Grocery Bill Tips and Budget Bites SB1680

Summary

The Stacking Benjamins Show

Episode: Grocery Bill Tips and Budget Bites SB1680
Release Date: May 9, 2025
Hosts: Joe Saul-Sehy and OG
Guests: Janice Torres, Len Penzo, and Doug

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Introduction

In this episode of The Stacking Benjamins Show, hosts Joe Saul-Sehy and OG delve into effective strategies for reducing grocery bills and managing food expenses. Joined by expert guests Janice Torres, Len Penzo, and neighbor Doug, the discussion centers around practical tips for saving money on groceries without compromising on quality or enjoyment.

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Grocery Budgeting Strategies

1. Meal Planning

The conversation kicks off with a focus on the importance of meal planning as a foundational strategy for managing grocery expenses.

• Len Penzo shares his experience:
  “We are religiously plan. I mean, we have to. Other things we would get way out of control with our spending.” [25:15]

• Janice Torres emphasizes strategic planning over drastic measures:
  “I like the word strategic more than drastically because that makes me feel like we're just going to eat rice and beans every day.” [15:59]

2. Reducing Meat Consumption

With meat being a significant portion of many grocery bills, the panel discusses various approaches to cutting back without sacrificing meals.

• Janice Torres mentions her shift to pescatarian living for both health and budget reasons:
  “I had to cut back on eggs recently... I tried the pescatarian thing, but... fish and seafood is hella expensive.” [49:08]

• Len Penzo responds by maintaining a balanced approach:
  “We go through a lot of meat in our household, but it is expensive.” [50:07]

3. Minimizing Food Waste

Addressing the common issue of food waste, the guests share their methods for ensuring purchased groceries are fully utilized.

• Len Penzo highlights the savings from eating leftovers:
  “I save $2,000 a year eating leftovers.” [28:26]

• Janice Torres discusses her challenge with food waste and strategies to mitigate it:
  “I've thrown out way too many bagged salads that never got made.” [27:45]

4. Utilizing Grocery Apps and Technology

The panel explores how technology can aid in tracking and reducing grocery expenses.

• Janice Torres advocates for using apps like Instacart for budgeting:
  “It helps me cut costs because I can see the total before I check out.” [46:10]

• Len Penzo shares savings from store-specific apps:
  “We get off usually 25% of our entire grocery bill just by using their app.” [47:26]

5. Buying in Bulk

While bulk purchasing can lead to savings, it requires careful consideration to prevent overbuying.

• OG explains his family's bulk buying habits and the precautions they take:
  “We buy the bulk stuff from Costco... we'll make two separate dishes instead and put one in the freezer.” [42:00]

• Janice Torres points out the challenges of bulk buying for smaller households:
  “I'm just like, where the hell am I even gonna put that?” [43:57]

6. Freezer Meal Strategies

Freezing meals is another tactic discussed, albeit with varying levels of success among the guests.

• Janice Torres admits difficulty in maintaining freezer meal plans:
  “Things get lost in my freezer, so I'm gonna say no.” [41:17]

• OG shares his system for organizing and utilizing freezer meals effectively:
  “We make two separate dishes instead and put one in the freezer.” [42:00]

7. Planting a Garden

While gardening can potentially reduce grocery costs, the panel expresses mixed feelings about its practicality.

• Doug humorously critiques the effort vs. reward of gardening:
  “...it forces you to focus... but it's still a slippery slope.” [50:23]

• Len Penzo believes certain plants like tomatoes are worth the effort:
  “If you're just going to plant one vegetable, and a tomato plant will push out a lot of tomatoes over a season.” [51:03]

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Interactive Trivia Competition

Midway through the episode, the hosts engage the guests in a trivia competition, injecting humor and camaraderie into the discussion.

• Doug poses a serious trivia question about tuberculosis cases in 2021, eliciting both laughs and groans:

  “How many new cases were there of tuberculosis in 2021?” [32:07]

• Janice Torres emerges as the winner with her accurate guess, lightening the mood after the challenging question.

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Conclusion and Key Takeaways

Wrapping up the episode, Doug summarizes the essential lessons shared:

1. Budgeting and Planning: Prioritize meal planning to control spending and minimize waste.
2. Avoid Prepackaged Items: Cutting out prepackaged goods can lead to significant savings.
3. Leverage Technology: Use grocery apps to track spending and apply discounts.
4. Utilize Leftovers: Incorporate leftover meals to reduce waste and save money.
5. Flexible Meal Preparation: Adapt meal plans based on available ingredients and sales.

The hosts encourage listeners to implement these strategies to achieve substantial reductions in their grocery bills while maintaining a satisfying and nutritious diet.

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Notable Quotes

• Joe Saul-Sehy on sustainable budgeting:
  “I hate the word drastically because it just sounds extreme. Let's be strategic.” [15:59]

• Len Penzo on the impact of leftovers:
  “I save $2,000 a year eating leftovers.” [28:26]

• Janice Torres on the therapeutic aspect of cooking:
  “It's been a sanctuary because it forces you to focus.” [21:23]

• Doug on the challenges of gardening:
  “...it forces you to focus... but it's still a slippery slope.” [50:23]

• Janice Torres on using technology for shopping:
  “It helps me cut costs because I can see the total before I check out.” [46:10]

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Final Thoughts

This episode of The Stacking Benjamins Show offers a wealth of practical advice for anyone looking to trim their grocery bills. Through engaging discussions and relatable anecdotes, the hosts and guests provide actionable strategies that balance cost-saving with maintaining quality and enjoyment in everyday meals. Whether it's through meticulous meal planning, leveraging technology, or simply being mindful of food waste, listeners are equipped with the tools needed to make smarter financial decisions in the kitchen.

For more insights and detailed strategies discussed in this episode, visit StackingBenjamins.com.

Transcript

[Joe Salsihai]

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[Len Penzo]

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[Joe Salsihai]

Switch upfront payment of $45 for 3 month plan equivalent to $15 per month required intro rate first, then full price plan options available, taxes and fees extra. See full [e-mail] hey there stackers. Happy Friday. Well, grocery store prices aren't getting cheaper and today Janice Torres is an expert at cooking great food. I can personally attest so is Len Penzo. Dude makes the best lasagna ever. They're joining a roundtable discussion. If you're new here, what happens on our roundtables? Well, on Monday and Wednesday we are all about concepts and experts, but on Friday we normally have this really chatty just discussion with some of the finest bloggers and podcasters in the business. So it's like you get to sit at the table with these people and kind of be a fly on the wall as they talk about today. Saving money on groceries, making better food all together. But before we dive into this grocery store and world of food episode, I've got two calendar events I want to point out. First, next Thursday we have a YouTube event. Been forever since we've had one of those. May 15 8pm Eastern, 5pm Pacific why most retirement calculators suck how to make it your Superpower man, the people at Bolden make a fantastic retirement calculator and we're going to talk about whether you use their calculator or not. I don't care. I just want to make sure you don't make mistakes while you're plotting out your timeline. If you've read my book, you know how important I think building your financial timeline is. Steve Chen is the CEO over at Bolden and he's going to join me to dive into this episode. And Steve joined us a few years ago we had a few hundred people join us online. Really robust took some great questions from the audience and he also walked through some steps that you don't want to miss. So join us live next Thursday, May 15, 8pm Eastern, 5pm Pacific. The link to go to so that we send you the reminder and you're on the list stacking Benjamins.com Bolden2025 and you spell Bolden B O L D I N 2025. Then on Tuesday, just a few days, five days. Five days after that, May 20th, I'm gonna be in Boston. Come hang out with other stackers, my daughter Autumn and me at Idle Hands Craft Brews in Malden. That's going to be at 6:30pm Sign up at st.judgments.com meetup. Love coming back to Boston. We're gonna have a lot of fun on Tuesday the 20th. So lots going on in mom's basement, but the big thing going on. We're taking you back to just after the pandemic for this fantastic greatest this episode with Janice Torres, Len Penzo, OG Doug and me and some, some some jokes. I remember even planning this episode, something that we really don't want to joke about. Who called this a holiday? Well, you'll find out in just a second what I'm talking about with holidays. Steve, hit the play button. Small Business Owners State farms there with small business insurance to fit your specific needs. Whether you're starting a new venture or growing an existing one, State Farm helps you choose the right coverage to protect what matters most. Working with a local State Farm agent helps you understand your coverage options. Offering local support to help you achieve your goals. Focus on turning your passion into a thriving business. Knowing your insurance can change as your business grows. State Farm here to help you succeed with your business. Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there. This message is brought to you by Navy Federal Credit Union. May is Military Appreciation Month and we're celebrating the military community that goes above and beyond every day with Navy Federal Credit Union. Navy Federal was created for the military community. It is dedicated to ensuring that its members feel celebrated and honored every single day. For over 90 years, Navy Federal's mission has been to support and uplift the military community. And this May is no different. It's not just a credit union. It's also a partner dedicated to helping its members achieve their financial goals. All active duty veterans and members of the military families are eligible to join. Navy Federal is Excited to celebrate Military Appreciation Month as a special time to recognize our troops and the profound contributions that they make. Learn more@navy federal.org Celebrate Navy Federal Credit Union. Our members are the mission Navy Federals ensured by NCUA What a filthy job. Could be worse. How could be raining?

[Doug]

Live from Joe's mom's basement, it's the Stacking Benjamin Show. I'm Joe's mom's neighbor, Doug, and according to this crazy calendar Joe's mom got me. Happy Tuberculosis Day. Are you kidding me? Who made this a holiday? Yeah, we're all gasping with excitement for this special day. Does your grocery bill make you wheeze? Well, you can breathe easier because today we'll help you drop those food expenses. Had enough of those breathing jokes. Yeah, that's two of us. Joining us for a budget trimming discussion, we welcome the host of the Yo Quiero Dinero podcast and founder of the Financial Freedom Summit, Janice Torres. Plus, say hello to our regular lecturer of money matters and a guy who sucks the air out of the room. Okay, that's gotta be the last TV joke. Marcus Welby, M.D. nah, he's too busy fixing his iron lungs. So instead we just have his older brother, Len Penzo. And finally, a resident cost cutting expert who hasn't seen the inside of a grocery store since the dawn of Instacart. Oh, gee. But that's not all. Halfway through the show, we'll see which panelist has enough wind left in them. Oh, my God. They just keep coming to get my trivia question. And now a guy who certainly knows how to go cheap. It's Jo. Saul Sihai.

[Joe Salsihai]

Hey there, stackers. And happy Friday to you. I am Joe Salsi. High average show money on Twitter. And turbulosis jokes never get old. Never. No. Just horrible. That is just. Who made this a holiday, Doug?

[Doug]

An angry, angry person.

[Joe Salsihai]

Like when we were. When we were looking up today, like. Like we've got a very special guest today. And we're like, okay, we have to have a very special holiday. And then we see that it's. Yeah, maybe the worst holiday ever.

[Doug]

She looks unamused at the moment over the tuberculosis humor.

[Janice Torres]

I'm just like, this is so morbid.

[Joe Salsihai]

My God, there's so much more.

[Doug]

Jenny, you just settle in.

[Janice Torres]

I don't really know what I signed up for here. I'm starting a question.

[Joe Salsihai]

Yeah, we could go way lower. We're about to introduce her in a second, but we'll have our special guest go last. First of all, let's say hello to the man across the card table from me, he had two shots of espresso, and he's ready to roll. Mr. OG is here.

[OG]

Ready to do it?

[Joe Salsihai]

Yeah.

[OG]

Just one. Just one espresso, but it has sugar in it, so it's like two.

[Joe Salsihai]

Doug said you have not been in a grocery store since Instacart came around. Is that true or false?

[OG]

I went to the grocery store a couple of weeks ago, but that started the Girl Scout thing, because I was going on, I think, Valentine's Day, and I didn't make it in. Like, there's the airlock where you walk in, and then there's, like, a little space for the carts, and then you walk in more. And it happened that the Girl Scouts were right there, so I didn't have to go all the way in. I was like, oh, cookies.

[Joe Salsihai]

Perfect.

[OG]

Happy Valentine's Day. I got your cookies.

[Doug]

That was a close one.

[OG]

Yeah.

[Joe Salsihai]

Who needs groceries? You got breakfast, lunch, and dinner covered by the Girl Scouts.

[OG]

I saw there's a Whole Foods by me. I've been meaning to explore at that.

[Joe Salsihai]

So he's like, I wonder what that is, what's in that building? And the guy who cooks a delicious lasagna. I know because I've had it. Mr. Len Penso is here. How are you, man?

[Len Penzo]

I'm doing well. You know, I. I've been going to my grocery store quite regularly. I noticed the past few weeks my favorite checker wasn't there and hasn't been there for a while.

[Joe Salsihai]

Oh, no.

[Len Penzo]

So that got, you know. Yeah, it was. It was kind of disturbing. And I asked what had happened, and. And the manager told me that she just checked out.

[OG]

Oh.

[Joe Salsihai]

Oh.

[Janice Torres]

But.

[Joe Salsihai]

Oh, God. Oh, man.

[Doug]

We all saw it coming 30 seconds away, but we sit there and take it.

[Len Penzo]

Even Janisa scowled at that one. So that's pretty bad when the guest. When the guest is scowling.

[Janice Torres]

Dad jokes 101.

[Joe Salsihai]

Well, Len, your dad jokes are the second best gift somebody can give. You know what the best joke is?

[Len Penzo]

Silence.

[Joe Salsihai]

Well, that's. That's probably the real answer, but the answer I'm going to give you is a broken drum, because you just can't beat it.

[Len Penzo]

Okay?

[Joe Salsihai]

Come on. And seriously wondering if we can go lower. Yes, we can. It's about time we got her here. We've been threatening to do this for a long time. From the Okiero Dinero podcast and a fellow Plutus winner, we were comparing our little trophies earlier. Jenny's Torres is here. How are you?

[Janice Torres]

I'm so excited to be here. This energy is Just next level. I can't even wrap my head around it right now.

[Joe Salsihai]

She's like, oh yeah, you have no idea. She's like, she's calling, she's calling her agent right now going, I have no idea what the hell you got me into. Well, well, tell everybody first because you've got a big special event coming on that I want to talk about in a second. But let's talk about your award winning podcast. Tell everybody about Yo Kira Dinero. What do you do?

[Janice Torres]

I talk about entrepreneurship, investing, building generational wealth, all from the lens of being a first gen Latina who didn't learn anything about money and kind of had to navigate the world of adulting with money on my own. I found myself having lots of conversations with peers and friends and we just, nobody knew what was going on. You know, we're told to go to college, get a career, make some money. There's this thing called a 401k. You know, it sounds like it's something we should have and it sounds like.

[Joe Salsihai]

A long way to run is what it sounds like.

[Janice Torres]

And after kind of getting into the personal finance space as a consumer, especially with podcasts, you know, podcasts like Journey to Launch and Stacking Benjamin's, of course, I found that there was still kind of avoid when it comes to my experience as a Latina. And so I decided to just insert myself into the conversation and start my podcast from the closet of my home. And here I am four years later doing this full time, Just got on the Internet, started talking about money.

[Joe Salsihai]

It's so great. And Jenny, seriously, how do we get more voices? Because we seriously need more.

[Janice Torres]

I think it's kind of happening because people are seeing folks that they can identify with kind of showing up in a space. Right. So if you want to inspire others to join the conversation, you have to be part of it too. That's what I found. Time and time again, I get messages from so many people that it's like, wow, I didn't know I could invest. I didn't know what a 401k was. I didn't know I could start a business. But then I started seeing you and all the guests that you bring on the show talking about this stuff and I started to believe that these are, these are things that I can do too. So it's really about showing up for the people that you want to serve.

[Joe Salsihai]

You, by the way, not only have served this, this community, the financial community, we're going to talk food today and I believe you've done a lot with Food, right?

[Janice Torres]

Yeah. That's how I started my whole content creation journey as a blogger. Now, 10 years ago, I started a food blog called delishdelights.com it's still in existence today. And in it I've basically archived my family's culinary history. It was just something that I started as a passion project. I was kind of frustrated with my engineering career and wanted to do something more creative. And so blogging was the thing that I found I could. I didn't want people to know who I was. I just wanted to create cool content. And I think that's why people start blogs and also podcasts. But now we've got the whole video and TikTok, and I'm like, well, so much for that. You know, kind of got to show up now.

[OG]

I hear you on that. I understand that whole theory.

[Joe Salsihai]

I just don't dance well enough for TikTok. I don't know. I don't. But we got one more thing we want to tell people. We're going to talk about this a lot at the end of today, but you've got a summit coming up. Tell everybody about this. Cool. Because tickets are going fast.

[Janice Torres]

Yeah, absolutely. So after starting and basically growing my platform during the pandemic where virtual was the only option, my audience has started to clamor for in person events. They want to be in the atmosphere of Yokiero dinero in a more personal way. And so this year, actually June 2023, we're launching our first live conference in Puerto Rico, which is where I'm from. And I wanted to bring a conversation around building wealth to a place that has been historically marginalized and economically depressed for a long time. So I have this vision of bringing a bunch of people together to talk about building wealth in a place that could really use a lot of folks like myself and others who care about not just making money for the sake of making money, but using it to make a difference. So it's gonna be a three day event bringing in lots of amazing speakers, talking about everything from investing, entrepreneurship, real estate, generational wealth, and so much more. And I'm really, really excited. It's called Our Money, Our Power and it's a financial freedom summit to hopefully change the narrative around what wealth can look like.

[Joe Salsihai]

And, you know, we'll have a link on our show notes page too. It is stackingbenjamins.com if people want to either find out more or just sign up. You had me at Puerto Rico, by the way.

[Janice Torres]

Yeah, I mean, it's not a hard bargain.

[Joe Salsihai]

I know. You know, I'm thinking coffee. I'm thinking the pork and salsa dancing. I'm. Let's go right now. I am.

[Janice Torres]

Oh, you know your stuff. I love it.

[Joe Salsihai]

Oh, my. Just heaven. Just heaven. We have Janice here, we've got Len, we got Doug, we've got og. We're talking all things food today. Now let's go talk food. Our piece today comes to us from common sense hub. 12 keys to drastically reduce your grocery budget. This is written by the Common Sense Hub team and this piece says how to save money on groceries might not be your first thought when you're trying to cut expenses. You might look at your rent or mortgage, your car payment, the actual bills you get in the mail each month. But it's pretty common for food to be up there. But Janice, let's talk about that for a second. This piece has the word drastically in the title. Drastically. Can you really make a big dent in that budget by looking squarely at your grocery bill?

[Janice Torres]

Well, I hate the word drastically because it just sounds extreme. And I think whenever you're trying to do something extreme, it's not sustainable. So for me, I'm like, let's be strategic. I like the word strategic more than drastically because that makes me feel like we're just going to eat rice and beans every day.

[Joe Salsihai]

Right. It sounds boring, right? Absolutely horrible. Like, like, who wants any piece of that? Like, no, thank you. But people look at groceries, Len, and they think, well, I, you know, I gotta eat. Why focus on groceries versus another part of your budget?

[Len Penzo]

Well, I think everybody can relate to groceries. I mean, that's something everybody does all the time. And it, it's kind of, you know, maybe it's low hanging, excuse the pun, fruit. So, you know, that might be something here all week.

[Janice Torres]

So.

[Len Penzo]

But seriously, I mean, it's, it's, it's an easy way to start focusing. It's a good place to start. If you don't know where to start at all, go ahead and start on your grocery bill. That's, that's a great way to start.

[Joe Salsihai]

Well, they mentioned here, Len, to your point, I mean, they mentioned housing. Auto is another one. Groceries number three. Think it's changing your house for a lot of people is very difficult. Like there's sentimental value. There's all these things. Some people are attached to their car. This seems to me, Len, to be of those three biggies, the easiest one.

[Len Penzo]

Yeah, that's what I said. It's the low hanging fruit. It's something you do every week. I think most people Feel competent in that topic of food. Everybody feels that, you know, they're an expert on food and. And they know where they can cut or at least try to start cutting. So, yeah, it's a comfort level.

[Joe Salsihai]

I think I'm an expert at eating food, but I look at, like, Denise's work and I'm like, I could. If I could cook like that. I remember. I remember this client OG where their fish budget was huge back when I was a financial planner. They love to eat fish, but they paid through the nose. It. And we actually put together a plan. Only because they couldn't retire the way they wanted to. We put together a plan for them to actually cut back on fish. But how often are you having granular discussions about grocery bills with clients? Is that something that happens in financial planning meetings?

[OG]

Not in the least bit. Not in the last 20 years that I can remember. I don't know who's. I thought there was a joke coming when you're like, so I had this client one time, had a fish.

[Joe Salsihai]

But based on this piece, should we be diving more into the grocery budget?

[OG]

I don't know. I think that there's ways to be smarter about it and have it work for you as opposed to showing up. I mean, some of this stuff is, you know, you've heard, don't go grocery shopping when you're hungry. I mean, there's a very real thing. I'm. I was thumbing through this and I'm looking at all the pictures and I'm like, oh, blueberries look nice. But I just got done eating lunch, so I'm not super motivated by those things right now. But if I hadn't had lunch, I would be just thinking about blueberries right now. It's the first picture I see.

[Joe Salsihai]

How hungry. How hungry were you when you. When you only made it to the airlock and bought all the Girl Scout cookies?

[OG]

Well, I wasn't. I was trying to buy some candies for Valentine's Day for my dear bride, and I lucked out. I didn't have to actually try to find them in the store. We bought Girl Scout cookies instead. All of them.

[Joe Salsihai]

Jenny's packed back to you. I just still can't believe you bought all the Girl Scout cookies. Like. Like you just made those girls day. I want them all. Just. I don't think you understand what I mean.

[OG]

I made the dad's day. He's like, I'm out of here, man.

[Len Penzo]

Sweet.

[Joe Salsihai]

Janice, you and I were. When we spoke just a moment ago. You know, people identify paying less than they think eat crappier food. But I would bet that for someone like you, you can get a little creative in the kitchen. And less expensive doesn't have to mean crappier.

[Janice Torres]

Absolutely. No. I love kind of creating my own shopped competition at home where I just like, try to figure out what meals I'm going to make based on the ingredients that I have. And it can be fun, but you have to be able to kind of know what to pair up. And that comes obviously with experience cooking. So I think a lot of folks have issues around like, substituting stuff because maybe they just don't necessarily understand what ingredients you can swap out. That takes some practice. Right. But it's usually the case for me, and I don't know if anybody else can relate that grocery shopping in itself is so physically exhausting for me that by the time I've gotten home, I don't even wanna cook what I made. And I end up ordering from like, Instacart, I mean, from Uber Eats. And I'm saying, well, what the hell was the point of this? So I think, you know, on top of finding ways to reduce the amount of money you're spending on groceries, you should probably find ways to reduce the time, because that adds up too, right?

[Joe Salsihai]

No, that's true. And by the way, once I get into cooking, I don't worry about the time because I got music on. Sometimes I'll pour a glass of wine and it's really fun. But it's the thinking about the time that makes me go, yeah, let's hop in the car and go down to, you know, some restaurant.

[Janice Torres]

Exactly. And especially if you're doing like daily cooking, I mean, sometimes I'm not done with work till 8:39 o' clock at night, and the last thing I'm going to do is like, get in the kitchen and go and make something. So it requires you to kind of have some forethought and planning. And I think that's one of the things they touch on in the article is just make a plan. Right. Because you're, you're more likely to not have to make those spontaneous decisions.

[Joe Salsihai]

Well, and there's something else you touched on that really got me excited, which is this idea of it's okay to. I mean, you got to start pairing stuff, you know, and you talked about being experienced. Everybody starts with zero experience. I feel like people are afraid to. You know, we're afraid to open Roth IRAs, we're afraid to check out the 401k. But we're also afraid to experiment in the kitchen. Right. We're afraid we're just going to mess it up. But it seems like. Is that how you learned to cook was kind of messing it up?

[Janice Torres]

Absolutely. I don't measure anything. The other day, my partner was here, and I'm like, making rice, and he's like, did you just pour rice into the pot without measuring it? Like, I've never seen that before. And, you know, that. That obviously comes with time. But my mom actually taught me how to cook because she started working full time when I was around the age of 11. And so I was responsible for coming home after school and kind of getting the family meal started while she was getting home from work. So I've always been in the kitchen. It's been. It's always a place that I find to be sort of a sanctuary because it forces you to focus. Right. You can't be on the screen. You can't be doing a bunch of stuff. So it's a great way to disconnect, and it's definitely therapeutic for me. But I know a lot of people who hate cooking, and it's the chore of it and the cleanup and, you.

[OG]

Know, know that's why we have children.

[Janice Torres]

Put them to work in the kitchen.

[OG]

Put them to work. They got to do the dishes. That's fine.

[Joe Salsihai]

Yeah, I like them cleaning up. I like making the food because it does. To your point, it just takes me out of my day. It just.

[Doug]

You.

[Joe Salsihai]

You do. You have to be there or something's going to burn. Len, Janice talked about not measuring stuff. I'm wondering, is the Italian cook here. Here on the show? Are you the same? Do you measure your stuff? Did you learn to be the great cook that you are by experimenting?

[Len Penzo]

Yeah, I don't measure, and I experiment a lot, which sometimes irritates the honeybee. For she'll say, well, why did you change that? You know, I make the same meal, but I'll change things around. It's like, because sometimes it works in your favor and things get better, and sometimes it doesn't. But the only way you can improve is if you experiment every once in a while and change things around and. No, I only measure things exactly if I'm baking. That's why baking isn't quite as fun to me as just cooking. Because cooking, you throw stuff in, and it's just a lot more fun. Can I. I don't know if you heard that. I don't know if you heard the little ding in the background there, but my daughter just texted me with our we do our menu planning, and I let each of our kids, they get to pick two meals over a two week period each. And she just emailed me with her two choices for the next two weeks. So I don't know if you can.

[Joe Salsihai]

See her draft picks.

[Len Penzo]

Yes, her draft picks right there. She just did it.

[OG]

Sorry. Spaghetti and meatballs has already been taken.

[Len Penzo]

Well, she wants pulled pork sliders and tuna casserole on the menu for the next, you know, over the next two weeks.

[OG]

So wildly disparate taste buds.

[Len Penzo]

Yes, that's what she's got. And so just out of coincidence that just came in, you should do those.

[OG]

Dinners at the same time.

[Joe Salsihai]

Tuna casserole whiz sliders.

[OG]

Yeah, pork. Pork and tuna casserole sliders.

[Len Penzo]

Well, we do have a mashup day where we'll mix things up so you could have tuna casserole sliders.

[Janice Torres]

I have urgent care center nearby.

[Joe Salsihai]

I can't believe that hasn't made it to any of your videos or anything. Janice, you haven't?

[Janice Torres]

No, no, the tuna casserole thing freaks me out. I'm just like, who came up with this? This just does not sound appealing. Anyway, a lot of people in the Midwest, I guess.

[Joe Salsihai]

Jose, you're not from Michigan, where we live on that stuff.

[Janice Torres]

No, no.

[OG]

Frozen peas.

[Janice Torres]

And y' all are from a different stock of humans. It's a different breed out there.

[Joe Salsihai]

Where I grew up, if it's 100% bland, we're in. That is it. Oh, you can barely taste it. It's completely.

[OG]

Pepperoni's a little spicy.

[Joe Salsihai]

Let's make pizza. That's right. Let's make more of that. Len. Before we go to our halftime break in our big trivia competition, I want to start with some of the highlights of this list. We'll link to it on our show notes so people can dive into all of these 12 ways that this piece talks about. But they begin with meal planning. And it sounds like, Len, meal planning is. Is a number one to your success with food. True.

[Len Penzo]

I think it's a big success. And I want to bring something up. I don't know if people think about this. I. I spent last year. I'll just tell you my grocery bill for my family of four. Keeping in mind, I do have two adult children still here.

[Joe Salsihai]

$9. $9.

[Len Penzo]

No, it was $17,101. That was all food that was purchased. That includes everything. Now, that includes chips, but that was the entire food bill for this household last year.

[Joe Salsihai]

For a family of four, it is.

[Len Penzo]

A lot of Money. And there's a lot of places where you can cut, so that gives you opportunities for cutting. So I just wanted to point that out. But yes, planning is a very big part of it. And we do. We are religiously plan. I mean, we have to. Other things we would get way out of control with our spending.

[Joe Salsihai]

Does that include restaurants?

[Len Penzo]

No, that does not include restaurants. That does not include restaurants.

[Joe Salsihai]

Restaurants were another 53,000 on top of that.

[Janice Torres]

Sounds about right.

[Len Penzo]

I could look it up. I could tell you. I could tell you what the restaurant bill was. I don't know.

[Joe Salsihai]

Made at home cost $17,000.

[Len Penzo]

Off the top of my head, I can tell you. We went out to a restauran 68 times last year. I can tell you that off the top.

[Joe Salsihai]

I don't know. Janice, who's the bigger engineer? Do you keep track like Len does?

[Janice Torres]

I absolutely don't. I really can't do the spreadsheet thing that aggravates my agenda. Can't do it. I don't want to know.

[Joe Salsihai]

We're not worthy. Janice, what about you? Meal planning? You do meal planning?

[Janice Torres]

You know, I have to because I live alone and if I don't plan, there's just going to be so many things that go to waste. Right. Like everything that's packaged in the store is packaged for families. I will buy a pack of chicken and like, that pack of chicken will last me the entire week. So I have to get creative on how I'm going to use it. But I do like to plan just because my schedule is so erratic and I'm not the type to want to go and have fast food. You know, my. My trainer would definitely kick my ass if I started doing that regularly. So I'm like, I have to plan and I feel better when I eat better. Right. So it's also from the. The health perspective, too.

[Joe Salsihai]

Frankie Chilenza, chef that was on our show last year, and Andrea Warwick, who we spoke to just a few weeks ago on Instagram, the consumer finance expert. Both of them talked about about a third of the food we buy ends up going in the trash. And so the food waste thing, man, having less food waste is a great meal planning. Just from that perspective makes it better. And I find that if I meal plan, Janice, with good food, I'm much more likely to eat it if it's allocated for a meal versus just filling the refrigerator.

[Janice Torres]

I've thrown out way too many bagged salads that never got made. I just don't want to be that person anymore.

[Joe Salsihai]

Yeah, me too. You feel Bad. All those salads. Sorry, salad.

[Janice Torres]

I'll try again next time.

[Doug]

Jenny. We have that same problem in our house, and they go in the compost. And I think I just paid 499 to put something in my compost pile.

[Joe Salsihai]

Right, right. Hey, I'm going to put this in my refrigerator for two weeks and throw it away for the five bucks. Yeah.

[Len Penzo]

Does anybody eat leftovers? Because I save $2,000 a year eating leftovers. Luckily, my whole family loves leftovers. We actually have a leftover night once a week from all the other meals. We put them all together and that, and I figured it out. It saves 2,000 bucks. If we threw those leftovers away and didn't eat them, I would. Our food bill would be $2,000 higher.

[Joe Salsihai]

Yeah, I got that tip from you originally, Len, by the way. One day a week, Cheryl and I have leftover night. And it's planned that this is. This is leftover night. Shanice.

[Len Penzo]

Yep, us, too.

[Janice Torres]

Yeah. I have leftovers for lunch pretty much throughout the week just because when I do cook, I'll just cook in bulk. But my family hates leftovers, so I'm always yelling at them when I come over. I'm like, why is half of your fridge full of Tupperware that no one's ever going to touch? Like, you guys save it out of habit, but it never gets eaten. It's so frustrating.

[Joe Salsihai]

Well, no. Gee, I was going to ask you about leftovers. Does a family of five have leftovers?

[OG]

Yes, only because we have increased the hamburger packets to a pound and a half instead of a pound, you know, because of the boys. But I was looking to contrast this against Lanhams is maybe this is just regional differences. Our grocery budget last year was just over 12,000, but we spent way more money going out to eat. That number is insanely large. Like, what did you say you're going.

[Len Penzo]

Out to eat number was your 12,000 includes restaurants.

[Joe Salsihai]

No, it does not. No, that's what he's. That's what he's saying. His. His number's lower, Len, but it's because they went out to restaurants. Okay.

[Doug]

12,000 is his monthly restaurant budget.

[OG]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. We did 12 of each. So we had 12 in restaurants and 12 in groceries. But we do the meal planning thing. My wife is really big on that because she hates to throw food out. Like, she gets really annoyed when, you know, the bag salad type deal or, you know, you get the pound of turkey. Everybody loves turkey sandwiches for a week and a half. And so you go, I'll get Another pound of turkey. And then like two months later you're like, what's this? Oh, this is.

[Janice Torres]

Ugh.

[OG]

This is turkey from October. What is that doing in here? Because everybody changed to peanut butter sandwiches, you know, so we definitely do the leftover night as well. I mean, we have that scheduled, you know, on the calendar. The one thing we don't do is let the kids pick though. I like that idea. Like have them pick two over the next two. That's. We're gonna start putting that one in there.

[Janice Torres]

At least you know they're gonna eat those two meals if they eat nothing.

[OG]

You would think, but no, that's still not true.

[Len Penzo]

Yeah, no, gee, we, we did that since our kids were like five, six years old. Even when they were very little, we let our kids each pick two of the meals on the menu. Which was kind of cool, actually.

[OG]

The things they'll ask like, what do you guys want? Or what's. What are we missing? You know, because, because my kids will eat all the time. They're, you know, high school boys, so they just, they're always eating.

[Len Penzo]

When, when my daughter was little, when my daughter was little, she picked and we, we would do. It was spaghetti tacos. That would be on the list probably once a month.

[Joe Salsihai]

Spaghetti tacos.

[Len Penzo]

That's what happens when you let a five.

[Janice Torres]

Another midwestern thing.

[Joe Salsihai]

I don't think so. He's a, he's a west coast guy.

[Janice Torres]

Okay. I don't know.

[Joe Salsihai]

I don't know that one.

[OG]

It's just like a carne asada burrito, but a little different.

[Joe Salsihai]

Coming up in the second half of this discussion, we're going to dive into many of the tips on this list, see if our panel agrees with them and really what they do. Like we heard already, us just starting to get into. Can't wait for that. But before that, we've got this year long trivia competition if you're new to stacking Benjamins, which includes our three frequent contributors, og, Len and Paulette. Perhaps the brilliant writer Paulette. Janice, today you're on team Paulette. Which means good news and bad news. Do you want the good news first or the bad news?

[Janice Torres]

Break the bad news to me first.

[Joe Salsihai]

The bad news is you're in last place. So the score. Oh gee. Is leading with four. Len has three and Paulette has two. But Janice, you can make that. You can change all that. You can change the season right here. To find out how, we need a trivia question from Doug. Doug, you got a trivia question for us?

[Doug]

Sure do, Joe. Hey, There. Stackers. I'm Joe's mom's neighbor, Doug, and we've already taken your breath away with the fact that it's tuberculosis day. Right? Who put that joke in there? Look, to be clear, we're making fun of the holiday, not the affliction, the holiday. Tuberculosis is a serious disease, costing people millions of dollars in health care costs. So here's today's question. How many new cases were there of tuberculosis in 2021? I'll be back just as soon as I see if this stupid calendar also has a hooray for leprosy day.

[Joe Salsihai]

All right, there's our question. And I agree. Very serious. Serious disease. Hopefully not that many cases. We're about to find out, Mr. OG. Tuberculosis, 2021.

[OG]

What? What?

[Doug]

Tuberculosis.

[Joe Salsihai]

Tuberculosis. I've got to that there.

[Doug]

Tuberculosis, don't you?

[Joe Salsihai]

I gave it my own emphasis. Just had to.

[OG]

Tuberculosis.

[Joe Salsihai]

Emphasize the part that I.

[OG]

It's a whole new thing. Tuberculosis. Golly. To be able to. Be able to just pull that right out. That was amazing. Is this worldwide? I didn't catch that part.

[Doug]

No, United States, domestically.

[OG]

Okay, so domestic cases of tuberculosis. I know that it's a real popular thing to catch on occasion.

[Joe Salsihai]

What are you talking about?

[Doug]

Remember the. Remember the TikTok craze of 2019? Yeah, yeah, the tuberculosis challenge.

[OG]

Cough on me here, by the way.

[Joe Salsihai]

I am laughing because there's nothing funny about this at all.

[Janice Torres]

Yeah. We're fresh off a pandemic, y' all. This is still a trigger.

[Joe Salsihai]

This is probably the worst trivia question we've ever had.

[OG]

I do. So this is in 2022. Is this as recent as last year?

[Doug]

Oh, my God. Were you listening at all?

[Joe Salsihai]

2021.

[Doug]

2020 21.

[OG]

Oh, yeah. That was the great tuberculosis outbreak of 21, I gotta keep in mind. And the ratio of people.

[Joe Salsihai]

You didn't read about it because the world was focused on a different thing.

[OG]

Yeah. The answer is unequivocally, in the United States, 897 cases. It was pretty low, but there was 197.

[Joe Salsihai]

Mr. Penzo. Is he lower? Is he high?

[OG]

Well, that's not the question. He's just got to guess his own number. Don't give him any hints.

[Joe Salsihai]

Well.

[Len Penzo]

Well, that's a good question. It's.

[Joe Salsihai]

No, I think it's a bad question.

[Len Penzo]

Well, I think. I think OG is in. I think OG is in the neighborhood. I. I was hoping OG would. Would just say, oh, 2 million or something like that, because I. I think it's a low number. 800.

[Doug]

Wow.

[Len Penzo]

That's like, only, what, 50 states? What is that, 16 a state? 16 people per state. That sounds pretty reasonable, actually. I'm going. Do I want to take the low end of that or the high end of that? I'm going to take the low end. I'm going to say 799.

[Joe Salsihai]

799. So, Janice, you got OG at 897, Len at 799. What do you think?

[Janice Torres]

You know, one of the things that I thought of immediately when you said tuberculosis. Just the most random term that we could even be talking about right now is my mom and my dad and basically all of my family members who were not born in the US have this mark on their. That I believe is an indent that's associated with the shot that you get for TB vaccination. And it's not really common in the US So it's something that you can almost use as an identifier for somebody who wasn't born in the States. I'm assuming that we don't usually get vaccinated here for TB because it's just not really prevalent, but. Although I do remember testing positive in school.

[Joe Salsihai]

Down for tb, Len, or for polio. Is that a polio mark? I think it's a polio mark.

[Len Penzo]

Well, smallpox, too. That had the smallpox and polio.

[Doug]

Yeah.

[Janice Torres]

Okay.

[Joe Salsihai]

Yeah, but you're in the neighborhood. Other crappy diseases.

[Janice Torres]

Yeah, I don't want any of it. So, you know, I don't. I don't really want any of it. But I do remember getting the tuberculin test because, I don't know, for some reason they were screening in school. I'm assuming it's like, somewhere around a thousand cases because it's not really common vaccination. So it goes a little higher.

[Joe Salsihai]

Goes to a thousand. All right, we got our answers locked in. 8.97 for OG, 799 for Len. Janice, at T. Paulette, a thousand. We'll tell you in just a second who's right.

[Doug]

You know that feeling when someone shows up for you just when you need it most?

[Joe Salsihai]

That's what Uber is all about. Not just a ride or dinner at your door. It's how Uber helps you show up for the moments that matter. Because showing up can turn a tough day around or make a good one even better. Whatever it is, big or small, Uber is on the way, so you can be on yours.

[OG]

Uber on our way.

[Doug]

Race the rudders.

[OG]

Raise the sails.

[Joe Salsihai]

Race the sails. Captain, an unidentified ship is approaching.

[Len Penzo]

Over.

[Joe Salsihai]

Roger. Wait, is that an Enterprise sales solution. Reach sales professionals, not professional sailors. With LinkedIn ads, you can target the right people by industry, job title, and more. We'll even give you a $100 credit.

[OG]

On your next campaign.

[Joe Salsihai]

Get started today at LinkedIn.com results, terms and conditions apply.

[Janice Torres]

Hey there. I'm Paula Pant, host of the Afford Anything podcast. I help people make the smartest money decisions possible.

[Joe Salsihai]

You should not do the 401k loan.

[Janice Torres]

Reason number 4800, 872. Are we heading for a recession?

[Len Penzo]

You'd be shocked.

[Janice Torres]

Dumping it into the house.

[Joe Salsihai]

Invest in flipping houses.

[Janice Torres]

Mathematically the better option.

[Joe Salsihai]

Paula pants really keeping us in business.

[Janice Torres]

Because face it, money's too important to wing it. Review your budget.

[Joe Salsihai]

Take the reins.

[Janice Torres]

Sharpen your skills.

[Joe Salsihai]

Do the thing. Start a side hustle that will affect your life.

[Janice Torres]

Afford anything. Follow and listen on your favorite platform.

[Joe Salsihai]

Oh, gee. You opened this up at897 and got surrounded by other contestants, but you feeling pretty good there at roughly 900.

[OG]

Definitely a shot in the dark. I remember hearing about it and I thought it was a three digit number, but I can't be. Can't be sure.

[Joe Salsihai]

Oh, but Len is our local TB expert. I'm sure you feel much more confident at 7.99.

[Len Penzo]

Well, I have a. I definitely have a bigger range than OG but not as big a range as Janice. So I'm feeling pretty good.

[Joe Salsihai]

That's. I was thinking Janice, if it's a million, you win. You're still in. Even if it is.

[Janice Torres]

I know I kind of want to do like the Price is right thing and be like, like, can I just bet a dollar? Can we do that?

[Joe Salsihai]

Oh, well. Well, it is very common. It's very common. Our friend Chelsea Brennan is a verb on this show because Chelsea likes to come out and go $1 higher than whoever the other guess is. So people get Chelsea Brennan all the time. But you were nice enough not to do that. You gave OG about a hundred patients breathing room. Hopefully the number is close to zero, Doug, because we like that. Very few people to have this. Yeah, you see that? All right, Doug, who's gonna win this thing?

[Doug]

Hey there, stackers. I'm albuterol inhaler, sharpshooter, and free mouth to mouth giver Joe's mom's neighbor. Doug, I bet you're dying to know the answer to. Oh, my God.

[Joe Salsihai]

Okay, that.

[Doug]

That was it. That was. Swear. That was probably the last one. Today's ridiculous holiday question about tuberculosis. Our question was easy. How many new cases of TB were there in the United States in 2021. Well, I can tell you this. That OG was only off by 6985. Len was off by 7083. Janice was off by 6882. Which means our answer was that there were 7800182 new cases of TB in the United States in 2021. And Janice sl Paulette slash Paula, is our winner.

[Janice Torres]

Aha. We have been redeemed. Go team Paulette.

[Joe Salsihai]

Nice.

[Janice Torres]

What a prize to win that is.

[Joe Salsihai]

You need to write Paulette a note and say, hey, I took care of business. Yes. Fantastic. Congratulations. And just don't ask us, Janice, what the prize is. It's time for us to move on.

[Janice Torres]

Yeah, I don't want to know. I don't want to know.

[Joe Salsihai]

She's like. And pass. Let's go to the second half of this discussion. Instead. I want to go back to this piece. And now let's dig into this tactically. They talk in this piece, Janice, about having a freezer meal strategy. Do you have a freezer meal strategy?

[Janice Torres]

Things get lost in my freezer, so I'm gonna say no. I do a lot of kind of quarterly cleanouts, and, you know, half the time, the stuff that I freeze, I just never end up using. It kind of disappears. So unless you have a really good stacking system or some sort of cubicle organization system in your freezer, I. I'm just like, you know, you don't need to freeze everything, especially if you're not gonna use it.

[Joe Salsihai]

Yeah. We were talking about this last week. We came up with this hamburger at the bottom, and we're like, I have no idea when this is from, and.

[Janice Torres]

Right.

[Joe Salsihai]

More stuff got thrown away. Oh, gee, do you guys have a freezer strategy with the family? Because you can, you know, another thing on here later on is going to be buy in bulk. I would think it's much easier for you to buy stuff in bulk with a family of your size.

[OG]

Yeah, we do buy the bulk stuff from Costco. We'll get the slab of meat and cut up our own steaks as opposed to buying the steaks, which I know is another one in terms of, like, anytime you get a package deal, you're probably paying to have somebody cut it up for you. But we will. If we're making, like, a big. Like a lasagna or something like that, where it's just goes together better if it's a big dish of it, we'll make two separate dishes instead and put one in the freezer, you know, so it's just an easy kind of pull out of the freezer type deal.

[Joe Salsihai]

They do caution here. Another one of their points, OG to your point is they caution against prepackaged items. Len, this has been lenpenzo.com you've talked about the horrors of buying prepackaged. Like you're paying a multiple immediately when you pay for somebody else to cut it up.

[Len Penzo]

Yeah. You know, one of the biggest things on that is, is cheese. So if you get like shredded cheese, is that.

[Joe Salsihai]

Are you saying you like to cut your own cheese?

[Len Penzo]

I do like to cut my own cheese. Hold on a second. Okay, now that we've done that. No, but seriously, I think.

[Doug]

I hope you're happy with yourself.

[Len Penzo]

It's best to cut your own cheese. It's best to cut, like OG said, even the hams, the meats. There's a huge premium that you pay grocery stores to do that kind of stuff. And same with vegetables. You know what I see a lot of people buying is they'll go into the produce section and you ever see these pre cut fruit plates or these pre cut vegetable plates and you buy them for part. It's like, man, the markup on that for what you get. You could save probably 80% just by buying the vegetables yourself and cutting them up and putting them on a plate. But so many people, I mean, that has got to be a huge profit center for the grocery stores. It's crazy.

[Joe Salsihai]

You know, oh, gee, mentioned earlier, buying in bulk, Janice. But if you live alone, I don't think, because, you know, there's two in our house, buying in bulk doesn't work for us because that's when I start throwing stuff out.

[Janice Torres]

Absolutely. When you go to those big box stores, I mean, the membership is going to cost you at least, you know, 100 something dollars. So for me, I can't even justify the cost of the membership because I'm never gonna need 10 pounds of freaking lobster tails. Like, where the hell am I even gonna put that, right?

[Joe Salsihai]

You know, a pallet of lobster tails.

[Janice Torres]

Like, give me a break.

[Joe Salsihai]

But I don't know about you, though. I still love going in. Like, I've gone shopping with Doug because Doug has a. Doug has a Costco membership. And man, just walking through that store like, this is fantastic. This is. I should get a membership in the.

[Janice Torres]

My parents take me all the time and I'm just like, I feel like this store promotes hoarding. You know, I'm just not. I'm not. Now.

[Joe Salsihai]

Wait a minute.

[Janice Torres]

Who needs 17,000 rolls of toilet paper? Like it's okay. You know, maybe during the pandemic it made sense, but not anymore.

[Doug]

Have you ever had Len's tuna noodle casserole?

[Joe Salsihai]

Oh, God, no.

[Len Penzo]

I'm going to give Janice a tour of my pantry and my garage. She'll see what hoarding is really all about.

[Joe Salsihai]

Oh, boy, this is a slippery slope. It's funny because, Doug, you, I think, coin the phrase that I say all the time, which is, there's the dollar store. And then, yeah, I think you call Costco the $100 store.

[Doug]

Oh, well, it was the $100 store 20 years ago when I joined. It's now the $350 store. You cannot get out of there for less than 350.

[OG]

That's the fun game to play when you go and you're like, I just need to get a piece of salmon and a bag of potatoes or whatever, you know, and then. And then you're like, okay, so now I've got this cart full of stuff. How much did this stuff?

[Janice Torres]

You have a big screen tv.

[OG]

Exactly.

[Janice Torres]

You got an inflatable Jacuzzi. I was like, what just happened, Janice?

[Doug]

I was there yesterday and I walked out of there with a 16 foot long tree trimming pole, obviously.

[Janice Torres]

Duh.

[Doug]

In addition to the coffee.

[Janice Torres]

Why would you not?

[Doug]

And the chicken breasts and socks and everything.

[Janice Torres]

And your slice of pizza from the little convenience place, like, right at the door, too. Cause you just bought all this food, but you. You definitely are not going to make any of it.

[Doug]

Right?

[Joe Salsihai]

They mentioned here apps and using some of the grocery money saving apps. Janice, you're nodding your head.

[Janice Torres]

I am obsessed with Instacart. I started using it during the pandemic and I just couldn't stop. I can't go back now at this point because a, I'm lazy. And like I said, grocery shopping is exhausting, but also it helps you see the price of what you're gonna pay. So if I'm like, I don't want to spend a hundred dollars on groceries, I get to take a couple things off of that list, you know, because I feel like a lot of the times grocery shopping is like going to the doctor. You don't really know what the bill's going to be until it's too late. Right? And just like, oh, my God, I didn't really mean to spend all this money. So it definitely helps me cut costs because I can see the total before I check out.

[Len Penzo]

You know, some grocery stores have their own apps. So for example, we shop at Albertsons. Albertsons has now they're expensive if you just go into an Albertsons, I think the prices there are quite expensive. But if you use the Albertsons apple, which we do, we get off usually 25% of our entire grocery bill just by using their app. So what you do is you pre shop kind of, you say you put your list together and you get discounts when you put it into the app that you wouldn't get at the store normally. And so, for example, just last week we spent $400. Our bill was $400, but we got $75 off just by using that app app. I mean, that's pretty significant savings.

[Joe Salsihai]

This doesn't have to do with food, but it has to do with items you bring home. Target. We were at Target, Cheryl and I, just this last weekend, and the woman at the register said, have you put these through the app? And they get on Cheryl's app together. And I think we saved on a, on a 45 bill. I think we saved like seven or eight bucks, like a huge, a big amount of. Just by putting them on the app. And by the way, these aren't marked anywhere at the store. It's just marked differently at the store than it is on the app. But they will price compare. If you put it through the app, they will, they'll take care of you.

[OG]

And you have to use the, you have to use the code. You know, when you go grocery shopping, you have to put in your phone number or whatever. If you don't put in your phone number, you're given easy money away. Just use somebody else's phone number. Like we did talked about the 867-5309 number.

[Joe Salsihai]

We did. We found that out. Janice, from a stacker. From a stacker at almost every grocery store. If you don't want to give them your number, give them 867-5309 and it works.

[Janice Torres]

Oh my God. That's incredible. You know, speaking of the apps too, it's important to see if the store that you want to use on an app like Instacart is actually raising the price if you shop through them because some of them will have equivalent pricing and some of them will actually charge you more for ordering through the app app. So make sure that you check it should say it at the top of the menu.

[Joe Salsihai]

I've got two more on here I want to talk about, which is buy meat sparingly because it's so expensive. This is one I've heard about a lot and I have yet to move on. OG rolls his eyes and scoffs at that one, he's like, you're not getting me away from all the meat at the table. But, Leonard, Janice, have you guys. Have you guys cut back on the meat?

[Janice Torres]

I had to cut back on eggs recently because, I mean, really, who is gonna pay $7 for a carton of eggs and eggs? Eggs used to be the cheap protein, and now it's like a luxury, right? I'm like, I can't afford to have breakfast anymore. So I wanted to cut out meat more from like a health perspective versus just because it's more expensive. I tried the pescatarian thing, but as you know, Joe, fish and seafood is hella expensive. So I said, no, I'm. I'm way too broke for this. You know that pescatarian life is next level. But I try to kind of mix things up. I will buy the meat that's on sale if one cut of beef is cheaper than the other, and I can sub those out for recipes. I'm not committed to a specific type of meat, and I think it's just good to have that flexibility.

[Joe Salsihai]

We do that at the fish counter, by the way. We'll find the one that's on sale, and we will try it out. We tried Turbofish last week, which was really good. I think I prepared it incorrectly, but I learned it wasn't the fish, it was the stuff I put on it. I just need to do it different. Len, you guys cut out the beef at all?

[Len Penzo]

No, no, no, no.

[Joe Salsihai]

That's.

[OG]

We.

[Len Penzo]

We. We go through a lot of meat in our household, but it is.

[Joe Salsihai]

It's so expensive, and it got so much more expensive during the pandemic. The last one on here, Plant a garden. It says that this would lower your expenses. And Doug. Is Doug saying no?

[Doug]

Why are you saying strongly disagree? We. We did that a couple of years ago. We've done it on and off. But a couple of years ago, we went all in and built the raised beds, like 20 by 20 garden with deer fencing, protection, the watering system, the whole thing. And I got to have a dinner's worth of green beans that cost me about $650.

[OG]

And six months of attention.

[Doug]

Yes.

[Joe Salsihai]

Our stacker community said the same thing in our Facebook group. They said, hey, it's better food. It tastes great, but it is not cheaper. Anybody else here try to do a garden?

[Janice Torres]

I do the herb garden.

[Len Penzo]

You know what? I do tomatoes.

[Joe Salsihai]

I do tomatoes, too. Oh, tomato.

[Len Penzo]

Tomatoes are worth. They're so expensive, and it's not really hard to difficult to grow them as long as you keep the Squirrels and the rats and the other critters away from them. To me, it's worth just. If you're just going to plant one vegetable, and a tomato plant will push out a lot of tomatoes over a season.

[Doug]

Hold on. Are we gonna let him just throw rats out there and we're just gonna walk away from that like it never happened? We need to talk about the rats.

[Len Penzo]

It's Southern California.

[Doug]

Oh, my God.

[Joe Salsihai]

Talk about your neighbors that way. Len, it's horrible, man. Not good. Yeah, I do the herb garden as well. The herb garden's easy. It is cheap. And, man, that mint grows like a weed. Basil.

[Janice Torres]

Yeah, I'm mint, basil and rosemary. I mean, I kill everything that's green, so those are the things that have worked for me.

[Joe Salsihai]

Well, we're going to leave it right there, everybody. If you want to read this piece, 12 Ways to Drastically reduce your grocery budget, we'll link to it on our show notes page@Stacky Benjamin's.com. let's find out what's going on, where our round table participants live. Oh, gee. Big plans this weekend, my friend.

[OG]

Yeah, actually, this is a big weekend. Traveling a little bit out west and. And then, of course, watching basketball because it's basketball tournament time, so.

[Joe Salsihai]

Yeah.

[Janice Torres]

Yes.

[Joe Salsihai]

Big time of year for college basketball fans. Wolver, guest of honor go last. Mr. Penzo, what's going [e-mail], my friend?

[Len Penzo]

Hey, just out of the coincidence, I talk about my grocery bills, and the main thing that I do that saves money and can save you up to 80%. Some of you out there, up to 80%. So I go through some numbers.

[Joe Salsihai]

The rats out.

[Len Penzo]

Yeah.

[Joe Salsihai]

Or just eat the rats, too. Maybe that's.

[Doug]

Tastes like chicken.

[Len Penzo]

I know I'm afraid of the rats around here.

[Joe Salsihai]

So you got to go to lenpenca.com to find out. The rats even. Even play a role in Len's thinking there. Janice, I'm sorry this. This happened this way.

[Janice Torres]

It's okay. It's okay. Forgive me.

[Joe Salsihai]

Thanks for joining us. So, first of all, let's talk briefly. So what's something secret you can't tell anybody about? That's coming up on the podcast.

[Janice Torres]

Ooh, I'm gonna have my mom and my sister on the show for the first time. So that's gonna be fun because I'm roping them into the nonsense that I'm doing. They. They don't like, you know, social media and being in front of people, so I'm gonna make them very uncomfortable during the whole process. You get a Grill emission.

[Joe Salsihai]

Just grill them with a microphone.

[Janice Torres]

Absolutely. Yeah.

[Joe Salsihai]

Turn the lights on hot.

[Janice Torres]

Yes, absolutely.

[Joe Salsihai]

You know what? We'll link to it again on our show notes [e-mail] all right, man, that was fun. Well, except the part about tb. Besides that, it was pretty good. Doug, take us home, man. What should we have learned today?

[Doug]

Well, Joe, first, take some advice from our panel and get lower grocery bills by budgeting, avoiding the prepackaged stuff and using technology. Second, in addition to finding ways to save on groceries, don't forget about about looking for ways to save time at the grocery store and in your kitchen by planning your meals in advance. But the big lesson? Apparently grazing in the produce section isn't socially acceptable. It's called taste testing, people. When did it become a crime to try before you buy? I mean, isn't that what singles bars are all about? Thanks to Janice Torres for joining us today. Be sure to check out her podcast, Yo Kieros Dinero wherever. You're listening to my melodious voice right now. We'll also include links in our show [e-mail] thanks to Len Penzo for joining us today. You can find [e-mail] icutmyowncheese thanks also to OG for joining us today. Looking for good financial planning help? Head to stackingbenjamins.comog for his calendar. This show is the property of SB Podcasts, LLC, Copyright 2023 and is created by Joe Salsihai. Our producer is Karen Repine. This show was written by Lacey Langford, who's also the host of the Military Money show with help from me, Joe and Doc G. From the Earn and Invest podcast, Kevin Bailey helps us take a deeper dive into all the topics covered on each episode in our newsletter called the 201. You'll find the 411 on all things money at the 201. Just visit stackingbenjamins.com 201 Tina Eichenberg makes the video version of this show. Once we bottle up all this goodness, we ship it to our engineer, the amazing Steve Stewart. Steve helps the rest of our team sound nearly as good as I do right now. Want to chat with friends about the show later? Mom's friend Gertrude and Kate Yunkin are our social media coordinators and Gertrude is the room mother in our Facebook group called the Basement. So say hello when you see us posting online. To join all the Basement fun with other stackers, type stackingbenjamins.com basement not only should you not take A advice from these nerds. Don't take advice from people you don't know. This show is for entertainment purposes only. Before making any financial decisions, speak with a real financial advisor. I'm Joe's mom's neighbor, Doug, and we'll see you next time back here at the Stacking Benjamin show.

[Joe Salsihai]

Sam Foreign. Welcome to the after show. This is the part of the show that doesn't exist. And if you're here for money discussions or more grocery discussion, we're done with that. Join us again on Monday for that. Because sometimes we talk about movies, sometimes we talk about weird news. Today I want to talk about this. We talked a lot about saving money, but this time I want to have the kind of the opposite discussion. I know that there are some restaurants that I go to where, you know, I don't. I don't brag about the fact that I go to them, but they're like my guilty pleasure. Like, you know what? Nobody needs to know. But I'm going to this restaurant. Maybe I'll sit in a corner booth alone where nobody can see me. And I absolutely, I absolutely. You know what? And while I don't maybe love it, it just. It's a place I go back to. It's like my place. I'm wondering if you guys, if you guys have those. I'll tell you what mine is. And this is. This is really horrible, especially with the Italian in the room. Len, we like going to our Olive Garden. Like, we just really, really enjoy getting the soup and salad at the Olive Garden. And sometimes every once in a while, we get crazy and we get one of these made up Italian words dishes where, you know, there's people in the back throwing the crap in the microwave. Like you go in there knowing it.

[Len Penzo]

Well, you know what? I think there's a 12 step program for that, Joe. But that's okay. To each his own, I guess, you know?

[Joe Salsihai]

Well, but I'm sure you've got one too. Everybody knows about your Benihana fix like you're 12 years old.

[Len Penzo]

I was just there yesterday again, actually. Yes, but I feel guilty. I don't feel guilty going to Benihana.

[Janice Torres]

Now.

[Len Penzo]

Here's one where I do. You don't want anybody to catch me. I love the place. It's Taco Bell. I love it. I admit it.

[Janice Torres]

That is terrible.

[Len Penzo]

I mean, you. You give me a chalupa, you know, a couple chalupas and, you know, a Mexican pizza, and I'm good.

[Joe Salsihai]

I mean, that's just a code red Mountain Dew. Sure.

[Len Penzo]

We used it to go a lot. And then you know what happened, though. And if you're listening, anybody there at the Taco Bell district office or corporate office, please take heed here. We used to go a lot more often, but you guys discontinued the green sauce, and the Honeybee just disowned you guys once you got rid of that green sauce. So bring the green sauce back, and I will go more frequently.

[Joe Salsihai]

It's a true Taco Bell aficionado. Right.

[OG]

They probably do call it just green sauce also, because. Because they can't really use the actual term because it's would be false advertising.

[Joe Salsihai]

It's like that from that Disney song. Like, try the green stuff. It's delicious. Because nobody knows what the hell's in it. Gray, right?

[OG]

Gray stuff.

[Joe Salsihai]

Oh, it's the gray stuff. Yes.

[OG]

Yeah.

[Joe Salsihai]

Oh, Janice, you've got one.

[Janice Torres]

I do. I. I was gonna say Taco Bell, but.

[Joe Salsihai]

You were gonna say Taco Bell.

[Janice Torres]

I was, but also Red Lobster. I feel like Red Lobster is, like, the place where my family would go when we were just, like, living life. Right. Like, the tax refund came in. We're like, yes. We're getting, like, extra biscuits. Right. It was, like, the f. The fanciest thing you could do. You know, they make their baked potatoes with, like, a salt crust. It's just so, like, pinkies up, bougie. But I also will never go there with anybody. It's embarrassing, especially now that you can buy the box mix to make the biscuits.

[Joe Salsihai]

The biscuits.

[Janice Torres]

But they don't come out the same. I feel like you literally dunk them in butter at the restaurant. I feel like I just need to dump them in a tub of butter, and maybe they'll taste the same.

[Len Penzo]

Oh, I think they taste almost identical. I think they're great.

[Joe Salsihai]

Oh, yeah.

[Janice Torres]

I need your tips then.

[Joe Salsihai]

I actually know the reason why they usually taste different. I came back from a trip to Italy and asked our local wine guy. I said, how come I get wines from your store? And they taste okay, they're all right. But then I have it in Italy, and that same wine is fantastic. He's like, because you're sitting in the middle of Venice, right?

[Len Penzo]

Because.

[Janice Torres]

Yes. Yeah.

[Joe Salsihai]

Because you're in Rome with a glass of wine. So the answer is Len, because Janice is sitting by the huge fish tank.

[Janice Torres]

With a dozen biscuits.

[Joe Salsihai]

The Kenny G playing, and the ultimate feast spread out in front of her.

[Len Penzo]

Hey, when you. When you were in Italy, did you stop at any. Stop at the Olive Garden in Italy in any of the.

[Janice Torres]

Can you put that's the only place on Marco. You can't miss it.

[Joe Salsihai]

Right? Would that be horrible? You're in the middle of.

[Janice Torres]

It's right by the Trevi Fountain. I saw it.

[Joe Salsihai]

Just around the corner. Wouldn't that be a great picture?

[Len Penzo]

Hello from Italy. And you get the Olive Garden in the background.

[Joe Salsihai]

All right. I can't going back to Taco Bell. I can't let this moment go because one of my favorite. One of my favorite comedians talks about Mexican food. So we gotta. We gotta do that.

[OG]

I used to be a waiter in.

[Joe Salsihai]

A Mexican restaurant, which is kind of silly because I am Dominican. You know, I love Mexican food. It's actually all the same ingredients.

[OG]

But as a waiter, you'd have to deal with those stupid questions. You know, people be like, hey, what's. What's nachos?

[Len Penzo]

Nachos.

[Joe Salsihai]

That's tortilla with cheese, meat, or vegetables. What's a burrito? Tortilla with cheese, meat, or vegetables. What's a tostada?

[OG]

Tortilla with cheese, meat, or vegetables.

[Len Penzo]

What's a taco?

[Joe Salsihai]

Is this that hard to follow? It's all the same.

[Janice Torres]

That's great.

[Joe Salsihai]

Gaffigan. OG Your restaurant of choice.

[OG]

Yeah.

[Joe Salsihai]

Your guilty pleasure.

[OG]

French Laundry.

[Joe Salsihai]

He sits in the court of the French Laundry.

[OG]

El Pais in Spain. La Barnadine in New York City.

[Joe Salsihai]

I don't want anybody to see me with Thomas Keller, that loser.

[OG]

I know. Yeah. We have a very small circle of places that we will go because I am not very adventurous, so I do not like to be disappointed. And so once I have found something that I like, I refuse to try something else for fear of the fact that the other place will suck and I will be very angry the entire time.

[Joe Salsihai]

And we don't want to make OG Angry. I think that's the lesson here. Don't make OG Culver's.

[OG]

If I had to pick a place, like, I think Culver's is a place that I don't want to be caught.

[Joe Salsihai]

Oh, that's good ice cream, man. Well, terrible.

[Janice Torres]

After, like, butter dripping down your chin, it's like, you're.

[OG]

No, I don't eat the ice cream. But that's the point is, like, I just eat the. I just. It's not ice cream. What is it? It's custard.

[Doug]

So we'll have higher fat content.

[OG]

But, like, the floor is always sticky. It, like. You know, there's just always a lot of, like, stuff going on where I'm just like, this is I. Such a classy joint.

[Doug]

No, you're making this up. I do not like your disparaging comments about my Culver's.

[Joe Salsihai]

Culver's was about to sponsor the show, OG and now I love it.

[OG]

I'm just saying. I wasn't dead there.

[Doug]

The floors are never sticky. They're very. They're very focused on cleanliness. Very friendly staff.

[OG]

100%. Staff is great. And for us in particular, because my son has a peanut allergy. They're very accommodating to the peanut allergy, which is just. I mean, just such an amazing thing. It's hard. Most people just go, sorry, guess you can't eat here, bruh. You know, but so they do a good job. But, yeah, the food doesn't look appealing and everything's sticky. So I just, you know, so good eat my ice cream.

[Doug]

I was out west recently, and I. I did a taste because I'm such a Culver's fanboy, and I did a taste test between an In N Out burger and a Culver's burger. No comparison. Culver's kicks the out of In N Out.

[OG]

Really?

[Joe Salsihai]

And he only had, like, four minutes between the taste test. He had both in hand.

[Doug]

Yeah, I was going double fisting it going back and forth, and there was no comparison.

[Janice Torres]

In and out's just a lot of hype. I think they just have a really.

[Joe Salsihai]

Okay, we got to end this show before a fight breaks out. Denise, I liked you so much, and now you got to go.

[Janice Torres]

Oh, man, this was fun. Thank you for having me.