Money Mom Podcast
Welcome to The Money Mom Podcast—the ultimate guide for moms who want to take control of their finances, crush debt, and create a life of financial freedom and abundance. Hosted by Rachel Coons, a budgeting expert and mom of three, this podcast is your go-to resource for practical tips, mindset shifts, and empowering strategies to help you manage your money with confidence.
Whether you’re navigating grocery budgets, tackling debt, or dreaming of building wealth for your family, each episode offers bite-sized, actionable advice to make money management simple, stress-free, and even enjoyable. With relatable stories, expert insights, and a dose of mom-to-mom encouragement, you'll learn how to transform your finances—one small step at a time.
Tune in every week to discover how to save more, spend smarter, and feel empowered to create the financial life you deserve. Because when moms thrive financially, families flourish.
Money Mom Podcast
61: How to Keep Your Grocery Budget in Check During The Summer Months (Even When You're Hosting)
Summer is here—and if the thought of feeding your kids all day long (plus hosting guests) makes your grocery budget want to scream... you are NOT alone.
In this episode, I’m breaking down exactly why grocery costs tend to skyrocket in the summer, what you can do about it, and how to create structure that saves you money and your sanity—without becoming the food police.
We’ll chat:
- Why snack attacks are blowing your budget (and what to do instead)
- Easy ingredient-based snack swaps that actually fill kids up
- The #1 habit that will help you stop the all-day pantry grazing
- My favorite budget-friendly hosting hacks for barbecues, out-of-town guests, and big summer dinners
- And why a little structure (and a lot of intention) can help you enjoy the season without overspending
Summer doesn’t have to mean financial chaos. You can feed your people, stay on budget, and still soak up these sweet days with your kids. 💛
xoxo,
Rachel
Where to find me:
Instagram: @heyrachelcoons
TikTok: @heyrachelcoons
Join my FREE live training
What kind of grocery shopper are you? Take my free quiz
Check out my grocery savings guide
Welcome to the Money Mom podcast, the show where we empower moms to take control of their finances, break free from money stress and build a life of freedom, confidence and abundance for their families. I'm your host, rachel Koons, mom money mentor and your personal cheerleader on this journey. Whether you're here to save money, pay off debt or dream bigger for your family's future to save money, pay off debt or dream bigger for your family's future, you're in the right place here. We believe that being a mom is already a full-time job, but your role in shaping your family's financial success is just as important. And the best part, you don't need to sacrifice everything to start winning with money let's get started. This is the Money Mom Podcast. Money let's get started. This is the Money Mom podcast. Hello and welcome back to another episode of the Money Mom podcast.
Speaker 1:This episode today is going to talk about something I'm hearing a lot from our members inside of our community and DMs that I'm getting from moms, specifically when it comes to this season right now, which is school is getting out, summertime is starting and the kids are going to be home more often. For a long time, I wouldn't say I hated summer, but I was really nervous about having all the kids home. The structure, the systems that I've set into play during the school year are then kind of like wiped clean. Everything's reset and there's less me time. There's less alone time that I have trying to entertain children and, on top of that, trying to feed children during the summer. It's a completely different game that we have to play, and so I know a lot of moms are feeling nervous about this season. They're worried about what's going to happen to their grocery budget during summer. After putting in all of these new systems or trying to save money on groceries. The kids get out of school, come home and then everything just kind of falls out the window and we're left spending more than we really wanted to in the first place.
Speaker 1:So this episode is specifically speaking to any mom who is nervous about their kids eating them out of house and home and what you can do this summer to not have your grocery budget just go crazy and spend thousands of more dollars than you want to in these next couple months and some strategies in order to do that. On top of that, I want to talk a little bit about hosting and how to you know if people are coming into town or you're throwing a barbecue. These summer months tend to be a push on the budget also because of that. If you have family visiting and you're feeding twice as many mouths, you're probably going to expect to spend more money on groceries. So how do we do that successfully and how do we make sure we're not spending more than we want to, and being really smart about it, because there are ways to have the kids home for summer, be able to host, throw all the parties and barbecues that you want to, and enjoy the season of life, but also really stay on top of that intentional spending that I'm so passionate about. So first, why do grocery budgets tend to skyrocket during the summer? Really, I think it comes down to the fact that routines are gone and there's no set schedule on when the kids are eating. They're packing a lunch during the school year. That's not the case anymore, so you have to make sure you're feeding them all three meals, and the structure that comes with snack time at school goes out the window as well. So, really, when it comes down to it, I think a lot of the reasons that people tend to spend more money in the summer isn't necessarily the meal that they're cooking, which we can talk about that as well, but it's mainly the snacks that they're providing for their kids, and I talk a lot about snacks inside the Money Mom Club, inside Grocery Budget Bootcamp.
Speaker 1:Snacks can really really break your budget. Make or break it. Honestly. If you are purchasing a lot of processed, packaged snacks, you are going to spend a lot more money. So something that you can do this summer that's going to help you spend less money is, instead of thinking about purchasing like snacks that kids can just grab and go out of the pantry, which have their place If you need them, if you know you're on the go, you're running to sports games or outings with the kids, but if your kids are choosing those types of snacks when they are at home, it's going to be very costly. So something that you can do to kind of counteract that is don't buy the package snacks and focus on ingredient-based snacks. So things like string cheese, yogurt, cut up fruit and vegetables, crackers that are like out of the package, a cheese board, something like that. They're still just as delicious and they don't necessarily take more prep time, but they are things that your kids can grab right out of the pantry and fridge that are going to feed them, but you're going to spend much less money than you would on, like a bag of packaged chips or goldfish or whatever Purchasing those snack items in bulk, and you can even like, individually package them yourself so they're easy to grab out of the pantry for your kids. You're going to save money focusing on ingredient-based snacks.
Speaker 1:Another thing that is really important is because your routine and your structure is out the window. You need to make sure that there is structure when it comes to how much your kids are eating and when they're eating they're choosing to eat their snacks and their mealtimes. It tends to be a free-for-all right, like the kids are going in and out of the pantry all the time whenever they want food, and so there's just this grazing mentality. And if you've never done this before, if you've never had structure, it can be hard to get kids on board with this, especially if you have older kids. To kind of create more structure can have a little bit of growing pains, but it will change everything.
Speaker 1:So here's what I recommend when you focus on getting your kids whole nutrition in their mealtimes, snack and grazing become much less frequent. So, instead of having your kids eat just like a bowl of cereal for breakfast which is basically just straight carbohydrates. Focus on getting them a full, balanced meal. That would be like eggs and toast or Greek yogurt and fruit and granola, something where they're getting a carb, a fat and a protein in that mealtime which will then hold them over for longer. I don't know if your kids are the same, but when my kids have a bowl of cereal or pancakes and syrup for breakfast they're hungry like an hour later and then I'm opening up the kitchen again for snack time. But when I feed them a full, balanced meal they're not hungry until like 10 or 10.30, where then we can have a small snack to hold them over for lunch.
Speaker 1:Snack time should not be looked at as a full meal. It's just an interim in between the meals where you're just giving them a slight amount of food energy that they need to get them to the next meal. And if we really focus on our meal times, we're going to save a ton of money because we can really build out those meals with healthy, whole nutrition in each meal. So breakfast full meal, snack, small thing to get them into lunch, then lunch again, really building out your lunch time and making sure that the kids sit down. It's not a grazing opportunity for them. They're sitting down, they're eating their lunch. There's a carb, a fat and a protein as well in there, and then the time in between lunch and dinner is longer and chances are your kids are going to be hungry.
Speaker 1:So then having a dedicated time of like this is the snack window in the afternoon. Whether it's like two to three or three to four, you get to choose. But it's something that's structured where you've decided okay, these are the snack options, or everybody can go kind of pick something out of the pantry, but after 4pm the pantry and kitchen close. And I'm really, really passionate about that, especially if you have picky eaters, because if your kids are snacking all the way from you know, the afternoon into dinnertime, first off, they're not going to come to the dinner table hungry because they've been eating snacks all afternoon, and so I always try to cut off snacks. There's no snacks after 4 pm and, like my kids pretty much know like, if you're hungry after 4 pm and like my kids pretty much know like if you're hungry between 4 pm and dinner time, you can have like a vegetable or a small piece of fruit. I am not wanting them to fill up on a snack item before dinner time, because I want my dinner time where my kids are coming to the table hungry and ready to eat. We all know that kids, if you're not very hungry, chances are you're not going to try new foods or you're not going to want to eat what's served to you. So cutting off that snack time prior to dinner time will help you get your kids to eat their dinner as well.
Speaker 1:So we have structured mealtimes, structured snack times, and this is not something that should be overwhelming to you. It doesn't have to be as structured as maybe I'm making it sound. My kids are just kind of used to it. Now we're like, okay, you had lunch. Maybe they have like a popsicle after lunch and then they go play outside or swim in the pool, and then everybody gets out at like three or four. And then it's like, okay, now let's eat a snack all together and we'll enjoy that snack. I'll make like a charcuterie board or something easy for them, and then the kitchen's closed. Wait till dinner time to eat your next meal. When you do that, I promise you, just a little bit of structure will really help you focus on saving money, which is the most important thing, and then also equally as important is eating healthier foods whole foods instead of those processed snacks. So you really can have fun, enjoy what's available for summer. You can have the convenience that you want without feeling like you're breaking the bank. So just try it out. Even just in doing a little bit of what I'm saying Well, you'll probably see a little difference this summer than maybe last summer.
Speaker 1:Another thing I really want to talk about is hosting and making sure that when you host, you're not blowing your budget. You don't have to be a victim to feeding everybody and spending a bunch of money on that. So one of my favorite things and we actually just did this for Memorial Day I love to host people. I love to have people in my home and throwing a big party and inviting anybody and everybody to come enjoy time with us, but I am not willing to supply all the food. I'm just not willing to do that and I actually don't think my friends would feel comfortable if I was like here I'm going to feed 50 people a full-blown meal. You guys can just come and eat what I provide. That's a little crazy. So the power of having a potluck where I supply like I'm supplying the hamburgers and the hot dogs, and then I ask the guests to bring a side dish, a dessert or drinks, so that the whole burden isn't on me. I get to enjoy having people in my home and hosting other people, but I don't have to spend hundreds of dollars to do that. And I also feel the same way when it comes to hosting family or hosting friends.
Speaker 1:If you're having people stay with you over the summer, I don't think you need to be a victim and supply all of the food. Now, maybe that's the tradition that's been in the past, but you can set a boundary with your guests and saying hey, I'm going to plan the meal for Friday night. Could you plan the meal for Friday night? Could you plan the meal for Saturday night? Or you could say hey, you guys are going to be here for a whole week. I normally spend $300 on groceries for a week. Would you be willing to pitch in like $150 or cut that in half for us so that we can share the burden?
Speaker 1:Nobody should expect you to spend a bunch of money to feed them and their family. That's unrealistic and doesn't have to be the case. So don't just be the victim and expect you have to pay for everything. You don't have to provide everything for those and, truthfully, I think most people are genuinely happy to take the burden off of you. If you are hosting someone, you are letting them come into your house and invade your space, which is a great thing, but also they can feel like they're contributing as well. I always feel more comfortable when I am taking up space in another person's home, when I'm able to contribute and help out as well.
Speaker 1:And then, if you are hosting and you have to feed more people than you would want to, there are a lot of budget-friendly ways, dishes that you can create that will feed the masses without spending a bunch of money. There's also, on the flip side of that, a lot of really expensive meals that you're going to spend a lot more money to feed the masses. So, really focusing on those budget-friendly meals Pinterest has a bunch, google has a bunch Ask your chat GPT. What kind of meals can I serve if I'm serving 15, 20 people and find a recipe that serves it? I love to do pork shoulders like a pork roast in the crock pot and use like barbecue sauce and make shredded pork sandwiches or a baked potato bar or a big spaghetti and meatball dish Like those are. Those are meals that aren't. You're not going to spend a bunch of money to feed a lot of people and it's easy for you, like throwing something in a crock pot and not having to think about it, buying the buns, maybe buying a watermelon or two, and you could feed a bunch of people for under $30.
Speaker 1:So really focusing on those cost effective and just being conscious of like, how much am I willing to spend, how much do I want to spend and how can I fit what I want to spend into what we can create, just being cognitive that this could be something that's going to blow your budget, will help you be more conscious about how you're planning, how you're setting out your meals when you're hosting over the summer and, truthfully, at the end of it, summer is just a season. It's only two months. Your kids are not going to be out of school for forever, and so, even if the budget does go up a little bit which I absolutely give myself more wiggle room in the summer I raise my budget at least $50 to $100 to give myself a little bit more grace in a busier season of life where I am taking on more of the feeding and entertaining of my kids. And then you know what August hits and my kids go back to school and it's over. So I am really trying to soak in this time that I have with my kids and not let the budget or the overwhelm rule and dictate my emotional state this summer. And just remember memories are more important than worry and stress.
Speaker 1:But you can really keep that structure and not blow your budget and not feel like your kids are eating house and home if you're planning correctly, if you're being resourceful with the foods you have and you're intentional about how you go about doing it. And hopefully this episode gave you some ideas or gave you the push to say, oh, I don't have to spend thousands of dollars this summer, like, I can keep my budget and I can stay really intentional with that and stay calm and creative in the process. So I'd love to hear if you took anything away from this episode, if you learned anything different. I want to hear how your summer goes and I am excited for this next season, these next two months, to be able to spend more time with my kids and be more present. Until next time, I will see you next week.
