Since moving out, I’ve been trying to plan out low-effort but nutritious meals - a sort of strongly utilitarian mealprep.
My goals are:
- I don’t want to have to think about cooking or eating
- I’m happy to eat fairly bland food if it’s healthy, inexpensive, and doesn’t take long to cook.
Once, while chopping onions for a meal, I realized: there’s almost certainly a machine that can chop 100,000 onions per hour. I recognize that a lot of people derive pleasure and relaxation from cooking a delicious meal (indeed, I’m probably one of them). But, at this time, I’m barely coping as it is, and if I don’t have a quick meal prepared I just as often don’t eat at all (or I eat e.g. a whole box of granola bars).
With this in mind, and the Meal prep does not seem like the best use of my time.
it’s unfortunate that the fruits of industrialization.
most precooked options seem to be less healthy - high salt, trans fats, etc.
Groceries are one of my largest expenses. In fact, I accidentally spent $600 in groceries one month - I’m still not quite sure how.
I tried eating vegetarian for a while (legumes). I was just on the edge - it’s actually not inexpensive to do so.
I am not a diet expert! I have no guarantee that this will not harm you.
Ground rules
No coupons. I think I should be able to make this work at the base price - if a can of beans costs $2.00, if I coupon hard and get it for $1, this seems tragedy-of-the-commons and ultimately unsustainable. The economics of ‘price-matching’ and coupon-ing seem pretty wild. Ultimately I don’t want to eat cheap at the cost of e.g. employee salary or quality-of-life.
Oh no, I have no meals
- Co-op roast beef sandwich $6
- Subway ($12)
- USask ag cafe
Desk pantry
keeping a desk pantry i think a good idea. I don’t seem to have time for breakfast most days, so I get a bit fuzzy by mid afternoon. The vending machine is expensive nowadays and the food is not the best.
Things i’ve used at the desk pantry
Cuscus
Tuna
Granola / energy bars
Great but fairly expensive and not really satiating. I once ate half a box in one sitting! I feel like there’s way too much sugar in almost all the options for this to be worthwhile.
There’s a lot of fancy brands that come in smallish boxes - however usually on the bottom shelves there are typically big bulk boxes. Got a lot cheaper once I noticed that!
Canned soups
This is great stuff - reasonably filling (though only a few hundred cals per can) and saves time and money if i forgot to pack a lunch on a certain day. Since it needs heating, though, not an instant snack. It’s also a little impractical to walk down the stairs at work with a brimming bowl of soup. Need a can opener unless you get a pull-tab can.
Lots of different brands.
Sachets
Was looking for non-perishable food I can keep at work. Soups were getting a little old, and besides it’s only a few hundred calories per can. Here’s another option, basically equivalent to ramen noodles:
6-month expiry date. These sachets are 2/$6 at Walmart. Lots of different flavors.
I also put some tuna in my drawer for a pinch.
Cuscus is another storable, quick-to-prepare food - I just use the work kettle. You need to be able to put a lid on whatever container you use to cook it.
Nuts
Peanuts and almonds. Walmart carries big jars of peanuts.
Cookbooks and resources
Frugal Vegan: Affordable, Easy & Delicious Vegan Cooking
on a suggestion from Stuart (read via Kindle, Amazon Kindle: Your free personal library you can take anywhere).
Jack-Monroe/A-Girl-Called-Jack–100-delicious-budget-recipes/15403047
Also has a blog: https://oursouthend.wpcomstaging.com/
Economy Gastronomy: Eat well for less
reddit.com/r/mealprep
food budgeting | UNL Food
Recipe Central | UNL Food | Nebraska
It’s awesome to see the similarities between cooking and science.
The local library is a great way to find new, curated cookbooks.
Ingredients I like
Pre-cooked frozen meatballs
This brand caused some gastointestinal discomfort however.
Ground beef
This has come out of the rotation in favor of ground turkey, because:
- A large amount of grease comes off when frying, even extra-lean beef, which is tedious to keep soaking up and draining off. Ground turkey doesn’t seem to have this problem and is about the same price. Turkey has a solid amount of Vit. B12 as well.
Inexpensive way to get good calories. I fry it in a pan or skillet.
Ground meat seems to be difficult to evenly cook once frozen. I’ve found it much more convenient to cook immediately after buying, then freeze, or just keep in the fridge for a couple of days before cooking.
Beans
chick pea mixed bean seasoned cans are actually a hundred and fifty calories per 125 mL, more than just .