{"id":23972,"date":"2023-03-05T14:55:03","date_gmt":"2023-03-05T14:55:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jewishaction.com\/?p=23972"},"modified":"2023-03-05T22:51:46","modified_gmt":"2023-03-05T22:51:46","slug":"how-not-to-break-the-bank-this-pesach","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jewishaction.com\/religion\/shabbat-holidays\/passover\/how-not-to-break-the-bank-this-pesach\/","title":{"rendered":"How Not to Break the Bank This Pesach"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The good news, according to industry professionals interviewed by Jewish Action, is that consumers won\u2019t suffer from sticker shock when shopping for Pesach foods this year.<\/p><\/div>\n

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How to Have a Budget-Friendly Pesach<\/strong><\/p>\n

The members of many Orthodox households ask every year how they can make memorable Sedarim and delicious meals on Pesach, when limited budgets clash with expensive yom tov <\/em>items, which is a more frequent question at a time of rising prices, exacerbated by the current pending recession.<\/p>\n

Stacey Zrihen answers these questions.<\/p>\n

A resident of Lawrence in the Five Towns area in New York and a veteran certified financial planner, Zrihen guides Jewish families on living observant Jewish lives within the constraints of finite finances. An Orthodox lifestyle\u2014large families, kosher food, day school tuition, et cetera\u2014is expensive, she points out. \u201cFinances are a major challenge\u201d\u2014which can be most evident at Pesach time, when holiday food is expensive and even the prices of year-round kosher food traditionally go up.<\/p>\n

A graduate of the University of Pennsylvania\u2019s Wharton School of Business, Zrihen serves as senior financial advisor for the Westwood Financial Management Program of the Achiezer Community Resource Center in Lawrence (the agency honored Zrihen with its Pillar of Chesed Award in 2020) and lay leader of the OU\u2019s Living Smarter Jewish coaching program.<\/p>\n

Among the more than 1,000 Jewish families\u2014in the US and overseas\u2014that she has counseled are singles and families, seniors and young married adults. Calls made to her usually spike in the weeks after a yom tov<\/em>, she says, when bills for holiday purchases come in and the stress that comes with paying them also rises. This stress can be avoided, or at least reduced, she says.<\/p>\n

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Stacey Zrihen On How to Prepare for Pesach with Less Financial Stress<\/strong><\/p>\n

As told to Steve Lipman<\/em><\/p>\n