A dozen eggs. Milk. Orange juice. Apple juice. Bacon. Graham crackers. Yogurt. Cheese. Coffee creamer. Fresh fruits & veggies.
My latest trip to the grocery may have been quick, but it sure wasn’t cheap. All of that totaled out to $108! $108 just for the perishables and a couple of extras for my family of five for the week.
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I’m sure you’ve noticed the prices going up too ... it’s hard not to.
I shop the specials; I make sure we’re using all our fuel points, but you can only do so much when it comes to the actual price of things that are on your list.
Enter my super (not so secret) weapon … meal prep … yep, meal prep.
If I lost you there, it’s cool, I get it -- but hear me out. A year ago, I had plenty of reasons why planning my meals out a week in advance wouldn’t work. I work full time and I have three kids under three I’m chasing around in my off time. Not to mention, I had a lot of anxiety over what I would actually cook.
New recipes?? Yeah, I was going to have to do deep dives on all of the things I never thought to cook before to keep from getting bored eating the same thing over and over and over again … or so I thought.
But here’s what happened when I gave it a try.
I started small and expanded from there.
I ordered a variety pack of meal prep containers with different configurations. Then, I started with things I knew we would eat. Turkey sausage? Sweet Italian sausage? Yep, we love those! Chicken? Salmon? Kielbasa? We love that too!
Once I had the proteins covered, it was time for the produce. Instead of washing, cutting, and cooking fresh produce for every meal, I started buying frozen veggies (usually you can save time AND money by grabbing extra when they’re on sale!).
Next, it’s time for a quick scan of the pantry and the fridge. Are there potatoes that have been hanging around for a minute? Do I have any fresh produce that needs to be cooked? This determines whether I do a second serving of vegetables or if I cook up some rice or couscous.
Spoiler alert: I use a rice cooker to save myself time and I keep a variety of rice in the pantry in bulk -- yellow, wild, white, or brown rice that I can go to in a pinch.
Time to make it make sense!
Every few weeks I stock up on all the meat we’ll eat. Whatever doesn’t get cooked that day gets freezer saved.
A couple days a month I’ll cook a few types of meals at once. I’ll do some variation of meat, fish, or vegetables and I try to make four or more of each combo. I’ll always plan to leave a few things out for lunch and dinner but everything else goes in the deep freezer.
About once a week I’ll do a “maintenance” cook day where I prepare meals for that day or the next and put just a few things in the freezer. I usually save my experimental recipes for these days. I always refer back to what meat I have in the deep freezer.
I check out new recipes based on what I already have or what’s on special at the time.
Lately, I’ve been leaning towards crockpot recipes or things I can throw on one pan and bake … there is literally no shame in my game, the easier, the better!
My husband and I have been grabbing lunch and dinner from our deep freezer for the past six months or more. I’ve been able to keep up the variety by rotating recipes that work and yield a lot, by switching up how I season things, and by trying out new marinades. We’ve been able to stick to the healthier, budgeted meals I make and aside from our date nights we hardly ever eat out.
It feels good to know on the nights I’m not home I’m still kind of there taking care of them through a home-cooked meal. It feels even better knowing there are no fresh fruits and veggies dying a slow death in my fridge -- everything has a purpose, gets cooked in good time, portioned, and stashed away.
It’s also pretty cool to have these little sous chefs picking, prepping, and honestly, making a mess of things but learning to try new things along the way.
I am not a nutritionist. I don’t have all the answers. But I’ve saved myself time and money by just trying, seeing what works for us, and adjusting from there.
If you’re feeling inspired well, then, check out some of my go-to spots for recipes!