Episode 26
Table of Contents:
In this episode:
Today we are joined by Tiffany Terczak, of Don’t Waste the Crumbs. Tiffany has not only paid off over $100,000 of debt by budgeting groceries, but she has also helped thousands of families collectively save over $7M by teaching them the principles from her Grocery Budget Bootcamp and she shares many of those tips with us today. We talk about how to shop, no matter your eating plan, and save money. Tiffany also gives us her top three steps for meal planning. Join us as we explore the two most common excuses, I hear regarding starting a whole food, anti -inflammatory diet, and you will have excuses no more!
Other Resources:
Connect with Tiffany Terczak
Watch this interview:
Tiffany Terczak has a gift for you!
Free Course
Food Budget Crash Course
Episode Transcript
Julie Michelson: Welcome back to the inspired living with auto-immunity podcast. I'm your host, Julie Michelson. And today we're joined by Tiffany Terczak of "Don't Waste the Crumbs". Tiffany has helped thousands of families collectively save over $7 million by teaching them the principles from her grocery budget bootcamp, and she shares many of those tips with us today.
[00:00:58] We talk about how to [00:01:00] shop. No matter your eating plan and save money. Tiffany also gives us her top three steps for meal planning. Join us as we explore the two most common excuses I hear regarding starting a whole foods anti-inflammatory diet, and you will have excuses no more.
[00:01:19] Tiffany welcome to the podcast. I'm so excited to have you here today.
[00:01:24] Tiffany Terczak: Thanks for having me, Julie.
[00:01:26] Julie Michelson: I always love to start out with, how did you get to be doing what you're doing? Because I find what you do to be amazing. And it is such a service for people. You are the answer to an argument. I hear all the time. So how, how did you, I'm pretty sure when you were younger, you didn't say I'm gonna create don't waste the crumbs.
[00:01:50] When I get older.
[00:01:51] Tiffany Terczak: No, absolutely not. In fact, what I'm doing now has nothing to do with my college degree whatsoever. But it evolved [00:02:00] out of, out of a need that my husbands, we got married and together we had over six figures worth of. Lots of lots of money in the hole. So we were trying to pay that off and along the way, found out we were expecting a baby.
[00:02:15] And so we were like kind of almost an argument that I think most moms would have at some point in time is do I go back to work or do I stay home? Just a big decision. And for us, finances was a big part of that. And so we figured, well, if I were to stay home, mom, we got to cut some money somewhere.
[00:02:34] You know, money and is not equaling money out. And so we created a general budget and kind of figured what was flexible with what wasn't like. Your mortgage is not really flexible, but how much you spend on gas, how much you drive around or you spend on clothes is flexible. And the biggest line item that stood out to us was food.
[00:02:56] We looked at how much we were spending on. Nearly had a heart attack [00:03:00] and then something has got to give. So we simply kept our spending and said, let's see if we can still eat as well as we've been eating without spending more. Now there needs to be a huge caveat there. Actually, I'm getting ahead of myself fast forward to another baby.
[00:03:18] And my husband says to. Hey, do you think we can eat real food? And I'm like, what are you talking about? Like, we are eating real food. This isn't make believe. It's not pretend it's, I'm touching it. And he's like, no, do you think we can eat food? That's grown in the ground like carrots, you know, apples from a tree.
[00:03:36] And the problem was, is we had set the food budgets and I only had X amount of dollars to spend a month. And in order to get the most out of that budget, I learned how to coupon and I shopped grocery store sales. I, if it weren't for the actual store or the show of extreme coupon, or I would have given myself that label, like I knew the stores inside and [00:04:00] out.
[00:04:00] And so our pantry and our cabinets were filled with foods that weren't the best option for us, but I didn't know any better. I grew up with spaghetti coming from. husband grew up on five acres and country-style living and his family grew vegetables. And so when he was like, can we eat real food?
[00:04:20] It's kind of a shocker to me. And it took me a while to figure out what he was even talking about. You know, I'm researching things like what is kombucha? And you gonna make like, you can, you can make bread, you can make yogurt, wait, hold on. Like worlds had completely shifted. And so. Dug into that research, figured out what real food was, what it wasn't and learned how to change what we ate based on what I was learning without increasing our budget.
[00:04:52] And that was huge. It took a while that wasn't an overnight thing by any means, but I would say nine months. [00:05:00] We've had a pretty good system. And so about that time was when we had paid off our debts. And so, you know, the two kids, grocery budget eating real food, and my husband was like, you need to start a blog.
[00:05:13] You need to tell people about this. And so after much reluctance on me, I said, you're right. I tend to be very stubborn, but I said, you're right. I started it. And. And the rest is history. I've got an amazing community of women who want to feed their family good food and are trying to balance that against real life finances they're having.
[00:05:35] Unfortunately, some of them are choosing between, do I feed my family, you know, healthy food or do I pay the electric bill? And I don't think that family should have to make those types of choices. So it's my mission to empower women and moms. To not have to, to feed their family good food and to do it affordably.
[00:05:52] Julie Michelson: Well, I applaud your journey because it serves so many. And again, I [00:06:00] hear the argument all the time. I know food allergies is a focus for you. I have kids with anaphylaxis, so I learned the whole food allergy shopping, you know, label reading way before I was eating well either, or, you know, because I don't have to read that many labels anymore.
[00:06:19] But. Learning how to read labels and, and find these foods. Forgetting budget was a whole job in and of itself.
[00:06:27] Tiffany Terczak: Yeah.
[00:06:28] Julie Michelson: Now, working with the auto-immune community, everybody I work with does some sort of an elimination diet, you know, I'm, I am a, you know, whether it's full on AIP or, you know, I'm always running food, sensitivity panels on people.
[00:06:44] So even if it's not a true allergy, it's always a specialized diet. Even if you're just eating a healthy paleo diet. It's still a specialty diet and it's, it all comes down to real food. [00:07:00] Right? You're eating, you're shopping in the produce section. You're buying good proteins. And, and so this is the argument I hear all the time.
[00:07:08] I can't afford to eat that way. The first step I have people do, which you did as a first step, as well as see what they're really spending on their food. You know, most people might come to me. Well, it depends everybody's in a different place, but I have plenty of people that come, that are eating out all the time and, and, you know, they don't even consider that a food cost.
[00:07:31] And so we can find some balance there, but I know you have. The systems and I mean, so many tips and tricks for people. So what are some simple steps that people can take? You know, maybe they're already eating well, but they want to move into something like paleo, or maybe they're not eating well yet.
[00:07:53] Maybe they're eating out of boxes and bags and know that the first step would be to, to start to move [00:08:00] closer to a real food diet. Where can they stand? What are some things they can do?
[00:08:04] Tiffany Terczak: I highly recommend starting with what, what is on limits and what is off limits, because I think if you aren't clear on what you want to eliminate or what you should be avoiding. Then it's a trickle-down effect. If you don't know, then that's going to affect every other decision you have to make.
[00:08:22] So you really want to get speckly clear on that, for example if you need to avoid gluten, do you need to avoid gluten ingredients? So that means there's some education there. What ingredients contain gluten? Because there are plenty of foods that have zero gluten. That's you just don't realize, like, my grandma is so sweet at my daughter is actually gluten free.
[00:08:45] And when we visit my grandma, she's like, I got gluten-free bananas. I got gluten-free, you know, ground pork, like whatever it is, it's gluten-free and I'm like, oh crap. I think, you know, thanking her. But she just doesn't [00:09:00] realize that a lot of the foods, a lot of real foods are naturally gluten free. But at the same time, if you need it to be certified free, because if celiac or cross-contamination like, that is a whole nother thing.
[00:09:11] So you need to be really clear on what it is you're avoiding first and foremost, and then to build on what you said. It's so much more than just looking at a package. We have to remember when to go to the grocery store. Our goal is to buy. The grocery stores goal, as well as food manufacturers, their goal is for us to spend a lot of money on the food that they're, that they're making.
[00:09:39] We don't want to fall into their marketing traps, so their packages are going to be shiny. They're going to be pretty, they're going to be bold with colors and pretty graphics. And we kind of, we need to put our blinders on a little bit and say, all right, I'm going to avoid. This pitfall, that's a very common pitfall and I'm just gonna flip the box over or the package over, and I'm going to [00:10:00] read the ingredient.
[00:10:01] So my recommendation is to meet ingredients, not reading labels. And again, part of that is education. And I wish I wish saving money on food, especially in terms of allergies or just food restrictions. I wish it was more cut and dry with, oh, just follow. One two and three and boom, you save all this money in your pocket, but it really boils down to, you have to know what you're buying and therefore what you shouldn't buy.
[00:10:32] Cause that's where your money is going to be. If you go into the grocery store and you only pay attention to the predict package, You're going to spend more, you know, we really should be shopping the outside edges of the store where the good dairy, the good produce, the good meat is found. You want to stay away from packages if at all possible.
[00:10:51] And that's not, there's a big asterisk on that statement because it's not an end all be all. Like you could easily get dried beans in a package. You know, you get plain [00:11:00] rice in a package and these are considered real foods. There's nothing added, nothing gross. But we just really want to avoid. The manufacturer's marketing tactics that get us oh, by this cause it's healthier and it's all natural.
[00:11:16] And it's not this non that when a lot of the terms that they're using they're not regulated. They don't actually mean anything. They just sound good and flashy. So we need to educate ourselves on what it is we wanted to eat and what it does. We don't want it.
[00:11:31] Julie Michelson: I love that. And the, and the marketing thing, it's, I'm thinking of your sweet grandma and the marketing, you know, there's stuff that's marketed as gluten-free, that's naturally gluten free. Like they're just targeting and then they're, you know, charging an extra dollar for it. When, like in nature it's gluten-free to begin with.
[00:11:52] So there is, there's so much marketing involved, you know, I, I love the saying, you know, the [00:12:00] there's marketing on the front and information on the back.
[00:12:04] Tiffany Terczak: Yes.
[00:12:05] Julie Michelson: is, it is so true. I would imagine though, it was a really big shift for you when I'm thinking of, you know, so many of the coupons, although I hadn't, these days there have been coupons, you know, now at least you can get some produce coupons.
[00:12:20] But when I think of coupons, I tend to think of a things we don't really need things that I would never eat right now, or, or. Advise my clients to consume.
[00:12:31] Tiffany Terczak: Yeah.
[00:12:32] Julie Michelson: So how do you shift from saving money that way to, okay, now we're intentional. We know what we're eating. We know what we're avoiding, how are we saving money?
[00:12:43] Doing that?
[00:12:45] Tiffany Terczak: You really want to focus on the foods you're eating a lot of. So I teach this concept in my course, but the gist of it is if you were to write down all the foods that you eat on a monthly basis, right. We're all going to have things like [00:13:00] chicken and rice. And I don't know, we've got some bananas in there, probably some apples, but you're also going to have things like ketchup or mustard or apple cider, but.
[00:13:11] So on a day-to-day basis, we're eating a lot of things like chicken and rice and apples and bananas, but we're not consuming a whole lot of mustard, at least on gallons and gallons. Right. Even if you consume a lot of mustard, you maybe go through two bottles of mustard. Like that's a lot in my opinion, but. So my recommendation is to focus on what you are buying a lot of what you're eating a lot of first and foremost. So if you're going to spend money on chicken, right, we want to look for the best chicken that we can afford. If you can, we want to go the pastured route. You want to go the organic route. If you can't, chicken is still better than Doritos.
[00:13:51] So like I'm a big proponent of that. Like I never, I never want someone to feel like they can't afford real food because. Organic seems out of reach. You know, I'm [00:14:00] always telling them the chicken better than Doritos or Oreos or pop tarts
[00:14:03] Julie Michelson: Sure.
[00:14:04] Tiffany Terczak: go to the chicken room. But because we're eating more chicken, that's where we want to focus on getting the best deal.
[00:14:09] So we're going to want to look at a few different stores again, you don't have to spend. A whole weekend shopping at 20 different places to find a good deal. Just look at the ads before you leave the house. You know, like if you're going to drive to your local grocery store, what other stores are you passing on the way there, maybe you can swing in or look at the ad.
[00:14:30] As I mentioned before you go. Because if you can save 50 cents to a dollar per pound of just this one, whole organic chicken, then your savings is going to add up much more quickly than if you were to try to hunt down savings on mustard. You know, like the best deal you're going to get on mustard might be saving like the coupon, right?
[00:14:51] 25 50 cents per tub that you buy.
[00:14:54] Julie Michelson: Right.
[00:14:55] Tiffany Terczak: I don't know, once a quarter. So you're saving let's round up 50 cents. Every three [00:15:00] months, versus if you could save a solid dollar per pound of chicken and average of $5 a bird, and let's say you go through to birds week, that's $10 a week. So times for us, $40 a month and just chicken.
[00:15:15] And so I always tell my students, like, imagine how much you could save if you were to multiply that times, the top 10 things you eat. So as I kind of recommend capping it at two. Focused on the first top 10 because anything more than that becomes overwhelming. And then, you know, just know where to go, to get the best deal on those and stick with it for a little bit, because you'll see your savings rack up more quickly, and you start to getting that snowball effect that will allow you to do other advanced techniques like buying in book.
[00:15:47] And well, buying a book really is the first one that.
[00:15:50] Julie Michelson: Which, which is, you know, yes, I guess it isn't an advanced technique. I guess it depends on where you live and what you do. Right. So I live in [00:16:00] Colorado. I have a half a cow in my freezer because we we only. Grass fed and grass-finished beef and we eat a good amount of it. And so that was to me, I didn't even have to give thought I haven't calculated.
[00:16:15] I should. Cause I'd be really happy and proud of myself. I don't know what I saved per pound. But I know it's a lot and.
[00:16:25] Tiffany Terczak: Yeah. That's a great way to save money on the Vista to buy the cow. I get a lot of questions such as well. If I only have X amount of dollars per month, let's say I only have $500 a month. Do I go grocery shopping at my local Kroger or Walmart or all that? Or do I buy the cow, which 500 really won't put much of a dent in your, even a quarter of a cow.
[00:16:47] You need a bit more than that. So there's a bit of a struggle where, how do you invest in buying in bulk, whether it's bulk feed or chicken or bulk beans or rice or whatever it might [00:17:00] be, how do you do that? And still feed your family day to day? And so that's, that's where if we focus on our top 10. Get that savings going.
[00:17:10] We can create a little bit of a snowball and create a, a significant I don't want to say deficit in your budget, but maybe more margin in your budget that you can then set aside. And so it might take six months of focusing on gesture top 10 and then the extras get set aside every month. But then at the end of those six months, Now you can go buy 20 or 50 whole chickens from the farmer or buy that quarter cow or half a cow and put it in your freezer.
[00:17:39] And you know what, now you're not buying chicken anymore. You're not buying beef anymore. So you are again, creating more margin, which you then invest back into your budget.
[00:17:50] Julie Michelson: I love that. That is amazing. Advice and, and it is, it's the, it's the long game, right? It's not, you know, someone's not going to [00:18:00] dig into your work and save a hundred dollars the first month probably. But I like the thoughtfulness of. You know, really how to plan. And again, I think there's such a void in education for people on how to save on real food.
[00:18:18] That, that what you're doing is amazing. I know. You're you have a gift for listeners food allergies on a budget workbook, which is an amazing resource for everybody listening. Food allergies. I mean, it's it's if you have any sensitivities special diets, if you're thoughtful, this, this gift is amazing.
[00:18:42] Tell us about, tell us about the workbook.
[00:18:45] Tiffany Terczak: So it's designed for those who struggle with food, sensitivities allergies. Whatever it may be. My daughter, as I mentioned is gluten free. It's not certain, it's not like an official diagnosis, but she eats gluten. She gets [00:19:00] migraines. So we're like, no.
[00:19:01] Julie Michelson: She, she is what we would call gluten sensitive
[00:19:05] Tiffany Terczak: Yes. So this workbook has really tactical, practical hands-on approach as to what you can do today at the grocery store. And then some questions to help you reflect on what you're buying and whether or not you need to buy it, whether it's good for your family, with the weather. Good for your budget, whether that's good for you and your restrictions as a whole.
[00:19:29] I've learned over the years that we, anybody can follow like a top 10 list of whatever and, and we can download those all day long and, and redone. But if you don't take the time to sit and reflect. On how, like number three, per se, for example, how number three impacts you and what kind of changes this means for you, then you don't really walk away with anything because, you know, it might say, okay, you need to shop the perimeter of the store.[00:20:00]
[00:20:00] And you're like, well, what does that mean? You know, what exactly does that mean? That means like, look, you need to go in and go to your right. And see what is there? And like, that's the food you should be buying. Like you really want to hit home. Some of these shopping tactics. And that's what the workbook is all about.
[00:20:17] It's, hands-on, it's practical very down to earth, but it's was designed so that your readers would walk away, being able to save money and feel empowered when they go to the grocery store, instead of feeling like. There are lost or overwhelmed, which happens way too often, especially in a food allergy and food sensitivity world.
[00:20:41] We got overwhelmed. We're told you can't have this, you can't have that. And it feels like our whole world is crumbling around us. And what's, what's funny is someone, someone not too long ago, I was like help. I can't eat dairy. What do I eat? And I'm thinking.
[00:20:57] Julie Michelson: Everything else.
[00:20:58] Tiffany Terczak: did you subsist on like [00:21:00] she's alone?
[00:21:01] Did your doctor ever have anything else? So I think to take a step back and be like, it's okay, breathe. You can do this is really, really important. So that's what the workbook helps you do. Along with me, the practical health.
[00:21:15] Julie Michelson: I love that. I find things like shop the perimeter of the store. Sounds so logical and so easy for me. That's all I ever do. It was very rare. I mean, yes, there are some clean staples in the middle of the store. But it is, I can't tell you how often I go to the store and I never go in the middle. Like, those are very rare.
[00:21:40] Fill-ins. It is overwhelming for people when they're not eating that way already. And they haven't been eating that way for years that it's like, what do you mean? Like, everything I buy is in the middle of the store. I had a client just yesterday. We were talking about, he [00:22:00] was like, do you want to start reintroductions?
[00:22:02] He struggled so much. Getting, you know, onto his elimination diet and we've stepped him into it. And and now he, he kind of chuckled and he was like, you know, I don't really find it challenging to eat the way I'm eating now. I don't even know if I want to change. I feel so good. And that's what I find is once people get it down and, and it's manageable. Especially with what I do for an elimination diet phase, you know, most people are feeling so well. They don't even, I have to really convince them like, no, I want you to do the reintroductions while we're
[00:22:36] Tiffany Terczak: Yeah.
[00:22:37] Julie Michelson: working together. Cause they're like, no, I don't even want to rock the boat, you know? But so what I'm saying is it does get easier and, and so.
[00:22:45] Having a resource like the workbook is. And like you said, really making it your own versus following somebody else's list. Because the follow the list method is temporary. Like that never sticks[00:23:00]
[00:23:00] Tiffany Terczak: very much so. Yeah.
[00:23:02] Julie Michelson: Wow.
[00:23:02] Tiffany Terczak: It's at the end of the list and you're like, well, where's page two and, and that's not what, it's not what either one of us want for, for our, for our audience. We want to say yeah. Here's page one. Okay. And now you can do it like you are able
[00:23:17] Julie Michelson: a new lifestyle. You are creating a lifestyle. Now. I love that. So, You definitely take care of resistance. Number one, I hear all the time, which is I can't afford to eat real food, which is not true. And I wanna throw in the listeners, you mentioned the, you know, organic, sometimes you can't afford to buy organic one resource.
[00:23:40] I love for people. Because if you're not able to just buy everything organic or just don't even see the need is the EWG is dirty dozen and clean 15 list. People are always shocked when they come to my house. If I have, you know, a conventional avocado and I'm like, well, I don't eat the [00:24:00] skin.
[00:24:03] Tiffany Terczak: Same thing. Yeah. Or bananas
[00:24:06] Julie Michelson: Yeah. Yeah. You know, most of the things we peel and there are some things I have clients show up and they're so proud of themselves. They're like, I'm drinking celery juice. And I'm like, please tell me it's organic because that's on the dirty dozen every year. So I'm like, don't, you know, there are certain things that like, I literally won't even touch unless they're organic.
[00:24:28] But you don't have to eat everything organic. And so, you know, like you said, that that's where again, you see, what do I eat? A lot of what's on that dirty dozen list. Can I at least move those, some of those things to organic and then the letter about the rest
[00:24:45] Tiffany Terczak: Oh yeah.
[00:24:46] Julie Michelson: I love that. So we've got resistance.
[00:24:48] Number one, taking care of you, teach people, you know, this is how you do it for you. This is how you do it on a budget. It's how you do it and save money, right? Thoughtfully [00:25:00] resistance. Number two, once people get that down, then they're like, I don't know what to cook. don't know. And I know that you have a meal planning bootcamp as well.
[00:25:13] So. Tell us a little bit about that, because I feel like, again, that is just resistance. Number two is imagination, right?
[00:25:22] Tiffany Terczak: Yeah. Oh yeah. Meal planning is. It's so, so important. It's it's like, I don't know. I, I would like to call it a necessary evil because it's not glamorous. It is not sexy. Meal planning is boring. Nope. Nobody I meal plan every week. I've been doing it for well over a decade. And I don't even like to meal plan, but I do it because of the benefits.
[00:25:45] You could almost say that for people who say I hate to exercise, but I do because of the benefits meal planning saves you a tremendous amount of time. It saves you a tremendous amount of money. And honestly, it saves you a lot of stress too, because we all [00:26:00] know that darn time is coming. I don't, I don't know why we're so surprised when all of a sudden everybody's hungry at five or six o'clock it's like, hello, we're all hungry at the same time.
[00:26:09] Every day, we should not be talked by this so we can, we can plan for this. So when we meal plan, the three big things I would say is one. Do you want to start with what you already have? Several years ago now my husband and I, I remember we were standing in the kitchen and we're going to go to a church potluck and I didn't know what to make.
[00:26:30] So I open up the kitchen cabinets and this was still early on in our real food day. So I had a lot of boxes of cake mix is going on. I opened up the Kevin's, I'm like, oh, I have nothing to eat. We have nothing to eat. And I looked over at him and he's looking over at me. Like, did you really just say that out loud?
[00:26:46] Because the truth is, is we had lots of food to eat. I was just overwhelmed and I didn't know how to turn that into something. And so long story short, he said, do you think we could go a week without grocery [00:27:00] shopping? And I'm looking around, I'm like, I'll bubbly, like handbooks, super hesitant because I'm in charge of the little kids and, you know, look, it's going to be picky and.
[00:27:10] I don't, I don't meals. We're going to look weird. And so I told them that caveat, I said, dinner might look funny, but I'm sure we could, we could make it work. And it turns out we went 33 days without going to the grocery store.
[00:27:23] Julie Michelson: I love it.
[00:27:24] Tiffany Terczak: So when you are at home and you open your pantry and your fridge, and you say, I have nothing to eat, the reality is it's you have a whole lot more food than you think you do.
[00:27:33] And I bring that up because the food you have at home, Food. You have already bought, you have already spent money on this food. So if you don't eat it. One of two things is going to happen either. You're going to throw it away because it goes, you know, expires or you're tired of looking at it or something go bad.
[00:27:55] In which case you can't eat it. And in both scenarios, [00:28:00] if you don't eat it, that is money. You have wasted. You have literally given your money to somebody else and said, I will take this food and you put the food in the trash can. That doesn't make any sense if we're trying to save money. So rule number one is always eat what you have. You probably odds are, you will not get your pantry down to nothing. So you don't have to worry about replenishing our pantry. That's another argument that I get in response to that is, oh, but if I eat what I have, then I have nothing left and it's like, trust me, you'll you're still going to have food. So
[00:28:32] Julie Michelson: Even last year, we still had food.
[00:28:35] Tiffany Terczak: We did it. We're done. So what you have second is to make your meal plan and they don't have to be fancy. You don't have to make every meal or any meal for that matter. Worthy of Instagram. We're talking about healthy food on plates food. That's going to fill bellies. That's the goal. It doesn't, it can, I have like a little formula for my own family right now, and that is [00:29:00] protein, a healthy starch and two.
[00:29:02] That is what all of our meals look like. And by following that formula, I can mix and match almost whatever I want. Now I'm a food blogger and I love to cook. And so there was a season where I'm trying all the things from Pinterest and I'm trying all the things from the magazines and my daughter, and I would sit and flip through cookbooks to plan out our meals, which you totally can do.
[00:29:25] But with where we are right now, I'm kind of in this awkward busy season, right. Don't have that luxury. So I don't, I don't go through cookbooks. We have the same 10 or so meals.
[00:29:37] Julie Michelson: Yup.
[00:29:37] Tiffany Terczak: Yeah. I'm like, all right, it's the Chuck roast? Do you want green salsa or red salsa? Like, that's pretty much
[00:29:44] Julie Michelson: I love that.
[00:29:46] Tiffany Terczak: with our variation and it's okay. okay to do that. So you want to write your meal plan again? Nothing fancy. Write it out for the next three to four days. That's manageable. If seven days freaks you out, stop it. And then in three [00:30:00] days, do it again for another three. And then the third tip would be you write your shopping list for exactly what you put on your meal plan, and then you go shopping with your blinders on and you buy only what's on the list.
[00:30:13] Don't buy the Justin cases. Don't buy the, oh my gosh, it's a good deal. I've never seen it that low before. There's a time. And there's a place for that type of shopping. But this shopping trip is not, it's just buy for your meal plan. Those three things alone, eat what you have, make your meal plan. Shop your meal plan.
[00:30:33] If you just hit, repeat
[00:30:35] Julie Michelson: Yes.
[00:30:36] Tiffany Terczak: and over and over again that your savings account will grow. Your grocery bill will plummet and you'll be so happy. Cause there's not a whole lot of stress going on because you already know what's.
[00:30:47] Julie Michelson: That's such great advice. I mean, number three alone. I know personally, if I walk into the grocery store and I literally only buy what's on my list, I saved money period [00:31:00] right there. And if my list was only what I was going to be using, that we. I will again, save more money. I, and this is where I get stuck with clients.
[00:31:13] My kids are grown and most of my meals, there's just two of us. We both eat healthy. You eat the same. I eat, I have my own limited diet. Based on a paleo keto lifestyle. And so when people say to me, well, you know, what did you eat? And I'm like, well, I eat lots of vegetables, clean protein and healthy fat, like I, so I'm at a point where I'm not putting in a lot of time.
[00:31:41] My daughter has always loved to cook through the cookbooks and find the recipes or go online and find the recipes. And that's great. She's graduating college in a couple of weeks. Shouldn't have time for that right now,
[00:31:54] Tiffany Terczak: Yeah.
[00:31:56] Julie Michelson: So we're cooking what we know you know, it's you get in this [00:32:00] cycle of, it really does become so easy.
[00:32:03] I am not good at telling other people what to cook because I will, you know, make a giant thing of mixed roast vegetables. And I will eat off of that for a few days and just change my protein up. it's, it doesn't have to be. I know. And the funny part is when I, my friends come over who donate real food, they don't love my food.
[00:32:25] Tiffany Terczak: Yeah.
[00:32:26] Julie Michelson: They really do it. It cracks me up. I always say, well, you know, like even, even regular people eat it. I know I have, I have that one friend who I know, like if she eats it and she doesn't say like, what is this? Then I know it's, it's actually really good. And anybody would like it. It's just my Mikey. I don't know if you're over the, remember my
[00:32:46] Tiffany Terczak: I am. We were joking with, with our kids the other day. That exact same. He likes it. Yeah.
[00:32:55] Julie Michelson: No, no, but you know, we, we get enjoyment out of it.
[00:32:59] Tiffany Terczak: [00:33:00] Yeah.
[00:33:00] Julie Michelson: You gave us. So, I mean, you just gave us, if anybody just played this on repeat and took notes, they would already start not only saving so much money, but reducing their stress around food and around eating real food. But I'm going to be mean. And I'm going to ask you to pick one step that listeners can take starting immediately to start him, which to me, you know, to start to improve their health, to start to save the money, to move toward better eating.
[00:33:34] Tiffany Terczak: I am going to give a tip. That's slightly tailored towards the allergy restriction realm.
[00:33:41] Julie Michelson: Perfect.
[00:33:41] Tiffany Terczak: And it's actually a mindset shift and that is. Don't try to replicate the old style of eating.
[00:33:53] Julie Michelson: Love that.
[00:33:54] Tiffany Terczak: And I say that because when you try to do that, like [00:34:00] let's take macaroni and cheese, right? I think we can all raise our hands, macaroni and cheese is this legit, it's the bomb.
[00:34:05] But when you start swapping out regular noodles for gluten-free noodles or cauliflower noodles or whatever type of new noodle there is. And real cheese for the fake cheese and you just start making all these swaps and it just never going to taste the same. It's just not, the ingredients are not the same. It's literally not the same food. It's like trying to make an apple tastes like an orange. It's not going to have. And you will spend a whole lot more money than you really need and time. And you know what? You're going to be disappointed because you're, you're looking for this magic pill. That's going to taste like what you used to eat and it's not going to.
[00:34:48] So if you walk into this new lifestyle with, with that, it's a new way of eating. It's a new lifestyle. I'm not going to replicate the. Then you're going to love what you cook [00:35:00] because it's not being held to some old standard. It's just a completely new way and it's going to taste fresh and it's going to taste good and it's going to be different.
[00:35:10] So we need to know that, you know, like you like you with your roasted vegetables, you can't expect roasted vegetables to taste like a bowl of spaghetti. It's not, it's not going to, you know or our lean chicken breast is never going to taste like a pop tart. It's just not.
[00:35:25] Julie Michelson: Thank goodness. And that is such great advice. And I'll tag onto that and say our taste buds change quickly. When we stop eating processed foods. I literally, I had a client say to me once were strawberries, always this sweet. And I'm like, yeah, they were, you're just not eating all this trash anymore. Now you can taste.
[00:35:49] Tiffany Terczak: Yeah.
[00:35:50] Julie Michelson: So, as you said, your food will taste fresh and really. It becomes simpler is better. You don't need a thousand [00:36:00] different seasoning mixes and you dive you just real food really does taste good. But I love that advice because so many people do try to replicate, well, you know, how can I make paleo Mac and cheese?
[00:36:14] How can I make AIP, Mac and cheese? I'm like, well, there's not one thing in Mac and cheese it's allowed on AIP. So I'm not sure how you think it's going to taste, you
[00:36:23] Tiffany Terczak: Yeah. Yeah. My husband, as I said, I'm sorry, my husband is currently doing walls protocol. Very, very hard to
[00:36:30] Julie Michelson: how I lived. I, the big fan of walls protocol.
[00:36:34] Tiffany Terczak: Yeah. And my husband's a big fan of pizza and he was like, how can we make this happen? And I was like, no, maybe it's like, not, it's not, you're going to rip pizza days have come. They have served a purpose and they have moved on.
[00:36:50] So we need to move on to
[00:36:52] Julie Michelson: And I love that. And the reality is pizza is probably part of what led him to finding [00:37:00] wall's protocol to begin with. Right.
[00:37:02] Tiffany Terczak: It is, it absolutely is. You know, and what's funny is we've, we've learned to create other things like we've created almond flour tortillas that he can eat just fine.
[00:37:11] Julie Michelson: Nice.
[00:37:12] Tiffany Terczak: Tomato sauce doesn't bother him really. And he can do a little bit of. Real fresh mozzarella, like not the process, pre shredded, all the stuff added to it.
[00:37:22] So every now and then he can get something that's sort of, kind of like that pizza flavor and it brings him all these memories. But to try to just,
[00:37:33] Julie Michelson: And that's what I tell people, go for the flavor profile.
[00:37:37] Tiffany Terczak: yes.
[00:37:37] Julie Michelson: You know, just hit those reminder notes in a completely different style and way, and you will be so much happier.
[00:37:44] Tiffany Terczak: Yes. Yeah. Just, don't just, don't start cooking unexpected to be the same, because it's not, it's just not the same. It's and then you're setting yourself up for failure.
[00:37:54] Julie Michelson: That is such great advice. I really love that one. I'm going to use it. [00:38:00] So before we wrap up, tell us where listeners can find you. And I will have all the links for everything in the show notes, but if somebody is listening and they want to pop over and find you right now, where can they find you
[00:38:14] Tiffany Terczak: Sure. So my blog is don't waste. The crumbs.com.
[00:38:19] Julie Michelson: love it?
[00:38:20] Tiffany Terczak: We're blogging there. Oh gosh, four or five times a week. We have over a thousand recipes plus grocery hacks and meal plans on that. On Instagram it's don't waste the crumbs and same thing on Facebook. If you're interested in my courses, my budget course is called grocery budget bootcamp.
[00:38:38] And if you struggle with meal planning, that is meal planning bootcamp. Both of them are.com. If there, you know, we'll put that, like you said, the links in the show notes, and sometimes they're open. Sometimes they're closed because I like to teach personally my students. I'm not a big fan of like, again, the list here's a list, go fend for yourself.
[00:38:56] I'm not really bad at that. I like to really help them get [00:39:00] from point a to point B. So if registration is closed, you can sign up for the wait list and then I'll let you know, as soon as is open.
[00:39:05] Julie Michelson: I love that. Tiffany. Thank you so much. You have shared so much gold with us today. Appreciate it.
[00:39:14] Tiffany Terczak: Pleasure.
[00:39:16] Julie Michelson: For everyone listening. Remember you can get the show notes and transcripts by visiting inspired living.show. I hope you had a great time and enjoyed this episode as much as I did. I will see you next week.
[00:00:58] We talk about how to [00:01:00] shop. No matter your eating plan and save money. Tiffany also gives us her top three steps for meal planning. Join us as we explore the two most common excuses I hear regarding starting a whole foods anti-inflammatory diet, and you will have excuses no more.
[00:01:19] Tiffany welcome to the podcast. I'm so excited to have you here today.
[00:01:24] Tiffany Terczak: Thanks for having me, Julie.
[00:01:26] Julie Michelson: I always love to start out with, how did you get to be doing what you're doing? Because I find what you do to be amazing. And it is such a service for people. You are the answer to an argument. I hear all the time. So how, how did you, I'm pretty sure when you were younger, you didn't say I'm gonna create don't waste the crumbs.
[00:01:50] When I get older.
[00:01:51] Tiffany Terczak: No, absolutely not. In fact, what I'm doing now has nothing to do with my college degree whatsoever. But it evolved [00:02:00] out of, out of a need that my husbands, we got married and together we had over six figures worth of. Lots of lots of money in the hole. So we were trying to pay that off and along the way, found out we were expecting a baby.
[00:02:15] And so we were like kind of almost an argument that I think most moms would have at some point in time is do I go back to work or do I stay home? Just a big decision. And for us, finances was a big part of that. And so we figured, well, if I were to stay home, mom, we got to cut some money somewhere.
[00:02:34] You know, money and is not equaling money out. And so we created a general budget and kind of figured what was flexible with what wasn't like. Your mortgage is not really flexible, but how much you spend on gas, how much you drive around or you spend on clothes is flexible. And the biggest line item that stood out to us was food.
[00:02:56] We looked at how much we were spending on. Nearly had a heart attack [00:03:00] and then something has got to give. So we simply kept our spending and said, let's see if we can still eat as well as we've been eating without spending more. Now there needs to be a huge caveat there. Actually, I'm getting ahead of myself fast forward to another baby.
[00:03:18] And my husband says to. Hey, do you think we can eat real food? And I'm like, what are you talking about? Like, we are eating real food. This isn't make believe. It's not pretend it's, I'm touching it. And he's like, no, do you think we can eat food? That's grown in the ground like carrots, you know, apples from a tree.
[00:03:36] And the problem was, is we had set the food budgets and I only had X amount of dollars to spend a month. And in order to get the most out of that budget, I learned how to coupon and I shopped grocery store sales. I, if it weren't for the actual store or the show of extreme coupon, or I would have given myself that label, like I knew the stores inside and [00:04:00] out.
[00:04:00] And so our pantry and our cabinets were filled with foods that weren't the best option for us, but I didn't know any better. I grew up with spaghetti coming from. husband grew up on five acres and country-style living and his family grew vegetables. And so when he was like, can we eat real food?
[00:04:20] It's kind of a shocker to me. And it took me a while to figure out what he was even talking about. You know, I'm researching things like what is kombucha? And you gonna make like, you can, you can make bread, you can make yogurt, wait, hold on. Like worlds had completely shifted. And so. Dug into that research, figured out what real food was, what it wasn't and learned how to change what we ate based on what I was learning without increasing our budget.
[00:04:52] And that was huge. It took a while that wasn't an overnight thing by any means, but I would say nine months. [00:05:00] We've had a pretty good system. And so about that time was when we had paid off our debts. And so, you know, the two kids, grocery budget eating real food, and my husband was like, you need to start a blog.
[00:05:13] You need to tell people about this. And so after much reluctance on me, I said, you're right. I tend to be very stubborn, but I said, you're right. I started it. And. And the rest is history. I've got an amazing community of women who want to feed their family good food and are trying to balance that against real life finances they're having.
[00:05:35] Unfortunately, some of them are choosing between, do I feed my family, you know, healthy food or do I pay the electric bill? And I don't think that family should have to make those types of choices. So it's my mission to empower women and moms. To not have to, to feed their family good food and to do it affordably.
[00:05:52] Julie Michelson: Well, I applaud your journey because it serves so many. And again, I [00:06:00] hear the argument all the time. I know food allergies is a focus for you. I have kids with anaphylaxis, so I learned the whole food allergy shopping, you know, label reading way before I was eating well either, or, you know, because I don't have to read that many labels anymore.
[00:06:19] But. Learning how to read labels and, and find these foods. Forgetting budget was a whole job in and of itself.
[00:06:27] Tiffany Terczak: Yeah.
[00:06:28] Julie Michelson: Now, working with the auto-immune community, everybody I work with does some sort of an elimination diet, you know, I'm, I am a, you know, whether it's full on AIP or, you know, I'm always running food, sensitivity panels on people.
[00:06:44] So even if it's not a true allergy, it's always a specialized diet. Even if you're just eating a healthy paleo diet. It's still a specialty diet and it's, it all comes down to real food. [00:07:00] Right? You're eating, you're shopping in the produce section. You're buying good proteins. And, and so this is the argument I hear all the time.
[00:07:08] I can't afford to eat that way. The first step I have people do, which you did as a first step, as well as see what they're really spending on their food. You know, most people might come to me. Well, it depends everybody's in a different place, but I have plenty of people that come, that are eating out all the time and, and, you know, they don't even consider that a food cost.
[00:07:31] And so we can find some balance there, but I know you have. The systems and I mean, so many tips and tricks for people. So what are some simple steps that people can take? You know, maybe they're already eating well, but they want to move into something like paleo, or maybe they're not eating well yet.
[00:07:53] Maybe they're eating out of boxes and bags and know that the first step would be to, to start to move [00:08:00] closer to a real food diet. Where can they stand? What are some things they can do?
[00:08:04] Tiffany Terczak: I highly recommend starting with what, what is on limits and what is off limits, because I think if you aren't clear on what you want to eliminate or what you should be avoiding. Then it's a trickle-down effect. If you don't know, then that's going to affect every other decision you have to make.
[00:08:22] So you really want to get speckly clear on that, for example if you need to avoid gluten, do you need to avoid gluten ingredients? So that means there's some education there. What ingredients contain gluten? Because there are plenty of foods that have zero gluten. That's you just don't realize, like, my grandma is so sweet at my daughter is actually gluten free.
[00:08:45] And when we visit my grandma, she's like, I got gluten-free bananas. I got gluten-free, you know, ground pork, like whatever it is, it's gluten-free and I'm like, oh crap. I think, you know, thanking her. But she just doesn't [00:09:00] realize that a lot of the foods, a lot of real foods are naturally gluten free. But at the same time, if you need it to be certified free, because if celiac or cross-contamination like, that is a whole nother thing.
[00:09:11] So you need to be really clear on what it is you're avoiding first and foremost, and then to build on what you said. It's so much more than just looking at a package. We have to remember when to go to the grocery store. Our goal is to buy. The grocery stores goal, as well as food manufacturers, their goal is for us to spend a lot of money on the food that they're, that they're making.
[00:09:39] We don't want to fall into their marketing traps, so their packages are going to be shiny. They're going to be pretty, they're going to be bold with colors and pretty graphics. And we kind of, we need to put our blinders on a little bit and say, all right, I'm going to avoid. This pitfall, that's a very common pitfall and I'm just gonna flip the box over or the package over, and I'm going to [00:10:00] read the ingredient.
[00:10:01] So my recommendation is to meet ingredients, not reading labels. And again, part of that is education. And I wish I wish saving money on food, especially in terms of allergies or just food restrictions. I wish it was more cut and dry with, oh, just follow. One two and three and boom, you save all this money in your pocket, but it really boils down to, you have to know what you're buying and therefore what you shouldn't buy.
[00:10:32] Cause that's where your money is going to be. If you go into the grocery store and you only pay attention to the predict package, You're going to spend more, you know, we really should be shopping the outside edges of the store where the good dairy, the good produce, the good meat is found. You want to stay away from packages if at all possible.
[00:10:51] And that's not, there's a big asterisk on that statement because it's not an end all be all. Like you could easily get dried beans in a package. You know, you get plain [00:11:00] rice in a package and these are considered real foods. There's nothing added, nothing gross. But we just really want to avoid. The manufacturer's marketing tactics that get us oh, by this cause it's healthier and it's all natural.
[00:11:16] And it's not this non that when a lot of the terms that they're using they're not regulated. They don't actually mean anything. They just sound good and flashy. So we need to educate ourselves on what it is we wanted to eat and what it does. We don't want it.
[00:11:31] Julie Michelson: I love that. And the, and the marketing thing, it's, I'm thinking of your sweet grandma and the marketing, you know, there's stuff that's marketed as gluten-free, that's naturally gluten free. Like they're just targeting and then they're, you know, charging an extra dollar for it. When, like in nature it's gluten-free to begin with.
[00:11:52] So there is, there's so much marketing involved, you know, I, I love the saying, you know, the [00:12:00] there's marketing on the front and information on the back.
[00:12:04] Tiffany Terczak: Yes.
[00:12:05] Julie Michelson: is, it is so true. I would imagine though, it was a really big shift for you when I'm thinking of, you know, so many of the coupons, although I hadn't, these days there have been coupons, you know, now at least you can get some produce coupons.
[00:12:20] But when I think of coupons, I tend to think of a things we don't really need things that I would never eat right now, or, or. Advise my clients to consume.
[00:12:31] Tiffany Terczak: Yeah.
[00:12:32] Julie Michelson: So how do you shift from saving money that way to, okay, now we're intentional. We know what we're eating. We know what we're avoiding, how are we saving money?
[00:12:43] Doing that?
[00:12:45] Tiffany Terczak: You really want to focus on the foods you're eating a lot of. So I teach this concept in my course, but the gist of it is if you were to write down all the foods that you eat on a monthly basis, right. We're all going to have things like [00:13:00] chicken and rice. And I don't know, we've got some bananas in there, probably some apples, but you're also going to have things like ketchup or mustard or apple cider, but.
[00:13:11] So on a day-to-day basis, we're eating a lot of things like chicken and rice and apples and bananas, but we're not consuming a whole lot of mustard, at least on gallons and gallons. Right. Even if you consume a lot of mustard, you maybe go through two bottles of mustard. Like that's a lot in my opinion, but. So my recommendation is to focus on what you are buying a lot of what you're eating a lot of first and foremost. So if you're going to spend money on chicken, right, we want to look for the best chicken that we can afford. If you can, we want to go the pastured route. You want to go the organic route. If you can't, chicken is still better than Doritos.
[00:13:51] So like I'm a big proponent of that. Like I never, I never want someone to feel like they can't afford real food because. Organic seems out of reach. You know, I'm [00:14:00] always telling them the chicken better than Doritos or Oreos or pop tarts
[00:14:03] Julie Michelson: Sure.
[00:14:04] Tiffany Terczak: go to the chicken room. But because we're eating more chicken, that's where we want to focus on getting the best deal.
[00:14:09] So we're going to want to look at a few different stores again, you don't have to spend. A whole weekend shopping at 20 different places to find a good deal. Just look at the ads before you leave the house. You know, like if you're going to drive to your local grocery store, what other stores are you passing on the way there, maybe you can swing in or look at the ad.
[00:14:30] As I mentioned before you go. Because if you can save 50 cents to a dollar per pound of just this one, whole organic chicken, then your savings is going to add up much more quickly than if you were to try to hunt down savings on mustard. You know, like the best deal you're going to get on mustard might be saving like the coupon, right?
[00:14:51] 25 50 cents per tub that you buy.
[00:14:54] Julie Michelson: Right.
[00:14:55] Tiffany Terczak: I don't know, once a quarter. So you're saving let's round up 50 cents. Every three [00:15:00] months, versus if you could save a solid dollar per pound of chicken and average of $5 a bird, and let's say you go through to birds week, that's $10 a week. So times for us, $40 a month and just chicken.
[00:15:15] And so I always tell my students, like, imagine how much you could save if you were to multiply that times, the top 10 things you eat. So as I kind of recommend capping it at two. Focused on the first top 10 because anything more than that becomes overwhelming. And then, you know, just know where to go, to get the best deal on those and stick with it for a little bit, because you'll see your savings rack up more quickly, and you start to getting that snowball effect that will allow you to do other advanced techniques like buying in book.
[00:15:47] And well, buying a book really is the first one that.
[00:15:50] Julie Michelson: Which, which is, you know, yes, I guess it isn't an advanced technique. I guess it depends on where you live and what you do. Right. So I live in [00:16:00] Colorado. I have a half a cow in my freezer because we we only. Grass fed and grass-finished beef and we eat a good amount of it. And so that was to me, I didn't even have to give thought I haven't calculated.
[00:16:15] I should. Cause I'd be really happy and proud of myself. I don't know what I saved per pound. But I know it's a lot and.
[00:16:25] Tiffany Terczak: Yeah. That's a great way to save money on the Vista to buy the cow. I get a lot of questions such as well. If I only have X amount of dollars per month, let's say I only have $500 a month. Do I go grocery shopping at my local Kroger or Walmart or all that? Or do I buy the cow, which 500 really won't put much of a dent in your, even a quarter of a cow.
[00:16:47] You need a bit more than that. So there's a bit of a struggle where, how do you invest in buying in bulk, whether it's bulk feed or chicken or bulk beans or rice or whatever it might [00:17:00] be, how do you do that? And still feed your family day to day? And so that's, that's where if we focus on our top 10. Get that savings going.
[00:17:10] We can create a little bit of a snowball and create a, a significant I don't want to say deficit in your budget, but maybe more margin in your budget that you can then set aside. And so it might take six months of focusing on gesture top 10 and then the extras get set aside every month. But then at the end of those six months, Now you can go buy 20 or 50 whole chickens from the farmer or buy that quarter cow or half a cow and put it in your freezer.
[00:17:39] And you know what, now you're not buying chicken anymore. You're not buying beef anymore. So you are again, creating more margin, which you then invest back into your budget.
[00:17:50] Julie Michelson: I love that. That is amazing. Advice and, and it is, it's the, it's the long game, right? It's not, you know, someone's not going to [00:18:00] dig into your work and save a hundred dollars the first month probably. But I like the thoughtfulness of. You know, really how to plan. And again, I think there's such a void in education for people on how to save on real food.
[00:18:18] That, that what you're doing is amazing. I know. You're you have a gift for listeners food allergies on a budget workbook, which is an amazing resource for everybody listening. Food allergies. I mean, it's it's if you have any sensitivities special diets, if you're thoughtful, this, this gift is amazing.
[00:18:42] Tell us about, tell us about the workbook.
[00:18:45] Tiffany Terczak: So it's designed for those who struggle with food, sensitivities allergies. Whatever it may be. My daughter, as I mentioned is gluten free. It's not certain, it's not like an official diagnosis, but she eats gluten. She gets [00:19:00] migraines. So we're like, no.
[00:19:01] Julie Michelson: She, she is what we would call gluten sensitive
[00:19:05] Tiffany Terczak: Yes. So this workbook has really tactical, practical hands-on approach as to what you can do today at the grocery store. And then some questions to help you reflect on what you're buying and whether or not you need to buy it, whether it's good for your family, with the weather. Good for your budget, whether that's good for you and your restrictions as a whole.
[00:19:29] I've learned over the years that we, anybody can follow like a top 10 list of whatever and, and we can download those all day long and, and redone. But if you don't take the time to sit and reflect. On how, like number three, per se, for example, how number three impacts you and what kind of changes this means for you, then you don't really walk away with anything because, you know, it might say, okay, you need to shop the perimeter of the store.[00:20:00]
[00:20:00] And you're like, well, what does that mean? You know, what exactly does that mean? That means like, look, you need to go in and go to your right. And see what is there? And like, that's the food you should be buying. Like you really want to hit home. Some of these shopping tactics. And that's what the workbook is all about.
[00:20:17] It's, hands-on, it's practical very down to earth, but it's was designed so that your readers would walk away, being able to save money and feel empowered when they go to the grocery store, instead of feeling like. There are lost or overwhelmed, which happens way too often, especially in a food allergy and food sensitivity world.
[00:20:41] We got overwhelmed. We're told you can't have this, you can't have that. And it feels like our whole world is crumbling around us. And what's, what's funny is someone, someone not too long ago, I was like help. I can't eat dairy. What do I eat? And I'm thinking.
[00:20:57] Julie Michelson: Everything else.
[00:20:58] Tiffany Terczak: did you subsist on like [00:21:00] she's alone?
[00:21:01] Did your doctor ever have anything else? So I think to take a step back and be like, it's okay, breathe. You can do this is really, really important. So that's what the workbook helps you do. Along with me, the practical health.
[00:21:15] Julie Michelson: I love that. I find things like shop the perimeter of the store. Sounds so logical and so easy for me. That's all I ever do. It was very rare. I mean, yes, there are some clean staples in the middle of the store. But it is, I can't tell you how often I go to the store and I never go in the middle. Like, those are very rare.
[00:21:40] Fill-ins. It is overwhelming for people when they're not eating that way already. And they haven't been eating that way for years that it's like, what do you mean? Like, everything I buy is in the middle of the store. I had a client just yesterday. We were talking about, he [00:22:00] was like, do you want to start reintroductions?
[00:22:02] He struggled so much. Getting, you know, onto his elimination diet and we've stepped him into it. And and now he, he kind of chuckled and he was like, you know, I don't really find it challenging to eat the way I'm eating now. I don't even know if I want to change. I feel so good. And that's what I find is once people get it down and, and it's manageable. Especially with what I do for an elimination diet phase, you know, most people are feeling so well. They don't even, I have to really convince them like, no, I want you to do the reintroductions while we're
[00:22:36] Tiffany Terczak: Yeah.
[00:22:37] Julie Michelson: working together. Cause they're like, no, I don't even want to rock the boat, you know? But so what I'm saying is it does get easier and, and so.
[00:22:45] Having a resource like the workbook is. And like you said, really making it your own versus following somebody else's list. Because the follow the list method is temporary. Like that never sticks[00:23:00]
[00:23:00] Tiffany Terczak: very much so. Yeah.
[00:23:02] Julie Michelson: Wow.
[00:23:02] Tiffany Terczak: It's at the end of the list and you're like, well, where's page two and, and that's not what, it's not what either one of us want for, for our, for our audience. We want to say yeah. Here's page one. Okay. And now you can do it like you are able
[00:23:17] Julie Michelson: a new lifestyle. You are creating a lifestyle. Now. I love that. So, You definitely take care of resistance. Number one, I hear all the time, which is I can't afford to eat real food, which is not true. And I wanna throw in the listeners, you mentioned the, you know, organic, sometimes you can't afford to buy organic one resource.
[00:23:40] I love for people. Because if you're not able to just buy everything organic or just don't even see the need is the EWG is dirty dozen and clean 15 list. People are always shocked when they come to my house. If I have, you know, a conventional avocado and I'm like, well, I don't eat the [00:24:00] skin.
[00:24:03] Tiffany Terczak: Same thing. Yeah. Or bananas
[00:24:06] Julie Michelson: Yeah. Yeah. You know, most of the things we peel and there are some things I have clients show up and they're so proud of themselves. They're like, I'm drinking celery juice. And I'm like, please tell me it's organic because that's on the dirty dozen every year. So I'm like, don't, you know, there are certain things that like, I literally won't even touch unless they're organic.
[00:24:28] But you don't have to eat everything organic. And so, you know, like you said, that that's where again, you see, what do I eat? A lot of what's on that dirty dozen list. Can I at least move those, some of those things to organic and then the letter about the rest
[00:24:45] Tiffany Terczak: Oh yeah.
[00:24:46] Julie Michelson: I love that. So we've got resistance.
[00:24:48] Number one, taking care of you, teach people, you know, this is how you do it for you. This is how you do it on a budget. It's how you do it and save money, right? Thoughtfully [00:25:00] resistance. Number two, once people get that down, then they're like, I don't know what to cook. don't know. And I know that you have a meal planning bootcamp as well.
[00:25:13] So. Tell us a little bit about that, because I feel like, again, that is just resistance. Number two is imagination, right?
[00:25:22] Tiffany Terczak: Yeah. Oh yeah. Meal planning is. It's so, so important. It's it's like, I don't know. I, I would like to call it a necessary evil because it's not glamorous. It is not sexy. Meal planning is boring. Nope. Nobody I meal plan every week. I've been doing it for well over a decade. And I don't even like to meal plan, but I do it because of the benefits.
[00:25:45] You could almost say that for people who say I hate to exercise, but I do because of the benefits meal planning saves you a tremendous amount of time. It saves you a tremendous amount of money. And honestly, it saves you a lot of stress too, because we all [00:26:00] know that darn time is coming. I don't, I don't know why we're so surprised when all of a sudden everybody's hungry at five or six o'clock it's like, hello, we're all hungry at the same time.
[00:26:09] Every day, we should not be talked by this so we can, we can plan for this. So when we meal plan, the three big things I would say is one. Do you want to start with what you already have? Several years ago now my husband and I, I remember we were standing in the kitchen and we're going to go to a church potluck and I didn't know what to make.
[00:26:30] So I open up the kitchen cabinets and this was still early on in our real food day. So I had a lot of boxes of cake mix is going on. I opened up the Kevin's, I'm like, oh, I have nothing to eat. We have nothing to eat. And I looked over at him and he's looking over at me. Like, did you really just say that out loud?
[00:26:46] Because the truth is, is we had lots of food to eat. I was just overwhelmed and I didn't know how to turn that into something. And so long story short, he said, do you think we could go a week without grocery [00:27:00] shopping? And I'm looking around, I'm like, I'll bubbly, like handbooks, super hesitant because I'm in charge of the little kids and, you know, look, it's going to be picky and.
[00:27:10] I don't, I don't meals. We're going to look weird. And so I told them that caveat, I said, dinner might look funny, but I'm sure we could, we could make it work. And it turns out we went 33 days without going to the grocery store.
[00:27:23] Julie Michelson: I love it.
[00:27:24] Tiffany Terczak: So when you are at home and you open your pantry and your fridge, and you say, I have nothing to eat, the reality is it's you have a whole lot more food than you think you do.
[00:27:33] And I bring that up because the food you have at home, Food. You have already bought, you have already spent money on this food. So if you don't eat it. One of two things is going to happen either. You're going to throw it away because it goes, you know, expires or you're tired of looking at it or something go bad.
[00:27:55] In which case you can't eat it. And in both scenarios, [00:28:00] if you don't eat it, that is money. You have wasted. You have literally given your money to somebody else and said, I will take this food and you put the food in the trash can. That doesn't make any sense if we're trying to save money. So rule number one is always eat what you have. You probably odds are, you will not get your pantry down to nothing. So you don't have to worry about replenishing our pantry. That's another argument that I get in response to that is, oh, but if I eat what I have, then I have nothing left and it's like, trust me, you'll you're still going to have food. So
[00:28:32] Julie Michelson: Even last year, we still had food.
[00:28:35] Tiffany Terczak: We did it. We're done. So what you have second is to make your meal plan and they don't have to be fancy. You don't have to make every meal or any meal for that matter. Worthy of Instagram. We're talking about healthy food on plates food. That's going to fill bellies. That's the goal. It doesn't, it can, I have like a little formula for my own family right now, and that is [00:29:00] protein, a healthy starch and two.
[00:29:02] That is what all of our meals look like. And by following that formula, I can mix and match almost whatever I want. Now I'm a food blogger and I love to cook. And so there was a season where I'm trying all the things from Pinterest and I'm trying all the things from the magazines and my daughter, and I would sit and flip through cookbooks to plan out our meals, which you totally can do.
[00:29:25] But with where we are right now, I'm kind of in this awkward busy season, right. Don't have that luxury. So I don't, I don't go through cookbooks. We have the same 10 or so meals.
[00:29:37] Julie Michelson: Yup.
[00:29:37] Tiffany Terczak: Yeah. I'm like, all right, it's the Chuck roast? Do you want green salsa or red salsa? Like, that's pretty much
[00:29:44] Julie Michelson: I love that.
[00:29:46] Tiffany Terczak: with our variation and it's okay. okay to do that. So you want to write your meal plan again? Nothing fancy. Write it out for the next three to four days. That's manageable. If seven days freaks you out, stop it. And then in three [00:30:00] days, do it again for another three. And then the third tip would be you write your shopping list for exactly what you put on your meal plan, and then you go shopping with your blinders on and you buy only what's on the list.
[00:30:13] Don't buy the Justin cases. Don't buy the, oh my gosh, it's a good deal. I've never seen it that low before. There's a time. And there's a place for that type of shopping. But this shopping trip is not, it's just buy for your meal plan. Those three things alone, eat what you have, make your meal plan. Shop your meal plan.
[00:30:33] If you just hit, repeat
[00:30:35] Julie Michelson: Yes.
[00:30:36] Tiffany Terczak: and over and over again that your savings account will grow. Your grocery bill will plummet and you'll be so happy. Cause there's not a whole lot of stress going on because you already know what's.
[00:30:47] Julie Michelson: That's such great advice. I mean, number three alone. I know personally, if I walk into the grocery store and I literally only buy what's on my list, I saved money period [00:31:00] right there. And if my list was only what I was going to be using, that we. I will again, save more money. I, and this is where I get stuck with clients.
[00:31:13] My kids are grown and most of my meals, there's just two of us. We both eat healthy. You eat the same. I eat, I have my own limited diet. Based on a paleo keto lifestyle. And so when people say to me, well, you know, what did you eat? And I'm like, well, I eat lots of vegetables, clean protein and healthy fat, like I, so I'm at a point where I'm not putting in a lot of time.
[00:31:41] My daughter has always loved to cook through the cookbooks and find the recipes or go online and find the recipes. And that's great. She's graduating college in a couple of weeks. Shouldn't have time for that right now,
[00:31:54] Tiffany Terczak: Yeah.
[00:31:56] Julie Michelson: So we're cooking what we know you know, it's you get in this [00:32:00] cycle of, it really does become so easy.
[00:32:03] I am not good at telling other people what to cook because I will, you know, make a giant thing of mixed roast vegetables. And I will eat off of that for a few days and just change my protein up. it's, it doesn't have to be. I know. And the funny part is when I, my friends come over who donate real food, they don't love my food.
[00:32:25] Tiffany Terczak: Yeah.
[00:32:26] Julie Michelson: They really do it. It cracks me up. I always say, well, you know, like even, even regular people eat it. I know I have, I have that one friend who I know, like if she eats it and she doesn't say like, what is this? Then I know it's, it's actually really good. And anybody would like it. It's just my Mikey. I don't know if you're over the, remember my
[00:32:46] Tiffany Terczak: I am. We were joking with, with our kids the other day. That exact same. He likes it. Yeah.
[00:32:55] Julie Michelson: No, no, but you know, we, we get enjoyment out of it.
[00:32:59] Tiffany Terczak: [00:33:00] Yeah.
[00:33:00] Julie Michelson: You gave us. So, I mean, you just gave us, if anybody just played this on repeat and took notes, they would already start not only saving so much money, but reducing their stress around food and around eating real food. But I'm going to be mean. And I'm going to ask you to pick one step that listeners can take starting immediately to start him, which to me, you know, to start to improve their health, to start to save the money, to move toward better eating.
[00:33:34] Tiffany Terczak: I am going to give a tip. That's slightly tailored towards the allergy restriction realm.
[00:33:41] Julie Michelson: Perfect.
[00:33:41] Tiffany Terczak: And it's actually a mindset shift and that is. Don't try to replicate the old style of eating.
[00:33:53] Julie Michelson: Love that.
[00:33:54] Tiffany Terczak: And I say that because when you try to do that, like [00:34:00] let's take macaroni and cheese, right? I think we can all raise our hands, macaroni and cheese is this legit, it's the bomb.
[00:34:05] But when you start swapping out regular noodles for gluten-free noodles or cauliflower noodles or whatever type of new noodle there is. And real cheese for the fake cheese and you just start making all these swaps and it just never going to taste the same. It's just not, the ingredients are not the same. It's literally not the same food. It's like trying to make an apple tastes like an orange. It's not going to have. And you will spend a whole lot more money than you really need and time. And you know what? You're going to be disappointed because you're, you're looking for this magic pill. That's going to taste like what you used to eat and it's not going to.
[00:34:48] So if you walk into this new lifestyle with, with that, it's a new way of eating. It's a new lifestyle. I'm not going to replicate the. Then you're going to love what you cook [00:35:00] because it's not being held to some old standard. It's just a completely new way and it's going to taste fresh and it's going to taste good and it's going to be different.
[00:35:10] So we need to know that, you know, like you like you with your roasted vegetables, you can't expect roasted vegetables to taste like a bowl of spaghetti. It's not, it's not going to, you know or our lean chicken breast is never going to taste like a pop tart. It's just not.
[00:35:25] Julie Michelson: Thank goodness. And that is such great advice. And I'll tag onto that and say our taste buds change quickly. When we stop eating processed foods. I literally, I had a client say to me once were strawberries, always this sweet. And I'm like, yeah, they were, you're just not eating all this trash anymore. Now you can taste.
[00:35:49] Tiffany Terczak: Yeah.
[00:35:50] Julie Michelson: So, as you said, your food will taste fresh and really. It becomes simpler is better. You don't need a thousand [00:36:00] different seasoning mixes and you dive you just real food really does taste good. But I love that advice because so many people do try to replicate, well, you know, how can I make paleo Mac and cheese?
[00:36:14] How can I make AIP, Mac and cheese? I'm like, well, there's not one thing in Mac and cheese it's allowed on AIP. So I'm not sure how you think it's going to taste, you
[00:36:23] Tiffany Terczak: Yeah. Yeah. My husband, as I said, I'm sorry, my husband is currently doing walls protocol. Very, very hard to
[00:36:30] Julie Michelson: how I lived. I, the big fan of walls protocol.
[00:36:34] Tiffany Terczak: Yeah. And my husband's a big fan of pizza and he was like, how can we make this happen? And I was like, no, maybe it's like, not, it's not, you're going to rip pizza days have come. They have served a purpose and they have moved on.
[00:36:50] So we need to move on to
[00:36:52] Julie Michelson: And I love that. And the reality is pizza is probably part of what led him to finding [00:37:00] wall's protocol to begin with. Right.
[00:37:02] Tiffany Terczak: It is, it absolutely is. You know, and what's funny is we've, we've learned to create other things like we've created almond flour tortillas that he can eat just fine.
[00:37:11] Julie Michelson: Nice.
[00:37:12] Tiffany Terczak: Tomato sauce doesn't bother him really. And he can do a little bit of. Real fresh mozzarella, like not the process, pre shredded, all the stuff added to it.
[00:37:22] So every now and then he can get something that's sort of, kind of like that pizza flavor and it brings him all these memories. But to try to just,
[00:37:33] Julie Michelson: And that's what I tell people, go for the flavor profile.
[00:37:37] Tiffany Terczak: yes.
[00:37:37] Julie Michelson: You know, just hit those reminder notes in a completely different style and way, and you will be so much happier.
[00:37:44] Tiffany Terczak: Yes. Yeah. Just, don't just, don't start cooking unexpected to be the same, because it's not, it's just not the same. It's and then you're setting yourself up for failure.
[00:37:54] Julie Michelson: That is such great advice. I really love that one. I'm going to use it. [00:38:00] So before we wrap up, tell us where listeners can find you. And I will have all the links for everything in the show notes, but if somebody is listening and they want to pop over and find you right now, where can they find you
[00:38:14] Tiffany Terczak: Sure. So my blog is don't waste. The crumbs.com.
[00:38:19] Julie Michelson: love it?
[00:38:20] Tiffany Terczak: We're blogging there. Oh gosh, four or five times a week. We have over a thousand recipes plus grocery hacks and meal plans on that. On Instagram it's don't waste the crumbs and same thing on Facebook. If you're interested in my courses, my budget course is called grocery budget bootcamp.
[00:38:38] And if you struggle with meal planning, that is meal planning bootcamp. Both of them are.com. If there, you know, we'll put that, like you said, the links in the show notes, and sometimes they're open. Sometimes they're closed because I like to teach personally my students. I'm not a big fan of like, again, the list here's a list, go fend for yourself.
[00:38:56] I'm not really bad at that. I like to really help them get [00:39:00] from point a to point B. So if registration is closed, you can sign up for the wait list and then I'll let you know, as soon as is open.
[00:39:05] Julie Michelson: I love that. Tiffany. Thank you so much. You have shared so much gold with us today. Appreciate it.
[00:39:14] Tiffany Terczak: Pleasure.
[00:39:16] Julie Michelson: For everyone listening. Remember you can get the show notes and transcripts by visiting inspired living.show. I hope you had a great time and enjoyed this episode as much as I did. I will see you next week.
settings
Divider Text
My Guest For This Episode
Connect with Tiffany Terczak
Tiffany Terczak
Groceries on a Budget
Tiffany is a married mom of two who paid off over $100,000 of debt by creating a grocery budget. Once an extreme couponer, she learned how to ditch processed foods and feed her family a whole foods diet without increasing the budget.
In the past 6 years Tiffany and her family have tried various diets in an effort to heal her husband - vegan, Paleo, vegetarian, Whole30, and Wahl's Protocol - and her budgeting principles worked with them all.
She's helped thousands of families collectively save over $7M by teaching them her same principles in her course Grocery Budget Bootcamp. She also teaching meal planning in her course Meal Planning Bootcamp and offers fast and budget-friendly done-for-you meal plans in her membership 30 Minute Dinners.
In the past 6 years Tiffany and her family have tried various diets in an effort to heal her husband - vegan, Paleo, vegetarian, Whole30, and Wahl's Protocol - and her budgeting principles worked with them all.
She's helped thousands of families collectively save over $7M by teaching them her same principles in her course Grocery Budget Bootcamp. She also teaching meal planning in her course Meal Planning Bootcamp and offers fast and budget-friendly done-for-you meal plans in her membership 30 Minute Dinners.
Popular Episodes
Episode [Block//Episode Number]
Aired on: [Block//Air Date %F j, Y%+0]
Aired on: [Block//Air Date %F j, Y%+0]