Going Plant-Based on a Budget With Toni Okamoto

nervousness usually makes for the best episode. Yeah. Well, when we talk about diet, it is very it's a very heated like topic, and we are by no means a nutrition podcast, so we're not telling people how to eat. But when I was paying off seventy eight thousand dollars of debt with my husband, I was a vegetarian and I noticed when meal planning and cooking that my budget essentially was much lower than that of other people I talked to, and the biggest difference was the amount of

meat we were consuming. Yeah, and so I've always been an advocate for eating a more plant based diet, especially while paying off debt. But just in general too, for health reasons, for sustainability reasons, but like, I'm not on a high horse where I think that that's the only way to do things. So I'm glad we've got Tony on to talk about it, because she does give a

very kind, yeah explanation. We're on a very much shorter horse over here, and while we're not nutritionists by any means, we're trying to tell people what to do with their lives. We recognize that a big portion of our income will go to buying food, and of course there's many in our communities, including ourselves, who are interested in how to

also eat well. How can we get the nutrients that our bodies need into our diets and regular routines, and how can we also be conscious of our food budget and our spending in that regard, and also just kind of like sift through and weed out some of the misconceptions about various styles and types of eating. And so Tony's here in a really non judgmental way to explain all of that to us and help make this a

more approachable topic, I think absolutely. But first, this episode is brought to you by changes turning the beat around. Whether you're deciding you don't care that much anymore. If your house is clean, or you're trying a new method of wearing the same outfit all week, or you're considering a new way of eating. We're all making changes, hopefully for the better. And if you want to know about the changes some of your fellow listener friends made in order to become debt free, then tune in to our

YouTube channel. That's right, Frugal Friends are on YouTube and you can watch some super inspirational debt free stories again from fellow Frugal Friends podcast listeners calling in talking about how they became debt free. You get to see their faces, our faces. It's on video. It's on YouTube. Go there, subscribe, cliptical and a vocation button. It's beautiful and nobody's joint to give you the advice to not change your outfit all week. That is my tip that anybody gave to

pay off debt to change it. Changes were changing. The change I'm making is not changing. Yes, that is not a thing. We even made an edit of somebody giving a tip that we didn't agree with. We to get out. So all of the tips in there from our listeners are very useful, very inspiring. So definitely go search frugal friends on YouTube. Do it. And so whenever we talk about food, it's a popular topic, especially when we talk about eating healthy on a budget, because that's the thing

that people don't want to give up. It's eating healthy. And when people have a certain diet they want to stick to, they are very adamant about that. So we'll get emails about like, oh, I want to be paleo, but how do I like bring my grocery budget down? And I'm like, well, you don't really. That's You've chosen this one thing to value, so there has to be other things that you value lest and you cut those things. And so, but this is a way going plant based,

and we'll talk about kind of what that means. We are saying kind of synonymous with vegan, but really just all ingredients are plant based versus animal based. That's kind of how we're referring to that. But this is a very affordable way too. Of all the diets on the market, this is a very affordable one. We are huge advocates for incorporating whole foods into your diet. It is definitely

the best way to save money on being healthy. Yeah, and so We're going to just dive into kind of what makes a plant based diet expensive, what makes it affordable, and even how you can customize it if maybe your whole household doesn't agree with what you found so much to get into. Yeah, and if this concept of eating healthy on a budget is intriguing to you, you can queue up some other episodes. Episode one eighty two Eat Healthier, More Affordably and Easier with Cassie Joey Garcia. That was

an awesome episode. Episode one forty seven, How to Eat Healthy on a Budget. Those are just to name a few. We've got plenty about just food in general. And this one two from Tony Yes, and we're so happy to have Tony as an expert in this. I know we talk about it a lot on our own, but Tony she's the founder of plant Based on a Budget, so this is her whole thing is talking about how to

go plant based affordably. It's a popular website and meal plan that shows you how to save money by eating veggies. And she's also the author of plant Based on a Budget and the co host of the Plant Powered People podcast. Oh know, we love a good alliteration. Changes and her new cookbook is called plant Based on a Budget, Quick and Easy, So we're covering the gamut. Tony is literally the best person um to talk about this with. So here she is. She's a gem. Tony, thank you so

much for joining us on the Frugal Friends podcast. This is going to be a really fun episode. I think, yes, welcome, welcome, Thank you so much. I love saving money and so your podcast is like my jam Yes to hear that from our guests, definitely jam us up. All right. So you are an expert ongoing plant Based on a Budget. So our first question for you is what's the biggest

misconception about going plant based? The biggest misconception about going plant based for me and from what a hero often is that people believe it has to happen overnight and it has to be all or nothing. And for me, it took six years to become plant based. I gradually, very slowly moved away from the foods that I was very familiar with and very comfortable eating. And I still feel as plant based is the next person, it just

took me a little bit longer. And I also made sure that I set myself up for success long term, and I know that doing something before you're completely comfortable can set you up for failure. You can think, oh, well, I messed up, tried it didn't work for me, instead of continuing on a little by little by little by little. And I also feel like that's about money saving too. That could be applied to so many any different things. That's such a good point. The familiarity aspect that can

be such a barrier for many of us. It might not be that oh I would never like it or I couldn't sustain on that. It just might be I'm not familiar with it, I've never We kind of stick to the things that we know, but oftentimes when we're willing to branch out try new things step by step, we learn more about ourselves and we might be open to things we didn't think we were open too. So I love that point about it. I think applies to a lot of different aspects of life too, not just

our diets. So true it actually it reminds me of the time the very first time I went to a vegetarian restaurant, a friend who was vegetarian brought me and said, order anything you want, and I looked at the menu, didn't know of any of the things on there, and I was like, I'll have the white rice, and I literally only ordered white rice because I didn't know anything

on there. And me becoming plant based what really opened my world and my palette up to all of these different international cuisines and different types of ingredients because I didn't have a lot of courage to venture out before that. Yeah, it also has this element of like the all or nothingness that we're so used to. It's either I'm all plant based or I'm all nothing, all not plant based, you know, I eat everything, yet it's Yeah, it's that

identity thing. And I think your journey to like over six years to slowly become fully plant based that gives permission to a lot of people, Like I'm not a vegetarian anymore, but I eat like probably two or three plant based meals a week. So that doesn't make you wouldn't think like, I don't identify as that anymore, But it doesn't mean I can't incorporate it into my life exactly.

And in fact, I've surveyed my audience and about sixty five percent of people who are part of my community eat everything but want to incorporate more plant based dishes. They realize that it's healthier for you to have very vegetable, heavy fruit heavy meals in your life and want that for their families. Could we take a moment just to

define some of these different words. I know that like we use vegetarian or plant based sort, but I know that there's differences between all of these things and some overlap as well. When you talk plant based, Tony, what does that primarily mean for you? Or maybe what's the spectrum that you've seen? This is a really really heated subject for many, but for me it's not. You can

really if I don't ever judge anybody. So if you want to call yourself vegetarian like I did, and pick the pepperoni off of your pepperoni pizza and just not eat that part like you do, you That's that's how I started. And so vegetarian is not eating meat, and there are some ingredients that other vegetarians don't eat as well, but they tend to eat eggs and cheese and other

dairy products. And then there's vegan. Vegans often are a little bit more on the ethical side, but there are other vegans who are not and they just want to eat less animal products or no animal products, but that tends to be more of a lifestyle, so no leather, no fur, They try to buy cruelty free products not tested on animals, and so it's more of a lifestyle. And then plant based, this is the one that's a

little bit tricky. I know people who are plant based and are die hard plant based, but they still eat meat sometimes. There are still there are people who are plant based who they believe that they don't eat oil. I believe oil came from plants, and I use plant based synonymous to vegan. So there are there's like a whole spectrum of just the word plant based. And I feel like, if you want to eat more plants and you feel comfortable labeling yourself plant based, us you do

you that's amazing. If we just want to stick to the basics of plant based, meaning plants, then yeah, yeah, that's how I feel. That's how I feel. I eat food that was made from plants, and that is a very very vast range of food. Yeah. So for someone hearing this and realizing great, I can intersect with this concept, this way of eating and living on a variety of ways. What would you say is the easiest way for someone

to get started if they're also considering their budget. I know that Jen has a lot of thoughts about this with meal planning, because that's always where I start. I feel like having a plan with saving money period is going to get you far, and really taking stock of what's in your pantry so that you're not buying ingredients that you don't need and not finding it, not finding recipes are that are online that require a whole new list of ingredients that you have to spend money on

and maybe don't go together. So you can't use the salary that you have left over in your soup because now you're making a pasta and pasta doesn't have that salary. So being a little bit thoughtful and smart about your planning and then using that planning at the grocery store, because the grocery store is like a very hard place to navigate when you're on a budget. Yes, I know that the marketing is so fantastic. They've got colors and

beautiful signage. And what we don't know as consumers off in is that there is a lot of paid placement at the grocery store. So when you go in and you see this big sale sign Tomato sauce is one dollar. You're thinking, oh great, this is I needed tomato sauce. But often that's not the cheapest, and it's better for you to avoid that intro section and then also the end caps and go straight to the aisle look for

your tomato sauce. Don't even look just in your line of sight, look all the way around because that could be paid placement too, And look for the cheapest by price per ounce. So often that's private label, but still do your diligence and make sure that's the cheapest. And there are so many hacks like that when you're at the grocery store, just shopping smartly, making sure that you've eaten before you've gone, so that you don't purchase impulsively.

Make sure you have a plan, so that you're not randomly grabbing ingredients because they're on sale, or because they look good, or because you just want to try them and stick to the plan. Yeah, it seems like such a misconception that going plant based would be more expensive when the reality is that meat is what usually costs

us a lot of money. Although I know, even for myself, if we're starting to talk about cutting dairy, then there's a lot of other alternatives, and sometimes I see that those alternatives to whatever recipes are going to call for that might have dairy in it, the alternatives might be

more expensive. And so I'm curious your thoughts on how to begin, Like if someone were at that end of the spectrum with I also want to cut out, like the dairy and the cheeses and the eggs and all of that, and yet trying to find some reasonable alternatives, how, oh how might they go about yeah, planning for that

well and wisely within their money. I've found that sticking to plants like Whole Foods is going to be the cheapest option, and you can still have a very delicious and familiar experience with tastes and textures with your seasonings. And one thing that I go back to all the time because I come from a family of meat levers and I don't eat meat. But I've also been on a budget for my whole adult life. Would I lived under the poverty line until maybe in the past four years,

and so I was on a tight budget. And one meal that I kept going back to our lentil tacos. Lentil tacos are my favorite. You use all the same thing. You wouldn't put cheese on it, but it's still delicious, and you would cook the lentils instead of the beef, and you'd flavor them the same you'd use. I use a taco seasoning packet, but if you if you use all the if you make your own blend, that's fine too. With some onion, lettuce, tomato and corn tortillas. Oh my gosh, delicious.

My meat loving family loves it. So it doesn't have to be a sacrifice. And also, if you give food a try without the alternatives, because those can get pricey, you'll find that with the right seasonings, it's so filled with flavor and it's healthier for you. Yeah, and we're all about values based budgeting and spending anyway, So if this is a decision that we want to make with the way that we're feeding ourselves and interacting with the world, then we can find room to do that and cut

in other places as well. But also, it's like anything else, like going minimal or you name it, where there's a way to do it expensive and there's a way to do it within our means, and both can be really really amazing and really great and really tasty. I find the people who like our primarily plant based eat that way,

they make incredible food. I think maybe because like there's more time and not maybe not a ton of extra time and effort, but like you care more about like the main if the main dishes, the vegi chill, we just actually use spice, Like if you're cooking meat all the time, if you're like, you don't have to do that, but then you never get really good at cooking. Yeah, that's so true. I when I first started my cooking journey, did not know how to mix the different spices and

blend different ingredients. And I grew up I had two faces of my life. I was brought into this world by teenage parents, but my dad went into the Navy full time right after he found out that I was went to be born, and I lived with my grandparents during that time. They were retired and they both were

very interested in food. My grandpa was a Japanese gard ner here in the Central Valley and my Central Valley of California, and my grandma was a Mexican woman who took his food and made us delicious meals from scratch. And so they were very rich in plants and fresh foods. But then I went and moved in with my dad, and we ate like bachelor's. So I moved in with him when I was eleven years old, and I loved hamburger helper, I loved hot dogs with chili. I loved

top ramen, mac and cheese, you name it. We ate like bachelors. That's just how it went. And so I didn't develop the cooking skills because I was too young when I was living with my grandma, and I relied heavily on packaged foods, and so going into learning how to cook vegetarian and then bent bass later on, I

had to experience. And what I did was I would go to the library and check out books and I would invite a few friends over for we called it womanly Wednesdays, and we would watch a rom com and make food together where we all brought different ingredients because we were all very budget conscious and trying to save

money and didn't have a lot of money. So we would cook together and make these huge meals where maybe it would be like a big pot of vegetable soup with a loaf of bread and a salad, and everybody brought certain ingredients and we shared the costs, share the food, and also had a meaningful time together. So it was a really beautiful experience. But it allowed me to play with things in recipes, like ingredients and recipes that may

be too expensive. So if if kale was called for, but spinach was what I had on hand already, I would say, hope this works and give it a try. And so that's really how it happens all the time. Yes, and in plant based on a budget, Quick and Easy. My new cookbook, I actually have lines in every recipe that just say my tips, and they're for the reader to customize each of the recipes based on their own preference,

because that's how I cook. I take something as a guide and I change it up based on my family's preferences based on what I have on hand, and I'll say things like, well that didn't work, try to swap this out, or it did work. Yes. I love the tip of doing this with a community exploring something, especially going back to what you said at the beginning about familiarity being a barrier sometimes to trying new things or

exploring a different way of life or eating. But then when we bring other people into it and we can do it together, you've got that element of familiarity. And then also just like sharing the cost together and having fun cooking together, probably learning new skills, trying new things. There's so much that I love about your womanly wednesdays that doesn't have to be called bad, but oh it's amazing. And there are a lot of other ways to do this too, like food sharing. I love food sharing. That

is my love language. I want to feed you and I want to celebrate your birthday by making you a big cake. So that is how I express love. And there are a lot of waste to save money and time in the kitchen by using those practices, whether you're cooking together and making a big, giant, giant batch of food and having your friends bring their temperware so that they can take them home for leftovers and you can

have leftovers. Or another thing that I've done in the past is if I'm making a dish for dinner, maybe I'll ask my co worker to also make a double batch for dinner and we can swap the other one. So by'm making two casseroles and you're making two cast roles that are both different, you can swap the next day so that you're not having to make two separate dishes by two separate recipe ingredients, yet you still share food and cut back on the labor and time in

the kitchen. Yes, yeah, Oh my gosh. We get a lot of our single listeners asking like how do I meal plan and make like this full recipe and then I don't want to eat it for the next five days? What a great idea, And like just emphasizing further the value of community and doing this thing in community to be able to like, hey, I'm just going to cut it in half and then we can like swap. Yes, I also have a tip for the single listener and maybe the single listener who's an introvert and doesn't have

or maybe want a big community. So I actually have had that experience one hundred million times where I've made a big pot and then I hated it five days later. And one thing that I've really loved doing, and I include some notes on this in my book too, are if I make a big batch of chili or soup, I'll take split piece suit. For example, i will make

it very plain. The first day it'll be very plain, and then the next day I will take a ladle and I'll spice it differently with nutritional yeast, and now it's got a cheesy flavor. The next day, I'll take another ladle and I'll put some hickory smoke in there, and it's going to have a smoky flavor. Now the next day, I'll take another ladle and I'll put lemon juice and some sarachia and maybe some pepper, and now

it's got a tangy, spicy taste. And so you can put in the effort make a pretty plain dish and change up the flavors every day so that you really have a slightly different experience and not hate it. Oh, I thought you were going to say, you make a bunch and you put some in the freezer, which is still a really great tip. We love the freezer. But

you're my mind right now to the next level. I think you've just done a beauty like you have beautifully emphasized how eating more plant based does not have to be more expensive that it can. There are tons of ways that it can save you many I feel like in the times where I've seen people spend a lot on it, it's like the times where they're trying to replace like product for product. Um so like doing the plant based pizza, buying the ready made frozen one, it's

like obviously going to be more expensive. But also I think and I am I have been guilty of this um in my early days of doing like procrasta spending so like instead of you oh yes, and it was it was inspired by a friend of mine who like wanted to get back into running, and so he bought new running shoes, new running shirts, shorts, everything, and then

never got back into running. But he thought he was doing something because he was spending money on the thing, and that was the same with like, um, like going vegan or vegetarian is okay, I'm gonna buy all of these foods that are vegan vegetarian and totally do an overhaul of my kitchen and get ready and then follow through. They feel like they've done something because they've spent money on it. And I have done this before, and that's where that's where we find ourselves thinking, oh, this is

too expensive. But the reality is that in going small and doing these just small common sense things like oh it is, it saves you so much money. I love I love what you just said because it reminds me of a book that I read quite some time ago, called Born to Run, and it was pretty much the

same thing. Stop buying fitness gear, get in the running first. Yeah, try it out, see if you like it, and then maybe fifty miles one hundred miles after of running later, get new shoes first, then put in another fifty miles or hundred miles, then get new pants. Like it doesn't it doesn't have to come before the actual doing of the thing and h and so that's such a good comparison. Yeah, try the lentils, try the black beans before the tenth

bay and THEO and say tan. Yeah, start small and not all at the same time, like one plant based meal. Also start and then keep trying. Because I hated brown rice. I had never had brown rice before and I did not like it to like the tenth try. So sometimes you have to try it like ten times and then you might like it. They do say that. I think the research I'm using air quotes is you have to try something eleven times before you acquire a taste for

it if it's a new thing. Also, it takes you like ten times to figure out how to make brown rice. I think like ten times of making it to start making your right. I make it like pasta now, so I'll just put a lot of water in and then drain it at the end. Then you never run out of water. You never worry about it being too dry. Wow.

So that's my that's my brown rice. Okay, So let's talk a little bit about the time involved with plant base, because especially for following these tips for the less expensive foods that are not the prepackage, that are not like necessarily the pre prepared, Like, how can we cut the time cost of going plant base or does it even do you even find that it costs more time? It can? When I started plant based on a budget, I had

very little money. I was negative a lot of money, and then the cash I had in my life was very little, and so I made a lot of the food that I ate from scratch. I made my bread, I made my pasta sauces, and I really if I wanted to eat that way, because I just I had more time at that point in my life than I had money. I made it work. But now I have more disposable income than I do time. I feel like I'm super stressed, strapped for time, and I splurge now on a can of beans instead of making my beans

from scratch. Not one hundred percent of the time, but that's something that's a good example of what I would splurge on now, even though it's so much more economical to make them yourself, and they taste better. So I will say you can't spend a lot of time, but some of the ways to avoid that are thinking simply.

It doesn't have to be an elaborate meal. You can make maybe a pot of brown rice for the week and throw things together like a hummus wrap or a burrito with a can of beans and your rice and some tomatoes and some lettuce and salsa, and that's your lunch for the week. Or put some hummus and vegetables, so that's something that's quick and easy. Pasta with frozen veggies, a can of cannellini beans and red sauce also very quick, easy, familiar. It doesn't take more than fifteen minut it's to throw

any of those meals together. So that's one I am on the go. I tend to or trying to get out of the kitchen as quickly as possible. Those are the meals that I rely on, but the style of eating that I do at home. The most is cooking a legume and a grain and then mix and matching those throughout the week. So I'll throw them in a soup with veggies. I'll throw them in a burrito. I'll do some fried rice with some brown rice and some vegetables, and and I use tofu, I use beans, I use lentils,

I use split peas. I use different types of lentils, red, brown, green. So there are a lot of protein sources that are very inexpensive, and you can play with those to decide which ones you like better. But I use one of those a grain, and then either a store bought sauce or a sauce that I make plus some vegetables and I throw them all together. It makes that match them throughout the week. That's my style of eating. But there

are a lot of others. You can do the one pot thing that I mentioned earlier with the soup or chili and change it up. You can do the freezer friendly mules that you mentioned earlier. And there's a way of meal prepping for everybody. Again, it sounds like a spectrum of however you want to intersect. You can find a way that doesn't take a lot of time, and you can find a way that takes a ton of time. And I also like how you're giving yourself permission to

trade off time and money. Sometimes we don't have a surplus of both. Sometimes we have a surplus of neither. But sometimes it's you know, you've got more than one than the other, and so figuring out what kind of trade off works for us. Maybe We've got a little bit more money than time, so I'm willing to pay for convenience, or I've got more time than money, so I'm going to do a lot of the things myself. And that's just a really helpful kind of foundational concept

appt here. I love that you said that because it also puts your head into thinking what actually costs more and if you value your time at a certain amount, and then you look at the thing, will say beans or pizza dough as two dollars at Trader Joe's and can sometimes I can put together two personal pizzas with that versus it will take me about an hour to make pizza dough if I do it from scratch and I let it rest. What am I valuing my time at and making those decisions based on what's going to

actually cost you more. Yeah, speaking of a spectrum and making decisions. I resonated a lot with you when you were describing like growing up and the difference between being with your grandparents and then being with your dad, and kind of what the eating's landscape looked like. And I think you're describing a lot of people's household now when you've got maybe one spouse who wants to eat one way and another partner who wants to eat a different way.

And I can kind of relate just personally with the way that my husband enjoys eating. Now, don't get me wrong, the I am down for like a good mac and cheese, um, but there are times when I'll go a little bit more healthy, plant based, and sometimes he's on board, sometimes he's not so like for someone like me or anyone else who can relate to that situation, do you have any advice for maybe one person wants to go plant based,

but the partner loves meat or loves bachelor eating. They you just can't get away from their ramen and hot dogs. I have. I have a different scenario in my house where even though I eat pretty healthy ish, my husband eats super ultra healthy and doesn't use oil and doesn't like salt and all the things I think are tasty.

And so the way I get around that as I make in a way that I think you can do this if your partner wants to eat meat or cheese, is a make a meal that is pretty plain again, and then I take the we'll say pasta and sauce, and in mine, I can really flavor it up with what I want. I can saute my own veggies if I want. But in his, I've used the same pasta and the same sauce, and he can be responsible for what goes in that. I can put some vegan cheese if I wanted that, I can put in you name it,

whatever he doesn't like. That's what I can do. I hate mushrooms. I know I'm the worst vegetarian, but in his, he loads his up with mushrooms. He'll put nutritional yeast for the cheesy flavor, and I don't want that pasta. So you can make the same base and then take it and create your own preferences. Yeah, using that base negotiation station. I love that that your tip isn't here's just how to manipulate them into your way of thinking

and doing. But here's a way that you both can get what you want and need and value, and there's space for that. That's wonderful. Yeah, I have been vegan for sixteen years now, and there's one thing I've learned is that you cannot force anyone to do anything. You can only be kind and loving and hope that they will support you and accommodate you. And I have found

that approach. My friends want to make sure that I'm included, so often they'll look for a vegetarian restaurant or they'll make mostly everything the sides at Thanksgiving vegan except the protein on the table so that I can enjoy all of them. So that has been my experience, and I've tried a lot of different approaches. That's the one that works. It's really hard to try to push someone into something that they don't want to do, and they can resent you,

they could make life harder for you. But if you just say, you know, this is what I'm doing, if you want to change yours up, I'll give you the meal before I dressed mine in the way that I want to. Yeah, we had a similar experience because I

was a vegetarian when I met my husband. And for the first I guess five six years of our relationship until I got pregnant and I craved a Chick fil a chicken sandwich and that was it, and I just I would cook only vegetarian and he never stopped eating meat, Like he would eat it if he went out somewhere, but I wouldn't buy it if it was in the house. He bought it and like or it was leftovers, and he was very I mean, I'm very lucky in that

he was very you know, okay with that happening. He's He's like, I wouldn't eat healthy on my own, so this is kind of like the only way I would eat help And sometimes he says he misses it, and then other times he says, I'm glad you cook meat. So I don't know, but I do. Yeah, I do, like cook half like vegan or vegetarian meals every week. So but yeah, I think it was really if he wanted meat, he was on his own, and it's not like I was like, oh, meat can't be in my house.

But yeah, I wasn't going to cook it. That's how my best friend from childhood, she told her husband, this is what I'm making and if you want to do your meat, if you want to cook your chicken, you can do that and add it to the meal that I make if you really want to. And he was gung ho about it for like five seconds and then realized how much effort it was to put in the time.

To one, he bought this like big giant Costco pack of chicken, and he was like, I'm never gonna eat this if you're not eating it, it's like it's taking up so much space. So one he was thinking, gosh, I did I wish I didn't buy that big thing because now I don't want to do it. He did the runner thing. He bought the product before he realized he did not want to cook before he gave it a chance. Yeah, yeah, for crass to spending. Do you know what, We always give a chance and it hits

all ends of the spectrum. Never procrastinate. This one the bill of the week. That's right, it's time for the best minute of your entire week. Maybe a baby was born and his name is William. Maybe you paid off your mortgage, Maybe your car died and you're happy to not have to pay that bill anymore. Bill Bufalo Bills, Bill Clinton This is the bill of the week, Tony.

Every week we invite our listeners and our guests to share with us a bill that they love, hate, lost, gained, whatever, It's vague for a reason, a person named Bill money, we would love to hear yours. I very very rarely go to Starbucks. But I went there and someone before me paid for my bill, and I knew that that was a thing that happens to other people, and it's like something you hear exists but not to me, And

I almost hugged that person. We weren't like post COVID times and people were a little bit weird about hugging. Wait for me, um, I probably. I couldn't believe it. It was so nice and it made me want to be in a place where I could do that too. Oh, that's great. What did you end up getting? I got a hot chocolate with soy milk. Yeah. I don't know why that sounds like so adorable to me. I don't think I've heard, like I've grown adult talk about getting

hot chocolate so long and it's so endearing. It was delicious, and especially with swy milk, because I still order swy milk at Starbucks. I know it's like not in anymore, but oh it's not anymore. Not old school about it too? Yes, wow, well I'm not a big Starbucks fan, so that'd be the only way to get me there, as if someone else bought my fine, So I'm here for it. I'm

here for that bill. Just send a different perspective. Oh man, if anyone listening has a bill where someone else maybe paid for you, bought you your hot chocolate milk or your bar. Yeah, but you know we're here for the people named Bill. We don't get enough of them. Visit Rugal Friends podcast dot com, slash bill. Be a bill or leave a bill. The choice is yours. And now it's time for the Lightning Round. All right, for this week's Lightning Round, we will all take turns answering this question.

Tony already answered this like a ton of times, but I'm so excited for her. What's your favorite inexpensive plant based meal to make? Tony? This is the vulnerability, her vulnerability round. It gets a little vulnerable when we have a guest. But um, I love soup. Soup is so comforting to me, and some people say that they love soup and soup season. But here in Sacramento, it gets like a hundred and ten degrees and I'm still eating soup. Yes, yeah,

I know, I can't. I have a soup season, and so there's only a few months a year that I can eat soup. The closest I get to eating soup is chili, but then I gotta have it with rice or something. But I do I love a soup. Yeah, yeah, what's your two? Right now? Right now? I've been loving a super vegetable heavy but with a like a clear broth and um, I do a little tofu cube so

that I can feel like it's chicken noodle like. And I'll put in a pasta or something like that to make it HARDI or white rice, my grant like a like a chicken and rice type soup with um white rice. That's delicious too. I love the word hardy. Give you tack on the term hardy to any meal. I am here for it. Yeah. I love a minestrone. Minestrone, however you say it with a little shell, pasta and veggies. Yes,

what about you? Jen? Okay, okay, So I don't want to toot my own horn, Please don't, because that's something for us. But I feel like I have perfected two things in the kitchen, and only two things. I am not a chef. I have perfected the kale salad. So in salad season, I am making delicious kale salad. Yeah, and I will do this like um kind of mayonnaise based dressing. I make my own dressings and you use like a plant based mayonnaise with um mesh. Just use

the mayonnaise instead of oil. And then like an apple cider, vinegar and other stuff and strawberries and walnuts. Yeah. Oh yes, my stomach literally just grumbled. I wish, I wish I had my my Yeah, I really, I really grumbled. You might go back and listen. I hear it, hearty tales. I love. It's so much better the next day you just got a massage and count to sixty. Massage your tale or if it's not salad season. I have also perfected crispy tofu, which is hard to do. Yeah, it

is um. So I will put tofu in everything, and even my husband loves it. Even yes, so all I will mix it. The secret is and I got this from I Think Cookie and eight. The secret is um. A tablespoon of soy, a tablespoon of oil and a tablespoon of cornstarch. Just make up that slurry. Toss your cubes in bake. Yeah, that is slurry, slurry slurry. I like that word too. Yes. Um, you can use like liquid aminos too if you're not on gluten. But like, yes,

like that is that is everything. I'll put it in the kale the other day, warm kale salad with the tofu and oh my gosh, I put I roasted some butternut squash. I had some keen wa um and some almonds. I think, yeah, maybe Pepita's. I don't know, I don't know. Oh gosh, yes. And so it was warm when I served it, and then next day for leftovers, it was a cold kale salad. So it was like, that's that's

that's Tony's thing right back. But my husband did call me the next day and was like, should I microwave this? It feels weird to mic gave of salad. I'm like, no, I mean it should feel weird. You know. You want to know what John's real response was, because she was at mine house and I heard her on the phone with her husband. She's like, these are the kinds of decisions you need to be able to make on your own. I'm like what She's like, yeah, that was Travis, Like,

why did okay? I couldn't tell. I don't know if you could tell. I was just telling you. I was like, I was like, dude, you gotta like you gotta make these decisions for your life, you know, like you gotta you gotta know thyself. Yes, ye um. For me, it's like a chickpea rice bowl with all sorts of other goodies into it. But I love what can happen with chick peas with a variety of seasoning. Baked, they get just a nice crisp to them, and then other veggies

thrown into there, and that's fun for me. I did a chickpea and sweet potato curry last night. I'm just saying, oh, oh nice. I just made this recently, and then I saw you that night. We went like midnight bowling and which was fun. And my husband was like, oh no, I'm really hungry. Why am I so hungry? I'm like, well, because normally we're not up at this time and your body's just now like expending energy. But also I did make just a vegetarian meal. He's like, I think it

was because there wasn't any meat dinner tonight. And then Jen sitting there, she's like, no, it's because you didn't put enough protein in your meal. And that was fun just recently. See that's what happens I think sometimes is there's like these ideas around what it means to be plant based enough food, but you can. You can get enough food and all your nutrients. You just don't stay

up till midnight bowling. That's the trip. Really. When you said midnight, I was like, Yeah, anybody's gonna need animal they are. This one's pregnant, so I know she was the real hero. I spent all day conserving my energy for that outing. It's a special occasion. So well, Tony, thank you so much for joining us. Please tell everyone where they can find more from you, find your book, etc. Thank you so much for having me and I loved our conversation. People can find me at plant Based on

a Budget dot com. My book is called plant Based on a Budget, Quick and Easy, and it's available anywhere you buy books and at plant Based on a Budget Cookbook dot com and I'm on Instagram. I'm at plant Based on a Budget amazing, just everywhere plant Based on a budget. So great. Thanks for being with us, Tony, thank you, thank you again. Were hungry now though we are. I had to go get some food before we recorded.

She's not lying. Also super pregnant? Is that? Oh? I I anytime we have a guest and I walk away with tips, it's so it's a glorious day and I feel like win win, win, win win. I hope you're listening have something to take away, whether you're gonna go like all in on, all plant based, or you're going to intersect with it and dabble and become familiar. There's tips throughout here. And my biggest takeaway is that community learning piece. I loved that, like trying something new but

with others. Yeah, I love the permission she gave to start slow. Yeah, to go take your time, start small. One meal a week is all is all it takes. Try it out, don't procrastsuspend trying to like change everything at once, Just try it a little bit. Chances are a lot of us are already eating a few meals

that are at least vegetarian. Yeah, you don't have to identify, like change your identity to do this, so you don't have to become anything, any stereotype that you don't want to identify it with, you can find the radical middle here. I love, love, love that, so thank you so much

for listening. Many of you know we have a membership for our listeners who are paying off debt where we do monthly money challenges we actually just it and eat at home challenge, and we also have got accountability groups, book club, all kinds of stuff the book Clubs episodes you hear on the show. Our members will read together in our club and it's really awesome. So we want to congratulate one of our members for a big win.

This one's from Jacqueline and it says gratitude. She says, I just wanted to share my gratitude for Frugal Friends Club. After receiving blank stares, excuses about their own financial life, outright hostility or a change of subject from friends, I shared my no spend move towards debt free living journey with She goes, hey, I understand that finances are a

loaded subject. I'm not taking it personally. I realized that if I'm going to have community around this, it isn't with the people I currently spend time with, and it may have even been a part of the reason it took me so long to make a move in the direction I wanted to go in. Not that I'm absolving myself from responsibility. I need to do some work on my boundaries as well. I'm so glad you all are here, Jacqueline, that's legit, and I think so many people's stories and experiences.

It's hard to read and hear that you experience so much hostility and some of the ways that you wanted to manage your own personal finances. But there is a reality to others finding a different lifestyle offensive. It could feel like an attack on the way that they are choosing to live, and sometimes that can lead to some hostility, but not allowing that to inhibit you from choosing something that you know is right for yourself and finding the

community that's going to support you. Even if it's online, and we know that online communities can be of great support. It might not be exactly the same thing as being in person with other people and kind of doing life in that regard, but there is a touch point and connection that is very real that we can still get what we need from others and relationships through the internet and through clubs, like the Frugal Friends clubs. So congratulations.

I'm so glad that you're there in the club, Jacqueline. We need people in our immediate you know, with us physically, but we don't need to get everything from them. If we need something different, you can go seek it somewhere else, and there's no shame in that. I'm so glad you found your place in Frugal Friends Club. So thank you for listening. If you want to check out the membership, if you're experiencing something like that, then head to Frugal

Friends podcast dot com slash club. Check out all the courses, interviews, challenges, all the stuff we've got inside, in addition to the community and the accountability groups. See you next time. Frugal Friends is produced by Eric Sirianni. I forgot what we were doing for a second. I was thinking about midnight bowling. I thought about that too, and like always we should we hang out a lot outside of the podcast, and I'm like we should. I guess we should like post

it on social media or something, and they're taking any pictures? No, yeah, And then I'm like, then we, you know, have conversations like we did it bowling the other night. It's like, this isn't even suitable for social media. Well, we don't have to tell people what we're talking about. We're we're absolute weirdos. But you are not a nerd, Jill. That's the one distinction we make. Jill is not a nerd

weird though. Yeah. I learned that just some you know, some of the conversation that we can let our listeners in on was all the salacious content you know about my lace IRUs and her recent song. You know, when you are almost bedridden, Um, because because of pregnancy, you find a lot of information out that otherwise you would not have cared to know and still don't really care to know. Yeah, but um, you have to make yourself useful in some way, you know, when you can't be

physically useful. Yeah. And you you're useful in getting the celeb guys, yes, yes, And I you know, will definitely do a Wikipedia search of a celebrity for the greater good and I appreciate that. And something I learned about you, Jen is that you bowl your best when you dedicate your frame to one direction. So here's the context of that story. This one direction song comes on at the bow at the bowling Alley and Jill's like, what happened to One Direction? They're still a band? And I'm like, oh,

I think it's just Harry Styles. I think the rest of them died, which I go really because I'm not up on this. The lads, I'm like, how like how intense and traumatic and I just like regale and all being gone. I just regaled like everyone with like very specific details about Miley Cyrus's like life. And so I'm the expert here right in this in this scenario of minutes, I think you're starting a rumor that now now that we're like putting it on air, I was joking, I

don't know where One Direction is. Yeah, I just see a lot from Harry Styles and I don't know, and had a moment of silence for the other members of One Direction that became yeah, it became my turn, and I was like, I want to dedicate this frame, which I learned it's called a frame around, not an inning, definitely not that uh, And I was like, I'd like to dedicate this frame to the fallen members of One Direction and that was really the best, the best around together. Yes, Jed,

what was your final score? I don't know, like eighty five. Yeah, he was the best one. No bumpers though, no bumpers. I'm so proud of me. I'd like to thank me. Yeah, the one time that taking the boundaries away was a good thing. Jill actually beat all of us. Jill is a professional bowler. No, I'm not. Yeah, I do remember your score because it was higher than all of ours, all the boys except for Eric. Yeah. Yeah, Eric goat me by two points. You were the You guys were

the best bowlers. But again, I'm not a nerd. She's not a nerd, but nerds are great. There's nothing wrong with being a nerd. I wish I was a nerd. She's just extremely talented at nerdy things.