June 3, 2025 • 22 mins
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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.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Brad Nelson (00:00):
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 sooverwhelming and unrealistic, or
just like another thing as anadult we have to stress about.
But today I am talking withAllison Schaff, a registered
dietitian, trained chef andfounder of PrepDish.
(00:20):
This is a meal planning servicethat's helped thousands of
people busy families actuallysimplify their evenings and
enjoy healthy, stress-free meals.
Now, if you've ever thoughtthat meal planning was too
complicated probably just likeme or time-consuming, for sure
this episode is going to changethe way that you see it, let's
(00:42):
jump in.
Announcer (00:42):
You're listening to the Debt-Free Dad Podcast with
Brad Nelson.
Brad and his co-hostsexperience the anxiety of living
paycheck to paycheck beforelearning the fundamentals of
financial success.
They are now on a mission toempower regular people to pay
off their debt for good andenjoy happier, less stressful
lives.
Keep listening forinspirational interviews, tips,
(01:04):
tricks and practical advice togain financial freedom.
Brad Nelson (01:08):
Hey guys, welcome to today's show.
I'm Brad Nelson, founder ofDebt Free Debt.
I paid off about $45,000 ofdebt, have been debt free now
for more than 12 years, outsideof my mortgage.
I've also been fortunate tohelp thousands of other people
save and pay off tens ofmillions of dollars with the
work that we do here at DebtFreeFree Dad.
Now, after listening to thisepisode, if you're ready to take
things to the next level,you're ready to break free from
(01:29):
living paycheck to paycheck.
You want to reduce financialstress, you want to build more
savings, you want to finally payoff your debt for good but
maybe you're like many,including myself at one time,
you're just not sure where tostart.
We've created some incrediblefree resources here at Debt-Free
(01:49):
Dad to help you get there, andI'll be sharing some details
about how you get started withthose later on in today's
episode.
So hey, Allison, welcome to theDebt-Free Dad podcast.
Allison Schaaf (01:51):
So glad that you're joining us here today.
Hi, thank you for having me.
I'm excited for ourconversation.
Brad Nelson (01:53):
Yeah, absolutely so .
Like I said before, we hitrecord.
I mean, this is a hot topic,you know, meal planning and
eating at home.
Over the years my mom kind oftaught me the basics of cooking
and meal planning and all that.
Are we kind of getting awayfrom basic home economics and
being able to shop smart and beable to meal plan and cook at
home?
Because I feel like a lot morepeople say like I struggle with
cooking at home, I struggle withmeal planning, and it's not
(02:16):
always just like I don't havethe time, it's just that they
say they struggle with it.
Do you find that too?
Allison Schaaf (02:26):
Yeah, it's so easy to not eat at home.
So I think that's one of theissues.
I grew up in a small town inKansas and we had like two
restaurants.
We ate out once a month, ifthat you know, it was a very
like special treat and nowadaysit's just so dang easy to hop on
your phone and order go to arestaurant.
There's so many convenienceitems so I feel like there's
just a lot of reasons not tothat are easier or like can it
(02:46):
make it easier than you knowmaking your food at home?
Brad Nelson (02:48):
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 manytimes throughout the day if you
really want to Buy now, paylater and all that.
But I think food's the same way.
It's everywhere.
It's so accessible, it's justeasy to spend the money.
So I'm just curious whatinspired you to create PrepDish
and what got you into this andgot you started with all of this
(03:11):
?
Allison Schaaf (03:16):
Yeah.
So my background is a dieticianand a personal chef.
I used to go into people'shomes as a personal chef and
make their food for them andreally enjoyed that work.
I loved the clients I workedwith, but a few things came up.
One is I maxed out.
I could only see so manyclients a week.
I did have clients that enjoyedmy services but wanted me to
teach them then how to do it forthemselves, partly because of a
(03:36):
cost issue.
And then I knew lifestyle-wisethat I wanted a family and I
didn't see being a personal chefas selfishly.
I'm like I don't think I can dothis and also fulfill my dreams
of being the kind of mom that Iwant to be so anyway, I took a
step back and realized I had allof these systems and
efficiencies created of how toget dinner on the table easy and
(03:58):
I was helping again 6 people aweek do that.
But I'm like, how can I help alot more people get dinner on
the table each night?
And so that's what I set out todo.
I actually did both businessesfor a while, like I would see
the chef clients write down myrecipes, write down my tricks,
and eventually it got to thepoint.
For the past 12, 13 years I'verun PrepDish and helped people
(04:19):
get meals on the table.
Brad Nelson (04:25):
I now have four kids and use my system every
single week to make sure I getdinner on the table.
Wow, that is awesome.
So when you say your systems,is this something in your
program that you're sending thefood to them and everything, or
is this something where you'regiving them the recipe?
How does this all work?
Allison Schaaf (04:36):
So what we give visually is a PDF, right?
It's here's the steps you taketo 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 linkand you're taken to a shopping
cart and all you have to do isbuy this food.
But you can make some edits.
Right, you could swap out ifyou prefer asparagus over green
(04:57):
beans, or you know you want to,I don't know.
You can just make it your own.
We do have that kind of easybutton when it comes to the
grocery shopping and then wegive tips.
So, like when I say system,part of that is, hey, if you
spend an hour at the beginningof the week doing some chopping,
mixing up some sauces andmarinades, then each night when
you head into dinner it's somuch easier because you've done
(05:19):
a little bit.
The other thing that I found is, by doing that small step of
meal prep at the beginning ofthe week, it kind of forces you
to not do the easy button andorder takeout, because you're
like, oh, but I already choppedthose carrots or that marinates,
like the meat's already in themarinade.
So you're not tempted to likechange plans because I know how
it gets by six o'clock You'relike, oh dang, do I have to do
(05:41):
this Everything from scratch?
But if you've already doneparts of it, you've set yourself
up right Like you are creatingthis place where your future
self has it easy.
Right, like meals easy.
Oh, I already have done thehard work.
Brad Nelson (05:54):
Yeah, that's awesome and I think one of the
things that I mean when you'regoing through this and talking
through it.
See, my partner is not a bigfan of cooking.
She's just not her thing.
I like to cook.
My mom taught me how to cookbut one of the things I struggle
with is between me and her.
We have five kids in our houseand it's always the question of
what are we going to make?
Right?
I feel like as an adult andI've seen memes on Facebook and
(06:15):
social media about this it'slike that's the number one
question of being an adult is,if I can figure this one thing
out what are we going to eatevery day for the rest of our
lives, right?
Announcer (06:23):
So, what do?
Brad Nelson (06:24):
you say to people of how do you even create a menu
for the week based on, like atypical?
You have four kids.
You guys are busy, like on abusy family schedule.
Allison Schaaf (06:33):
Yeah Well, first of all, just deciding to come
up with the answer to thatquestion beforehand, right?
Like that is the number one key.
Don't hold off on that decisionuntil five o'clock at night.
You're not in gooddecision-making mode.
Maybe on Saturday you have afew hours where you can get some
childcare, I don't know.
Just find a time in your weekwhere you can sit down and be
(06:55):
intentional with it, right?
This will help with health.
This will also help with money.
Is, if you can be intentionalwith, okay, what are we going to
eat each week?
Look at the calendar, whichnights are we going to be home?
Come up with the decision aheadof time, so that way you're
making a better decision, right?
So that's kind of the veryfirst step.
And then from there you know,figuring out what and the types
(07:15):
of foods and all of that, like,you'll kind of over time figure
out what works for you and yourfamily.
Of course, at PrepDish that'swhat we do for people.
We hand them a list and we'relike here's what's for dinner
each night this week and buy thegroceries and off you go.
Brad Nelson (07:28):
Yeah, I love that.
And do you guys get to pick?
Because obviously, if you'vegot kids that maybe are more, or
even adults, heck, that aremore picky eaters, do you get to
pick the recipes that you guyshave, or how do you guys work
that?
Allison Schaaf (07:38):
So the way ours are designed is they are
completely done for you.
Now, we do that for a fewreasons.
One of them is we like to havethe recipes play well with each
other, and when I say that, Imean if you use half an onion
here, we're going to use itlater in the week.
We're not going to have you buyan entire bunch of basil and
only use two leaves, right?
Like we want to make sure youdon't have food waste and we
(08:00):
also want to make sure, like,hey, maybe you make a pesto and
you use it on Monday as adressing and then a few days
later as a marinade.
Or you make a big roast todayand tomorrow you use it for
tacos.
So we're trying to kind ofmaneuver that Now in terms of
like, hey, I know that my kidsdon't like quinoa, just swap it
for rice.
(08:20):
You can kind of make it yourown in those ways.
But we do kind of a pre-done.
You don't even have to thinkabout it.
Here's what to do.
And then, yeah, tweak as yousee fit.
And for picky eaters and otherideas, like hey, here's the
meals.
Maybe each meal, add in a foodingredient that they're more
familiar with so that they willnot be overwhelmed with the meal
and they can have that.
(08:41):
And then maybe, you know, we'lltry something else at the table
.
Brad Nelson (08:44):
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 Ihave to do for a meal plan for a
week?
Like, what do you typically onaverage see for how many hours
of work that is?
Allison Schaaf (08:57):
Yeah, so we have four different meal plans.
One of them specifically iscalled our super fast meal plan.
We guarantee on that that it'san hour of prep or less.
The other ones, you know, cantake one to two hours or kind of
depends.
Now there's a few ways aroundthat.
What I like to do is I like todo my quote unquote prep time.
I like to add that into a mealprep that I'm already doing.
(09:20):
So either Sunday lunch orMonday dinner, I just kind of
start my preparation a littlebit before and maybe, as I'm
making my Sunday lunch, I'mprepping all my vegetables for
the week and then, as we'recleaning up the kitchen I like
to do this because my husbandcan help clean up the kitchen
and then maybe I'm doing thesauces and marinade.
So yes, I've done an hour ofmeal prep, but I really just
feel like I made lunch andcleaned up and fit in these
(09:42):
tasks as I was doing that.
So there's kind of ways totrick yourself into it so it
doesn't feel so overwhelming.
Brad Nelson (09:48):
Yeah, yeah, you mentioned food waste earlier and
there was a statistic I thinkit was like savethefoodcom, and
they had a statistic out therethat says the average family of
four will throw away at least$1,500 worth of food a year.
That comes out to like $125 amonth, wow, which?
I've talked about this onsocial media because there is
this debate because of howexpensive groceries and things
(10:09):
have gotten, how expensiverestaurants have gotten, and
there are people who areactually debating and saying
like going out to eat is cheaperthan 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 thisnumbers off the top of my head,
but my gut tells me, becauseI've been out to eat and I know
what the bill is and I eat athome and I know what the bill is
, so I would say I vote.
Eating at home is going to bemore cost effective.
You have more control over theingredients, right, and the
other thing.
So, when it comes from a healthperspective, you can choose
(10:38):
quality ingredients, whereas ifyou're using restaurants or any
sort of convenience foods,they're always going to look at
food costs, which means they'reusually cutting back on how
healthy those ingredients are.
So that's another thing to keepin mind is that there's this
like cost, this like health costof you know, eating out or
doing convenience foods thatover time, will end up costing
(11:01):
something, right.
Brad Nelson (11:02):
Yeah, yeah.
And so when people are usingyour services, are you finding
because you're utilizing likeyou mentioned, you brought up an
onion, you're using it half forthis recipe, half for another
recipe are you finding that yourmembers are having less food
waste?
That's why I brought that $125up, because I feel like that's a
big big thing too is that wehave good intentions of buying
the food, making the food, butthen it doesn't happen exactly
(11:24):
the way it should and all of asudden you're throwing out a
head of lettuce or the grapesthat are now brown and gross and
nothing got eaten like itshould have.
So what do you see?
Because of people using yourservices, 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'tfigured out a way to like, but
we do definitely get thefeedback of food waste just by
having the meal plan.
It creates this discipline ofokay and that's why I actually
prefer sometimes using somethinglike our Instacart links versus
going in the store, becauseit's easier to be disciplined
and be like okay, I'm just goingto buy these ingredients plus
(11:58):
some snacks, plus some breakfastitems, and then we're good,
there's no temptations by goingthrough these aisles of stuff
you don't need and it reallyforces you to sit down and look
at the week and plan out themeals, and again you're going to
be less tempted to go out anddo something else because you're
like oh, this is these fishtacos with a slaw.
(12:19):
So you know in your mind whateverything's going for.
Right, all the ingredients areassigned a task.
So, whereas if you just kind oflike I've had weeks where I
haven't used the meal plans andI buy random stuff and then at
the end of the week I'm like doI want to figure out how to
piece all this together into ameal, and it gets a little
easier to be like no, it's noteven going to taste good because
you didn't have a plan for thatlast meal.
(12:41):
So just by having the plan andassigning meals and I like to
even take a whiteboard and writedown each night what is going
to happen for that meal so it'ssort 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
(13:02):
weed out less.
Even by eating out less one daya week, I mean, the service
pays for itself really quicklyright, Because it's like if you
don't eat out, or if you don'teven Uber Eats and stuff like
that.
There's all these fees.
It's, oh, it's 20 bucks, butit'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 lotof people will miss is yes,
there is this time commitment,but what I think a lot of people
don't realize is when you gointo your grocery shopping and
you have a list, there's lessimpulse of spending because you
have a list of the things thatyou're going to buy.
I mean, there's a statistic outthere that we use from Shopify
that says upwards of 50% of allgroceries are spent on impulse,
(13:39):
meaning we weren't planning onbuying those when we walked into
the store and the grocery storeitself.
Now I think online ordering ismuch better personally, but the
grocery store if you go into aphysical grocery store, is built
and set up to get you to spendmore than you planned on
spending For a lot of people.
I think having that meal plan isso good because it's just this
is all I need to get.
Don't buy anything else,especially if you're doing
(14:00):
online ordering, because itmakes it so less tempting of
you're not in there smelling thedeli stuff.
You're not in there Like,you're just outside of the store
.
Just get what you need andyou're done.
Allison Schaaf (14:09):
Yep, Just avoid those suggestions.
I've noticed at the end it'slike you're done.
And when you click and they'relike 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 whatyou're talking about.
Allison Schaaf (14:20):
So they do have one little temptation, but if
you can bypass that, you're goodyeah.
Brad Nelson (14:24):
We've talked about how it saves money.
We've talked about how it takessome stress out of having to
plan all this stuff yourself.
What are some other benefitsthat your services provide?
Allison Schaaf (14:34):
Yeah, it's the money, it's the time.
So, even though you're doingsome of that work upfront
throughout the week, it's savingyou time because you're not
having to start from scratcheach day, but it's also that
mental load of like.
At the end of the day, youdon't have decisions to make
about mealtime, and that's thebeauty of it is to go into
mealtime not needing to makedecisions.
(14:54):
And then getting to what I sayis like the number one thing we
provide, which is creating aspace for your family to sit
down and connect right Like, yes, I want healthy food, yes, I
want it to taste good, but atthe end of the day, I want my
family to sit down and connect.
We share our highs and lows.
That's what's important to meas a mom, that's what I care
(15:14):
about, and all this other stuffis built up towards that.
Like 30 minutes of us sittingdown and being with each other.
And because it's less hectic,because it's less chaotic,
there's a greater chance thatI'm gonna be able to sit down
and create this like I mean, Ihave little kids.
It's not always calm, but if Ican 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 thebenefits of sitting around as a
family and eating dinnertogether.
Allison Schaaf (15:43):
Oh my gosh.
Yeah, you should go through alist and look at all of the
benefits of sitting down to afamily meal.
I mean less likely to do drugs,less likely.
The list goes on and on and onof how important family meals
are.
Brad Nelson (15:54):
Yeah, so any tips for kids and meal planning and
things like you know, becauseagain, I think kids are a little
bit more challenging.
Like I said, we have five thatare here and they all like
different things, so anysuggestions for that?
Allison Schaaf (16:07):
Oh, my goodness, I have so many suggestions.
Just as you can imagine, havingrun this for 12 years, like we
get a lot of questions aboutpicky eating and involving kids.
Some of my very top tips numberone involve the kids as much as
possible.
There are just so many benefitsto this.
But, like kind of going back tohow you kicked off the
conversation of like do you findthat less people are eating at
(16:29):
home?
Yeah, they didn't learn to cook.
Teach your kids to cook.
This is like well, I'm biased,I'm a chef and dietitian.
It is like the most importantlife skill you can give to your
kids.
My six-year-old makes scrambledeggs in the morning because I
taught him, too, how to crack anegg, and eventually it's like
over time they learn, and themore you can give them these
skills, not only is it settingthem up for a better future like
(16:54):
to be a healthier person toknow how to do these important
skills.
Also, it doesn't take longbefore they can be a significant
help, and now we have a newbaby.
My six-year-old can make eggsin the morning while I feed the
baby, and so it pays off a lotquicker than I realized.
If you really have the patienceto involve them.
They can start being asignificant help.
And then all of a sudden thatmeal prep isn't a long time,
(17:15):
Maybe it's a family activitythat everyone does together and
then even at the mealimmediately 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 itbecause they helped participate
and they're a little morecurious.
So the more they can be exposedto the meal prep process, the
more likely they are at thetable to be interested in that
(17:37):
food.
Brad Nelson (17:38):
Yeah, that's so cool.
So can you share a little bitabout how your service works,
like, where can people get moreinformation 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 PDFthat we send out through email.
We also have a login wherecustomers can log in and get
access to not just that week'smeal plans but archives.
The most popular meal plan isjust those super fast ones that
are healthy, family-friendlymeals, but we also do have
gluten-free plans, paleo plansand low-carb plans.
(18:08):
We have a 14-day free trial setup for your listeners at
prepdishcom slash debtfreedad.
So if they want to go there, Imean 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 signup, see how we do things, see if
it works for you.
If nothing else, get some tipsand tricks for your own meal
planning that you do.
And again, we have thoseInstacart links now, which I'm
(18:29):
super excited.
Those are pretty new on thesite but those have been such a
time saver of just one clickEverything's in your cart From
there no-transcript for dinnerthis 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 moreconfidence it's not like an idea
you came up with.
It's like, oh, it's this thing.
And then they're like, oh, sothere's kind of a switch that
happens with how you present themeals.
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 areready to break free from living
paycheck to paycheck, you wantto reduce financial stress,
build savings and finally payoff debt for good, but, again,
maybe you're not sure where toget started.
Heck, that's probably why youlisten to our podcast.
Don't worry, though.
We've got some extra tools thatgot you covered.
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(19:54):
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you're going to gain the toolsand confidence to tackle your
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(20:14):
All you have to do is sign upfor Simplify my Money by
clicking the link at the top ofthe 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 goodthings, all the bad things that
may be.
Let's talk about that.
(20:34):
Let's talk about that.
Tune into Dead Free Dad.
Tune into Dead Free Dad.
All right guys.
That sound means it's time forthe celebrations of the show,
and today we are kicking offwith Misty.
Misty says I renewed my platesfor my vehicle with cash this
(20:55):
year.
She says that is the very firsttime I've done that in a long
time.
Misty, awesome budgety win.
Good for you.
Tina says I dog sat from Fridayto Thursday this week.
The extra cash is great and Ireally enjoy the dogs as well.
Makes it a win-win right.
She says it was a busy week butalso rewarding.
I will use some of that moneyto add to my emergency fund,
(21:16):
tina, way to focus onincome-producing activities and
income-producing activities thatyou actually enjoy.
Awesome win.
And Becky, no huge wins thisweek for me, she says.
However, she was able to selltwo items between Wednesday and
today.
Also, budget is done for thenext month.
I've been consistent in doingmy Roots 15 every day and it's
(21:36):
my goal to go through more itemsin my home over this weekend
and get more things sold.
Also, I told myself no tospending on a few more
non-essential items this week.
Becky, here's our rule hereDon't discount your wins,
because these wins areincredible and these wins are
gonna make a huge difference astime goes on.
(21:57):
So, way to go, congratulationsto you, hey, as always.
Congratulations to all of youguys who are taking a stand for
your financial life.
Our listeners and I know thatyou 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, wepromise you guys, this will be
some of the best work that youguys do in your entire life.
Thanks for joining us ontoday's show and we will see you
(22:19):
guys on the next episode.
Announcer (22:26):
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(22:50):
visit debtfreedadcom.
Catch you next week.
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 sooverwhelming and unrealistic, or
just like another thing as anadult we have to stress about.
But today I am talking withAllison Schaff, a registered
dietitian, trained chef andfounder of PrepDish.
(00:20):
This is a meal planning servicethat's helped thousands of
people busy families actuallysimplify their evenings and
enjoy healthy, stress-free meals.
Now, if you've ever thoughtthat meal planning was too
complicated probably just likeme or time-consuming, for sure
this episode is going to changethe way that you see it, let's
(00:42):
jump in.
Announcer (00:42):
You're listening to the Debt-Free Dad Podcast with
Brad Nelson.
Brad and his co-hostsexperience the anxiety of living
paycheck to paycheck beforelearning the fundamentals of
financial success.
They are now on a mission toempower regular people to pay
off their debt for good andenjoy happier, less stressful
lives.
Keep listening forinspirational interviews, tips,
(01:04):
tricks and practical advice togain financial freedom.
Brad Nelson (01:08):
Hey guys, welcome to today's show.
I'm Brad Nelson, founder ofDebt Free Debt.
I paid off about $45,000 ofdebt, have been debt free now
for more than 12 years, outsideof my mortgage.
I've also been fortunate tohelp thousands of other people
save and pay off tens ofmillions of dollars with the
work that we do here at DebtFreeFree Dad.
Now, after listening to thisepisode, if you're ready to take
things to the next level,you're ready to break free from
(01:29):
living paycheck to paycheck.
You want to reduce financialstress, you want to build more
savings, you want to finally payoff your debt for good but
maybe you're like many,including myself at one time,
you're just not sure where tostart.
We've created some incrediblefree resources here at Debt-Free
(01:49):
Dad to help you get there, andI'll be sharing some details
about how you get started withthose later on in today's
episode.
So hey, Allison, welcome to theDebt-Free Dad podcast.
Allison Schaaf (01:51):
So glad that you're joining us here today.
Hi, thank you for having me.
I'm excited for ourconversation.
Brad Nelson (01:53):
Yeah, absolutely so .
Like I said before, we hitrecord.
I mean, this is a hot topic,you know, meal planning and
eating at home.
Over the years my mom kind oftaught me the basics of cooking
and meal planning and all that.
Are we kind of getting awayfrom basic home economics and
being able to shop smart and beable to meal plan and cook at
home?
Because I feel like a lot morepeople say like I struggle with
cooking at home, I struggle withmeal planning, and it's not
(02:16):
always just like I don't havethe time, it's just that they
say they struggle with it.
Do you find that too?
Allison Schaaf (02:26):
Yeah, it's so easy to not eat at home.
So I think that's one of theissues.
I grew up in a small town inKansas and we had like two
restaurants.
We ate out once a month, ifthat you know, it was a very
like special treat and nowadaysit's just so dang easy to hop on
your phone and order go to arestaurant.
There's so many convenienceitems so I feel like there's
just a lot of reasons not tothat are easier or like can it
(02:46):
make it easier than you knowmaking your food at home?
Brad Nelson (02:48):
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 manytimes throughout the day if you
really want to Buy now, paylater and all that.
But I think food's the same way.
It's everywhere.
It's so accessible, it's justeasy to spend the money.
So I'm just curious whatinspired you to create PrepDish
and what got you into this andgot you started with all of this
(03:11):
?
Allison Schaaf (03:16):
Yeah.
So my background is a dieticianand a personal chef.
I used to go into people'shomes as a personal chef and
make their food for them andreally enjoyed that work.
I loved the clients I workedwith, but a few things came up.
One is I maxed out.
I could only see so manyclients a week.
I did have clients that enjoyedmy services but wanted me to
teach them then how to do it forthemselves, partly because of a
(03:36):
cost issue.
And then I knew lifestyle-wisethat I wanted a family and I
didn't see being a personal chefas selfishly.
I'm like I don't think I can dothis and also fulfill my dreams
of being the kind of mom that Iwant to be so anyway, I took a
step back and realized I had allof these systems and
efficiencies created of how toget dinner on the table easy and
(03:58):
I was helping again 6 people aweek do that.
But I'm like, how can I help alot more people get dinner on
the table each night?
And so that's what I set out todo.
I actually did both businessesfor a while, like I would see
the chef clients write down myrecipes, write down my tricks,
and eventually it got to thepoint.
For the past 12, 13 years I'verun PrepDish and helped people
(04:19):
get meals on the table.
Brad Nelson (04:25):
I now have four kids and use my system every
single week to make sure I getdinner on the table.
Wow, that is awesome.
So when you say your systems,is this something in your
program that you're sending thefood to them and everything, or
is this something where you'regiving them the recipe?
How does this all work?
Allison Schaaf (04:36):
So what we give visually is a PDF, right?
It's here's the steps you taketo 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 linkand you're taken to a shopping
cart and all you have to do isbuy this food.
But you can make some edits.
Right, you could swap out ifyou prefer asparagus over green
(04:57):
beans, or you know you want to,I don't know.
You can just make it your own.
We do have that kind of easybutton when it comes to the
grocery shopping and then wegive tips.
So, like when I say system,part of that is, hey, if you
spend an hour at the beginningof the week doing some chopping,
mixing up some sauces andmarinades, then each night when
you head into dinner it's somuch easier because you've done
(05:19):
a little bit.
The other thing that I found is, by doing that small step of
meal prep at the beginning ofthe week, it kind of forces you
to not do the easy button andorder takeout, because you're
like, oh, but I already choppedthose carrots or that marinates,
like the meat's already in themarinade.
So you're not tempted to likechange plans because I know how
it gets by six o'clock You'relike, oh dang, do I have to do
(05:41):
this Everything from scratch?
But if you've already doneparts of it, you've set yourself
up right Like you are creatingthis place where your future
self has it easy.
Right, like meals easy.
Oh, I already have done thehard work.
Brad Nelson (05:54):
Yeah, that's awesome and I think one of the
things that I mean when you'regoing through this and talking
through it.
See, my partner is not a bigfan of cooking.
She's just not her thing.
I like to cook.
My mom taught me how to cookbut one of the things I struggle
with is between me and her.
We have five kids in our houseand it's always the question of
what are we going to make?
Right?
I feel like as an adult andI've seen memes on Facebook and
(06:15):
social media about this it'slike that's the number one
question of being an adult is,if I can figure this one thing
out what are we going to eatevery day for the rest of our
lives, right?
Announcer (06:23):
So, what do?
Brad Nelson (06:24):
you say to people of how do you even create a menu
for the week based on, like atypical?
You have four kids.
You guys are busy, like on abusy family schedule.
Allison Schaaf (06:33):
Yeah Well, first of all, just deciding to come
up with the answer to thatquestion beforehand, right?
Like that is the number one key.
Don't hold off on that decisionuntil five o'clock at night.
You're not in gooddecision-making mode.
Maybe on Saturday you have afew hours where you can get some
childcare, I don't know.
Just find a time in your weekwhere you can sit down and be
(06:55):
intentional with it, right?
This will help with health.
This will also help with money.
Is, if you can be intentionalwith, okay, what are we going to
eat each week?
Look at the calendar, whichnights are we going to be home?
Come up with the decision aheadof time, so that way you're
making a better decision, right?
So that's kind of the veryfirst step.
And then from there you know,figuring out what and the types
(07:15):
of foods and all of that, like,you'll kind of over time figure
out what works for you and yourfamily.
Of course, at PrepDish that'swhat we do for people.
We hand them a list and we'relike here's what's for dinner
each night this week and buy thegroceries and off you go.
Brad Nelson (07:28):
Yeah, I love that.
And do you guys get to pick?
Because obviously, if you'vegot kids that maybe are more, or
even adults, heck, that aremore picky eaters, do you get to
pick the recipes that you guyshave, or how do you guys work
that?
Allison Schaaf (07:38):
So the way ours are designed is they are
completely done for you.
Now, we do that for a fewreasons.
One of them is we like to havethe recipes play well with each
other, and when I say that, Imean if you use half an onion
here, we're going to use itlater in the week.
We're not going to have you buyan entire bunch of basil and
only use two leaves, right?
Like we want to make sure youdon't have food waste and we
(08:00):
also want to make sure, like,hey, maybe you make a pesto and
you use it on Monday as adressing and then a few days
later as a marinade.
Or you make a big roast todayand tomorrow you use it for
tacos.
So we're trying to kind ofmaneuver that Now in terms of
like, hey, I know that my kidsdon't like quinoa, just swap it
for rice.
(08:20):
You can kind of make it yourown in those ways.
But we do kind of a pre-done.
You don't even have to thinkabout it.
Here's what to do.
And then, yeah, tweak as yousee fit.
And for picky eaters and otherideas, like hey, here's the
meals.
Maybe each meal, add in a foodingredient that they're more
familiar with so that they willnot be overwhelmed with the meal
and they can have that.
(08:41):
And then maybe, you know, we'lltry something else at the table
.
Brad Nelson (08:44):
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 Ihave to do for a meal plan for a
week?
Like, what do you typically onaverage see for how many hours
of work that is?
Allison Schaaf (08:57):
Yeah, so we have four different meal plans.
One of them specifically iscalled our super fast meal plan.
We guarantee on that that it'san hour of prep or less.
The other ones, you know, cantake one to two hours or kind of
depends.
Now there's a few ways aroundthat.
What I like to do is I like todo my quote unquote prep time.
I like to add that into a mealprep that I'm already doing.
(09:20):
So either Sunday lunch orMonday dinner, I just kind of
start my preparation a littlebit before and maybe, as I'm
making my Sunday lunch, I'mprepping all my vegetables for
the week and then, as we'recleaning up the kitchen I like
to do this because my husbandcan help clean up the kitchen
and then maybe I'm doing thesauces and marinade.
So yes, I've done an hour ofmeal prep, but I really just
feel like I made lunch andcleaned up and fit in these
(09:42):
tasks as I was doing that.
So there's kind of ways totrick yourself into it so it
doesn't feel so overwhelming.
Brad Nelson (09:48):
Yeah, yeah, you mentioned food waste earlier and
there was a statistic I thinkit was like savethefoodcom, and
they had a statistic out therethat says the average family of
four will throw away at least$1,500 worth of food a year.
That comes out to like $125 amonth, wow, which?
I've talked about this onsocial media because there is
this debate because of howexpensive groceries and things
(10:09):
have gotten, how expensiverestaurants have gotten, and
there are people who areactually debating and saying
like going out to eat is cheaperthan 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 thisnumbers off the top of my head,
but my gut tells me, becauseI've been out to eat and I know
what the bill is and I eat athome and I know what the bill is
, so I would say I vote.
Eating at home is going to bemore cost effective.
You have more control over theingredients, right, and the
other thing.
So, when it comes from a healthperspective, you can choose
(10:38):
quality ingredients, whereas ifyou're using restaurants or any
sort of convenience foods,they're always going to look at
food costs, which means they'reusually cutting back on how
healthy those ingredients are.
So that's another thing to keepin mind is that there's this
like cost, this like health costof you know, eating out or
doing convenience foods thatover time, will end up costing
(11:01):
something, right.
Brad Nelson (11:02):
Yeah, yeah.
And so when people are usingyour services, are you finding
because you're utilizing likeyou mentioned, you brought up an
onion, you're using it half forthis recipe, half for another
recipe are you finding that yourmembers are having less food
waste?
That's why I brought that $125up, because I feel like that's a
big big thing too is that wehave good intentions of buying
the food, making the food, butthen it doesn't happen exactly
(11:24):
the way it should and all of asudden you're throwing out a
head of lettuce or the grapesthat are now brown and gross and
nothing got eaten like itshould have.
So what do you see?
Because of people using yourservices, 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'tfigured out a way to like, but
we do definitely get thefeedback of food waste just by
having the meal plan.
It creates this discipline ofokay and that's why I actually
prefer sometimes using somethinglike our Instacart links versus
going in the store, becauseit's easier to be disciplined
and be like okay, I'm just goingto buy these ingredients plus
(11:58):
some snacks, plus some breakfastitems, and then we're good,
there's no temptations by goingthrough these aisles of stuff
you don't need and it reallyforces you to sit down and look
at the week and plan out themeals, and again you're going to
be less tempted to go out anddo something else because you're
like oh, this is these fishtacos with a slaw.
(12:19):
So you know in your mind whateverything's going for.
Right, all the ingredients areassigned a task.
So, whereas if you just kind oflike I've had weeks where I
haven't used the meal plans andI buy random stuff and then at
the end of the week I'm like doI want to figure out how to
piece all this together into ameal, and it gets a little
easier to be like no, it's noteven going to taste good because
you didn't have a plan for thatlast meal.
(12:41):
So just by having the plan andassigning meals and I like to
even take a whiteboard and writedown each night what is going
to happen for that meal so it'ssort 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
(13:02):
weed out less.
Even by eating out less one daya week, I mean, the service
pays for itself really quicklyright, Because it's like if you
don't eat out, or if you don'teven Uber Eats and stuff like
that.
There's all these fees.
It's, oh, it's 20 bucks, butit'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 lotof people will miss is yes,
there is this time commitment,but what I think a lot of people
don't realize is when you gointo your grocery shopping and
you have a list, there's lessimpulse of spending because you
have a list of the things thatyou're going to buy.
I mean, there's a statistic outthere that we use from Shopify
that says upwards of 50% of allgroceries are spent on impulse,
(13:39):
meaning we weren't planning onbuying those when we walked into
the store and the grocery storeitself.
Now I think online ordering ismuch better personally, but the
grocery store if you go into aphysical grocery store, is built
and set up to get you to spendmore than you planned on
spending For a lot of people.
I think having that meal plan isso good because it's just this
is all I need to get.
Don't buy anything else,especially if you're doing
(14:00):
online ordering, because itmakes it so less tempting of
you're not in there smelling thedeli stuff.
You're not in there Like,you're just outside of the store
.
Just get what you need andyou're done.
Allison Schaaf (14:09):
Yep, Just avoid those suggestions.
I've noticed at the end it'slike you're done.
And when you click and they'relike 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 whatyou're talking about.
Allison Schaaf (14:20):
So they do have one little temptation, but if
you can bypass that, you're goodyeah.
Brad Nelson (14:24):
We've talked about how it saves money.
We've talked about how it takessome stress out of having to
plan all this stuff yourself.
What are some other benefitsthat your services provide?
Allison Schaaf (14:34):
Yeah, it's the money, it's the time.
So, even though you're doingsome of that work upfront
throughout the week, it's savingyou time because you're not
having to start from scratcheach day, but it's also that
mental load of like.
At the end of the day, youdon't have decisions to make
about mealtime, and that's thebeauty of it is to go into
mealtime not needing to makedecisions.
(14:54):
And then getting to what I sayis like the number one thing we
provide, which is creating aspace for your family to sit
down and connect right Like, yes, I want healthy food, yes, I
want it to taste good, but atthe end of the day, I want my
family to sit down and connect.
We share our highs and lows.
That's what's important to meas a mom, that's what I care
(15:14):
about, and all this other stuffis built up towards that.
Like 30 minutes of us sittingdown and being with each other.
And because it's less hectic,because it's less chaotic,
there's a greater chance thatI'm gonna be able to sit down
and create this like I mean, Ihave little kids.
It's not always calm, but if Ican 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 thebenefits of sitting around as a
family and eating dinnertogether.
Allison Schaaf (15:43):
Oh my gosh.
Yeah, you should go through alist and look at all of the
benefits of sitting down to afamily meal.
I mean less likely to do drugs,less likely.
The list goes on and on and onof how important family meals
are.
Brad Nelson (15:54):
Yeah, so any tips for kids and meal planning and
things like you know, becauseagain, I think kids are a little
bit more challenging.
Like I said, we have five thatare here and they all like
different things, so anysuggestions for that?
Allison Schaaf (16:07):
Oh, my goodness, I have so many suggestions.
Just as you can imagine, havingrun this for 12 years, like we
get a lot of questions aboutpicky eating and involving kids.
Some of my very top tips numberone involve the kids as much as
possible.
There are just so many benefitsto this.
But, like kind of going back tohow you kicked off the
conversation of like do you findthat less people are eating at
(16:29):
home?
Yeah, they didn't learn to cook.
Teach your kids to cook.
This is like well, I'm biased,I'm a chef and dietitian.
It is like the most importantlife skill you can give to your
kids.
My six-year-old makes scrambledeggs in the morning because I
taught him, too, how to crack anegg, and eventually it's like
over time they learn, and themore you can give them these
skills, not only is it settingthem up for a better future like
(16:54):
to be a healthier person toknow how to do these important
skills.
Also, it doesn't take longbefore they can be a significant
help, and now we have a newbaby.
My six-year-old can make eggsin the morning while I feed the
baby, and so it pays off a lotquicker than I realized.
If you really have the patienceto involve them.
They can start being asignificant help.
And then all of a sudden thatmeal prep isn't a long time,
(17:15):
Maybe it's a family activitythat everyone does together and
then even at the mealimmediately 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 itbecause they helped participate
and they're a little morecurious.
So the more they can be exposedto the meal prep process, the
more likely they are at thetable to be interested in that
(17:37):
food.
Brad Nelson (17:38):
Yeah, that's so cool.
So can you share a little bitabout how your service works,
like, where can people get moreinformation 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 PDFthat we send out through email.
We also have a login wherecustomers can log in and get
access to not just that week'smeal plans but archives.
The most popular meal plan isjust those super fast ones that
are healthy, family-friendlymeals, but we also do have
gluten-free plans, paleo plansand low-carb plans.
(18:08):
We have a 14-day free trial setup for your listeners at
prepdishcom slash debtfreedad.
So if they want to go there, Imean 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 signup, see how we do things, see if
it works for you.
If nothing else, get some tipsand tricks for your own meal
planning that you do.
And again, we have thoseInstacart links now, which I'm
(18:29):
super excited.
Those are pretty new on thesite but those have been such a
time saver of just one clickEverything's in your cart From
there no-transcript for dinnerthis 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 moreconfidence it's not like an idea
you came up with.
It's like, oh, it's this thing.
And then they're like, oh, sothere's kind of a switch that
happens with how you present themeals.
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 areready to break free from living
paycheck to paycheck, you wantto reduce financial stress,
build savings and finally payoff debt for good, but, again,
maybe you're not sure where toget started.
Heck, that's probably why youlisten to our podcast.
Don't worry, though.
We've got some extra tools thatgot you covered.
Simplify my Money is anewsletter that is sent each and
(19:54):
every Sunday to your email.
Simplify my Money is yourstep-by-step roadmap to better
financial control.
You're also going to learn someeasy to follow strategies to
manage your money effectively.
You're going to havestress-free money decisions that
are going to help you simplifyyour financial life with proven
tips that actually work foreveryday, normal people, and
you're going to gain the toolsand confidence to tackle your
financial goals head on.
(20:14):
All you have to do is sign upfor Simplify my Money by
clicking the link at the top ofthe 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 goodthings, all the bad things that
may be.
Let's talk about that.
(20:34):
Let's talk about that.
Tune into Dead Free Dad.
Tune into Dead Free Dad.
All right guys.
That sound means it's time forthe celebrations of the show,
and today we are kicking offwith Misty.
Misty says I renewed my platesfor my vehicle with cash this
(20:55):
year.
She says that is the very firsttime I've done that in a long
time.
Misty, awesome budgety win.
Good for you.
Tina says I dog sat from Fridayto Thursday this week.
The extra cash is great and Ireally enjoy the dogs as well.
Makes it a win-win right.
She says it was a busy week butalso rewarding.
I will use some of that moneyto add to my emergency fund,
(21:16):
tina, way to focus onincome-producing activities and
income-producing activities thatyou actually enjoy.
Awesome win.
And Becky, no huge wins thisweek for me, she says.
However, she was able to selltwo items between Wednesday and
today.
Also, budget is done for thenext month.
I've been consistent in doingmy Roots 15 every day and it's
(21:36):
my goal to go through more itemsin my home over this weekend
and get more things sold.
Also, I told myself no tospending on a few more
non-essential items this week.
Becky, here's our rule hereDon't discount your wins,
because these wins areincredible and these wins are
gonna make a huge difference astime goes on.
(21:57):
So, way to go, congratulationsto you, hey, as always.
Congratulations to all of youguys who are taking a stand for
your financial life.
Our listeners and I know thatyou 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, wepromise you guys, this will be
some of the best work that youguys do in your entire life.
Thanks for joining us ontoday's show and we will see you
(22:19):
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'sepisode, please leave us a
rating and review.
We so appreciate it.
For resources, show notes andlinks mentioned in today's show
(22:50):
visit debtfreedadcom.
Catch you next week.
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On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.
Ridiculous History
History is beautiful, brutal and, often, ridiculous. Join Ben Bowlin and Noel Brown as they dive into some of the weirdest stories from across the span of human civilization in Ridiculous History, a podcast by iHeartRadio.