Thrive market is extremely expensive. It’s also a privileged option. Regular grocery shopping is way more efficient. All of the other tips were spot on and so true.
While we are waiting for the USDA to allow us to accept EBT or food stamps, we provide free Thrive Gives memberships to those in need. Learn more on how to qualify here. They all were spot on
I agree. I joined but every time I start to order, I find the items so much higher than elsewhere, that I just end up deleting the order. I am 80 years old with limited mobility and on a fixed income. Retired teacher. I rely heavily on delivery.
Food poverty can be generational in so many ways. For example, my family has "improved" with each generation, money wise. But each was taught to cook by the previous one. My great grandparents favored heavily sugared, buttered, salted and fatty foods because they were sharecroppers working 14 hr days in the fields. They needed that many calories. But today we don't. Having learned how to cook like that though, it is hard to transition to a diet that's healthy with today's lifestyles even if those food staples aren't expensive even today.
I have also realized how much of that type of preparation was a way of "making a way out of no way". When faced with low-quality food choices in things like meat, my ancestors had to what we would see as excessively wash them and soak things in concoctions that today are deemed unnecessary and poor food handling. Excessive salting and seasoning was also a way to make food visually attractive and pallate pleasing for people who had very few options for enjoyment in life. It's so interesting how things that started as helpful coping skills to make life bearable no longer serve many of us now that access and life options have changed.
Where I came from it is the opposite. My family wasn’t rich and we would cook, eat in, eat a lot of produce we would grow. For a comparison I went to ‘rich kids’ school and my classmates would eat McDonalds, sugary drinks, eat at Pizza Hut all the time. Even though my financial situation changed I kept eating the way my family taught me to - mostly plants, home made meals, less sugars and etc and the results became evident at my recent reunion - I am still the same size I was at 18 and everyone kept saying I look the same as I did 15 years ago :) So being not rich is actually good for your health
From what I’ve seen, healthy convenience foods are pretty expensive. However, buying healthy ingredients and cooking them from scratch can be fairly cheap. However, a lot of people work full time jobs and their kids have after school activities. They just don’t have the time or the energy to cook from scratch. Then throw in the picky eaters who don’t want to eat what is prepared at home. However, take out and restaurant meals are so expensive that a family could go broke grabbing a bite to eat.
I'm going to disagree somewhat. You come down with a health condition (with me it's diabetes). I can get a meal, healthy, on the table in 15 minutes or less. I would have agreed before diabetes. Having to force myself to get rid of the junk, also forced me to remember, food can be made quickly and it will be excellent. It takes longer to make a boxed scalloped potatoes than it takes me to cook a Cajun pork chop, spinach with mushrooms and parmesan and side salad. That meal, is 12 minutes. Drive thrus these days take longer.
@@susanrohrlach2660 Actually, if I was told I could have an instant pot, crockpot or an air fryer (and I have them all), but not all three, I'd toss my crockpot and Instant Pot out the back door without one hesitation.
One thing you said that I wanted to expand on - giving up junk food - I would say this: you can exchange Oreos for pantry staples like flour and sugar and make cookies at home. We can still enjoy sweet items in moderation without compromising our health and stick to a budget. So investing in those pantry staples like you often say can be a huge benefit. That way if the hankering from sweets comes, you can whip up a half batch or quarter batch of cookies which will be an even bigger hit with the fam rather than reach for prepackaged cookies. I was just watching my favorite nutritionist on TH-cam (Kat Benson, she’s a registered dietician and nutritionist) talk about how eating healthy doesn’t mean depriving ourselves of the joy of sweets in moderation. I know you know this! I just wanted to expand on that point for anyone scrolling the comments thinking ditching Oreos is blasphemy 🤪
my kids used to trade their homemade cookies, tarts etc for store bought ones with their friends. They never got store bought cookies because in the long run it was more expensive. The kids who traded always loved it. They would get homemade and my kids would get the store bought. I didn't care who ate what as long as they were eating. I felt bad that my kids didn't get "lunchables" i would make them at home and send them to school. Then I found out some parents had to send 3 lunchables per kid just so they could be full that was 15 dollars a meal. I didn't feel bad after that.
You could even freeze some of the cookie dough to bake later, if you make a full batch and only want a few cookies now. Just roll them into balls before sticking them in the freezer.
This was a key step for me. I didn't say "no junk food ever" I said "No junk food except what you make for yourself totally from scratch." While I know psychologically that I can make potato chips or donuts from scratch and they taste great I almost never want them enough to spend three hours making them and then doing all the clean up. So I'm not depriving myself of anything but I'm putting in place enough obstacles that they stay a treat as intended instead of gobbling them up any time I'm a bit bored.
When I was growing up, we ate "in season" you couldn't get stuff out of season. It made you look forward to the foods you loved when they were in season. We just expect to get what we absolutely love all the time. But it's costly.
In season is 100% the way to go, and the ingredients taste so much better at their peak. You're right though, we're so used to getting ANYTHING we want, WHENEVER we want to these days, even things that just don't grow anywhere near the country you live in.
If you contact your state agricultural college office locally they give FREE cooking lessons (classes last 8 weeks) and when you're done with the class they give you a cookbook.
Yes! When I was working at Head Start we had them come work with our parents every year and the parents loved it and learned a lot! The best part is that the recipes are all inexpensive!
@@jms3197 try TH-cam chefs like Frankie Celenza and Jamie Oliver who both have programmes specifically designed to teach basic economical cooking. This channel also has healthy and frugal recipes. You can do it!!!
@@ChiefsGirlSince1989 Try Jaimie Oliver on TH-cam or Struggle Meals with Frankie Celenza or early episodes of Pro Home cooks on TH-cam. All aimed at teaching budget cooking.
From an economic side, it’s been shown that one will actually spend more on groceries if they go to the store more than once a week or once every two weeks. I agree it can be really difficult to have a healthy diet when money is tight. It takes a lot of work with following flyers, meal planning and preparation. When living on my own in my early 20’s, I had $50 a month for food. I learned which day and at what time my grocery store reduced meats and I bought those. I’d buy the reduced produce and head home. I’d then spend a few hours prepping make ahead meals and freezing them. One food item that was cheap and easy were the frozen veggies and sauce. I’d cook those with some sliced marinated meats I had previously made up and froze. I’d get two meals from that. I have reduced beef in my fridge right now that I will prep and freeze later today.
@@lolabear6788 thank you. I’m teaching this to my kids. My son only just got his own place and is on a budget. He also has a health issue so eating non processed/low sodium foods are vital. He’s liking my help and with pre-planning and prepping he can have a healthy cooked meal after work and not eating after 7.
@@nerdymichelle Yes, after this past year I haven’t been able to go to the store when I wanted so I’ve missed out a lot of the times. I was lucky yesterday morning being able to go 1 1/2 hours after they opened. The person from the meat department was just finishing putting out the marked down items. A friend of mine and I used to go together to our local store. We’d have fun pretending to shove each other out of the way and pretending to fight over the reduced meats. Lol. Fortunately with a small town most people knew us, so they just shook their heads. Lol. We always said we ate better buying the reduced stuff than if we stuck to buying budget meats. Most nights her family only ate what she found marked down at the store, $10 for a meal for a family of 4, she did really well. Christine reminds me of her. Lol
Jennifer - That is a great idea buying only the marked down meats if u can. I’d forgotten about that and I used to do that as well. It has been very expensive for me to eat healthy this year bc I went on a diet and lost 40 lbs but buying what I needed I nearly went broke. I finally remembered we have a Produce Junction where u buy fruits & veggies in bulk for a cheap price. They may not be normal size or pretty but chopping & freezing them goes a long way! 😄
Thank you so much for addressing this! I fortunately live in an area with lots of grocery stores. I am 67, retired and live on social security of a bit more than 800. My rent is a bargain at a low income senior apartment. EBT is 80 a month. I have always lived frugally mostly because I have always been low income, despite working full time and often more. I could use grocery delivery if the store had an option to pay with ebt. They don't. And of course the 10 dollar delivery fee and tip make it unaffordable for me. I also don't drive. It means multiple trips with my cart on the bus. Still I am very grateful. So many have less than me.
Pie definitely beats cake in our family. When my daughter got married, she didn't have a cake. She had their favorite pie. One for her and hubby and then little 6" individual pies for all the guests. Had six different flavors. It was a huge hit!
I had no idea how lucky I was to have so many food shops nearby. Love the term "food oasis". Thank you for enlightening me and helping me feel grateful 💕💕
Best advice…start young, I grew up helping my grandmother and mom and aunts cook…learning recipes, learning techniques…going shopping with my dad who shopped sales flyers and also showed me how to look at prices per weight vs value vs quality and how to decide which to pick. A lot of habits (good and bad) are learned from when we are young and growing up in a home. Schools don’t teach these things anymore…
Guess what? In Georgia, medicaid now provides transportation to pick up food! I don't know about other states but this can be a great option for those living in the rural areas. I know if I didn't have a car, I would be in real trouble. I love that you bring awareness to this topic!
I live in Poland in a fairly small city. We have 8 discount stores of one brand, one lidl (very similar to aldi), three big stores (tesco, kaufland) and about twenty little grocery stores. Honestly whole country is one big food oasis ;) but on the other hand, our average income is about 1000 dollars a month. Many opportunities, little money to spend.
Shopping culture is very different in other parts of the world - in Europe, going to the store every three days sounds very reasonable and is quite a usual thing to do. It's a lot easier, when you can walk or bike to the next store in mere minutes and there's more smaller stores to choose from - smaller stores also make the shopping process a lot quicker with a lot less choice (we don't have a cereal isle - rather a dozen or so to choose from). In countries like Japan, even going to a store every day is not unusual. You couldn't fit a weeks worth of gorceries for a whole family in the fridge of a generic japanese flat. The whole "huge supermarkets that you visit once every week or even two weeks, pretty much exclusively by car" is an american thing - that is just as weird to us as our ways are to you the other way round... ^_^ I personally go shopping on the way home from work on foot. With a small bag I bring with me - about every three to four days. I have 4 different supermarkets to choose from - all in a walking distance of 3-7 minutes of my home, not counting the two bakeries, drug store, flower shop, pharmacy I pass by on the way. I wouldn't be much of a hassle to stop by there every second day, if I so chose. Also: prices vary greatly from country to country. Where I live (middle of Europe), fresh vegetables are extremly cheap and of high quality (EU standards are rather difficult to fulfill otherwise)- if you have basic cooking skills, you can eat best quality food on a tiny budget. In japan on the other hand, you are probably going to pay as much or more, cooking for yourself, rather than eating out, as groceries are quite expensive. It's mostly convenient food (presliced, prepared, precooked and so on), that is costly.
Yes yes! Shopping culture sure is very different! When I used to live with my grandma in China, I noticed that they appreciate fresh food. I could walk with my grandpa in about 5-7 min distance and there were vendors selling from vegetable to fresh fish!
Does everyone in Europe or Japan live within walking distance of a proper grocery store? Sure, if you live within walking distance of a store your "culture" will be different from people who do not. I grew up in Chicago and the store was only a couple of blocks away, with others not that much further. Now I'm in a large city where you still need to travel to get to a proper grocery store. Luckily, a farmer's market pops up, in season, only a few blocks away.
Was going to say something similar to this. Although most people don't walk to grocery stores in my european country (it's very car dependant because of weather and not so great public transport) the norm is going shopping for food every 2-3 days (unless you live rural, but that's not a lot of people). Some people shop for food every day (my dad and best friend both do). I'd say most people swing by a grocery store after work maybe 2-3x a week and then also go once during the weekend. There's some stuff that just doesn't last in your fridge for a whole week, like fish/seafood, some meats, fruits and veggies like berries and greens, etc. There are plenty of stores around, generally people don't have to go more than a couple of miles max. Granted, I live pretty central right now but there are at least 12 stores in a 1.5 mile radius from my home ranging from very small convenience stores to pretty large stores.
@@ingakarlsson I lucked out with public transportation, the bus stops half a block from my home and goes to within that distance to grocery stores. It's forty five minute ride though to the store I prefer. Do you have a large freezer? I think I have more stuff in the freezer than in the refrigerated section! But that's just me. I still wind up going twice a week solely so I don't have to carry as much each time (but, fun fact, I wind up buying MORE each time than if I had gone once, paying careful attention to how much I would have to carry ... whelp!).
I spend 3 days grocery shopping. Day one I make my list and refill everything and wash everything that needs washed. Day two I go to the store and put away stuff and day 3 I precook and cut things and freeze them. We go shopping monthly. And mid month we go to by fresh vegetables. That trip takes an hour
It's a little bit of a privileged statement for the guy. But he probably considered it a blessing. It's all about perspective. Thrive Market is ALSO a privilege, they don't accept ebt. So a free subscription doesn't do squat for people with no cash flow lol. See, perspective. Love your videos, sweetie! ❤
Right?? I have a free subscription to thrive myself, and haven't bought a thing there. For me it is so expensive!! I'm also a diabetic, and my local walmart has more food options for me and is much cheaper than thrive.
You have nailed it yet again! In the times of food prices going up and just things in general, now is definitely the time to re-evaluate your spending and eating habits. Time to make it a family discussion so everyone is on the same page.
Thank you for making this video! Eating healthy is no more expensive then eating the crap. I make less then $20,000 a year. I eat all organic on a budget of $200 a month. My nearest store is an hour away. It can be done!
Thank you so much for all your videos. A few months ago we had a stomach bug that lasted a week for everyone that got it and it took almost a month to go through the whole family. While it’s not the same, we weren’t able to go to the store for a few weeks. We also had our income cut because of new jobs, no sick time accrued yet, and multiple hospital stays for our kids. We were not able to afford top notch foods. A couple weeks we had to use our little savings to pay rent and gas to and from the hospital. We had no income for almost two paychecks, almost a full month. While we didn’t eat a completely balanced meal for a few weeks, we scraped by. We used lots of your Eat For $_ a week recipes and shopped our pantry and freezer. It was rough. We had bananas and apples as they were the cheapest we could get. Luckily I had frozen veggies already. To add a delivery fee onto a shopping order that was already as small as I could get would have been devastating. I wish we could have afforded it so we could have had fresh food. That’s not always the case. We still can’t afford it regularly. I can’t think of all that wasted money a couple times a week that could go to savings or other needs. We are working to fund our savings again, plus much more. We are a young family. Three kids, husband working full time, he’s finishing his masters up, one car, a side job to help fund bills. Sometimes you are doing everything you can and you can’t get those luxuries yet. It was a very privileged comment. I hope he never has to be in a situation like the one our family was in a few months ago.
I live in a small farming town. We have three grocery stores plus a Walmart. I am so blessed to have a discount grocery store within walking distance as I don’t drive. We also have an indoor farmer’s market every Thursday year round. I alway shop the sales and I plan my weekly meals around those items. When non perishable items that I like and use are on sale I buy an extra one to put in my pantry.
Thanks for bringing these topics up! I live in Chicago and we have neighborhoods that are food deserts! Food deserts aren't necessarily for the rural part of the country. Urban cities experience these too!
We just got a dollar general in our town, nearest town with grocery stores is about 15 to 20 minutes away so not too bad of a drive, have never done the delivery service because no one delivers out that far. It may be weird but I like picking out my own stuff which is why I haven't tried thrive or other meal companies but maybe I need to check into them more. Happy Monday Christine!!
Perfectly stated and argued. I'd also add that portion control and getting away from random snacking can eliminate some of the cost and the obesity issue (which we know is the biggest issue that plagues people in food desserts). You don't always need organic strawberries. Sometimes just getting the calories under control goes a long way... But it's a super hard and complex issue, for sure. (Fwiw, I LOVE how you don't overserve your family, Christine. And you're all athletes!)
Thank you for sharing! I am Norwegian and have just some very few options for grocery delivery where I live, and it is from the most expensive store... I am single, living alone, not having a car, so I take the bus everywhere, AND I uses crutches and have done that for over 4 years. I live more in the country side in a larger city, but I do have one smaller and more expensive store 5 minutes walks, that do have some good deal, so I watch out for that. I can also walk 50-60 minutes every way to two other stores, that is a nice good walk for the days I have time, my body will do it, and not the most heavy things I need. I mostly buy my groceries in town, when I have my appointments, and but the deals, follow the seasons and so on. That man sounded so privileged. Very privileged. Thank you for sharing and being true. I have read and seen a lot about food deserts, and the lack of both places to buy more healthy and less expensive food, and how hard it can be to get to the places that have better options to buy. I am thankful that I have the bus. There are 3 in the hour in the daytime, and two in the evening and the weekends. It is not expensive either. I know the transportation system is very different in the USA. Thank you again, and thank you for sharing so many good videos where people can learn to cook, and how to get good deals. Love and blessings from Johanne, Norway Ps I love your mom, I too will be having a Diet Coke in my hand at my death 😆🙈
Happy Monday! I used to think this too, definitely have fine tuned eating healthy without living at the grocery store! 😊having my own garden and living in a farming community definitely makes it more attainable without a huge price.
Yess I'm so happy about the way you're addressing this. So many budget food content creators feel compelled to pretend that anyone can afford to eat healthy. I already loved you but the fact that you are so willing to acknowledge the barriers that some people face makes me love you even more
I think the Podcaster is very privileged. Also I'd like to add a few tips if you are trying to save on food. 1) get your newspaper from a dollar store. I know not everyone has one but if you do it's cheaper than delivery or is an option if you can't get a paper delivered. 2) shop your personal items (toothpaste, mouthwash, shampoo, tampons, etc.) at Walgreens. If you get a my walgreens account (which is free) you have access to their online coupons and you can get there deals even if it's shipped (free shipping it is normally on $50+ orders, I believe). Then when you search put in rewards and coupons as your search criteria. In the item it tells you what coupons can be applied, what rebates/rewards you can get, and even if there's a promo code for more off. I have bought over 30 toothpastes for charity in the last month and paid only 5 bucks. I know those things sound small but if you go through 1 tube of toothpaste a month, 1 bottle of mouthwash and one container of dental floss a month, you will save around 144 dollars a year. That's a week or two of groceries.
Thank you for sharing this. I find too many people in my life don't understand the barriers to healthy eating and can be very judgemental. I help with food costs by trying to go the grocery store at the time that short dated meat and dairy and veggies etc get reduced by 80%. But that isn't always successful and requires careful timing. I am lucky to have a car. But many people near my house have to walk to the shops and walk home carrying their groceries in bags. That reduces their choice in what they can buy obviously. Not everyone lives in a home with a stove and that effects what they can cook also. There are many barriers to the whole prepare a healthy meal thing and I really appreciate that you mentioned some.
The best beginner cookbook you will ever find is Living on a dime volume 1, I have been cooking for over 50 years and there are things in that cookbook that I have learned ❤️it.
I just came across your channel yesterday. I'm hooked and obsessed. Your recipes are quick and great. There's nothing fake about you and that's why I enjoy watching you. I wish there was chanels like yours around when my kids were growing up. Keep being you and keep the recipes coming. Thank you.
Thank you so much for sharing this video!!! I love watching your videos. I used to buy the family pack pork chops and chicken. I would put 1 or 2 in single freezer bags. I stocked up for myself. Plus I was able to help my sister out when she needed food. My husband makes homemade chili. He also cans homemade applesauce from wind fallen apples. I love homemade chicken soup. We are a family of 4. I love being able to make meals and freeze them. I learned a lot from you. A friend of ours made homemade sweet potato soup. Having stores pick out and deliver is also inconvenient if they don't have the brand you want and have to substitute. My son did store deliveries. He had to make 2 trips to the same house for a substitute item. Thank you again for this video.
Good morning! Really good points. We live in a small town in TN. There's one grocery store and a couple of dollar stores. The closest Walmart is about 20 minutes away, and the nearest Sam's Club and Costco are an hour away. We don't have Instacart or anything like that here or any type of public transportation, so no cabs, buses, Uber, or anything like that. It would be expensive to utilize these, but they're not available here anyway. I definitely feel like the person suggesting delivery every few days wasn't in touch with the life of the average person. You had some great tips, and I've been looking through your channel and a couple of others for easy stuff and slow cooker meals because sometimes cooking is difficult for me - multiple health issues, energy issues, working full time from home, and I also have 4 kids and am married to a dude (he works full time outside the home). Also, pie is totally better than cake.
Both my husband and I work full time. We still make time despite how tired we may or may not be to buy groceries and make dinner every night. We shop for groceries every two weeks.. We have kids as well.
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One of my local grocery stores had a pumpkin freebie this last week. I have never made pumpkin anything, nor do I like pumpkin pie which was the only thing pumpkin I have ever tried. I steamed it in my instant pot, pureed it, and it made 8 pints of pumpkin puree. I made chocolate chip pumpkin muffins and my whole family loved them, can't wait to try other things now. With the pumpkin being free though I was able to make 2 dozen of muffins for super cheap, probably under $2.
Thank you so much for the compassionate and thoughtful presentation of this topic. As a social worker my view of privilege is broad and access to food is a huge equity problem and a big factor in social determinants of health. It’s great to hear that your ears perked up when hearing the yahoo on the podcast voice such privilege and assumptions about what many Americans are able to do or not do.
Hi Christine, I’m from Singapore and it definitely it’s expensive to eat healthy here. Rice is a staple here where we can eat it for breakfast, lunch, dinner and supper and because of that, it’s really cheap when you’re eating out. Compared to home-cooking as well, fresh fruits and vegetables here are expensive as everything is imported into the country. We don’t have a clearance section on food (hardly).
I am from Singapore too. Food prices might be high compared to the US and our neighbours like Malaysia but it is cheaper than Australia and New Zealand. Given our high incomes, food is still quite affordable even eating healthy. There are healthy Asian choices. Eat less rice/ carbs and bigger portions of veg, fruit. Some local fruit like bananas, papayas, guava etc are cheap. Veg like mustard greens, bok choy, salads etc are cheap too. We eat lots of seafood here and more chicken than red meat.If you shop at Fair Price it would cheaper than at Cold Storage. Cold Storage does have clearance items though.
@@nesadcruz7840 I’m from Australia. I just spent $700 for a fortnight on groceries for 4 adults and that is all food I need to cook myself. Expensive as hell here. I work to eat basically.
@@magicshopmumma2042 I have visited Australia several times, NZ too. Whether eating out or shopping for groceries it is indeed very expensive. Singapore is cheap compared to the high cost of food in Oz.
I'm from Singapore too. Try the wet markets for cheaper fresh produce. Vegetables and fruits that are indigenous to this region are also cheaper, compared to imported "foreign" food (e.g. the berries, avocadoes, dairy products, etc). So it depends on what you buy. Overall, groceries are definitely more expensive here than in the States (like those videos showing "I survived on $20 a week!"...yeah, not applicable here). But with some smart shopping, a decent grocery haul with healthy food is possible.
Completely agree with your view on this! Think it's great that you're pointing out that not everyone's situation is the same and some just don't have the means to eat as healthy as others may. Love your channel!
I'm in a very small town in Virginia. Our closest grocery store is 25 minutes away but we have a ton of local farms so it's definitely possible to find produce and meat within our county.
Learning to cook is the best advice for eating well and eating healthy within a budget. If you're fortunate enough to have a relative or friend who can teach you a few basics..do it; watch cooking shows to learn basic techniques (America's Test Kitchen, Cooks County, Alton Brown's Good Eats reruns, to name a few, explain the how and why a cooking method works); watch TH-cam cooking videos (like Christine's playlist, Food Wishes etc). Start with basic things and don't be discouraged if something fails...it happens. Sorry for going on and on but I'm obviously very passionate about people learning basic life skills. Sadly, they're rarely taught in schools anymore. Great video, Christine! 😘
I absolutely love and go crazy for the little black 6 shelf thing on the beginning of the video, I always check that little thing when ever I stop at Fred's 😀, if you know, you know 😁.
I’m getting delivery last couple of weeks because stuck home with an injury. It has been a blessing but I prefer going for sale items at multiple stores (DollerTree, JobLot, etc)
Thank you, Christine, for the tips! I’ve made some of your recipes and they’re not hard or fancy, just tasty. I stock up on ground beef and chicken when they’re on sale because they’re so versatile. Other items that we like are pasta, eggs and potatoes, all inexpensive and they can stretch a meal farther. I like to grocery shop and go three times a week. 🥰
I bought flour and yeast from a restaurant supply store and have been learning to bake bread/pizza dough/pita breads/tortillas myself. In my country we have a supermarket that sells the 'odd bunch' so it's funky looking in season fruits and veges at a great price that still taste great, but that they wouldn't otherwise be able to sell (which is crazy in itself) but that's how I eat healthy.
If you like the taste of sourdough it is very easy to make your own tasty bread with a sourdough starter. I made my starter based on instructions from the Cultures for Health website. That website also has a good, simple recipe for lightly sour sandwich bread which I adapted for our household (mainly by using whole-wheat flour). You only need flour and chlorine-free water to maintain your starter (The bread recipe also calls for salt). No need to feed your starter every day if you keep it in the fridge. I don’t discard any starter when I do feed it; I just use any extra to make crackers, pizza dough and other yummy breads.
This video is refreshing. I have felt the intentional or unintentional judgement from people who think it's easy and affordable to eat healthy. I find I have trouble estimating how much fresh produce I need and end up throwing it away at an embarrassing rate. That is something I am working to improve.
I used to have the same problem with produce. My freezer has become my best friend! It takes a little while to get into the habit of freezing, but it makes a huge difference!
One word, freezer. When produce is starting to look sad, chop it, date it and freeze it. When ready to use it, it's already been prepped. Waste not, want not. Use every part of the produce. Zest the citrus before you eat it and let the zest dry naturally on a saucer and store it in an old spice jar. Vegans make "bacon" from banana peels. Eat potatoes without peeling them or scoop the insides so you have a boat from the peel and a bit of the insides to fill the next day. Freeze the ugly white part and leaves of celery for soups and casseroles. Peel and eat broccoli stems rather than tossing them. Cauliflower leaves and the shredded core can be put in soups. If the produce comes with leaves, put them in a salad or casserole. Put older tomatoes in a low oven for "sun dried" tomatoes. Freeze unused herbs as is or put them in ice cube trays with some water and then bag so they're already portion sized when you use them later. If an onion spouts or you don't want all the white part of a spring onion, plant about an inch of the root end and it'll grow. Or dehydrate or home can your veggies.
If you have left over veg and lack of freezer space, depending on what it is, you can dehydrate it for the winter. Kale and spinach is in season at the mo, very inexpensive, Im dehydrating it and turning it in to green powder to boost the nutrient level of soups and smoothies this winter. Im also dehydrating onions while they are $2.50 for a 10kg bag. Same with apples. The dehydrator and freezer are best friends of those who want to save $$.
I got 20 lbs of produce last weekend for $10.50 on clearance. I cubed the zucchini to freeze to add to casseroles and spaghetti. It was also locally grown so we'll have local zucchini all winter. Made pickles with the cucumbers. Made tomato sauce with the tomatoes. And had the apples like normal.
Another great video! 👍my fave is clearance shopping. You really get some good healthy ingredients for a great price. We moved to a small UK town with a little grocery store recently and when I saw they have a clearance rack it made my day! Cheers :)😀
I think everywhere - internationally & within countries - varies greatly. NZ has a supermarket duopoly situation so 2 companies control the main supermarket chains and our prices are pretty hideous as a result. Some places have great Farmer's Markets (Wellington) while other do not (Tauranga). There are smaller, non-supermarket options in most towns, but they're squeezed by the larger chains' purchasing power or the need to have higher returns to survive. One thing that differs here from what you mention in your video, is the delivery option. The main stores will deliver your order for between NZ$10-$14 or you can pick up your order for either free or NZ$5 (cost depends on order value). In store prices & online prices are the same. Still, for some folks that $14 isn't doable. So for sure, its a privilege, depending on where you live & how accessible/costly the food is.
Cool video and so on point! I've started researching the possibility of freezing ingredients when they are at a good price. I just finished freezing a bunch of beautiful red sweet peppers that were at the best price around here. So easy and I listened to some music while I was slicing and chopping and it went very fast. I found a lot of marked down meat at Safeway (5 minutes away) yesterday: pork steaks and country style ribs (which I never get because they are so expensive) at 1/2 off the lowest price. My freezer floweth over. LOL My Safeway delivers for just $4!!! Who knew? And the prices are the same as in store. But I only buy canned and frozen goods when I get delivery. I live alone and yet I batch bake a lot of stuff and use my instant pot for a lot of stuff too. Some really good tips here. Thanks.
We’ve started doing this & even bought animals at auctions and had butchered. I now have 4 freezers and NO more room and I’m sitting here like wait, I need more room for fruits and veggies 😬
Depends on what ingredients are used to make a cake. Easy to use something like monk sugar in place of regular sugar. It can quickly be blended into powdered sugar, too. Lots of healthy substitutes for oil such as apple sauce, avocados, yogurt, nut butters, and likely your preference, pumpkin purée. Mixing in oat fiber and flax seed meal can kick up the fiber count and make cakes healthier,. If you don't like whole wheat flour, go with almond or a like mix. I would think Hershey's special dark, 100% cacao, unsweetened chocolate powder a smart way to go. So I made such a cake last week and felt really good about eating it. I thought it tasted fine, too. Oh, and I also blended up some fruit for the mix. Next time I may even toss in some spinach as well. I expect it would still taste like chocolate in cake form.
Other veg items to consider adding to a fruit mix for chocolate cake: carrots, zucchini, beets, coconut, pumpkin, parsnips. If feeling brave, I may even add a bit of red bell pepper. If feeling smart, I'll only do so at the end for a cupcake or two. Cauliflower?
Interesting, this very topic came up at our home recently. I was in search of a cantaloupe (daughter can't get enough) two of my regular stores were out (I live in an oasis for sure). I went to a local dedicated 'fruit' store and sure enough they were piled high with more fruit and vegetables than I have seen in any one place in months. (I live in a very densely populated area in Michigan). The prices were so high! I paid 4.00 for a cantaloupe, 5.00 for what was no more than a two quart bowl of watermelon, after it was cut up. You get the idea. Now, not everyone can afford that and that really hit me. Great topic and certainly something to think about.
Well, there is a change in produce over the last 30 years. The support your local farmer has raised costs up. We had fruit and vegetable stands on every other corner as a kid. They came around the city calling out what fresh stuff was on their produce carts. You'd step out your door and get what you wanted. It was cheap to get fresh stuff. Every Friday night after work, we (my roommate and I had three kids between us), would meet up at Burger's produce in Marietta, GA and pick up fresh stuff for the next week. Walk out with a mountain of fresh items really cheaply. The modern way of produce selling put them out of business. Aside from that, I think they were getting up there in years and happy to give it up. I cannot justify the prices at local farmer's markets these days.
Christine, Two thumbs WAAAAY up for tackling this subject with so much honesty and caring. You are right on.... buy whole foods, on sale, and in season and learn to cook!! One thing I would add....do not hoard all the cooking for yourself 😊 Start allowing and teaching your kids!! They want to know, it is fun and makes them feel empowered and competent. We started at three years old with their own aprons baking biscuits with Grandpa. By the time they were twelve they could make a full meal - (with all the food ready and on the tabler at the same time!) During the summer, one of their chores was to make one dinner a week. This skill really empowered them during their college and young adult lives and now they even have a strong side-hussle as a gluten-free website, and home bakery! (Sisters Sans Gluten).
Christine, Do you watch "Our Tribe of Many"? They are getting ready to see about putting in an affordable grocery store in a "food desert" area around them. They visited one a few months ago in ?New York? to see how ir was done & how that one was started up. And she & the kids went driving around the area that they are thinking about to see what actually is & isn't available. You might check them out to see how they eventually do it. They are expecting their 11th child at any time now, so it will be happening after the baby is born.
I saw that video and I don't know how I felt about it. Because the stores visited DID have produce, just not much that they personally recognized. So instead of talking to the shop owners and asking about what is this produce item & how does one prepare it, they were all "yea, it's a food desert". Then I may have misheard, but it sounded like there was an Iraqi food market that they were going to ignore (why?). If Sarah can walk into an open air market in the middle of Africa and be comfortable with the offerings (because she knows how to prepare them?), how was she so reluctant to learn about fruits and vegetables from Asia? If nobody bought food from those stores, the stores would go out of business right? So a different conclusion might be there's an area near her with minimal produce the average American would easily know how to prep and eat. Did I read too much into her video? Perhaps, but I got weird vibes from it.
I find this topic so interesting. I was a mom of 2 teen boys on a budget. I managed to make a pretty well rounded diet for my kids and myself living on one income. How? I menu planned the 2 weeks I was shopping for and only bought those items. I chose less expensive cuts of meats or found ways to stretch meat by including them in casseroles, or crock pot (slow cooker) meals that would feed us for more than one meal. I also would bulk cook things like muffins. There are huge portions of people who don't have any basic cooking knowledge. You are going to make a meal and not love it, but if the basics are there learning how to make it better is a huge thing. Learn how to tell if it needs more spice, fewer spices.
I'm here to say ice cream is the best dessert. 😉 I don't think of eating healthy as expensive, mostly because I grew up in a relatively poor family and we always ate well. Convenience foods usually cost more.
I shop every two weeks. Grocery bill averages $150 month for 3 people. I get 1 lb of ground beef, split it into 4 meals. Carrots are cheap, grate up, put in caserroles with onion,bell pepper and egg noodles. Eggs are inexpensive too. Chicken breast i split up also for chicken quesadilla, chicken n dumplings, chicken n dressing casseroles. Ill do stir fry with smoked sausage, onion, peppers carrots and rice. I make all our cookies too. Eating is expensive if you don't cook, and we like our cereal, but eat oatmeal too. It's filling. Meat has gone crazy expensive, and I've been doing 1/4 portions. I harvest dandelion and plantain weed to add to my dried seasonings. I buy apple pie filling for $1 at dollar tree and make cobbler by sprinkling flour and sugar and melted butter. Been adding a little water to our whole milk to make it stretch for years. Nobody notices it.
It can be expensive, but like the tips Christine mentions I buy on sale and stock up where I can and enjoy cooking so all homemade. Lots of big box grocery stores and small independents where I am so no shortage of some sale going on and all close by. For fresh veggies & fruits I buy in season when the prices are reasonable and when it's end of season I buy extra and freeze. An example eggplant, zucchini, yellow squash, bell pepper - cut them into large chunks roast in the oven with some onion them bag up and freeze. I'll use them up in an oven pasta bake (my fav!), throw into a stew, veggie soup which I'll puree, warm up and have it on top of rice or couscous. I've also challenged myself to eat from the pantry, freezer & fridge and only shop for items like milk. Nothing gets wasted and notice it can save money, rarely do I buy any grocery item at full price anymore, meat & fish prices are on the rise again too.
Thank you for this video. I am gradually learning from other influencers how to make my favorite foods from scratch. Like egg rolls for example you have control of the ingredients.
I spend only $30 a week on groceries and I NEVER buy frozen foods. I always buy fresh vegetables and fruits. If that means we have carrots and broccoli (our cheapest veg near us) them that's what we eat all week for our veg. If I happen to have food carry over into the next week and essentially free up some of my budget I'll get a different variety! People can eat healthy within their means it just takes some work and most importantly meal planning. "Shop " your pantry first and think out of the box. You can do it 👍
I spend $650 a month for a family of 5 (which is closer to $33 per week per person) and I totally agree with you when it comes to meal planning, pantry cooking and eatting the cheapest fruits and vegetables. Also, freezing leftovers makes a huge difference too! Every few weeks we get an extra meal or two out of having a buffet of leftovers.
@@angiesmith2877 Apples, clementines, celery with peanut butter, peanuts, carrots, homemade yogurt and banana bread are some of our staple snacks. Oatmeal and fried eggs with toast are our two most common breakfasts. For lunch we primarily eat leftovers or sandwichs with a side of fruit and/or veggies. Here are some super afrodable dinner ideas: Spaghetti with salad, tacos, chicken pot pie, fried tilapia with corn, breakfast sandwiches with fruit, sloppy joes with peas (the pioner woman's recipe is THE BEST), soup or stew with crackers or rolls, beans and rice with fried eggs and a banana, calzones with salad, and sometimes if I'm feeling particularly lazy we will have ramen with frozen brocoli tossed in and a fried egg. I hope these ideas help!
@@noneya154 It sounds like you're doing well with your family's budget! I am wondering what this person makes, because it sounds like there are at least 2 people eating for only $30 per week total, and I know I couldn't get enough healthy food for two people on that small of a budget.
Cristine's chanel helpt me out so much to be more frugal with my food bills. I am i student in europe greece that use to speend more than 250 euros is groceries and now im speding only 100! thank you for all of the tips and tricks you have shared with us
Thank you for posting this🙏You are such a wonderful person for thinking the way you do.I grew up in a low income neighborhood.My mother had to save enough for food shopping once a MONTH because we had no car she had to order a taxi to and from.All we had close by was a convenience store gas station as you mentioned!
I can relate. We had the same situation growing up. We were lucky that my aunt would drive across town after work to take us shopping once a month. Any and all fresh produce, lunch meat, meats, bread etc was bought then. We didn't get a small freezer until I was a teenager so only meat went into the fridge freezer (our flat had an old 50s fridge lol). If we needed anything the corner store didn't carry, it was a 15 minute walk to the only store around for miles. Of course it was overpriced. We ate a lot of canned food and boxed food. Meat was once or twice a week. Fruit and vegetables were things that would last like apples, oranges, carrots, celery and oh so many potatoes. My husband came from slightly better circumstances, his mom worked at a Meat market and had a car. It served us well when we got married. We were already used to going without.
@@lisapop5219 yes it makes us stronger.So if you have a bad week or hard times you know how to deal with it definitely makes us stronger thank you for sharing
A very good discussion! I’ve always lived rurally and it’s just normal to have to drive distances to get stocked up. We are grateful to have two grocery stores (and a summer farmers market) in our small town, but Walmart and Sam’s are 70 miles away. I really enjoyed listening to your take. On learning to cook, I would encourage folks to ask someone they know to teach them. It’s so fun to have a mentor in the kitchen! This is how I learned to can and freeze produce.
Hi, just found your Chanel and love watching it. I’m in Perth , Australia and live 30 minutes from my local grocery stores. We have Aldi which is fantastic so I go shopping once per week or every 2 weeks if I’ve stocked up. When we run out of fresh milk I have a stash of UHT milk and I have a deep freeze to keep my Bread and other goods, this has been such a life saver for our family. Shopping weekly works well but has to be planned and intentional or I’ll run out of things, we eat a healthy mostly whole foods diet. I’ve become good at googling how to make things like buttermilk or spice mix from scratch due to not being able to get to the stores. Might I add it saves a ton of money too … win win!
Closest grocery store 20+ minutes away. Dollar General 5 minutes away. Farmers market is over an hour away and no Uber. I plan and stock up twice a month.
i'm from new zealand and i go to the supermarket nearly every day lol but acknowledge this probably isn't the norm. i don't drive and walk past the supermarket on my way home from work it's a lot easier to grab a few things every day/couple of days than try to get a week's worth of groceries and carry them the 20min walk home.
Also not mentioned that shoppers who deliver pick the orders they want based on higher totals and where the deliver will be. My college kid was sick. Living in grad housing in Lansing Mi a few years ago. I belonged to a subscription shop/delivery so I found a participating store and put together a $40 order. She needed electrolytes, soup, cold meds, etc. That was at 3pm. At 6pm I notice no shopper chose the order. I called the company. They said they’d try. 9pm, they called me. Back and said someone finally agreed. They explained that the dollar amount of the order was pretty small considering where they had to deliver. Wow! 10 pm she got the 2bags I ordered. We were fortunate. So yes, delivery is not for everyone. It was a big stretch for us and we both worked. I miss the old couponing where you could walk out cart overflowing and have extra cash in hand because I got money back! Thanks Christine these important points!!
Not to sound rude but what did you expect? I mean it's tough for them because I've seen first hand they drive forever and take time out of their day to deliver a 40 dollar order and don't even get tipped because most people who are frugal are also bad tippers. When I put in a 40 dollar emergency order I tell them in the notes I will tip them 20 dollars because no one wants to go through all that for no tip. I worked in restaurants through college and I am shocked at how inconsiderate people can be to service workers so ya, I don't blame them one bit.
I love that you addressed this issue of classism in our American food culture! Could you at some point address the issue this country has about applying morality to different, seemingly "unhealthy" food items? I feel like these go hand in hand and I always love your great perspective!
We are avid gardeners and donate routinely to the Food Bank and Homeless Center. Our organic garden greatly enhances our meals. I freeze my healthy flours in sealed Food Saver bag for storage . I am fortunate to be able to purchase organic items from Costco. We do have farmers markets and direct from farmers opportunities. We are in NW Montana. We are low income seniors , so we are very mindful of costs. We keep a well stocked pantry and freezer of good food choices.
This is a really good topic. I worked as a public health nurse, and my clients were low income people with health problems severe enough to get state health insurance and thus my care. I met people who at any age, simply wouldn't know what to do with ingredients if they bought them. I spent a lot of time teaching clients how to cook, what to buy, what utensils to buy etc. There were people I was helping who didn't even have a pot to boil water in, and they just didn't have the knowledge or the money to stock a kitchen and then make the food. Some of your budget shopping and cooking videos are SO IMPORTANT. I wish I had something like that to share with people back then. Food deserts are also very real, and it's awful and scary. There are generations of people who wind up living in them, and then there are people who are just used to cooking out of the corner store that's mostly processed food or living on takeout. Making a video about what people starting a home need to buy at a minimum to cook at home by way of pots n pans, etc. that would be a great sister video to the ones you have already produced.
Yall I'm teaching my young teens NOW how to cook for cheap, shop the sales, meal prep, and who knows how much they are absorbing but at least it's a start! You can definitely feed yourself a healthy meal on a budget if you need to!
Your videos are always helpful and fun. This was very good. Fresh food is expensive and delivery is way out of my social security budget. If you still drive, walking large stores is still a problem.
@@FrugalFitMom Hi. I watch Mary's Nest (texan🤗) for nutritious inexpensive cooking on youtube. She gardens, teaches how to make bone broth & other healthy meals for less. perhaps you could mention her channel? Between the 2 of you maybe less hunger & better health🙏
I've made restaurant style meals at home chicken quesadillas, real hamburgers, rotisserie chicken, homemade soups, pies, cakes, brownies, muffins and cookies. Other than some cooking times the preps were 15 to 20 mins. Once you learn and practice you can control both the food and the $. Once a week we do breakfast for supper (eggs and toast or French toast, and fruit) and a leftover night. There two nights you don't have to worry about. Your welcome 😉
every day i thank God for the abundance of produce that we get from the garden . We dehydrate , canne and freeze all we can since we have very bad winter here in Canada . Produce price are so high during winter it makes me sad to think that some kids dont have healty food its a shame . Thanks for the great video. (dont mind my spelling please i am french and trying hard lol)
I 100% agree with you about the privilege of eating healthy. I love that you mentioned to eat seasonally. This is a huge thing for me in Korea. I can pay $25 for a watermelon in June or $12 for one at the end of the summer. Korea in the top 3 of the OECD for grocery costs because of limited growing land as well as the cost of imports. From expat Facebook groups, I have found the average family of 4 to be spending about $600~800 per month for groceries when being frugal. I love watching your videos for ideas on what to make to save money. Like always, thank you for your fantastic informative video. ♡ from Korea
Couldn’t agree more with the statement that home cooked food tastes way better than frozen. You have so many more options with seasoning and customizing your food when you’re making it from scratch!
I have never used thrive market but as a vegan I do utilize 99 cent only, clearance bins at regular grocery chains, going to bulk store winco every 3 is month due to distance I don't waste money on fast food or throw away products irregardless to hygiene and household items which can cost hundreds
You are a great resource for people to learn to shop on a budget, how to eat more healthy and how to cook. I am fortunate to live in an area full of food resources; locally grown, farm fresh food and farm raised beef, chicken, pork. Lots and lots of options. Thank you
You are so lucky to be close to food resources. Do you mind telling me where is your close by town? You don’t have to if you rather not. That’s fine. I’m close to plenty different ethnic grocery stores, walking or by car, 30 miles from Los Angeles. Yet there isn’t any farm, that’s why I wonder how different food shopping would be. Envy.
I live in a small town and we have an IGA. It’s very convenient, but the cost is more than shopping at a larger grocery store. The closest larger store is about 20 minutes from us. I usually do a big grocery trip to the larger store every 2 weeks. This saves us from overspending at the smaller store.
I live in the mountains, 12 miles from the nearest Walmart and about 9 miles from the closest Dollar General (which carries some groceries but no fresh produce). I have a couple restaurants that say they'll deliver to me, but I would feel guilty asking them to come back to my house ;) So definitely no grocery delivery for me. I usually combine grocery shopping with driving from work, church or other errands. I stopped at a farm for fresh produce on my way home today..but that was still about 12 miles from home ;)
Here in Germany my husband and I go to the store every few days. Fresh bread doesn't last very long here. We can get fresh fruits and veggies that last about a week. Perhaps, the podcast presenter was referring to non-processed items. We are lucky to have access here to fresh eggs, directly from the farm for a reasonable price as well as vegetables.
Before I volunteered at a food bank I would donate healthy foods at food drives, dry beans, rice, oatmeal, the like. Working in the pantry allowed me to see what the clientele wanted, Top Ramen, Fruit loops, packages of Mac and cheese. It is not just a problem of being able to afford better quality food it is the knowledge of how to prepare healthy food which takes us back to Home Ec classes.
So many people I know are eating out constantly- nobody cooks, nobody packs their lunches for work. And don't get me wrong- these people aren't rich and they definitely can't "afford" it. It's a constant cycle of debt and unhealthy lifestyle.
I think many people are just very busy and pre cooked or processed foods are foods ready made to eat. It's a challenge to get to a point where you are stocked up with ingredients for a quick somewhat healthy meal and snack. Christine gives a lot of good tips and demonstrates a great deal of understanding for these challenges.
@@susanhendrix8701 , I can afford to eat out but it is ridiculously expensive even before the price increases. The reason we have money is because we quit eating out many, many years ago. If you keep a small notebook and write down every single item you buy and the price, you will not want to buy stuff because writing it down becomes tedious. My husband and I saw how much we were spending eating out every month and we were shocked! I make my husband's breakfast and lunch that he takes to work and I cook dinners. We don't even enjoy eating out now. Start with easy things, cook several chicken breasts in advance and then cut and freeze some for later. You can use that chicken for any chicken dish and it will be cheap. I hope this helps a little.
Thanks for the tips! I am currently not working so these tips are helpful. In the past, I have wasted too much money buying junk food and fast food, I'm working on eating more homemade food and using up what I have at home before going to the market again
Hi Christine, in my view more privileged is a person that owns a car, a big house with pantry and multiple freezers than someone that shops every 2 to 3 days. Millions of people live in large cities surrounded by supermarkets. They might walk to the shops and perhaps aren't able carry many items. They might also live in small places with limited storage space. Life can be very different depending on where you live.
Great video! We are having a freezer/pantry clean out month. We are 25 minutes from the grocery store that isn’t a mini mega high because we are in the country. I try to plan my route when I go to town so I go to town less. Hopefully I can do less than $200 this month. Visited the discount bread store today.
Thrive market is extremely expensive. It’s also a privileged option. Regular grocery shopping is way more efficient. All of the other tips were spot on and so true.
While we are waiting for the USDA to allow us to accept EBT or food stamps, we provide free Thrive Gives memberships to those in need. Learn more on how to qualify here. They all were spot on
Ever I've compared prices on with thrive is cheaper else where
@@CalieaJasmine I applied for that, but I still haven't heard anything back. It's been more than a week.
@@skybluepinkd Good to know!
I agree. I joined but every time I start to order, I find the items so much higher than elsewhere, that I just end up deleting the order. I am 80 years old with limited mobility and on a fixed income. Retired teacher. I rely heavily on delivery.
Food poverty can be generational in so many ways. For example, my family has "improved" with each generation, money wise. But each was taught to cook by the previous one. My great grandparents favored heavily sugared, buttered, salted and fatty foods because they were sharecroppers working 14 hr days in the fields. They needed that many calories. But today we don't. Having learned how to cook like that though, it is hard to transition to a diet that's healthy with today's lifestyles even if those food staples aren't expensive even today.
I have also realized how much of that type of preparation was a way of "making a way out of no way". When faced with low-quality food choices in things like meat, my ancestors had to what we would see as excessively wash them and soak things in concoctions that today are deemed unnecessary and poor food handling. Excessive salting and seasoning was also a way to make food visually attractive and pallate pleasing for people who had very few options for enjoyment in life. It's so interesting how things that started as helpful coping skills to make life bearable no longer serve many of us now that access and life options have changed.
Where I came from it is the opposite. My family wasn’t rich and we would cook, eat in, eat a lot of produce we would grow. For a comparison I went to ‘rich kids’ school and my classmates would eat McDonalds, sugary drinks, eat at Pizza Hut all the time. Even though my financial situation changed I kept eating the way my family taught me to - mostly plants, home made meals, less sugars and etc and the results became evident at my recent reunion - I am still the same size I was at 18 and everyone kept saying I look the same as I did 15 years ago :) So being not rich is actually good for your health
From what I’ve seen, healthy convenience foods are pretty expensive. However, buying healthy ingredients and cooking them from scratch can be fairly cheap. However, a lot of people work full time jobs and their kids have after school activities. They just don’t have the time or the energy to cook from scratch. Then throw in the picky eaters who don’t want to eat what is prepared at home. However, take out and restaurant meals are so expensive that a family could go broke grabbing a bite to eat.
Agreed 👍🏻
I'm going to disagree somewhat. You come down with a health condition (with me it's diabetes). I can get a meal, healthy, on the table in 15 minutes or less. I would have agreed before diabetes. Having to force myself to get rid of the junk, also forced me to remember, food can be made quickly and it will be excellent. It takes longer to make a boxed scalloped potatoes than it takes me to cook a Cajun pork chop, spinach with mushrooms and parmesan and side salad. That meal, is 12 minutes. Drive thrus these days take longer.
Also you have crockpots and instant pots for time management!!!!!!!
@@susanrohrlach2660 yes but most crockpot food gets old
@@susanrohrlach2660 Actually, if I was told I could have an instant pot, crockpot or an air fryer (and I have them all), but not all three, I'd toss my crockpot and Instant Pot out the back door without one hesitation.
One thing you said that I wanted to expand on - giving up junk food - I would say this: you can exchange Oreos for pantry staples like flour and sugar and make cookies at home. We can still enjoy sweet items in moderation without compromising our health and stick to a budget. So investing in those pantry staples like you often say can be a huge benefit. That way if the hankering from sweets comes, you can whip up a half batch or quarter batch of cookies which will be an even bigger hit with the fam rather than reach for prepackaged cookies.
I was just watching my favorite nutritionist on TH-cam (Kat Benson, she’s a registered dietician and nutritionist) talk about how eating healthy doesn’t mean depriving ourselves of the joy of sweets in moderation.
I know you know this! I just wanted to expand on that point for anyone scrolling the comments thinking ditching Oreos is blasphemy 🤪
my kids used to trade their homemade cookies, tarts etc for store bought ones with their friends. They never got store bought cookies because in the long run it was more expensive. The kids who traded always loved it. They would get homemade and my kids would get the store bought. I didn't care who ate what as long as they were eating. I felt bad that my kids didn't get "lunchables" i would make them at home and send them to school. Then I found out some parents had to send 3 lunchables per kid just so they could be full that was 15 dollars a meal. I didn't feel bad after that.
You could even freeze some of the cookie dough to bake later, if you make a full batch and only want a few cookies now. Just roll them into balls before sticking them in the freezer.
Great ideas
Yes I love doing this! It's amazing how much you save by not buying cookies and sweets, plus I really love baking so it gives me a good excuse
This was a key step for me. I didn't say "no junk food ever" I said "No junk food except what you make for yourself totally from scratch." While I know psychologically that I can make potato chips or donuts from scratch and they taste great I almost never want them enough to spend three hours making them and then doing all the clean up. So I'm not depriving myself of anything but I'm putting in place enough obstacles that they stay a treat as intended instead of gobbling them up any time I'm a bit bored.
When I was growing up, we ate "in season" you couldn't get stuff out of season. It made you look forward to the foods you loved when they were in season. We just expect to get what we absolutely love all the time. But it's costly.
In season is 100% the way to go, and the ingredients taste so much better at their peak.
You're right though, we're so used to getting ANYTHING we want, WHENEVER we want to these days, even things that just don't grow anywhere near the country you live in.
If you contact your state agricultural college office locally they give FREE cooking lessons (classes last 8 weeks) and when you're done with the class they give you a cookbook.
Yes! When I was working at Head Start we had them come work with our parents every year and the parents loved it and learned a lot! The best part is that the recipes are all inexpensive!
Not anymore here:/ AZ ended it
@@jms3197 try TH-cam chefs like Frankie Celenza and Jamie Oliver who both have programmes specifically designed to teach basic economical cooking. This channel also has healthy and frugal recipes. You can do it!!!
Lol that's all well and good if you actually live where they have an agriculture college.
@@ChiefsGirlSince1989 Try Jaimie Oliver on TH-cam or Struggle Meals with Frankie Celenza or early episodes of Pro Home cooks on TH-cam. All aimed at teaching budget cooking.
From an economic side, it’s been shown that one will actually spend more on groceries if they go to the store more than once a week or once every two weeks.
I agree it can be really difficult to have a healthy diet when money is tight. It takes a lot of work with following flyers, meal planning and preparation. When living on my own in my early 20’s, I had $50 a month for food. I learned which day and at what time my grocery store reduced meats and I bought those. I’d buy the reduced produce and head home. I’d then spend a few hours prepping make ahead meals and freezing them. One food item that was cheap and easy were the frozen veggies and sauce. I’d cook those with some sliced marinated meats I had previously made up and froze. I’d get two meals from that.
I have reduced beef in my fridge right now that I will prep and freeze later today.
Great ideas!
@@lolabear6788 thank you. I’m teaching this to my kids. My son only just got his own place and is on a budget. He also has a health issue so eating non processed/low sodium foods are vital. He’s liking my help and with pre-planning and prepping he can have a healthy cooked meal after work and not eating after 7.
I forgot about that trick! We used to go to the store when they reduced prices too. But the schedule has been very unpredictable these last few years.
@@nerdymichelle Yes, after this past year I haven’t been able to go to the store when I wanted so I’ve missed out a lot of the times. I was lucky yesterday morning being able to go 1 1/2 hours after they opened. The person from the meat department was just finishing putting out the marked down items. A friend of mine and I used to go together to our local store. We’d have fun pretending to shove each other out of the way and pretending to fight over the reduced meats. Lol. Fortunately with a small town most people knew us, so they just shook their heads. Lol.
We always said we ate better buying the reduced stuff than if we stuck to buying budget meats.
Most nights her family only ate what she found marked down at the store, $10 for a meal for a family of 4, she did really well. Christine reminds me of her. Lol
Jennifer - That is a great idea buying only the marked down meats if u can. I’d forgotten about that and I used to do that as well. It has been very expensive for me to eat healthy this year bc I went on a diet and lost 40 lbs but buying what I needed I nearly went broke. I finally remembered we have a Produce Junction where u buy fruits & veggies in bulk for a cheap price. They may not be normal size or pretty but chopping & freezing them goes a long way! 😄
Thank you so much for addressing this! I fortunately live in an area with lots of grocery stores. I am 67, retired and live on social security of a bit more than 800. My rent is a bargain at a low income senior apartment. EBT is 80 a month. I have always lived frugally mostly because I have always been low income, despite working full time and often more. I could use grocery delivery if the store had an option to pay with ebt. They don't. And of course the 10 dollar delivery fee and tip make it unaffordable for me. I also don't drive. It means multiple trips with my cart on the bus. Still I am very grateful. So many have less than me.
@Vickey Ohm, your gratitude statement and compassion for those who have less than you touched my heart. Thanks for such a sweet comment. :)
@@goodycitizen Gratitude saved my life while helping my smile to be real.
Pie definitely beats cake in our family. When my daughter got married, she didn't have a cake. She had their favorite pie. One for her and hubby and then little 6" individual pies for all the guests. Had six different flavors. It was a huge hit!
I had no idea how lucky I was to have so many food shops nearby. Love the term "food oasis". Thank you for enlightening me and helping me feel grateful 💕💕
Best advice…start young, I grew up helping my grandmother and mom and aunts cook…learning recipes, learning techniques…going shopping with my dad who shopped sales flyers and also showed me how to look at prices per weight vs value vs quality and how to decide which to pick. A lot of habits (good and bad) are learned from when we are young and growing up in a home. Schools don’t teach these things anymore…
It’s sad, kids should be taught these life skills
Guess what? In Georgia, medicaid now provides transportation to pick up food! I don't know about other states but this can be a great option for those living in the rural areas. I know if I didn't have a car, I would be in real trouble. I love that you bring awareness to this topic!
That's fantastic!
I live in Poland in a fairly small city. We have 8 discount stores of one brand, one lidl (very similar to aldi), three big stores (tesco, kaufland) and about twenty little grocery stores. Honestly whole country is one big food oasis ;) but on the other hand, our average income is about 1000 dollars a month. Many opportunities, little money to spend.
Wow!!!
@@ilovesunsets 300.00 dollars a month? Wow
Shopping culture is very different in other parts of the world - in Europe, going to the store every three days sounds very reasonable and is quite a usual thing to do. It's a lot easier, when you can walk or bike to the next store in mere minutes and there's more smaller stores to choose from - smaller stores also make the shopping process a lot quicker with a lot less choice (we don't have a cereal isle - rather a dozen or so to choose from).
In countries like Japan, even going to a store every day is not unusual. You couldn't fit a weeks worth of gorceries for a whole family in the fridge of a generic japanese flat.
The whole "huge supermarkets that you visit once every week or even two weeks, pretty much exclusively by car" is an american thing - that is just as weird to us as our ways are to you the other way round... ^_^
I personally go shopping on the way home from work on foot. With a small bag I bring with me - about every three to four days. I have 4 different supermarkets to choose from - all in a walking distance of 3-7 minutes of my home, not counting the two bakeries, drug store, flower shop, pharmacy I pass by on the way. I wouldn't be much of a hassle to stop by there every second day, if I so chose.
Also: prices vary greatly from country to country. Where I live (middle of Europe), fresh vegetables are extremly cheap and of high quality (EU standards are rather difficult to fulfill otherwise)- if you have basic cooking skills, you can eat best quality food on a tiny budget.
In japan on the other hand, you are probably going to pay as much or more, cooking for yourself, rather than eating out, as groceries are quite expensive.
It's mostly convenient food (presliced, prepared, precooked and so on), that is costly.
Yes yes! Shopping culture sure is very different! When I used to live with my grandma in China, I noticed that they appreciate fresh food. I could walk with my grandpa in about 5-7 min distance and there were vendors selling from vegetable to fresh fish!
Does everyone in Europe or Japan live within walking distance of a proper grocery store? Sure, if you live within walking distance of a store your "culture" will be different from people who do not. I grew up in Chicago and the store was only a couple of blocks away, with others not that much further. Now I'm in a large city where you still need to travel to get to a proper grocery store. Luckily, a farmer's market pops up, in season, only a few blocks away.
Was going to say something similar to this.
Although most people don't walk to grocery stores in my european country (it's very car dependant because of weather and not so great public transport) the norm is going shopping for food every 2-3 days (unless you live rural, but that's not a lot of people). Some people shop for food every day (my dad and best friend both do).
I'd say most people swing by a grocery store after work maybe 2-3x a week and then also go once during the weekend.
There's some stuff that just doesn't last in your fridge for a whole week, like fish/seafood, some meats, fruits and veggies like berries and greens, etc.
There are plenty of stores around, generally people don't have to go more than a couple of miles max.
Granted, I live pretty central right now but there are at least 12 stores in a 1.5 mile radius from my home ranging from very small convenience stores to pretty large stores.
@@ingakarlsson I lucked out with public transportation, the bus stops half a block from my home and goes to within that distance to grocery stores. It's forty five minute ride though to the store I prefer. Do you have a large freezer? I think I have more stuff in the freezer than in the refrigerated section! But that's just me. I still wind up going twice a week solely so I don't have to carry as much each time (but, fun fact, I wind up buying MORE each time than if I had gone once, paying careful attention to how much I would have to carry ... whelp!).
I spend 3 days grocery shopping. Day one I make my list and refill everything and wash everything that needs washed. Day two I go to the store and put away stuff and day 3 I precook and cut things and freeze them. We go shopping monthly. And mid month we go to by fresh vegetables. That trip takes an hour
It's a little bit of a privileged statement for the guy. But he probably considered it a blessing. It's all about perspective. Thrive Market is ALSO a privilege, they don't accept ebt. So a free subscription doesn't do squat for people with no cash flow lol. See, perspective. Love your videos, sweetie! ❤
Right?? I have a free subscription to thrive myself, and haven't bought a thing there. For me it is so expensive!! I'm also a diabetic, and my local walmart has more food options for me and is much cheaper than thrive.
Yes I have had the same thoughts about Thrive!
I really appreciate that you covered this topic. Food deserts and privilege aren't often talked about on cooking/grocery haul videos.
You have nailed it yet again! In the times of food prices going up and just things in general, now is definitely the time to re-evaluate your spending and eating habits. Time to make it a family discussion so everyone is on the same page.
100% agree.😊👍
Thank you for making this video! Eating healthy is no more expensive then eating the crap. I make less then $20,000 a year. I eat all organic on a budget of $200 a month. My nearest store is an hour away. It can be done!
Thank you so much for all your videos. A few months ago we had a stomach bug that lasted a week for everyone that got it and it took almost a month to go through the whole family. While it’s not the same, we weren’t able to go to the store for a few weeks. We also had our income cut because of new jobs, no sick time accrued yet, and multiple hospital stays for our kids. We were not able to afford top notch foods. A couple weeks we had to use our little savings to pay rent and gas to and from the hospital. We had no income for almost two paychecks, almost a full month. While we didn’t eat a completely balanced meal for a few weeks, we scraped by. We used lots of your Eat For $_ a week recipes and shopped our pantry and freezer. It was rough. We had bananas and apples as they were the cheapest we could get. Luckily I had frozen veggies already. To add a delivery fee onto a shopping order that was already as small as I could get would have been devastating. I wish we could have afforded it so we could have had fresh food. That’s not always the case. We still can’t afford it regularly. I can’t think of all that wasted money a couple times a week that could go to savings or other needs. We are working to fund our savings again, plus much more. We are a young family. Three kids, husband working full time, he’s finishing his masters up, one car, a side job to help fund bills. Sometimes you are doing everything you can and you can’t get those luxuries yet. It was a very privileged comment. I hope he never has to be in a situation like the one our family was in a few months ago.
I live in a small farming town. We have three grocery stores plus a Walmart. I am so blessed to have a discount grocery store within walking distance as I don’t drive. We also have an indoor farmer’s market every Thursday year round.
I alway shop the sales and I plan my weekly meals around those items. When non perishable items that I like and use are on sale I buy an extra one to put in my pantry.
Thanks for bringing these topics up! I live in Chicago and we have neighborhoods that are food deserts! Food deserts aren't necessarily for the rural part of the country. Urban cities experience these too!
We just got a dollar general in our town, nearest town with grocery stores is about 15 to 20 minutes away so not too bad of a drive, have never done the delivery service because no one delivers out that far. It may be weird but I like picking out my own stuff which is why I haven't tried thrive or other meal companies but maybe I need to check into them more. Happy Monday Christine!!
Meal delivery service is so high.
Dollar general seems to be the only store in many rural or inner city areas.
I can't have anyone else pick out my produce lol. Delivery services are not for me.
@@ronacrandall you
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Thank you for being a realist. Great broadcast.
Perfectly stated and argued. I'd also add that portion control and getting away from random snacking can eliminate some of the cost and the obesity issue (which we know is the biggest issue that plagues people in food desserts). You don't always need organic strawberries. Sometimes just getting the calories under control goes a long way... But it's a super hard and complex issue, for sure. (Fwiw, I LOVE how you don't overserve your family, Christine. And you're all athletes!)
Thank you for sharing! I am Norwegian and have just some very few options for grocery delivery where I live, and it is from the most expensive store... I am single, living alone, not having a car, so I take the bus everywhere, AND I uses crutches and have done that for over 4 years. I live more in the country side in a larger city, but I do have one smaller and more expensive store 5 minutes walks, that do have some good deal, so I watch out for that. I can also walk 50-60 minutes every way to two other stores, that is a nice good walk for the days I have time, my body will do it, and not the most heavy things I need. I mostly buy my groceries in town, when I have my appointments, and but the deals, follow the seasons and so on.
That man sounded so privileged. Very privileged.
Thank you for sharing and being true. I have read and seen a lot about food deserts, and the lack of both places to buy more healthy and less expensive food, and how hard it can be to get to the places that have better options to buy. I am thankful that I have the bus. There are 3 in the hour in the daytime, and two in the evening and the weekends. It is not expensive either. I know the transportation system is very different in the USA.
Thank you again, and thank you for sharing so many good videos where people can learn to cook, and how to get good deals.
Love and blessings from Johanne, Norway
Ps I love your mom, I too will be having a Diet Coke in my hand at my death 😆🙈
Happy Monday! I used to think this too, definitely have fine tuned eating healthy without living at the grocery store! 😊having my own garden and living in a farming community definitely makes it more attainable without a huge price.
Happy Tuesday for me 😜
Yess I'm so happy about the way you're addressing this. So many budget food content creators feel compelled to pretend that anyone can afford to eat healthy. I already loved you but the fact that you are so willing to acknowledge the barriers that some people face makes me love you even more
I think the Podcaster is very privileged. Also I'd like to add a few tips if you are trying to save on food. 1) get your newspaper from a dollar store. I know not everyone has one but if you do it's cheaper than delivery or is an option if you can't get a paper delivered. 2) shop your personal items (toothpaste, mouthwash, shampoo, tampons, etc.) at Walgreens. If you get a my walgreens account (which is free) you have access to their online coupons and you can get there deals even if it's shipped (free shipping it is normally on $50+ orders, I believe). Then when you search put in rewards and coupons as your search criteria. In the item it tells you what coupons can be applied, what rebates/rewards you can get, and even if there's a promo code for more off. I have bought over 30 toothpastes for charity in the last month and paid only 5 bucks. I know those things sound small but if you go through 1 tube of toothpaste a month, 1 bottle of mouthwash and one container of dental floss a month, you will save around 144 dollars a year. That's a week or two of groceries.
Thank you for sharing this. I find too many people in my life don't understand the barriers to healthy eating and can be very judgemental. I help with food costs by trying to go the grocery store at the time that short dated meat and dairy and veggies etc get reduced by 80%. But that isn't always successful and requires careful timing. I am lucky to have a car. But many people near my house have to walk to the shops and walk home carrying their groceries in bags. That reduces their choice in what they can buy obviously. Not everyone lives in a home with a stove and that effects what they can cook also. There are many barriers to the whole prepare a healthy meal thing and I really appreciate that you mentioned some.
The best beginner cookbook you will ever find is Living on a dime volume 1, I have been cooking for over 50 years and there are things in that cookbook that I have learned ❤️it.
I just came across your channel yesterday. I'm hooked and obsessed. Your recipes are quick and great. There's nothing fake about you and that's why I enjoy watching you. I wish there was chanels like yours around when my kids were growing up. Keep being you and keep the recipes coming. Thank you.
Thank you so much for sharing this video!!! I love watching your videos. I used to buy the family pack pork chops and chicken. I would put 1 or 2 in single freezer bags. I stocked up for myself. Plus I was able to help my sister out when she needed food. My husband makes homemade chili. He also cans homemade applesauce from wind fallen apples. I love homemade chicken soup. We are a family of 4. I love being able to make meals and freeze them. I learned a lot from you. A friend of ours made homemade sweet potato soup. Having stores pick out and deliver is also inconvenient if they don't have the brand you want and have to substitute. My son did store deliveries. He had to make 2 trips to the same house for a substitute item. Thank you again for this video.
I really appreciate your recognition of financial and geographic considerations when talking about eating healthier
Good morning! Really good points. We live in a small town in TN. There's one grocery store and a couple of dollar stores. The closest Walmart is about 20 minutes away, and the nearest Sam's Club and Costco are an hour away. We don't have Instacart or anything like that here or any type of public transportation, so no cabs, buses, Uber, or anything like that. It would be expensive to utilize these, but they're not available here anyway. I definitely feel like the person suggesting delivery every few days wasn't in touch with the life of the average person.
You had some great tips, and I've been looking through your channel and a couple of others for easy stuff and slow cooker meals because sometimes cooking is difficult for me - multiple health issues, energy issues, working full time from home, and I also have 4 kids and am married to a dude (he works full time outside the home).
Also, pie is totally better than cake.
I don't drive anymore and have no way to get to Costco etc.
@@mravenwing I understand. I don't drive either. Even if I did, my closest Costco is at least an hour away. That's not worth it to me.
Unless the cake is Cheesecake?
@@tambou5022 Great point! Very true.
Both my husband and I work full time. We still make time despite how tired we may or may not be to buy groceries and make dinner every night. We shop for groceries every two weeks.. We have kids as well.
Hey i am Digital Marketer. I will promote your youtube channel for monetization to fill the TH-cam partner program Requirements. You can earn passive money after youtube monetization.
One of my local grocery stores had a pumpkin freebie this last week. I have never made pumpkin anything, nor do I like pumpkin pie which was the only thing pumpkin I have ever tried. I steamed it in my instant pot, pureed it, and it made 8 pints of pumpkin puree. I made chocolate chip pumpkin muffins and my whole family loved them, can't wait to try other things now. With the pumpkin being free though I was able to make 2 dozen of muffins for super cheap, probably under $2.
Thank you so much for the compassionate and thoughtful presentation of this topic. As a social worker my view of privilege is broad and access to food is a huge equity problem and a big factor in social determinants of health. It’s great to hear that your ears perked up when hearing the yahoo on the podcast voice such privilege and assumptions about what many Americans are able to do or not do.
Hi Christine, I’m from Singapore and it definitely it’s expensive to eat healthy here. Rice is a staple here where we can eat it for breakfast, lunch, dinner and supper and because of that, it’s really cheap when you’re eating out.
Compared to home-cooking as well, fresh fruits and vegetables here are expensive as everything is imported into the country.
We don’t have a clearance section on food (hardly).
I am from Singapore too. Food prices might be high compared to the US and our neighbours like Malaysia but it is cheaper than Australia and New Zealand. Given our high incomes, food is still quite affordable even eating healthy. There are healthy Asian choices. Eat less rice/ carbs and bigger portions of veg, fruit. Some local fruit like bananas, papayas, guava etc are cheap. Veg like mustard greens, bok choy, salads etc are cheap too. We eat lots of seafood here and more chicken than red meat.If you shop at Fair Price it would cheaper than at Cold Storage. Cold Storage does have clearance items though.
@@nesadcruz7840 I’m from Australia. I just spent $700 for a fortnight on groceries for 4 adults and that is all food I need to cook myself. Expensive as hell here. I work to eat basically.
@@magicshopmumma2042 I have visited Australia several times, NZ too. Whether eating out or shopping for groceries it is indeed very expensive. Singapore is cheap compared to the high cost of food in Oz.
I'm from Singapore too. Try the wet markets for cheaper fresh produce. Vegetables and fruits that are indigenous to this region are also cheaper, compared to imported "foreign" food (e.g. the berries, avocadoes, dairy products, etc). So it depends on what you buy. Overall, groceries are definitely more expensive here than in the States (like those videos showing "I survived on $20 a week!"...yeah, not applicable here). But with some smart shopping, a decent grocery haul with healthy food is possible.
@@magicshopmumma2042 check out Nikki Beal’s TH-cam channel. She is an Australian who does a lot of budget food videos.
Completely agree with your view on this! Think it's great that you're pointing out that not everyone's situation is the same and some just don't have the means to eat as healthy as others may. Love your channel!
I'm in a very small town in Virginia. Our closest grocery store is 25 minutes away but we have a ton of local farms so it's definitely possible to find produce and meat within our county.
Learning to cook is the best advice for eating well and eating healthy within a budget. If you're fortunate enough to have a relative or friend who can teach you a few basics..do it; watch cooking shows to learn basic techniques (America's Test Kitchen, Cooks County, Alton Brown's Good Eats reruns, to name a few, explain the how and why a cooking method works); watch TH-cam cooking videos (like Christine's playlist, Food Wishes etc). Start with basic things and don't be discouraged if something fails...it happens. Sorry for going on and on but I'm obviously very passionate about people learning basic life skills. Sadly, they're rarely taught in schools anymore. Great video, Christine! 😘
I absolutely love and go crazy for the little black 6 shelf thing on the beginning of the video, I always check that little thing when ever I stop at Fred's 😀, if you know, you know 😁.
What an awesome informational video!! Yes my kids love my homemade food over anything out!!!
I’m getting delivery last couple of weeks because stuck home with an injury. It has been a blessing but I prefer going for sale items at multiple stores (DollerTree, JobLot, etc)
I have that exact cookbook. I got it when I got married 25 years ago! I learn watching people (like you) cook.
Thank you, Christine, for the tips! I’ve made some of your recipes and they’re not hard or fancy, just tasty. I stock up on ground beef and chicken when they’re on sale because they’re so versatile. Other items that we like are pasta, eggs and potatoes, all inexpensive and they can stretch a meal farther. I like to grocery shop and go three times a week. 🥰
I bought flour and yeast from a restaurant supply store and have been learning to bake bread/pizza dough/pita breads/tortillas myself.
In my country we have a supermarket that sells the 'odd bunch' so it's funky looking in season fruits and veges at a great price that still taste great, but that they wouldn't otherwise be able to sell (which is crazy in itself) but that's how I eat healthy.
If you like the taste of sourdough it is very easy to make your own tasty bread with a sourdough starter. I made my starter based on instructions from the Cultures for Health website. That website also has a good, simple recipe for lightly sour sandwich bread which I adapted for our household (mainly by using whole-wheat flour). You only need flour and chlorine-free water to maintain your starter (The bread recipe also calls for salt). No need to feed your starter every day if you keep it in the fridge. I don’t discard any starter when I do feed it; I just use any extra to make crackers, pizza dough and other yummy breads.
@@kadams9738 ooh thanks!
This video is refreshing. I have felt the intentional or unintentional judgement from people who think it's easy and affordable to eat healthy. I find I have trouble estimating how much fresh produce I need and end up throwing it away at an embarrassing rate. That is something I am working to improve.
I used to have the same problem with produce. My freezer has become my best friend! It takes a little while to get into the habit of freezing, but it makes a huge difference!
One word, freezer. When produce is starting to look sad, chop it, date it and freeze it. When ready to use it, it's already been prepped. Waste not, want not. Use every part of the produce. Zest the citrus before you eat it and let the zest dry naturally on a saucer and store it in an old spice jar. Vegans make "bacon" from banana peels. Eat potatoes without peeling them or scoop the insides so you have a boat from the peel and a bit of the insides to fill the next day. Freeze the ugly white part and leaves of celery for soups and casseroles. Peel and eat broccoli stems rather than tossing them. Cauliflower leaves and the shredded core can be put in soups. If the produce comes with leaves, put them in a salad or casserole. Put older tomatoes in a low oven for "sun dried" tomatoes. Freeze unused herbs as is or put them in ice cube trays with some water and then bag so they're already portion sized when you use them later. If an onion spouts or you don't want all the white part of a spring onion, plant about an inch of the root end and it'll grow. Or dehydrate or home can your veggies.
If you have left over veg and lack of freezer space, depending on what it is, you can dehydrate it for the winter. Kale and spinach is in season at the mo, very inexpensive, Im dehydrating it and turning it in to green powder to boost the nutrient level of soups and smoothies this winter. Im also dehydrating onions while they are $2.50 for a 10kg bag. Same with apples. The dehydrator and freezer are best friends of those who want to save $$.
thank you for te suggestions!
Fermentation! That really extends the life of veg. Sandor Katz, Mary’s Nest, and just googling how to ferment vegetables will help you. 😘
I got 20 lbs of produce last weekend for $10.50 on clearance. I cubed the zucchini to freeze to add to casseroles and spaghetti. It was also locally grown so we'll have local zucchini all winter. Made pickles with the cucumbers. Made tomato sauce with the tomatoes. And had the apples like normal.
Another great video! 👍my fave is clearance shopping. You really get some good healthy ingredients for a great price. We moved to a small UK town with a little grocery store recently and when I saw they have a clearance rack it made my day! Cheers :)😀
I think everywhere - internationally & within countries - varies greatly. NZ has a supermarket duopoly situation so 2 companies control the main supermarket chains and our prices are pretty hideous as a result. Some places have great Farmer's Markets (Wellington) while other do not (Tauranga). There are smaller, non-supermarket options in most towns, but they're squeezed by the larger chains' purchasing power or the need to have higher returns to survive.
One thing that differs here from what you mention in your video, is the delivery option. The main stores will deliver your order for between NZ$10-$14 or you can pick up your order for either free or NZ$5 (cost depends on order value). In store prices & online prices are the same. Still, for some folks that $14 isn't doable.
So for sure, its a privilege, depending on where you live & how accessible/costly the food is.
Thanks. I watch How to dad and admire NZ but didn't know to grocery store situation 😡
Cool video and so on point! I've started researching the possibility of freezing ingredients when they are at a good price. I just finished freezing a bunch of beautiful red sweet peppers that were at the best price around here. So easy and I listened to some music while I was slicing and chopping and it went very fast. I found a lot of marked down meat at Safeway (5 minutes away) yesterday: pork steaks and country style ribs (which I never get because they are so expensive) at 1/2 off the lowest price. My freezer floweth over. LOL My Safeway delivers for just $4!!! Who knew? And the prices are the same as in store. But I only buy canned and frozen goods when I get delivery. I live alone and yet I batch bake a lot of stuff and use my instant pot for a lot of stuff too. Some really good tips here. Thanks.
Also, if you can't eat up something before it goes bad, freeze it.
We’ve started doing this & even bought animals at auctions and had butchered. I now have 4 freezers and NO more room and I’m sitting here like wait, I need more room for fruits and veggies 😬
Could you do a video on freezing vegetables and pastas etc?
Depends on what ingredients are used to make a cake. Easy to use something like monk sugar in place of regular sugar. It can quickly be blended into powdered sugar, too. Lots of healthy substitutes for oil such as apple sauce, avocados, yogurt, nut butters, and likely your preference, pumpkin purée. Mixing in oat fiber and flax seed meal can kick up the fiber count and make cakes healthier,. If you don't like whole wheat flour, go with almond or a like mix. I would think Hershey's special dark, 100% cacao, unsweetened chocolate powder a smart way to go.
So I made such a cake last week and felt really good about eating it. I thought it tasted fine, too. Oh, and I also blended up some fruit for the mix. Next time I may even toss in some spinach as well. I expect it would still taste like chocolate in cake form.
Other veg items to consider adding to a fruit mix for chocolate cake: carrots, zucchini, beets, coconut, pumpkin, parsnips. If feeling brave, I may even add a bit of red bell pepper. If feeling smart, I'll only do so at the end for a cupcake or two. Cauliflower?
Interesting, this very topic came up at our home recently. I was in search of a cantaloupe (daughter can't get enough) two of my regular stores were out (I live in an oasis for sure). I went to a local dedicated 'fruit' store and sure enough they were piled high with more fruit and vegetables than I have seen in any one place in months. (I live in a very densely populated area in Michigan). The prices were so high! I paid 4.00 for a cantaloupe, 5.00 for what was no more than a two quart bowl of watermelon, after it was cut up. You get the idea.
Now, not everyone can afford that and that really hit me. Great topic and certainly something to think about.
Well, there is a change in produce over the last 30 years. The support your local farmer has raised costs up. We had fruit and vegetable stands on every other corner as a kid. They came around the city calling out what fresh stuff was on their produce carts. You'd step out your door and get what you wanted. It was cheap to get fresh stuff.
Every Friday night after work, we (my roommate and I had three kids between us), would meet up at Burger's produce in Marietta, GA and pick up fresh stuff for the next week. Walk out with a mountain of fresh items really cheaply. The modern way of produce selling put them out of business. Aside from that, I think they were getting up there in years and happy to give it up. I cannot justify the prices at local farmer's markets these days.
Christine, Two thumbs WAAAAY up for tackling this subject with so much honesty and caring. You are right on.... buy whole foods, on sale, and in season and learn to cook!! One thing I would add....do not hoard all the cooking for yourself 😊 Start allowing and teaching your kids!! They want to know, it is fun and makes them feel empowered and competent. We started at three years old with their own aprons baking biscuits with Grandpa. By the time they were twelve they could make a full meal - (with all the food ready and on the tabler at the same time!) During the summer, one of their chores was to make one dinner a week. This skill really empowered them during their college and young adult lives and now they even have a strong side-hussle as a gluten-free website, and home bakery! (Sisters Sans Gluten).
Thank goodness we have you to set everyone straight on eating healthy , frugally :) Thank you !
Christine, Do you watch "Our Tribe of Many"? They are getting ready to see about putting in an affordable grocery store in a "food desert" area around them. They visited one a few months ago in ?New York? to see how ir was done & how that one was started up. And she & the kids went driving around the area that they are thinking about to see what actually is & isn't available.
You might check them out to see how they eventually do it. They are expecting their 11th child at any time now, so it will be happening after the baby is born.
I saw that video and I don't know how I felt about it. Because the stores visited DID have produce, just not much that they personally recognized.
So instead of talking to the shop owners and asking about what is this produce item & how does one prepare it, they were all "yea, it's a food desert".
Then I may have misheard, but it sounded like there was an Iraqi food market that they were going to ignore (why?).
If Sarah can walk into an open air market in the middle of Africa and be comfortable with the offerings (because she knows how to prepare them?), how was she so reluctant to learn about fruits and vegetables from Asia?
If nobody bought food from those stores, the stores would go out of business right? So a different conclusion might be there's an area near her with minimal produce the average American would easily know how to prep and eat.
Did I read too much into her video? Perhaps, but I got weird vibes from it.
@@texadianstitcher they didn't go in the store because it was actually closed the day they were there.
I find this topic so interesting.
I was a mom of 2 teen boys on a budget. I managed to make a pretty well rounded diet for my kids and myself living on one income.
How?
I menu planned the 2 weeks I was shopping for and only bought those items.
I chose less expensive cuts of meats or found ways to stretch meat by including them in casseroles, or crock pot (slow cooker) meals that would feed us for more than one meal.
I also would bulk cook things like muffins.
There are huge portions of people who don't have any basic cooking knowledge.
You are going to make a meal and not love it, but if the basics are there learning how to make it better is a huge thing.
Learn how to tell if it needs more spice, fewer spices.
I'm here to say ice cream is the best dessert. 😉
I don't think of eating healthy as expensive, mostly because I grew up in a relatively poor family and we always ate well. Convenience foods usually cost more.
I shop every two weeks. Grocery bill averages $150 month for 3 people. I get 1 lb of ground beef, split it into 4 meals. Carrots are cheap, grate up, put in caserroles with onion,bell pepper and egg noodles. Eggs are inexpensive too. Chicken breast i split up also for chicken quesadilla, chicken n dumplings, chicken n dressing casseroles. Ill do stir fry with smoked sausage, onion, peppers carrots and rice. I make all our cookies too. Eating is expensive if you don't cook, and we like our cereal, but eat oatmeal too. It's filling. Meat has gone crazy expensive, and I've been doing 1/4 portions. I harvest dandelion and plantain weed to add to my dried seasonings. I buy apple pie filling for $1 at dollar tree and make cobbler by sprinkling flour and sugar and melted butter. Been adding a little water to our whole milk to make it stretch for years. Nobody notices it.
It can be expensive, but like the tips Christine mentions I buy on sale and stock up where I can and enjoy cooking so all homemade. Lots of big box grocery stores and small independents where I am so no shortage of some sale going on and all close by. For fresh veggies & fruits I buy in season when the prices are reasonable and when it's end of season I buy extra and freeze. An example eggplant, zucchini, yellow squash, bell pepper - cut them into large chunks roast in the oven with some onion them bag up and freeze. I'll use them up in an oven pasta bake (my fav!), throw into a stew, veggie soup which I'll puree, warm up and have it on top of rice or couscous. I've also challenged myself to eat from the pantry, freezer & fridge and only shop for items like milk. Nothing gets wasted and notice it can save money, rarely do I buy any grocery item at full price anymore, meat & fish prices are on the rise again too.
Thank you for this video. I am gradually learning from other influencers how to make my favorite foods from scratch. Like egg rolls for example you have control of the ingredients.
I spend only $30 a week on groceries and I NEVER buy frozen foods. I always buy fresh vegetables and fruits. If that means we have carrots and broccoli (our cheapest veg near us) them that's what we eat all week for our veg. If I happen to have food carry over into the next week and essentially free up some of my budget I'll get a different variety! People can eat healthy within their means it just takes some work and most importantly meal planning. "Shop " your pantry first and think out of the box. You can do it 👍
What kinds of meals and snacks do you make/eat with that budget?
I spend $650 a month for a family of 5 (which is closer to $33 per week per person) and I totally agree with you when it comes to meal planning, pantry cooking and eatting the cheapest fruits and vegetables. Also, freezing leftovers makes a huge difference too! Every few weeks we get an extra meal or two out of having a buffet of leftovers.
@@angiesmith2877 Apples, clementines, celery with peanut butter, peanuts, carrots, homemade yogurt and banana bread are some of our staple snacks. Oatmeal and fried eggs with toast are our two most common breakfasts. For lunch we primarily eat leftovers or sandwichs with a side of fruit and/or veggies. Here are some super afrodable dinner ideas: Spaghetti with salad, tacos, chicken pot pie, fried tilapia with corn, breakfast sandwiches with fruit, sloppy joes with peas (the pioner woman's recipe is THE BEST), soup or stew with crackers or rolls, beans and rice with fried eggs and a banana, calzones with salad, and sometimes if I'm feeling particularly lazy we will have ramen with frozen brocoli tossed in and a fried egg. I hope these ideas help!
@@noneya154 It sounds like you're doing well with your family's budget! I am wondering what this person makes, because it sounds like there are at least 2 people eating for only $30 per week total, and I know I couldn't get enough healthy food for two people on that small of a budget.
I am not sure if you know but tilapia is one of the worst fish you can get...no surprise is so cheap :(
Cristine's chanel helpt me out so much to be more frugal with my food bills. I am i student in europe greece that use to speend more than 250 euros is groceries and now im speding only 100! thank you for all of the tips and tricks you have shared with us
Thank you for posting this🙏You are such a wonderful person for thinking the way you do.I grew up in a low income neighborhood.My mother had to save enough for food shopping once a MONTH because we had no car she had to order a taxi to and from.All we had close by was a convenience store gas station as you mentioned!
I'm realizing how real this is for so many! 💛💛💛
Thanks for sharing!!
I can relate. We had the same situation growing up. We were lucky that my aunt would drive across town after work to take us shopping once a month. Any and all fresh produce, lunch meat, meats, bread etc was bought then. We didn't get a small freezer until I was a teenager so only meat went into the fridge freezer (our flat had an old 50s fridge lol). If we needed anything the corner store didn't carry, it was a 15 minute walk to the only store around for miles. Of course it was overpriced. We ate a lot of canned food and boxed food. Meat was once or twice a week. Fruit and vegetables were things that would last like apples, oranges, carrots, celery and oh so many potatoes. My husband came from slightly better circumstances, his mom worked at a Meat market and had a car. It served us well when we got married. We were already used to going without.
@@lisapop5219 yes it makes us stronger.So if you have a bad week or hard times you know how to deal with it definitely makes us stronger thank you for sharing
A very good discussion! I’ve always lived rurally and it’s just normal to have to drive distances to get stocked up. We are grateful to have two grocery stores (and a summer farmers market) in our small town, but Walmart and Sam’s are 70 miles away. I really enjoyed listening to your take. On learning to cook, I would encourage folks to ask someone they know to teach them. It’s so fun to have a mentor in the kitchen! This is how I learned to can and freeze produce.
Thanks for sharing!
Hi, just found your Chanel and love watching it. I’m in Perth , Australia and live 30 minutes from my local grocery stores. We have Aldi which is fantastic so I go shopping once per week or every 2 weeks if I’ve stocked up. When we run out of fresh milk I have a stash of UHT milk and I have a deep freeze to keep my Bread and other goods, this has been such a life saver for our family. Shopping weekly works well but has to be planned and intentional or I’ll run out of things, we eat a healthy mostly whole foods diet. I’ve become good at googling how to make things like buttermilk or spice mix from scratch due to not being able to get to the stores. Might I add it saves a ton of money too … win win!
Lol great video...the way your mom is with diet coke is how I am with swiss rolls!! You can pry my Swiss rolls from my cold dead hands 🤣
They are best served partially frozen. 😂 Love Swiss Rolls.
I can't even buy those because I will eat the WHOLE BOX.
@@FrugalFitMom 🤣
Closest grocery store 20+ minutes away. Dollar General 5 minutes away. Farmers market is over an hour away and no Uber. I plan and stock up twice a month.
i'm from new zealand and i go to the supermarket nearly every day lol but acknowledge this probably isn't the norm. i don't drive and walk past the supermarket on my way home from work it's a lot easier to grab a few things every day/couple of days than try to get a week's worth of groceries and carry them the 20min walk home.
Also not mentioned that shoppers who deliver pick the orders they want based on higher totals and where the deliver will be. My college kid was sick. Living in grad housing in Lansing Mi a few years ago. I belonged to a subscription shop/delivery so I found a participating store and put together a $40 order. She needed electrolytes, soup, cold meds, etc. That was at 3pm. At 6pm I notice no shopper chose the order. I called the company. They said they’d try. 9pm, they called me. Back and said someone finally agreed. They explained that the dollar amount of the order was pretty small considering where they had to deliver. Wow! 10 pm she got the 2bags I ordered. We were fortunate. So yes, delivery is not for everyone. It was a big stretch for us and we both worked. I miss the old couponing where you could walk out cart overflowing and have extra cash in hand because I got money back! Thanks Christine these important points!!
Not to sound rude but what did you expect? I mean it's tough for them because I've seen first hand they drive forever and take time out of their day to deliver a 40 dollar order and don't even get tipped because most people who are frugal are also bad tippers. When I put in a 40 dollar emergency order I tell them in the notes I will tip them 20 dollars because no one wants to go through all that for no tip. I worked in restaurants through college and I am shocked at how inconsiderate people can be to service workers so ya, I don't blame them one bit.
I love that you addressed this issue of classism in our American food culture!
Could you at some point address the issue this country has about applying morality to different, seemingly "unhealthy" food items? I feel like these go hand in hand and I always love your great perspective!
We are avid gardeners and donate routinely to the Food Bank and Homeless Center. Our organic garden greatly enhances our meals. I freeze my healthy flours in sealed Food Saver bag for storage . I am fortunate to be able to purchase organic items from Costco. We do have farmers markets and direct from farmers opportunities. We are in NW Montana. We are low income seniors , so we are very mindful of costs. We keep a well stocked pantry and freezer of good food choices.
We have to drive 20 minutes to the nearest grocery store, and there is definitely no Uber, taxi’s or public buses. There is not even a signal light! 😂
This is a really good topic. I worked as a public health nurse, and my clients were low income people with health problems severe enough to get state health insurance and thus my care. I met people who at any age, simply wouldn't know what to do with ingredients if they bought them. I spent a lot of time teaching clients how to cook, what to buy, what utensils to buy etc. There were people I was helping who didn't even have a pot to boil water in, and they just didn't have the knowledge or the money to stock a kitchen and then make the food. Some of your budget shopping and cooking videos are SO IMPORTANT. I wish I had something like that to share with people back then. Food deserts are also very real, and it's awful and scary. There are generations of people who wind up living in them, and then there are people who are just used to cooking out of the corner store that's mostly processed food or living on takeout. Making a video about what people starting a home need to buy at a minimum to cook at home by way of pots n pans, etc. that would be a great sister video to the ones you have already produced.
Yall I'm teaching my young teens NOW how to cook for cheap, shop the sales, meal prep, and who knows how much they are absorbing but at least it's a start! You can definitely feed yourself a healthy meal on a budget if you need to!
I really appreciate your insight into this podcasters privileged view of "healthy" cooking/eating. Thank you!!!
Your videos are always helpful and fun. This was very good. Fresh food is expensive and delivery is way out of my social security budget. If you still drive, walking large stores is still a problem.
So true!
Ok, this whole video was just a good vibe and balance. Very Informative. I honestly learn so much from you.
I appreciate that!
@@FrugalFitMom Hi. I watch Mary's Nest (texan🤗) for nutritious inexpensive cooking on youtube. She gardens, teaches how to make bone broth & other healthy meals for less. perhaps you could mention her channel? Between the 2 of you maybe less hunger & better health🙏
Healthy food is not a privilege. Having the knowledge, time and ability to prepare healthy food is.
I think that is a responsibility not a privilege.
Time, isn’t that a HUGE privilege?
@@arthrodea 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼
Some people don't have access to a regular grocery store either
I agree. Convenience comes at a price. I prefer home cooking too. I about passed out when our two drive thru value meals came to $17. What the blast!
I've made restaurant style meals at home chicken quesadillas, real hamburgers, rotisserie chicken, homemade soups, pies, cakes, brownies, muffins and cookies. Other than some cooking times the preps were 15 to 20 mins. Once you learn and practice you can control both the food and the $. Once a week we do breakfast for supper (eggs and toast or French toast, and fruit) and a leftover night. There two nights you don't have to worry about. Your welcome 😉
every day i thank God for the abundance of produce that we get from the garden . We dehydrate , canne and freeze all we can since we have very bad winter here in Canada . Produce price are so high during winter it makes me sad to think that some kids dont have healty food its a shame . Thanks for the great video. (dont mind my spelling please i am french and trying hard lol)
I 100% agree with you about the privilege of eating healthy. I love that you mentioned to eat seasonally. This is a huge thing for me in Korea. I can pay $25 for a watermelon in June or $12 for one at the end of the summer. Korea in the top 3 of the OECD for grocery costs because of limited growing land as well as the cost of imports. From expat Facebook groups, I have found the average family of 4 to be spending about $600~800 per month for groceries when being frugal. I love watching your videos for ideas on what to make to save money. Like always, thank you for your fantastic informative video. ♡ from Korea
Couldn’t agree more with the statement that home cooked food tastes way better than frozen. You have so many more options with seasoning and customizing your food when you’re making it from scratch!
I have never used thrive market but as a vegan I do utilize 99 cent only, clearance bins at regular grocery chains, going to bulk store winco every 3 is month due to distance
I don't waste money on fast food or throw away products irregardless to hygiene and household items which can cost hundreds
* in regards
You are a great resource for people to learn to shop on a budget, how to eat more healthy and how to cook.
I am fortunate to live in an area full of food resources; locally grown, farm fresh food and farm raised beef, chicken, pork.
Lots and lots of options.
Thank you
You are so lucky to be close to food resources. Do you mind telling me where is your close by town? You don’t have to if you rather not. That’s fine. I’m close to plenty different ethnic grocery stores, walking or by car, 30 miles from Los Angeles. Yet there isn’t any farm, that’s why I wonder how different food shopping would be. Envy.
@@helenmak5663 the wonderful midwest. Where you live is a choice. Chose where you can thrive.
Pie > brownies > cake > ice cream.
Cookies probably trump all. 😂
Great video. Nothing beats meal planning and cooking from scratch.
I live in a small town and we have an IGA. It’s very convenient, but the cost is more than shopping at a larger grocery store. The closest larger store is about 20 minutes from us. I usually do a big grocery trip to the larger store every 2 weeks. This saves us from overspending at the smaller store.
I live in the mountains, 12 miles from the nearest Walmart and about 9 miles from the closest Dollar General (which carries some groceries but no fresh produce). I have a couple restaurants that say they'll deliver to me, but I would feel guilty asking them to come back to my house ;) So definitely no grocery delivery for me. I usually combine grocery shopping with driving from work, church or other errands. I stopped at a farm for fresh produce on my way home today..but that was still about 12 miles from home ;)
Here in Germany my husband and I go to the store every few days. Fresh bread doesn't last very long here. We can get fresh fruits and veggies that last about a week. Perhaps, the podcast presenter was referring to non-processed items. We are lucky to have access here to fresh eggs, directly from the farm for a reasonable price as well as vegetables.
Before I volunteered at a food bank I would donate healthy foods at food drives, dry beans, rice, oatmeal, the like. Working in the pantry allowed me to see what the clientele wanted, Top Ramen, Fruit loops, packages of Mac and cheese. It is not just a problem of being able to afford better quality food it is the knowledge of how to prepare healthy food which takes us back to Home Ec classes.
I watch Mary's Nest on youtube. She is so sweet, gardens and teaches how to make bone broth and other healthy meals for less 🍀
So many people I know are eating out constantly- nobody cooks, nobody packs their lunches for work. And don't get me wrong- these people aren't rich and they definitely can't "afford" it. It's a constant cycle of debt and unhealthy lifestyle.
I think many people are just very busy and pre cooked or processed foods are foods ready made to eat. It's a challenge to get to a point where you are stocked up with ingredients for a quick somewhat healthy meal and snack. Christine gives a lot of good tips and demonstrates a great deal of understanding for these challenges.
I cannot afford to eat out since the prices went up.
@@susanhendrix8701 It is cheaper for me and my husband to eat out sometimes that go to the grocery store.
@@susanhendrix8701 , I can afford to eat out but it is ridiculously expensive even before the price increases. The reason we have money is because we quit eating out many, many years ago. If you keep a small notebook and write down every single item you buy and the price, you will not want to buy stuff because writing it down becomes tedious. My husband and I saw how much we were spending eating out every month and we were shocked! I make my husband's breakfast and lunch that he takes to work and I cook dinners. We don't even enjoy eating out now. Start with easy things, cook several chicken breasts in advance and then cut and freeze some for later. You can use that chicken for any chicken dish and it will be cheap. I hope this helps a little.
I have observed it is usually those who cant afford to who live like this. In denial?
Thank you for addressing this. So important!
You are so welcome!
Thanks for the tips! I am currently not working so these tips are helpful. In the past, I have wasted too much money buying junk food and fast food, I'm working on eating more homemade food and using up what I have at home before going to the market again
I agree with you re brownies and pie. I'm not big on sugary foods so my favorite thing is frozen, unsweetened fruit and plain Greek yogurt yum!
I sometimes buy a bag of frozen mixed berries and put the fruit in a bowl in the fridge. They are good on cereal, yogurt, etc.
Hi Christine, in my view more privileged is a person that owns a car, a big house with pantry and multiple freezers than someone that shops every 2 to 3 days. Millions of people live in large cities surrounded by supermarkets. They might walk to the shops and perhaps aren't able carry many items. They might also live in small places with limited storage space. Life can be very different depending on where you live.
Great video! We are having a freezer/pantry clean out month. We are 25 minutes from the grocery store that isn’t a mini mega high because we are in the country. I try to plan my route when I go to town so I go to town less. Hopefully I can do less than $200 this month. Visited the discount bread store today.