Mum shares how she prepped $170 worth of food for a family of four

© Provided by Daily Mail
MailOnline logo

A 29-year-old mum who lost 21 kilograms through meal prepping has revealed how she prepared a week’s worth of food for her family of four for only $170.  

Kaitie Purssell, from Lake Macquarie, New South Wales, has been dubbed the ‘queen of meal prepping’ thanks to her impressive efforts in the kitchen, and she used her skills to lose weight when she needed to after giving birth.

The budget grocery buys included food for breakfast, lunch and dinner as well as healthy homemade snacks.  

‘Meal prep is all about saving time and money,’ Kaitie told the Australian weight loss program, the Healthy Mummy. 

By being organised and meal prepping once a week, she said there are ‘no excuses’ for skipping meals, reaching for unhealthy snacks or grabbing takeaway food. 

Prior to buying groceries, Kaitie checked all the produce she had in her pantry, fridge and freezer to reduce the cost as much as possible.  

While the meal prep took a whole day to complete, she made eight serves of stovetop lasagne, six serves of honey soy chicken for salad, 12 serves of sausage and veggie pasta bake as well as eight serves of cheesy chicken meatloaf and ‘healthy’ chicken nuggets.

But she didn’t stop there, as she also made lamb, sticky Asian-style chicken meatballs, chicken parmigiana and fried rice with spring onion and corn.

The snacks included 12 serves of chocolate rice crisps, 18 serves of ‘healthy’ chocolate coconut brownies 12 serves of strawberry cheesecake ice blocks and 18 serves of puff pizza bites.

For after school snacks, she also prepared chocolate chip banana bread, Spring onion dip and vegetable sticks. 

All the food was placed into portion-sized meal prep containers and stored away.  

© Provided by Daily Mail
The 29-year-old said the key to meal prepping is to prepare the food, keep the plan simple and dedicate one day of the week for it

The 29-year-old said the key to meal prepping is to prepare the food, keep the plan simple and dedicate one day of the week for it.  

‘If Sunday doesn’t work for you find a time that does!’ she said.

‘I often spend less than an hour in the kitchen preparing a whole week of food for my family. 

‘It doesn’t have to be hard or take all day!’

© Provided by Daily Mail
If you want to make a start in meal prepping, the 29-year-old said the best thing you can do is set aside an afternoon or set evening every week (Kaitie pictured before and after)

© Provided by Daily Mail
Kaitie (pictured) said if she wants to save money, she bulks out meals and snacks with filling vegetables like lentils

The busy working mum also said she always thinks it’s easier to cook in bulk and freeze at least one portion.

‘It’s so much cheaper to make most things from scratch, it doesn’t take much longer and you are cutting out a lot of sugar and other nasties by doing so,’ Kaitie said.

Kaitie has shed an impressive 21 kilograms with meal prepping and said shopping online is another one of her invaluable tips to stop you from over-shopping.

‘Always get the ingredients for and make double, triple or quadruple amounts of the dinner you’re making each night and freeze it,’ she said.

‘That’s how I started. If I was making one banana bread, I’d make two, cut one up and freeze it.’    

© Provided by Daily Mail
With meal prep, Kaitie (pictured before and after) also freezes leftover ingredients – from curry paste and tomato paste to pasta and liquid stock

If you want to make sure your meal prep is cheap, Kaitie said one of the best things you can do is bulk up all your mince dishes with lentils and grated vegetables.

She also freezes leftover ingredients – from curry paste and tomato paste to pasta and liquid stock.

‘Pop them in ice cube trays and transfer into labeled ziplock bags for the freezer to reduce wastage,’ she said.

Finally, she said you should always check supermarket catalogues for weekly specials.

‘Meal plan according to the sales and then shop online so you can see your total before you check out,’ Kaitie said.

All recipes come from the Healthy Mummy app.

Read more