You’ve heard about meal prepping and it sparked your curiosity. You’re trying to find new ways of saving money and realize that a huge portion of your salary is going to your monthly meals. But… Does meal prepping save money?
The short answer is YES. Meal prepping can save you lots of money, but also time and energy.
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Does Meal Prepping Save Money?
In this post, I will share 14 ways in which meal prepping can help you reduce your monthly spending, but first…
What Is Meal Prepping?
Meal prepping consists of cooking food ahead of schedule and portioning it out to create dishes that you can take out of the fridge and eat right away on the following days.
It’s common to prepare meals for the whole week, but there’re also people who like to meal prep every 3 days to maintain food freshness.
Either way, meal prepping will allow you to save money and be more in control of what you eat and how it’s cooked.
14 Ways In Which Meal Prepping Can Save You Money:
- Less delivery and takeaway
- More health
- A planned grocery list
- Kitchen inventory
- Leftovers recycling
- Cheaper utility bills
- Fewer ingredients per meal
- Pantry items in bulk
- Canned food
- Fewer dishes to wash
- Simpler cooking process
- More efficiency
- Season foods
- Better deals
Less Delivery And Takeaway
Have you ever arrived at your house after a busy day, opened the fridge, and seen nothing to eat, not even a single miserable grape?
I’ve been there several times and the easy way out was always ordering food delivery.
My bank account cried every time I hit the ‘Place Order’ button.
Did you know that the average American spends $1843.72 each year on food delivery orders?
That’s a lot of dough!
But with meal prepping, it’s a totally different story.
Once all the cooking work is done, you have all your fridge packed with grab-and-go meals that you can create for less money.
What’s more, you can arrive home with peace of mind, knowing that plenty of food is available to enjoy without spending your precious dollars on meals that you can perfectly cook by yourself ahead of time!
More Health
And what happens when we don’t find anything to eat and regret not having cooked at least rice to survive?
We are tempted to choose less healthy options and we either order a hamburger with fries or stuff our mouths with the cookies we found forgotten in our pantry.
Our brains prefer easy things.
It’s better to eat whatever we find in our kitchen or have the food delivered to our house instead of getting off our butts and cooking the meals we are supposed to be eating.
Being ill for not having cared about what we put in our bodies can be hella expensive.
Stroke, diabetes, vitamin deficiencies, you name it; illnesses mean thousands of dollars in medical bills and prescription costs.
However, with meal prepping you can breathe easy knowing that you will have nutrient-packed dishes that will help you not only stay fit and healthy but also save money in the long run.
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A Planned Grocery List
Oh, I love this one. Has it ever happened to you that you go to the grocery store only for some noodles and end up buying a gazillion things you don’t need?
Again, I plead guilty; I go to the store to buy some bananas and tofu for the week, but my bag ends up weighing 5 pounds.
The solution? Sticking to a shopping list prepared for your weekly meal plan.
And that’s why I love meal prepping: it’s a fantastic way of saving money as you know exactly which ingredients you need to buy and avoid purchasing random products on impulse.
Kitchen Inventory
Once you have your grocery list ready, I recommend heading to the kitchen to make an inventory of the ingredients you already have available.
I hate it when I find rotten eggplants in my fridge. Talk about wasting your money!
But no. You don’t have to go through this like me.
It’s better not to overpack your fridge and to make regular kitchen inventories.
This is not only to avoid buying items you already have, but also to keep produce from going bad.
Leftovers Recycling
Meal prepping makes you more aware of the fact that all food can be repurposed by being added to other meals to create new dishes and save money in the process.
Take for example meal remnants such as cooking water, veggies, rice, and salad dressing; these can be added to soups, pasta, burritos, and frittatas, which will save you several visits to the grocery store.
You won’t see food leftovers as waste ever again!
Cheaper Utility Bills
Meal prepping can help you save money when you go to the store, but it is a wonderful way of cutting your energy consumption as well!
Cooking your meals in one go using your oven at its fullest capacity and at once means that you can save more energy during the week, which translates to cheaper utility bills.
Once your meals are done, all you have to do is just reheating them in the microwave, one of the best low-energy usage appliances.
What’s more, you can halve the cooking time by defrosting items in the fridge overnight, before the next meal-prepping session.
Fewer Ingredients Per Meal
When you meal prep, minimal ingredients can be mixed together to create multiple, delicious meals.
In my case, for example, I cook black beans with garlic and serve them as is for lunch one day and then use them to make whole-wheat fajitas for dinner the next one.
See? This way, you can prepare simpler and cheaper meals making the most out of your available ingredients.
Pantry Items In Bulk
Before going to the grocery store, think of what ingredients you can buy in your local bulk food shop to save extra money when meal prepping.
Buying in the traditional grocery store means you are paying for the excessive packaging of the products.
Who needs that? Instead, buy in bulk whenever possible to get charged less per unit and make fewer visits to the store.
Apart from that, bulk buying allows for low-cost meal prepping, making several servings of one specific meal all at once.
So, next time you prepare lasagna, buy tomato sauce and pasta in bulk to enjoy your meal for many days and for a cheaper price!
Canned Food
One of the reasons I like to use canned food is its practicality. For meal prepping, it’s a game-changer.
What’s better than heading to your pantry and having ready-to-go options that can be instantly added to your meal-prepping containers?
It really saves a lot of time, makes meal prep easier, and helps you stick to your budget as it’s cheaper than its fresh counterparts. Plus, it seems to last forever!
To save even more money with meal prepping using canned food, be sure to sign up for your store loyalty program or app to get the best sales and discounts.
Fewer Dishes To Wash
Is there anyone who hates washing dishes here? Well, I’m the kind of gal that doesn’t enjoy doing the dishes at all!
Fortunately, meal prepping can help you streamline your cooking process to have fewer dishes to wash and save money on your water bill.
You see, when you enter the fabulous world of meal prepping, you learn tricks and tips to cook your meals more effectively.
For starters, be sure to:
- Rinse and reuse bowls and utensils
- Mix ingredients in the storage containers from the start
- Batch prep veggies and fruits
- Become a fan of instant-pot recipes
This way, you benefit from shorter cleanup sessions while protecting your pocketbook too!
Simpler Cooking Process
We are busy bees, so we don’t need to spend a thousand hours in the kitchen to get things done, right?
Meal prepping allows you to cook tasty, yet not so elaborate meals that do the job.
This is the formula you need to follow:
One source of protein + quinoa/rice + veggies. That’s it.
Then you can add basic spices. Once you get comfortable with your meal-prepping system, you can try other recipes.
You can even do two weeks of prep and freeze one in clear containers to know what’s inside instantly.
More Efficiency
Meal prepping adjusts to your schedule, diet, and budget thanks to a master meal plan.
Instead of cooking random food all week long and getting crazy trying to come up with recipe ideas, create a meal plan to batch-cook your meals and save time and money in the process.
As in many meal-prepping plans, try repeating meals throughout the week.
Save time and money in the kitchen by buying and preparing the base ingredients of your meals in one go and combining them in multiple dishes for the week, eliminating those last-minute recipes that leave you all stressed out.
Season Foods
My grandmother used to tell me: ‘Don’t buy fruits that are not in season! They are going to rip you off!’ And she was totally right.
If you want to start meal prepping on a budget, you’d better start memorizing what are the fruits and veggies that are in season.
As in-season foods are easy to grow and harvest, they are abundant and don’t have to be imported from other areas of the country or even the world to have them available for consumers.
This dramatically reduces the price per unit if compared to off-season fruits and veggies.
What’s even cooler, in-season food tastes better because it’s harvested at its peak freshness and it’s more nutritionally dense.
Eating by the seasons is a big win for your wallet and your health too!
Better Deals
Squeeze. Every. Penny. That’s the point!
If there’s something that meal prepping has taught me is that you can always find new ways to save money and make the most out of your options.
Restock yourself for your next meal-prepping session by applying these tips on your next visit to the grocery store:
- Use coupons, but only for the items you will actually use
- Make your meal plan according to what’s on sale
- Negotiate prices with the seller if the product is expiring soon or is slightly damaged
- Ask for a discount if you are buying a large quantity of a specific product
- Always buy generic items over brand names
- Compare prices to decide where to buy
What Can I Meal Prep For The Week?
If you are looking for healthy meal prep ideas, get inspiration from this list and start simplifying your life by cooking in advance!:
What Items Do You Need To Meal Prep?
If you want to cook food for the week ahead, these are the must-have items for meal prep:
A slow cooker: Perfect for people who don’t want to spend ages in the kitchen. You throw in the ingredients and let the appliance do the work for you. Then you come back to the kitchen and the meal is ready to enjoy after a few hours.
Glass storage containers: Here you will store your food for the rest of the week. Glass containers are eco-friendly and these in particular are BPA-free. They are so durable. I love them!
A half-sheet pan: To roast veggies, meat, and fish. It’s one the best tools for cooking food easily. Say you want to cook zucchini, you chop it, add a drizzle of olive oil and oregano, throw it in the pan, and cook in the oven for 20′ to have a delicious side dish. As simple as that.
Mason jars: Also great containers, above all, for salads, soups, overnight oats, and chia pudding. If you use them to store salad or soup, just empty the mason jar onto a dish when it’s time to eat.
A cast iron skillet: I’m a big fan of sheet pans and I cook all my meals with one of these! Cook scrambled eggs, veggies, chicken, turkey, ground beef, and tofu.
So there you have it! If you were asking yourself if you can save money with meal prepping, I think you can rest assured that this system works wonders. Now, head to the kitchen and implement these tips! Your wallet will thank me later. Happy cooking!
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Does Meal Prepping Save Money?
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