Beginners Meal Prep Guide

If I wasn't so busy in my free time with other side projects I would heavily consider blogging about my meal prep. Mainly because I get so much feedback from my friends about how they "could never do that" when in fact with a little planning it's not very hard at all IMHO. I bought 3-compartment containers off amazon [0] that have held up for about half a year now but are looking a little long in the tooth (but they are super cheap considering). I'd love to have glass but it's super expensive.

I normally sit down on Sunday/Saturday and plan out 2 different meals for the week (I do lunches for myself and another friend) and depending on the meal 2-4 different sides to make. It doesn't take more than 30min max to find a recipe (either from pinterest or one of my own, Paprika [1] is the THE BEST recipe app out there IMHO) and create a shopping list. From there it takes 2-3 hours to cook and "plate" everything and then I'm set for lunches for the week. My meals normally come out to $4-5/meal but they are protein heavy and I could get them way cheaper if I was ok with more carbs.

[0] https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B011SY4P9I/

[1] https://paprikaapp.com/ -- Quick note: Yes they make you buy each app separately (iPhone AND iPad are different apps) but over all for macOS+iPhone+iPad it was $30 total and their syncing service works perfectly. I regularly find recipes on my phone or laptop, save them into the app, then use my iPad for cooking. It also has a GREAT feature that allows you to "pin" multiple recipes so you can flip between them easier. It can suck in recipes from just about any website you throw at it and is one of my favourite apps.