MSU Extension 4-H Adulting 101

17:00:27 Welcome, everyone, to 4-H adulting 101, Eating Healthy on a Budget. We are so excited that you are here today, and you're going to be spending the next hour.
17:00:39 We have Rhonda with us, and Rhonda was at one point a SNAP ed educator. So she taught food and nutrition all over in Bay County is where she's from, but I'm going to turn it over to Rhonda so she can introduce.
17:00:55 Uh, herself, and I'm just going to be supporting her, so I'm super excited that she is here. She's very knowledgeable on this topic.
17:01:05 Thanks, Kathy. That's awesome. Thank you so much. Thank you, everybody. Keep putting into the chat where you are from.
17:01:14 I love seeing it, especially those of you who are in… I would say slightly warmer weather, but we're doing pretty good up here in Michigan today. It is a nice 70 degrees, finally, and the snow is starting to melt, so… Um, shout out to all of you. Thank you for doing that. My name is Rhonda Tushak. I am a 4-H program coordinator here in Bay County, Michigan, just south of you all that I saw putting in from Agre.
17:01:41 So welcome and we'll get started just for time because I want to be very aware of your time and how valuable it is, although I am super appreciative that you are here today.
17:01:52 So this is our and justice for all poster. This slide merely is required at the beginning and end of our online presentations. For those of you who do this prior to today's meeting, you know that you're going to probably see this again at the end.
17:02:08 Our affirmative action equal opportunity employer statement simply states that MSU is an affirmative action, equal opportunity employer. Michigan State University Extension programs and materials are open to all without regard to race.
17:02:23 color, national origin, sex, gender, gender identity, religion, age, height, weight, disability, political beliefs, sexual orientation, marital status, familial status.
17:02:39 Or veteran status. Next slide.
17:02:43 I'm gonna hold down on my cheat sheet, too, so that I can see.
17:02:51 Oops. Oh, yeah. So one disclaimer before we get started. A reference to any commercial product or trade name is not implying endorsement by MSU, MSU Extension, nor 4-H. Or is that showing a bias against those?
17:03:08 not mentioned or seen. For example, by reference speedway throughout our presentation today, I am not biased against Marathon, Sunoco, any other convenience stores. Does that make sense?
17:03:23 This is our kindness constitution. I like to call it this because I think we're all kind. So we'll just put it into a constitution form. Everyone is welcome in today's format. It is a safe environment. So please use respectful language, responsible behavior.
17:03:40 But most importantly, be engaged and participate. I don't want to just… be bird vomiting things out there for you. I want everyone to be as involved as we can possibly be virtually. And as we go through this together, please share any aha moments along the way, or questions that you have in the chat, and Kathy will pause us, and she'll bring us around, and.
17:04:04 And let us know what's going on. Next slide.
17:04:09 Our objectives for today's time together. We want to convey to everybody on the meeting some ways to score deals on fruits and vegetables.
17:04:21 Find out if the store brands really stack up against the name brands. We'll share some simple tips to plan meals that save money and taste great.
17:04:30 Plus, how to cook once and eat twice. Some budget-friendly foods and recipes, and how to stretch your food dollars.
17:04:38 So let's get started on the next slide. Deals on fruits and vegetables. It truly is possible to get fruits and vegetables into any budget. Making nutritious choices does not have to hurt our wallets.
17:04:51 Getting enough of those foods promotes health and can reduce the risks of certain diseases.
17:04:57 So in the chat, take just a moment and decide when it comes to fresh fruits, fresh vegetables, canned fruits, canned vegetables, or frozen fruits and frozen vegetables.
17:05:08 Which ones are the healthiest? And then maybe even which ones do you believe are most cost effective?
17:05:15 So maybe for healthier, just put an H equals, and you can do 1 for fresh, 2 for canned and 3 for frozen.
17:05:23 And then for cost effective, just put C equals, and then do you believe it's fresh, canned or frozen?
17:05:30 Oh, I see they're starting to come in yay.
17:05:38 That's awesome. I see a whole lot of different. I mean, I see fresh, I see frozen, I see both. We absolutely can. Oh, I see fresh canned and frozen.
17:05:50 Okay. So you're absolutely right. Every one of you are on point. There truly is no wrong answer. Um, the healthier options are the ones you actually eat.
17:06:00 If it's getting into our bodies because fruits and vegetables are so essential, um, those vitamins, those minerals, and especially that wonderful fiber word, um, if it's getting into us, then it is the healthiest. The most cost-effective?
17:06:15 Well, those are the ones that you buy and you eat. If you're just gonna buy them and let them sit there and go to waste if they're fresh.
17:06:22 Obviously not the most cost-effective. If you're gonna buy them frozen or canned, and then they outdate themselves or become freezer burned, or so on and so forth, then again, not the most cost effective. So the ones that we are actually utilizing are the most cost effective.
17:06:38 Next. If we look at blueberries just as an example, the primary difference really comes down to added sugars.
17:06:47 the calories are about the same across all 3 environments, whether they're frozen, canned, or fresh.
17:06:53 Those calories add up to about 80, plus or minus calories per cup.
17:06:59 However, can tends to be canned in a heavy syrup. And heavy syrup tends to mean a ton of what?
17:07:09 Somebody go ahead and type into chat. Yeah, there's that bad word. Sugar.
17:07:14 Yeah.
17:07:17 45 grams of sugar per cup, and if you don't know how to, um.
17:07:22 calculate that sugar. If you take the 45 and you divide it by 4, that tells you how many teaspoons or those cute little packets of sugar that are on the table when you go out to eat.
17:07:34 45 divided by 4 would be roughly what? 11, right? Maybe closer to 12. 12 teaspoons of sugar in just one cup of canned blueberries. That's a… you might as well just eat the sugar. I'm just saying, just putting it out there. We're giving a lot of money to the sugar companies, so we want to look at that when we are… we're shopping. We'll talk maybe a little bit about it later, depending on how our time is going.
17:08:00 Um, and then also on those canned berries, just look for stuff that's packed in water. It is really healthier because again, you don't have all that sugar.
17:08:12 with the vegetables, and on your screen. I hope you can see the green beans again frozen, canned, and or fresh.
17:08:19 The biggest notable difference is truly the texture. The texture on all of those is completely different, especially when it comes to green beans. So what is it that you're utilizing it for? And how is it best going to serve you?
17:08:34 But again, most cost-effective are the ones we actually buy and then put into our bodies.
17:08:40 So, fresh and frozen are typically similar in their nutrition because.
17:08:47 The green beans or other produce is normally picked at peak of ripeness, and when it's picked or harvested, then it immediately goes into the processing of canning or freezing.
17:08:59 freezing tends to hold a lot more of the nutrient, where canned, because you're steaming it or bringing heat temperature up, some of those vitamin and minerals do escape. So they do lose a little bit of that. And then you got to add back in some preservatives for those canned items.
17:09:15 Especially, what's the S word I'm looking for here?
17:09:16 Deborah, Marted Weber.
17:09:20 There's another ass word, but it's not sugar.
17:09:27 Yeah, there it is, it's salt or sodium. So yeah, those those preservatives, not necessarily the best thing for us. I did notice in the chat that there was a question about sugar. Is it bad for you?
17:09:40 No. Is it bad for you in excess? Yes. It is super bad for you.
17:09:47 If it's really resting between your teeth and is growing people.
17:09:52 Your dentist loves it, that you drink a lot of sugary drinks. I can squirrel off on this, I don't want to do that, but if you're drinking a lot of sugary drinks and the dentist bill goes up too. Next slide, please. I won't squirrel.
17:10:07 This is the Michigan Seasonality Guide. This guide actually shows us what's in season in Michigan. So if we wanted to go out and buy fresh fruits and vegetables.
17:10:18 In season, meaning… They're at their peak of.
17:10:23 ripeness for the season, and then usually… the price goes down. So I'm just going to pick on strawberries because everybody has.
17:10:31 I'm sorry, most people, I shouldn't say everyone. Most folks have seen a strawberry and seen the strawberry prices at the store. In the winter, strawberry prices are, like, really super high.
17:10:42 Because they're not in season. It's not typical. They're being grown in, normally, hoop houses or greenhouses, and then transported to the stores. So, if you're buying them, and if we look at our little cheat sheet over here.
17:10:57 On the left, you will see strawberries at the bottom come in late May, but are really prevalent in June, and then into the beginning of July.
17:11:06 So for shopping for those kind of things throughout June, you'll see the prices coming way, way down. And then that's a little bit better on our pocketbooks. Other than that, we go back to our frozen or our canned fruits and vegetables. So all of this making sense?
17:11:22 I hope so. We'll find out in a few more slides. Next slide.
17:11:25 So there was a question. about for cost effectiveness. I know we're going to get into it.
17:11:35 But in terms of dollars per pound of vegetables, is canned, frozen or fresh most cost effective?
17:11:39 Hmm. That is a fantastic question. If you will humor me, and you you can pause that for a moment. We are actually going to touch on that.
17:11:52 Okay.
17:11:52 So it is a couple of slides up yet. But as Kathy alluded to. So thank you for that, Kathy.
17:11:58 So do those store brands really stack up against name brands? Let's investigate another money saver those store brands versus the name brands. Next slide.
17:12:09 Take a minute. Half a minute, think about it. What are some non-negotiables as far as name brands for you? Put 1 or 2 of those into chat. Like you just absolutely cannot.
17:12:24 live with an off-brand of that item. For my home, it's a waste of money if I don't buy A1 steak sauce. If I buy any imitation brand, it goes to waste.
17:12:36 And Oreo cookies. So Oreo cookies, I can't buy.
17:12:40 the store brands I can't buy any other brand. They will just sit and rot, and I have totally wasted my money.
17:12:48 What are we seeing in the chat, Kathy?
17:12:51 So toilet paper, ranch dressing Hidden Valley Ranch and Frank's red hot sauce, you know.
17:12:58 Yeah.
17:13:02 Milk. ketchup and Cheerios soap.
17:13:07 Hmm. True. I mean, again, I want to talk about the soaps and even laundry detergents. If you have something that works for you.
17:13:16 There's absolutely a difference when it comes to store brands and name brands. I won't get into all the specifics because there's a lot of them, but keep those non-negotiables, but look for ways, look for avenues and products where we can make those baby shifts.
17:13:32 And then see all the money that we can save at the end of the year. I like the toothpaste that just went through. There's another one. It's tough because.
17:13:41 and I'm guessing that toothpaste you're saying, like crest or one of the name brands is your non-negotiable versus a.
17:13:49 Meyer brand, or a Walmart brand. Um, of that same flavored.
17:13:55 toothpaste. So I can totally appreciate that. Next slide.
17:14:04 I don't know what I just. That's pretty good. Okay.
17:14:10 So for those of us who maybe are sitting on the fence and not entirely sure what the differences are, a store brand is something that the store has marketed specifically for them, such as Aldi's, Costco's, Kroger, Target, Meijer, Walmart.
17:14:26 Just to name a few. Again, I'm not trying to leave anyone out. And the name brand products are those such as Lay's, Kraft, Jell-O. They can be found anywhere, from retailers or convenience stores just about across anywhere across our entire nation.
17:14:43 So, that's the main difference. And then you'll see that, like, store brands will label their brands after the store name. So those of you who are familiar with Kroger stores, for the most part, when you walk in, their brand is literally named Kroger Brand.
17:14:58 Where Walmart brand is named Great Value, because they are more reflective of a message that they're trying to send versus their store brand name.
17:15:09 Next slide. This is a quick cost comparison. I'm not going to go into a lot of detail on this. You can see this, I hope for yourselves.
17:15:17 Name brand is the first column, then Aldi, then Costco, then Kroger, Target.
17:15:25 Meijer, and then Walmart ends our columns, and our rows are bacon.
17:15:31 spaghetti sauce, potato chips. Frozen pizza, which is DiGiorno, um, and then the ice cream name brand is Haagen-Dazs. So you can see across those, and I highlighted where they are the most cost-effective for our pocketbooks. If you can get away from.
17:15:50 name brands. If you cannot, then you'll just kind of see.
17:15:55 Where you're gonna pay a little bit different price to keep that flavor, or whatever that is that you're really looking for.
17:16:02 Anything in the chat on that one, Kathy, before I move on, because I know that one gets a little intense.
17:16:09 It says, uh, you know, just some people are making comments about like which.
17:16:14 Which brand has the most expensive meat. you know, in bulk, you know, nothing major here in bulk with Costco. Can it be more cost effective?
17:16:29 Um, so when it comes to Costco, Sam's Club, some of your bigger warehouse, I apologize, um, locations where you're looking to buy in bulk, it can be more cost effective to use it.
17:16:44 If you're not, then again, it's not cost effective, and… Sometimes when you walk into your smaller chain stores, although the chain stores are definitely.
17:16:57 seen as more cost-effective than your smaller mom-and-pop stores that are just more local, because they can buy in bigger volume, and then they pass that savings along to us, the consumer.
17:17:08 However, because I belong to one of the warehouse brands, I can walk in there and I'm just going to give you an example, frozen chicken in the same pound bag of frozen chicken is most of the time cheaper.
17:17:23 at Walmart. And it's the exact. Same frozen chicken. So definitely want to check your apps, check your sales, check your websites before you head out to your grocery shopping, which we'll touch on a little bit when it comes to saving us some more money.
17:17:40 Well, um, well, keep them coming, keep them coming in the chat. We'll revisit, we'll pull them up at the end if you guys can be so kind as to keep that rolling. This is the slide that you're looking at now, um, reflects unit pricing. These things are on the shelves underneath the products that we're looking to purchase.
17:17:56 And normally they're updated when the items even go on sale. They help you get the most for your dollar by comparing the price per ounce or the pound, of similar products.
17:18:05 So example that you're seeing on your screen is $3.12, and it's like 13 cents per ounce versus $2.40, which is 20 cents per ounce. So you can make an informed decision breaking it down into ounces. What is the best.
17:18:20 Value for you. Um, so you're normally going to look for the smallest unit price.
17:18:25 To get that best value. So we talked a little bit earlier, and I promised you it was coming. Here's how we're going to look at our vegetables and take a closer look at, like.
17:18:36 Which one truly is the better value? So you're looking at a 5-pound bunch of whole carrots. It's costing $3.49 at our grocery store.
17:18:46 A 10 ounce bag of shredded carrots for $1.99 or a 16 ounce frozen carrot, which would cost me $2.79.
17:18:57 in the chat which one do you believe is the most cost-effective option?
17:19:02 And why?
17:19:07 This is a tricky one, because you have to.
17:19:11 No, how many ounces are in a pound to really figure this out.
17:19:15 Yes, you do.
17:19:21 unless we're standing in the store, right? And they already break it down for us.
17:19:21 Oh, I hit it. Right. I accidentally hit it. So we know that that one. Should I start? Should I start hitting it?
17:19:27 Oh, no worries. Perfect. So we can see that it is 4 cents per ounce buying a 5 pound bag of carrots. We can see that it is 20 cents per ounce if we buy the already processed shredded carrots ready to go.
17:19:44 Um, and then the frozen carrots are 17 cents per ounce as well. So again, kind of coming back to which ones are you going to use? That is your best value. If you're willing to put in a little elbow grease, you're willing to plan out multiple meals.
17:20:00 5-pound bag at 4 cents per ounce is a crazy, crazy price difference and a way better value in this scenario. If that makes sense. I hope that answered our question from earlier. If not, feel free to type it in the chat and we can definitely revisit that.
17:20:20 All right. So not only. Our unit price is good for comparing the ounces or pounds of the products that we're looking at, but also comparing fresh, frozen and canned. So we can look at those items, too. We can walk over each department as we're shopping.
17:20:39 Compare all those prices, looking at that tiny little itty bitty per ounce, and then decide which ones are better value.
17:20:48 So next slide. We're gonna tie this up a little bit with name brand versus store brand. Let's look at Cinnamon Toast Crunch. That's our name brand cereal. Comes in an 18.8 ounce box for $4.93.
17:21:03 And then great value has a cinnamon crunch, which comes in a 20 ounce box.
17:21:09 for $2.98. If we were only looking at the prices, we can clearly see that the store brand is cheaper. But if it's one of our non-negotiables and nobody's going to eat it, then it really isn't, is it?
17:21:24 I will tell you, um, just in my home, and I am a mother of nine.
17:21:31 store brand all day. They will tell you that if I bring home name brand, it doesn't even taste the same anymore because they've been on store brands for so long that they genuinely prefer the taste of the store brand cereals. Um, so go ahead and hit the buttons twice for me.
17:21:48 So it's an acquired taste. You know, if you keep on eating it, they're gonna eventually like it, right? Brenda?
17:21:49 You can. It is. Indy, I don't know where I went wrong with the Oreos, I don't know how they got sidetracked there, but they sure did.
17:22:01 So you can see the store brand works itself out to being $0.26 per ounce. And then the… I'm sorry, the name brand and store brand works itself out to being 15 cents per ounce. I want to promise you all that there's a lot that goes into pricing. It isn't just.
17:22:17 They are a name brand, so they can charge more, although they can, for that reason, but there may be a lot more advertising employee. There's a lot that goes into pricing their products before they put them on the shelves for us, the consumers.
17:22:32 I'm just here today trying to show you ways to save yourself money and not constantly giving it to someone else.
17:22:40 gonna get a little fun in a minute, but… All right, thank you. Meal planning. Kind of like.
17:22:48 I mean, that's probably kind of fun, but once we start diving into how much money I want to save you just by shifting a couple of your ideas, I hope you see how passionate.
17:22:59 That I can be about putting money back into my pocket or your pocket versus the big companies.
17:23:05 So budgeting and meal planning can sound overwhelming, but with practice, I promise you, it gets super easy and it's even exciting when you realize how much money you are saving when you go to the grocery store next.
17:23:18 So next slide. All right. So the tips to do this are thinking about the events that you have going on each day during the week. So, for example, if you're going to be running out to extracurricular activities, I think it's track and baseball softball season.
17:23:37 Maybe you want to plan those meals that are a little faster, easier to cook.
17:23:42 Versus the nights when maybe it's just a practice and we'll be home by 5 o'clock. I can really have a better dinner. I could put something in a slow cooker.
17:23:50 Yes, you're still gonna eat out sometimes, but I'm really going to challenge us to, especially because you're moving out onto your own soon, whether that's going to college or into your own apartment. I'm going to challenge you to really shift some of the ideas that you have.
17:24:07 Hopefully, and we start looking at saving a whole lot of money. You want to look at what are your staple foods? In my home.
17:24:17 If cooking oil, which we use a lot of olive oil, if that goes out and somebody wants to make something, we are in a world of hurt. So before I even go shopping, I need to know what are my staple foods. We also go through a lot of brown rice. I want to make sure I have brown rice in my cabinets before I go.
17:24:34 So I want to plan those shopping trips in advance, and I want to make a list.
17:24:39 Why do I want to make a list? Go ahead and put some ideas in the chat why I want to make a list before I go to the store.
17:24:47 Because at the store, again, I'm going to be checking my nutrition labels, because there's things that, you know, we have allergies to, or there's calories I'm looking for, so on and so forth, and I'm also going to check out the, um, quantity and or the unit pricing.
17:25:02 But why do I want to make a list?
17:25:05 So you don't buy extra. So you stick to it.
17:25:08 So you have a plan so you don't decide.
17:25:12 So you don't get sidetracked, so you don't, you know.
17:25:10 don't even know why I'm here. So good.
17:25:17 Don't go shopping hungry. When you don't make the list, you'll tend to buy more than what you need.
17:25:21 Love it. Yeah.
17:25:25 It'll keep you on budget.
17:25:28 Leave the kids at home. No, I'm kidding. You're absolutely right. These are all absolutely right. You want to make a list.
17:25:37 All of these reasons, and that you don't forget something that you're going to have to run back for, especially with the price of gas, we don't need to run back to the store for something we cannot get through the night without.
17:25:48 You're going to make a cake because it's someone's birthday, and we totally don't have any eggs by the time you get home, we're probably gonna have to go back and get some eggs. So, we really want to make a list.
17:25:58 stick to that list. It will definitely help your budget.
17:26:02 They set all sorts of things. pretty colors at our eye level, because marketing teams are hired and designed to make sure.
17:26:12 We see things last minute that we just have to have those beautiful yellows and reds, they're there for a reason. Check out your cereal aisle the next time you go shopping. It is not on accident. All them pretty cereals are right here.
17:26:27 Those of us who are a little bit finer wine-aged.
17:26:30 All of our healthy stuff's way up top or way down at the bottom.
17:26:35 So that is pretty, not as attractive. Next slide.
17:26:40 All right. These 6 tips kind of just want to lay out there for us when we really want to stretch our food budget. Shop smart and avoid those impulse buys. So many of you put that in the chat. You'd want to stick to the list because you will get sidetracked. You'll start buying.
17:26:57 And again, I'm not picking on anyone, but those little Debbie snack cakes, they're easy. They last forever. So they're on sale today. Put them in the cart stick.
17:27:07 to your lists. Um, go home and cook from scratch. Try really hard to avoid convenience foods, those prepackaged foods.
17:27:17 cooking at home is significantly less expensive. If you can, again, little elbow grease, a little time, if you can do it on your own, it tastes better, you know everything that's in it, and I promise you, it is much cheaper to do so.
17:27:34 shop those store brands, compare those unit prices and choose affordable proteins. We didn't really talk about this yet, but the price of beef is pretty high right now. Chicken's pretty moderate. Turkey.
17:27:49 fish, seafood, those are about the same as they've been for quite a while, but… I challenge you, if you're not allergic, try to add some plant-based proteins to your diet. They will really, very much stretch your money.
17:28:05 They fill you up, they're full of all sorts of.
17:28:08 nutrients and essentials that we need to be healthy, um, and they're definitely going to keep us.
17:28:16 budget-friendly, if that makes sense. But then don't forget to use repurpose, freeze, eat at another time your leftovers. Wasting money if it goes into the garbage. I know it's hard, especially if you've ate it for.
17:28:30 Dinner the night before, and then lunch, you surely don't want to come home and have it again for dinner. You'd like a little different. You're really welcome to upcycle it. Just an example, if you're… if you're cooking burgers, feel free to put burger into a chili later, or put it into a.
17:28:49 do or into a vegetable and beef soup. There's a lot of ways to repurpose or upcycle our leftovers. So consider those.
17:29:00 Real quick, we'll go through a couple of slides.
17:29:03 This is a weekly meal planner that I use. So I usually start with dinner, and then I work my way around the bigger meals. So your lunch, your breakfast, and then filling in snacks. And what I would do is I would put, what do I want for dinner on Monday?
17:29:18 How can I take whatever's left over from dinner on Monday and make it a lunch on Tuesday?
17:29:24 Or if I have product, per se that's left over because I only used half of it for dinner. I can use half of it in the lunch for Tuesday or maybe in a dinner on Tuesday or Wednesday.
17:29:34 making a completely different meal. And if you'll hit the next slide for me, Kathy.
17:29:39 On the right-hand side of this slide, you will see my shopping list. So once I create my entire week's worth of menus, I'm going to take the total of everything that I need. So do I need 5 pounds of carrots? Do I need.
17:29:55 2 pounds of strawberries. Do I need 3 boxes of rice? Do I need pasta? Am I looking for onions? What exactly do I need putting it into.
17:30:04 Um, the food groups where it belongs. Does anybody know why I would do that and not just total it on my calendar?
17:30:11 Why would I take my total vegetables and write them in that food group on my shopping list?
17:30:20 It's a silly reason, but it works for me.
17:30:24 Somebody says, balanced meal.
17:30:25 I like that. I like that. That's a really good one, too, because, yeah, we want definitely want balance. We want all the food groups, which keeps our bodies healthy.
17:30:37 Save time while shopping.
17:30:39 That's exactly it, too. It saves us time. You notice when you walk into most stores, the very first section you see is usually fruits and vegetables. It's the most colorful, welcoming array of sunshine that you can walk into a store and see. And then normally.
17:30:57 They put all of our dairy products to the complete opposite end, or to the bag.
17:31:04 There's a lot of tips and tricks when it comes to shopping, especially for those colder items. Notice, and again, picture your local grocery store in your mind. And I know some are different.
17:31:16 the outside aisles are where these groups are located, for the most part.
17:31:22 The inside aisles are where the things maybe we don't need so much of are located, like.
17:31:30 cereal or snack cakes or. coffee. I mean, there's just a lot of things, right, in those aisles. So, this helps me go in, get what I need, get out. I have my list, stick to my list, should be a running list on my.
17:31:47 Um… refrigerator door as well, because I tend to forget my list, and then I can at least call home and tell somebody to send me a picture, and it works.
17:31:56 So thank you all for humoring me through that.
17:32:00 So cooking at home. We want to cook once and eat twice, or more.
17:32:07 Because budgeting and meal planning, again, I know it sounds overwhelming. I promise, promise, promise you with practice, it gets easier. It's truly exciting and I'm going to show you on the following slideshow how just making some baby small shifts is really going to save us some money.
17:32:25 So, before we switch slides, some folks in the chat put down some of the things you drink.
17:32:33 per day that you're paying for at the store, and how often per day with your answer, are you drinking them?
17:32:41 For example, I work with a young lady who drinks 3 Diet Cokes per day.
17:32:46 I would put it in chat three Diet Cokes per day.
17:32:51 So, go ahead and put in a few of those.
17:32:55 And I'm going to take a drink myself of my water.
17:32:58 So we have a propel maybe once a day.
17:33:03 Coffee, 3 cups a day, and water to hydrate.
17:33:06 I like that we referenced water as a hydrator.
17:33:08 T. Yeah, T. 3 times a day.
17:33:14 Uh, water, uh, milk in water almost every day, sometimes juice.
17:33:21 milk once a day.
17:33:24 Well, I like it. This group isn't going to save any money.
17:33:27 No, no sugar, sparkling water.
17:33:31 Okay. If we are buying a drink outside of our home, somebody give me an average price of what you pay per day to buy a drink, whether that's Starbucks, McDonald's, Coke, Pepsi, Mountain Dew, whatever it is. Give me a…
17:33:48 Average price of what you pay per day per drink.
17:33:52 and I'll take whoever jumps in first.
17:34:00 Let's see. We got $3.
17:34:05 Okay, let's take $3. So if I'm spending $3 per day.
17:34:10 on drinks. All right, go ahead. Next slide, Kathy.
17:34:12 Okay.
17:34:14 Thank you. Let's look at some of those drinks. Here's a plethora, a beautiful array, and they really are pretty. They really are. I loved… I loved putting this together just for this group today.
17:34:28 Um… Again, coming back to that total sugar content, right?
17:34:34 flip those drinks around next time you're willing to buy one. Look at the total sugars, divide that number by 4. There's 4 quarters and a dollar, there's 4 quarters in most… Athletic activities, so it's an easier number to remember. Divide that by 4, that's how many teaspoons.
17:34:51 You're putting of sugar per drink into our bodies, which in my opinion is wasted money, but it's just my opinion. So… My example that I was gonna use with you today was Mountain Dew. So, Mountain Dew, and I checked at my local gas station this morning, cost $2.25.
17:35:11 Next. Oh no, let's stay on this slide. If I'm drinking one that I bought per day in a year, $200 or $2.25 times 365, if anybody's got a calculator handy on their phone or on their electronic device like a computer or tablet.
17:35:28 Feel free to take $2.25 and multiply that by 365 days.
17:35:47 Very good. 821.25. That's how much I would be paying somebody to give me something to drink.
17:35:57 Per day. So go ahead, next slide. I choose to infuse my water.
17:36:02 Today, I made an orange lemon water. So ice and water cost me nothing outside of maybe the electric bill, but I don't have time to figure all that out. In orange, I buy them in a 4-pound bag, so it works itself out on that half an orange on my example to be 37 cents.
17:36:21 One lime is 25 cents for a total of 62 cents. So if I take the 62 cents and divide it by the number of drinks in a gallon, um, for me it's the 20 ounce drinks, so I come up with six and a half.
17:36:36 drinks that I can get. It literally works it out to be 10 cents per 20 ounce drink.
17:36:43 So again, loving to do math. And again, I'm going to show you how much money we can save just by shifting net drink. Not saying don't have your $3 drink.
17:36:53 But if you're buying a $3 drink twice a day, can you talk yourself into doing just one per day?
17:37:01 After a year, you would save the my 10 cents off of this $2.25 total. It's $1.60.
17:37:11 3 if I do all the math right, $1.63 times 365 days, I am going to start us with… Go ahead and hit the button.
17:37:23 $594.95 in one year. By completely shifting away from all those drinks I'm paying somebody else the convenience to make for me, and I'm going to make my own infused water, and I'm going to eat the fruit at the end of the day. So it's a double fold for me. Staying hydrated, and then I can eat my fruit at the end.
17:37:44 Is that a pretty interesting point. Like $594.95. If I said to any of you on the call today, here's a check for $594.95, what would you do with it?
17:37:59 And I know somebody's gonna go buy a case of Mountain Dew.
17:38:04 and it's fine if that's what you would do with it.
17:38:07 Put something in the chat. Save it.
17:38:13 Good, because that's what we're going to do with it. Next slide.
17:38:11 Savings, yep. Gravel. Travel.
17:38:18 put it in the bank, buy a case of the monster, buy stock.
17:38:23 I love it. Love honesty. It's fascinating, though. $594.95.
17:38:27 Yeah.
17:38:32 Next challenge, I'm going to challenge you to… Create your own lunch slash snack.
17:38:37 Do you want me to do more? I'm going to just put more like I got to just okay.
17:38:40 What was that? Oh, yep. Yeah, I'm sorry. We should have did that one, too. My bad.
17:38:46 And that's okay.
17:38:49 I can create the Oriental chicken salad that some of us could eat at, like, I'll pick on Applebee's because.
17:38:58 That's where I usually order a salad from. If I'm eating out with a group when we go to lunches.
17:39:04 If I make it at home, and you can see my total expense on your screen. It costs me $4.21 to gather the ingredients.
17:39:14 I can have three meals. at $4.21, right?
17:39:21 That's literally $1.47 per survey. I don't know any more any restaurant that I can drive through, whether it's fast food or sit down, where I can gather lunch for $1.47.
17:39:35 I cannot think of one. And I don't even have to eat this as a salad.
17:39:42 For the next two meals, I could put all my ingredients, even though I've shredded all my cabbages, um, I prepped all my ramen noodles, because I don't use the flavor packets, I put them in the oven, and I roast them along with the seeds or nuts, if I so choose, and you'll see there's a zero on price.
17:39:59 Because I volunteer at our local food pantry, and there's always nuts and seeds, and they just give them to me. So, I'm happy to take.
17:40:09 seeds and nuts for free, because I eat them all the time. And then the grilled chicken, I buy already prepped in a ready to eat bag.
17:40:17 So again, those of you going out to college, feel free to own that kind of chicken because the small bag will stay in your.
17:40:27 dorm-sized freezer, and then you can heat that up either on a hot plate or on a griddle, and then throw it right into the salad. So, super easy ways, again, to save us money.
17:40:37 But, um… On average, Applebee's charges me $13.94 for one salad.
17:40:46 And… Culver's charges me $12, well, I'm sorry, callers challenge charges me $13.94 as well as Applebee's. So again, just for lunch, right?
17:41:00 almost $14 versus my $1.47. So somebody who's ready to do math again.
17:41:07 If I'm saving… $12.47 times 365 days.
17:41:15 What's my new total for just making my own lunch?
17:41:18 And maybe it's a snack for you. Maybe it's not even lunch. But again, it's only $1.47.
17:41:23 So $12.47. Multiply that out by 365 days. I love it. Right? 4,551.55? Is that not incredible?
17:41:43 Like, that's what we are paying someone else for the convenience.
17:41:47 of making our food for us. But I want $4,000 in my pocket. I don't want it in their pocket.
17:41:55 Add that now to that sugary drink. Again, I'm not telling you, please eat out. If you're going to eat out with your friends, your family, come for a visit. You have to give yourself grace. You have to let yourself have those times, um, where somebody else does prepare it for you.
17:42:11 But again, in the long, long run, the bigger picture, just showing you how making it at home, a little bit of elbow grease, we're saving a ton of money. Let's move to the next slide so we can show them a little bit more because I know we're running close.
17:42:26 Um, our dinner recipe for today is going to be taco salad. And again, you can make this into a taco protein bowl.
17:42:32 So we have ground turkey because it is the cheapest protein. Cheddar cheese, which I.
17:42:39 Shred myself. It is a healthier cheese, there's no wax or preservatives on the outside of it, and it melts better. Our lettuce, black beans, light kidney beans, diced tomatoes, and brown rice. My total investment was $13.28, and 6 of us ate dinner yesterday.
17:42:56 $2.21 per human in my house. If I went to Coco Loco, which is our local restaurant, it would cost me $14.69 for the same thing.
17:43:11 So again, if I take that $2.21 it's roughly.
17:43:17 Um… $8.23. $8.23 saving per day. So get that calculator out one more time for, well, two more times for me. $8.23 times 365 days. What's that total?
17:43:34 $8.23, multiplying that out by a year.
17:43:42 Thank you all for being so gracious and helping me along through this. Right. 3,000.
17:43:49 $3.95. Adding that into our RE total savings, just making baby shifts, we're at $8,150.45. This is getting crazy. It's getting crazy. All right, Kathy, let's go one more time. One more time. Keep your calculator… Of course we couldn't leave you without talking about it.
17:44:10 We make, in my house, what we call popsicle. I'll share with you why it's called a popsicle when I tell you how it's made.
17:44:17 We take frozen strawberries and Greek yogurt, throw them in the blender, we blend it up, and then we plop them onto a cookie sheet, insert our little craft stick, and freeze them for 4 hours.
17:44:28 When they're done freezing for 4 hours, we put them in individual baggies, and we have 35, 35.
17:44:37 Healthier. desserts that they can eat all day long, any time of the day. We know exactly what's in them, right?
17:44:45 So you can see that my total investment to make 35 plopsicles was $6.26, dividing that by that 35 popsicles that we made is a total of 18 cents per popsicle. Just insane! Insane.
17:45:01 So let's look at some of the most popular desserts we can buy at the store. Next slide.
17:45:09 If you are at Boulder, you can buy a 4 pack of Yaso yogurt bars. They're strawberry, so really comparable to what we made at home.
17:45:19 They are $7.59. The gelato is $4.92 today at Walmart, and just today, when I looked at Meyer, the strawberry fruit bars, and notice it says flavored.
17:45:32 were $3.99, woohoo, but you get 6. Again, there's a lot of math that comes into this, a lot of math, because I have to figure out how many per, and we got to go in because we get 35. It's an insane difference. So get that calculator out. The difference is literally $1.30.
17:45:48 What is $1.30 times 365?
17:46:01 Yeah, good job, Kathy. $4, $474.50. All right, y'all take a moment. Look at the total at the bottom of the screen.
17:46:11 in one year you shifted 4 things. I did not tell you what to eat, how to eat, how much to eat. You've seen 6 servings, you could ate all six for all I care.
17:46:25 8,624.95. That's crazy. If you and let me break this down a little bit more for you. If we divide that by.
17:46:37 12 months in a year, that's $719 a month.
17:46:41 That's a new truck payment for some folks, or a car payment, rent payment of awesome vacation a month if you wanted to take a weekend and just go have a great time.
17:46:53 But in 10 years, let's do the 10 years. If I could discipline myself enough to make 4 changes.
17:47:04 in 10 years, how much money do I have in the bank? Those of you who are saving, go.
17:47:09 This is easy math now.
17:47:16 86,000. $295.50.
17:47:22 Hmm.
17:47:25 I never told you to give up sugary drinks. I said give up one sugary drink a day.
17:47:31 Never said don't go out to eat. said, consider creating your own meals, right? And desserts. Desserts are just crazy. It's mostly sugar to begin with, so why not make it healthier?
17:47:45 And if you have leftover strawberries, make yourself smoothies, and we can talk about how much money you save for breakfast, because we didn't touch on breakfast. Didn't touch on breakfast, didn't touch on snacks, but that's another day.
17:47:55 All right, bringing it all home, because again, I want to be very, very, very… I'm aware of your time and how valuable it is. So let's talk about stretching our budget dollars. Step 1 is planning.
17:48:08 It's literally planning. We talked about this at the beginning, planning our meals out for the entire week. Go ahead and hit the button again.
17:48:17 If you can get disciplined enough to, again, start with dinner, because it's usually the most expensive with the most ingredients, and then share those ingredients along the way, whether it's in other genres, as far as breakfast, lunch, or snacks, or during the week.
17:48:32 multiple dinners, you're gonna stretch your food dollars. Super fun, super easy, the more practice that you get.
17:48:38 Look for quick recipes online, the apps, magazines when you're sitting at a doctor's office, if they even still have those things anymore. There are so many ways to plan before you even head out to the store. Go ahead and hit it again.
17:48:53 Make that list, check it twice, check it before you leave the house, double check your pantry. Are your staples there? Do we need them? Because if we don't need them, don't buy them. Even if they're on sale, don't buy them unless you're, like, teetering on close to needing it.
17:49:09 Don't spend the money unless you're going to spend it and then see what's on sale before you even go. Again, check the apps, check the ads, check their websites if that's how you're most comfortable and then definitely look while you're at the store.
17:49:25 Use the loyalty cards or rewards while you're there. Those are great paybacks. Sometimes it's not even on food, it's for gasoline if they have a service station that's connected. And then look at shopping at different places. So you've seen that I referenced lots of different places to shop.
17:49:41 Sometimes they have difference in prices, and if it's not too far to travel, consider shopping at multiple places. If it's too far.
17:49:51 Calculate in your mind, you don't have to go through the whole thing with a calculator, but is it cost-effective for me to just pay the extra 3 cents and buy it here? Probably, okay? Step two in saving our money is the purchasing. So now we're at the store. Don't shop hungry.
17:50:05 Don't do it, don't do it, don't do it. Even though you have a list of what you're gonna make for the whole week, you will find something to nibble on on the way home.
17:50:13 But you'll forget 3 hours later, and you'll pick up another thing to nibble on, on the way home, and then you'll stand at checkout, and you buy another thing to nibble on the way up. Don't do it. Stick to your list, consider those coupons and sale items.
17:50:26 Remember our unit price. Check the unit prices, get the best value for you, consider the store brands unless it's a non-negotiable.
17:50:36 And then look for in-season fruits and vegetables. They're definitely cheaper, even more so than frozen or canned when they're in season. Next slide.
17:50:47 Step 3 is preparing those wonderful meals and snacks. Go ahead and hit the button a few times. Prepare them in advance. Feel free to meal prep on a Sunday for every single day of the week. Not saying the weekends, but every single day of the week.
17:51:03 Again, looking at how busy are you? Where are you headed? What's your calendar look like? If you only have to come home and warm something up, that's fantastic.
17:51:13 Maybe you only have to heat up or cook the rice, and everything else is a warm-up. So, super easy. Again, cook once, eat twice, stop giving consumers all your money, or whoever your electric company is, sorry. Make double portions and freeze for later. Freeze them in small portions, individual portions, so you can take it for lunch, or you can have it as a midnight snack and not have to warm up or.
17:51:36 thought out an entire container. And then don't forget, please try those beans as protein. And again, I'm not saying you should be any kind of.
17:51:46 alternative eating human, just it stretches the dollar, especially when our meat products have gone up so much in price. They truly take on the flavor of what they're cooking with.
17:51:59 and you really can't even tell after a while.
17:52:03 Last slide.
17:52:02 Is there another source of, um, I'm sorry, is there another source of protein other than beans? I mean, I mean, granted meats, too.
17:52:09 If you expose you don't like bean? Okay.
17:52:16 Tofu.
17:52:12 stuff like that. And then the final step in saving our money is. Oh, yes, sorry, I forgot both of those used leftovers. Next slide is preserving.
17:52:23 So we always want to clean everything, wash our hands and our surfaces often. Separate everything from cutting boards to the food itself.
17:52:32 In the refrigerator, anything that's going to drip, such as chicken, beef, anything like that, please don't put it on the top shelf. Please, please, please put it on the bottom shelf. If there's CRISPRs involved, feel free to set it right above that. Anything that's going to drip down should not drip on to anything else.
17:52:48 Produce on the top shelf, eggs on the refrigerator door, and then build your way down into your refrigerator. Cook it to the right temperature. I like to share that chicken and poultry have to temp out to 165, so even if your hamburger temp to 165.
17:53:04 You're good to go, because poultry happens to be the highest temping food there is, and then also warming up your foods. Those also have to be warmed back up to 165 degrees for bacteria and germs to eliminate those.
17:53:19 Chill your food as soon as you can and get it into a freezer within 2 hours. Again, bacteria, it's… I have a wonderful thing I do with the young humans I get to work with, and I carry in a pizza box, and they all think it's fabulous, and then I pull out these little baggies of how much bacteria grows on their pizza in 2 hours.
17:53:37 And it is phenomenal how big the baggie is, full of germs. But that's for another day.
17:53:46 So, review and questions if you want to hit the button a few times, because I think you're going to get some check marks first. Keep going.
17:53:52 No. Okay.
17:53:55 Yes, um, hopefully, when you look at the screen, you can see that I attempted to meet all the objectives that we outlined at the beginning of today's presentation, and now we will simply sit back and look at some of your questions, comments, ahas.
17:54:12 And other things that you have to say. Go ahead, Miss Kathy.
17:54:17 Oh, that's the last. Yeah, I'm not seeing. I'm not seeing any questions, but.
17:54:24 Yes, please, please share in the chat one takeaway that you have gained from this presentation, because I mine. I'm going to share mine, Rhonda, because I'm a huge popsicle like every night. It's a daily thing.
17:54:36 Okay. Oh, yeah.
17:54:47 Yeah.
17:54:40 Um, I have those, uh… uh, popsicles. You know, I like the coconut ones, and I just need to make my own, because it's… they are, they are, like, 6… 4 or $5 up, and you get six of them.
17:54:56 So that's my takeaway. I'm making my own popsicles.
17:54:55 Yes. Well, in in what? while they're typing, I'm just going to share so it's in everybody's brain as well. It doesn't have to be fruit either when it comes to popsicles. We've made them with Greek yogurt and caramel.
17:55:11 Oh!
17:55:11 and they are delicious, because I am all about the yogurt with the caramel in it that you pay $2 and change for one individual serving.
17:55:19 Oh, yes.
17:55:20 Again, we've seen the cost savings, so making your own is just… It's a tremendous value. It takes a lot of discipline at first, but again, remembering to give yourself grace, and yeah, go enjoy! Absolutely go to Dairy Queen with the family when they want to go. Absolutely!
17:55:37 Because look at all the money you saved, right?
17:55:39 That's right! I have $8,000. I can go to Dairy Queen.
17:55:44 Yes, absolutely.
17:55:40 You could afford a Dairy Queen once in a while, right? You know what? There was a comment that I wanted to point out is somebody said, you know, like, now that things are warming up, especially here in Michigan.
17:55:54 You could start, you know, with seeds and start, like, a little container garden and pick your own.
17:55:57 Yes. Oh, I love that. Yeah.
17:56:05 Yeah.
17:56:02 You know it's going to be fresh. So another takeaway, not shopping hungry after work. That's huge. Yes, lots of great tips. So thank you all for sharing them.
17:56:15 Any questions that you might have for Rhonda?
17:56:20 Yeah, I'll take all those, too.
17:56:26 you can make a garden inside. If you if you put it in your windows.
17:56:31 So… Oh, yeah.
17:56:26 Yeah, if you have a window sill… especially those. Somebody mentioned long, long time ago herbs. Herbs are so expensive at the store, and we have gotten away from even using taco or fajita seasoning, and we grow and make our own everything now, so…
17:56:45 If you can get into making your own stuff, again, just another way, you'll keep adding to your $8,000. You all will have an amazing house. You can probably pay cash for it and just go.
17:56:58 And even if you're in an apartment, and I… when I first started out, I had an apartment, I had one of those. I had a little balcony, and I was able to grow things on my balcony. So even if you don't have, you know.
17:57:13 a garden. You could put them in pots and just, uh, there. Meal prepping can feel really daunting. Any tips?
17:57:16 Yeah.
17:57:22 Um, to find the joy in it. Again, even if it's hanging on to that $8,000 check at the end of it, whatever it is, you find the joy, and then it will definitely become less daunting, less tedious, and you actually will start to look forward to it.
17:57:38 and you start getting really, um, invested in helping other people. Like, you will start sharing that. Have you seen this app? Um, you can save money by stuff that's getting ready to, um, go past its best buy date, and you can actually save even more money. So you will. You will definitely start sharing even more tips with people.
17:57:56 But I love that.
17:57:59 Yeah, they're great. So thank you all for attending.
17:58:07 This has been wonderful. I love your energy, Rhonda. I love all your techniques, your tips.
17:58:11 Thank you.
17:58:15 Um, I do want to. These are some resources. You will get. This was taped, so you will get an email from me with the recording. So feel free to share the recording with your friends. And we will be sending out some resources.
17:58:37 Um, and I do want to mention we do have our next adulting 101. We have some additional great topics. We have cooking with confidence. So now that all you have, you learned all these tips for stretching those food dollars.
17:58:52 Um, come in May, and you'll learn some meals and how to cook with confidence. And then I'm looking forward to also the June 11th.
17:59:01 We have AI in you. So using that as a tool and using it safely and using it.
17:59:12 That's important.
17:59:14 you know, in being savvy about it. So… We hope to see you at the next couple, and we will offer a be offering Adulting 101 every every month with a new topic. Every month except December, we take December off, and we look forward to seeing you.
17:59:33 Ooh!
17:59:32 And almost all of them will be recorded. So if they're not, we will let you know. But this one is definitely recorded. So thank you.
17:59:39 So I'm going to stop the recording.
17:59:40 Thank you all. This was great.
17:59:45 If we see something in the chat that you need to address, absolutely feel free to throw it back in. I can stand for a few minutes. I don't know about Kathy.
17:59:55 I can see him.
17:59:56 Good. Where can we find previous recordings, Miss Kathy?
18:00:02 Oh, if you go to that on the what I'm showing right now.
18:00:10 Um…
18:00:06 The adulting 101 site. Um… and then you just click on that, and one of them is videos.
18:00:16 Oh, there you go.
18:00:15 We keep our recordings for about a year. And then we take them down.
18:00:21 I hope that answered the question.
18:00:29 and then I seen it rolled up really quick.
18:00:38 Um…
18:00:36 I struggle eating the same things multiple days in a row. Do you have advice for remixing ingredients to make different meals?
18:00:43 Um, so, yeah, don't make a just an example, because we did it on the slides, taco salad. Don't season all of your.
18:00:54 protein with taco seasoning. Cook it up, but maybe only season what it is you're going to actually eat that moment, leaving the rest of it that's been cooked to season in something else or add to something else. Again, maybe it's a vegetable something soup.
18:01:09 Right? It could be vegetable chicken soup, vegetable beef soup, whatever that looks like. It can also be a protein bowl. Anything that you can outside the box, some things sound strange, but… We make the most craziest.
18:01:24 Strawberry cream cheese pizza on a griddle with taco shells, like the soft burrito taco shells. So you can't just give it a try at minimum, give it a try.
18:01:39 But, yeah, you… there's a lot, um… I would just say, don't season things entirely. Prep them all, slice your carrots, shred your carrots, if you're buying that 5-pound bag, prep them for anything and everything.
18:01:55 And then use them how you are going to best use them throughout your week and not have to be eating those same things over and over. It's a great point.
18:02:06 Yeah, you could probably even, um… Go on AI and say, I have these things in my, um… What would you suggest, uh, Ameal?
18:02:17 I use AI to help come up with ideas.
18:02:23 That's a good one. I never thought to ask AI to do it for me. Like, here's what I have.
18:02:27 Yeah. This is what I have. Can you come up with four different, um, meals for me? What's that?
18:02:30 All right. Calend's accepted. Challenge accepted. I'm gonna ask AI. Here's what I have. What should I make for dinner? I like that.
18:02:37 Yeah. Or ask it to… ask it for 4 different recipes.
18:02:41 any preferred grocery stores?
18:02:47 Yeah, something unique. other cultures, anything.
18:02:49 All right. Hmm? Right.
18:02:52 So addressing Adam's question, if you're asking me specifically, Adam, I will just tell you my preferred grocery store is the one I drive by twice a day. Simply because I drive past it twice a day, and it is super close to the road, so I don't have to, like, drive down this long road to get there, or long parking lot.
18:03:12 And that is my preferred go-to store. I don't like to go to the other side of town, if not necessary.
18:03:19 It's just inconvenient.
18:03:31 Any other questions?
18:03:34 There's also a cute app you can do. And I don't know where it's all at.
18:03:40 But it is, and I'm not even going to be able to think of the name of it now, but it will literally tell you all the stores in your local area, and what food products are coming to the end of their Best Buy dates, and are going to be going on sale, and you can order them right off that website, and then go pick them up at the store.
18:03:58 And I apologize if I can remember the name of it. I had the app on my phone in my previous role, but I took it off.
18:04:04 Sadly, off my phone. And I will share it with Kathy so she can put it out with this recording.
18:04:12 Yeah, I will definitely do that, Adam. Thank you. I will get the name of that and send it to Kathy so you can have that.
18:04:18 Yeah, that would be great. Yeah, any tools that you want me to send out to the group, please send them my way, and I will be. I'll be doing a follow up once this is recorded. Once the recording is out there, that's when I'll send everything out.
18:05:06 It's called Flash Food. So not flash flood like water, but flash.
18:05:10 Oh!
18:05:13 Food is the app. and it will literally tell you your closest doors, what's coming close to, again, best buy date, not expiration date. There is a huge difference.
18:05:25 And those things go on sale normally at 50% or more. And it's everything. Like it could be fresh seafood. I've seen toilet paper on there and everything in between. So.
18:05:38 flash food. Yes.
18:05:38 So flash flash food. Okay, I'm gonna check that one out.
18:05:43 All right. Thank you, everyone. Thank you so much, Rhonda.
18:05:47 You're very welcome. I appreciate it. Thanks for having me.
18:05:49 I loved your examples. I love to see all that money that people could be really saving by just making simple, simple changes in their… their planning and their, you know.
18:06:03 and so forth. So.
18:06:00 Yeah. And this is not something I do just for like I don't tell it to just you and then walk a different walk. I set all of my. And again, I have 9 children. We set them all down when they were going off to college and said.
18:06:16 Think about it. Show them the same things, saving all this money. And they rarely eat out. Very rarely.
18:06:25 So, but again, they still give themselves grace.
18:06:25 I don't eat out much either. I like the fact that I know what's in my food when I make it myself. Granted, occasionally, you know, I mean, just for convenience, and you know, you've had an exhausting day. But…
18:06:31 Mm-hmm.
18:06:37 Yeah. Adam, how long can you keep yogurt? Is it frozen? If it's frozen, you can keep it longer.
18:06:45 I wouldn't freeze it in, like, the bigger containers, because then it becomes water and separates.
18:06:51 Um… Keep it until the expiration date. Good point.
18:06:57 I will tell you that when it comes to plopsicles, they don't last anyway, so I'm not worried that they're going to be an expired yogurt at that moment. But again, I know.
18:07:08 with yogurt being what it is, that's a very concerning question and good question.
18:07:14 you know, I wonder does do the probiotics die?
18:07:19 When you freeze them.
18:07:21 I don't believe they do. That's just me, but I'm not a scientist, so I can't answer.
18:07:24 No, I know, I was just curious, because that's one of the reasons you eat yogurt, is so you're getting the good probiotics. By freezing them, does it change stuff? That's interesting.
18:07:29 Yeah.
18:07:34 Nope. All right, well.
18:07:39 Have an amazing day. Yay!
18:07:34 Um, anyway… All right. Enjoy your day. It is beautiful here in Michigan, at least southern southern Michigan, and I hope it's nice where you're at, Rhonda.
18:07:46 It's okay. It's about 70 today. It's pretty good.
18:07:48 And… That's great! I think, you know, we can't ask for much better than that. So anyway, all right, you take care, and thank you so much.
18:07:53 No. All right. We'll see you soon. Thank you. Bye