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