- Well, thanks for coming back, Jenna.
- Thanks for having me again.
It's fun to be back.
- Well, back by popular demand, you guys. She's here
to give us all the secrets,
because there's a huge lie out there
that you cannot eat healthy on a budget.
And so people getting out of debt,
everyone's budgets are really tight
and like, "Well, I still can't eat healthy with my family."
But that's a lie.
- It is. It is.
And it's so easy to believe,
because it seems like drive-through meals
would be a whole lot cheaper
'cause they're not that expensive.
But then, when we actually calculate it
and look at the food...
- I know! So you were telling me about this.
This is so fascinating to me.
- It is crazy.
We did a little experiment.
So, we went through the drive-through and got a kids meal.
This kids meal was about $3.29
for a cheeseburger kids meal, french fries.
And then I made it at home,
so completely different ingredients.
The ingredients are almost not comparable in terms of health,
so these are just oven-baked french fries with avocado oil.
This is a grass-fed burger
and a homemade sprouted grain roll.
So this was $1.75 to make at home.
- Seriously, per serving?
- Yeah, so half the price
and, literally, so much better nutritionally.
- Yeah, so much better for you. So great.
OK. And you have such a great system in place.
So tell us about that— how families out there
can eat healthy on a budget.
- Sure, so ultimately, to eat at home,
we have to set up rhythms.
Otherwise, it just gets so overwhelming.
I mean, we've all been there.
And so, I say you have
to plan, purchase and prepare.
And that's a weekly rhythm.
So choose a day to plan.
Choose a day to purchase.
And choose a day to prepare.
- Now, I do this, Jenna.
I'm a planner.
I don't know that I need the two steps, but I am.
I am. I'm a planner.
- That's huge.
- So, what do you recommend?
- And that makes all the difference.
I often try to make something at the beginning of the week
that I can use all the parts of—
again, to maximize the budget—
and then use in different ways throughout the week.
So, this is an example.
This is just a whole chicken right here.
And this is something that's super easy
to put in something like the Instant Pot or the Crock-Pot.
And then we'll eat that for dinner one night.
And then, as soon as we take the meat off of it
and eat that for dinner,
then I'll throw the bones back in the Instant Pot
with some carrots and celery and onion—just super quick—
and then, I make homemade bone broth,
which is super nutrient dense.
It has a lot of good collagen and good protein
and gelatin in it.
And then you're using all the different parts of the food.
And so, you're maximizing that food to its fullest potential.
- I love that.
- And so, being that the whole chicken
is cheaper by the pound,
also means that the chicken thigh—
certain cuts of chicken— are gonna be cheaper,
and that makes a huge difference.
So one of our favorite things to do during the week
is a pulled barbecue chicken.
And I used to do it with chicken breast,
but then when I realized, "Hey, we could save some money
"by doing chicken thighs," I tried chicken thighs,
and it's actually better
because it pulls so much easier.
It makes a really, kind of like juicier chicken meal.
And so that on top of a sweet potato
with some barbecue sauce.
- [Rachel] And then cilantro.
- [Jenna] Yes. It's just a yummy--
- [Rachel] Looks so good.
- It's so easy, and just little tweaks
make a huge difference.
- It's so good with a budget.
- So that's something, a super simple transition.
Same thing for beef.
I find that meat is one of the most expensive categories.
So, we looked up a local farmer,
and he sells 100% grass-fed beef
for $4.80 a pound.
And in the state of Tennessee,
if you're buying directly from a farmer,
you don't pay sale's tax.
So you're automatically saving a percentage,
and that goes for a lot of different states.
And so that's almost half price
for a better quality product,
you're supporting local farmers, and that's huge.
I mean, it tastes so good, too.
So, another category of where we can save money
in the grocery store is dry products.
So things like beans, flours,
sometimes even spices.
And so, that dry section of the grocery store
that has all those big bins on the wall,
I would always just walk by them and wonder,
"Who goes in that area?" - Who does that
with all the beans?
- Right, lots of beans, lots of bins of beans (laughs).
But interestingly enough, if you look at black beans...
These are organic black beans.
So, a pound of those is $1.99 a pound
from the bins,
from the dry bins-- - That you get yourself.
- And you usually weigh them.
But for the bagged beans, the same amount,
one pound is $2.99 a pound.
So, you're paying, literally, a dollar extra for the bag.
- Yeah, yeah, for the fancy bag versus your own.
- So, just scoop your own beans.
- I literally do walk by. I'm like,
"Who goes to that beans? Look at all the beans!"
- Raw cashews, what is that?
- But, they're saving money.
- They are.
They know something we don't know.
- And now, you know, guys.
- So then over here,
we're going to go to the produce section.
- [Rachel] Fruits and vegetables.
- Fruits and veggies, right.
And so, one thing, this is super interesting.
This is a container of pre-sliced apples.
It's five bags of pre-sliced apples.
The whole container's 11 ounces, and it's $6.99.
- $7.00 for the apples. - Yeah, exactly.
- Good to know.
- Just because they've sliced it for you.
But then, a whole bag—
a three-pound bag—of organic apples is $5.99.
And so, you're getting almost triple the product—
well, quadruple, really— for less of a price.
So, then we think about what produce...
A lot of times when we think about health,
we think about, "Hey, do I want to buy organic?"
"Should I buy non-organic?"
Oftentimes, we want to buy all organic,
because we think it's healthier.
And to a certain extent, that's true,
but let's be wise about which ones we're buying organic.
So, there's a list
released by the Environmental Working Group.
It's called The Clean Fifteen or The Dirty Dozen.
So, things on The Dirty Dozen list are things like
spinach and berries,
celery, bell peppers.
- [Rachel] So, get these organic.
This is a good place to put your money
if you're gonna buy organic.
- Exactly. - Go there. OK.
- I find that even cheaper,
because organic is obviously more expensive.
A great way to do that is to buy frozen.
So, frozen blueberries, this is $2.99 a bag for 12 ounces.
Whereas just this little container
of organic blueberries is $5.99.
Again, almost triple the price for...
- [Rachel] Because it's frozen.
- And if you're putting it in a smoothie,
it doesn't matter. Right?
And then on The Clean Fifteen list,
things that have a thick skin,
like an avocado. You don't necessarily need to buy organic.
Money saver there.
- [Rachel] Yeah, that's awesome.
- Yeah.
As far as the preparation category goes,
I love to think about how we can use leftovers in a way,
at the end of the week, where we're not wasting food,
because, inevitably, when Saturday rolls around
or the weekend rolls around,
there's all this food in our fridge
that if we don't do something with it,
we're throwing it out.
- It's gonna go bad.
- Every time we throw something out, I'm like,
"Oh, my gosh. That's like $10.00 in the garbage."
- Yes, seriously, seriously.
- So, I try to think about re-inventing leftovers.
So, for example, on one week, we had leftover meat sauce
that we did with a spaghetti squash,
leftover random piece of a bell pepper, some leftover salsa
that really had to be eaten, some taco seasoning,
and some leftover roasted sweet potatoes.
And so, I threw it into a soup
with, actually the chicken broth
that I made earlier in the week, into a taco soup.
So the last thing is treats.
I say that the most expensive things for the week
are meats and treats.
Those are the things that drown us in the grocery store
because the kids are like, "Hey, we need these random things,"
and then we spend way too much money on random treats
in the grocery store.
And so, these I just made...
Peanut butter cups are my weakness.
And so, this is a base of almond flour, maple syrup,
peanut butter—just natural peanut butter—
cocoa powder—raw cocoa powder—and coconut oil.
Those are the only ingredients.
- That's amazing. - And so, you're getting
much better ingredients, and it's like pennies
compared to what you would buy
if you're buying a good quality treat at the grocery store.
- Sure, right, right, in the organic section.
- Exactly, exactly.
And it really doesn't take much time.
I mean, in all of this, there's the balance of
what's the balance between cost and convenience, right?
And so, we all kind of have to find our happy place.
But when it comes down to it, once we get in rhythms,
it doesn't take so much time.
It's just getting in the habit of getting them.
- So great. Jenna, you're brilliant.
Seriously, all this is so, so good.
- It's fun.
- Thanks for coming and busting the myth that - Thanks for having us.
- you can eat healthy and still save money
and be on a budget and do all the things
but still be wise with your nutrition.
So, thanks so much.
- And it can be delicious.
- Should we just eat the soup, Jenna?
- Can we just eat these?
- Oh, that too. Yeah, that's better, yeah.
Thanks so much for coming.
- Thank you, Rachel.