Speaker 1: Episode on how to eat healthy on a budget. Welcome
Speaker 1: to the Frugal Friends podcast, where you'll learn to save money,
Speaker 1: embrace simplicity, rights, and liver with your life. Here your
Speaker 1: host Jen and Jill Welcome lovers to the special pre
Speaker 1: Valentine's Day episode of Frugal Friends podcast. You got a
Speaker 1: little weirded in your face when I said that. I did.
Speaker 1: I got concerned, like, why are we shouting out the lovers?
Speaker 1: But at it it's almost Valentine's Day, although it's not
Speaker 1: just for lovers, it is for love. Absolutely. Gallantine's is
Speaker 1: probably my favorite holiday above Valentine's Day. What do you
Speaker 1: do for it? Drink wine with other girls? Oh, and
Speaker 1: eat chocolate. I can get on board with that. Orchies
Speaker 1: and she's all of it. Not or Jill and always
Speaker 1: and got it. But we're talking today about how to
Speaker 1: eat healthy on a budget. So after Gallantine's, when Monday
Speaker 1: morning you start back to your healthy eating, because I
Speaker 1: know you've been doing it this year, you said the resolution.
Speaker 1: You've been real good. But it's Gallantines. It's fine. Drink
Speaker 1: your wine, eat your chocolate, and then Monday morning, let's
Speaker 1: start eating healthy again. And we're going to talk about
Speaker 1: how to do it on a budget. Yeah, I mean,
Speaker 1: feel free to check out other episodes where we talk
Speaker 1: about eating healthy and on a budget. We've got episode
Speaker 1: through we talk about healthy food the frugal way way
Speaker 1: back in the archives, way way back. You can see
Speaker 1: what we sounded like when we were Just Baby Podcast.
Speaker 1: Episode seventy we talk about grocery store sales cycles. That
Speaker 1: was an interesting one and we've got a lot of
Speaker 1: great feedback on that, and I'll link all these in
Speaker 1: our show notes and episode ninety two Reducing Food Waste
Speaker 1: with Debt Kicking Mom, So that's an interview. We love
Speaker 1: our interviews. Yeah, absolutely, Reducing food waste is a key
Speaker 1: way to reduce any budget because some diets are more
Speaker 1: expensive than others. You just there's no getting around, Like,
Speaker 1: if you're eating paleo, that's going to be way more
Speaker 1: expensive than a vegetarian like budget. But if you just
Speaker 1: reduce your food waste and you eat everything you buy,
Speaker 1: you can make things go a really long way. So
Speaker 1: it helps. Love all of those episodes. But first let
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Speaker 1: episode is also brought to you by Dishes. They're sitting
Speaker 1: there waiting for you. It feels like they're watching, judging
Speaker 1: you as you walk by and do nothing. Did you
Speaker 1: know that some people actually do their dishes every night
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Speaker 1: real life and how these things can benefit me. So um,
Speaker 1: thank you two dishes for that reminder. Thank you dishes. Anyways,
Speaker 1: let's get into our headlines. So we are going to
Speaker 1: hit on two articles with two different themes, and if
Speaker 1: you're new to the show, what we do is we'll
Speaker 1: go over you know, every topic is what we google,
Speaker 1: and then we'll look at Google and we're like, what's
Speaker 1: the first few things, what's somebody going to click on?
Speaker 1: And we evaluate whether the Google search is providing accurate, doable,
Speaker 1: real life information or if it's blowing smoke. That's really
Speaker 1: just optimizing for the algorithm. So that is what we
Speaker 1: do here if you are new. So the first one
Speaker 1: is nineteen ways to eat healthy on a budget, and
Speaker 1: then our next article is going to get into foods.
Speaker 1: But we wanted to talk about or find an article
Speaker 1: that had techniques first, and this one is from Healthline,
Speaker 1: a supercredible website, and it's gotten teen ideas. What do
Speaker 1: you think of the list, Jill, I thought it was good.
Speaker 1: I will say I think it's pretty basic. I think
Speaker 1: those who are deep into the weeds on eating healthy
Speaker 1: on a budget, not much of this will come as
Speaker 1: a surprise, but I think we could all use a refresher.
Speaker 1: I will say, there's a lot of overlap here to
Speaker 1: just reducing food costs, so I'm excited to kind of
Speaker 1: tailor this list give our feedback on not just reducing
Speaker 1: our food costs, but also allowing us to eat healthy
Speaker 1: as we reduce our food costs. There's no secret to success.
Speaker 1: The secret is to just keep doing the boring stuff.
Speaker 1: So definitely a lot of this stuff kind of begs
Speaker 1: the reminder. So the first one that I liked, um,
Speaker 1: it was cook at Home, I think, And the reason
Speaker 1: I like this one is because when you think eating healthy,
Speaker 1: sometimes you think you have to go on a certain
Speaker 1: fad diet or you have to buy prepackaged foods from
Speaker 1: like there's a you know company called I think it's
Speaker 1: called fit foods or something fit life foods here, like
Speaker 1: buy pre made meals or buy a juice cleanse that
Speaker 1: somebody else has made. But that's not true. Simply cooking
Speaker 1: at home, even if it's not perfect, even if it's
Speaker 1: not on a perfect diet plan, but just cooking at
Speaker 1: home is healthier than getting take out, even if it
Speaker 1: is the same exact thing, because you know what's in it.
Speaker 1: If you're trying to count macros or plan, you can
Speaker 1: do that, but ultimately you just put less salt, put
Speaker 1: less sugar, put less butter in all of your stuff
Speaker 1: than they do if you're getting take out. Yeah, ultimately
Speaker 1: you know what's going into your meals and you can
Speaker 1: always substitute as well, so you can have greater control
Speaker 1: over the amount of like you said, gen oils and
Speaker 1: salts and fats and carbs that go into your meals.
Speaker 1: So we've been reducing that can help create healthier meals.
Speaker 1: Eric and I have been cooking at home a lot
Speaker 1: through this pandemic because we both work from home, and
Speaker 1: then we're just not going places. And I can't speak
Speaker 1: for myself. We don't own a scale. Um, I don't
Speaker 1: know if that's healthier unhealthy but we don't, so we
Speaker 1: don't actually know exactly how much we wait. However, Eric
Speaker 1: has absolutely lost weight, and we've really not changed much
Speaker 1: about what we're doing other than just really eating at
Speaker 1: home a ton. He doesn't exercise a lot. I mean,
Speaker 1: he's active just because he's doing renovations on our home,
Speaker 1: but not that just losing weight is the ultimate goal
Speaker 1: of being healthy. But we have noticed that in not
Speaker 1: going out, we're not getting as much fried stuff in
Speaker 1: our bodies. So that's great. Yeah, and you guys are
Speaker 1: thin anyway, so you just you're working on fitness, working
Speaker 1: on my fitness, youm my witness. The first one that
Speaker 1: stood out to me on this one is number one,
Speaker 1: and it's plan your meals. This is one of those
Speaker 1: that it doesn't surprise us. We probably don't want to
Speaker 1: hear it over and over. It is true. It's how
Speaker 1: we save money and we can be planedful in the
Speaker 1: types of food that we're getting, the more healthy foods.
Speaker 1: And so they're saying to pick a day, seek and
Speaker 1: write down what you're going to eat that week. I
Speaker 1: would even say to start first by exploring your pantry
Speaker 1: and your fridge. This is how I go about meal
Speaker 1: planning is to see what do I have in the
Speaker 1: fridge And sometimes I'll even google what can I do
Speaker 1: with spinach, onion, and potatoes and then find something that
Speaker 1: comes up, and what do I have in my freezer
Speaker 1: and start to meal plan around what I already have
Speaker 1: and then fill in the blanks. When I do it
Speaker 1: that way, I find that I don't have to pick
Speaker 1: up that much at the grocery store each week. So
Speaker 1: look at what you already have, write down what you're
Speaker 1: going to make with that, make a shopping list, and
Speaker 1: then of course that bleeds into number two, which is
Speaker 1: stick with that plan. I think that's even more important
Speaker 1: than planning. Honestly, it's the harder thing to do for sure,
Speaker 1: Because I can plan. I love planning, and it's sticking
Speaker 1: to it that is near impossible. I mean, if you've
Speaker 1: ever made a budget, you feel the same way. It's
Speaker 1: easy to make the budget, it's harder to stick to it. Yes,
Speaker 1: So find a way that works for you to help
Speaker 1: you stick to your plan. For me personally, ordering my
Speaker 1: groceries online for me to go pick up is one
Speaker 1: of the best ways for me personally to stick to
Speaker 1: my plan because I'm not wandering the aisles eyeing up
Speaker 1: things that look good. I just know here's what I want.
Speaker 1: I can order it for pickup and grab it, and
Speaker 1: that's what helps me. For others, I know, sometimes they're
Speaker 1: on the internet and they're like, oh, that looks good too,
Speaker 1: and that looks good to just add it to my
Speaker 1: not real shopping cart. So whatever works that. That's just
Speaker 1: me personally. Yeah, I find that pre chopping veggies, whether
Speaker 1: it's buying the veggies pre chopped or pre chopping them
Speaker 1: on like a Sunday and using them throughout the week
Speaker 1: helps me. Another one on this list was to cook
Speaker 1: everything and then just reheat leftovers. It's not my favorite.
Speaker 1: I don't love leftovers. I will eat them the day after,
Speaker 1: but like after one time of reheating something, I don't
Speaker 1: want it reheated again. Uh, So that's not my favorite.
Speaker 1: I will do it sometimes. But if I can just
Speaker 1: pre chop the raw ingredients or buy them pre prepared
Speaker 1: and then just throw everything in, that I find helps
Speaker 1: me because then at that point it's easier to make
Speaker 1: what I've prepared than it is to go out and
Speaker 1: buy stuff. Practice makes perfect for me. I have cooked
Speaker 1: in bulk, but similarly Jen, at least for for Eric,
Speaker 1: he really does not like leftover, doesn't It is amazing
Speaker 1: at a lot of other things. So I give him
Speaker 1: a pass in that area. But it does cause me
Speaker 1: to have to be a lot more creative. But I
Speaker 1: will cook in bulk and then utilize that thing in
Speaker 1: a variety of ways. So, for instance, I'll cook up
Speaker 1: a ton of chicken, I'll just do a simple egg breading,
Speaker 1: cook it on the stove approach, and then I can
Speaker 1: use that on top of salads in a sandwich as
Speaker 1: a side with pasta mixed in with roasted veggies. Okay,
Speaker 1: so I've just listed off four ways to to utilize something. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I'll make roasted veggies and use that in burritos or
Speaker 1: omelets or you name it. So there are ways. If
Speaker 1: you're like my husband and you don't want to do leftovers,
Speaker 1: there's still ways to cook and bulk and then yeah,
Speaker 1: as you said, gen repurpose. Yeah, you just have to
Speaker 1: get creative. It's not the easiest, but if you just
Speaker 1: take the time and think a little bit, stretch your mind,
Speaker 1: it can be done. This is a skill I have
Speaker 1: grown and if you have listened to us since we've
Speaker 1: been baby podcasters. You know that this has been an
Speaker 1: ongoing difficulty for me, but I am so thrilled to
Speaker 1: see the growth that I've experienced, especially through this pandemic,
Speaker 1: And it's almost become like a fun challenge for me
Speaker 1: to like, how can I utilize what's left in my freezer?
Speaker 1: How can I repurpose this thing I've already made? And
Speaker 1: I have gotten better at it, so you two can
Speaker 1: get better at it. Absolutely eleven on this list is
Speaker 1: replace meat with other proteins, because eating less meat is
Speaker 1: a good way to save money. You don't have to
Speaker 1: become a vegetarian, but I will say I was a
Speaker 1: vegetarian when we were paying off debt, and I was
Speaker 1: able to keep our grocery budget to fifty dollars per
Speaker 1: week for the two of us. I shopped at all
Speaker 1: the and I just didn't buy meat, and and I
Speaker 1: didn't buy a lot of like fake meats or like
Speaker 1: vegetarian like impressionism. I was just doing like veggies and
Speaker 1: beans and legoons and eggs stuff like that. So by
Speaker 1: less meat, more vegetarian meals, and it's healthy, and it's healthy,
Speaker 1: you still get your protein. Eggs are an amazing source
Speaker 1: of protein. And seriously, you can buy if you're really
Speaker 1: worried about protein, you can get some way protein powder
Speaker 1: and have a protein shake every day. Like that's not
Speaker 1: that much. That's maybe like a dollar fifty a day.
Speaker 1: You know, if you you know, separate it. So it
Speaker 1: is a way to save money. And it may not
Speaker 1: be as low carb as you want it, but you
Speaker 1: can stay. I was the healthiest I've ever been, and
Speaker 1: I feel really healthy now and I do eat meat now,
Speaker 1: but I was literally the optimal picture of health when
Speaker 1: I was a vegetarian. So it can be done. Run
Speaker 1: in half marathons all over the place. It was great,
Speaker 1: that's amazing. I also liked number fifteen on this list,
Speaker 1: which talks about growing your own I will mention this
Speaker 1: with the caveat that depending on your setup and what
Speaker 1: you're growing, this isn't always the most cost effective, although
Speaker 1: it can hit some other markers of being sustainable and
Speaker 1: learning a new skill and some other pieces eating organic.
Speaker 1: But I will say as it comes to very easy
Speaker 1: to grow veggies and herbs, it could be worthwhile where
Speaker 1: you don't need to invest a ton of money into
Speaker 1: raised beds and all that. Just having a couple of
Speaker 1: pots in your kitchen or in a sunny room of
Speaker 1: your home where you can grow some herbs that you like,
Speaker 1: maybe some tomatoes, and this can reduce costs. I know
Speaker 1: a lot of tasty, healthy recipes major on the herbs
Speaker 1: that are in it, and to buy fresh herbs is expensive.
Speaker 1: So to grow your own to be able to create
Speaker 1: some of those tasty healthy meals, I think that's great.
Speaker 1: So I've grown my own basil and thyme and rosemary
Speaker 1: and tomatoes, and that has helped the ton reduce costs
Speaker 1: and make it yummy. Yeah, a really big thing. Like
Speaker 1: herbs and spices are integral to making at home food.
Speaker 1: Like sometimes people are scared to use spices and fresh herbs,
Speaker 1: but they make a huge difference. They'll make you want
Speaker 1: to eat your own food. They make veggies taste phenomenal.
Speaker 1: I've been shocked. I always thought like, herbs are just
Speaker 1: you know what bougie people used to make themselves look cooler.
Speaker 1: And then when I started actually reading recipes and like
Speaker 1: and doing it, I'm like, oh, wow, this is really good.
Speaker 1: Like just these herbs made this taste that good? All right, Yeah,
Speaker 1: don't skimp on them, for sure, The last one I
Speaker 1: liked on this list was to shop for produce that's
Speaker 1: in season. And I think I'll take this a step
Speaker 1: further while buys in fruits and vegetables when they're not
Speaker 1: in season. I have a freezer full of vegetables that
Speaker 1: I was They are pre chopped and be because they're
Speaker 1: cheaper out of season. So like, always look at the
Speaker 1: season you're in, look at seasonality. And in our grocery
Speaker 1: store sales cycle episode, we kind of talk about that
Speaker 1: because the sales cycles are based on seasonality. So if
Speaker 1: you live in a place with seasons that's not Florida,
Speaker 1: you may be able to find cheaper things that like,
Speaker 1: you know, roadside stands and farmers markets and stuff, so
Speaker 1: watch out for that too. For us here in the
Speaker 1: land of no seasons, we let these sales cycles tell
Speaker 1: us what season it is. That in Starbucks, but that
Speaker 1: is a big way if you just change the way
Speaker 1: you shot based on the season, it can be really helpful.
Speaker 1: And I'll tell you a bag of frozen vegetables roasts
Speaker 1: just as well as fresh. I agree honest with that.
Speaker 1: I will co sign that. The last one I liked
Speaker 1: on this list is number eighteen. Which is talking about
Speaker 1: mindset along with tangible tip, but learning to appreciate less
Speaker 1: expensive food. So we're talking the beans, the eggs, the seeds,
Speaker 1: the whole grains, cheaper cuts of meat, produce that's in season,
Speaker 1: and learning to value these things and not necessarily looking
Speaker 1: for what's the new food that's on trend or imagining
Speaker 1: that we have to eat some super hard to pronounce
Speaker 1: type of food to be healthy, but learning to appreciate
Speaker 1: some of these things that are simple and basic but
Speaker 1: healthy and inexpensive, and learning to cook with those things,
Speaker 1: learning what those things are. I can attest to the
Speaker 1: cheaper cuts of meat. I wanted to get some steak.
Speaker 1: I do like me a steak every now and then,
Speaker 1: and to realize how expensive some steaks are when I
Speaker 1: can get myself uh, cheap sirloin. And it really just
Speaker 1: depends on how you cook it. If you learn to
Speaker 1: cook it well, you can make a cheap cut of
Speaker 1: meat taste fantastic. Yeah it may not taste like but
Speaker 1: don't ever try wag ou and you won't know the
Speaker 1: difference and you will be fine. We made that mistake.
Speaker 1: Somebody gave it to us. Somebody gave us a bite
Speaker 1: of their Wago steak and we're like, uh, it's just
Speaker 1: like bacon. If you don't ever have pork bacon, then
Speaker 1: turkey bacon is fine, is what we're saying. And you
Speaker 1: can appreciate the less expensive things. But speaking of the
Speaker 1: actual foods that help us to eat healthy on a budget,
Speaker 1: this next article is going to go through that specifically,
Speaker 1: so we can know how we can appreciate these less
Speaker 1: expensive and yet still healthy foods. You're going to notice
Speaker 1: a pattern like this is all really boring information. There's
Speaker 1: no secret here, Like we're not going to tell you
Speaker 1: any hacks that you probably haven't heard before. So I'm like,
Speaker 1: I apologize. It's setting of your head and being like
Speaker 1: there's there must be something I'm missing, there must be
Speaker 1: something new, there must be something I'm missing. There's not
Speaker 1: You're not missing anything. It's just doing boring stuff over
Speaker 1: and over and over. Really did a number on you.
Speaker 1: I'm so sorry, will say, I mean from dreary opinion.
Speaker 1: I mean, it's not incredibly mind blowing information, but this
Speaker 1: has been a good reminder to me. So we're recording
Speaker 1: this on a Monday. I'm heading into a new week.
Speaker 1: This even prepping for this episode has been helpful for
Speaker 1: me to remind myself, Oh yeah, eggs exist. Why have
Speaker 1: I not used as much these last two weeks. I'm
Speaker 1: also hungry, So there's that. I had eggs for breakfast.
Speaker 1: I did a I'm meal prepped. Ah, I just put
Speaker 1: like twelve eggs and six egg whites because I'm on
Speaker 1: an egg kick right now, and baked them in a
Speaker 1: nine pan with cheese and salt and pepper and garlic
Speaker 1: powder and then cut it. And then I've been making
Speaker 1: eggs sandwiches. That's so great. The thing is we have
Speaker 1: to eat every day, so yes, this happens over and
Speaker 1: over and over, and sometimes we just need some new energy.
Speaker 1: We need to be reminded of old tricks. We might
Speaker 1: find new tips too, as we engage with one another,
Speaker 1: share ideas, share our recipes. A ton of that is
Speaker 1: going on in the Frugal Friends Facebook community group. Will
Speaker 1: get there, but for now, we're getting into this article
Speaker 1: from the Kitchen that talks about foods that actually help
Speaker 1: us eat healthier on a budget, and so yes, eggs
Speaker 1: is on the list. I highlighted it. I just cannot
Speaker 1: believe how many ways there are to use eggs. You
Speaker 1: can use it in breakfast, lunches and dinners, from burritos
Speaker 1: to sandwiches to fried rice. Do you can hard boil them,
Speaker 1: you can fry them, you can poach them, so eggs
Speaker 1: for the wind. You can put them in this lemon
Speaker 1: meringue cheesecake video that the Kitchen is showing right now,
Speaker 1: trending video. This got me not wanting to eat healthy, good,
Speaker 1: savory goods. I mean, I've a new trick is putting
Speaker 1: them on Brussels sprouts, like chopping up Brussels sprouts, saw
Speaker 1: tanging Brussels sprouts and then putting like a fried egg
Speaker 1: or like an over easy egg on top of that
Speaker 1: with yeah, maybe like a piece of toast if you
Speaker 1: want some carbs. But that's been a new fave. Also
Speaker 1: hard boiling eggs, making eggs salad, or just eating a
Speaker 1: hard boiled eggs super sustaining in the morning. I'm getting
Speaker 1: back on an egg kick, can you feel it? Common?
Speaker 1: The egg kick is great. They're so cheap, they're so
Speaker 1: filling eggs. It's what's for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Yes,
Speaker 1: I am partial to number two, which is beans and lentils,
Speaker 1: because they're just so affordable. Honestly, I don't even buy
Speaker 1: them dried. I buy them in the can, so they're
Speaker 1: like quick, ready to go. But if you wanted to
Speaker 1: save extra, you could definitely buy them dry. But they're
Speaker 1: so cheap in the can, and it is worth it,
Speaker 1: maybe to pay a few pennies more to have something
Speaker 1: pre made. Okay, help ready to help me out? On lentils,
Speaker 1: I'm going to be honest, this is a food group
Speaker 1: I altogether ignore, mostly because my mom used to make
Speaker 1: this thing called lentils and rice when I was growing up,
Speaker 1: and it tasted the closest to vomit that I could
Speaker 1: ever imagine, what my word. I hated it, but she
Speaker 1: didn't have loved it. No, I'm telling it was the worst.
Speaker 1: But I hear about lentils all the time, and I'm
Speaker 1: thinking I want to dabble, but I don't have zero
Speaker 1: idea where to start. Okay, I think what your mom
Speaker 1: was trying to make was. I think it's pronounced musha
Speaker 1: dara or kara. It's Indian, and it's got lentils and
Speaker 1: rice and caramelized onions, and it is very good if
Speaker 1: you make it correctly, which I guess she just wasn't doing.
Speaker 1: She put cheese in it and she said, here, it
Speaker 1: tastes like pizza. And every single time I would say
Speaker 1: this not taken. That's absolutely could not be. She she's
Speaker 1: a great mom and she made a lot of really
Speaker 1: great home cooked meals. But lentils and rice was not
Speaker 1: She made the wrong thing. But type in musa dara.
Speaker 1: I'm sure I'm not saying that right. That is delicious.
Speaker 1: That's a delicious side dish. Thank you, thanks for helping me. Yes,
Speaker 1: I love lentil soup. Just a traditional lentil soup or
Speaker 1: putting lentils on a salad is a really great way
Speaker 1: to like bulk it up instead of keenwa like on
Speaker 1: a salad you could put lentils. So those are the
Speaker 1: main ways that I will do it. I got a
Speaker 1: little I got a lot more creative with lentils when
Speaker 1: I was a vegetarian, but not necessarily things that I
Speaker 1: would promote now when I have the option of meat.
Speaker 1: But yeah, lentils are great. I definitely do more beans
Speaker 1: than lentils because there's so many more options. Black beans,
Speaker 1: pinto beans, kidney beans, everything, everything is great. Beans beans
Speaker 1: brought you back. Beans. Yes, also hummus is another show
Speaker 1: stopper for me on this list, there is nothing better
Speaker 1: than a roasted chickpea for a snack, nothing better. And
Speaker 1: you can put them on salad, snack on it. All
Speaker 1: those things. You can make your own hummus. I mean,
Speaker 1: you can find inexpensive hummuses from the store, but making
Speaker 1: your own is also very inexpensive. Super healthy snack can
Speaker 1: be paired with veggies, So if you're having a hard
Speaker 1: time finishing your veggies, make your own hummus. Dip your
Speaker 1: veggies in that hummas done. I will say, on this
Speaker 1: list there is sweet potatoes, but I was leaving that
Speaker 1: for you. I feel like that's your show stop erge.
Speaker 1: I love sweet potatoes, but often left off on these
Speaker 1: lists are regular white potatoes. So they are just as
Speaker 1: healthy as sweet potatoes, but because they raise your glycymic
Speaker 1: index a little more, people like write them off. And
Speaker 1: they're like, sweet potatoes are everything if you make them
Speaker 1: the same way you're making sweet potatoes. They're very similar
Speaker 1: in macro counts, So don't right off the white potato.
Speaker 1: It is great, and they're so filling and they you know,
Speaker 1: will keep you full. They're very versatile. You always seem
Speaker 1: to have some roasted sweet potatoes in your fridge and
Speaker 1: I think I think you eat them warm with maybe
Speaker 1: a meat, but then whenever there's left over, they can
Speaker 1: just get thrown on a salad. And yeah, I appreciate
Speaker 1: that about you. Thank you. I love sweet potatoes and
Speaker 1: so I do have them in my house more than
Speaker 1: white potatoes just because I prefer them. But I hate
Speaker 1: to see the white potato get the shaft. Yeah, sad,
Speaker 1: thanks for thanks for that shout out. Also brought to
Speaker 1: us by Yukon Golds. So this other one was a
Speaker 1: surpriser to me. I know everything is repetitive in your
Speaker 1: world right now, Jen, but I've not seen this one
Speaker 1: on a list before, and I'm only shouting it out
Speaker 1: because it was interesting to me, not that I've tried it.
Speaker 1: So take this one with a grain of salt. But
Speaker 1: they really pushed cans of salmon. Now listen before we
Speaker 1: jumped to our own conclusions. I've had a lot of
Speaker 1: interesting ideas for cans of salmon from more than they
Speaker 1: should have adding it to pasta salad, regular salad. I
Speaker 1: don't know it. They made a can of salmon sound
Speaker 1: cauliflower fried rice? Yes, that was interesting to me, a
Speaker 1: cauliflower fried rice. So it is a good type of
Speaker 1: fish just in a can that you might be able
Speaker 1: to add with other ingredients. Don't knock it till you
Speaker 1: try it, Jen I So I I'm a little I'm
Speaker 1: a little traumatized because I got I used to love seafood.
Speaker 1: So when I was a vegetarian, I was actually a pesketarian.
Speaker 1: I ate seafood and I loved salmon. I like it. Well,
Speaker 1: it's just easier to say vegetarian. When you say I
Speaker 1: was a pesketarian, you sound like super pretentious. But for
Speaker 1: some reason, maybe it's just me, but I love salmon
Speaker 1: and I tried a salmon burger recently and it was
Speaker 1: disgusting to me. And since we've eaten meat, I haven't
Speaker 1: eaten a lot of fish because Travis didn't like fish,
Speaker 1: and so I think I've just like my taste buds
Speaker 1: have gotten out of it. So canned salmon right now
Speaker 1: sounds like that salmon burger, and so it sounds disgusting.
Speaker 1: And they even have an article ten ways that a
Speaker 1: can of salmon can be dinner tonight, and it just
Speaker 1: sounds horrible. Okay, I have one that I vouched for
Speaker 1: that other people may find disgusting. But cottage cheese, I
Speaker 1: really like cottage cheese. I like having it with some
Speaker 1: honey on top that and just doing that. That's a
Speaker 1: really great meal or you know, snack for me. They
Speaker 1: say putting it on toast, which I'm not sure of,
Speaker 1: or filling for omelets, or in these three ingredient pancakes,
Speaker 1: and I'm not sure how it would taste in those things.
Speaker 1: If you are a cottage cheese user, I'd love to
Speaker 1: find alternative use for it because it's so high in protein.
Speaker 1: But I just really like it playing with some honey
Speaker 1: on top. It's, I mean, good for me. Well, there's
Speaker 1: more on this list, but those are our faves. And
Speaker 1: you know what else is our fave? I put some
Speaker 1: honey on top of this. I don't honey, but it'd
Speaker 1: be good with it. It's the bill of the week,
Speaker 1: that's right. It's time for the best minute of your
Speaker 1: entire week. Maybe a baby was born and his name
Speaker 1: is William. Maybe you paid off your mortgage, maybe your
Speaker 1: car died, and you're happy to not have to pay
Speaker 1: that bill anymore. Tough bills, Buffalo bills, Bill Clinton, this
Speaker 1: is the bill of the week. Hey guys, this is
Speaker 1: Kelsey from Texas. I'm calling in with my bill of
Speaker 1: the week. I'm currently enrolled in college and I now
Speaker 1: qualify for the PELL grant as well as federal student
Speaker 1: loans with a two percent interest rate. I was able
Speaker 1: to pay for my college with my savings plus the
Speaker 1: PELL grant, and I used my federal student loans to
Speaker 1: pay off my private student loans that had a nine
Speaker 1: point seven percent interest right, So in the long run,
Speaker 1: I'm saving myself a ton of money. Thanks for everything
Speaker 1: you'll do. Love the show and love you guys. Yeah,
Speaker 1: Kelsey fellow Pell Grant earner winner A wordy. I don't
Speaker 1: know what this, but I also got a PELL grant
Speaker 1: me too. Oh my gosh, look poor kids. Yeah. I
Speaker 1: don't know if that's what that means. I was told
Speaker 1: that's what it means. Don't matter, because Kelsey is how
Speaker 1: to utilize and hack this system and pay off college tuition.
Speaker 1: Well done, Kelcake, that is great. That is a great
Speaker 1: return on. Like if you're going to take out a loan,
Speaker 1: that's how you do it. You get it like super low,
Speaker 1: like under three percent, and then you pay off other
Speaker 1: high interest at like with it. That is ace. So
Speaker 1: that is going to serve you in the long run
Speaker 1: for sure, Kelsey, good job. Well, if you have a
Speaker 1: bill about pell grants, paying off tuition and however you
Speaker 1: hacked your bills or anything else, visit for girl Friends
Speaker 1: podcast dot com slash bill. Leave us your bill. We're
Speaker 1: excited to hear it. Celebrate with you, celebrate air it
Speaker 1: all the things. Put honey on it. Everything is better
Speaker 1: with a little honey or a god your vegan okay, perfect,
Speaker 1: and now it's time for round. I got a little
Speaker 1: into it today. Today we're talking about food hacks. So
Speaker 1: are healthy eating hacks how we eat healthier? So mine
Speaker 1: is food blogs. So I am super inspired by food blogs.
Speaker 1: I love to see how people are using I have
Speaker 1: tried different like diet tie, but I'm discovering now that
Speaker 1: I don't need enough for what I do on a
Speaker 1: weekly basis. And it's mostly because I'm working throughout the
Speaker 1: day and I just forget to eat. But because my
Speaker 1: hormones are not right, you know, because I'm on birth control,
Speaker 1: I need to be eating more in order to stabilize them.
Speaker 1: So that is kind of something I need to start
Speaker 1: working on and I have become just recently aware, but
Speaker 1: it was reading food blogs that woke me up to that,
Speaker 1: and reading the blogs of women who are like, stop,
Speaker 1: you know, starving yourself at twelve dred calories. You need
Speaker 1: to be eating more, especially if you're working out and
Speaker 1: lifting weights even more. So I found out I knew
Speaker 1: how many calories I needed to eat. It wasn't that,
Speaker 1: It's just that I found out that the portions I
Speaker 1: was eating that I wasn't eating enough, and like my
Speaker 1: portions during the day were too small. So I need
Speaker 1: to be probably incorporating more snacking during the day, like
Speaker 1: healthy snacks. So that's why I made that egg bake,
Speaker 1: is so I could get more protein in and I'm
Speaker 1: starting to eat you know, some of the way, you know,
Speaker 1: the remnants of the way protein that I have like
Speaker 1: in my house that I just haven't finished off yet.
Speaker 1: So that's kind of my I don't think it's really
Speaker 1: a hack, but if you like, I follow some really
Speaker 1: body positive fitness instagrammers, female fitness instagrammers that are about
Speaker 1: lifting weights and about eating food too, and that has
Speaker 1: given me like inspiration, So that's kind of mine. And
Speaker 1: having that stuff come up on my home screen on
Speaker 1: my Instagram and stuff that's super motivating for me to
Speaker 1: stick to my healthy meal plan. I've heard a lot
Speaker 1: of people describe having curated their Instagram account to be
Speaker 1: useful for yes, not just the this mindless scrolling piece,
Speaker 1: but taking some time to curate and follow accounts that
Speaker 1: are actually helpful, keep you on your goals, give you
Speaker 1: new creative ideas. And I have not really considered social
Speaker 1: media in that way until I've been hearing this refrain
Speaker 1: over and over again. So that's exciting to me to
Speaker 1: think about having social media work for me in that way.
Speaker 1: I think for me, it's putting in the effort to
Speaker 1: curate it. But yeah, I mean, polar your friends. Check
Speaker 1: out the Frugal Friends community group on Facebook, ask people
Speaker 1: who they're following, and kind of just get people in
Speaker 1: front of you that are going to be useful and
Speaker 1: helpful for your daily life. Absolutely. Yeah, you're already doing
Speaker 1: the habit, so make it healthier. Like scrolling is a habit,
Speaker 1: and you can either choose to stop that habit or
Speaker 1: choose to make your scroll healthy. So yeah, I'm all
Speaker 1: about that. And since I can't get off of Facebook
Speaker 1: or Instagram because we use it for the podcast. In
Speaker 1: my business, I've chosen to make my scroll healthier to
Speaker 1: curate that. How about you, Jill Oh. I've got a
Speaker 1: couple of food hacks that I've been utilizing recently, and
Speaker 1: I am excited about this because I do feel like
Speaker 1: I've grown in this area. So there's a lot excitement
Speaker 1: coming through this microphone. So one is using up extra
Speaker 1: fruits and veggies in a smoothie for Christmas, I just
Speaker 1: got a really nice blender, so I did drop some
Speaker 1: cash on that, but it is banging off in dividends
Speaker 1: not only to my budget but to my body. So
Speaker 1: every day I've been making some version of a smoothie
Speaker 1: with frozen fruits. Like we've talked about veggies. Maybe if
Speaker 1: there's lettuce that's a little bit uh starting to get wilted,
Speaker 1: throw that in a smoothie because you won't notice once
Speaker 1: it's blended up into a drink. And then I got
Speaker 1: this tip from my sister, but I've been using cocon
Speaker 1: ut water instead of just regular water as the liquid
Speaker 1: for the smoothie. Coconut water is super inexpensive. You can
Speaker 1: find it at a lot of different places throughout the
Speaker 1: grocery store like it's in the international food section, it's
Speaker 1: in the juice section, it's in the water section. There's
Speaker 1: a lot of different sections, so look at all the
Speaker 1: different sections and find the cheapest section that you can
Speaker 1: find coconut water, but that boosts some electrolytes. If you're
Speaker 1: not great at drinking water throughout the day, adding coconut
Speaker 1: water into your smoothie is great. I also have found
Speaker 1: that having a visual meal plan really helps me personally.
Speaker 1: So not that that this again has been a muscle
Speaker 1: and a discipline for me, but finding some time to
Speaker 1: think about what I'm going to eat and then writing
Speaker 1: it down and posting that on the fridge. It gets
Speaker 1: me excited about the meal plan. It turns it into
Speaker 1: a bit more of a challenge, It makes it fun,
Speaker 1: It puts it at front of mind for me. That's
Speaker 1: been helpful for keeping me on track and sticking to
Speaker 1: my budge it and to my plan. And then certainly
Speaker 1: and finally is making my own So during the times
Speaker 1: that I might want to, like get baked goods for
Speaker 1: breakfast or granola, you name it, making my own has
Speaker 1: been really helpful. So sometimes when I have a bunch
Speaker 1: of bananas that are about to go bad. I'll make
Speaker 1: just a massive batch of banana bread, keep some of
Speaker 1: that in the freezer, making my own granola, different things
Speaker 1: like that. Keeps me healthy, keeps me for a goal. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I want to do more smoothies and juices. I actually
Speaker 1: have a juicer and we use it once a year
Speaker 1: to make mango juice. But I love a good I
Speaker 1: love green juice, and I cannot buy it out because
Speaker 1: it's so freaking expensive, but it is. It is a
Speaker 1: commitment to make your own. And so I think that's
Speaker 1: something that I would like to get back into, is
Speaker 1: making some juices. The past two years have been crazy,
Speaker 1: you know, with a toddler, but or with an infant
Speaker 1: and then a toddler, same child. But I think I'm
Speaker 1: at a place where I may be able to invest
Speaker 1: some time in me again. So yeah, it doesn't have
Speaker 1: to take long. Just throw an apple and a banana
Speaker 1: and some coconut water or whatever other veggies you got. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and I can make Whenever I make a smoothie or
Speaker 1: a juice, I always make enough to serve for the
Speaker 1: next day or two. So yeah, and they don't need
Speaker 1: any sweeteners. I have not been adding even honey or
Speaker 1: agavey to it. It's just been phenomenal. So no, it's
Speaker 1: not cottage cheese. Yeah, it's not kind of cheese. It
Speaker 1: doesn't eat honey. No. Alright, y'all, thank you so much
Speaker 1: for listening. We appreciate it so much. If you love
Speaker 1: this episode and you want to know how to support
Speaker 1: the podcast, one of the biggest things you could do
Speaker 1: for us is leave a review. So get out your
Speaker 1: phone right now, stop your car, whatever you're doing, and
Speaker 1: just leave us review. It's so helpful. Um like this
Speaker 1: one from Shayley Miller. I thought I already left a rating.
Speaker 1: It's five stars. She says. I've been listening for a
Speaker 1: little over a year. I found this podcast looking for
Speaker 1: inexpensive date night ideas. I absolutely love the podcast and
Speaker 1: the atmosphere y'all create in every episode keeps me motivated,
Speaker 1: and I've recently experienced my favorite bill, so I can't
Speaker 1: wait to share that for the Bill of the week.
Speaker 1: Thank you all for doing what you do. Keep them coming.
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Speaker 1: realizing that, oh maybe I have not left a review
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Speaker 1: week by Frugal Friends is produced by Eric Sirianni Jill.
Speaker 1: Are you doing anything for Valentine's Day? I'm going to
Speaker 1: have company in town. Oh my gosh, So I think
Speaker 1: that we're going to probably share a nice meal altogether
Speaker 1: and celebrate our love for our spouses, our love for
Speaker 1: one another. We've talked about either, well, yeah, we'll probably
Speaker 1: order in. There's a great actually, there's a great lebonese
Speaker 1: spot close to us. Um I forget what it's called,
Speaker 1: but we might order up and share meal. What about you?
Speaker 1: What are you doing? I will sit at home alone
Speaker 1: and maybe drink. I don't know. Is Travis working Travis
Speaker 1: is working, Kai will be sleeping and I will maybe
Speaker 1: watch the next Cium documentary or something. I tried to
Speaker 1: get on HBO so I could watch it, but they
Speaker 1: don't have the seven day free trial anymore. Oh so
Speaker 1: I'd have to pay fifteen dollars to watch it, but
Speaker 1: I want to watch it so badly. Okay, that would
Speaker 1: be a weird way to celebrate Valentine's Day, though, So
Speaker 1: get weirder. Yeah, I mean, I'm going through weird desk.
Speaker 1: It can watching the documentary about an exium definitely Valentine's
Speaker 1: Day weirder. Okay, Well, I don't know. I don't know
Speaker 1: what we could do our own. We could do our
Speaker 1: own Galentine's Day. Maybe not on Valentine's Day, but we
Speaker 1: could plan for that, Okay, perfect. I really want to
Speaker 1: go to that wine bar that I suggested the other night.
Speaker 1: Have you been there yet? Never? Ever? I know you
Speaker 1: keep bringing it up that I've thought you've been there,
Speaker 1: but no, because I've always see there are things I
Speaker 1: wanted to go to. I've wanted to go literally since
Speaker 1: we were paying off debt, but then we didn't have
Speaker 1: the money, and then we moved into a house, and
Speaker 1: then we were like saving for retirement, and then we
Speaker 1: had a baby and then all the stuff, and it's
Speaker 1: like all of these things keep you and Travis doesn't
Speaker 1: like Yeah, well because everybody else has already done it
Speaker 1: or no, everybody wants to go to dinner. They don't
Speaker 1: want to go to a wine bar with tappas. And
Speaker 1: Travis definitely doesn't because he didn't like tapas or wine
Speaker 1: and he wouldn't find it to be a severe waste
Speaker 1: of money. Oh. Absolutely, absolutely, So this is a predicament
Speaker 1: for me because I would love to spend the money. Okay, well,
Speaker 1: now that I know, we'll solve that problem. Short, thank you,
Speaker 1: I really want this has been so cathartic. I'm I'm
Speaker 1: telling you what I'm doing for Valentine's. I'll tell you
Speaker 1: what I really want to be doing for Valentine's. Yes,
Speaker 1: and I appreciate your got to it. You got me
Speaker 1: to say, you got me? Really? You really pride it
Speaker 1: out of me? Did I dig deep? You know that's
Speaker 1: what I get paid for.