Rachel Cruze: 6 Tips for Handling the No. 1 Budget-Buster You Can’t Avoid

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Budgeting is an important skill for anyone trying to maximize their financial health. It allows you to track your spending, increase your financial awareness and reach your goals. Despite how well you budget, rising prices can destroy your plan.

Money experts and frequent cohosts of The Ramsey Show, George Kamel and Rachel Cruze, have found one specific area that has become a budget-buster in recent years. In a video on their YouTube channel, “Smart Money Happy Hour,” they discussed just what this was and what you can do to negate its effects.

Also read how Cruze promotes cutting your expenses in half.

Budget-Buster

Since 2020, inflation rates have risen significantly. Cars, appliances, gas and clothing have all jumped in price over the time span. However, one item in particular has really damaged many budgets: food. 

Cruze brought up that in a recent article she read. Food prices have risen almost 26% since 2020. This means any item that cost $1 in 2020 now costs $1.25. The reason this price increase in food is a budget-buster is simple: Everyone needs food to live. 

Because you can’t eliminate food from your monthly expenses or cut back on eating, Cruze and Kamel came up with some ways to get around spending so much.

Eat at Home

When people try to reduce their spending, eating out is one of the first categories to get slashed. Kamel explained that in the recent past, he got a lot of pushback for a post he made saying that eating out is four times more expensive than eating at home. Many users told him that groceries are expensive and you must buy many ingredients to make a meal. Kamel continued to hold his ground, saying the cost of eating at home is much cheaper than eating out when calculated per serving.

Kamel does offer the caveat that this applies to good food. If you go to a fast food restaurant and buy a $5 meal, it may be cheaper than a meal made at home, but it also isn’t healthy.

Make a List of Cheap Meals

When you are cooking at home, various go-to meals are cheap and simple to make. Cruze revealed that breakfast for dinner is a favorite in her family. “It’s like my kids’ favorite thing,” she said, “like pancakes and bacon and eggs. They think it’s like the best thing ever.” She went on to say that other meals such as Mexican food and spaghetti also make the list.

To find out how cheap your home-cooked meals are, Kamel said you should divide out how much it costs by how many people are eating it. Whether you’ve only got a few ingredients to make a pizza or are cooking steaks, figuring out the cost per person can help you track your spending further so you spend less later.

Publix’s BOGOs

Publix is a supermarket brand found throughout the Southeastern U.S. It isn’t available in every state, but it offers a cheaper way to buy food for those who live near one. Cruze specifically pointed out that we should take advantage of Publix’s weekly buy-one-get-one-free offers or BOGOs. 

While a two-for-one is already a deal, Cruze said, “You can buy just one of the items and they cut the price in half.” To compound this effect, going with generic brands over name bands can save you even more money. Kamel did admit that Publix has higher prices than normal grocery stores on average. However, putting its BOGOs to use can help reduce some of your monthly total on food. 

Be Intentional While Grocery Shopping

Grocery shopping isn’t always cheap. Cruze said, “The grocery store is where you can, gosh, blow the budget or you can save it.” It all depends on what you buy. Kamel added that when he goes grocery shopping now, he makes sure to be intentional about what he buys. He recalled asking himself, “Am I buying actual meals? Or am I just buying random things that look good?”

Buying things that look good means getting new and flashy items that don’t amount to food that he can cook into a meal. Instead, when he considers buying a new item, he thinks about how it’s going to fit with a meal and when he’d use it.

Use Take-Out Tips

While take-out is often a more expensive option than cooking at home, sometimes it’s necessary. Cruze compiled a few tips on where to go to get some deals when you don’t feel like staying in the kitchen.

• Olive Garden’s buy one, take one: Eat a meal in the restaurant and get another meal to take home and eat later for the price of one.
• Blaze Pizza: Get a reasonably priced pizza, eat half and then save the other half for another meal.
• Subway footlong: Buy a footlong sub sandwich, eat half of it, and save the other half for later.
• Chipotle bowl: Order the bowl instead of the wrap because it’s bigger and ask for as many free ingredients as possible.

Adjust Your Grocery Budget

Even with the hacks and strategies for getting more food for less, at the end of the day, it still comes down to budgeting for food that is more expensive than it used to be. Cruze laid out how to tackle your grocery budget effectively. 

Determine how much you usually spend on groceries and reduce that number a bit. Everyone’s budget is different and spending more on food will mean having less for other areas. Challenge yourself to find deals and buy only what’s needed. 

To figure out what you need, you must make a meal plan. Determine what meals you cook, what ingredients you need and where you’ll shop before setting out to the grocery store. With your grocery list now finalized, don’t let yourself stray from it by buying other items. Be strict with yourself and follow your budget.

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