348. Master Meal Planning: Strategies from Prep Dish's Allison Schaaf

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In today's episode, Brad Nelson, founder of Debt Free Dad, chats with Allison Schaff, a registered dietitian, trained chef, and founder of Prep Dish. They delve into the struggles of meal planning amidst busy schedules and how Prep Dish offers a streamlined solution. Allison shares her journey from being a personal chef to creating a meal planning service designed to simplify weeknight dinners and reduce food waste. They discuss the importance of family meals, tips for involving kids in cooking, and the cost benefits of eating at home. Tune in to discover actionable advice to make meal prep less overwhelming and more enjoyable. 

Get your FREE trial of Prep Dish: https://prepdish.com/debtfreedad 

Chapters

• 0:00 Meal Planning Challenges for Busy Families
• 2:08 Introducing Allison Schaff of PrepDish
• 3:16 The Origins of PrepDish
• 6:19 How Meal Planning Actually Works
• 10:17 Financial Benefits of Meal Planning
• 14:26 Family Connection Through Mealtimes
• 17:40 Involving Kids in Cooking
• 19:28 PrepDish Service and Free Trial
• 22:11 Closing and Debt-Free Dad Resource

Transcript

Brad Nelson: 0:00

So meal planning sounds great in theory but in real life man, between work, kids and endless to-do lists it's easy for it to all feel so overwhelming and unrealistic, or just like another thing as an adult we have to stress about. But today I am talking with Allison Schaff, a registered dietitian, trained chef and founder of PrepDish. This is a meal planning service that's helped thousands of people busy families actually simplify their evenings and enjoy healthy, stress-free meals. Now, if you've ever thought that meal planning was too complicated probably just like me or time-consuming, for sure this episode is going to change the way that you see it, let's jump in.

Announcer: 0:42

You're listening to the Debt-Free Dad Podcast with Brad Nelson. Brad and his co-hosts experience the anxiety of living paycheck to paycheck before learning the fundamentals of financial success. They are now on a mission to empower regular people to pay off their debt for good and enjoy happier, less stressful lives. Keep listening for inspirational interviews, tips, tricks and practical advice to gain financial freedom.

Brad Nelson: 1:08

Hey guys, welcome to today's show. I'm Brad Nelson, founder of Debt Free Debt. I paid off about $45,000 of debt, have been debt free now for more than 12 years, outside of my mortgage. I've also been fortunate to help thousands of other people save and pay off tens of millions of dollars with the work that we do here at Debt FreeFree Dad. Now, after listening to this episode, if you're ready to take things to the next level, you're ready to break free from living paycheck to paycheck. You want to reduce financial stress, you want to build more savings, you want to finally pay off your debt for good but maybe you're like many, including myself at one time, you're just not sure where to start. We've created some incredible free resources here at Debt-Free Dad to help you get there, and I'll be sharing some details about how you get started with those later on in today's episode. So hey, Allison, welcome to the Debt-Free Dad podcast.

Allison Schaaf: 1:51

So glad that you're joining us here today. Hi, thank you for having me. I'm excited for our conversation.

Brad Nelson: 1:53

Yeah, absolutely so. Like I said before, we hit record. I mean, this is a hot topic, you know, meal planning and eating at home. Over the years my mom kind of taught me the basics of cooking and meal planning and all that. Are we kind of getting away from basic home economics and being able to shop smart and be able to meal plan and cook at home? Because I feel like a lot more people say like I struggle with cooking at home, I struggle with meal planning, and it's not always just like I don't have the time, it's just that they say they struggle with it. Do you find that too?

Allison Schaaf: 2:26

Yeah, it's so easy to not eat at home. So I think that's one of the issues. I grew up in a small town in Kansas and we had like two restaurants. We ate out once a month, if that you know, it was a very like special treat and nowadays it's just so dang easy to hop on your phone and order go to a restaurant. There's so many convenience items so I feel like there's just a lot of reasons not to that are easier or like can it make it easier than you know making your food at home?

Brad Nelson: 2:48

Yeah Well, I think food is. It's kind of like debt. You know, debt is everywhere. It's so easy to go into debt. You can go into debt so many times throughout the day if you really want to Buy now, pay later and all that. But I think food's the same way. It's everywhere. It's so accessible, it's just easy to spend the money. So I'm just curious what inspired you to create PrepDish and what got you into this and got you started with all of this?

Allison Schaaf: 3:16

Yeah. So my background is a dietician and a personal chef. I used to go into people's homes as a personal chef and make their food for them and really enjoyed that work. I loved the clients I worked with, but a few things came up. One is I maxed out. I could only see so many clients a week. I did have clients that enjoyed my services but wanted me to teach them then how to do it for themselves, partly because of a cost issue. And then I knew lifestyle-wise that I wanted a family and I didn't see being a personal chef as selfishly.

Allison Schaaf: 3:45

I'm like I don't think I can do this and also fulfill my dreams of being the kind of mom that I want to be so anyway, I took a step back and realized I had all of these systems and efficiencies created of how to get dinner on the table easy and I was helping again 6 people a week do that. But I'm like, how can I help a lot more people get dinner on the table each night? And so that's what I set out to do. I actually did both businesses for a while, like I would see the chef clients write down my recipes, write down my tricks, and eventually it got to the point. For the past 12, 13 years I've run PrepDish and helped people get meals on the table.

Brad Nelson: 4:25

I now have four kids and use my system every single week to make sure I get dinner on the table. Wow, that is awesome. So when you say your systems, is this something in your program that you're sending the food to them and everything, or is this something where you're giving them the recipe? How does this all work?

Allison Schaaf: 4:36

So what we give visually is a PDF, right? It's here's the steps you take to make it as easy and simple as possible. We do now have Instacart links, so while we don't do the food, it's like, hey, click this link and you're taken to a shopping cart and all you have to do is buy this food. But you can make some edits. Right, you could swap out if you prefer asparagus over green beans, or you know you want to, I don't know. You can just make it your own.

Allison Schaaf: 5:00

We do have that kind of easy button when it comes to the grocery shopping and then we give tips. So, like when I say system, part of that is, hey, if you spend an hour at the beginning of the week doing some chopping, mixing up some sauces and marinades, then each night when you head into dinner it's so much easier because you've done a little bit. The other thing that I found is, by doing that small step of meal prep at the beginning of the week, it kind of forces you to not do the easy button and order takeout, because you're like, oh, but I already chopped those carrots or that marinates, like the meat's already in the marinade. So you're not tempted to like change plans because I know how it gets by six o'clock You're like, oh dang, do I have to do this Everything from scratch? But if you've already done parts of it, you've set yourself up right Like you are creating this place where your future self has it easy. Right, like meals easy. Oh, I already have done the hard work.

Brad Nelson: 5:54

Yeah, that's awesome and I think one of the things that I mean when you're going through this and talking through it. See, my partner is not a big fan of cooking. She's just not her thing. I like to cook. My mom taught me how to cook but one of the things I struggle with is between me and her. We have five kids in our house and it's always the question of what are we going to make? Right? I feel like as an adult and I've seen memes on Facebook and social media about this it's like that's the number one question of being an adult is, if I can figure this one thing out what are we going to eat every day for the rest of our lives, right?

Announcer: 6:23

So, what do?

Brad Nelson: 6:24

you say to people of how do you even create a menu for the week based on, like a typical? You have four kids. You guys are busy, like on a busy family schedule.

Allison Schaaf: 6:33

Yeah Well, first of all, just deciding to come up with the answer to that question beforehand, right? Like that is the number one key. Don't hold off on that decision until five o'clock at night. You're not in good decision-making mode. Maybe on Saturday you have a few hours where you can get some childcare, I don't know. Just find a time in your week where you can sit down and be intentional with it, right? This will help with health. This will also help with money.

Allison Schaaf: 6:59

Is, if you can be intentional with, okay, what are we going to eat each week? Look at the calendar, which nights are we going to be home? Come up with the decision ahead of time, so that way you're making a better decision, right? So that's kind of the very first step. And then from there you know, figuring out what and the types of foods and all of that, like, you'll kind of over time figure out what works for you and your family. Of course, at PrepDish that's what we do for people. We hand them a list and we're like here's what's for dinner each night this week and buy the groceries and off you go.

Brad Nelson: 7:28

Yeah, I love that. And do you guys get to pick? Because obviously, if you've got kids that maybe are more, or even adults, heck, that are more picky eaters, do you get to pick the recipes that you guys have, or how do you guys work that?

Allison Schaaf: 7:38

So the way ours are designed is they are completely done for you. Now, we do that for a few reasons. One of them is we like to have the recipes play well with each other, and when I say that, I mean if you use half an onion here, we're going to use it later in the week.

Allison Schaaf: 7:52

We're not going to have you buy an entire bunch of basil and only use two leaves, right? Like we want to make sure you don't have food waste and we also want to make sure, like, hey, maybe you make a pesto and you use it on Monday as a dressing and then a few days later as a marinade. Or you make a big roast today and tomorrow you use it for tacos. So we're trying to kind of maneuver that Now in terms of like, hey, I know that my kids don't like quinoa, just swap it for rice. You can kind of make it your own in those ways. But we do kind of a pre-done. You don't even have to think about it. Here's what to do. And then, yeah, tweak as you see fit. And for picky eaters and other ideas, like hey, here's the meals. Maybe each meal, add in a food ingredient that they're more familiar with so that they will not be overwhelmed with the meal and they can have that. And then maybe, you know, we'll try something else at the table.

Brad Nelson: 8:44

Yeah, so when it comes to the actual, the prep work of it, like on average, what do you see when people say, like, how much prep work do I have to do for a meal plan for a week? Like, what do you typically on average see for how many hours of work that is?

Allison Schaaf: 8:57

Yeah, so we have four different meal plans. One of them specifically is called our super fast meal plan. We guarantee on that that it's an hour of prep or less. The other ones, you know, can take one to two hours or kind of depends. Now there's a few ways around that. What I like to do is I like to do my quote unquote prep time. I like to add that into a meal prep that I'm already doing. So either Sunday lunch or Monday dinner, I just kind of start my preparation a little bit before and maybe, as I'm making my Sunday lunch, I'm prepping all my vegetables for the week and then, as we're cleaning up the kitchen I like to do this because my husband can help clean up the kitchen and then maybe I'm doing the sauces and marinade. So yes, I've done an hour of meal prep, but I really just feel like I made lunch and cleaned up and fit in these tasks as I was doing that. So there's kind of ways to trick yourself into it so it doesn't feel so overwhelming.

Brad Nelson: 9:48

Yeah, yeah, you mentioned food waste earlier and there was a statistic I think it was like savethefoodcom, and they had a statistic out there that says the average family of four will throw away at least $1,500 worth of food a year. That comes out to like $125 a month, wow, which? I've talked about this on social media because there is this debate because of how expensive groceries and things have gotten, how expensive restaurants have gotten, and there are people who are actually debating and saying like going out to eat is cheaper than eating at home. What do you think?

Allison Schaaf: 10:16

than eating at home. What do you think? I mean, I don't have this numbers off the top of my head, but my gut tells me, because I've been out to eat and I know what the bill is and I eat at home and I know what the bill is, so I would say I vote. Eating at home is going to be more cost effective. You have more control over the ingredients, right, and the other thing. So, when it comes from a health perspective, you can choose quality ingredients, whereas if you're using restaurants or any sort of convenience foods, they're always going to look at food costs, which means they're usually cutting back on how healthy those ingredients are. So that's another thing to keep in mind is that there's this like cost, this like health cost of you know, eating out or doing convenience foods that over time, will end up costing something, right.

Brad Nelson: 11:02

Yeah, yeah. And so when people are using your services, are you finding because you're utilizing like you mentioned, you brought up an onion, you're using it half for this recipe, half for another recipe are you finding that your members are having less food waste? That's why I brought that $125 up, because I feel like that's a big big thing too is that we have good intentions of buying the food, making the food, but then it doesn't happen exactly the way it should and all of a sudden you're throwing out a head of lettuce or the grapes that are now brown and gross and nothing got eaten like it should have. So what do you see? Because of people using your services, the amount of money that they're saving.

Allison Schaaf: 11:37

Yeah, we don't have the numbers, we've wanted to do that and we haven't figured out a way to like, but we do definitely get the feedback of food waste just by having the meal plan. It creates this discipline of okay and that's why I actually prefer sometimes using something like our Instacart links versus going in the store, because it's easier to be disciplined and be like okay, I'm just going to buy these ingredients plus some snacks, plus some breakfast items, and then we're good, there's no temptations by going through these aisles of stuff you don't need and it really forces you to sit down and look at the week and plan out the meals, and again you're going to be less tempted to go out and do something else because you're like oh, this is these fish tacos with a slaw. So you know in your mind what everything's going for. Right, all the ingredients are assigned a task.

Allison Schaaf: 12:25

So, whereas if you just kind of like I've had weeks where I haven't used the meal plans and I buy random stuff and then at the end of the week I'm like do I want to figure out how to piece all this together into a meal, and it gets a little easier to be like no, it's not even going to taste good because you didn't have a plan for that last meal. So just by having the plan and assigning meals and I like to even take a whiteboard and write down each night what is going to happen for that meal so it's sort of this commitment of hey, here's what's happening. So for sure, the food waste. The biggest money saving, though that people talk about is weed out less. Even by eating out less one day a week, I mean, the service pays for itself really quickly right, Because it's like if you don't eat out, or if you don't even Uber Eats and stuff like that.

Allison Schaaf: 13:10

There's all these fees. It's, oh, it's 20 bucks, but it's this and that, and then the fee and this fee and next thing, you know your food budget for the week.

Brad Nelson: 13:18

Yeah, well, I mean. The other thing, too is a lot of people will miss is yes, there is this time commitment, but what I think a lot of people don't realize is when you go into your grocery shopping and you have a list, there's less impulse of spending because you have a list of the things that you're going to buy. I mean, there's a statistic out there that we use from Shopify that says upwards of 50% of all groceries are spent on impulse, meaning we weren't planning on buying those when we walked into the store and the grocery store itself. Now I think online ordering is much better personally, but the grocery store if you go into a physical grocery store, is built and set up to get you to spend more than you planned on spending For a lot of people.

Brad Nelson: 13:54

I think having that meal plan is so good because it's just this is all I need to get. Don't buy anything else, especially if you're doing online ordering, because it makes it so less tempting of you're not in there smelling the deli stuff. You're not in there Like, you're just outside of the store. Just get what you need and you're done.

Allison Schaaf: 14:09

Yep, Just avoid those suggestions. I've noticed at the end it's like you're done. And when you click and they're like we suggest because they know your history, and I'm like, nope, nope.

Brad Nelson: 14:18

Oh, I do need that. Yeah, I know exactly what you're talking about.

Allison Schaaf: 14:20

So they do have one little temptation, but if you can bypass that, you're good yeah.

Brad Nelson: 14:24

We've talked about how it saves money. We've talked about how it takes some stress out of having to plan all this stuff yourself. What are some other benefits that your services provide?

Allison Schaaf: 14:34

Yeah, it's the money, it's the time. So, even though you're doing some of that work upfront throughout the week, it's saving you time because you're not having to start from scratch each day, but it's also that mental load of like. At the end of the day, you don't have decisions to make about mealtime, and that's the beauty of it is to go into mealtime not needing to make decisions. And then getting to what I say is like the number one thing we provide, which is creating a space for your family to sit down and connect right Like, yes, I want healthy food, yes, I want it to taste good, but at the end of the day, I want my family to sit down and connect.

Allison Schaaf: 15:10

We share our highs and lows. That's what's important to me as a mom, that's what I care about, and all this other stuff is built up towards that. Like 30 minutes of us sitting down and being with each other. And because it's less hectic, because it's less chaotic, there's a greater chance that I'm gonna be able to sit down and create this like I mean, I have little kids. It's not always calm, but if I can go into it calm, it's going to be a better experience.

Brad Nelson: 15:35

Yeah, and there's so much data and so many studies that they've done of the benefits of sitting around as a family and eating dinner together.

Allison Schaaf: 15:43

Oh my gosh. Yeah, you should go through a list and look at all of the benefits of sitting down to a family meal. I mean less likely to do drugs, less likely. The list goes on and on and on of how important family meals are.

Brad Nelson: 15:54

Yeah, so any tips for kids and meal planning and things like you know, because again, I think kids are a little bit more challenging. Like I said, we have five that are here and they all like different things, so any suggestions for that?

Allison Schaaf: 16:07

Oh, my goodness, I have so many suggestions. Just as you can imagine, having run this for 12 years, like we get a lot of questions about picky eating and involving kids. Some of my very top tips number one involve the kids as much as possible. There are just so many benefits to this. But, like kind of going back to how you kicked off the conversation of like do you find that less people are eating at home? Yeah, they didn't learn to cook.

Allison Schaaf: 16:31

Teach your kids to cook. This is like well, I'm biased, I'm a chef and dietitian. It is like the most important life skill you can give to your kids. My six-year-old makes scrambled eggs in the morning because I taught him, too, how to crack an egg, and eventually it's like over time they learn, and the more you can give them these skills, not only is it setting them up for a better future like to be a healthier person to know how to do these important skills. Also, it doesn't take long before they can be a significant help, and now we have a new baby. My six-year-old can make eggs in the morning while I feed the baby, and so it pays off a lot quicker than I realized.

Allison Schaaf: 17:09

If you really have the patience to involve them. They can start being a significant help. And then all of a sudden that meal prep isn't a long time, Maybe it's a family activity that everyone does together and then even at the meal immediately after they might be more likely to try it. If they helped do the broccoli, maybe they put the salt on the broccoli. They might want to try it because they helped participate and they're a little more curious. So the more they can be exposed to the meal prep process, the more likely they are at the table to be interested in that food.

Brad Nelson: 17:38

Yeah, that's so cool. So can you share a little bit about how your service works, like, where can people get more information about it, more about you and what you guys offer?

Allison Schaaf: 17:46

Yeah, so it's prepdishcom. Like I mentioned earlier. It's, you know, kind of a PDF that we send out through email. We also have a login where customers can log in and get access to not just that week's meal plans but archives. The most popular meal plan is just those super fast ones that are healthy, family-friendly meals, but we also do have gluten-free plans, paleo plans and low-carb plans. We have a 14-day free trial set up for your listeners at prepdishcom slash debtfreedad. So if they want to go there, I mean that's the best way to do it. I always say if nothing else, go sign up, see how we do things, see if it works for you. If nothing else like, go sign up, see how we do things, see if it works for you. If nothing else, get some tips and tricks for your own meal planning that you do. And again, we have those Instacart links now, which I'm super excited. Those are pretty new on the site but those have been such a time saver of just one click Everything's in your cart From there no-transcript for dinner this week.

Brad Nelson: 19:10

What do you guys want? Well, I don't know.

Allison Schaaf: 19:13

You know, what some parents do say is because it's like a prep dish meal, their kids automatically become a little more receptive, like, oh, prep dishes have. Because you can say with more confidence it's not like an idea you came up with. It's like, oh, it's this thing. And then they're like, oh, so there's kind of a switch that happens with how you present the meals. Yeah, very cool Well.

Brad Nelson: 19:31

Allison, thanks so much for being here today and sharing this. This is awesome. Yeah, thank you for having me. All right, guys, if you are ready to break free from living paycheck to paycheck, you want to reduce financial stress, build savings and finally pay off debt for good, but, again, maybe you're not sure where to get started. Heck, that's probably why you listen to our podcast. Don't worry, though. We've got some extra tools that got you covered. Simplify my Money is a newsletter that is sent each and every Sunday to your email. Simplify my Money is your step-by-step roadmap to better financial control. You're also going to learn some easy to follow strategies to manage your money effectively. You're going to have stress-free money decisions that are going to help you simplify your financial life with proven tips that actually work for everyday, normal people, and you're going to gain the tools and confidence to tackle your financial goals head on. All you have to do is sign up for Simplify my Money by clicking the link at the top of the show notes. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Let's talk about that, baby. Let's talk about your money. Let's talk about all the good things, all the bad things that may be. Let's talk about that. Let's talk about that.

Brad Nelson: 20:38

Tune into Dead Free Dad. Tune into Dead Free Dad. All right guys. That sound means it's time for the celebrations of the show, and today we are kicking off with Misty. Misty says I renewed my plates for my vehicle with cash this year. She says that is the very first time I've done that in a long time. Misty, awesome budgety win. Good for you.

Brad Nelson: 21:02

Tina says I dog sat from Friday to Thursday this week. The extra cash is great and I really enjoy the dogs as well. Makes it a win-win right. She says it was a busy week but also rewarding. I will use some of that money to add to my emergency fund, tina, way to focus on income-producing activities and income-producing activities that you actually enjoy. Awesome win.

Brad Nelson: 21:23

And Becky, no huge wins this week for me, she says. However, she was able to sell two items between Wednesday and today. Also, budget is done for the next month. I've been consistent in doing my Roots 15 every day and it's my goal to go through more items in my home over this weekend and get more things sold. Also, I told myself no to spending on a few more non-essential items this week. Becky, here's our rule here Don't discount your wins, because these wins are incredible and these wins are gonna make a huge difference as time goes on. So, way to go, congratulations to you, hey, as always. Congratulations to all of you guys who are taking a stand for your financial life. Our listeners and I know that you guys are wanting better. Hey, we get that. Getting out of debt isn't easy, but with our help and with your consistency and discipline, we promise you guys, this will be some of the best work that you guys do in your entire life. Thanks for joining us on today's show and we will see you guys on the next episode.

Announcer: 22:26

Thanks for listening to the Debt-Free Dad podcast. Connect with us on Facebook, tiktok, youtube and Instagram. Just search Debt-Free Dad. If you found value in today's episode, please leave us a rating and review. We so appreciate it. For resources, show notes and links mentioned in today's show visit debtfreedadcom. Catch you next week.