Episode 111: Budget- and Time-Friendly Tips for Meal Planning w/ Jenna Hunter
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Episode Description
In this episode of The Up-Beet Dietitians podcast, Emily and Hannah are joined by Jenna Hunter. Jenna breaks down meal planning myths and provides realistic tips for how to make cooking less daunting for you. She also discussed how to plan on a budget while still enjoying foods you love. Be sure to tune in!
Jenna Hunter
Jenna is a dietitian who loves to create simple nutritious meals while practicing balance & everything in moderation. Be sure to check out Jenna’s Cookbook “Compact Cooking: Big Flavor for Small Kitchens”!
Order Jenna’s Cookbook “Compact Cooking: Big Flavor for Small Kitchens”
Instagram & TikTok: @thehealthyhophead
Tune in on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or YouTube to listen.
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0:08
hello guys welcome back to a brand new
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episode of the upbeat dietitians podcast
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we are joined today by a brand new guest
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Jenna Hunter and we are going to have
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her talk all about budget friendly and
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time friendly meal planning and cooking
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tips today Janet is a dietitian who
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loves to create simple nutritious meals
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while practicing balance and everything
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in moderation
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in her free time Jenna creates
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budget-friendly and time-friendly meals
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on Instagram and Tick Tock you can find
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her at the healthy hop head and during
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the day she's pursuing her chapter
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degree
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we are so excited to share this episode
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with you guys enjoy enjoy hello everyone
0:51
welcome to the podcast or welcome to the
0:54
upbeat dietitians podcast and welcome
0:56
Jenna we are so excited to have you here
0:59
no thanks for having me it's great to be
1:02
here so we're as you probably saw the
1:05
title you'll know what we're talking
1:06
about today but we are going to jump
1:08
into all things budget time friendly
1:11
meal planning meal prepping and cooking
1:14
tips
1:15
um something everyone can learn from and
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Jenna is a pro with this with all the
1:19
recipes she posts online but before we
1:23
get into all of it Jenna we like to hear
1:25
a little bit more about you to kind of
1:27
get that more personal approach tell or
1:30
let the people know what you do kind of
1:33
a day in the life
1:36
um and then any like what maybe your
1:38
education back found Hobbies all that
1:41
fun stuff great sounds good so I am
1:45
currently a registered dietitian I got
1:48
my undergraduate at West Virginia
1:50
University then my Master's at Marshall
1:52
and now I'm getting my doctorate at
1:54
University day in and Leadership studies
1:57
um a current Day in the Life For Me
1:59
really I just wake up around nine do a
2:01
little content creation today I actually
2:03
filmed like three recipes and usually I
2:06
film like three to four recipes a day
2:07
and then depending on the day I'll
2:10
either have class or I'll just do some
2:12
school work or my research and then at
2:15
night I have an adult beverage put me on
2:18
my favorite movie and just hang out yeah
2:21
oh that's the dream that is it I'm very
2:25
impressed by like the three to four
2:27
recipes a day like that's
2:29
that's a lot of work that's impressive
2:30
oh I mean I kind of like it and also
2:33
since my genre is like very easy recipes
2:35
like they're kind of done within 30
2:37
minutes so it's like all right I'll just
2:39
make my like three meals for the day or
2:41
like my four meals for the day and just
2:44
Chow Down When I'm done that's the one
2:46
beauty of being like in the I don't know
2:48
if you call yourself a food blogger but
2:49
like in the recipe creation space as you
2:51
get to eat whatever you make which is so
2:53
I'm pretty sure exactly Grand
2:56
and so efficient with your time you're
2:58
like yeah now we're meal prep for the
3:01
day and you have your content oh my gosh
3:04
that is so fun so
3:08
I feel like we've already started
3:09
talking about it we already started
3:10
talking about like yeah how you meal
3:13
plan
3:14
but what are some benefits you think
3:18
comes from like meal planning and
3:21
cooking at home well we can start with
3:22
meal planning first
3:24
well first and foremost I would say like
3:26
you guys probably heard this all the
3:28
time too it saves money
3:30
um compared to doordashing all that
3:31
stuff it really does like save a good
3:33
chunk of money second of all you can
3:35
make whatever you want I don't know if
3:37
you guys grew up in a household where
3:38
like everything you ate was like very
3:41
controlled and like monitored and so
3:43
like I'm leaving my childhood dream of
3:45
making whatever I want and eating
3:47
whatever I want so that's another
3:48
benefit to it and also it's just kind of
3:51
like a fun little project just you know
3:52
have your favorite songs playing in the
3:55
background just cook and um also you get
3:59
to learn new kitchen skills and learning
4:02
new kitchen skills in my opinion and if
4:03
you can cook that's hot to me in my
4:06
opinion
4:08
but um also just meal planning and
4:11
prepping just kind of saves you time and
4:12
energy throughout the week because you
4:14
know after an eight hour shift you're
4:15
just tired and don't want to cook
4:17
so meal preparing comes in and comes
4:20
handy
4:21
fumbling my words
4:23
welcome to my life this podcast is like
4:25
mostly just me like saying gibberish for
4:28
45 minutes per episode
4:30
um no I apologize in advance like
4:32
sometimes when I'm nervous my words just
4:34
like get fumbled and all jumbled so I'm
4:36
sorry thank you don't apologize I'm
4:38
telling you if you went back to like the
4:41
first like 30 episodes of ours it's just
4:43
us just like stammering for an hour at a
4:46
time like we were so nervous too
4:49
it was hard to edit oh yeah
4:53
I love how you brought in like
4:56
relaxation with like the music with meal
4:59
planning and then like developing new
5:01
skills and then also
5:03
if like for a romance room the romance
5:06
take part of your life you could have
5:08
like a date or attract others with your
5:11
cooking skill
5:15
a versatile skill
5:17
is so much for you it's just something
5:19
fun too you know it really is and I like
5:22
how you tied it into like living out
5:24
your childhood dreams Emily and I this
5:27
this podcast is very heavily focused on
5:29
like intuitive eating and food freedom
5:31
and all of those things and
5:33
I don't know if we saw it on here before
5:34
Emily but I say a lot with people that I
5:36
like work with that like how do I want
5:39
to say it like
5:41
if you have come from a place whether it
5:43
was like in your childhood or like a
5:44
really strong dieting history where you
5:47
were just eating kind of like boring
5:49
Bland foods that you were like told that
5:51
you had to eat like following a meal
5:52
plan for example that can be one like
5:55
such glorious piece of that food Freedom
5:58
as you get to like cook and it it can
6:00
sometimes be a hassle and a chore and
6:02
we'll talk about how to make it more fun
6:04
things a little bit later but I think if
6:06
you kind of ship that perspective and
6:08
like see that it can be like a fun way
6:10
to like live out your childhood dreams
6:11
for example or kind of rebel against
6:13
dieting or whatever your situation is I
6:16
think it kind of helps you to enjoy it a
6:18
little bit more
6:20
no I agree it really does like this
6:22
morning I had ice cream for breakfast
6:28
that's so awesome the during that is the
6:30
dream like any child would freak out
6:33
over there no exactly
6:35
that's so awesome well I don't know if
6:38
there's a super long-winded answer those
6:40
question but do you feel like anybody
6:42
can benefit from meal planning or is
6:44
there like a certain group of people
6:45
that you feel like would really find a
6:47
lot of benefit from it
6:50
um honestly I really think like anybody
6:52
can benefit from meal planning but the
6:54
specific group of people who could
6:55
benefit the most are the people with the
6:58
busy work schedules or really people who
7:00
struggle with energy during the work
7:02
week like you know just that eight hour
7:04
work day like I'm sure like you guys
7:06
know and also just like from our
7:08
internship too that we were talking
7:09
about before you just feel drained after
7:11
and like you just don't want to cook so
7:13
you make like um
7:15
not saying ramen's bad but like you know
7:17
you just want to make an instant meal
7:19
you know you're just tired
7:22
so um
7:23
also all the people who kind of like
7:26
want to control what they eat a little
7:28
bit like people who want to gain weight
7:30
or lose weight they can count up the
7:33
calories in whatever way and also like
7:35
people who want to eat a balanced diet
7:38
that's true it helps you to kind of make
7:41
choices that feel good for you and like
7:43
whatever you're kind of aiming to work
7:45
towards it really helps too we I don't
7:48
know how to describe it either I'm bad
7:50
at words today as I usually am
7:52
um I think it's finding that balance
7:53
between like giving you structure but
7:56
also being flexible with it too where
7:57
not everyone finds it super helpful to
7:59
like
8:00
plan and prep every single meal for
8:03
every single day for the entire week but
8:05
others do and that's great
8:07
um
8:07
I think it kind of goes into our next
8:09
question because I do often hear a lot
8:11
from people that
8:12
they hear the word meal planning or
8:15
prepping and get like really nervous and
8:16
kind of like it's off-putting to them
8:18
because they think of that they think of
8:19
like all day Sunday Tupperware
8:21
everywhere super expensive same like
8:24
microwave chicken six days in a row so
8:26
yeah for our listeners who maybe feel
8:28
that way and want like a more flexible
8:30
approach like what advice would you have
8:32
for those people who are pretty nervous
8:34
and apprehensive about all this
8:37
totally understand like why people would
8:39
feel that way because when I first got
8:42
into this program of nutrition I was
8:44
kind of like that way you know like um
8:47
kind of developed a little bit of like
8:49
anorexia because I was so concerned on
8:51
like what to make what to eat and like
8:53
what to prep for that week
8:56
but really for like people who feel that
8:58
way
8:59
um I don't know if this would really
9:00
just be
9:01
this works for my brain when I was in
9:04
that kind of situation
9:06
um again make it a fun activity like it
9:09
doesn't have to be that hard and it also
9:12
doesn't have to be like in tupperware or
9:13
anything just and also you don't have to
9:15
make the same thing for the week like
9:17
you can make three different meals for
9:19
that week
9:20
and really just like I said making it a
9:22
fun activity that's a lot that's a good
9:25
point to make because like it doesn't
9:27
need to be as cut and dry what the
9:30
Tupperware situation with the skin and
9:32
rice and vegetables every day right you
9:35
can kind of make it however you Dean fit
9:37
and since you were coming from that
9:40
space maybe the more like
9:42
restrictive meal planning it shows that
9:45
like you could you could adjust and
9:47
learn it's all very capable of that yeah
9:51
exactly
9:52
but just trying it
9:54
is one of the most important things
9:57
exactly if it doesn't work that's okay
10:00
exactly anything else it's not supposed
10:03
to be this intense activity it's just
10:05
hey you're making food to nourish
10:06
yourself for the week just exactly fun
10:09
with it have fun with flavors exactly
10:11
and I always point out too that it'll
10:13
even vary like from week to week for
10:15
most people like on those really busy
10:16
weeks maybe it would help to like do a
10:18
little more planning and then other
10:19
weeks you can kind of maybe lay low a
10:21
little bit and kind of just like go by
10:22
the seat of your pants a little more
10:24
than usual it just depends I think
10:26
that's where the planning piece is the
10:28
most important though is looking ahead
10:29
at the week and saying okay I've got
10:30
just like meetings and appointments
10:32
every day the kids have sports like
10:34
whatever it is
10:35
how are we going to manage all that on
10:37
top of like feeding the family that
10:39
could be a really good time to like do
10:40
more meal planning versus other weeks
10:42
where it is maybe laying a little bit
10:43
lower it could be easier to do a little
10:46
bit less of that it just depends and
10:47
that's I think the bottom line is it's a
10:49
spectrum of like how much planning and
10:51
prepping that you're going to do every
10:53
week yes yes exactly well I say we get
10:57
into like the budget side of this
10:58
because the other big piece of this that
11:01
I often hear in terms of like oh I don't
11:03
know about this it sounds a little bit
11:04
expensive is like the price point of it
11:07
so what are your thoughts on that like
11:09
what tips do you have for our listeners
11:11
who are a little bit
11:13
apprehensive because they feel that meal
11:15
planning is usually super pricey yes so
11:18
meal planning can be pricey especially
11:20
nowadays with these crazy bills oh my
11:24
goodness
11:26
but um some tips that like um
11:29
I've like learned while being a content
11:32
creator and like creating recipes for
11:34
the past like two years
11:36
um Google what fruits and vegetables are
11:39
in season and then buy those fruits and
11:41
vegetables depending on what season it
11:43
is because usually that produce is super
11:45
cheap also
11:48
um a lot of people like I see on social
11:49
media too A lot of people demonize
11:51
canned and Frozen products which I think
11:54
is just the dumbest thing like in my
11:57
like hand and Frozen products are so
11:59
cheap and there's like they're still
12:01
great as fresh like compared to Fresh
12:03
Products too
12:04
so um yes Camden Frozen
12:07
and also this is just like a little tip
12:09
I learned working at a bakery in high
12:10
school
12:11
um usually bakeries at the end of the
12:13
day they it's horrible they throw all
12:16
their baked goods out kind of they just
12:18
waste everything so if you go to a
12:20
bakery at the end of the day they
12:22
usually give you like products half off
12:25
or free so that's what I do that's so
12:28
that is very good tip I'm about to go
12:31
try to get as much like bread as
12:34
possible oh I know like there's a bakery
12:36
like close to here that sells like
12:38
cheese danishes so I like sometimes I'll
12:40
hop over there at like five o'clock and
12:42
they close at like 5 30. it'll be like
12:45
man yeah
12:47
yeah it's genius oh my gosh
12:49
I also very much agree with the the
12:53
cannon Frozen Foods get so much hate and
12:56
like
12:58
there are it's okay to eat them exactly
13:01
you will be okay they are very
13:04
comparable to fresh produce and from a
13:07
like a shelf stable life it's
13:09
self-stability right
13:13
and they are going to last much longer
13:16
than Fresh Products exactly and like
13:19
they really are kind of Cheaper Than
13:21
Fresh Products most of the time
13:23
um I see a lot of people like demonized
13:25
canned products because of like the
13:26
sodium content but that's what preserves
13:28
them and also hey that's a free
13:31
electrolyte so I don't know I love that
13:33
yeah electrolyte
13:34
yeah and even if you like really were
13:37
concerned you could like rinse them yeah
13:40
right exactly so
13:43
there's something we can do about it
13:45
yeah exactly exactly I think in a
13:48
similar a similar um fashion I saw a
13:51
post recently that said this that of
13:53
course I like agreed with it was saying
13:55
like if you add a dressing to your salad
13:57
like you're still getting all the
13:58
nutrients from the salad just like if
14:00
you eat like canned broccoli and I don't
14:02
know if broccoli's over canned canned
14:04
green beans will say instead of like
14:06
fresh green beans like it's still a
14:08
green bean like it's still nutrient
14:10
dense and everything so if that really
14:12
is a way to help you eat more veggies
14:14
then do that that's great yeah exactly
14:17
like it still has its fiber it's vitamin
14:19
C like it's fine you know yes
14:23
I'm sure people will enjoy hearing that
14:25
because they hear us talk about it
14:27
sometimes but they're probably sick of
14:29
it so it's good to hear from someone
14:31
else's as well
14:34
um what are some so we've talked about
14:36
kind of like
14:37
there's the budget side of meal planning
14:39
and then there's also like the time side
14:42
of it I feel like that's another really
14:43
big because what kind of what Hannah
14:45
alluded to like that like
14:47
Sunday meal prep Day idea we have our
14:52
whole day that's all you're doing you're
14:54
only cooking you only have a one day
14:55
weekend because you're cooking the other
14:58
half what are some time friendly tips to
15:01
make like meal planning and cooking a
15:03
little bit more accessible and maybe a
15:05
busy life
15:06
um one thing that I learned that has
15:08
really
15:09
time and a half for me is is use tin
15:12
foil and parchment paper to cover every
15:15
surface that you're cooking on like say
15:16
you're baking something or like air
15:18
frying some or using a toaster oven and
15:22
using a tray
15:23
um like I use tin foil parchment paper
15:26
cuts my cleaning time in half
15:28
um another thing I would suggest too is
15:32
honestly like I've noticed using kind of
15:34
like compactable items and Googling ways
15:37
to cook within these compactable items
15:39
has also cut time in half like uh one
15:42
example like lately I've been doing is
15:44
cooking my pasta
15:46
um in the microwave and it takes like
15:47
eight minutes to cook the pasta instead
15:49
instead of boiling it for 20 minutes but
15:52
that's like that's the tips I have
15:55
uh I'm trying to think of anything else
15:57
I know this is kind of like this next
15:59
question but
16:02
I really find the air fryer very useful
16:07
I feel like like I've used the air fryer
16:09
a lot and it kind of really Cuts Cuts
16:10
Like My baking time in half or like
16:12
heating up time in half so um yeah those
16:15
are my answers
16:17
I mean that is true it is like a very
16:19
quick
16:20
with the air fryer it is very fast and
16:23
compact stuff like you don't have much
16:25
time you can just click it I don't think
16:27
I've ever cooked pasta in my microwave
16:30
that's genius
16:32
no it's like I learned this from another
16:34
tick tocker actually like um you just
16:37
put your pasta like as much as you want
16:40
how hungry you are salt water microwave
16:42
for like five minutes stirred up and
16:44
microwave again for three minutes and
16:45
then it's done drain the water
16:48
oh it's so beautiful because I love
16:50
pasta yeah thanks and you wait like you
16:53
wait so long for it to just boil
16:56
that actually takes eight minutes yes
16:58
yeah I mean like it cuts it up like Cuts
17:01
time like maybe four minutes but still
17:03
time is time it adds up yes
17:06
um one tip that I like to give out to
17:08
people is
17:09
if
17:11
the time thing is like your biggest
17:13
barrier and you're like I'm absolutely
17:15
not doing this because of the time
17:17
because maybe you do Envision the
17:19
classic like all day Sunday kind of
17:20
thing I always say that you can prep
17:22
ingredients not whole meals which is
17:24
what I tend to do like I will like cut
17:27
the vegetables up so all I gotta do is
17:29
like throw them into the stir fry
17:31
for whatever day I'm gonna have it or I
17:33
will like put chicken in a marinade so
17:35
that all I gotta do is like throw it on
17:36
the grill or in the oven or whatever
17:38
when I get home so if that kind of helps
17:40
you to maybe
17:42
feel a little bit less nervous about
17:43
like the time commitment
17:46
um again like it's a spectrum like find
17:47
whatever amount of time works for you
17:49
and your family if it's not going to be
17:52
helpful to do just like eight hours of
17:54
planning and prepping on a Sunday
17:55
because not everyone wants the time
17:57
wants to do that or has the time to do
17:58
that no exactly and you're like that's
18:01
smart to pre-cut like vegetables and
18:03
meats and like put them in a bag and
18:05
freeze them for the week like that
18:07
that's really smart too I saw that um I
18:09
saw one content creator do that and I
18:10
was like oh my God that's brilliant
18:12
brilliant and speaking of the freezer
18:14
like freezer meals like if you do have a
18:16
day where you have time to prep like
18:18
make like three four or five different
18:20
meals that way on a Tuesday night when
18:21
you're super busy all you gotta do is
18:22
throw it in the oven or the microwave or
18:24
whatever exactly
18:27
I love it and yeah and also like people
18:28
kind of demonize like frozen meals too
18:30
which I think is like I mean I can
18:32
understand like high in sodium but at
18:34
the same time like you know like you
18:35
said people can't afford the eight hour
18:37
day of meal planning and um maybe the
18:40
person ate all the meals that week and
18:44
one day left over and they don't have
18:46
the energy to cook so hey that pack of
18:48
ramen or frozen meal is great get the
18:50
job done the convenience side of it is
18:52
huge yeah especially when you're
18:55
fatigued and tired exactly
18:59
I think the only tip I have to
19:01
contribute is I like purchase like
19:04
pre-packaged things so like something
19:07
I've been making a lot of is like
19:10
Asian inspired dishes with like coleslaw
19:13
mixes and since I don't want to buy like
19:16
why am I blinking out with cabbage yeah
19:19
I'm like what is that called Monday yes
19:24
it's the end of the day on Monday
19:25
There's No thoughts no thoughts are
19:28
occurring right now but like cabbage and
19:31
like whatever else goes into it I don't
19:33
even know because I just buy them and I
19:36
like dump it all in and I'm done that's
19:38
great because then I don't like then I
19:40
don't like waste the vegetables like
19:42
trying to find somewhere else even
19:43
though I could like probably easily plan
19:45
for a meal but that would take more
19:46
thought that we don't always have with
19:48
the time or energy in this case
19:51
I feel like that also kind of gets
19:54
demonized it's like oh bagged vegetables
19:57
which goes in with that like canned kind
19:59
of frozen section I'm like
20:01
this is still a vegetable exactly okay
20:04
that's nutrients yeah
20:06
I saw your one video I like I saved it
20:09
it was the you did like soy sauce garlic
20:12
with like ground beef and the coleslaw
20:14
over rice it's probably my egg girl in a
20:17
bowl video yeah like people are like
20:19
freaking out right now yeah they're
20:21
freaking out about the soy sauce oh yeah
20:24
I saw the Egg Roll On The Wall I was
20:26
like that's brilliant what the hell
20:27
[Laughter]
20:33
lazy girls yeah
20:36
I yes I'm thriving right now but also
20:40
you'd be surprised with how many I'm
20:42
like Hannah Hannah my Hannah and I have
20:44
talked about like hate comments before
20:45
Oh I don't think I've ever seen hate
20:48
comments on your videos but also I might
20:49
not just scroll enough I can comments to
20:53
see to get to the hate because there's a
20:55
lot of positivity
20:57
um
20:57
but there's
21:00
people will find the smallest things to
21:03
be upset about in recipes
21:04
no oh I got so much hate I made um blue
21:08
Takis from scratch I got so much hate on
21:11
that video they're like oh hockey's from
21:12
Ohio and I'm like
21:15
I'm talking
21:17
I'm talking he's from Ohio yeah
21:20
okay
21:21
I gotta admit like these trolls are just
21:24
obnoxious and I hate them but sometimes
21:26
they're really witty it makes me so much
21:28
it's funny I'm like you don't deserve my
21:31
laugh but that's pretty funny no I know
21:33
it's sometimes like to do like dark
21:34
humor comments so I'm like oh
21:36
yeah like oh
21:41
you insulted me but that was freaking
21:43
hilarious I'm still mad though
21:48
they're silly oh my gosh yeah but we've
21:51
gotten so many wonderful tips we we like
21:53
to kind of wrap up before we get into
21:54
our bonus question that we kind of have
21:56
already gotten to but we'll still get
21:57
more into it
21:59
um but we like to wrap up by kind of
22:00
leaving the floor for any like last
22:02
minute thoughts you might have or things
22:04
that maybe we didn't ask you that you
22:05
want to kind of throw in here we always
22:07
joke that like if our listeners were to
22:09
like jump to this point of the podcast
22:10
like what would you like really want
22:12
them to hear like what would not be
22:14
miscible
22:15
um so the floor is yours like what else
22:17
do you want to add if anything from what
22:19
we've already said today or what's kind
22:20
of the takeaway points you would give
22:23
um don't listen to diet culture
22:24
everything in moderation yeah
22:27
perfect I have ice cream for breakfast
22:29
if you want it everything in moderation
22:32
yes we love that
22:35
ice cream for breakfast
22:37
and thank you everyone for listening to
22:40
today's episode thank you so much Jenna
22:43
for coming on if you want to hear
22:46
Jenna's answer or bonus question
22:49
go check out our subscription membership
22:55
that we are still trying to find a name
22:59
um but you'll have to tune in there to
23:01
hear her thoughts but we hope you took
23:04
something away from today there are a
23:05
lot of really great tips and Jenna if
23:10
our we also have products includes on
23:12
the outline I was just gonna say yes if
23:15
people if the people want to hear more
23:17
from you where can they find you this is
23:20
your time to shine you can share like
23:21
social media links websites whatever you
23:26
want to share will also
23:28
tag it on the show notes so they can see
23:30
there as well
23:32
um really I'm just on Tick Tock and
23:34
Instagram at the be healthy hot head
23:37
that's the username
23:38
just find me there if you love it
23:42
we'll include it in the show notes but
23:44
otherwise Jenna thank you so much for
23:45
coming on today it was an absolute
23:48
pleasure uh we cannot see wait to see
23:50
what new recipes you come out with and
23:55
thank you so much for coming on
23:57
foreign
24:04
well thanks for listening everyone we
24:06
will see you next week bye guys thanks
24:09
for listening
The Beet Deets Bonus Segment
Listen to our ad-free premium content for a low monthly cost!
Jenna and The Up-Beet Dietitians debate, are you team air fryer? Is it worth it? Tune in to hear about how many air fryers (spoiler alert) Jenna has (hint: probably more than you'd think), the struggles of living with limited storage in an apartment, and which TUD Bud isn't team air fryer.
