A plumber named Craig spent $80 a week on gas station food. Felt like garbage. Couldn’t figure out why.
“I don’t have time to cook,” he said. “I work sixty hours a week.”
So I showed him meal prep. Not the Instagram kind with matching containers and elaborate recipes.
The kind that takes two hours on Sunday and feeds you all week.
The basic principle
Meal prep isn’t cooking. It’s assembly line manufacturing.
You make large quantities of a few things. You portion them out. You grab and go.
Craig’s old approach: Decide what to eat five times a day, five days a week. That’s 25 decisions. Most of them made while hungry and tired.
Craig’s new approach: Make five decisions on Sunday. Execute all week.
The Sunday two-hour routine
Hour one: Cook proteins
Craig makes two proteins in bulk:
Sheet pan chicken: 8 chicken thighs, seasoning, 400°F for 35 minutes. Done.
Ground beef or turkey: 2 pounds in a big skillet, browned with salt and pepper. Done.
Total protein for the week: About 150 grams per day.
Hour two: Cook carbs and vegetables
Rice or potatoes: Big batch in a rice cooker or pot. Enough for the whole week.
Roasted vegetables: Whatever’s cheap. Broccoli, bell peppers, onions. Sheet pan, olive oil, salt. 425°F for 25 minutes.
That’s it. Two hours. He’s got the building blocks for the whole week.
The assembly system
Craig uses 5 meal prep containers. Not the fancy ones. Just standard plastic containers with lids.
Each container gets:
- 1 portion of protein (chicken OR beef)
- 1 portion of carbs (rice OR potatoes)
- 1 portion of vegetables
Total prep time after cooking: 10 minutes to fill containers.
Total cost: About $40 per week. Half of what he was spending at gas stations.
The rotation
Craig doesn’t eat the same thing every day. He just varies the assembly:
Monday, Wednesday, Friday: Chicken + rice + vegetables
Tuesday, Thursday: Beef + potatoes + vegetables
He adds variety with sauces (hot sauce, BBQ sauce, salsa) and extra items (apple, almonds, jerky).
Breakfast and snacks
Craig keeps these simple:
Breakfast options:
- Eggs (boiled on Sunday, grab and go)
- Oatmeal packets (add hot water from thermos)
- Greek yogurt (in the cooler)
Snack options:
- Apples, bananas
- Almonds or mixed nuts
- Protein shake (mix on site)
- Jerky
All of this gets prepped or portioned on Sunday. Grab and go.
The equipment
Craig spent $30 on:
- 10 meal prep containers (reusable)
- 1 good shaker bottle for protein shakes
- 1 small soft-sided cooler
- 2 ice packs
Everything else he already had. No fancy kitchen gadgets.
The advanced moves
After a month, Craig started experimenting:
Batch cooking: He makes double portions and freezes half. Two weeks of food from one cooking session.
Theme weeks: One week it’s Mexican (beef, rice, peppers, salsa). Next week it’s Italian (chicken, pasta, broccoli, marinara). Same process, different flavors.
Sunday prep + Wednesday refresh: He cooks on Sunday, but does a smaller prep on Wednesday for fresh vegetables.
What about no microwave?
Most sites don’t have one. Craig’s solutions:
Thermos method: He puts hot food in a thermos in the morning. Still warm at lunch.
Room temperature method: His food is fine at room temperature for 4-5 hours. He’s eating it by noon.
The cooler: Keeps things fresh until he’s ready.
The bottom line
Meal prep isn’t complicated. It’s just doing the work once instead of five times.
Craig saves $40 a week. Eats better. Feels better. Has more energy.
“Two hours on Sunday,” he says. “Best investment I make all week.”