Life · Living Frugal

Living Frugal: My 1st Meal Prep Attempt 

Oh, Rosalinda

Hi there! Welcome to Mimosas & Marionettes!

Today I am here with a different kind of post! A few days ago I attempted my very first meal prep mission. I set out to complete 4 days of lunch meals and I am so excited to share my experience with you!

I decided not to go to the store and instead just work with what I already had in my refrigerator and pantry!  You might ask what initiated this whole meal prep mission in the first place and I must say it is because… You guessed it, I am trying to save money. I find myself always stopping for food on my way to work. If I cut that fast food run not only will I be eating a healthier meal but I will also be saving money.

Before I start I will say I didn’t take pictures of everything. I also prepared parts of the meal before hand so I would save time.

Here are the ingredients I used for this 4 day meal prep.

  • 1 cup of jasmine rice
  • 1 cup of black beans
  • 3 Large Tilapia Fillets
  • 3 Small Potatoes
  • 2 Organic Carrots
  • Olive oil
  • Basil
  • Salt
  • Pepper
  • Garlic Powder
  • 1 whole onion

First I cooked the cup of beans the night before in 2 cups of water in a medium sauce pan. Lots of people soak the beans overnight or at least a few hours before they start cooking but I didn’t have time to soak them. So I just set the burner at a medium heat level and let them boil. They sat on the stove for about 60-75min. Since I will be reheating them later I cooked them until they were tender. I also added a little bit of butter because why not? Lol I put them in a glass container and let them chill in the fridge overnight.

I finished up my prepping the next day. I cooked the cup of jasmine rice in 2 cups of water. I brought it to a boil and then reduced the heat and let it simmer for 20min or until the water was absorbed. It came out nice and fluffy!

I picked up a ton of Tilapia from my local Fiesta a few weeks ago. I kept it in my freezer and only pulled a few fillets out as I needed them. I decided to cook 3 for these 4 meals.

They were pretty large fillets and came packaged individually in plastic so I let them thaw outside of the plastic in a glass container for about 4 hours. I left them in the frigde while i was at work and when i came back they were ready!  I seasoned them with pepper, salt, basil, and a little bit of garlic powder. I also added some Olive oil, set the temp to 350, and placed them in the oven for 25min.


Sorry for my messy oven! Cleaning it is on this week’s to-do list. All the holiday cooking and baking really took a toll on it!

I also cut up some carrots and potatoes that I had in my refrigerator vegetable drawers. It was all I had left from my last grocery trip. I seasoned them with pepper, salt, Garlic powder, and added some Olive oil. I roasted them in the oven for about 20min.

They came out perfectly roasted and  was so excited!

I cant believe I had that many ingredients in my pantry and felt really great about cooking them and making these meals. I love that I didn’t spend any money and really utilized all my previously purchased food.

Here is what my meals looked like before I added the fish! I tried my best to distribute everything evenly in the containers shown below. Since I dont have matching plastic containers my meals look like this….

The fish came out so juicy and very tasty! Again I tried my best to split the 3 fillets into 4 equal portions.

When I was finished I wasn’t satisfied so I decided it needed some savory onions on top and grilled some on the stove top.

I cut up an entire onion into rings and added olive oil to the pan along with some pepper and garlic salt.

It was the best decision I could’ve made to add that extra savory touch!

Here are my lunch meals for the next 4 days!

 

I am so incredibly pleased with how this weeks meal prep turned out!! I would say mission accomplished just to toot my own horn! I hope to continue to do this in the upcoming weeks. I really need to start being a lot more frugal and focus on saving money this year. More to come on that subject!

Thanks so much for reading and I really hope you enjoyed this type of post. If you liked it please let me know down in the comments. I would love to know if you’ve ever tried to meal prep before and your results!

– Rosalinda

16 thoughts on “Living Frugal: My 1st Meal Prep Attempt ”

  1. Love your latest habit! I know it’s difficult but you can def do it :)) rooting for you :)) I don’t really meal prep but I do boil like 5-6 eggs at a time for quick snacks, or if im making quinoa, I’ll make a big batch of it so i can just add it to meals or salads – it’s filling & makes things easier!

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  2. I told myself i would start cooking more and meal prepping as well to eat better and save money… Well i ordered pizza last night lol… I’m going to do better today i swear. Good luck with everything💜💚💙

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  3. I’ve been trying to figure out how to do fish for lunch, I may have to try this! I typically try to make a bunch of things to freeze and switch out different types of lunches each day. Did the fish keep well in the fridge for the 4 days, or did you freeze it? I’ve done a lot of soups and recently I’ve also cooked a bunch of chicken and froze them in single servings. I bring a potato and carrots that I cook in my potato bag and add seasonings to them to add a healthy flavor.

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    1. The fish kept great! I really enjoyed it. I like the idea of making lunches I can freeze. I think I will definitely try that. Surprisingly I didn’t get tired of fish like I thought I would! Haha! I might try chicken next time! Also I’m sorry for not knowing what a potato bag is!!! Can you please fill me in!

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      1. If you have a sewing machine and any sewing skills it’s one of the easiest things to make (I’m hoping to blog about it later this month). It’s basically a 100% cotton bag that you can cook potatoes and veggies in. You don’t need to fork potatoes when microwaving them when you put them in this bag, they come out REALLY good. If I cook potatoes and veggies I will cook the potato for a minute or two first, then add the veggies. I cook a lot of potatoes, carrots, asparagus, and brousle sprouts in them. I learned the hard way that some veggies like onions don’t do well in there.

        Here is a link to what it looks like on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Blackcell-Microwave-Baked-Potato-Bag/dp/B00PGJ3LFQ

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      3. I read about the potato bags about a year ago and I use them almost daily! I look forward to your next meal prep post! I do a lot of the same and I’m not much of a cook, I love reading about what others do when it comes to meal prep.

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  4. I am about to embark on this whole meal prep as well but I might do it after I do the 21 Day Fix. I need to prepare my body of not indulging lol. I love food too much! The good looks yummy though!

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      1. The 21 Day Fix program comes with 2 DVDs for the workouts. All workouts are 30 minute sessions. Then you give you a meal plan to help with a smoothie/drink bottle and portion control containers for meal prep. If you do this program it is supposed help you break your bad habits. You know if you do something consistently for 21 days that it will become a habit for yourself. I heard so many good things about it. I will definitely check out your new post. I am going to probably post about my experience with Curology, an online acne medication/dermatologist site. It is pretty awesome. I think once I can establish a habit is when I will meal prep plus I need to budget myself accordingly for groceries.

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      2. That sounds awesome. I am in need of some type of training program that I can actually keep up with. Rn I am considering joking a gym but it might be a little out of my price range. All the gym around Dallas are pretty expensive. 30min consistent workout might be just what I need. Let me know if you blog about your experience I would totally love to read!

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