I’m officially kicking off my YouTube channel with the newest edition of my viral budget grocery series!!
In this video I’m showing you all of the groceries I bought on my $50 run, the gluten-free & dairy-free meals I’ll be making with the items, and options for substitutions so you can follow along. Join me at the grocery store and back in my kitchen to talk through everything!
GROCERY LIST
1 large yellow onion
1 head of garlic
1 english cucumber
1 cabbage head (about 8-9 cups sliced)
1 red bell pepper
1 jalapeño pepper
2 limes
10oz baby bella mushrooms
1 green onion bunch (about 6)
1 cilantro bunch (about 2 cups)
1 basil bunch (about 2 cups)
1 lb chicken breast
1 lb ground pork
1 lb ground chicken
14oz block firm tofu
10-12 corn tortillas
15oz chickpea can
basmati or jasmine rice (3 cups dry)
32oz chicken or veggie broth
13.5oz can full-fat coconut milk
6oz tomato paste
8oz jar sun-dried tomatoes
14oz GF pasta (I did TJ’s brown rice penne, which has 16oz)
PANTRY STAPLES
olive oil
sesame oil
coconut aminos, tamari, or soy sauce
maple syrup
rice vinegar
sriracha
SPICES
salt & black pepper
garlic powder
ground ginger
chili powder
ground cumin
dried oregano
red pepper flakes (optional)
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the reason that I started doing these series is to empower people show people that even on a tight budget you can eat really delicious meals I believe so strongly in that and I love showing you guys how to do that on a budget I’m giving you the grocery list I’m giving you the recipes I’m super excited and I hope you guys cook along with [Music] me welcome to my first YouTube video oh my gosh I’ve been waiting to start YouTube for so long and I honestly couldn’t think of a better time to start it than with one of my grocery series if you’re watching this you probably originally found me or followed me for this series where I take a certain amount of money grocery haul and then I show you how to make that into five different meals for the week that each serve four people so I’m doing another one of my Series this week I know you guys love them I try to do them as much as I can and I’m super excited to be able to share them in a short form and a long form format for you guys so that we can cook together you can make your grocery list along with me and just so I can give a little bit more detailed instructions substitutions all those questions that you guys usually have so I’m just going to get right into things I have my grocery list already made it’s a good one the recipes they’re all really unique and different there’s some plant-based there’s some not plant-based I’m going to give options for both so don’t worry about that and everything is gluten- free and dairy free per usual I’m going to head over to Trader Joe’s to get all my groc groceries I’m going to come back I’m going to talk through everything that I got and we’re probably going to do a little bit of prep just to get ready for the week all right let’s go all right I’m in the trader Jo’s parking lot I have a list of I think it’s about 20 items hoping to stick to $55 to $60 for this one I went to Trader Joe’s a couple days ago and like checked the prices for everything so I think I got it so I’m headed in and then I’ll meet you back at my apartment when I have the groceries $51 I’m honestly shocked I thought we were going to be more like 5560 but a couple things were cheaper than I expected so I’m super happy we’re going to do this for like 50 bucks let’s go through everything that I got and then I’ll talk about the meals that we’re going to make I just wanted to preface everything by saying one the prices obviously can vary depending on what store you’re at so I can’t promise that it’s going to be a $50 haul but a lot of stores allow you to do this for $50 I have people tell me they do it at Walmart Aldi Kroger so try try it out before assuming that you can’t do it at your store I’ve had a lot of people be shocked and if you do have Trader Joe’s near you most of their items are consistently priced nationally so I live in Boston it’s a higher cost of living area and I’m always able to do this on a pretty good budget give it a try the reason that I started doing these series is to empower people show people that even on a type budget you can eat really delicious meals you can eat meals packed with protein and veggies and overall nutritious meals and I believe so strongly in that and I love showing you guys how to do that on a budget but even if you just don’t know what to cook throughout the week you have a lot of decision Fati you don’t have a lot of time and you just need to be given the tools I’m giving you the grocery list I’m giving you the recipes we’re going to cook them together this week so I’m super excited and I hope you guys cook along with me all that said let’s get into what I bought so let’s start out with the proteins that are going to be featured in each meal we’ve got a pound of ground pork super budget friendly protein that I love we’ve got a 14 oz block of tofu I get the firm tofu a pound of chicken breasts and we’ve got a pound of ground chicken 15 oz can of chickpeas and to pair with the chickpeas we’re else going to do some mushrooms this is basically the basis of all the meals and now I’m going to show you guys all the produce that’s going to supplement it and some of the pantry Goods so for produce we’ve got cilantro we’ve got an English cucumber we’ve got some green onion a head of cabbage two limes you could also use lime juice a jalapeno pepper we’ve got a large yellow onion one red bell pepper garlic bulb and some fresh basil that’s all of the produce that we’re going to use and then finally we have some Pantry items so these are things that you probably see me use over and over again in these series and the reason is is because it helps to keep the budget fluff up the meals a little bit and just like support the produce and the protein that we got so we’ve got some white rice basmati rice we’ve got 32 oz of chicken broth you can also new veggie broth since I’m keeping this gluten-free I did brown rice penet pasta which is about 250 if you want to make it even cheaper and you’re not gluten-free you can get a bag of regular pasta I think ratoni or pen would be best for this one whatever works for you we’ve got some corn tortillas there are 12 in this pack we’ve got an 8 oz jar of sundried tomatoes in oil this is probably one of the more expensive items outside of the proteins but we’re going to use it in two different ways to make it stretch as far as we can one of my faves you guys know I’m obsessed with coconut milk so we’ve got a 13.5 o can of coconut milk I get the full fat kind you’re welcome to get the low fat kind it’s just a little bit less creamy in the recipes and the low fat kind is a little bit cheaper so again another way to even cut that down a little bit more and then last thing we’ve got 6 oz of tomato paste $1 for this can so super budget friendly altogether this is 24 items at the grocery store for $50 so that’s an average of $2 per item I would say that’s pretty good you are honestly ly going to be shocked if you’ve never followed one of these series before by how we can make all of this stuff stretch now I’m going to tell you what the five meals for the week will be and as a reminder each meal will serve four people so this little diagram here is a little sneak peek of how my brain works when I’m making this series these are the five meals that we’re going to be making tomato basil chicken meatballs and creamy tomato rice we’re going to be using the ground chicken we’re obviously going to be using the rice tomato paste we’re going to use part of the sundried tomatoes we’re going to use use some of that basil in the chicken meatballs we’re going to use some of the can of coconut milk to make that Rice creamy as well as some of the chicken broth so we’re using partial amounts of a lot of things on this list so pay attention to the amounts that are used in each one as we go through it this week and then the next recipe is going to be roasted chickpea and mushroom tacos and it’s going to have a Jalapeno cilantro sauce on it we’re going to be using the chickpeas and the mushrooms of course we’re going to be using the corn tortillas half of the jalapeno pepper cabbage lime and the cilantro of course we’re also going to use a little bit of the coconut milk in this one but still not finishing the can yet we’re going to make that can of coconut milk stretch we’re also going to be making sweet and spicy pork bowls that’s going to be using the ground pork we’re going to use that red bell pepper cabbage some of the pantry Staples we’re going to use rice some of the cilantro and the green onion and then we’re going to be making one pot creamy sundried tomato pasta with chicken you can leave the chicken off of this one if you wanted to again it would make the list even cheaper but it’s going to be pot pasta it’s going to have sundried tomatoes it’s going to have basil we’re going to use some of the chicken broth and we’re going to be finishing off that can of coconut milk we’re going to have some chicken on top for protein and then the last meal that we’re going to make are spicy tofu bowls and that’s going to have a cucumber salad and rice with it as well so we’re using that Rice we’re going to be using the English cucumber we’re going to be using the cilantro and green onion again to make this really delicious simple cucumber salad we’re going to use that block of tofu and make a nice little spicy sauce to toss it in after it’s roasted those are all the meals that’s how we utilize this grocery list to make it as cost effective as possible by the end my goal is that you have little to none ingredients left over from the list so now let’s talk about Pantry Staples I always include a list of just Basics that you typically would find in your pantry to supplement all these recipes that’s going to be like your oils and spices and vinegars and things like that the pantry Staples that we’re going to use for this week are first olive oil you could also use avocado oil whatever you like and then we’re also going to be using sesame oil I’m I’m using toasted sesame oil use what you have but if you’re buying some I recommend toasted and then we’re going to be using coconut aminos I get this question all the time what is coconut aminos it’s just an alternative to Soy Sauce most soy sauce is not gluten-free coconut aminos is gluten-free so that’s why I use it you can also use soy sauce if you don’t have gluten sensitivity or you have a gluten-free one and tamari works as well there are a few differences soy sauce and tamari tends to be a bit more salty so you’ll notice in the recipe notes I have a few notes about added salt being left out if we’re using the tamari or the soy sauce next is rice vinegar this is the only kind of vinegar you’re going to need for this week I just get the regular but toasted would be totally fine next is good old maple syrup if you don’t have maple syrup or you don’t like it you can also use honey I find Maple syrup’s a little bit better for Savory cooking cuz it’s not as sticky so I’m going to go with Maple and then last Pantry staple is sriracha this is what’s going to help us bring a little bit of spice to some recipes if you don’t like spicy you could leave out the Sriracha it’ll change the flavor profile of these dishes but I know some people don’t like it good old sriracha and then spices we’re going to keep the spices pretty simple for this week salt and pepper garlic and ginger oregano chili powder cumin red pepper flakes and if you want to leave out the red pepper flakes cuz you don’t like spice that’s totally fine and then the last thing that I want to talk about as it relates to getting all your groceries is substitutions I really try my best to make these recipes very adaptable so that it can suit your needs I try to do a mix of plant-based and animal protein so I’m going to give some options for substitutions now if there’s anything that I miss feel free to leave me a comment and I’ll get back to you but these are kind of like the most common ones that I get asked so I’m going to start with plant-based substitutions because that’s the most common one I get asked already two of the recipes are fully plant-based on their own that’s the tacos and then the tofu bowls for the other recipes for the sundried tomato pasta just leave off the chicken it’s still going to be a delicious dish I’ve actually made this dish without chicken before and it’s really good so that’s easy one just use no chicken in the recipe and of course for the recipes that call for the broth you’re just going to opt for the veggie broth for the recipe with the ground pork my recommendation would be either to get a plant-based crumble substitute and that’s going to kind of mimic the ground pork we’re going to crumble it up anyway you could also do crumbled tofu and we’re going to put it on a skillet then it’s going to mimic the ground pork and then for the sundried tomato and basil meatballs instead of making the meatballs on your own own you could buy a plant-based meatball again I see these in grocery stores all the time you know you just cut out that step and it actually makes things pretty easy or you could grab another block of tofu you could roast in the oven toss it on top of the creamy tomato rice when it’s done and then we could add the chopped basil and chop up the sundried tomatoes and kind of incorporate that into the rice another option there is you could grab another can of chick peas you could roast those in the oven with some of those Italian spices and then you could add it on top again with chopped up basil and chopped up sundried Tomatoes at the end okay and then on the other end if you don’t love the plant-based options totally fine like if you’re not a tofu person I personally used to not like tofu and then I gave it a try and I really like it so if you haven’t tried it and it’s not an allergy or a sensitivity try it out but if you don’t want to use tofu in the tofu bowls you could opt for getting another pound of chicken breast and then for the chickpea and mushroom tacos if you don’t like chickpeas or mushrooms you could do a pound of ground beef you do a pound of ground turkey and we could use those same seasonings and sauté it all together so you get that same type of flavor if you don’t like one or the other you could just add more of the other things so if you don’t like mushrooms you could do an extra can of chickpeas if you don’t like chickpeas you could do an extra can of mushrooms or you could do mushrooms with some maybe a half pound of ground beef so lots of options there last one I’ll call out is I get a lot of people saying they don’t like coconut milk if you don’t like coconut milk you can always swap it for cream I just use coconut milk as a dairyfree alternative so use whatever you want there’s also a lentil based heavy whipping cream at Trader Joe’s that you could use in replacement of the coconut if it’s an allergy one other thing I wanted to go over in this video is prep ahead some people like to get ahead for the week and prep some of their stuff so I’m going to tell you what can be prepped this week not a lot of stuff really needs to be chopped which is nice but there are a few things so first the head of cabbage for all the recipes that we use the Cabbage it’s just going to be thinly sliced basically just like what you see in col sloth so if you want to prep a head just slice it into those very thin slices and then keep it in an airtight container or a big stasher bag whatever you Ed something that’s going to keep it sealed in another thing you can prep ahead is thin slices of the red bell pepper so again you’re going to want it to be very very thin slice the entire thing we’ll use the whole pepper not waste any of it and again just keep it in an airtight container or a bag that closes all the way if you want to you can also dice the onion ahead of time we’re going to be using it in half so half of the onion is going to go in one recipe half is going to go in the other if you want to dice it ahead of time and put it in a sealed container you can do that if you wanted to chop up the green onion cilantro and basil ahead of time you can but if you do do that just wrap each of them in a damp paper towel and that’ll help keep it fresh and then in a sealed bag the mushrooms we’re going to want to wash them and then thinly slice them if you want to do that ahead of time you can depending on what day you’re going to be making it if you’re cooking along with me we’re going to be making it on the second day so that should be fine if you want to prep ahead of time if you’re going to wait till later in the week maybe hold off on slicing them just to make sure that they stay fresh for the Cucumber this one is kind of iffy I don’t love pre-s slicing my cucumbers unless I’m going to be using it the next day so again it depends a little bit on your timing but overall if you can hold off on slicing the Cucumber it just ensures that it’s going to be fresh and crunchy in that cucumber salad so that pretty much covers everything around the grocery list getting your groceries the substitution Pantry Staples and any kind of prep that you want to do beforehand for your produce thank you so much for watching this video it’s been so fun to try a different format for this and just be able to explain more to you guys about the ingredients about how I came up with the list and how it’s all going to work and just give you a little sneak peek of what the recipes are going to be this week I cannot wait to cook all of them alongside you guys each video is going to show all of the steps it’s just going to be much more in depth than my usual short form videos so make sure you’re subscribe so you can follow along and then each day this week I’m going to post a new video at the end of the week everything will be up you’ll be able to get the grocery list you’ll be able to get all the recipes and if you want to subscribe to my substack I also share everything there in PDF format and at the end of the week I’ll also have everything up on my website which is jennyg good.com on Instagram I’m Jenny’s good with two ends and 3 O’s on Tik Tok same username so follow along subscribe join the newsletter and I will be back tomorrow with the first [Music] recipe for