A former food staple is returning to social media. After a three-year hiatus, Tastemade is bringing back “Struggle Meals” with Chef Frankie Celenza, TheWrap has exclusively learned.
“Struggle Meals” first premiered in 2017 and quickly became a bit of an internet sensation. Each episode follows Celenza as he makes a different dish on a budget, showing viewers that it’s possible to eat healthy and delicious meals without breaking the bank. Celenza won a Daytime Emmy Award for the digital series in 2022 for Outstanding Lifestyle/Culinary Show Host for his work on the show.
Now the series will be returning with a revamped strategy. “Struggle Meals” will return with 40 new episodes starting June 14 and will follow a YouTube-first rollout strategy. Episodes will air weekly on YouTube first before being added to Tastemade’s free ad-supported TV (FAST) channels in the third quarter.
Each episode will also have its own dedicated YouTube Short, and recipes will be available on the Tastemade Cooking app. As for Celenza, he will run the development, production and post-production of “Struggle Meals” all while managing the show’s YouTube community, Facebook Group and authoring a newsletter about the series.
The focus of the show is also shifting slightly. Instead of focusing primarily on affordability, this new version of “Struggle Meals” will also focus on building confidence in the kitchen, skills that can lead to long-term savings. “Life is expensive, but good food doesn’t have to be,” the logline for the series reads.
“Over the past few years during Struggle’s hiatus I’ve written a cookbook, starred in a travel show and produced a higher end cooking show. Each of these projects enabled my pause on ‘Struggle Meals’ to reload with new and useful information as well as the perspective of getting a little older too,” Celenza told TheWrap. “I’ve grown, the audience has grown and the need for delicious affordable meals remains.”
This time around, Celenza’s goal is to teach people to to make cooking a “cherished task” at home instead of a chore.
“I’m a super passionate cook, and I spend a lot of time making sure I can save time for others. Ultimately I am exactly who we make these shows for. I’m still learning. I look forward to teaching the next thing I haven’t yet learned,” Celenza said.
“Teaching people how to cook smarter, waste less and eat on a budget is just as important today as it was when we started back in 2017. We made some incredible shows with Frankie during our hiatus, but the fans spoke loud and clear: They wanted ‘Struggle Meals’ back,” Jay Holzer, Tastemade’s head of programming, told TheWrap. “Our new creator-forward model lets us lean hard into what the audience loves, delivering weekly recipes and inspiration that they can actually use in their day to day lives.”
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