- All right, you guys, we talk all the time
about how food busts our budget.
I know it does mine.
It does so many people.
So, I brought Jenna Waters back.
You're back. Thanks for coming!
- It's so fun to be back. Thanks for having me.
- And we're gonna walk through multiple ways
that you can save money at the grocery,
depending on what you're buying,
and then at the end we're actually going to make
a meal together that's really budget-friendly.
So I'm really excited.
And Jenna, you're a mom of three.
- Yes.
- Expecting number four.
- Expecting number four. - Congratulations.
- Food is important in our house.
So it has to be good and healthy
but definitely within the budget.
- I love it.
- There's lots of hungry mouths. (laughs)
- Yes, okay, so starting off some great places to save.
- So starting off, I always find that
we want to find this balance between health and budget.
I feel like those are the major variables
but yet still for it to be convenient.
So there are a lot of different brands that
we could go to but a lot of the health food brands,
even though they're great, they're really expensive.
So finding creative ways to find
that middle of the road, I think,
is really essential to balancing the health budget at home.
- So good.
- So one place I love to think about
in the grocery store is that middle section.
Things like sauces, condiments, marinades.
- Which is my favorite.
I love a good condiment.
- That's right. - I really do.
It's so good. - Lots of flavor, yes.
And those are essential for good cooking, right?
- Yes, yes.
- So we want the good stuff but at the right price.
So one great example of that is salad dressings.
So just a generic brand-name salad dressing
can be upwards of $3.50 to $4 for like a 16-ounce bottle.
But oftentimes, pretty much every salad dressing
in the grocery store is going to be made
with things like canola oil and soybean oil
which are not the healthiest oils for us.
So to find a good, quality dressing that
has olive oil or avocado oil in it,
you're going to pay a lot of money.
And so making our own blend at home,
which is literally just olive oil, balsamic vinegar
our homemade herb blend and some water,
is less than $2, and it takes 30 seconds
just to whip it up really, really fast.
- So quick. Okay, so you know this about me because I feel like
I've told you, cooking is always
a little intimidating.
I'm not like naturally the best.
So making salad dressing, people would say that,
and I kind of was intimidated.
I'm not going to lie.
I'm like oh my gosh, how do you do that?
- Yeah, it feels intimidating.
And I found one easy thing, and now I don't
even use measuring cups. - You are such a natural.
- I just let the spirit lead.
And I can shake, and it's so good.
So like that's the one place I literally am like
it was a little intimidating,
but it worked. - Yes.
- So, $2 you guys. $2 for salad dressing
versus like $8, so it's great.
- I find the same things with myself.
When people started mentioning making your own
almond milk, I was like, pfft, I don't have time for that.
But then once we started doing it,
and it takes literally 30 seconds after
that first initial try.
It makes so much difference.
So some other categories in that middle of the grocery store
would be things like peanut butter.
A good organic brand of peanut butter for 16 ounces
can be upwards of $4, which isn't so bad,
but knowing that that also has things in it,
additives and such, there's a great brand
at Costco for $5.
Their brand is just Valencia peanuts, which
is the best peanuts that we can buy, and also just salt.
Mayonnaise is another great example.
So, a small bottle of that is about $2
for a little container of it.
- Even the cheap stuff.
- Yeah, the cheap stuff that we don't want.
But the step up, the healthier version,
can be $10 for a little container.
And so some places that we like to find it
would be Costco, Thrive Market, which is an online store.
- It's so great. - Yes.
That's a great money savings area.
The other section to consider budget
and brands would be freezer.
This bag right here is $3.30, but
if you make, just get two sweet potatoes,
some olive oil or avocado oil, some sea salt,
this can be $1 or $2.
- And that's the thing is like saving your $3,
$4 here or there doesn't seem like a lot
but it adds up, Jenna, when you do that
over multiple things. - Yes!
Oh my goodness.
- So frozen fruits, I've heard rumors
all about the frozen fruit.
So tell me the truth, Jenna.
- Yes.
- Good, cheap, bad, what is it?
- Frozen fruits can be awesome.
Particularly when a fruit is not in season.
Like strawberries in the fall and winter are
obviously not in season.
So you're going to pay a premium
for the fresh version of those.
If you buy the freezer version,
most of the time these are picked
at peak ripeness so they're optimal nutrition.
- I mean, this is a lot of strawberries.
- That's a lot of strawberries, totally.
It's 4 pounds for $10,
whereas just a little pint or container
could be easily $5 or $6 for organics.
- Okay, Jenna, I'm going to confess to you.
This is like the one place, it ends up being
strawberries in our house,
I don't know why, that we end up throwing out.
And it kills me.
I'm like oh my gosh, but the frozen, right?
- Yes, you just pull out what you need.
- I know, that's so good.
- Absolutely. - That's so good.
- And we love these for like on top of waffles
or pancakes as kind of like a mock syrup or in a smoothie.
- And it's less expensive when they're not in season.
- Absolutely.
- Okay, so you mentioned almond milk earlier, I'm intimidated.
When you said homemade almond milk
I was like, what?
Okay, so, walk me through it.
- It can feel daunting for sure.
But it's literally the easiest thing ever.
So an organic unsweetened almond milk
is upwards of $3 to $4 for 64 ounces.
This is just two cups of almonds and water.
You would just blend this up, put fresh water in it.
64 ounces is $2.
So that's one example of a staple item
that you can easily make yourself.
- Okay, guys, don't be intimidated.
I know it's a little intimidating.
Don't be.
Wait 'til the end of the show and
we're gonna have a place that you can get
all these recipes that we're talking about, homemade.
Oh, so good.
I love it.
I'm really excited about it.
I might make homemade almond milk.
- It might be a thing. - You never know.
You never know. - It might be a thing
that we try.
- So I often say that if we do want
to buy name-brand things or ingredients
that are more expensive, staples are
a great place to spend that extra money.
So, things like salt, this little container
just from the generic grocery store is $9.
Whereas a large container from Costco was $11.
- Yeah, that's great.
- Homemade herb blends are another place
that we can save money.
A lot of those organic herbs in the single containers
can be very expensive, but when we buy dried herbs
in bulk, we can do that.
And fresh herbs, I'm not exactly a plant lady
but if you can just throw some little plants
in a pot, this right here would probably $1.99
at the grocery store versus if you
just bought the stalks, but if you
bought the plant, it's a couple dollars.
and it keeps growing for you.
- Yes, so good.
So we're gonna dive in and make a great meal.
- So we're going to do a recipe.
We're gonna make Greek Chicken Kabobs.
This is one of our all-time favorite summer foods.
- [Rachel] Yes, so avocado oil, start with that.
- [Jenna] So we have two cups of avocado oil.
This is just a cup of white vinegar.
- [Rachel] I'll be the stirrer.
- [Jenna] That sounds good.
And then we're gonna do two tablespoons of minced garlic.
And then this is just dried mint.
And then we're gonna do lemon juice.
Lemon is the acidic component which
is gonna help tenderize the chicken.
And then this is our homemade ranch seasoning.
I'm gonna reach for this.
- Okay, so what's that?
- This is like chives, garlic powder, onion powder,
and this is a blend that I make at home.
So I would put the chicken in this bag,
and then just pour the marinade in here.
Kind of mix it up.
Let it marinate, up to overnight,
but a few hours would be fine.
And then we'll put it on skewers and grill it.
And it makes the most tender,
juicy, flavorful chicken kabobs.
- [Rachel] So yum. - It's delicious.
- Oh that's so good, and then - It's so good.
- Up next is a salad.
- Yes, this is our garbanzo Greek salad.
So a lot of good protein.
A lot of good veggies.
These are our garbanzo beans.
- Some onion.
- Red onion.
- [Rachel] Tomatoes. - [Jenna] Tomatoes.
Some bell peppers, the cucumbers.
- [Jenna] And the feta.
And then if you want to grab the dressing
and pour that over them, we're just gonna
mix it all together.
- [Rachel] Oh, wow, yes.
- [Jenna] So even the kids tend to love that.
- Yes, okay.
I'm spying a little kids' thing.
- Yeah, this is a great example of kind of brand name.
These carrots right here are much more expensive
because they're already peeled and cut than if
you bought a bag of whole carrots.
Literally two pounds of this is the same price
as one pound of the small carrots, and these
are actually more nutritionally dense.
So again, a few extra seconds peeling, chopping,
can be a great addition to a kid's lunch.
These little guacamole packets are also really good
because we go through a lot of wasted,
rotten avocados in our house. (laughing)
- Well you were just at my house, literally last night,
I put five in and one of them was
growing something on the side.
I was like my gosh and like Winston hates to waste food.
He always is like we throw away so much.
Like it's been this like conversation in our house
because it happens all the time.
- Sure.
- All that to say, things that go bad so quickly,
like avocado it's great.
- So this turkey breast option is really great
for kids' lunches or even our lunches on top of a salad
or in a wrap or something like that.
This one I bought from Costco
just as a whole turkey breast, and I just
take it home and chop it myself.
Stick some in the freezer, but it's $3.99
a pound versus if we were to find a really good
brand turkey breast at the grocery store
in the deli, it can be $10 to $11 a pound easy.
- Totally, totally.
That's such a great way.
Jenna, thank you. - Yeah.
- You seriously bring so much wisdom
to this part of our lives.
We're so thankful for you. - Sweet, it's fun to be here.
- Where can everyone find you?
- So on my website.
It's jennawaters.com.
My Instagram is @jennawatersnutrition.
- Perfect.
- So I'm usually on there in some way, shape or form.
- And now you're cooking, doing good stories, all of this.
- Cooking with the kids on your legs, one on the hip.
- That's right. - You know that life.
- That's right. - So great.
- It's all about balance.
- Well, you guys I'm so pumped
because everything that we said homemade,
this is homemade, this is homemade,
we're going to have the recipes for you.
So click the link in the show notes to make
sure that you get all these great recipes.
Jenna, you're a lifesaver.
- Thanks so much.
- Thanks for coming back on. - Thanks, Rachel.
- We appreciate it.
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