Where's My Money Season 4, Episode 6

The Queen of Cheap Eats – Alice Taylor’s Social Media Explosion

Season Four of Where’s My Money?, now a multi-award-winning podcast, has arrived and we will share all the insights covered across the episodes by host Reagan White and his guests.

enable.me partners with rova to bring this podcast to life and stimulate the conversation about finances with everyday Kiwis. Where’s My Money? follows the story of Reagan – a man chasing the Kiwi Dream but feeling stuck living month-to-month – and his discussions with the experts about what he may be doing wrong and how to fix it.

One man. One million dollars of debt. One podcast to find a way out.

It can be a struggle to put together hearty family meals three times a day, seven days a week. Kiwi chef Alice Taylor breaks down realistic ways to achieve filling home-cooked meals – while sticking to a budget. Host Reagan White invites her on the podcast to discuss her rise to Instagram fame and her top tips to eat well, for less.

We also hear from Doug, a singleton who enjoyed his 20s and used up his cash as quick as he earned it – and is now knuckling down to sort his finances in his 30s. With a solid plan, goals to aim for and motivation, he’s feeling on track to make his goal of future home ownership a reality – as a solo buyer.

Cheap, realistic meals

Beaming from her own flat’s kitchen – commercial writer by day and food influencer by night – chef Alice Taylor has exploded on social media. With more than 250,000 followers on Instagram (and continually increasing), she has an audience that is inspired by her achievable recipes made with realistic ingredients bought in New Zealand supermarkets with a home kitchen and equipment.

She is proving one dish at a time that we can eat well – and not break our bank account.

Her growth and stardom didn’t happen overnight; it was a labour of love for about three years before she became viral. Now she grows by an average of 1,000 followers per day.

Alice says, “I started trying to post around 2019… went on Masterchef… 6 months ago I was just like alright let’s just give this a real crack and have been super super dedicated posting all the time.”

It can be difficult as an influencer to juggle the monetised side to the business of social media, while continuing to provide value for followers. Alice and Reagan explore this internal conflict.

“A lot of influencers sometimes they get bigger and they get a bit overwhelmed and things move and you actually feel it in their content,” Alice says.

“For me, the most important thing right now is to keep delivering on what I promised my followers: cheap, realistic cooking content.”

“If I keep entertaining people and giving them you know great recipes and tools and making them feel better about themselves when they leave my page, that’s the main really big goal for me.”

From Masterchef to Paris Butter

Alice isn’t just an excellent home cook; she also has restaurant chef experience.

Studying a Master of Politics at university and feeling uncertain about her future, Alice was encouraged by her family to apply for Masterchef New Zealand.

“I had a really bad day, I think, and I thought something has to change… and I applied and I got on which was crazy because, again, I had applied for all these normal jobs and had no luck, then I was like I applied for this really crazy thing… and managed to get on.”

And she didn’t just “get on” Masterchef, she had a third-place podium finish, catching the eye of the hospitality industry. Springboarding from her success on the show, she first got a chef role at Baduzzi, subsequently moving on to work at Amisfield, then Paris Butter.

She noticed that working so hard in the kitchen changed her relationship with cooking.

Alice shares, “I was kind of miserable. I wasn’t happy… my physical health wasn’t the best and in some ways I fell out of love with cooking.”

She was devastated to have lost that passion for cooking – so she decided to leave the professional kitchen, return to a day job where she uses her political degree and commit to Instagram on the side.

The rest is history; she now has left her day job, still contracting as a commercial writer, but mainly focusing on @alicetayloreats.

Single and slaying it

Doug joins the episode to share his experience as a single person in his 30s, who didn’t worry too much about financial security throughout his 20s.

Though he wishes he had understood that starting as early as possible builds financial strength for the long term, he now feels secure in what his future goals are.

Being single does make it a bit more difficult – there’s only one income to cover outgoings such as electricity, internet, power, groceries – but it is still achievable.

Doug explains, “I’m aware that it’s probably a little more difficult. My timeline is probably a little longer than people in relationships, especially if that goal is to buy a home.”

“If a couple is expecting four years to save for a down payment, I’m expecting that to take seven to eight years for me.”

But through working with enable.me coach Dominic Lehmann and using the moneyfit.me Tracker app to get full visibility of his expenses, Doug realised he doesn’t need to minimise his life now to improve his future outcomes.

“Honestly, I thought I’d have to give up way more to get ahead. But once I could see the fritter – the little things that didn’t really matter – it was easy to make smarter choices and still enjoy my lifestyle.”