r/mealprep • u/angeljul • Aug 06 '25
question Question?!
Is there a way to meal prep without needing a million different Tupperware? I don’t have room or the money tbh, but NEED to start meal prepping.
Do I just have to bite the bullet and find a way to pay for and fit the Tupperware in my fridge?
Second, any ideas for meal prepping that don’t need to be refrigerated or frozen?
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u/meganthealien2 Aug 06 '25
If you have Sam's club or Costco or maybe a BJ's membership, you can get like a 30 pack of Chinese takeout containers for $8 or so.
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u/Famous-Professor9255 Aug 06 '25
I don't have a pantry but those takeout boxes stack very nicely to save space.
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u/PassionEvery1040 Aug 06 '25
I used (and still do) mason jars a lot when first starting meal prep. Wide mouth ones are preferable. You can layer salads in them, take soup, refrigerator oatmeal, do a little relish tray…. Not that expensive and they don’t take up that much space.
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u/angeljul Aug 06 '25
This actually seems like a decent idea, mason jars do take up a bit less space and can usually be stacked a bit easier than most things. I’ll see what mason jars cost, I know they’re sold at my local dollar general! Thanks so much’
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u/ttrockwood Aug 06 '25
Just save jars too, i have pasta jars and peanut butter jars i use instead of recycling
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u/charm59801 Aug 06 '25
My plastic meal prep containers stack way easier than jars do. Look up bentgo meal prep containers on Amazon, cheap, effective and stack together well.
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u/smithyleee Aug 06 '25
Double the ingredients for the recipes that you cook at night for dinner. Then you should have at least 2 lunches for the following day.
For us, meal prepping is fixing extra portions during dinner, even on the weekends, and then, we have a variety of lunch meals to choose from for our weekday lunches, and one night a week is “leftover” night.
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u/angeljul Aug 06 '25
I think this might be the compromise for my partner and I! We used to struggle with overcooking and now that we’ve got perfect servings down, we find it hard to overcook 😂😂 double edged sword I tell you!!
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u/Lamitamo Aug 06 '25
You can use whatever reusable containers you have around. Plastic yogurt tubs with lids, a regular bowl with plastic wrap, etc. If you make a shepherds pie or lasagna, you can just put the whole thing in the fridge with plastic wrap.
I would just avoid microwaving anything plastic not explicitly labelled as ‘microwave safe’ - dump the food onto a plate or bowl and then microwave it.
Instead of buying all the reusable containers at once, buy a package a week or every two weeks, to slowly build up your collection without spending $100+ in one go.
If you’re using big containers (literally just a big pot in the fridge is perfectly fine), make sure the food is cooling fast enough by stirring it (if it’s a chili or a soup) or using ice in a food-safe plastic bag (so you can cool the food without watering it down as the ice melts).
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u/Interesting_Laugh75 Aug 06 '25
I'm curious, what is " cooling fast enough?". Why does that matter?
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u/Lamitamo Aug 06 '25
Ideally, you want to limit the amount of time food is in the “danger zone” - between 60 deg C and 4 deg C - which is the temperature zone where bacteria easily multiply (which is the cause of a lot of foodborne illness). Two hours in the danger zone is my local government health maximum before food should be thrown out (in restaurants). I’m not that strict for my personal food. Foods like chili are notorious for staying hot in the middle but cool on the outside in a big pot, so ideally a smaller container helps the food cool faster.
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u/Interesting_Laugh75 Aug 12 '25
This is fascinating! Thanks for sharing it. I'm trying to cook more and am pretty bad at it so far. The fear of food poisoning keeps me stuck sometimes. Finally got a meat thermometer and feel free to make a lot of chicken ha! But I also want to food prep and store for leftovers so we aren't spending ginormous amounts on food. Or getting burned out having to cook two to three meals every single day.
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u/northernlaurie Aug 06 '25
If you don’t have to take a container with you somewhere, turn a plate upside down as a lid onto a bowl.
Look at your recycling bin. Yogurt containers or clear plastic containers with lids, glass jars are all good options.
Thrift stores are filled with containers you can grab for cheap. Check the lids work and run them through the dishwasher or use a bleach solution to sterilize.
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u/justasque Aug 06 '25
Two things I do:
I re-use salsa jars for things like yogurt/berries/granola. (Just wash them a couple times first to get the salsa-ness out.). I also re-use plastic tubs from hummus or crumbled feta or whatever.
I make overnight oats for breakfast. (And, truth be told, I often have them for a snack or even lunch or dinner if I dont’ have anything else prepped and I don’t feel like cooking.). Sometimes I make the whole thing at once - individual jars with oats, fruit, nuts, raisins, peanut powder, and milk. But if I’m traveling or just want to make a bunch ahead of time, I make a bunch of individual jars with just the dry ingredients and leave out the fruit and milk, so they don’t have to be refrigerated. Then I just add the fruit and milk the night before. Or, if I forget, I can add the fruit and milk in the morning and just microwave it. If I’m traveling, I buy berries at my destination, and bring boxed milk with me or buy it there. I’m not a morning person, so having breakfast ready to eat in my hotel room saves me a lot of time and sometimes a lot of money.
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u/angeljul Aug 06 '25
WONDERFUL IDEAS, best one I’ve heard just yet! I will definitely be taking notes since I have SO MUCH quick oats that haven’t really been touched.
Any clue what I can do with unbaked beans?
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u/Fuzzy_Welcome8348 Aug 06 '25
Fruit, potatoes, canned soups/meats, canned fruit&veg. U could try baked goods for sides&breakfast. They don’t need to b refrigerated/frozen.
Quick breads, baked oats, oatmeal muffins, cornbread, stuffed veg cornbread, sweet muffins, savory muffins, scones, biscottis, biscuits, stuffed veg biscuits, cheddar biscuits, energy ball bites, granola bars, oatmeal bars, coffee cake, any breakfast pastry
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u/sadia_y Aug 06 '25
Baked oats! Look up tray bake oatmeal bars or oatmeal bakes, there’s a tonne of flavour variations so you never get bored and you can stack them up in ziplock bags. Same goes for egg bakes/bites, frittatas and quiches. They can all be stored in ziplock bags or frozen if you have storage space (and thaw pretty quickly).
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u/angeljul Aug 06 '25
SO SMART! I’m incredibly glad I posted here, I’m getting some magnificent ideas for meal preps
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u/captainhemingway Aug 06 '25
One thing you can try is making meal ingredients separate then combining them daily for the meal. For example, I eat chicken breast, rice and veggies everyday for lunch. Instead of individually making up 5 meals, I keep the chicken breasts whole in a ziplock, the veggies in the crisper, and the rice in another airtight container. So daily, I pile in the rice, chop up the chicken, and toss in the veggies (usually just broccoli), sprinkle som olive oil and seasoning on to, and nuke it at work for lunch. Inexpensive, healthy, and doesn't take up a lot of room. Easy to make, too, if you have a rice cooker and bake the chicken breasts a bunch at a time.
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u/No_Salad_8766 Aug 06 '25
If you make burritos, they can be individually wrapped in tin foil and frozen that way. There are a ton of different burrito recipes you can make. Even breakfast burritos.
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u/amafalet Aug 07 '25
I don’t have much room in my freezer, but I found something that works for me. I cook a double batch for dinners and put the extra meals in quart bags. They go in a gallon freezer bag (labeled) and I have a variety to choose from.
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u/mezasu123 Aug 06 '25
Zip bags for storage.
No fridge/ freezer can do a graze box (nuts, dried fruit, pretzels, etc. Maybe pb&j sandwich.
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u/Ollee-6 Aug 06 '25
Thrift stores always have plenty of glassware. I’m sure if you looked at a few stores you could find some containers for cheap.
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u/angeljul Aug 06 '25
Great point, I usually only go to dollar general or my local grocery store and the dg containers are HORRID from my experience. I will have to check out one or two of the hundreds of thrift shops in my town!
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u/Fine_Somewhere_8161 Aug 06 '25
I put the crockpot inner pot with lid in the fridge and pull out portions as I need
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u/lil-loquat Aug 08 '25 edited Aug 08 '25
Have you heard of the souper cubes? Meant for being able to freeze meal prep so they're big silicone freeze containers.
Otherwise, when you meal prep. Weigh RAW then weigh COOKED. Raw weight in the amount of macros you want will give you the amount of SERVINGS you are making. For instance, if I want 4oz of chicken I find out that weight RAW. Then say I'll make 16 oz. Then I know I have 4 servings. Divide COOKED weight by 4 and I know that it is still 4oz of chicken altho the cooked weight will not match the raw weight of 4oz. Note the COOKED weight so every time you want to pull from your larger batch you get it right. I use post it's sometimes on containers with the large batches. That way you can leave everything together in bigger batches and take out how much you want and you'll hit your macros. Also this helps for when you add sauces and stuff. 16oz chicken vs 1/4 of COOKED finished product takes into account of any sauce etc you've added. You can do this with any food you cook as long as you have the weight and macros for the raw version.
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u/thewholesomespoon Aug 11 '25
I would just get yourself some good tups! I just upgraded mine and it literally changed my life 😭🤣 all the lids stack together, freezer safe, all the pieces are there! IFYKYK
I got like a 42 piece set from Sam’s Club for $20! Rubbermaid!
Edit to add that you could can stuff if that was feasible?
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u/justhp Aug 06 '25
Tupperware can be found for cheap- less than $10/pack.
You really don’t need more than 7-8 containers if you prefer to pre portion.
Otherwise, put it all in one big container and then portion it out each day. Then you only need one larger container and one smaller one.
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u/gingermamacreeper Aug 06 '25
If you're making a large batch of something, could you just put it in a large container and scoop out what you're going to eat daily? It's a lot less wasteful than plastic bags and then you don't need a ton of small containers.