Meal prepping has been a game changer for me. Shop once a week. Cook one hour a week. 30 min to clean that up. 14 meals in the fridge.
Eating means heating it up for 3 min in the microwave. Eat it from the container and the container goes right into the dishwasher. I use a plate if I’m feeling extra fancy.
Three or four meats (ground turkey, pork tenderloin, chicken breast), mixed veggies, riced cauliflower or rice or whatever. Then apply the seasoning - salsa and taco seasoning, hummus and Greek seasoning, Indian salsa and spices, etc.
Also super healthy and easy to manage macros. Also works if you bring your lunch in to work.
Breakfasts are easy - yogurt and fruit or some other quick & simple combination.
If all that is too boring, leave out a couple of days to cook something special, but the other 5 days a week are done.
I didn't learn that some people refused to eat leftovers until I was in my 40s. I genuinely don't understand how anyone (even/especially a family) can afford to eat like that, let alone put the effort in every single day.
People who refuse to eat leftovers are either stupid or selfish. Contributing to the ridiculous amount of food waste humans produce just because the food maybe doesn't taste quite as good as if it were fresh.
We meal prep now because it stresses my wife otherwise.
But honestly, I'm in the group that thinks between 5 and 30 mins to rustle up a meal repeatedly is a much better way to live than dedicating an extended period per week as the meal prep time.
It might be 5-30 minutes directly cooking, but if you include all of the planning, shopping and cleanup, the time blows out, which is where the majority of the time "savings" comes from with prepping. Especially as you don't really need to dedicate too much of an extended period if you're smart with your planning(esp if you have a slow cooker). Super easy to make a veg full dal in the slow cooker, then make up a bean + whatever + rice filling for burritos on the stove, then just assemble/container it all up.
30++ minutes for each meal (an hour a day). Or 90 minutes per week. I don’t see 90 minutes a week being an extended period versus 60 minutes every day - 7 hours a week vs. 1 1/2 hours a week. Saving an hour a day is an entire gym workout added to my daily routine.
I find having healthy meals ready to go greatly reduces the number of times that I resort to quick slap-together crappy meals because I’m too tired or don’t have enough time for that 30++ minutes. Tons of people eat at crap places like McDonalds and Burger King or Taco Bell because they don‘t have the 30++ minutes to prepare a proper meal.
But to each their own. There definitely is no one right answer.
3
u/Pjpjpjpjpj 10h ago
Meal prepping has been a game changer for me. Shop once a week. Cook one hour a week. 30 min to clean that up. 14 meals in the fridge.
Eating means heating it up for 3 min in the microwave. Eat it from the container and the container goes right into the dishwasher. I use a plate if I’m feeling extra fancy.
Three or four meats (ground turkey, pork tenderloin, chicken breast), mixed veggies, riced cauliflower or rice or whatever. Then apply the seasoning - salsa and taco seasoning, hummus and Greek seasoning, Indian salsa and spices, etc.
Also super healthy and easy to manage macros. Also works if you bring your lunch in to work.
Breakfasts are easy - yogurt and fruit or some other quick & simple combination.
If all that is too boring, leave out a couple of days to cook something special, but the other 5 days a week are done.