Food Network's Sandra Lee: 'No way' smart shoppers should buy generic

This Sunday evening, Food Network star Sandra Lee appears as a volunteer on Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, and she'll be pitching in to collect something she knows a lot about: canned foods.

Lee has crafted a mini-empire out of her DIY advice that teaches people to take economical shortcuts with pre-packaged foods. Her expertise runs from gardens to drapes -- she helms two Food Network shows, Semi-Homemade Cooking with Sandra Lee and Sandra's Money Saving Meals, a magazine (Sandra Lee Semi-Homemade), and three recently released books, Weeknight Wonders, Money Saving Slow Cooking, and Cocktail Time. And, of course, on ABC this Sunday, when she helps re-make the lives of some dedicated community volunteers.

In a video chat with WalletPop's Jason Cochran, Lee talks candidly about her youth spent on food stamps and working in food banks with her grandmother.