A mum has revealed how she manages to cut costs while feeding her family nutritious meals – by prepping a whopping 20 meals at a time.
As a busy working mother-of-two, Emy Lee is careful to manage her time – and money – when preparing food for the week.
The 32-year-old has gone viral on TikTok, sharing a video of the mammoth mission she sets herself every week, which garnered 6.3 million views.
- Advertisement -
While the extra time spent on the weekend may not be attractive to some, Emy says the practice helps her to save $120 (£90) a week.
“Convenience is costly, and I save so much money in convenience food by prepping,” the mum, a part-time spending and budget coach from Texas, US, told What’s The Jam.
Emy, who shares a four-year-old son and three-year-old daughter with husband Chris, prepares dozens of fresh meals for dinners throughout the week, stores them in plastic bags in the freezer, and cooks them in a slow cooker or crockpot.
The content creator, who boasts over 120,000 followers online, has been meal prepping since attending university over a decade ago as a way to save time and money, while eating healthily.
Now, she spends 1-2 hours planning the meals she will make on a Sunday, before buying the ingredients and preparing the dishes the following day – which she estimates takes a further hour.
- Advertisement -
She said: “I have a grocery list template that I use every week.
“I pick the meals I plan to cook and then add the ingredients I need to buy to my grocery list.
“I usually plan to make three dinner recipes in addition to one breakfast and one lunch prep – each of which has three-four servings – every week.
- Advertisement -
“We are eating leftovers or freezer dinners for the rest of the meals!”
Emy spends between $200-$300 (£153-£230) to make between 15-20 meals, which she stores in her freezer, often working out at roughly $3 (£2.30) a head – without sacrificing on high quality ingredients.
The mum said: “We buy mostly organic, high-quality, whole foods.
“It’s easier for me to eat healthier if I have it all prepped.
“I love to do a big freezer meal prep ahead of busy life seasons too.
“I’ll do these big freezer preps when I know life will be hectic for a bit.
“Such as, when I worked full time and had a 1.5 hour total commute each day, for postpartum, and for pretty much every holiday season.”
As well as it being quick and easy throughout the week, Emy says it avoids the family spending money on costly takeaway foods.
She even says the practice has become enjoyable, adding: “Meal prepping has become my favourite form of self-care.
“If I’m home alone, I’ll put my favourite trash TV on in the background and prep.
“Or if my kids are home, we will blast the music and do it together.
“My kids love to help, and you’ll often see them in my videos chopping, mixing, and stealing ingredients.
“It’s our bonding time.”
