Mum reveals how she prepared 65 meals in just two hours to last an entire week

It's no secret that meal prepping can save time and money, which is of the utmost importance for many families during the cost of living crisis.

Now, Kaitie Purssell, from Lake Macquarie, New South Wales, has shared how she was able to batch prep an impressive 65 healthy and affordable meals in just two hours.

While there were, naturally, some repeat meals in the batch, there was a surprising amount of variety within the meals too.

Healthy Mummy

Kaitie made eight portions of Spanick turkey rice tray bake, eight of spaghetti Bolognese, six of chilli con carne, and four servings of satay chicken.

She also made the following desserts: three servings of Snickers mousse, 10 servings of caramel slice and 20 servings of

apricot and coconut balls.

There were also portions of washed fruit within the massive meal preparation session, as well as boiled eggs, vegetable sticks and celery boats.

"Meal prep doesn't have to be huge or take all day to be effective!" Kaitie told the Healthy Mummy.

She prepares her meals with the help of the Healthy Mummy app, explaining: "I love choosing recipes with similar ingredients, this saves on time preparing and helps keep my grocery bill down."

Kaitie, who is a mum-of-two, credits her meal prepping to her loss of 21kg in 2020 and said that it stops her from needlessly overindulging.

Healthy Mummy

She explained: "Having snacks at the ready like boiled eggs and veggie sticks keep things easy and mean you're more likely to stay on track if the preparation has already been done.

"Getting organised and meal prepping has helped so much in my weight loss journey; I am a busy mum of two on a tight budget and always having a freezer full of meals and snacks saves me from skipping meals or grabbing a takeaway on nights that time is limited."

Katie has shared her top tips for any aspiring meal preppers and said that one of the best ways to save money is to use up what's already in your fridge.

She also recommends starting out small in terms of what you prepare so that it doesn't seem like an overwhelming task.

Healthy Mummy

"Cook double or triple serves of dinner each night and start building a freezer stash, even on days you are home throw something in the cooker just to portion up and freeze," she explained.

"It takes no time and it basically looks after itself."

The mum-of-two said that once you're into the swing of things, you can save more by buying ingredients in bulk, but you need to make sure the food you prepare is freezer-friendly.

She then shared a trick to bulk one meal into three, revealing: "Meal prep is all about saving time and money.

"I often make this meal and turn one meal into three, adding extra vegetables if I want to save extra money."

Topics: Real Life, Food and Drink

Emma Guinness

@guinness_emma