Back at the end of February Shaun
approached me with the idea of instead of grocery shopping and going out to eat
doing a meal plan program. We both work full time and neither one of us feels
like cooking by the time we’re home at 6pm and we haven’t had much success
finding healthy recipes that A. don’t cost a fortune to make B. aren’t
complicated and most importantly C. actually taste decent. Spaghetti squash is
not “just like” real spaghetti – stop the lies people. So, the idea was
certainly appealing – until I saw the price tag of $170 for 5 days for one
person – that over $2,000 a month for our household and clearly was not
happening. We liked the concept though and got a few meals from the company
offering the plan and supplemented with snacks on our own. For me, the biggest victory
of these meals is that they actually taste decent and unlike a lean cuisine
they aren’t just low calorie they are protein rich, thus more filling. So after
years of having friends talk about how great it is to do meal prep on Sundays I
was finally sold on the idea.
approached me with the idea of instead of grocery shopping and going out to eat
doing a meal plan program. We both work full time and neither one of us feels
like cooking by the time we’re home at 6pm and we haven’t had much success
finding healthy recipes that A. don’t cost a fortune to make B. aren’t
complicated and most importantly C. actually taste decent. Spaghetti squash is
not “just like” real spaghetti – stop the lies people. So, the idea was
certainly appealing – until I saw the price tag of $170 for 5 days for one
person – that over $2,000 a month for our household and clearly was not
happening. We liked the concept though and got a few meals from the company
offering the plan and supplemented with snacks on our own. For me, the biggest victory
of these meals is that they actually taste decent and unlike a lean cuisine
they aren’t just low calorie they are protein rich, thus more filling. So after
years of having friends talk about how great it is to do meal prep on Sundays I
was finally sold on the idea.
Example of a $10 lunch
Look, I like to cook I do but it’s
a real PITA and time suck. Luckily, The Fresh Market offers plenty of
pre-prepared items at reasonable prices. We have become quite the fan of the
chicken roll-ups and most are less than 400 calories and is a nice little meal
in itself that just needs to be baked for 30 minutes. Our favorite is Chicken
Oscar which is a chicken breast with crab stuffing and asparagus for 330
calories and $3.99, yum! We also get lots of fish, which also just needs to be
baked. Another favorite is the salmon burger, which we just eat plain like a
crab cake rather than with a bun. Since focusing on eating healthier we have
added a lot of fish to our diet and typically only eat pork or beef if we go
out. I think chicken microwaves better than fish so I tend to bake the chicken
roll-ups and box them up for lunches and the bake fish fresh at night. I also
pre steam vegetable and cook rice for the week and keep large containers of
both in the fridge.
a real PITA and time suck. Luckily, The Fresh Market offers plenty of
pre-prepared items at reasonable prices. We have become quite the fan of the
chicken roll-ups and most are less than 400 calories and is a nice little meal
in itself that just needs to be baked for 30 minutes. Our favorite is Chicken
Oscar which is a chicken breast with crab stuffing and asparagus for 330
calories and $3.99, yum! We also get lots of fish, which also just needs to be
baked. Another favorite is the salmon burger, which we just eat plain like a
crab cake rather than with a bun. Since focusing on eating healthier we have
added a lot of fish to our diet and typically only eat pork or beef if we go
out. I think chicken microwaves better than fish so I tend to bake the chicken
roll-ups and box them up for lunches and the bake fish fresh at night. I also
pre steam vegetable and cook rice for the week and keep large containers of
both in the fridge.
Our new plan involves one protein
shake a day, 2 snacks and 2 meals for me and 3 for Shaun (I have my shake as my
breakfast while Shaun has his in the afternoon and eats a healthy breakfast). We
got a Blender Bottle set at Sam’s club for $19.99 that included 2 bottles, 2
blender balls and 6 containers one of which has a pill insert. I love this because
I can pour skim milk in my bottle the night before and keep the shake mix separate
in a container that snaps onto the bottle so it’s easy to grab and go in the
morning and mix when I’m ready to drink it. Mine of course is pink.
shake a day, 2 snacks and 2 meals for me and 3 for Shaun (I have my shake as my
breakfast while Shaun has his in the afternoon and eats a healthy breakfast). We
got a Blender Bottle set at Sam’s club for $19.99 that included 2 bottles, 2
blender balls and 6 containers one of which has a pill insert. I love this because
I can pour skim milk in my bottle the night before and keep the shake mix separate
in a container that snaps onto the bottle so it’s easy to grab and go in the
morning and mix when I’m ready to drink it. Mine of course is pink.
The most time consuming part of
the prep are our snack boxes. These are probably our favorite part of the
program. I should feel a little ashamed for admitting this but I just completely
copied the $5 box the local vendor offers; although it involves larger expenses
the first time to buy the almonds and goji berries each box costs us a little
over $2 each. Even with soaking the apples in water with citrus essential oil I
don’t like to cut them up more than a few days in advance so I tend to box up
snacks on Sundays and Wednesdays. The little princess containers are the
perfect size to hold the items that need to stay dry and I got them from the
Dollar Tree – four in a pack; Shaun has blue ones but he took the stickers off,
I have no shame apparently. The color coding those does help us keep track and
which containers are for each of us. With this healthy eating kick I completely
reorganized our fridge – but I’ll share that in another post.
the prep are our snack boxes. These are probably our favorite part of the
program. I should feel a little ashamed for admitting this but I just completely
copied the $5 box the local vendor offers; although it involves larger expenses
the first time to buy the almonds and goji berries each box costs us a little
over $2 each. Even with soaking the apples in water with citrus essential oil I
don’t like to cut them up more than a few days in advance so I tend to box up
snacks on Sundays and Wednesdays. The little princess containers are the
perfect size to hold the items that need to stay dry and I got them from the
Dollar Tree – four in a pack; Shaun has blue ones but he took the stickers off,
I have no shame apparently. The color coding those does help us keep track and
which containers are for each of us. With this healthy eating kick I completely
reorganized our fridge – but I’ll share that in another post.
The $5 original
My boxed snacks
It didn’t take very long for
Shaun and I to both notice a difference – we feel better and we eat less when
we go out, at a few of our favorite spots we can now share things we used to
each have our own of so it saves us money when we do go out as well. I admit, I
still like going out to eat so we try to go out at least twice a week – there’s
really nothing romantic about eating your pre-cooked healthy meal out of a
plastic container at home. But overall the routine has been successful for us
and now that we’ve established it we have the energy and time to focus on other
areas of improvement.
Shaun and I to both notice a difference – we feel better and we eat less when
we go out, at a few of our favorite spots we can now share things we used to
each have our own of so it saves us money when we do go out as well. I admit, I
still like going out to eat so we try to go out at least twice a week – there’s
really nothing romantic about eating your pre-cooked healthy meal out of a
plastic container at home. But overall the routine has been successful for us
and now that we’ve established it we have the energy and time to focus on other
areas of improvement.
Of course, a cute lunch bag makes it even better
Stay tuned for updates on our super organized fridge!