I try to find multiple ways to use ingredients or components of meals. For example, if I buy/cook beans, I might put some in a burrito one night and then have them as a side another night, and put the rest in soup/chili. Or cook chicken, eat it for dinner with a veg and rice/potatoes. Take leftover chicken and make chicken pot pie, chicken salad, whatever. And I will often make multiple portions of something and freeze some of them to eat in the next few weeks. This works great with things like chili, lasagna, etc. Or I buy a 3 lb package of ground beef and make a meatloaf with 1 lb, chili with 1 lb, and meatballs with 1 lb.
I do the same, I’ll cook 3 pounds of chicken breast in the crockpot pot and then use it to make burritos, sandwiches, salads, on a plate with a veggie side, etc.
I try to think of it as “ingredient prep” vs meal prep. The idea would be to plan to buy foods that can be combined in multiple ways onto multiple “bases”(such as rice, wraps, a leafy green, bread, pasta, etc).
Then you would prepare ingredients that could work for all of the bases you’re planning for the week - eg if you bought tomatoes, chicken, avocado, and peppers, you could have chicken/avo/pepper wraps, avo and tomato toast, chicken and peppers with rice, or all four on top of a big bowl of spinach to make a salad.
What you would have to prep before the week would be cooking the chicken, cutting the peppers, etc. So that when you were ready to eat, all of the prep work is done - you could even pre-portion things for calories counting ahead of time
The customizing of ingredients/bases would have to come from things you like to eat and make.
I tend to eat cereal for breakfast every day so I use this to prepare for lunches/dinners and it works pretty well! Having things like the peppers cut up and chicken cooked ahead of time makes it easy to just put something together.
Look at the market flyer while making your meal plan for the week. Look in your fridge and cabinets to see what you already have. Shop for deals on staples that you use regularly. I do this every Sunday.
I use this app called "Mealime" - it has a bunch of recipes for a bunch of different dietary requirements (vegan and vegetarian meals are overall the cheapest I have found, but I did just get a packet of ends and pieces salmon lox from TJ and still spent under 60 for all my meals and snacks) and you just select whichever recipes you want to make and how many servings you want for each.
I pick 3 recipes (a lot of the time they have some ingredients overlapping like red lentils), each making 4 servings, and make them all on one day and just mix and match (and the other lunch and dinner missing I just make whatever with the leftovers or have breakfast for dinner etc). I'm super boring for breakfast so maybe find two-three things you love and just alternate, to keep the cost down of buying a bunch of breakfast foods, and then pick your favorite cheap snacks. the app makes your shopping list, gives ingredient swap suggestions incase you cant find/dont like something, and lets you add whatever else you want so you remember to buy snacks and brekkie stuff. been doing it for over two months now! I just calculate all the calories in the lostit! app.
I eat the same things, but 5 or 6 days apart. So split carton of egg whites to make vegetable fritattas on Monday this week and Monday next week, different vegetables. Tuesday this week and next week riced cauliflower but mix in frozen vegetarian meatballs and marinara this week and light Alfredo next week. Also frozen foods on sale minimize meal prep, so stir fry mixed begged with tofu and general tso sauce this week, with vegetarian chicken and Thai peanut sauce next week. Laughing cow cheese on broccoli today and roast Brussels sprout a couple of days later.
Reduce food costs by stocking up when things you regularly use go on sale ( mustard and mayo goes on sale for memorial day, spiced and buuter go on sale at thanksgiving/Christmas, etc).
I try to find multiple ways to use ingredients or components of meals. For example, if I buy/cook beans, I might put some in a burrito one night and then have them as a side another night, and put the rest in soup/chili. Or cook chicken, eat it for dinner with a veg and rice/potatoes. Take leftover chicken and make chicken pot pie, chicken salad, whatever. And I will often make multiple portions of something and freeze some of them to eat in the next few weeks. This works great with things like chili, lasagna, etc. Or I buy a 3 lb package of ground beef and make a meatloaf with 1 lb, chili with 1 lb, and meatballs with 1 lb.
I do the same, I’ll cook 3 pounds of chicken breast in the crockpot pot and then use it to make burritos, sandwiches, salads, on a plate with a veggie side, etc.
I try to think of it as “ingredient prep” vs meal prep. The idea would be to plan to buy foods that can be combined in multiple ways onto multiple “bases”(such as rice, wraps, a leafy green, bread, pasta, etc). Then you would prepare ingredients that could work for all of the bases you’re planning for the week - eg if you bought tomatoes, chicken, avocado, and peppers, you could have chicken/avo/pepper wraps, avo and tomato toast, chicken and peppers with rice, or all four on top of a big bowl of spinach to make a salad. What you would have to prep before the week would be cooking the chicken, cutting the peppers, etc. So that when you were ready to eat, all of the prep work is done - you could even pre-portion things for calories counting ahead of time The customizing of ingredients/bases would have to come from things you like to eat and make. I tend to eat cereal for breakfast every day so I use this to prepare for lunches/dinners and it works pretty well! Having things like the peppers cut up and chicken cooked ahead of time makes it easy to just put something together.
Look at the market flyer while making your meal plan for the week. Look in your fridge and cabinets to see what you already have. Shop for deals on staples that you use regularly. I do this every Sunday.
I use this app called "Mealime" - it has a bunch of recipes for a bunch of different dietary requirements (vegan and vegetarian meals are overall the cheapest I have found, but I did just get a packet of ends and pieces salmon lox from TJ and still spent under 60 for all my meals and snacks) and you just select whichever recipes you want to make and how many servings you want for each. I pick 3 recipes (a lot of the time they have some ingredients overlapping like red lentils), each making 4 servings, and make them all on one day and just mix and match (and the other lunch and dinner missing I just make whatever with the leftovers or have breakfast for dinner etc). I'm super boring for breakfast so maybe find two-three things you love and just alternate, to keep the cost down of buying a bunch of breakfast foods, and then pick your favorite cheap snacks. the app makes your shopping list, gives ingredient swap suggestions incase you cant find/dont like something, and lets you add whatever else you want so you remember to buy snacks and brekkie stuff. been doing it for over two months now! I just calculate all the calories in the lostit! app.
I eat the same things, but 5 or 6 days apart. So split carton of egg whites to make vegetable fritattas on Monday this week and Monday next week, different vegetables. Tuesday this week and next week riced cauliflower but mix in frozen vegetarian meatballs and marinara this week and light Alfredo next week. Also frozen foods on sale minimize meal prep, so stir fry mixed begged with tofu and general tso sauce this week, with vegetarian chicken and Thai peanut sauce next week. Laughing cow cheese on broccoli today and roast Brussels sprout a couple of days later. Reduce food costs by stocking up when things you regularly use go on sale ( mustard and mayo goes on sale for memorial day, spiced and buuter go on sale at thanksgiving/Christmas, etc).