287. Save Hundreds on Groceries and Reduce Food Waste: Produce Storage Tips | Amy of The Cross Legacy

Summary

Summary of Episode 287: Save Hundreds on Groceries and Reduce Food Waste: Produce Storage Tips | Amy of The Cross Legacy

In Episode 287 of the Simple Farmhouse Life podcast, host Lisa Bass welcomes back Amy Cross from The Cross Legacy to delve into effective strategies for saving money on groceries and minimizing food waste through optimal produce storage. Drawing from her extensive experience and popular content, Amy shares actionable tips that listeners can implement to create a more efficient and economical kitchen.

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1. Guest Introduction

Amy Cross introduces herself as the founder of The Cross Legacy, which began as an Instagram and blog platform during the pandemic. Her mission evolved into answering common questions about grocery shopping patterns, especially during times when families were hesitant to make frequent trips to the store. This focus led to the creation of her best-selling book, "Zero Waste Produce Guide," and a series of viral content that has significantly impacted her audience.

Notable Quote:
"When you follow the directions exactly, your berries are going to last." — Amy Cross (00:30)

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2. Effective Produce Storage Techniques

Amy emphasizes the importance of proper produce storage to extend the lifespan of fruits and vegetables, thereby reducing waste and saving money.

a. Berries

• Cleaning Method: Amy recommends washing berries with a solution of distilled white vinegar (5%) to eliminate mold spores and harmful pathogens. The ratio she uses is a quarter cup of vinegar to 10 cups of water, soaking for precisely two minutes.

  Notable Quote:
  "You want to use distilled white vinegar. That's 5%, and that will kill off any of the mold spores, listeria, E. Coli, or any other harmful pathogens." — Amy Cross (00:30)

• Drying and Storage: After washing, berries should be dried on a towel and then stored in a jar with a paper towel to absorb excess moisture. This method can keep:

  • Raspberries/Blackberries: Up to 2 weeks
  • Strawberries: Up to 3 weeks
  • Grapes: 4 to 6 weeks
  • Blueberries: 6 to 8 weeks

b. Cilantro and Herbs

• Storage Method: Cilantro can last 6 to 8 weeks when stored in a glass jar with a metal lid and kept hydrated with filtered water. Cutting the ends enhances water absorption, prolonging freshness.

  Notable Quote:
  "Cilantro will last six to eight weeks in the refrigerator." — Amy Cross (07:25)

c. Produce Buddies

• Avocados and Lemons: Storing avocados and lemons together in the crisper drawer can keep them fresh for over a month. This companionship helps maintain their longevity.

  Notable Quote:
  "Avocados and lemons together will keep each other fresh for over a month." — Amy Cross (14:15)

• Avoiding Fruit Conflicts: Apples, oranges, and bananas should be stored separately as they can accelerate each other's spoilage when kept together.

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3. Optimizing Refrigerator Space

Amy shares her approach to maximizing refrigerator space without requiring an extra-large fridge.

• Transferring to Smaller Containers: Instead of keeping large tubs of products like Greek yogurt, transferring them into quart jars with metal lids can extend their freshness and save space.

  Notable Quote:
  "Transferring items into smaller jars can keep them fresh longer and save fridge space." — Amy Cross (12:16)

• Organization Tips: Using acrylate trays and separating different food items into designated containers or drawers helps in easy access and reduces the chances of items getting lost or forgotten.

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4. Budgeting Strategies for Groceries

Maintaining a consistent grocery budget amidst rising prices is a key focus for Amy.

• Monthly Budget Maintenance: Despite living in the high-cost Seattle area, Amy manages a $135 monthly grocery budget for her family of two by:

  • Buying Versatile Ingredients: Selecting ingredients that can be used in multiple recipes reduces waste and costs.
  • Focusing on Single-Ingredient Items: Avoiding pre-made or processed foods ensures better control over usage and minimizes unnecessary expenses.

  Notable Quote:
  "Focusing on single-ingredient items helps ensure nothing goes to waste." — Amy Cross (32:24)

• Batch Cooking: Preparing meals in bulk, such as making multiple batches of taco meat, allows for efficient use of ingredients and fewer grocery trips.

  Notable Quote:
  "Instead of making one night's worth of taco meat, I'm making five or six." — Amy Cross (14:15)

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5. Adapting to Family Size Changes

Transitioning from a larger household to a family of two necessitated significant adjustments in grocery and storage habits.

• Reduced Purchasing: With fewer people to feed, Amy scaled down bulk purchases and focused on necessities, allocating a portion of her budget for occasional big buys like beef.

  Notable Quote:
  "We are spending $270 a month on groceries and eating 99.9% of the meals at home." — Amy Cross (25:01)

• Utilizing Leftovers: Transforming leftover meats into various dishes like fajitas, tacos, and soups ensures that no portion goes to waste.

  Notable Quote:
  "I can batch cook it and put it in the freezer for easy future meals." — Amy Cross (39:13)

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6. Leveraging Technology for Meal Planning

Amy integrates technology to streamline meal planning and inventory management.

• Using ChatGPT: By listing her pantry items in a Google Doc and querying ChatGPT, Amy receives tailored meal suggestions that utilize existing ingredients, reducing the need for additional purchases.

  Notable Quote:
  "Using ChatGPT to plan meals based on what I have is incredibly helpful." — Amy Cross (35:28)

• Photographic Documentation: Taking photos of dinners helps Amy track what meals have been made, enabling better rotation and recollection of favorite recipes without extensive planning.

  Notable Quote:
  "I take a picture of my dinner almost every single night to keep track of our meals." — Amy Cross (47:00)

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7. Long-Term Food Storage and Food Security

Establishing a robust long-term food storage system ensures that Amy's family remains resilient against unforeseen circumstances.

• Staple Ingredients: Stocking non-perishable items like wheat berries, beans, and rice provides a solid foundation for various meals without frequent shopping.

  Notable Quote:
  "Wheat berries aren't going to expire until I'm 75." — Amy Cross (63:29)

• Seasonal Consumption: Aligning food usage with seasonal availability helps in managing inventory effectively, such as consuming summer shrimp before winter.

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8. Community and Content Creation

Amy discusses the evolution of her audience and how her content now reaches a broader demographic, including older generations seeking food security and efficient grocery practices.

• Expanding Reach: Her YouTube channel now serves not only young mothers but also empty-nesters and older adults looking to optimize their grocery budgeting and reduce waste.

  Notable Quote:
  "I'm reaching the older generation and helping them too." — Amy Cross (51:48)

• Educational Resources: Her book, "Zero Waste Produce Guide," offers comprehensive strategies for produce storage and meal planning, available with a discount code Farmhouse15 through her website and Amazon.

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Conclusion

Amy Cross's insights provide a wealth of practical methods for saving on groceries and reducing food waste. By implementing proper storage techniques, optimizing refrigerator space, adopting stringent budgeting practices, and leveraging technology for meal planning, listeners can transform their household management. Amy’s passionate approach not only fosters economic savings but also promotes a sustainable and stress-free kitchen environment.

Resources:

• YouTube Channel: The Cross Legacy
• Instagram: @thecrosslegacy
• Book: Zero Waste Produce Guide (Purchase on Amazon)
  • Discount Code: Farmhouse15
• Website: The Cross Legacy

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Timestamp Reference:

• 00:30 – Importance of proper berry storage
• 07:25 – Storing cilantro and herbs
• 12:16 – Optimizing refrigerator space
• 14:15 – Produce buddies and storage tips
• 25:01 – Maintaining a grocery budget
• 32:24 – Budgeting strategies
• 35:28 – Leveraging technology for meal planning
• 39:13 – Utilizing leftovers effectively
• 47:00 – Photo documentation for meal tracking
• 51:48 – Expanding content reach
• 63:29 – Long-term food storage benefits

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Note: This summary excludes promotional advertisements and non-content sections from the original transcript to focus solely on the valuable discussions between Lisa Bass and Amy Cross.

Transcript

[Lisa]

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[Amy Cross]

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[Lisa]

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[Amy Cross]

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[Lisa]

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[Amy Cross]

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[Unknown]

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[Lisa]

Find out [e-mail] SparkCashPlus I only go.

[Amy Cross]

Grocery shopping once every three to four weeks. When I'm buying berries, I bring them home and I wash them. You want to use distilled white vinegar. That's 5% and that will kill off any of the mold spores, listeria, E. Coli or any other harmful pathogens. You lay them out on the towel to dry and then you put them in a jar with a paper towel. If you are storing fresh raspberries or blackberries, they're going to last at least two weeks in the fridge. Strawberries last three weeks. Grapes last four to six weeks. Blueberries last six to eight weeks.

[Lisa]

The fridge My name is Lisa, mother.

[Unknown]

Of eight and creator of the blog and YouTube channel Farmhouse on Boone. On this podcast I like to talk about simplifying your life so you can live out your priorities. I help you learn how to cook from scratch and decorate on a budget through this podcast and my courses Simple Sourdough and the Simple Sewing Series. I also help people reach their goals from home through my business course, YouTube Success Academy. I will leave links to these resources in the show notes in description box below. Now let's get into the show.

[Lisa]

Foreign welcome back to the Simple Farmhouse Life podcast. Today we are having on Amy Cross from the Cross Legacy. She came on, I don't know, was it a year ago? I think it was a year ago, possibly two years ago. And we talked about saving money on groceries, keeping produce longer. We're going to have that same kind of discussion today. Things have only increased since then and she has kept the same grocery budget for her family through all of this time and she has some tips and wisdom to share about that that I think you all will very much enjoy. All right, Amy, welcome back on the show. I was looking through our last episode that we did and it's one of the most popular episodes on this podcast. So I think people really like to hear about saving money on groceries and keeping things and not wasting things. So so give a quick introduction for those who don't know you or maybe didn't listen to last episode or don't follow you on YouTube.

[Amy Cross]

Hi, my name is Amy Cross and I'm the founder of the Cross Legacy. And it started as an Instagram and a blog and then moved into a YouTube over the last three years. But I started because I was answering questions on social media during the pandemic to other moms that were scared to take their kids to the grocery store or, or they were only going to the grocery store like once every two weeks and they weren't having fresh produce in their house because it wouldn't last the two weeks. And the first question I had answered was somebody saying that their blueberries only lasted four days and then they couldn't go the other 10 days without having produce in the house. And I'm like, what are you talking about? Like, my blueberries are over a month old right now in the refrigerator. And blueberries will last like eight weeks if you wash them and store them properly. And so it ended up like 12 weeks. After I started everything, Strawberries, Calories in a Jar went viral. I've had a Ted Talk because of it. It got shared over 18 million times just in a few days. And I've been in the media all around the world. I now have a best selling book, Zero Waste Produce Guide. And we have other tips on items like avocados and lettuce and apples and oranges and how to keep them fresh for a really long time, like over a month.

[Lisa]

Wow, that's awesome. What an opportunity that, you know, it kind of opened up whenever people realized that they didn't want to get out every day. And then it continues to be useful now, especially for as we're heading into spring and summer, people might be thinking about this with their garden produce that you get overrun with and you want it to last more than just a few weeks into the fall. So I think lots of great information. Let's, let's talk about the most common thing that you get asked about first, and that is berries. Because other than freezing berries, you know, people want. There's a difference, a very big difference between having fresh berries and how they work, you know, and how you put them in yogurt. There's just a lot of things like I'll use frozen for smoothies, but I don't really want to use fresh for that. So it's important to know how to keep them. So let's talk about that. What's the best way to store berries and how long should they last?

[Amy Cross]

So I only go grocery shopping once every three to four weeks. I try to push it out to four weeks, but when I'm buying berries, I bring them home and I wash them. And when you're washing them, you want to use distilled white vinegar. That's 5%, and that will kill off any of the mold spores, listeria, E. Coli, or any other harmful pathogens that are on it. And then as we wash them, it's a quarter cup of distilled white vinegar to 10 cups of water for two minutes. And it's super important that you set a timer for two minutes. And you don't, like, walk away from them. If I have littles here, I'm having them bounce it in the water, you know, just to keep everybody occupied right there. But you lay them out on the towel to dry, and then you put them in a jar with a paper towel. I'm the one that, like, started this whole strawberries in a jar trend that everybody's been copying and all the things. But if you don't follow the directions exactly, they're not going to last. If you let them soak too long, they're going to start fermenting. And so you don't want to do that. If you add baking soda to the vinegar, that also is going to cause issues for the berries because they neutralize each other and they're not giving the cleaning benefit of it. But if you are storing fresh raspberries or blackberries, they're going to last at least two weeks in the fridge. Strawberries last three weeks. Grapes last four to six weeks. They're actually a berry also. And then blueberries last six to eight weeks in the fridge. So since I only go grocery shopping once every three to four weeks, I'm able to get some of those items like blueberries or grapes, and they will last two grocery cycles.

[Lisa]

So for us, okay, so are you putting this into a big pot or a big bowl, putting the berries down in there and then draining it?

[Amy Cross]

Yes. Yes. Okay. I have a big. I use a glass bowl because it's pretty.

[Lisa]

Yes.

[Amy Cross]

I have a big bowl. You can also use like a stock pot or something, whatever you're using. And then with berries, you want to change out the water every time that you're doing it because it gets so nasty. And then I gently rinse some afterwards. And people don't really think about how careful you need to be with your berries. You don't want to, like, just slam them into the bowl. Like they're going to get bruised and they're going to deteriorate quickly and so if you can be really gentle with them. And then I rinse them off afterwards before I lay them on the towel. You don't need to rinse them off to get the vinegar off of the produce items. So things like cucumbers, I don't rinse. But once you see how dirty that water is, you're going to want to rinse them off.

[Lisa]

Okay, that makes sense. What's with the paper towel? I'll say that I get big amounts of cilantro from my Azure standard order and they wrapped it in a paper towel and I was amazed because it lasted all the way until the next order that I had and it was a really large amount. So why does that work so well?

[Amy Cross]

So in the jar, when you have the paper towel, it's going to collect a little bit of the moisture. If you don't want to use a paper towel, like you're not in a paper towel household, then you can use a cloth also. But that's going to stain sometimes, especially with like raspberries. And then some places like Amazon actually sell bamboo towels that are not bleached. So if you're trying to be more organic and not having those, you know, bleached chemicals, you can do that too. But with the cilantro. Cilantro. I actually have some in the fridge from early February. So we are like eight weeks out right now from when I got it. And that is when you get cilantro or parsley, if you cut the ends off, which opens up the vascular system of the plant so the water keeps sucking up. And I use my borrow, you know, Berkey filter, so it's filtered water that I have in the jar with the cilantro and parsley. But it will last six to eight weeks in the refrigerator. You just need to keep making sure that you add more water to it. And we don't really like plastic here. And so I don't like. Some people suggest to put a plastic bag over the top of it. I don't need to do that. I just make sure that it's. Keeps the water on in it. And then every like 10 days or so or when I go to use it, I'll cut a quarter inch off of the bottom and it'll keep, keep it alive and it'll keep sucking up more water and. And they stay fresh forever.

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[Lisa]

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[Lisa]

So how much refrigerator space do you have? I'm sure you get asked this question a lot, but I feel like I would run out with like our jars of milk and then I put sourdough. You know, I put like a fridge rise and my meat and my eggs and I run out so darn quickly. Do you have an extra big refrigerator?

[Amy Cross]

So it's, it's a standard depth, like counter depth. American fridge, like 36 inches counter depth. It's not very big. When we did this kitchen remodel during the pandemic, my husband did the entire thing. I did wait nine months to get this refrigerator because appliances, you know, were like on back order. But I made sure it didn't have the freezer section up in the shelf part of the okay of the fridge. So it does give me a little bit more space. But, but I make sure when I bring items home, even dairy items. Like instead of having the big tubs of Greek yogurt from Costco, I transfer those into quart jars with a metal lid and it'll keep it fresh a couple weeks longer than what it says. So normally like Greek yogurt is six weeks out. It will actually push it to like eight weeks out. But when you're getting items in the fridge that are all similar sizes, it actually saves so much space.

[Lisa]

Okay, so that's why you're taking it out of the packaging. Now. Does it have to be the gasket lid for that effect to happen with the yogurt?

[Amy Cross]

For yogurt, dairy, avocados, half of the avocado will last in a, in a glass jar, you know, mason jar with a metal lid. Onions, when I chop them up, those will also last. Chopped apples will last. Those all have to be a metal lid. And then other items like the berries actually do better with a plastic lid that has a little bit of airflow. So plastic is porous. So a little bit of the compensation will come out with the plastic lid. So that's a question. I get all of the time that people want to use, you know, like the gray ball lids. And sometimes it works better and sometimes it doesn't. And then the last charts in our book, we have what needs a plastic lid and what needs a metal lid on the jars.

[Lisa]

Okay. Based on what needs the air and what doesn't. So with like, the apples, are you putting like lemon juice or how do you keep diced apples? And then also you mentioned avocados. Let's talk about those things.

[Amy Cross]

So we'll do apples first. But okay. Anyways, I am diabetic, so I can only eat half an apple at a time. And it's just my husband here now. So we're not going through the produce like we used to when we had. Well, at one time we had eight here. So now. Right. Yeah, currently the two of us. But when you slice up an apple and you store it in a glass. Glass. Normally a wide mouth pint jar is what I'm using with the metal lid. That will stay fresh, like for over a week without oxidizing in the jar. So you don't have to add lemon juice or citric acid or anything to it. And if you get cosmic Crisp, which are here from Washington, Wazoo designed those. But cosmic crisp and honeycrisp apples also stay white longer. They don't oxidize as quickly. So I kind of prefer those, even though they have a little bit higher sugar content. They're just my favorites.

[Lisa]

Yeah.

[Amy Cross]

And then avocados, if you get. Even if you're not trying to buy organic everything, when you buy organic avocados and organic bananas, they're not sprayed with ethylene, which is a growth ripening hormone. And so even if you don't care about buying organic for most things, those two items will actually help you save money because they don't spoil as quickly. And then when you store those, when you store avocados and lemons together in the crisper drawer, they actually will keep each other fresh for over a month. And so they are produce buddies and they like each other. And so you can keep whole avocados and whole lemons. Well, citrus will last more than a month, but they are produce buddies and they'll keep the lemons fresh for a month. And then as you cut them, if you're only using half of an avocado, then you put it in a glass jar with the metal lid and then while we're talking about produce buddies, just let me tell you the other ones. But apples, oranges and bananas hate each other, so you never want to store them in a produce bowl. Together, they will actually make each other spoil really quickly. So if you can separate those in a bowl or in different parts of your refrigerator, that's like the best thing to do. And if you're trying to ripen an avocado, you can actually put a banana near it. But it will also make the banana ripen super quickly. So you need to be prepared to want to eat that banana right away. And then things like potatoes and onions, when you stir those three feet apart, the last harvest season to harvest season. So when you're storing those near each other, they're going to make each other spoil quicker.

[Lisa]

Okay, so three feet or more, add.

[Amy Cross]

Avocados and lemons together. And then other items, the further apart the better.

[Lisa]

Okay, yeah, well, that's such little things. But it's important. Now when you cut your avocado in half, is that when you're keeping it in the glass jar with the metal lid? Because I've never tried that. I usually just put it in a Tupperware. But it will, It's. There's like a little bit of air coming through. And so I think it. That help. That makes it brown faster.

[Amy Cross]

Yeah, it definitely lasts at least four days. Four days to a week. It just depends on, you know, what size jar you used. If you leave the pit in it and the skin. So if you, you know, know that you're going to only use half, then it will actually last a little bit longer. If it's the side that doesn't have the pit or you've already taken the skin off, then it will last the shorter amount of time. But still, still like four days. To not throw away $4 avocado is amazing, right?

[Lisa]

Yeah, yeah. We usually will go through, you know, at least one, but sometimes it's one and a half. Sometimes you can get left with that random half avocado when not everybody's eating it. And so that's important to know because I find myself storing it fairly regularly enough. I have a little citrus. I'll try to sprinkle that on there. But yeah, I'd rather it not brown at all because that looks more appetizing. We were talking about the refrigerator earlier and you mentioned not having, I believe you were saying, like the side by side refrigerator. Is that what you meant? Like, do you have the drawer?

[Amy Cross]

I have French door, one that opens up and Then there's three drawers, like just the normal crisper drawers. And then at the bottom is the freezer that opens. But we made sure that when we bought this one, the ice is in the door and that ice compartment isn't taking up a huge, you know, area of shelf space space inside the refrigerator. And I do have a second fridge in this house that my husband stores drinks in. And during harvest season I use. But we don't store any groceries in it. So I, I do like, to be really honest, we do have two refrigerators. One's like an old apartment kind of refrigerator in the garage. And it doesn't have any groceries in it. It just has like harvest season when I'm canning and stuff, I use that. And then other times of the year, my husband puts his, his beverages in there. So.

[Lisa]

Well, I was, I was going to say. So we, the house we lived in before this, I had our refrigerator and freezer very similar to yours. It had the French doors with the refrigerator and the crisper drawers and then the drawer on the bottom. And now the house we just moved into, it has the freezer on one side, the fridge on the other. And I can't believe how long it took me to realize like the visibility in that. I was constantly finding things in the back of the fridge that we didn't get to, that we wasted, which was very unusual because we never throw things away. Like I look in the refrigerator, see what we have, use it up in some capacity. And it happened for several months where I was always forgetting something. And I realized it's the configuration of it to have a fridge that even though it's the same space because you have a thin freezer and a thin fridge, but like it's long, it just, it's so much less user friendly. That's just my opinion. So if people are shopping for one. I never noticed this because this was the first time that I had that switch so close together with a large family. There was lots of food going in and out and it was a very noticeable difference. I don't know if you've found that to be true too.

[Amy Cross]

Yeah, our old fridge was the French door style, the side by side style. And that's why I got this one when we, we're shopping for. Yes, it made a thing that I've done in there. I could like acrylic trays and like most of those baskets, the totes will fit like eight, six to eight jars in it. So then I can pull out the whole drawer or you know, like we call them Salad baskets. So I keep all of like our salad toppings all together. Like any kind of chopped up produce, I keep it all together. Or if I'm, you know, defrosting me, I have a certain area that, you know, I kept it in there. But I remember one time, a long time ago with the old fridge, we had nine bottles of barbecue sauce, like hidden in different areas.

[Lisa]

That's what I'm saying. Stuff gets lost in those refrigerators. Yes, it gets lost. Yeah.

[Amy Cross]

Yeah. So now I. Well, two things. Now I like really try really hard not to open up like a new sauce until that sauce is gone. And I've learned that if you're buying things especially on sale, you know, going into like Memorial Day and Labor Day when condiments and stuff are on sale, then you can stock up. But if you stock up and keep them in your pantry, they'll actually last 18 months past that Best Buy date. So if you're opening them and putting them in the refrigerator, then they're going to spoil quicker. So that way we can still have food security and know that we have the ingredients that we need in the house.

[Lisa]

Just don't open them.

[Amy Cross]

Often times they're not open yet. Yeah.

[Lisa]

Yes. Yeah, we, we try to do that too. But I did find two ketchups open today and then we opened a third one. And I'm telling you, I'm blaming the. The refrigerator, but I'm getting used to it and I just have to remove things to look behind things, but I can't like see around them in the same way. But yeah, in our new house, definitely never getting a fridge like this because it's not very user friendly, even though it has plenty of space. And I don't know about you, but I prefer more fridge space in the house and less freezer space because I keep a deep freezer. It's really a stand up upright freezer with all the meat. And then inside the house I really only need like frozen berries, our ice cream maker. And that's about it. And so I'm like, I just wish this whole thing was fridge just about.

[Amy Cross]

Yeah, I. We are on kind of the same journey as you have been on for a while. We are getting ready to move to list our house. So we are like boxing up all of our food storage and all that kind of stuff and trying to figure it out. And we know where we're moving to. Like we know what town we're moving to because that's where our family lives. But it's four hours away from where we Live now. But we don't know where we're moving. We don't know like when you just show the town. Yeah. But we know that like our food storage room needs to be emptied out because we need to finish the floors through the house. And my husband's been on this remodeling.

[Lisa]

Project for years and now it has to get finished. Right now it has to get finished.

[Amy Cross]

And we're hoping to move this summer, but we don't know if we're moving to town for a little while and then trying to build like our dream house or what we need to happen. So we're right there.

[Lisa]

You're right. Doing exactly what I am doing. Yes. What we were doing last fall.

[Amy Cross]

Yeah. I just don't have a house full of kids right now.

[Lisa]

Right.

[Amy Cross]

But we are moving closer to our kids and we were foster parents, so we've had lots of kids in our house over the years. And then the last we had our grandma here since I've been on the the podcast last time. So our grandma lived with us for her last chapter of her life.

[Lisa]

Okay.

[Amy Cross]

And she was 95, so really know how to learn how to cook for her and you know, different things. And then we're an allergy family. And then having the foster kids, I've really learned over the years how to, you know, shop on a budget and keep the items that I need in the house. And then I have reflective sympathetic dystrophy. So in the spring and summertime I'm doing great. But when we go from fall to winter time, like I can have really bad episodes, coats and flare ups. So I've also learned over the years to like batch cook items. As I'm cooking dinner, I'm batch cooking more meals. So, you know, instead of making one night's worth of taco meat, I'm making five or six and putting those in the freezer. So on a harder day, it's really easy to swap those out. And you know, that's all these things that I've learned how to do is how I've been able to keep $135 grocery budget. And it hasn't changed over the years. So per person, per month, I spent $135 on groceries. And we're in the Seattle area, so.

[Lisa]

We'Re like, okay, that's my next question.

[Amy Cross]

Yeah, we're like one of the top three grocery prices in the whole country. So, you know, it's not cheap groceries. We're mostly organic. I normally say that I'm 80% organic. I don't make bread anymore. That's like, since I became diabetic, I haven't been baking bread because then I want to eat it all the time. So that's, that's, that's not something I save money on there. But just learning how to have the ingredients in your house that you need and you know, those ingredients being really versatile really helps being able to cut down the grocery budget and then like the tips that I give for batch cooking and being able to pull out these meals on YouTube. This year we have started focusing. Every two weeks, I post all of the meals that we have ate for the last, the previous two weeks. So it's kind of fun to see us moving through winter and now coming into spring. Like how those meals have rotated and when I have just pulled something out of the freezer and when it's only taken five minutes or, you know, when I've spent an hour making something because I want something fancy, you know?

[Lisa]

Right.

[Amy Cross]

It really helps give my followers an idea of how this budget is really working. And we show all of our grocery hauls. So when I go grocery shopping, it's with the content team. So I don't go, I don't get delivery, I don't anything. Like, I go to Costco once a month and then I go to our local Fred Meyers, which is like Kroger and other parts of the country. So it's just one shopping trip for all of our groceries and I plan it for three weeks. And then at that three week mark, I'm kind of like, okay, do I have enough that I can push it off for another week? And then if I do, I try to do it for the four weeks. But that mentally saying it's only once a month is not good for me. So saying it's three weeks trying to push it to four, like, really helps us. But this is the same grocery budget we have used when we had eight here, it maxed out at a thousand. And then right as the pandemic happened, Littles left and my big kids moved back home and so we used that same budget. And even with inflation and grandma living here and now this last year with her being gone and just my husband and I, we are spending $270 a month on groceries and we eat 99.9% of the meals here at the house. We haven't had takeout at all in 2025 yet, so.

[Lisa]

Wow.

[Amy Cross]

Yeah. So we haven't had takeout, we haven't had drive through, we haven't went out to coffee because we're trying to save, to move.

[Lisa]

Yes. Right. And to build potentially.

[Amy Cross]

Yeah. He bribed me that like, oh, you could get a new couch if we didn't have this going out budget. I'm like, okay, like if I don't go out for this year, we can do this really has motivated me because these couches, I used to be a mortgage broker and before the market crashed like in 2007. And so these couches are from when I used to do mortgages. So they're like 18 years old.

[Lisa]

Yeah. So you're ready to do a little upgrade.

[Amy Cross]

So ready when we move to have that. But it's a little bit of sacrifice. But we have once a month went out for a special occasion with our kids, you know, each month to go out to eat. But for the most part, like, like we're just making meals and prepping and having things here and then really trying to eat down our food storage too, which I've kept like our long term things like I have wheat berries and beans and rice, you know, in long term storage that's going to last long time. But things in our like working pantry. I've been trying to eat down the last couple months, but it has let me have extra money in our budget because we are doing so many road trips, trips over to the land that we are, we're going to go to that we're not stopping to get takeout. So I've been buying like fun things like beef jerky and pepperoni sticks and this kind of car snacks that we get. And so that way we haven't been getting, you know, gas station stops either.

[Lisa]

Yes, yes, that's, that's important.

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[Lisa]

So this, I'm sure is a very hot topic on your YouTube channel because everyone's grocery budgets for the most part have increased over the last several years. So what have been the shifts that you've made to keep that budget at that same amount even though some of the groceries have gone up? Or what ingredients are you prioritizing? Are you like filler ingredients or what are the, what are some of your top tips then for actually saving the money on those groceries?

[Amy Cross]

So I like to buy ingredients and I focus on ingredients, but things that I can use multiple ways. So like I buy Greek yogurt instead of buying sour cream and yogurt and that way I can use it for both things and it doesn't go to waste. And you know, focusing on things that you can use a lot of different ways, like we don't buy crunchy taco shells anymore. I get flour tortillas or corn tortillas, which corn tortillas will last like nine months and.

[Lisa]

Oh yeah, really cool.

[Amy Cross]

Yeah, you can put it in the freezer and just pull out as you need. But those, you know, tortillas I can use, you know, as quesadill or breakfast burritos or all kinds of things where like those crunchy tortillas were going to waste.

[Lisa]

Right.

[Amy Cross]

They go stale, they go still. So, like focusing on those kind of things, I have noticed I used to have a bacon buffer in our freezer because I always had like you know, six or eight, you know, things of bacon in there. And now like I have one or two. But I still prioritize like I want my Kerrygold butter, I want my certain items and, and you know, and I make sure I get it. But there's, you know, there's less processed things. Like I don't really buy anything that isn't a single ingredient item. So it's rare that we're buying things that are already, you know, pre made. Besides bread, I don't make bread right now, but. And then, you know, like when we have a little bit of pumpkin seeds or different kinds of seeds, instead of just having a little tiny bit, I'll mix them all up in a jar and then we'll use those to, you know, have as a salad topping so those little bits of things aren't going to waste or you know, I'm using up little bits to put into protein balls or, you know, different other ingredients that we're having that has random items in it. Speaking of which, I made some brownies this weekend. They're brownies they have oat, oatmeal in them that I ground up to be oat flour. They have applesauce, which actually was pears, but. But it's pear sauce is zucchini eggs, right? And then there is cocoa powder in it and a little tiny bit of maple syrup. Like, it's practically a breakfast. There's oatmeal, eggs, zucchini, and they're brownies. Like, they're like practically good for you. And so, you know, just trying to use up those things that you have in the house and repurpose it and it's kind of fun. I know some people are against it, but it's kind of fun. With ChatGPT now, once you have like your inventory, you can like put it on a Google Doc and send it to Chat GPT and say, what meals can I make with the.

[Lisa]

Oh, I've heard this.

[Amy Cross]

Yes. And it's so fun. And like the other day when I was trying to use up this applesauce, I was like, what recipe can I put, you know, this applesauce in? And they were. And then. And I have zucchini, you know, and it like popped this brownie recipe that I tweaked and worked around a little bit, so it was lower in sugar for me. But, you know, it's. It's kind of fun to just, just go on to Chat GPT and ask it a question and see what it pops up. So I, I just think that's fun. But just like repurposing things that you have for like snacks. I make like yogurt, bark and use up extra little berries and stuff. So that's, you know, something that was in the refrigerator that's going into the freezer and it's going to last longer. And just really trying to, you know, zero waste. Zero waste for anything that we have in the house.

[Lisa]

Yeah, that's gotta be the biggest tip is just as long as none of it goes to waste, that's going to instantly cut down on your grocery budget. Have there been any things that have gone up a lot in price due to inflation that you've bought less of over the years? Or how have you kept this budget? The exact same? Like, have there been any swaps? Like, okay, now we buy less berries or, you know, and we, we do more bananas or we only do in season foods, or have there been any swaps out as prices have increased?

[Amy Cross]

I think the biggest one, we have backyard chickens, but they're older and so they don't lay in the wintertime. So we Were really noticing it this. This year. Everybody was that bags eggs, you know, that I wasn't buying as many. Like I used to buy them in five dozen packages, you know, during the winter time to get us through. And this year, like I was getting like 18amonth and just using those only for when I absolutely needed them. And now it's spring and our chickens are laying again. And it's. And the chickens are laying everywhere. So prices are coming down at the grocery store too. So in the next month or so, we should continue to see the prices drop because the chickens are laying again after so many being destroyed. You know, eggs definitely was something that we normally have hard boiled eggs all the time in the refrigerator. That's something we definitely didn't have this winter as much. So I think that's the thing that probably affected our budget. Budget the most was not doing that. But we always put money aside every single month and for a meat purchase. So we get our, our beef, a half a beef. When there was a bunch here at the house, we used to get it once a year. Now that there's only two of us, we get it once every two years. So out of that 135 grocery budget, that is 270. I put 50 of that aside while the, while the cow is being raised. So last month we actually had a little bit of a buffer because the family that raises the cows hasn't had the new calf yet. And so I had a little bit extra in my budget to spend, but that money goes into a savings account. And that savings account is there for when we do the meat purchase. And that is really amazing. So, you know, everything costs me the same amount. If it's. It's hamburger or steaks, it's the same.

[Lisa]

Amount per pound, right? Same per pound. Yes. You just only get so many of them. And so the question is, do you go to the farmer's market when you run out of steak and get more steak even though it's not time for the beef order? Right.

[Amy Cross]

Steak is always the one that we have the longest. So we're always trying to get rid of the steak at the end of it.

[Lisa]

Everybody.

[Amy Cross]

I like cooking things with hamburger because then I can.

[Lisa]

How about you just send me your.

[Amy Cross]

Steak, then I can spread it out for them. Because a steak, you only have one night. If I make something with hamburger, I can batch cook it and it can go into the refrigerator.

[Lisa]

Oh yeah, no, steak's a one night thing. And the problem is all of our kids love steak and they're like, well, why do only you and dad get the steak? Which I do share the steak sometimes, but usually it's the sirloin and not the T bones. Right? Like, we're, you know, we do at home date nights. And the problem is, I wish that the whole cow was steak, and I wish the whole milk jar was cream, but that's just not how it works.

[Amy Cross]

Yeah, steaks are always, like, at the end, we're like, oh, we still have, like, steaks, man.

[Lisa]

You send me your steak, I'll send you my ground beef.

[Amy Cross]

We'll just call it even ground beef. So if you're buying it from the store for ground beef, I'm always adding cauliflower rice to it. I'm adding zucchini to it, you know, depending on what I'm making. My husband didn't even know until I started Instagram that I had been adding cauliflower rice to the ground beef for over 20 years. And then he, like, was watching a reel one time, and he was like, what? And I'm like, well, you won't eat all the vegetables. So I sneak them in wherever I can.

[Lisa]

I have to sneak them in for you.

[Amy Cross]

But it's so easy to double the. The size of the meat that you have. So with, like, ground beef, whatever you're cooking in beef, you can add that many vegetables to it and just make it spread further. So. Which is just great. So, like, when I'm making taco meat, I'm adding beans and peppers and onions and other things that help stretch that out further. And that's just how my family is used to it. But it's also how I sneak in all those extra things that they might not eat on the side. So I can't really get them to eat a side. Yeah, definitely cheaper eat them, you know, when they're in the meat, because that's how we've always done it, you know, so it's really great. And then it's just. It's just funny the things that you kind of sneak into. And. And, like, my husband will eat something. He's like, okay, now, what exactly were in those brownies? You know, like, they were good. And so it's like, okay, but I mentioned the applesauce. I had canned a bunch of pears a few years ago, and I realized that canning pears in quart jars is way too big for us, and we get really bored of them. And, yeah, peaches is fine, because then I can put it into just desserts, but the. The pears is harder. And so I started making Those into, like, pear sauce, applesauce, and then we're eating it up quicker. So we had a bunch of jars that were, like, 4 years old at this point that I want to, like, start using up. So I've been using that and then as pear sauce, and then just adding a little bit of cinnamon. And so that's like, something that was in our pantry that we were kind of sick of and didn't really want to eat meat. And then we were able to repurpose. And then over the years, we also found out that we had a lot of allergies. So when all of my kids are home, it's soy, gluten, dairy, raw sugar cane, and then we have one vegetarian, and then I'm diabetic. So we have. We have a lot of things that we're working through. And so I like having single ingredient items in the pantry, because then if something happens or a diet changes, it's really easy to change that out. One of the things is I used to eat, like, a lot of almonds, and I've realized over the years I'm more sensitive to almonds. And so I can have them occasionally and things, but not, like, sit down and have almonds or have almond flour. So I used to make, like, cookies with almond flour, and I can't do that anymore.

[Lisa]

Yeah. So if you were to be buying meat from the store, what are the cuts that you would go for for budget concerns? Like, what's the cheapest meat?

[Amy Cross]

So roast and ground beef is what I would always go towards, because I can just spread that out and use it so many different ways. Like a roast. When I cook a roast, we have the roast for dinner, and then I'll slice it and I'll put it in the freezer, and then we can pull it back out and have French chips. And then when the French chips are still a little bit left, then I'll put it in minestrone soup. Like, you can just repurpose it until it's go. And. Or we do, like, with the roast, we'll turn it into fajitas and make tacos. And, you know, there's so many things that you can do with ground hamburger. But the other thing I really like, too, is, like, big pork loins. So you can cook that all and just, like, barely season it, you know, salt, pepper, garlic. And then as I pull it out of the instant pot and I shred it all up, I'll put those into different containers to go into the freezer, and then later I can pull them back out and make them into pulled pork sandwiches or put them on tacos or I've been making these farro green grain ball faro grain bowls. And we had some shredded pork that was in the freezer with it. And like, literally it took me five minutes to make dinner. And we had a really nutritious, you know, healthy whole foods dinner.

[Unknown]

Right?

[Amy Cross]

Yeah. So those are. Those are some of the things that I really go towards when I'm looking to buy or when I have, you know, things in the freezer to use that.

[Lisa]

Yeah, I agree. What are some of your other meals that use up leftovers? I. When you were saying that, I was thinking about the other night, we had just a little bit of meat left from, like, a few different things. And I'm like, we're just going to make nachos because you put it on chips and you hide it under cheese and then a bunch of different, you know, beans and veggies and stuff like that. It disguises it. You know, there's lots of things like that that you can really disguise and reinvent the leftovers. What are some of your favorites?

[Amy Cross]

Yeah, when I'm cooking it, I tried to divide it. Instead of it going into the refrigerator and being forgotten about, I'll divide it right there into glass portions and your glass containers and put it into the freezer. But fried rice is another one that you can, like, throw pretty much anything in. And then since we're getting closer to Easter, I'm not sure when this will come out, but I always get like our Easter ham. And then when we get done with the ham, I will divide that up and dice it up into small portions. And then those I normally put into smaller containers or like 1 cup portion sizes when I put them in the freezer, because that's really good to add to breakfast burritos or different breakfast items that you're doing. Or you can, you know, add them to different casseroles. But like, that ham can get spread out so far where it only lasts four days in the refrigerator after it's cooked. So really, you know, remembering that, you know, people are sick of eating ham after two days, you know, or three days.

[Lisa]

Right.

[Amy Cross]

And, you know, the same thing for like Thanksgiving and. And, you know, anytime I have turkey or chicken, I will dice that up and put it into the freezer and then we're able to have chicken pot pies and, you know, different items. Our meals really switch out through the seasons, too, and I'm sure yours do, too.

[Lisa]

Yeah.

[Amy Cross]

So it's really important to me That I know what the inventory is in our refrigerator, in our freezer. And so normally at the beginning of the school year and the end of the school year, like, May kind of for us, I'm really going through our freezer and making sure if there's anything that, like, I made, like lasagnas, like zucchini lasagnas or any kind of lasagnas, different things that I would put into the oven. I'm making sure that that springtime, you know, spring break to the end of the school year, I'm trying to use those up before it gets too hot, and I don't want to turn on my oven in the winter time. And then again, when we go into, like, the kids go back to school, we have nice weather here normally until October. Like, October sometimes is nicer than July here, but it just depends on rain and stuff. But I'm making sure that if I have, like, summer kind of things, last year I had a ton of shrimp in the freezer, and I don't really use shrimp during the winter time. So that was, like, something that I was trying to use up and remember to use.

[Lisa]

Yeah.

[Amy Cross]

Because I had all this extra shrimp. Shrimp that we had from the end of the summer. But hot dog buns is another one at the end of the summer to, like, make sure that you use them up if they're in the freezer, that you don't really want them sitting another six months in the freezer. So I try to really do that intentionally, you know, as the weather's changing, like different seasons. Yeah. And then you really have different meals that you're focusing on during different times. And then for meal planning. I hate meal planning. I really do. And it's really funny because I have a grocery planner, like a meal planner, but I use it totally opposite of how people would normally use it. So I go and, you know, I'm checking the inventory, and it. And it has, like, a shopping list in it. And it has. You check your refrigerator, freezer, and pantry for things that need to be used up. So you're, like, reminding yourself to use up things. But that monthly calendar that's in our grocery planner, I use it backwards. And so at the end of the month or the end of the week, I'll go back and write the meals that we had. And that way I have, like, 10 years of tracking what meals that we had, and then we can rotate them out seasonally. I can see what my family liked. And another trick that I do to remember to go write it down is I take A picture of my dinner almost every single night. Even before I had Instagram. Yeah. But I taken pictures and they're all on my Google Photos. So I can look back and say, oh, that spring I was eating this and I really, really like that. Or I need to make this salad dressing again. Or, you know, all those kind of things that you kind of forget about. And so that's a really handy tool too, if you don't want to take the time to meal plan, like just documenting what you have been eating. It will save you time later.

[Lisa]

Yes, that's such a valid point because I find that we forget. Like, we get things that we just love and then we forget that they exist completely. But there was something that like everybody loved. We were in the groove of making them and then we forget. So I think it is, it's good to revisit. We actually had this happen recently where we went back and my kids were looking at my camera roll because they like doing that. And my daughter used to make chocolate eclairs. Not that that's like a big, you know, staple. Like you got to know how to make eclairs because that's important. But it did remind us like, oh, those were so good. Why do we not make those anymore? And so the last two days she's made eclairs, you know, but it happens with valuable foods too, not just desserts. I was wondering when you were talking about, you know, having to go in and look and see what do we have too much of and pre portioning, was it a huge shift for you going from having all these kids at home to almost to the point where like, I can't make too much food, I can't buy too much food. There's not going to be a time where it's like, oh, no. I mean, very rarely. There's certain things that maybe you bought too much of, but I can buy with just reckless abandon and where it. It's not going to go to waste. I wonder what that shift looks like when you go, you know, to be an empty nester after all that.

[Amy Cross]

Yeah, it's kind of funny because our algorithm on YouTube has changed. And so I am 49, we are pushing 50, our kids are out of the house. And you know, we're looking forward to that next stage of being grandparents and that kind of thing. But yeah, right. Right now it's just the two of us. And it's been like that for a year and I still haven't wanted to change our grocery shopping habits habits. Like, I know going into the grocery store too often, you know, going in for avocado, you end up walking out with a bag full. And now that bag full cost a hundred dollars instead of, you know, 50 than it used to cost. But I try to buy things that I know that are going to last. So. And that's the same kind of thing, just different proportions. So, like in the fall time, you know, apples. You know, I used to get bushels of apples, and now I will use £25 instead of £100, pounds of them, which will stay fresh in the winter, you know, in our garage all winter. And then citrus in the. That's fall time. Citrus in the winter time, you know, lasts for months, and that's when it's harvested. And then going into a summer and into fall, watermelons actually last a really long time. So you can actually keep a watermelon in your pantry for, like, weeks. So we normally get one in August and it'll last, like, until late into September. So those are like fresh food security items that people don't think about out that you can have. And they don't necessarily need to be in your refrigerator all the time. Like, if you have fridge space, it's great, but if you don't. But teaching your family that there might not always be that certain berry that you want, but there's always fruit in the house, you know, and. And, you know, being able to do that. But right now, I am honestly so sick of strawberries. We had strawberries in our house.

[Lisa]

Every single strawberry in a jar.

[Amy Cross]

Three years. Because I felt like I always had to show people fresh strawberries in the jar, you know, and like, literally, like, I was so sick of them because we normally would not buy them in the winter time. And so having that same fruit all of the time was just, you know, so hard. And then we try not to waste anything, so we worry, yeah, you made them, you know, and so we eat them. But, you know, having different kinds of berries and being able to rotate them and them lasting so long, then, you know, you don't have to stress about having to eat them up. But really, you know, our algorithm on YouTube changing has been really interesting. So it used to be where I was talking more to young moms, and that's really my heart. Like, I talk to a lot of mops, groups and different things, trying to lead up that next generation. Like, that's the calling of my heart. But I was on Mary's Nest about a year ago, and she's older than me, which is great. Like, I love learning from all the different generations. But it kind of switched her algorithm a little bit because her followers are a little bit older too, but they watch longer videos. Like 30 year olds will watch 2 minute videos, 65 year olds will watch longer videos. So, you know, it's really helped me. Okay, yeah, but being able to help empty nesters or college aged parents like we are, or you know, parents where, you know, our kids are home in the summertime and they're gone again and you have to come constantly be switching, you know, thinking about things. And then I have a lot of followers now that are on Social Security and are widowed and you know, trying to buy groceries and wanting to have like fresh produce in their house but worried about buying too much and it's spoiling. So I've been getting this whole new generation of followers and I think it's, it's been kind of neat because, you know, grandma was living with us, so I think some of them came to watch some of grandma's content when she was on video so us before she passed away. But it's just, it's just been really neat because my heart has always been to make a generational change. And I thought that was with the Littles. You know, our name is the Cross Legacy. That's our family motto and it has been for 27 years. And that's why we named everything the Cross Legacy. But it's neat to see that I'm reaching the older generation and helping the older generation than me too. And so it just, this whole thing that has happened has just been so amazing. I call it ministry to me to be able to help all of these moms and families, you know, across the world and actually have hope again in the kitchen and be able to prioritize what that, you know, 80, 20% is wanting to have wholesome food and what's okay to, you know, splurge on or know, you know, whatever your choices are for your family that you're making. But it doesn't have to be stressful and you don't have to cook three meals every single day to have, you know, really nutritious meals in your house.

[Lisa]

Yes, absolutely. It doesn't have to be perfect. And you know, we all have budgets to stay within and if it doesn't allow for organic, I think that's a place where people feel really guilty and it doesn't always have to, you know, be that way. And so I like that you also teach where to prioritize that, where to prioritize with your budget, how to make sure that none of it goes to waste. So tell the listeners where to best find you. You've mentioned your YouTube, the Cross Legacy. Where else should they follow along?

[Amy Cross]

So we're reaching 5 million people a month on Instagram, which is just crazy.

[Lisa]

Yeah.

[Amy Cross]

So we are posting those short, short little clips on Instagram that are going viral and all of the things to save money on groceries. I kind of tease that Instagram as my mailing list. I really do have a mailing list, but that's where I normally put, you know, anything new that's happening, exciting. But we are putting out three videos a week right now on YouTube. So I'm really like trying to go through all the produce items and teach people tips on those and how to grocery shop. We do all of our grocery hauls and then I'm doing all the meals that I'm making and recipe videos. Like there's so much that's going out. But we went from the first year we put out one video and then we pushed it to two and now we're like, can we do one every three days? So for the last couple months we've been putting out one every three days, which is just really cool. And then so I am the cross legacy on all social media and dot com. And then my book is called the Zero Waste Produce Guide and that's available on our website and that has 75 produce items from A to Z. And so they're all listed out. And there's 40 other meal ideas, recipes, like ways to use up produce, what freezes easy, how to organize your fridge like it's packed with information. And I will say it is a little costly. It's a little bit more expensive than what you would normally buy for a book. We spent two years designing this book and it's a full color hardcover book, but it's printed in the United States. And I'm a small business so I'm only able to order like 100 or 200 books at a time. So for me the cost is higher.

[Lisa]

Right.

[Amy Cross]

If your listeners, we have a special discount code that is Farmhouse15 to get it at a discount when you're getting it. And it's on Amazon also. So on our website it has the discount code or if you want to buy through Amazon, then it has a free shipping for prime. So it kind of depends on which way is better for you. But we send out every single one of those packages and we just cherish knowing that we can help shape other lives with this, this book that we worked so hard on and we're so proud of.

[Lisa]

Yeah, yeah, well. And if people can not waste food because of it, then ultimately the cost will definitely pay for itself. So I think that that's, I like the idea too that you show how to organize the refrigerator, because that was a question we got that we didn't really touch on. And a lot of these things, like, it's very, it's hypothetical. It's like, oh, I'll do this, I'll do this. But it's nice over on your YouTube channel too. Like you actually show how the groceries turn into meals and what that exactly looks like. So I think that that's a real helpful resource.

[Amy Cross]

When I, I had a TED talk and when I was studying for my TED talk and doing all the research, I found out that the average family in the United States is throwing away over 40% of what they're buying.

[Lisa]

I've heard that.

[Unknown]

And I'm like, is this true?

[Lisa]

Because we don't throw away food. But it's, you know, I don't know.

[Amy Cross]

One organization actually said it was 61% for household food waste. But, but the average family, like college age parents, like, are spending like somebody my age with grown unplugged kids are spending around $1,000 a month on groceries and which is really crazy. But they're going to the grocery store all of the time. They're like trying to learn how to recook smaller meals or feeling like they're having to cook all the time. And if you're wasting 60% of that, they're throwing away $600. If they're wasting 40% of that, they're throwing Away $400. And when you really think about, you know, the berries or the wilted lettuce or the spinach, like spinach will last for a month in the refrigerator. Like you don't have to throw away your produce items, but you think about the items in your pantry that are going still or you're bored of or the things in your freezer that you just let get freezer burned. You can really see how an average family that's not a homesteader, that wasn't raised this way, you know, is throwing away so much because they just continually buy and they buy what they think that they're going to make for meals without looking at what's actually what they have in the refrigerator. And so, you know, that's something else I get asked all the time. Like I work a lot with like food banks and stuff too, and lower income families. And you know, I have $50 and I need to make it last fast, you know, for 10 days. And I need 10 dinners. And, you know, what cheap and easy meals can I make? And it's like, okay, what is in your house? Like, send me a picture of your. What do you have? You know, like, what do you have? You know, and it's like, once you know what you have, then, okay, then you can use this, this, and this, and go buy this one item and make this meal, you know, But.

[Lisa]

Right.

[Amy Cross]

Mindset is just totally backwards. It's just like, oh, I need to go into the grocery store and buy all of these things. Things, and not even think about, well, I could use this instead and substitute that, you know, so that's what those are. The kind of things that I'm really trying to teach on my YouTube channel is Things that you can swap out and do different and use up and, you know, and it could be smaller or it can be larger, and, you know, either way, but, you know, really trying to have people afford groceries again. And. And one time we were working five jobs between my husband and I. Like, we both had main jobs. We were raising our kids. And then we had all these side hustles, and we had canceled everything. Like, there was no cable.

[Lisa]

There was nothing else to cut.

[Amy Cross]

There was no anything. And we couldn't figure out what was going on. And it was our grocery budget. Like, our grocery.

[Lisa]

It's a huge piece. Yeah, yeah.

[Amy Cross]

And it was out of control. My husband was stopping all the time to pick up this or that and then extra things. And. And, you know, we were so busy, we weren't taking the time to actually see what we had. And when I started getting that under control, and at first it was like, oh, can we go two days without going to the grocery store? And then it was three days without.

[Lisa]

You really stretched that out.

[Amy Cross]

We really stretched it out because we want to move to a farm someday. I can actually see grocery stores from my house. So not.

[Lisa]

Wow. So it's not for convenience sake that you're going once a month. It's for.

[Amy Cross]

It's big.

[Lisa]

Having a tight handle on this budget and also, like, cooking through what you have because you have to. Like, that's another thing we were talking about earlier, like, seeing things in the back of the freezer. Well, if you would just wait a little longer and scrape together everything before going again, then nothing can go to waste.

[Amy Cross]

Right. And. And we do do that with all of our fresh items. We're trying to do that thing that in our pantry so things aren't going to waste. But we do have food security in our house and I think that's really important. Important too. Like we do have long term food security that I have purchased, you know, one bag of beans at a time, one bag of rice at a time, and use that grocery budget. But you know, if there was a time in our lives where we couldn't go to the grocery store or grocery store shelves were empty or all those things that our great grandmas taught us about that we forgot until the pandemic happened.

[Lisa]

Right.

[Amy Cross]

We do, we do have the ingredients and the supplies in our house. House that are long term food storage.

[Lisa]

Yes, yes, we do the same thing.

[Amy Cross]

Built over the years. But you know, some people hear, oh, I need to use everything up before I go to the store.

[Lisa]

Not like rice and beans. I just mean there's just like stuff in the bottom of the produce drawer that it's like, well, you could, you know, grab that potato, wash it and you know.

[Amy Cross]

No, no. People will send me coverts pictures of like, you know, I'm a minimalist and I only want to have this much in the house and that kind of stuff. And, and I do believe in having food security and that bringing peace.

[Lisa]

Oh, absolutely. Oh, yeah.

[Amy Cross]

And over the years we have, you know, small, you know, done that in little tiny increments and now we have it. And I was joking the other day that like, those wheat berries aren't going to expire until I'm 75. So, you know.

[Lisa]

Yeah, don't worry about that. Don't worry about your oils, like your olive oils, your wheat berries, your, you know, I, I will keep buying those because I do not want to ever see a day where I run out of them. So. Yeah, I'm not worried about that. Awesome. Well, we will leave links below for all the resources you mentioned. I really think people should go check you out on YouTube so they can see how this all, like, if you're still struggling with how it actually looks, then those three videos a week with you, grocery shopping, putting the meals together, that sounds like a really helpful application. So. Well, thank you so much. This has been very helpful. Lots of things I've learned as well.

[Amy Cross]

It's so exciting to get to talk to you again and you just don't even know how much you've changed our lives over the years. So I wouldn't have a blog, I wouldn't have a YouTube channel if it wasn't for you and your courses. And it's just really neat to be able to have discussions with you after following you since forever. Like when you were talking about Dave Ramsey back in the old old farmhouse, you know. Yeah, that's like the first video I watched, you know, a bunch of kids ago.

[Lisa]

Right, right.

[Amy Cross]

Yeah. It's just, it's really neat to, to get to talk to somebody you look up to so much and know that you're helping change families lives.

[Lisa]

Well, thank you. I appreciate that.

[Unknown]

Thanks as always for listening to the Simple Farmhouse Life podcast. My husband Luke and I and our.

[Lisa]

Eight kids work together side by side.

[Unknown]

On our little homestead and use our blog, podcast and YouTube channel to reach.

[Lisa]

Other homemakers, home cooks and home setters.

[Unknown]

With practical recipes and daily family life. For everyday sourdough recipes, make sure to check out our blog, farmassomboon.com and to dig deeper, we do also offer a course called Simple Sourdough over at Bit Ly Farmhouse.

[Lisa]

Sourdough Course. That's all one word. Bit Ly Farmhouses.

[Unknown]

If you're looking to learn how we earn an income online, check out my YouTube course at bit ly farmhouse YouTube.

[Lisa]

Course all one word.