A 24-year-old marketing manager who gained a net worth of more than $420,000 in five years has shared the ‘cheap’ meal prep recipes she swears by to boost her bank balance and remain on budget.
Queenie Tan, from Sydney, said her financial success gradually accumulated after she started researching and investing when she was 19.
Queenie now has a diverse financial portfolio after purchasing her first property in 2019 worth $500,000 with a $100,000 deposit.
In her latest YouTube clip, Queenie said she can easily make a fortnight’s worth of meal-prepped lunches and dinners for just $67.
A 24-year-old marketing manager who gained a net worth of more than $420,000 in five years has shared the ‘cheap’ meal prep recipes she swears by (Queenie Tan pictured)
Queenie said she can easily make a fortnight’s worth of meal-prepped lunches and dinners for just $67 (pictured cooking), and she tries to make meals for between $3 and $4 per serve
‘The total for all of these meals was just $67 and I saved $4.02 by using a cashback credit card, which I recommend you do,’ Queenie said in the video.
‘In total, each meal cost between $3 and $4 per serve.’
Queenie said the reason why she prefers to make her food at home, rather than eat out in restaurants and cafes, is because you can make ‘quite a lot of food, save a lot of money’ and ensure your budget remains on track.
She tries to do all of her meal prepping in one afternoon, in order to limit cleaning up, mess and inconvenience.
Queenie (pictured) makes a lot of food at home because you can make ‘quite a lot of food, save a lot of money’ and ensure your budget remains on track
How to make Queenie Tan’s budget fried rice
Queenie (pictured) shared how to make her favourite budget fried rice
INGREDIENTS
Two shallots
Three garlic cloves
Three eggs
Green spring onions
Vegetable oil
Frozen prawns
Big bowl of rice, cooked (day-old cooled rice is best)
Tablespoon of sesame oil
Tablespoon of soy sauce
Tablespoon of Japanese mayonnaise
Tablespoon of oyster sauce
METHOD
1. Cook your rice one day before you intend on making the fried rice, and let it cool fully in the fridge.
2. Chop your shallots, garlic and spring onions finely.
3. Whisk your three eggs and add the minced garlic.
4. Add vegetable oil to the pan and add your shallots and green onions. You need to use vegetable oil instead of olive oil as it has less flavour and won’t take over your dish.
5. Add the eggs and garlic to the pan until cooked.
6. Finally, add your cooled rice to the pan and mix everything together.
7. In the meantime, you can be cooking some de-frosted prawns in vegetable oil.
8. Add your prawns to the pan with the rice, along with the sesame oil, oyster sauce, Japanese mayonnaise and soy sauce.
9. Mix everything around and serve hot or cold.
Source: Invest with Queenie
Queenie (pictured) said to save lots of money on your grocery shopping is bulk buying ingredients when things are on special
On this particular occasion, Queenie said she made four different dishes – all of which could be taken to work for lunch or eaten as dinner over a period of two weeks.
The meals she made were fried rice, Asian prawn pasta, pasta with pesto and a vegetarian lasagne.
‘You can try to save money by buying ingredients in bulk when things are on special,’ she said of her grocery shopping bill.
‘I buy my soy milk from Amazon, because I found that whenever I buy it from Amazon and buy a little bit more than normal, I actually save about 20 per cent.’
This really adds up over the course of the year, considering Queenie uses it every day to make a coffee.
Queenie (pictured) also shared her other money-saving tips for keeping grocery costs down, including using loyalty cards and doing as much of her grocery shopping online as possible
Queenie shared her other money-saving tips for keeping grocery costs down, including using loyalty cards and doing as much of her grocery shopping online as possible.
‘I get $10 off my shopping every two months with my loyalty cards, which is roughly $60 per year that I’m saving,’ Queenie said.
She also does a lot of her shopping online, and then picks up some niche items from Aldi.
‘You can buy French wine from Aldi for under $10,’ Queenie said.
‘The quality of the wine isn’t bad, but Aldi only chooses a couple of wines for their store so they are able to go directly to the winemakers and order really large quantities for a reduced price.’
The 24-year-old also stocks up on frozen vegetables whenever she is in Aldi, as she said it doesn’t particularly matter if you buy a big brand or a homebrand item (pictured cooking)
The 24-year-old stocks up on frozen vegetables whenever she is in Aldi, as she said it doesn’t particularly matter if you buy a big brand or a homebrand item.
Finally, Queenie said you should always shop from a shopping list in order to ensure you don’t go overboard with spending.
‘This means you cut down on food waste as you only buy what you need and use,’ she said.
Queenie (pictured) picks up niche supermarket items from Aldi, including their $10 Aldi supermarket wine
Speaking previously to FEMAIL, Queenie revealed how she built her wealth.
Through listening to audiobooks, Queenie quickly learnt investing was the key to generating a passive income to work towards achieving financial flexibility and freedom.
Each month Queenie is able to invest up to $5,000 through her six sources of income as well as using the equity from the apartment.
Queenie admitted she dropped out of her marketing degree and decided to apply for jobs, as she was living from pay cheque to pay cheque and earning only $400 per week.
‘When I was 19 and moved out of home I had no savings and working only covered the bare minimum, so I decided to take a chance to drop out of university – thankfully it paid off,’ she said.
The impressive net worth is calculated by the total number of assets, minus any debt.
She said these assets include her property value, stock and cryptocurrency portfolio, offset account, savings and superannuation. The home loan debt is the only liability.
Queenie’s financial portfolio is diverse but mainly consists of Exchange-Traded Funds (ETFs) through CMC Markets – a platform that allows users to buy both Australian and international shares for low brokerage fees.
She also uses a platform called Stake to buy US stocks as it’s ‘user friendly’ and also has low brokerage fees.
Alternative Australian ETF platforms that are known to be helpful for beginners include the Raiz, Spaceship and the CommSec pocket app.
‘I invest $5,000 each month to maintain a balance and usually try to track the market before buying,’ she said.
To follow Queenie Tan on Instagram, please click here.