What started as a simple website in 2007 is now a full-fledged app in 2017, aiming to provide resources to audiences beyond Iowa in the future. 

Spend Smart, Eat Smart is an app developed by the College of Human Sciences Extension and Outreach department. The app was developed in the winter of 2016 and formally launched in March 2017. The program originated as a website aimed specifically at Iowans in the late 2000s. 

“The website has been around since 2007, when the country was in a recession, and it had resources not just for Iowans, but for low-income Iowans,” said Christine Hradek, a human sciences specialist in extension and outreach. Hradek said that it was important to show that “it’s possible to eat well and keep to a tight budget.” 

As the years went on, the website became old-fashioned and in need of updating. However, when the idea of bringing Spend Smart, Eat Smart to a mobile platform came to the forefront, a group of specialists from Human Sciences Extension and Outreach and a creative agency in Des Moines came together to bring Spend Smart, Eat Smart to mobile devices. 

“We would go ahead and build an app with pieces of the site and add tools you’d want to have while shopping at the grocery store,” Hradek said. 

The website contains very specific elements of healthy eating and budgeting, breaking down each in pieces about planning a grocery budget, meal planning for the week and breaking down how much one spends on groceries and eating out. Both the website and the app also have easy, healthy recipes that families and students can make at home. 

“Recipes go through rigorous testing and have something that looks like a nutrition facts label,” Hradek said. “You can definitely trust what you find on the site.” 

The recipes are tested for quality, nutrition standards and are held to the standards of the College of Human Sciences outreach program. The recipes are also aimed at students who are living on their own and cooking for themselves for the first time. 

“We would love to see students using the app,” Hradek said. “Students are looking to eat healthy and save money. The recipes use basic kitchen equipment if you’re in an apartment kitchen, and are great recipes for students cooking for themselves.” 

After its initial launch in March 2017, the app has had around 2,000 downloads, which Hradek says is a pleasing number for a small outfit. While the user demographics show that mostly women are using the app, getting the app out to students and to a larger audience is one of the goals for the future of Spend Smart, Eat Smart. 

“It’s difficult for consumers to know what they’re reading,” Hradek said. “We would like to see the app become a household name around the state that they [consumers] can turn to for nutrition information.” 

For more information on Spend Smart, Eat Smart, visit their official website through the College of Human Sciences Extension and Outreach.