Gone are the days when ten dollars can get you all-you-can eat. Heck, these days, ten dollars can’t even get you three sushi handrolls.

And that ain’t filling up nobody!

So it means that many Australians are now getting creative and thrifty when it comes to food so that eating out doesn’t swindle away all their money.

One of the most effective ways to save money when it comes to food is to meal prep.

In all honesty, meal prepping is far less sexy and aesthetic as it looks in TikToks.

But it can pay off a tonne - it’s often healthier, it’s always cheaper and it may even keep your skin glowing. Okay, maybe not the last part.

So here’s some top meal prepping tips to get you started:

1. Cook for the week in one day

In the meal prep game, failing to prepare is preparing to fail because meal prepping is all about batch cooking.

You want to portion out food to get yourself set up for the wee

You don’t want to leave it to the last minute once the pangs of hunger have aggressively kicked in. Let’s be honest, nobody should see you at that point.

Because when hunger sets in, Uber Eats starts to looks like a much faster and more tempting option than the groceries in the fridge.

During your prep time (let’s say.. Sunday 4pm) - you don’t have to cook food entirely for the whole week. You could cook for half the week and then ‘prepare’ the rest. 

For example, cutting and freezing veggies for a stirfry you’ll make later in the week.

Either way, you’ll save yourself time, effort and money by setting aside a couple of hours on the weekend to prepare and cook food for the week.

2. Buy your staples in bulk

Your staples in the kitchen are the items you’ll use regularly that won’t be at risk of going off. 

Think rice, pasta, salt, or oil.

They’re the sort of items you’ll likely use regularly and buying them in bulk can not only save you trips to the grocery store but save you money as items usually cost less in bulk.

3. Planning is key

There’s two types of planning when it comes to meal prepping. 

There’s planning the meals themselves, and then there’s planning the grocery shop.

Start your week (Monday) by planning what you’ll be cooking and have a suss of what’s already in your fridge and pantry to help you decide.

Then make a grocery list of what you’ll need once you’ve planned the meals and you know what you’ve already got at home.

Pro tip: try to use more recipes that can be changed slightly and don’t require niche and specific ingredients. 

That way you can mix and match the fresh produce you use depending on what’s on special and what’s in season.