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According to the internet, the smartest way to eat healthy and save money is to meal prep at the beginning of each week. Adorable little Tupperware containers are filled with protein, veggies, and carbs in perfect proportion. Over the years, I’ve saved dozens of quick meal prep recipes that range from sandwiches to Buddha Bowls. I make ingredient lists when I head to the grocery store and load up on my supplies, ready to tackle Sunday night prep time.
In a perfect world, I would make my meals and I’d be set for five days of worry-free eating. But because things never work out the way they should, this is not the case. I cannot handle this process at all. I have yet to successfully master the art of not wasting time, money, and groceries on meals that never meet expectations.
I need to take a step back and explain some things before you jump to conclusions. First of all, I am in no way a terrible cook. I have all the basic kitchen skills and then some. People have complimented dishes I’ve made in the past, and I am a crowd favorite for potlucks and picnics. I will admit, dinners and desserts are more my cup of tea though, but that’s irrelevant. Second, I have a huge handicap out of the gate when it comes to meal prep. I live with four other women all sharing one tiny kitchen that includes an incredibly undersized fridge. My storage space is limited, and that in turn stifles my ingredient/finished product storage. Third, I can’t eat peanuts or peanut butter which are very common ingredients in a good chunk of meal prep suggestions for protein. There are plenty of peanut-free ideas out there, but this limit does cuts down on a few of the super easy options.
So now that I’ve cleared up some basics, I’ll invite you to take a mental trip with me. Picture a kitchen counter and me standing at attention: apron on, knife in hand. I’m cutting up veggies, boiling pasta, and sautéing chicken. I package everything up in my bento boxes, ordered in bulk via Amazon Prime. Change of scene. It’s 1 p.m. on a Monday afternoon. I’m at my desk ready to dig into my delicious chicken with pasta and veggies. I take one bite and immediately feel underwhelmed. The chicken’s been seasoned and the veggies cooked right. But deep down I know exactly what I’m eating, and it’s microwaved leftovers. I make a mental note to throw out my four additional containers when I get home that evening.
I feel like I’ve tried a few different options, all with the same abandoned result. Cold dishes or veggies with dipping sauce help with my disdain of the microwave, but other issues arise. By Wednesday I’m tired of eating the same meal, and either leave my lunch at home or throw it away a few bites in. Another big disappointment with the cold dishes is their lack of flavor. I end up eating a meal that tastes like it was prepared during a famine. A slice of white bread with cucumber and hummus on it isn’t exactly riveting for my taste buds.
Eventually, by mid-week what happens is one of two things. Either I end up eating prepackaged food (i.e. a yogurt or Lean Cuisine) I’ve stocked up in the break room fridge, or the most common outcome of going to one of the fast-casual dining establishments within a 5-mile radius of my work. It’s more expensive, but my disdain for reheated & repeated food outweighs my desire to save money I suppose.
While I feel like a failure, there are some thoughts in the back of my mind that make me justify the situation as not entirely my fault. I partially blame some of the bloggers who pin seemingly delicious recipes online that turn out to be complete flops. They throw a Lightroom filter over their pictures and every grain bowl suddenly looks like five-star dining when it’s really a bland mess of avocado and quinoa. Another party at fault is my employer should really be offered up craft services to the entire staff every day to make our lives easier. While I don’t think I would ever win that benefits battle, it seems very fair to me.
I try to be optimistic though. A few key pieces may fall into place and eventually, I’ll be able to get on the meal prep train. Once I have my own home with ample fridge space for more options, and my grocery budget jumps higher than $25 a week I can have a bit more wiggle room for decent dishes I actually want to eat. Until then, I’ll continue my cycle of making things I don’t want to eat, then pouting about how much I’ve spent on smoothies and Chick-fila the latter half of the week. Whatever, It’s all for the gains, baby. .
For more on meal prepping (or not meal prepping), listen to this episode of The Sunday Scaries Podcast.
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Kell
future soccer mom of America (AKA I drive a Volvo.) Miracle is my favorite movie and it should be yours too.
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Your grocery budget would be higher than $25 per week if you’d stop eating out so much
i love it when people tell me how expensive groceries are yet eat out three times a week
Yeah, she lost me there. I know it sucks, but you would save money AND have a higher grocery budget if you brought your lunch more days than not
I go to Trader Joe’s about once a month and drop maybe $100-$125 and I’m pretty much set for a month. Yeah I have to go to the store here and there but it helps so much if you have a stocked freezer/fridge full of food readily available to cook. I’ve cut my monthly food budget basically in half by doing this.
I tried the meal prep thing for a few weeks and also got tired of the same thing a couple days in. I’ve since found that its way easier to do some chicken in a crock pot for the week (or your meat of choice, if that’s your thing) and keep it in a Tupperware container in the fridge. Then I cook the things around it. I’ll add it to mac and cheese or a bomb veggie soup recipe a friend gave me or just put it on a sandwich. Meal prep isn’t cooking for hours or in bulk on a Sunday, its whatever works for you to eat a little better and save a few dollars to inevitably spend on an extra coffee or a better cocktail on the weekends.
Yep this is totally the move. You could easily make all the “side” items in the morning and your lunch will taste fresher as well.
Huge fan of this option. I’ll rotate my meat of choice every week and toss in a random veggie or pasta/quinoa mix to spice things up.
My biggest conflict with meal prep is that Sunday Me has no idea where Thursday Me’s head will be at. Some weeks I feel like I’m crushing it in the gym/ at work and that clean eating meal is an added bonus to a successful week, but other times I’m having a sad girl week and by Wednesday I just want a giant sub from the restaurant down the road.
Does the giant sub derail the whole week? I’m confused. Why not move the lunch you were going to eat to a different day or Saturday. Or, why not meal prep for 4 days and eat out one day a week?
It’s more like one or two bad days can derail the whole week. If I were to meal prep for the whole week, I’d be doing it with the goal of eating healthy and saving money, but if I’m having a week where it feels like I’m failing at other goals I’ve set for myself, I get a “what’s the point” mentality and the prepared food loses its appeal. It’s easier for me to prepare one meal on Sunday night that I know will have enough leftovers for the next day at work and go from there.
I hear you. Apologies if I came off harsh. On the other hand, having precooked meals is an easy win when you are coming up short in other areas.
I briefly worked at an oil and gas company that had a full cafeteria FOR FREE each day. Those were the days.
I know it isn’t ideal but waking up a little earlier and making a small, quick, fresh meal (some sort of ‘healthy pasta’ with meat and veggies) is definitely the move to feel like you’re eating something fresh.
Here’s the advice that got me over the microwaved leftovers mindset: “you’re eating for purpose, not for taste.” Some meathead told me that during college and it changed my whole perspective on meal prep and eating clean in general
Who hurt y’all?
Honestly I just don’t have the leftover brain function at the end of a workday to make something creative/tasty for dinner for one person – I like to mindlessly shovel nutritional food into my mouth-hole during the week and enjoy my meals on the weekends. Just easier that way for me
I feel you on having limited kitchen space–it’s hard enough (for me) to cook alone and uninterrupted–but adding in a few roommates and a tiny kitchen, downright impossible. Something that’s helped me is not getting a full meal out for lunch.There’s a decent salad bar near me, and I know this is a little sad but sometimes I’ll get a side salad with avocado and salmon and veggies to go with my sandwich I brought or boring chicken breast. It’s under $5 and scratches the eat out itch AND it’s healthy-ish
I cook almost every night because it helps me unwind, but I also just don’t want to sometimes, so here’s my unsolicited advice: keep a running list of easy, back pocket recipes for when you either don’t want to eat your prepped food or you just can’t be bothered to take on a new recipe. Cook a couple different things at one time, out of the same protein (ground turkey = stir fry, taco meat, meatballs, stuffed peppers, burgers – you can healthify all these things). Try new recipes semi-regularly. I’m usually more inclined to eat something if it’s not the same old thing I’ve been eating on rotation the last few months. And lastly, freeze a couple servings for later (most Crockpot things can be frozen) – all you have to do is defrost.
I’m married and have plenty of room in my fridge… Still grab a smoothie for lunch and grab dinner on the way home most days. No shame.
Trash article. You either want to save money and eat healthier, and you do it, or you don’t. Excuses and justifications are just to make you feel better, but for what? Just eat out every day if that’s what you want to do. You’ll save a lot more money by just planning to eat out and not even trying to do something you know you hate just so that you can say you “meal prepped”.
Wait – so you want to meal prep, but then you do and complain that you don’t have variety? How about meal prep more than just one sad dish and make a couple different ones? It’s not that hard to repurpose chicken/rice/bell peppers between asian, Mediterranean, and Mexican dishes, other than swapping out spices and sauces.
The secret to meal prep success is to know that life is hard, you are poor, and this is your only option if you don’t want to go broke eating out or kill your body with fast food. Learning to eat the same thing day in and day out is key.
Plus when you do treat yourself it’s 1000x better.
I am lucky to have the time for it but I just cook for two every night and the second meal is my lunch the next day. But I was also raised eating left overs and never eating out so I don’t look at food that’s a day old with disappointment.
Ground turkey is my favorite easy protein to prep. Takes minute in a skillet and can be used in so many different dishes to get variety in the week. Condiments are key. Salsa and siracha help so much
I don’t get how people meal prep for the entire week. No way am I eating something on Thursday or Friday that was cooked Sunday afternoon.