Video summary
In today's cozy kitchen session, the creator embarks on a rainy day dedicated to grocery shopping and extensive meal prepping with a strict budget goal of around $150 to feed five people for the week. The episode begins with the preparation of hummus using chickpeas, roasted red bell peppers, and seasonings in a food processor, facilitated by a sponsored rechargeable electric can opener that ensures safe handling and convenience. Following this initial prep, the creator heads to Aldi, their preferred budget-friendly grocery store where they take advantage of seasonal fruit sales and affordable staples like sprouted bread for family members with gluten sensitivities and cheese blocks under two dollars each. The total cost for all groceries, including various potatoes, ground turkey, vegetables such as zucchini and Brussels sprouts, dairy-free options like coconut milk, and ingredients for a vegetable soup, comes to $115, leaving room within the budget while ensuring nutritious and simple meals throughout the week.
As the video progresses into the cooking phase, the creator shares updates on their personal health journey, explaining recent inconsistencies in posting frequency due to managing autoimmune symptoms and fatigue which are often linked to diet. This period of reflection has led to a decision to slow down life's pace by adopting more minimalistic living practices and focusing on anti-inflammatory foods rather than rushing through large-scale meal prep days that sometimes lead to burnout. The creator discusses their plan to potentially follow an AIP (Autoimmune Protocol) or similar elimination diet, emphasizing the importance of listening to one's body and simplifying life to better manage health challenges while continuing content creation authentically without relying on artificial trends or excessive productivity pressures.
The practical side of the video features detailed tips on food storage techniques designed to extend the freshness of produce for up to a month, such as using paper towels in mason jars to absorb moisture from cherries and other fruits. The creator outlines their specific weekly meal plan which includes street tacos with frozen corn tortillas on Monday, barbecue chicken bowls with sweet potatoes and sauerkraut mix-ins on Tuesday, a traditional potato bar with seven-layer salad on Wednesday, burgers prepared by the husband alongside roasted mini potatoes and Brussels sprouts on Thursday, and a crock pot roast with mashed potatoes and green beans for Friday dinner. This structured approach allows the family to enjoy varied meals while maintaining dietary restrictions like gluten-free and increasingly dairy-free choices through fermented milk kefir made from regular whole milk.
Throughout the video, there is an underlying theme of returning to basics and stewarding resources wisely in a fast-paced world where distractions often cause good practices to be forgotten. The creator expresses deep gratitude for their nearly nine-year journey on YouTube and acknowledges that life involves natural seasons of change rather than constant uniformity, encouraging viewers to embrace these shifts with patience. By sharing both the logistical details of budget shopping and meal planning alongside personal reflections on health and lifestyle adjustments, the video serves as an inspiring update on how a content creator is navigating challenges while maintaining authenticity and connection with their audience through real-life experiences and wholesome home practices.
Read the full video transcript
[music]
So, today we're going to be spending a
cozy day in the kitchen. We're going to
pop out and get a few groceries as well.
It's sort of a dreary, rainy day and I
have different things that I need to
prep for the week. We need to go over
our weekly meal plan as well as stay in
budget. I'm hoping to hit around $150
for this week. And just so you know,
that's to feed five people. And I want
to have everything nutritious, simple
ingredients as always. And I also have a
few things I want to prep along with
getting my groceries. I want to store
those things in a way that they will
last all week long. And I used to do
this a lot. I used to share tips and
tricks on this a lot on my channel and
sort of got away from it. So, we're
slowly getting back to that. Just making
sure that our fruit and those sorts of
things are stored well so that they
don't go bad before the end of the week.
Before we head out to get our groceries
though, I do want to make up some
hummus. It's very simple. Plus, I'm
going to be able to use a fun new tool
that I have and have been loving to help
me out with this recipe. Thank you to
Kitchen Mama for sponsoring today's
video. I am using the Kitchen Mama Orbit
1 rechargeable electric can opener to
make this prep super simple. I'm really
excited to show you how easy this little
kitchen tool is to use. So, let's go
ahead and get started. [music] I just
love how beautiful yet practical this
tool is. It has this elegant royal matte
finish with the signature gold rim. So,
it actually looks really good sitting on
my counter. For this hummus, I'm
starting with a can of chickpeas. And
this is where the one-touch feature is
so convenient. I just place the opener
on the can, press the start, and it will
do the work for me. It creates smooth,
finger safe edges on both the lid and
the can, which is such a thoughtful
feature when you're reaching to drain or
scoop out your ingredients, especially
something like chickpeas. The Orbit One
automatically stops when opening is
complete. So, it gives you a hands-free
convenience while you're getting the
rest of your ingredients prepped. I'm
going to be putting all of this, the
chickpeas, the roasted red bell peppers,
and my seasoning into my food processor.
This is really a quick little prep.
[music] Now, I'm just blending
everything together until it's smooth
and creamy. You can adjust the texture
to your preference, but I like my hummus
nice and soft, so it's easy to scoop
with chips or crackers. The Orbit 1 also
comes in classic red, white, black, and
a stainless steel finish as well. It
also has a USBC rechargeable port, which
means you don't need disposable
batteries for everyday use. You simply
recharge it and it's ready whenever you
need it. It includes a triangular blade
for standard cans and cylinder blades
for jumbo cans. You can find Kitchen
Mama Orbit 1 can opener at
shopkitchenmama.com
or on Amazon.
>> [music]
>> Aldi is my goto budget friendly grocery
shopping store and I can find most
things that I need here occasionally
because of our gluten-free eating or for
some of us in the household I do have to
pick up stuff at other places But right
now, all of the fruits or most of the
fruits are in season. And so they are on
sale or they are a very good price. So
we have been loving all of the fruit
prices the last couple of weeks at Aldi.
I also just picked up staples that I get
pretty much every single week, including
some sprouted bread. I know other places
sprouted bread can be, oh my, up to $10
a loaf, that type of thing. And here
it's around three or four dollars a loaf
and it's something that my one daughter
can handle even though she eats pretty
much gluten-free.
Um the sprouted bread's a bit easier on
her tummy. We also like the blocks of
cheese that are under $2. There's just
so many staples that I can count on
being here every single week. And that
is a huge highlight for Aldi for me.
All right, so I have everything here on
the counter behind me and we are going
to get prepping. But of course, you all
love whenever I share my grocery total
and all of that. And I do have other
grocery shopping videos on my channel
where I go to Aldi and I walk with you
through the store and I chat with you
through the store. But today's video is
going to be a little bit more focused on
the prepping and just kind of getting
things ready for the week. And I do have
my receipt here. Um I think I have
almost everything behind me that I got
except my potatoes. So, I did get two
bags of sweet potatoes, a bag of red
potatoes, and two bags of mini potatoes.
And those are already in the bottom of
my pantry over there. And then there's a
few other odds and ends that are not
over here. Like, I got another pack of
ground turkey that's already in the
refrigerator. And I have kind of I'm
sorry my air conditioner is kicking on
and you may hear it in the background,
but I have also been kind of on a kick
with drinking mineral water and putting
some electrolytes in it and just making
myself a fun little drink that's really
good for me. Um, and I got I think five
of these bottles. Some of them are
already in the refrigerator. And besides
that, I think that's pretty much
everything. So, my grand total, if I
didn't already say, comes to $115
for this week. And let's turn the camera
around. I'll show you my little haul
here. And then we're going to get
started in on making some vegetable
soup. I did get a good amount of veggies
this week. And we're also going to cut
up some fruit. So, I have the pineapple
and the cantaloupe here. I didn't
realize it was bruised, but that's okay.
We'll make good use of that. Got our
cheddar cheese that I always like to
get. They had great looking asparagus,
broccoli, eggs, some broth for our soup
that we're going to make. And we are
going to actually use some of this
kleslaw mix in the soup. I just felt
like for the price it was saving me a
lot of time on cutting up cabbage and I
wanted to put cabbage in my soup. Um, I
have been working on eating more
dairyfree. I already eat gluten-free,
but more dairyf free um just to help out
some of the health things that I have
going on. And so I'm using coconut milk
in my coffee instead of or my tea um
instead of heavy cream. So got those.
We've got some Brussels sprouts and our
family is to the point where it actually
takes two bags of Brussels sprouts. So I
have the other bag in the refrigerator
already. We've got zucchini, carrots,
we've got hot jalapeno peppers for our
loaded potatoes. And I will go through
my meal plan for this week while I'm
prepping. We have some organic chicken
breast, ground turkey that we're going
to use in our soup here in a minute. And
then also some chicken tenderloins. And
then we don't normally drink milk. Um,
but I am back on my milk kefir kick and
we love milk kefir. So, I just usually
get whole milk um and then I ferment it.
That's what's in that jar back there.
And if you are unfamiliar with milk
kefir, I highly recommend researching
it. And it's really cool because even if
you don't have organic milk, the
fermenting process actually gets rid of
the pesticides or anything that could be
in the milk. So, you can use regular
milk and save some money. Um, and you're
still getting a really, really great
product. So, I'm going to put this stuff
away, and we're going to get some stuff
on the stove.
[music]
As we go into putting my groceries away
here, I wanted to chat with you all just
a bit on some direction that my content
is going in. So, if you are a regular
viewer, you already know that I have
been a bit inconsistent in the last year
or two with my posting. I go through
spurts of posting and then spurts of
not. And I've hinted at this before, but
a lot of this is very connected to some
health things I have going on. And this
next week, I actually have a call with
um a doctor about my blood work and just
finding out some more of the nitty-g
gritties of why I have been feeling
unwell at times. I feel like a lot of my
symptoms lead to point to autoimmune. Um
but I am waiting to find out in [music]
the testing to see what comes out of
that. So, at some point I would love to
update you all on that. But if you are
familiar with autoimmune symptoms, then
you know that fatigue can come with
that. Um, bouts of feeling unwell and a
lot of that is tied to diet. And so
that's why I've eaten gluten-free, but
it feels like there's some other things
that could possibly be causing
inflammation in my diet as well. So, I'm
going to probably have to go through
something like an AIP diet or something
where I'm eliminating things entirely
and then slowly reintroducing foods to
see what I react to. With all of these
ups and downs in my health in the last 2
years especially,
I have had ups and downs with my
content. I have had seasons of going for
easier foods, trying to do freezer
meals, preps on days where I feel good,
and then, you know, just using those as
we need. But one of the biggest things
that I'm seeing I need to do for my
health is just simply slow down, go back
to a simpler life, go back to more
minimalistic living. And as I have
mentioned on my second channel, I'm in
the midst of doing quite a bit of
decluttering of our home and just really
simplifying a lot of things. And
although it has felt somewhat productive
doing the freezer meal preps, I think I
need to focus more on just doing slower
foods, simpler foods, and cooking at a
slower pace versus really pushing myself
to go through big meal prep days. So,
that's probably a bit more of what
you're going to see here on this channel
is a shift to a slower pace. Um, and I
have recently been hearing people talk
more and more about a more human
internet, especially with AI coming in.
And I love that idea where we just get
more real here on YouTube and less
counterfeit, less um AI created, if you
will. And that really just attracts me.
I love that. And I think that is where
you're going to see some more of my
content go. And I don't know exactly
what my posting schedule will be like,
particularly on this channel. I
definitely will be posting more on my
second channel, my Adeline's home
channel. Um, but thank you for your
patience with me if you've been along
for a long time. Um, and just stuck it
out with me and my inconsistency at
times. So, let's catch you up on what
all I've been doing while I've been
chatting away here. So, I did cut up a
cantaloupe and I am just pretty much
making a good refrigerator vegetable
soup. Kind of whatever I have around.
Um, I got that zucchini and so I'm going
to add that in. And here in a minute,
you're also going to see me adding in
some mushrooms that my daughter opened
up a can of them and they were sitting
in the refrigerator for the last day.
And I just decided, you know what? This
is going to be really good in this soup.
And actually, as I was eating this soup
this week, it really turned out to be
the star of the show for me. I loved the
mushrooms in it. And then also adding
the shredded cabbage, we've got onion,
we've got some ground turkey, and as you
can tell, this soup is for me because
it's a low inflammatory soup. I'll be
able to eat a lot of lunches this week
out of this pot of soup. And then
another thing that I want to get back
into, and this is sort of the slowing
down mentality, but just really
stewarding the food I have in my home.
Well, part of that is taking the time
whenever I bring home groceries to cut
them up, to store them well in mason
jars. And if you guys haven't seen it, I
have a video that I filmed a couple
years ago that really goes into detail
of how you can make your groceries last
even up to a month for some fruits and
vegetables if they are stored correctly.
And I want to go back to those roots of
just simplicity, slowing down, taking
care of things, and not forgetting
things. cuz I think in our fast-paced
productive world that we live in right
now, um, for some reason a lot of things
seem to be got forgotten,
um, including good ways of doing things
and we get very distracted by our phones
and all of that. And I just really want
to go back to a lot of the basics that I
know, things that my mom, who was
brought up in a Menanite background, has
taught me. um just good wholesome
practices for the home. So, speaking of
that, we are going to store some
cherries. And one of the best ways to
store fruits that you don't want to get
really moist is to put a paper towel in
the jar. It will help to collect all of
that moisture. You can even put it on
top of the fruit instead of the bottom.
And then I really like to use these
screw lids for my jars. Some of them are
plastic, but the metal ones as I'm using
on the cherry jar here actually have a
rubber like material that is a seal
inside. So, I know it's going to seal
really really well, but it's all one
piece instead of using the lids and the
rings separately. I truly treasure my
content creation here on YouTube. It's
had so many different seasons and I feel
like in the last year I have really
tried in my good seasons of feeling good
to
make things that I feel like everyone
wants to see or maybe the algorithm
wants to see. And I'm definitely seeing
that I need to go with more what comes
natural to me because then I am able to
sustain it instead of feeling so burnt
out a lot of the time. So that is what
I'm hoping to accomplish in the next
little while. So, as I am putting my
soup into containers or these jars just
in portion sizes for me to eat through
the week, I thought I would run through
my weekly meal plan cuz I know a lot of
you like to hear that. And we're going
to be using one of my meal plan notepads
from my small shop. If you guys didn't
know, I have a small shop. The link will
be in the description box below. But we
are going to make street tacos for
Monday. And we'll have rice and broccoli
with that as well. And I really love to
just keep the corn tortillas in the
freezer. They come in those huge packs
and then I'm able to pull them out and
make up tacos very quickly. Tuesday
we're going to do a barbecue chicken
bowl and basically I just put chicken
breasts in the crock pot and then shred
it up with a little bit of barbecue
sauce. And then with in that bowl also
gets diced roasted sweet potatoes, a
side of kleslaw, and then refrigerator
pickles. And it's a really yummy
combination. My family really, really
enjoys that and super healthy as well.
Wednesday, we're going to do our good
old potato bar. We have done this almost
every week for a long time. Um,
occasionally we have weeks we don't do
it, but basically I just make up baked
potatoes. We do a protein and some
cheese and sour cream. And then along
with that, I really want to do a seven
layer salad. That is something I grew up
eating. And it is definitely, I would
say, a Menite staple. And then Thursday,
we're going to do burgers. My husband
generally does burgers once a week. It
gives me a night off of making dinner,
and he enjoys making them and eating
them. With those, we'll do mini potatoes
and Brussels sprouts roasted in the
oven. Friday, we'll do a roast in the
crock pot along with mashed potatoes and
green beans. And then the weekend, we
generally have plans or we go and get
different specific groceries to barbecue
certain things or
um yeah, I just tend to plan out the
five weekdays and then sort of let
everything fall as it does on the
weekend. And I hope that this video gave
you a bit of inspiration. I'm glad I
could give you a little update on how
I'm doing and my life right now and just
yeah, things shifting and changing once
again. But, you know, I see that we're
kind of given this idea that we somehow
are supposed to be the same all the
time. And when we change and shift,
especially as content creators, I would
say everybody kind of has um thoughts on
that maybe. And it's just part of life.
Seasons are a part of life. And if
you've been here since the beginning,
then I'm so grateful because I'm coming
up on almost 9 years of being here on
YouTube. But if you've been here, I'm so
grateful that you've made it through all
of my seasons. If you made it this far
and you're totally new, you are a real
one. Hit that subscribe button. I'm so
thankful for all of you and I will see
you in my next video.
[music]