My Favorite Meal Prep
Keeping my variable spending budget under control has been the key to getting my finances under control and paying off credit card debt.
When I first started tracking my variable spend, I quickly noticed that eating out and random trips to the store for ready-to-eat items were taking up a massive chunk of my budget.
And the worst part about it was I wasn’t even spending on food I loved! It was always just grabbing something because I hadn’t planned ahead and I needed to get some carbs and protein in my body before I ended up as a featured story on Snapped.
So, I started meal prepping. Now, to be fully transparent, I don’t meal prep every single meal every single week. I mean… yuck. That’s just too much monotony. However, I regularly spend about 30-40 minutes on Sunday afternoons prepping my breakfast for the week and three or four lunches so that I don’t resort to spending $30 for getting a mediocre sandwich Door Dashed to my desk.
I don’t have any fancy recipes with beautiful photos to share, but below are my favorite tools plus go-to breakfast and lunch options when I cannot make myself think about the work week on a lovely Sunday afternoon.
Meal Prep Containers
My Favorite Meal Prep
I’ve had these for over three years and still use them every week.
Ok sure, you could totally throw everything into disposable baggies. It’s definitely a cost efficient option! But I always feel like crap when I overuse plastic.
Plus, there is just something about having all my meals for the week prepped and stacked in a nice little matching pile in the fridge.
It makes me feel like I have my life together and gives me serious ‘that girl’ vibes.
These are my favorite containers. I’ve had them for about three years now and still use them weekly. They’re oven, microwave and, most importantly, dishwasher safe!
2. My Favorite Easy Breakfast Meal Prep
If I absolutely cannot think about meal prep because it’s just too nice outside or I’m just entirely too deep in the latest Britney Spears documentary, I will at least prep breakfast. Since there’s nothing I dislike more on Sunday than spending it over a hot stove, I keep my breakfast super simple.
Eggs - Protein is a great way to help with ADHD symptoms. I’ll usually boil them to a medium doneness (I hate an overcooked egg yolk). To do this, I’ll put 8-10 of them on the steamer trivet in my Instant Pot for 5 minutes on high pressure. While they’re cooking, grab a big bowl and fill it with ice water. As soon as the timer goes off, release the pressure, grab a pair of tongs or a spoon and quickly move the eggs from the pot to the ice water so they’ll stop cooking. I leave them in their shell for packing. Then, when it’s time to eat, I peel them, slice them in half and top them with Trader Joe’s Everything but the Bagel seasoning and some hot sauce.
Fruit - My ADHD makes it hard to get all my fruit and veg servings in a day, so I try to start the day with two servings of fruit. I usually just grab whatever is easy, usually some combo of berries or clementine oranges. For the berries, I give them a quick rinse, then dump them onto a hand towel to dry. Then just toss them in a container with a couple of eggs.
Bread - I love bread so freaking much. I mean, who doesn’t?? As a reward for having protein and fruit, I usually pack a pain au chocolate from Aldi. A pack of ten is less than $4!
3. My Favorite Easy Lunch Meal Prep
If I have the motivation to do breakfast, I can usually also throw together a quick lunch. I don’t always prep lunch for the entire week because I like to leave a bit of room for spontaneity. But you can totally double the recipe below and make six servings instead of three. I throw together the ingredients below to make a quick pork carnitas bowl for lunches.
Pork Carnitas - you can get these ready-made at Aldi. I can’t remember the exact price but I know they’re less than $5.
Rice - I use white rice because it’s cheap and fast. I throw it in my Instant Pot for 10 minutes and handle the rest of my meal prep while it’s cooking. I usually do a cup of rice, two cups of water and a teaspoon of kosher salt.
Sort-of-Avocaco-Salsa - I take one avocado and dice it, throw it in with a handful of cherry tomatoes that I’ve sliced in half, 1/2 tsp of onion powder, 1/2 tsp of garlic powder, and juice of half a lime.
Limes - I’ll usually cut up a lime and throw a wedge in each container on top of everything else.
When it’s time to eat, I take out the lime, flip up the little vent on my meal prep container, and microwave for a minute. Then kind of shake the container around and microwave for another minute. When it’s done, I squeeze the lime wedge on top and enjoy!
These two meal prep recipes will give you breakfast and lunch for about $4/day. Yes, I could make it cheaper, but that would take longer and beautiful Sunday afternoons are too short to spend in the kitchen, don’t you think? Hope this was helpful!
Your Friend in Money and Mindfulness,
Sam
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