Meal Prep Services

On I mentioned that our meals this week were being delivered by a local service. It’s the second time I’ve used them and hope we can factor it into our regular budget. My justifications:

• The service isn’t too much more expensive than letting meat and produce spoil before I cook it
• Fewer trips to the grocery store means fewer impulse purchases (my history includes socks decorated with turkeys, bought because I “needed” socks that were black and brown)
• Cleaning is limited to the dishes we heat the food in and those we eat from — just think of all the money saved by using less water and soap and heating less water 😉�
• My good hours aren’t consumed by dinner

I’m good at justification, but suggesting options to meal prep, cooking and cleanup is actually the point of this post. Meal prep “shops” are all about simplifying dinner — no shopping, chopping or cleaning required.

Once a month you check the menu online and order the meals you want. You make an appointment at a meal prep location, where each dish has a station with a recipe, ready-to-assemble ingredients, and containers and baking pans. All you have to do is put it together and stick it in your freezer at home to cook when you’re ready.

My local and organic food kick rules out meal prep places, but friends have given good reviews. If you don’t like the first place you try, visit some others. They all have different menus and vendors. A of shops is available and you can Google “meal prep” to find others.

It’s more expensive that cooking at home. But think of the cost as part of your health care costs — meds, ER visits, meal prep. This is convinced that not getting stressed or wearing myself out with dinner reduces my pain levels.