With inflation making grocery shopping a financial nightmare, figuring out meals that you can afford, without having to live on ramen noodles, can be a struggle. The truth is, cheap foods are generally highly processed and extremely unhealthy, but when that’s all you can afford, you do what you have to do. One woman has made it her mission to help people who are struggling financially make healthier food on a tight budget. Rebecca Chobat created the TikTok account Dollar Tree Dinners, where she creates healthy meals using only ingredients she can find at Dollar Tree, including meat. She offers recipes for breakfast, lunch and dinner, with an emphasis on stretching a tight budget. While some wouldn’t consider her meals the gold standard of healthy, when you look at the alternative, the meals she cooks are a much better option. Chobat uses a lot of frozen vegetables in her recipes to not only bulk them up, but to add nutritional value as well. The budget-friendly recipes also include how to meal prep and make grab-and-go lunches for work. Every option is low cost and can help people who may only have $10 to buy enough food to hold them over to payday. Chobat's TikTok page isn't for everyone and she knows that. In fact, she is very deliberate in her word choices and items purchased because she wants to ensure that the people who need her videos the most don't feel shamed. It may seem like a small thing to some, but what Chobat is doing is likely changing lives.
