Meal prep is for ANYONE who wants to save time, save money and eat healthily.

Who does it sound like meal prepping is made for? BUSY MOMS! MEAL PREP is for you, and it’s more simple than you think!

Want to know how I turned around my eating habits and actually ENJOYED it?!

Here is my Busy Moms Guide to MEAL PREP:

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WHY MEAL PREP?

TO EAT HEALTHY

When I am busy and unable to go grocery shopping or simply don’t have the time or energy to cook a full meal is when I reach for quick and easy. That usually entails something unhealthy. Take out, fast food, processed foods, junk, etc.

Meal prep gives you something to grab that is quick and easy, but also healthy and super convenient!

TO SAVE MONEY

When I calculated the cost of our meals when we meal prep I almost didn’t believe it.

We did the calculations several times to make sure we weren’t making a mistake, that’s how cost-efficient it is to meal prep!

For example, our favorite meal prep recipe comes out to $1.05 per meal. Yeah, you read that right. Quality ingredients, absolutely delicious and dirt cheap. Mind blown.

TO SAVE TIME

Me and my husband like to spend a couple of hours a week dedicated to meal prep, usually Sunday afternoons.

We prep the ingredients, cook everything, package it up and do the dishes.

It’s so quick and easy it can be done alone with no problems, but doing it together is fun and takes half the time!

Also, we only have to cook and clean once a week!

The rest of the week we have our meals already prepared and just toss the containers in the dishwasher when we’re done eating! Saves so much time and effort throughout our busy week.

OKAY, IT CAN’T BE THAT EASY. HOW DO YOU MEAL PREP?

The go-to meal that we make pretty often is just chicken, brown rice, and green beans. Simple, quick and tasty!

My husband has a smoker that he loves, so he seasons about 4 chicken breasts with our favorite seasoning Killer Hogs and throws them in the smoker for about 30 minutes. Done.

Then, I make brown rice. I make about 4 cups of brown rice, bring it to a boil and then let it simmer for 45 minutes. Done. The secret to amazing brown rice is using chicken broth for half of the liquid and water for the other half.

I also add garlic salt, pepper and about a tablespoon of butter. So yummy! I use a 2:1 ratio of liquid to rice for really moist and flavorful rice.

The green beans we don’t cook. I know it seems weird, because who wants to eat raw green beans?! Nobody. However, we chop them up really small and add a little lemon juice, salt, and pepper.

They end up cooking just enough when you microwave the meal, so it turns out perfect!

Vegetables are the most difficult part of meal prep in my opinion because of the fact that you have to microwave the meal when it’s time to eat.

Most veggies get pretty soggy and gross when cooked and then reheated, so we try to use veggies that can either be eaten raw or can be blanched and finished off in the microwave.

Also, chopping them super small helps a lot. When we’re feeling a little naughty we like to sprinkle a bit of shredded cheese on top for an extra treat.

And that’s it! Three ingredients, minimal effort and a whole week of delicious meals!

OKAY, BUT HOW DOES ALL OF THAT ONLY COST $1.05 A MEAL?!

HERE’S THE BREAKDOWN:

• COSTCO BONELESS SKINLESS CHICKEN BREASTS: ABOUT $25

Comes with 16 breasts. We use 4 breasts a week, which comes out to $6.25 per week

• COSTCO BROWN RICE: $13

Comes with 15 lbs of rice (about 38 cups), we use 4 cups a week, which comes out to $1.37 per week

• COSTCO GREEN BEANS: $4.99

Comes with 2 lbs of green beans, we use the entire bag.

That totals $12.61 per week which yields 12 meals. That is $1.05 per meal! 

ARE THERE ANY DOWNSIDES??

I would say the only downside is having to eat the same meal all week long.

Making really yummy meals helps, so it honestly doesn’t bother us at all. We switch up our recipes each week and that gives us variety.

Also, we like to give ourselves one night a week to have a non-meal-prep meal.

Whether that is at a restaurant for date night, take out, or even cooking a nice meal at home if we feel the urge.

DO YOU ONLY DO DINNERS?

No! We have loved meal prepping so much that we started dabbling into breakfast, lunch, and snacks!!! Let me know if you’re interested in those recipes, I can break those down as well!

Meal prep really is a game-changer in making life easier and allowing you to live a healthy and balanced life. I’m still shocked at how much money it saves us each week.

Pretty crazy to see such a good meal cost so little. It really gave us a reality check on how much we were spending on random groceries and eating out!

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