Living on canned beans and ready frozen meals from Coles and Aldi has been the life of an international student, Shan, for over the past few months since she got here. With the tight and busy schedules she has between balancing work and study, heating meals in the microwave became a robotic habit of hers.
Not until she moved to a house where meal prepping was part of the weekly routine of her housemates, she began to see the value of cooking healthy meals and packing them in containers to be ready for the week.
“While ready meals cost less than $5, the protein-rich meals that I need are about $10, and I am on a tight budget,” she says. “Then I found out that there are discounts on Everyplate and Hellofresh, and they send you the ingredients and instructions on how to cook.”
She took advantage of the discounts and received boxes every Friday of the week, and made time in the evening to make big batches of meals to prepare for the next week. As a beginner in the kitchen, following instructions was a challenge and there would be times she would burn her croutons in the oven.
In the three weeks of meal prepping, she has built a strategy to keep the carrots fresh in the fridge and cut down the time of cooking; set a reminder to take the chicken breasts out of the fridge during the day; and separated the vegetables in containers for them to be ready before meal prepping.
“The plan is to get recipe ideas and find out what I enjoy eating and cooking the most. Until I can drive, I’m going to use discount coupons and have ingredients sent to my house in boxes.”
Not only is she saving money and eating healthy, she has found therapy in cooking while playing good tunes in the stereo. “I feel a sense of accomplishment every time I finish a recipe–food starts tasting more delicious if you cook it yourself too.”
Shan desires to improve in the kitchen and eat a balanced diet, and along with that journey are meal prep tips she might share in the future. If you have meal prep stories and tricks you want to share, send us your story at uniqsocialmedia@gmail.com.
Disclaimer: This article is not paid or sponsored by Everyplate and Hellofresh.
