Food Spending With The Happy Hour Crew
Today is the last Friday of the month, and my regular listeners know that on the last Friday of the month, I host the happy hour on the podcast, where I gather great friends with me to drink cheap drinks and talk about money topics.
Joining us for this month’s happy hour is podcast listener, guest, and Financial Gym client, Kat. Kat got financially naked on the show in July 2022 and is appearing here on Happy Hour.
Since I dedicated the month of May to food on this podcast, this Happy Hour is dedicated to fun questions and all things food.
What are we drinking?
Melanie - Saline Rinse and Pain Killers
Alicia - Espresso Martini
Kat Petrik - Cutwater Mango Margarita
Shannon - White Wine Spritzer
Round Table Questions
What is your best frugal food money hack?
Never make a trip to the grocery store hungry.
Remember to look at what’s in the fridge and pantry before making your list.
Always make a list to go shopping.
Make a loose meal plan that includes multiple proteins that can be swapped out. This way, you can purchase what’s on sale and use it in the plan!
On a regular shopping trip, what’s always in the cart?
Sweet potatoes, gluten-free pasta, yogurt, and berries.
Bread, deli meat, chips, and snacks for packed work lunches.
Chicken cutlets and chocolate chip muffin mix.
Eggs, chicken, or pork chops.
What is your go-to cheap meal?
A simple cheese quesadilla
Baked ziti
Corn chips with shredded cheese and black beans
Pasta with Trader Joe’s meatballs
Popcorn
Are you meal preppers or no?
Power cooking on Sundays
Eating the simplest meals possible throughout the week
Meal planning over meal prepping
Using a service like EveryPlate to help take decision making out
What is the most expensive dinner you’ve ever paid for?
A five year wedding anniversary dinner that cost $5,000
$300 for a birthday dinner
$50 for fish & chips in iceland
$700 for a family birthday celebration
$150 for a waterfront meal in DC
What is one of your biggest grocery store mistakes?
A rotisserie chicken that was supposed to be an easy way to feed the kids was hated by everyone.
Every vegetable that goes to the crisper to ultimately rot.
A bag of sweet potatoes made it all the way home before realizing they were soft and some rotten. Instead of checking while at the store, this happened a few weeks in a row.
Buying a whole bag of potatoes or onions to use only a few and the rest go bad.
Takeaway: My biggest takeaway is the importance of understanding how much food impacts your budget, after where you live, it’s typically the highest monthly expense for people and it’s one that we have complete control over.
Connect with The Happy Hour Crew
Melanie Lockert - https://melanielockert.com/
Alicia Lazarto - Chief Operations Officer
Kat Petrick - Listen to Kat’s other appearance on MAYM
Shannon McLay - Host, CEO, & Founder
If you have any topics you would like me to cover on this podcast, or if you’d like to get in the financially naked hot seat, I encourage you to email me at Shannon@fingyms.com, or join the private Martinis and Your Money Face, and let me know what you want to hear.
A recent Financial Health Network study revealed that only 31% of Americans were financially healthy. Only 23% of women and only 15% of black people were. Financial health is a crisis in the US but it doesn’t need to stay that way. At the Financial Gym, we’ve spent the last 10 years working one-on-one with our members to help them achieve their financial health goals.
With a 90% success rate and with memberships starting as low as $35 a month, Financial Gym is not only the inflation-proof source for financial wellness for anyone but also a trusted and capable partner for your financial wellness journey. Head or send friends to, financialgym.com and schedule a warm up call today. As a reminder, our warm up call team is staffed with amazing and current Financial Gym clients that can answer any of your questions about our program without any pressure to join. The call is free, so you have nothing to lose.