Meal prepping did not work for me because I was setting aside entire days to make batches of ready made meals. I had two huge problems. 1) I have chronic illness that can take me out for a day, and if that happens to fall on a meal prep day I'm just screwed and 2) we got so. sick. of eating the same thing over and over. My husband (reasonably) put his foot down about it.
However we spend WAAYYY too much on ordering out. A truly embarrassing amount. We both have intense jobs and again me with that illness, more than once a week we would go "screw it just order" and it was a serious problem.
I've found a pretty workable solution to what I hear amongst my peers is a common issue and I'd like to share it here.
When I have time and energy, I make big batches of components for a meal. Not special weekly dedicated meal prep time, just when I have the time to do big cooking I do more of the hardest longest bit for other meals.
If I'm roasting chicken I'll roast a bunch of chicken, then shred what's left after dinner to freeze in 1lb batches and save the bones for stock. If I'm making beans I'm making a bunch of meals worth of beans again frozen in one meal portions. If I'm making pizza i make a couple extra shells and freeze them. I've learned to can and recently made shelf stable chili and stock, and I'm planning spaghetti sauce next.
This isn't about saving money on the food itself. Those savings are small. ex: making beans vs buying a can of beans does save a couple bucks, but that's not the big deal here.
The savings come from having the hardest part of a meal ready to go for nights when we don't have any time or energy. Doing just the component instead of a whole meal guards against getting sick of the same meal over and over- for example cooked shredded chicken can go in all kinds of things but cooked shredded chicken makes a meal faster and easier than a frozen raw chicken breast. A pizza shell can be ALL KINDS of meals but a pepperoni and cheese is a pepperoni and cheese.
Doing a big batch of one thing I'm already making also takes a lot of the energy suck out of meal prepping and guards against not having special separate time just to meal prep. I was already roasting that chicken i just put on more of it. I was already making that pizza I just doubled or tripled the dough. I was making that meal because I had the time energy inspiration and health to do it, it's not EVERY SUNDAY AT 5. I don't have to spend a whole extra block of time cooking, which if I'm sick or busy that day is an absolute bitch to make up for.
So here's the payoff:
It makes throwing something together faster and more convenient than ordering ESPECIALLY on those days when we have no energy or time. It's absolutely killed impulsive ordering. We still will get food for special occasions or when we planned to, but no more "i feel like shit and you had to work super late let's just order pizza" has closed a huuuuuge gap in our spending without relying on "discipline".
In practice it's now "I'm exhausted let's just order. Ugh it's going to be an hour. I'm gonna make chicken tacos real quick. Damn that's so good tho." consistently reinforces oh this took ten minutes and it's way more delicious than what I was about to dump a bunch of money on. Over time the urge to order goes away as ordering becomes the inconvenience.
This practice has helped us cut way, way, way back on how much we order out without feeling deprived or drained. We still get delicious dinner fast and easy, we just don't have to spend an average of $75+ on food that night. We will still eat out or order, but it's planned and special, much less often and not impulsive.
Anyway this has worked far better for us than traditional meal prepping. i do suppose you absolutely can buy these things pre made for a similar effect to get started. spend a couple extra bucks to keep yourself from ordering. This habit is the best of both worlds for me.
Let me know your thoughts!
Meal components in batches instead of traditional meal prepping.
byu/elcasaurus inFrugal
Posted by elcasaurus
8 Comments
Yes! I’ve been freezing diced onions and cooked rice. It makes it so much easier to cook when i’m tired.
That sounds similar-ish to what I do. (Full disclosure: I hate cooking. The only way I can make food at home is if I make the prep & heating as absolutely as easy as possible.)
I have bins in my freezer. One is labeled “carbs”, and when I make a pot of rice, I put single servings of rice in there (or noodles , etc ). I have another one for “protein” , that’s single servings of chicken, beans, whatever. Some plain, but some in tomato sauce , gravy, etc. And another bin for veggies , single servings of frozen broccoli , corn, etc.
And then I can mix-and-match my meals. If I see that I’m getting low on veggies, I’ll prep some of those when I have time. If I’m running out of pasta, I make a pot of that. Like you said, it helps to spread out the work and give lots of variety.
I use souper cubes to make my frozen portions, they are THE BEST.
I think that’s fabulous!
Two completely separate reactions–
First thought: prepping the components rather than entire meals is something we do too. Most baked goods will keep in the freezer for up to three months, and so will many types of dough. We’ve got a cooking school textbook and use its recipe to batch prep pie dough. Pie fillings are often easy and quick to make; the work is in the crust. So throughout the cooler months, whenever we’d like a quiche or a chicken pot pie or some other pie it’s just a matter of thawing a ball of dough in the fridge overnight, and then rolling it out for use.
We also batch cook onions in the crock pot from time to time, and then freeze in portion sized packets for later use. And our freezer has a bag of what Julia Child calls “croutes:” slices of baguette that have been oven toasted–for use in quick French onion soup. We’ve modified the recipe so it’s ready in 5 minutes.
For pizzas, we buy mozzarella cheese 5 lbs at a time and divide that up into 1/2 pound portions before freezing. In our experience, that’s about the right amount for a medium size pizza. We make up the dough from scratch (a bread machine does the real work) and freeze what we don’t eat the first night. It’s convenient to have homemade pizza on hand for times when we’re too tired to cook.
Now that the price of eggs has come back down, we hard boil about ten eggs once a week. Four of them get eaten whole as snacks; the others go into potato salad and egg salad/ham salad/turkey salad.
And about once a week we make a quart of plain yogurt. Most of that goes into breakfasts, but we prefer yogurt to mayonnaise for the potato/egg/etc. salads.
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Second thought: although there might be missing context, at first and second read your post seems to describe a troubling division of work issue. You have a chronic illness and you’ve come up with a useful workaround–and good for you! *Yet your husband put his foot down about the family menu, seemingly without lifting a finger for any purpose other than to order takeout?*
Is his health worse than yours? Has he recently finished medical school and works 24 hour shifts in residency?
Why does this read like you’re bending over backwards to accommodate someone who prioritizes his own convenience over your health?
that is how we do it ~ makes meal prep just a quick assembly and heating process.
I love this approach so much! I have a chronic illness too so I feel you – I want to eat well and take good care of myself but some days I’m totally wiped out by dinner time! Making a double batch of my favorite meals/components and freezing half is such a great gift to my future self.
OP, excellent plan that fits your limitations!
Traditional meal prep is another term for eternally eating leftovers instead of fresh food. Some things I make in big batches because it reheats well. But some things really do not keep well after being cooked. The roasted chicken in your example is one of them… if I can’t have it fresh, I won’t have it.