How Meal Prep Has Saved Me Over $330 Per Month

Time in the kitchen is far more enjoyable if you actually want to be there.

I've always said that I loathe cooking, but I'm beginning to wonder if that's quite true. I enjoy baking and I'm occasionally game to try a new savory recipe. I think what I dislike is having to be in the kitchen. I want to walk in there when I'm so moved, and not because I feel compelled to.

Finally hit a wall

Early evening is the time of day I feel most sluggish. Unfortunately, it's right around dinner time. It's tough to finish work, then feel inspired to whip up something delicious (or even edible). I'm not sure why it took so long, but earlier this year we decided to order meals from a nearby business that creates frozen, ready-to-heat dinners. The meal service cost us around $125 per week.

For a while, I loved it. The ingredients were fresh and the food was better than anything I would normally make. After a while, though, the meal rotation became monotonous. I started thinking that maybe I could do the same thing the business was doing, but at a lower price.

Now, I may be the anti-Betty Crocker, but I enjoy looking through cookbooks (weird dichotomy, right?). I pulled out my old, dusty cookbooks and started flipping through pages, stopping only when a recipe caught my eye.

One sensible decision

Because I'm not suddenly going to have the energy to run a marathon around dinner time, I decided to meal prep on weekends. With no set time I'm expected to be in the kitchen, I'm free to prep when the mood strikes.

The decision to organize and build meals on weekends has saved us money in two ways.

Fewer meals out

Prior to the ready-made meal experiment, we'd gotten into the habit of either picking up dinner from a nearby restaurant or saying hello to the GrubHub delivery person several times a week. I justified it by calling it our "one luxury," which I'm sure is not true. In any case, we spent an average of $35 three times a week on take-out. That's $105 per week, $420 per month, and more than $5,000 a year.

As someone who spends a portion of each day thinking about investments and my husband's eventual retirement, I'm shocked that I let it happen. I'd much rather put that money into an investment account that helps secure our future.

Whether it was a meal service or take-out, we were burning through hundreds of dollars a month that could be put to better use.

I happened to ask my husband today if he can remember the last time we ordered out. He thinks we've had food delivered once or twice in the past month. That means prepping meals we can both enjoy has saved us approximately $350 in the past month alone.

Even after factoring the cost of groceries (I buy frequently-used items in bulk), we're saving roughly $150 per month on dinners.

Leftovers

I've always been fascinated by people who eat leftovers. I know it's the responsible thing to do but it's tough to inspire yourself to reheat a meal you thought was horrible the first time around. Since I'm spending more time tracking down recipes that inspire me, I find that we're enjoying tastier meals.

Like ordering from a restaurant, I can't remember the last time I ended up tossing leftovers. As it turns out, some things really are more delicious the next day.

According to Earth.com, the average family wastes nearly one-third of the food they buy, or 250 pounds of wasted food each year. Because there are just the two of us, we spend about $600 on groceries each month. If it's true that we were throwing out one-third (which I believe), that means we were burning an extra $180 each month.

For us, meal prep is a win. We're saving money, eating better, and I'm complaining less.