Hey! I’m Hunter at Power Lunch Prep 💪
CONTENT CREATOR, BLOGGER, serial food prepper
My lunch prepping came out after COVID when my husband, James, went back to work in-office 5 days a week. I was still working from home full-time at this point!
We didn’t have the money for him to eat lunch out every day, and I’ve always been someone who is serious about nutrition and fueling our bodies. James (bless his heart) would have been happy eating a slim jim and some crackers, but I couldn’t let it happen. So I started meal prepping him lunches that he’d enjoy during the week.
one thing about me, I’m not going to waste GOOD food
One week, I had prepped James 5 lunches for the week, but his manager offered to take him out to lunch for a work meeting. So he didn’t need that fifth lunch. I usually would skip lunch because of a hectic work schedule, or would whip something up in the kitchen quickly because I was home. But instead, I decided to actually eat one of the meals I had prepped for James. It was so easy! I snagged it out of the fridge. It was ready for me to go. I could do a few other things on my lunch hour instead of cooking the whole time. And, I realized, on busier days that lunch seemed like a luxury, I could quick snag one from the fridge. From there, I started prepping meals for both James and during week.
THE LUNCH MATH
Generally, I found that it was easier to prep for two people. I could make 2 recipes each week instead of 1, and we could pick and choose each day for variation.
But, I also realized quickly that I didn’t need 10 meals prepped each week. It just didn’t work well for us. One of us would end up forgetting it one day, get lunch with coworkers, have a lunch meeting, etc.
The food waste drove me nuts, and I also usually have dinners pre-planned as well, so it wasn’t a great solution to just eat it for dinner instead.
We ended up making 8 meals per week (4 for each of us). Plus, we started looking at our work calendars before we shopped to try to get a rough number of the number of lunches we’d need for the week and adjust from there. For the most part though, our golden number is 8.
If we have a week where we could have used 5 lunches each, that’s a great day for leftovers or to budget for a little splurge lunch out.
I’ve always loved being in the kitchen.
I know there will be some people who will not want to do heavy lifting meal preps! Honestly, I want to! But, I have two kids (ages 6 & 5), a dog, a full-time job, and way too many hobbies. So I have worked to create meals that are low-effort and quick to make (for the most part). I’ll share as many time-saving tips and tools as I can as I share recipes you! But also, thanks for being here! And reading this long! I love lunch, and I hope you get to love it, too.
