools and like that you use? Do you, are you like a spreadsheet person? Do you have apps that you use? What kind of stuff do you use to manage, you know, groceries or just budget in general?

Alli: So for groceries, it's pretty basic. It's just an Excel sheet that I use and I just kind of you do a running total every week to see where I'm at. It's basically the same things that I'm buying every week. So I expect the same amount. There's always going to be. Weeks where Christmas is coming up and you're buying for Christmas dinner, Easter, things like that, where you look at the categories and say, yeah, I was a hundred dollars higher because I was feeding a lot of people for a holiday, but you just want to make sure [00:23:00] that your spending is in line.

And that's also helped me keep track of inflation. You know, my budget used to be 125, had to raise it to 150. It was that spreadsheet that told me that, um, I also track all of our bulk purchases from Costco, to see how prices increase. And again, What am I buying anything there that I don't need? Um, one thing that is imperative to me is having just a little meal plan that, like I said, I put on my fridge every week with Sunday through Saturday's dinners that everybody can see laid out.

I also heavily rely on my Amazon Alexa app because it's got the shopping list on there. We have the Alexa in the kitchen. So anytime we run out of something. My family knows that they have to put it on the list. And if they don't, it won't get bought because I don't know. And so we're all contributing to the list and it's, it ensures that nothing's getting missed when I'm going to the store and I don't have to make a couple trips.

And I also have a really amazing set of grocery bags. That's, that's my, these expandable, [00:24:00] flexible grocery bags that make my life so easy. That's also a huge part.

Roni: I love that. So you mentioned that you, I mean, unfortunately your 99 cent stores going out, but you mentioned that you start your grocery shopping there. But do you do other price shopping between different stores? Like if you're going to do your bulk shopping at Costco, are you looking at like Okay, this bag of nuts is like, I can buy it in bulk at Costco, but technically the like price per ounce or pound or whatever is more cost effective to buy it at the regular grocery store.

Are you doing that kind of price shopping as well?

Alli: Definitely, especially with the comparison between Costco and grocery store, because I talk so often about things that I don't recommend buying in bulk. So comparing the price per unit is huge in that aspect. And one thing I talk about in my book extensively is the price per unit is really important because you can use it to compare canned vegetables to fresh vegetables to frozen vegetables across the board.

But yes, I do [00:25:00] really keep track of what's, you know, especially my grocery store versus my Costco to see what you're looking at and how those things are going to last shelf life wise. If you're spending a little less at the store, but you know, if that's a big thing to take into account as well. But doing the price per unit comparison is such a.

Easy tool for people. It's just like a very simple, you know, math equation. But if I don't know if everybody thinks to do it in sitting and comparing prices, and I don't even know if everybody would know I can compare canned green beans to fresh. And what does that look like? But that's how I determine all of my Costco shopping is the price per unit because the price per unit at Costco, I'm pretty much all my household goods.

My detergent tinfoil, all that is all lower than my grocery store significantly.

Roni: Mm hmm. I always think about that when I'm going to do bulk shopping or whatever, is that like it, it, they do a really good job at bulk stores of making everything seem like it's the best deal that you could get when in reality, a lot of the [00:26:00] things, I think in particular, like at our Costco, there's things like, um, like jarred goods, like, like pickles or marinara sauce, things like that.

It's like not actually a better deal at Costco than it is to just buy those at the regular grocery store. But then you're also right thinking about, There's multiple things that are affecting the cost of it, right? Because it's not only the cost per unit, but you're also thinking about like, well, is this gonna, are we ever even going to use this, you know, two pound bag of whatever before it goes bad.

Alli: So true. So true. My Costco, they have five dozen eggs for 9, which sounds like a phenomenal deal. But can you really go through that many eggs before they go bad? Some people can, some people eat a lot of eggs and if you do great, but that it can be really deceiving in the moment because 9 isn't that much more than what I'm paying at the grocery store.

I think I'm paying four for 18. So you're like, Oh my gosh. Yeah. 9 for five dozen. Let's do it. Yeah. But it's not a good deal if you're not using it all. And that's such a [00:27:00] huge thing to take into account with bulk shopping.

And then do you have any tips for, shopping sales and things at the grocery store? So I know that they're there. I am certainly guilty of this. Some, you know, I have my meal plan and I have the shopping list that I'm supposed to be shopping from, but I find something at the store that's on sale and it's like, it's in the clearance item, you know, a clearance item and it's a really good deal.

Roni: Do you have any tips for like, uh, Basically like grocery shopping and then figuring out your meal plan after the fact, if you find things that are on sale and then figuring out what to do with it afterwards.

Alli: Yes, because this happens to me regularly. Um, one of the things I mentioned is that I've built up a freezer stash of meats. And one of the stores near me that I don't shop at a lot, Always has really great markdowns on meats, but you never know what you're going to get at what time. And so many weeks I'll have my meal plan established, ready to go, but I stopped into smart and final to see what they have marked down.

And I [00:28:00] found a lot of my more expensive cuts of meat this way, short ribs, roasts, um, things like that. I buy them, I freeze wrap them, or, a vacuum seal them. And then I put them in the freezer. Then I'd make a plan to use that within the next month or so, however long you have. So yes, I absolutely do the same thing because it's too good of a deal to pass up.

But I also, I didn't plan that night. So the freezer has been huge in helping me extend the shelf life of so many foods. But I've also found other things, hot dog buns, um, rolls, uh, sourdough bread loaves, things like that, that I didn't need it, but I stocked up because I can throw it in the freezer. My local grocery store, they do a big sale on cheese every once in a while.

So I will stock up when it's on sale. I freeze the cheese. And then when I'm. Ready to use it. I pull it out and I thaw it, and that has been my kind of trick of getting around, taking advantage of a good price, but not necessarily needing the [00:29:00] item. Right. And

Roni: And so then when you're looking at your grocery budget, do you look at it more holistically, like for the entire month rather than week to week in those situations? Because obviously if you bought three blocks of cheese that you wouldn't didn't necessarily need to buy, that's going to affect your grocery budget for that week.

Alli: because I'm shopping at so many different places for different things, like 99 cent, again, their closing, but I would get all of my bread products. A lot of my deli products there. I just had a certain amount of items that I was spending money at there. So obviously I have to contribute that to the, the total spent and just Rolling it into the month is easier rather than like this week.

I went to Costco. I went to food for less and I went to 99 cent. Here's everything I got. It's just kind of easier to look at it for the month because I go to a lot of different places to utilize the best deal at each.

Roni: And then back to your freezer, because I totally, I totally agree that utilizing the freezer is like the best thing ever. So in the beginning, you said you were doing a lot of freezer meals, which I'm guessing was [00:30:00] preparing, you know, mostly preparing at least a full meal. Is that a process that you still use or you mostly just, or you'd mostly just have individual items in your freezer?

Alli: Great question. So it's, it's evolved so much as my kids have gotten older and my time has changed. Yes, I was preparing full meals, chili. I would do stuff like, um, buffalo chicken so that we could throw it on sandwiches or tacos or whatever. Things like that, full meals that, or, or things that are going to create something, you just throw with it.

Now I no longer have the time to prep a full meal ahead of time because things are so busy. So before it was a big focus on meals and pulling it out of the freezer and just having it ready to go.

Most of the time you put it into the crock pot and then you come home and you're ready at the end of the day. Now it's focused on things I can pair with things. So I have like 30 of chicken, 20 of ground beef. And this morning we're having tacos for dinner. So at the beginning of the day, I [00:31:00] pull my chicken out of the freezer, I put it into my fridge, I'll put it into the crock pot about 11 a.

m. and that's ready to go for me. Instead of planning the full meals and then just serving them, now I have a big component at home. The meat is trimmed, it's prepped, it's ready to go and I just cook that in with my stir fry or soup or what have you because I have more time every night now. When my kids were younger, it was serve it and eat.

That was all we had the energy for. Now I look forward to cooking. So I pull it out. I thought, and I create a meal with that cut of meat I have on hand.

Roni: I feel like there's benefits to both ways, you know, but I think that sometimes when you're prepping those whole meals, at least in my experience, it's really hard to prep a whole meal and not prep, like, you know, 10 servings of something, you know, it's either, it's either an, an entire bag of chili or it's an entire, casserole pan of enchiladas or something.

And then you're like, Oh, we're eating this for like four days and I'm kind of tired.

Alli: Right. Right. [00:32:00] And if you're not a fan of leftovers, it can get really mundane. So taking something like that and portioning it out in like two or three meals, like have it when you want. You don't have to do it back to back. I know how boring that can get.

Roni: Yeah. Yeah.

Well, why don't you let everybody know where they can connect with you, find you online, find your blog, all that kind of stuff.

Alli: Awesome. Yeah. So you can find me on Instagram. I also have a website, grocery getting girl. com where I have my blog, tons of recipes, and you can buy my book there. I wrote a book on, uh, saving money on groceries. It also has my 50 favorite recipes. Um, and then obviously I'm pretty active on Instagram. I'm always posting different tips and tricks on saving money and just kind of making the most of your food.

Roni: Yeah, that's awesome. I, been looking through your Costco grocery hauls recently to figure out what are the, what are the things that are the best value?

Alli: What to buy.

Roni: Yes, exactly. Yeah. What I should, what I should skip and what I really should buy.

Alli: Right. [00:33:00] Well, thank you. 

Roni: Yeah. Thank you for your time today, Alli. Appreciate it.

Thank you as always for tuning into this episode, there will be links in the show note to connect with Alli as well as. To find her book, if you are interested in that, she sent me a copy and it is so full of amazing tips and tricks and information. So if budgeting and groceries in particular is an area that you struggle with, I highly recommend connecting with her and getting her book and reading all of her amazing tips and tricks.

And just a reminder that if you are not currently using plan to eat, you can sign up from the link in the show notes. It is plantoeat.Com forward slash P T E P O D. And you can get a free 14 day trial of Plan to Eat that link will also get you 20 percent off your first annual subscription of the program.

It is really helpful to just have a tool to keep everything all in one place, to have your grocery list [00:34:00] made for you. And I have to say that if you're not already meal planning and budgeting is something that is at top of mind for you. So many of our customers say that the main thing that they do to save money on groceries is simply make a meal plan.

Doesn't have to be a special meal plan, doesn't have to be specifically related to budget friendly recipes, just simply creating a meal plan and shopping for those specific ingredients will save you money versus the random grocery store scramble of buying whatever looks and sounds good. So once again, there's a link in the show notes, plantoeat.Com forward slash P T E pod. Thank you as always for listening and I will see you again in two weeks.