Mum saves £100 a month by cooking a week’s worth of meals at once

A MUM-of-three has revealed how she saves £100 a month by cooking a week’s worth of meals for her family in one go.

Jenn Carnaby, 33, a probation officer from Manchester, spends a day cooking dinners for her family of four for the following week.

The savvy chef then plates them up in microwavable and dishwasher-friendly trays and stores them in a chest freezer in the shed.

She told  : “When we don’t meal prep then we can spend up to £50 a week on nipping to the shop for bits each day, so we can save between £80 and £100 a month by prepping.

“I normally spend about £30 to £35 [a week] depending on if I am prepping for me and my partner or all of us including the kids.”

Jenn, who works full-time, began meal prepping three months ago when she signed up to Slimming World.

She says that making meals in advance saves time later in the week and reduces food waste because the fresh ingredients are only in the fridge for a day before she cooks with them.

It also removes the temptation to order a last minute take away when she’s too tired to cook.

The types of meals Jenn makes includes chicken or beef curry, spaghetti bolognese, cottage pie and chilli.

She starts by cooking the rice, pasta or mash first before moving on to the main meal and then the vegetables.

Jenn added: “Meal prepping is fantastic as when you get home from work and want a home-cooked meal but don’t have the time then you can just pick an already cooked meal from the freezer.

“When you work full-time and have kids anything that saves time to ensure you all eat a healthy meal is always a winner in my eyes.”

But she also warns that they key to getting it right is being organised by planning your meals, writing a shopping list and don’t put it off.

Jenn’s advice for others looking to start meal prepping is that organisation is the key to getting it right.

“Plan your meals, write down a shopping list and don’t put it off,” she said. “It will save you so much time further down the line.
“It feels satisfying and good knowing that your meals are ready for the week, whether it be dinners for work or tea for the family.”

Jenn isn’t the only one to embrace batch cooking. Once mum has revealed how she can cook 20 meals in less than an hour using frozen ingredients.

Meal-prepping also helped account manager Charlotte Deniz  to loose six stone in 10 months.

First-time buyer Luke Beasley also used the money saving meals to help him raise the funds for a deposit on his first place.