In this episode of Simple Shifts: Conversations to Fuel Your Body, Mind and Soul, Martha and Peter discuss practical strategies for eating well and managing weight on a budget. They share personal experiences, tips for grocery shopping, and creative meal ideas that emphasize the importance of using seasonal produce, stretching meals with vegetables and legumes, and making the most of leftovers. The conversation encourages listeners to find joy in their food choices while being mindful of their budgets.
Key Takeaways
- Eating well on a budget is achievable with the right strategies.
- Shopping at budget-friendly stores can significantly reduce grocery bills.
- Using seasonal produce can help save money and enhance meals.
- Meat can be used as a flavoring rather than the main focus of a dish.
- Leftovers can be transformed into new meals, often yielding more than expected.
- Incorporating beans and legumes can add nutrition and bulk to meals.
- Cottage cheese is a versatile ingredient that can be used in various dishes.
- Ramen can be made healthier by adding vegetables and proteins.
- Community engagement can provide valuable tips and recipes for budget-friendly eating.
- Finding joy in cooking and eating is essential for overall well-being.
Eating Well on a Budget Podcast
Video Transcript
Martha McKinnon (00:00)
Hi, welcome to Simple Shifts: Conversations to Fuel the Body, Mind and Soul. I’m Martha McKinnon from the blog Simple Nourished Living and with me is my brother and partner, Peter Morrison.
Peter Morrison (00:13)
Hi there.
Martha McKinnon (00:15)
Hello, hello.
Peter Morrison (00:17)
I was gonna be sarcastic and say I’m not really with you, but…
Martha McKinnon (00:21)
It seems like we’re together.
Peter Morrison (00:25)
I’m here. It does kind of sorta. We’re right next to each other.
Martha McKinnon (00:28)
We are the power of technology to bring us from hours and time zones apart right into the same space side by side.
Peter Morrison (00:40)
Mm-hmm.
Martha McKinnon (00:41)
I gotta like that.
So today we’re going to be talking about eating well and managing your weight on a budget because everything’s getting pricier and pricier and pricier. Have you noticed?
Peter Morrison (00:57)
Yes, I have.
Martha McKinnon (00:59)
But before we dive into that, what are you happy about?
Peter Morrison (01:07)
Well, this is podcast number 34 and recently I did something a little unusual. I played in a pickleball tournament. That’s not unusual, but I played singles and doubles and, came in second in both events. So.
Martha McKinnon (01:27)
Congratulations.
Peter Morrison (01:29)
Thank you, thank you.
Martha McKinnon (01:31)
That’s a great accomplishment.
Peter Morrison (01:34)
It is and I’ve tried. I try to keep it in perspective because I did want to win. It’s hard when you make it to the final match and you’re playing for first and you can’t quite get over the hump, but you know it is what it is. You gotta take the wins with the losses and keep moving forward.
Martha McKinnon (01:52)
So how do you, because you don’t have a lot of tournament play experience right at this level. So it really is in my mind, it’s sort of like how you choose to see it, right? Or think about it because I think from my perspective coming in second, you know, in tournament play when you don’t have a lot of tournament play experience seems like a huge, huge accomplishment.
Where our personal tendency is to diminish all that we accomplished because we didn’t hit the top rung. So it really is about how you tend to see it or perceive it. I think.
Peter Morrison (02:36)
Mm-hmm. Yeah, that’s very true. Yeah, and I guess I’m a work in progress in that regard.
Martha McKinnon (02:43)
But I think we all are. I think our tendency is to be overly hard on ourselves and to notice the flaws and not notice all of the accomplishments, to focus on our weaknesses and minimize our strengths. I think that just ties into so well with what we’re talking about and trying to support people around here because…
Peter Morrison (03:09)
Mm-hmm.
Martha McKinnon (03:10)
Because all of this, all of this transfers, all of these feelings and interpretations and, you know, transfer into what we’re talking here in terms of our, our health, our weight.
Peter Morrison (03:25)
Mm-hmm. Right, at the end of the tournament I’m like, well, if I did that differently or if I made that shot or did this or did that, it could have changed the outcome.
Martha McKinnon (03:38)
Well, I think it’s just, I don’t know. I think that we just need to learn to spin and pivot to the positive as much as we can. I think our lives get so much better when we can pivot to the positive, focus on what all we did accomplish. Of course you want to consider anything. Any top athlete is going to, our team is going to revisit the past performance to look for ways to improve.
I think that’s part of the journey when we can look back. But I think, but we always want to be trying to frame it from that positive perspective to say, what can we learn from this without sort of undermining all that we accomplished? And I think that that’s just a, that’s an ongoing, yeah.
Peter Morrison (04:29)
Right, right, right, right.
Martha McKinnon (04:31)
So congratulations.
Peter Morrison (04:33)
Well, thank you and there’ll hopefully be many more opportunities to keep trying and keep improving. So, because I think for me that’s what it is about is just improving and because there is no, there really is no end objective. I mean yes, there is professional pickleball, but I mean, I’m way too old for that. And so it’s really is just a personal journey at this point of whatever it is, for whatever purpose it’s serving for me.
Martha McKinnon (05:19)
Well, I think again at this age and stage of my life, I feel as though self being happy with where you are, but also looking for ways to improve, to continue to learn, to continue to grow, I think are just so incredibly important again, because my my my goals, I think are shifting in terms of overall well-being and wanting to just maintain a real vital life.
And I talk about growing old gracefully and vibrantly. And I think that what you’re engaging in is critical to that journey to be finding ways to be out there. Because I think our world can become smaller, we can become we do without working on ourselves, we will become mentally weaker, we will become physically weaker, it’s just part of aging. And so I think we have to find ways to stay engaged and to work against those natural tendencies so that we can have a vibrant life for as long as we can.
So good for you, you’re doing the work.
Peter Morrison (06:27)
Thank you, thank you.
Martha McKinnon (06:30)
In a way that you enjoy, which I think there’s a lot to be said for that.
Peter Morrison (06:33)
Yes, yeah.
Martha McKinnon (06:35)
I think that’s the other thing too is like, how can I like find joy every day and how can I find ways to really make what I’m doing? Because there are always ways to find something that you like doing, so that it becomes more fun and less effort.
Martha McKinnon (06:53)
So, eating well on a budget. I have several readers who have been with me for years and I feel like we almost become pen pals because they’ll often hit respond to the daily emails I send out and they’ll ask questions or they’ll share comments, they’ll talk about recipes they’ve made. And Betty from Canada is one of those readers and she is in Canada.
She’s living on a fixed income. And she sent a question just asking that price, you know, prices in Canada have going up, particularly meat is getting very expensive. And she just was looking for some guidance, suggestions for recipes that would allow her nutritional recipes that would be less meat focused, that would be healthy, that would work better on a budget. And I thought that that would be something that could be beneficial for everyone because prices are on the rise.
All groceries in my mind seem to be getting more expensive. And so I thought if we just shared some ideas for maybe recipes we have on the site, things we like to make, ideas around how to eat well on a budget could be beneficial to Betty and to other readers and listeners.
Peter Morrison (08:12)
Do you, this is kind of related, but do you know, are there Trader Joe’s in Canada?
Martha McKinnon (08:19)
I do not know. I think my guess is no, but it’s something I would have to double check on. But I think Aldi, maybe, maybe Aldi. I feel like I don’t, but I don’t know for certain. So that’s something we can, we can double check. And I’m not, I don’t know Aldi for sure, but, I feel like Trader Joe’s started in the States and I’m not sure they’ve gone beyond the States where Aldi I think all these started in Germany and I think it has a presence, a more global presence.
Peter Morrison (08:55)
Because I’ve just found recently, I’ve been, I do a lot of the grocery shopping here for us. And I noticed, you know, when I go to Albertsons or Sprouts, I often spend $50, $60, $70 and come out with like one bag. And I made the conscious decision to go to Trader Joe’s one day. There also is a Walmart supermarket. It’s not as convenient, but I went to Trader Joe’s and I feel like I got several meals for probably half of what I would have spent at Sprouts or Albertsons and it just, I don’t know, it just made me think that how, or where you shop, could be a big help in these times of financial uncertainty too. So.
Martha McKinnon (09:58)
Yeah, financial uncertainty raising prices. Yeah, so where you shop, got to, that’s a good point. You’ve got to consider where you shop and do price comparisons to figure out where you can get the biggest bang for your buck. Another kind of universal concept is to shop with what’s in season, you know, especially around your produce that there are certain times of year where it’s going to be really, really expensive to eat berries, right? And then other times of year will become very, very inexpensive.
So you got to kind of pay attention to what’s in season. And so often at Sprouts, I think you can do very well with the produce focus for what’s in season or other places like that. So that’s another pointer and tip.
Martha Mckinnon (10:45)
Another source of inspiration can often come from people who lived, know, there are cookbooks that were written during the Depression, cookbooks that were written during World War II, where we were, of the world experienced rationing. So those can be good sources of recipes that are just more budget friendly, less expensive.
Another tip when it comes to meat, I think, is to just think of meat more as a flavoring, as a garnish. Think about ways to take meat and stretch it as opposed to thinking about it being sort of the center focus of the plate. So that if you start to think in terms of, you know, soups and stews and skillets and casseroles and stir fries, you can take, you know, maybe just a little bit of meat in a dish like that and sort of stretch it with all your vegetables with with beans with other ingredients. And so I think meal stretching.
One thing I like to do sometimes is when I’m making a meat sauce is I’ll take mushrooms and I’ll chop them up very finely so that I can use maybe just a quarter of a pound or a third of a pound of ground meat of some sort. And then the rest, you know mushrooms chopped up really finely and you mix that all together and mushrooms have a meatiness to them in a dish like that that can be very satisfying. So that’s an idea. And of course the legumes, your beans, your lentils, your peas, chickpeas, pinto beans, those can all be wonderful sources of fiber and protein and nutrition.
And if you mix those, you know, rice and beans, cauliflower rice and beans, pasta and beans, pasta and peas, bulked up with other kind of vegetables can be very satisfying, very nutritious meals.
Martha McKinnon (12:50)
Again we grew up, our Nana was a product of the Depression. She was a teenager during the Depression and she grew up on the coast of Maine. So I guess I learned quite a bit from watching her too. She often ate like canned, the small canned fish like sardines and those may be an acquired taste, but they can be a great source of protein.
Canned salmon. Canned tuna can be a more affordable source because you’re typically turning it into a salad or using it in a soup or making it into tuna patties or salmon patties. We have a lot of those recipes. I think within this post, we can probably have a section where we can link out to several of our recipes that would be considered economical, pantry-friendly, budget-friendly. We’ll do that as part of this.
Peter Morrison (13:48)
Yeah, that makes me think I just want to ask on your tinned fish idea because one of my favorite weekday lunches is a tuna wrap. And I often use a can of tuna, which is I don’t know, is that like three and a half ounces? Do you know five?
Martha McKinnon (14:06)
They keep getting smaller and smaller, but yeah, three and a half to five, I think probably depending on the tune.
Peter Morrison (14:11)
And I usually use those. But when I was at the store, the envelopes were on sale. They were much smaller, but I got two for less than like one can of tuna would have been. And I looked at the weight and the serving size and one of those envelopes of tuna was only one serving.
Martha McKinnon (14:31)
Mm-hmm.
Peter Morrison (14:33)
When I was making the tuna, I had two of them, but I’m like, well, what can I do with one of those? And I used one. But I added some garbanzo beans, chickpeas. So I added those and some shredded carrot. And I like to use the yogurt based tzatziki instead of mayonnaise when I’m making my tuna fish. So I actually used one of those and put enough other bulk in the tuna salad and it made two wraps. So I was just curious to see if it would, would it work as a meal because you’re essentially eating half a serving. But like I said, there was enough other added to it. So it is possible to easily stretch.
Martha McKinnon (15:23)
Right. And the bulking up with the garbanzo beans, I also like white beans like cannellini beans or white or great northern. I think we’ve got a recipe on our site which combines tuna and white beans with just a simple vinaigrette, maybe some celery, bell pepper, things like that, which I find very satisfying. And so you are getting extra fiber and protein in the beans. So you’re not really losing anything and you’re stretching and you’re bulking it up so that it’s going to be, I think, more satisfying and filling. That’s a great idea.
I was just going to say potatoes, like baking potatoes for me can make a very satisfying meal when topped with, I love broccoli in a simple cheese sauce, I love cottage cheese with salsa. A chili if you have it, or a can, you know, a vegetarian chili or a can of regular chili.
Trader Joe’s, in fact, I like their turkey chili very much, the cans that are pretty economical. On top of a baked potato with a little sprinkle of cheese, you know, and a little bit of salad on the side can, I find to be a very economical, satisfying meal. You know, pasta, especially if you bulk it up with a lot of veggies and maybe just a tiny bit of meat, or without meat with beans. I love broccoli and pasta with a simple olive oil, maybe a little granulated garlic, a little bit of butter. That can be a very satisfying meal. So there’s a lot you can do and I think we have many recipes that we can link out from as we think about it.
Do you have any other ideas around eating economically?
Peter Morrison (17:11)
No, I have, sometimes when I’m messing with leftovers and you’re trying to come up with a new meal with leftovers, sometimes I’ve wound up in the situation where I have more after the leftovers than I had going in because I’ve added some, whether it’s zucchini or beans or whatever I added to the dish and it’s like, I was trying to get rid of these leftovers, not create more leftovers from the leftovers.
Martha McKinnon (17:52)
But that’s exactly what we’re talking about. That’s the magic, I think, of you’re talking about miracle grow and you’re talking about taking, that’s what we’re wanting to accomplish, I think, in these times of higher prices and inflation. You want to be able to take something and expand it and grow it and turn it into another satisfying meal. So that’s exactly what we’re trying to do, I think.
Martha McKinnon (18:23)
And I’m doing the same thing tonight. During the week I made one of my favorite dishes which was popular when we were growing up but it’s the sausage roasted in the oven – sheet pan sausage, potatoes, onions and peppers and I’m take I’ve taken the leftovers and added chicken broth and added kale chopped up kale for a soup and again it’s just this this way of just expanding the leftovers and turning them into, you know, I had a little bit of the leftovers, but now you add broth, you add kale, you could add white beans again, and now you’ve expanded it and created, there’s probably at least, you know, four to six servings now of what would have been maybe one and a half servings if I had just eaten it as it was.
But now I’ve just, I’ve, again, I think I like this concept of miracle grow, you know, and I’ve just like bulked it up to now provide several more meals.
Martha McKinnon (19:17)
So I think that’s just what we’re talking about is finding ways to bulk up your food. And vegetables, of course, are magical for that. Cabbage is magical. Shredded cabbage, those bags of coleslaw mix or shredding cabbage yourself is a great bulk item. Zucchini, like you said, I mean, that’s great for bulking up your dishes. Mushrooms will provide a lot of bulk and lot of satisfaction. So there’s a lot you can do to just bulk your food up and make it much, and again, you’re adding lots of nourishment, you’re adding lots of vitamins and minerals with all that vegetable, so.
Peter Morrison (20:00)
Yeah. I don’t know if you mentioned when you’re talking about potatoes, but like cottage cheese is you could add to scrambled eggs or I know there’s a recipe on there for like a pita sandwich. You just mix your favorite salsa with some cottage cheese and lettuce and whatever else you might want to toss in there. I like to add, I like to add cottage cheese to my smoothies.
I have sort of gotten away from protein powders, which I guess I never really, guess some of them are okay taste wise, but some of them are kind of not so good. And with so many sweeteners and whatnot, I’ve started to use more cottage cheese and yogurt for a protein boost in smoothies or I don’t know, I guess you could do a cottage cheese. You got what a cottage cheese banana breakfast bowl on the website, like a breakfast banana split bowl. And for me, when it’s warm weather, you don’t necessarily want to a heavier meal. I like the cooler, no cook, easy.
Martha McKinnon (21:22)
So cottage cheese can be used in a multitude of ways, which makes me think of the old cottage cheese diet plate back from the 70s, which I want to revisit and think about how to like resurrect it. Because I think that could be very, very popular for people. But cottage cheese, yeah, cottage cheese, this time of year with fruit in season, you know, cottage cheese and fruit can be very satisfying. And again, like you said, when the weather’s warm, that can be lunch or dinner.
Martha McKinnon (21:52)
Eggs, depending on where you are, we’ve had issues in the States with eggs being very pricey. They tend to go up and down. So that if you are living where eggs are affordable, they can be another wonderful source of protein. And we’ve got a lot of egg based. So anything as simple as scrambled eggs. I love omelets, but I love frittatas.
So for the past couple of Sundays, I’ve just been making a big frittata, which ends up turning into anywhere from six to eight generous wedges that I then just put in the fridge and we can just pop them out and zap them. And again, it can be a breakfast, a lunch or a supper depending upon what you add to it. So that can be a wonderful, affordable meal too.
Martha McKinnon (22:48)
Have we exhausted our thinking caps in the moment?
Peter Morrison (22:51)
Yeah, I’m trying to think.
Martha McKinnon (22:57)
I mean, I love ramen too. I play with it and I make it a little healthier than I did back in my college days. And what I love to do with ramen is just turn it into a soup. So, and I don’t, I tend to just use chicken broth or vegetable broth (affiliate link) instead of the packet, which can be really salty and kind of strong. But so I love to take ramen. I will start with broth and bubble up the broth with a package of frozen like stir fry style Asian vegetables and get that bubbling for a few minutes and then add in the ramen.
And again, you could add in some tofu you could add in if you had some leftover cooked protein. Like if you had some leftover chicken or pork, you could chop that up real small and you wouldn’t need very much. And that can make a very, satisfying dinner with a little bit of soy sauce.
That’s one of my go-to’s when I’m at the end of the day and you just want something very, very simple. Just keep a few packages of ramen and again, if you’re bulking them up, you might not think of ramen as being healthy, but if you bulk it up with the right accompaniments, it can turn into a nourishing meal.
Martha McKinnon (24:23)
I would love, because I’m thinking there could be a lot of guidance and advice and suggestions from anybody who happens to read this, who shares this interest in looking for ways to save money on their grocery bill. I’d love for you to share in the comments, recipe links, suggestions, ideas that you use for keeping your grocery bill in check while feeding yourself on your journey.
Peter Morrison (24:56)
Excellent, great ideas. Thank you very much.
Martha McKinnon (25:00)
Thank you.
Peter Morrison (25:02)
If you found this helpful, please like, please subscribe. We appreciate all support. And we will see you next time.
Martha McKinnon (25:10)
Take care, we’ll see you soon. Bye bye now.
