The Real Deal: Batch Cooking for Busy Homes

Meet Samantha and Eric! These New Yorkers are looking to save big. Their long-term spending goal is to save up for a 10% down payment for their first home.

These newlyweds both work in the food service industry, working long hours with long commutes. Their busy schedules make it difficult to plan out meals for themselves during the week, resulting in a lot of impulse spending on take-out and food delivery. When they do go grocery shopping, they find that without planning ahead, they overspend on things they don't really need.

Kelsey Nixon, our Savings Experiment Food & Grocery Expert, is here to help! Kelsey's pro tip: batch cooking! A great solution for busy homes looking to watch their budget. By meal planning and batch prepping for the week ahead, you'll save time and money.

Kelsey's first tip for batch cooking, is to use a steam bag. Steam bags are a bargain at $3 for a pack of ten, and can allow you to store up to two weeks of meals in your freezer. Steaming is a healthy way to cook, by retaining more nutrients and moisture than standard plastic-ware. It also saves more space in the freezer! Just fill your bags with your grains, meat or other protein, veggies, and a marinade or sauce and you're good to go! Two weeks of meals should cost you about $31 total, or $3 a meal.

Kelsey's second pro tip is to do your research - there are several great food and recipe websites that offer delicious batch-cooking and freezer-meal recipes! Planning ahead and prepping once a week will really help instill those good habits.

After a few weeks of implementing batch cooking and meal prep into their weekly routine, Samantha and Eric are saving about $275 a month, meaning they could save up to $3,300 within the next year! They are continuing to work towards that down payment on their first home - and eating well and saving big along the way!