Meal Prep As A Money-Saver

I have never in my life had a Tupperware container look as neat and orderly as the picture above...

However, after another workday full of trying to persuade my co-workers that they don't need to eat out every day, and especially don't have to complain to their low-paid Admin about a lack of money when they do, I decided to take out my frustrations by explaining it though an opinion piece.

Yes, part of why I bring a packed lunch every day that I'm not flying somewhere after work is because I have neither the extended lunch break (Admin don't have paperwork breaks scheduled in to extend their lunch like the medical staff do) nor the budget to pay upward of $20 per meal to eat out on the daily. The other part is that because I have such a stockpile of leftovers, I don't have to eat the same thing multiple days in a row.

My freezer is an interesting sight. One side is Tupperware containers, organised by content. The other side is ziplock bags of mince and shredded vegetables, ready to be turned into various things. In the middle is crumbed cutlets and chicken fillets, bought in bulk and frozen until they're ready to be cooked.

The cutlets take 10 minutes to cook in a frypan, with vegetable fritters or a steam-bag of vegetables to balance it out. The mince can go over corn chips, topped with cheese, for easy nachos, or paired with mashed potatoes in a makeshift Shepards Pie. The chicken will go into a slow-cooker recipe at some point.

I've written at length about easy recipes, and how cooking isn't as frightening as it may seem to someone who has never done it before.

Today, I want to talk about the economics of it.

Time is money, whether in the sense of needing to reduce working hours to manage the second shift of running a household, or in terms of having to pay some else to do whatever you don't have enough hours in the day or energy to do yourself.

That's where meal prep comes in. You don't have to do everything in the one day, especially if you're cooking in bulk. Shop on Day 1 on the way home from work. Chop up everything that can be pre-prepped on Day 2. Cook it on Day 3, and then freeze the leftovers.

Today, I went shopping after work for broccoli, potatoes, onion, and carrots. Tomorrow's post-work detour will be to Costco, where I'll get the things I use enough of to be worth buying in bulk, like cheese, zucchini, and liquid stock. (Laundry and dishwashing powder, too; I'm running low.) Also, I want to check out their spice selection.

I'll grab dinner there, too, and use the time that I don't spend cooking at home to chop up the broccoli, zucchini, onion and potatoes. They can stand being in the fridge overnight.

On Thursday, I'll get up on my second alarm instead of the third or fourth and throw everything into the slow cooker before I go to work. When I get home, I just need to toss in some cheese and cream, and give everything 5 minutes with a stick blender. There's bread in the fridge that I can toast, and garlic bread is easy to ask my Beloved to grab on the way over.

Even if I go back for seconds, there will be at least half the pot left, which equals about four lunch containers, and a larger container for Beloved to take home. (My dearest other-half is Subject Zero in Project Eat Less Take Out...)

(Leave the pots to soak overnight and wash up on Day 4)

Hence the freezer stockpile. Even if I only cook twice a week, I have enough in there to go through 6 meals without eating the same thing twice in a row. The variety helps with craving take-out just to have something different, and because most things are cheaper when purchased in bulk, the actual cost per serving is quite low.

Because I pack my lunch the night before, I'm not sprinting to get to the nearest cafe and back before my break ends. I just pop the container in the microwave while I run for a bathroom break, pick an ebook to read, and enjoy my lunch.