I finally broke down and started meal prepping on Sundays

Last month I was spending about $60 a week just on lunch from the deli near my job. I told myself that was fine because I didn't have time to cook. Then I sat down and added it up for 3 months and almost fell off my chair. Now I spend Sunday afternoon making a big batch of chili or stew for about $15 total. Does anyone else find it hard to stick with a meal prep routine past the first few weeks?

2 comments

Log in to join the discussion

Log In

2 Comments

williamprice3mo ago

Oh, bless your heart, I have to gently correct something there. You said the chili costs about $15 total for the week. That number is probably a bit low unless you're buying everything on sale and using dried beans. A good batch of chili with decent ground beef, canned tomatoes, onions, peppers, and proper spices usually runs closer to $20 or $25 these days. But you're absolutely right that it's still way cheaper than deli sandwiches. My advice for sticking with it is to not get too fancy or complicated. Just pick two or three simple recipes and rotate them. The moment you try to make something that takes two hours and uses fifteen ingredients, you'll burn out fast.

6

ray6483mo ago

Hold up, I gotta disagree with this. Most people quit meal prep because they go too simple and get bored eating the same chili for five days straight. The burnout isn't from fancy recipes, it's from eating cold leftovers while your coworkers order something fresh.

2