Master meal prepping: How we save 100s of hours and 1,000s of dollars per year

My wife, Mindy, and I have always been health conscious, but felt like food stole too much of our time, energy, and money.

As a fitness fanatic, I love creating systems that make fitness feel effortless.

Mindy, a soon-to-be-super-mom, loves creating and testing new recipes.

Once we got married in 2022, our strengths collided and made meal-prepping magic.

My nutrition knowledge combined with her culinary curiosity quickly evolved into our own meal prepping system.

A system we are excited to pass to you.

Our prep-piphany

One Saturday morning, after 2 hours of browsing Pinterest, taking notes, planning our meals for the week, we felt defeated.

"I want to make something that eliminates the stress around cooking forever", Mindy said.

Over the next few weeks, she began compiling recipes.

A month later, Mindy flew to Colorado to visit a lifelong friend.

I envisioned her returning on Sunday night, elated by the clean house, folded laundry, and food-stocked fridge.

I pulled one of her recipes: a simple, picturesque white chicken chili.

Being the systematic thinker I am, I wanted to see how efficiently I could:

1. Make this meal
2. Prep it into containers for the week
3. Calculate the calories & macros

So, I built a White Chicken Chili web page, and timed myself.

• Grocery order: 1 minute
• Walmart park-and-pickup: 10 minutes
• Follow the instructions: 20 minutes
• Divide into prep containers: 2 minutes

Cost per meal: $3

In half an hour, we had 8 healthy, affordable, macro-friendly meals prepped.

Sure, it was fast and affordable…

But my favorite part was the simplicity.

No more:

• Scouring the internet for something good.
• Writing grocery lists… checking the pantry… checking the fridge… changing the list
• Calculating serving sizes, calories, or macros for complex dishes.

None of that.

Just one click to order and follow the instructions.

Mindy came home, and my plan worked.

Brownie points = earned.

"It was so easy!" I told Mindy when she got home.

"Why doesn’t everyone prep like this?!"

The system that changed our lives

Over the past few years, this system has:

• Saved us 6-10 hours per week planning, prepping, and cleaning
• Freed up mental energy we can use toward our careers, date nights, and other priorities
• Helped us hit our calorie and macro goals
• Saved us hundreds of dollars each month, allowing us to invest more toward financial freedom

As we’d preach the benefits of this system to our family and friends, we realized the power of this meal-prepping system we originally took for granted.

Whether you are a young couple trying to build good habits before starting a family, or a mother of 3 with a baby in one hand and a spatula in the other, I guarantee if you use our system consistently you will see these 3 benefits:

1. More time/energy for your priorities (family, faith, friends, hobbies, etc.)
2. Less friction reaching your fitness goals
3. A shorter path to financial freedom

In the following sections, I’ll break down each benefit and finish with your roadmap to start using this system today.

1. Free up time and mental space

According to the USDA, Americans spend about 37 minutes per day on food prep and cleaning.

(Women around 51 min/day Men around 22 min/day.)

Not to mention, this excludes:

1. Researching ideas on Pinterest/Instagram
2. Organizing recipes
3. Making a shopping lists
4. Perusing grocery stores
5. Trying to safely walk past the junk food sections

All in, I estimate the average American spends 8-12 hours per week planning, making and cleaning up food.

These activities not only directly steal your time, but they can also be medium-stress activities, which can feel draining mentally.

Listen, Mindy and I enjoy cooking sometimes.

If we are in the right mindset, and are ready to channel our inner Gordon Ramseys, cooking can be fun!

But most of the time, between work, working out, and events with family and friends, “cooking for fun” is pretty far down on our list of priorities.

Most of the time, it’s just another chore.

Here’s our typical food-goal each week:

Cook healthy, delicious meals as efficiently and affordably as possible so we can have more time and energy for our careers, hobbies, families, and friends.

2. Sculpt a strong, healthy body

As a fitness fanatic, I’ve spent countless hours tracking my nutrition, and helping other people track theirs.

For anyone trying to reach a fitness goal, here is my #1 piece of advice:

Be proactive, not reactive.

This means that you plan your meals based on the calories and macros you want to hit.

If you’ve ever tried to track your food as you eat it, you’ve probably felt overwhelmed and exhausted day 1.

Not to mention, the people who have successfully honed in their macros eat boring ol’ chicken and rice every day

They see results, but it feels like Groundhog Day.

If the flavors don’t cause depression, the lack of micronutrients will.

That’s where our healthy, macro-focused meal preps come in.

New flavors every week.

Tons of variety.

All designed to fit in your macro plan.

Instead of settling for boring, tasteless food…

or analyzing all the ingredients of a recipe, calculating serving sizes, adding it all to MyFitnessPal and praying it’s right…

Use Mosley Meals to make macros fit your lifestyle, not the other way around.

Here’s how to make enjoyable meals and proactively hit your nutrition goals:

1. Create a calorie and macro goal
2. Choose a lunch, dinner, and breakfast to hit those numbers each week
3. Make it and eat it

3. Reach financial freedom faster

So far, meal prepping could save you 6-10 hours per week and help you effortlessly hit your nutrition goals… but what if I said if could also help you retire with an extra $3 million?

I know, sounds too good to be true, but here’s the math:

Image a 28yo couple, James and Sara.

They try to live frugally overall.

Most of the time, they scramble eggs for breakfast and pack sandwiches for lunch, but they usually pick up dinner at Chipotle, Chic-fil-a, Jersey Mikes, or some place similar.

This meal costs them roughly $15 - $30, depending if they split or add some extra sides at home.

Now, instead, imagine James and Sara had their dinners prepped and ready to eat from their 1-hour Sunday prep session.

Mosley Meals average about $3 per serving. (so $6 for both of them)

Instead of giving the extra $22 per night to some restaurant chain, James and Sara throw it into the stock market.

What’s the difference?

Make sure you are sitting down… this number is shocking…

By the time James and Sarah retire at the age of 65, they would have an extra 3.33 MILLION DOLLARS in their portfolio.

I understand you may not be a 28yo couple, let’s say you are a 36yo couple with 2 kids.

While you may accumulate 8 less years of compounding interest, you are feeding 2 more mouths for less money.

I’m not guaranteeing you an extra $3 million, but the math speaks for itself.

In summary, meal prepping is undeniably effective for saving money and ultimately buying your family financial freedom at a faster rate.

How to start prepping today

Once your start using this system, you won’t want to stop.

For Mindy and I, it’s the most cost-effective way to make healthy meal preps each week while maintaining our sanity.

Here’s how you can get started:

1. Create an account
2. Browse and save recipes that look good
3. Share ‘em with your significant other
4. Start with 1 or 2 recipes per week to get the hang of it

We are glad you’re here!

Happy preppin’!