How meal prep helped mum lose 20kg and save $50 on her weekly food shop

Time and time again we hear from our money-savvy mums that meal prep helps them from overspending or wasting food items.

Meal prepping also ensures your portion sizes are appropriate and that your meals are healthy and you are better prepared to stay on track with The Healthy Mummy 28 Day Weight Loss Challenge. It’s a win-win!

To give you some inspiration one of our amazing mums, Beth Azzopardi, has stayed within her budget with a week’s worth of groceries but made a lot of meals for her family.

Mum now saves $50 on her weekly food shop

Beth says, “My total shopping cost $106 including heaps of fruit and yoghurt for the kids and two lots of extra mincemeat as it was on sale.

“I’m also making a double batch of all my snacks and freezing! So snacks done for next week too!”

**These are prices based on grocery costs in October 2018, so prices may now vary,

What Beth made from her weekly shop:

Hard-boiled eggs

Hard boiled eggs are a great budget friendly snacking option. They are also full of protein and convenient to prepare in advance. Eggs are also a great way to boost your metabolism in the morning. Protein is key in muscle building and it also serves a metabolism booster.

Double batch of the One Pot Spaghetti

Here is a great one pot meal that will feed a family of 6 (or provide delicious leftovers).

And yes, even the pasta is cooked in the same pot!

Save time on washing up and mess by creating this tasty one pot wonder from the 28 Day Weight Loss Challenge for a mid-week meal in around 30 minutes.

Beth says, “I make a double batch of the meat. Take half out and freeze it. Then add the pasta and cook the rest – normal for Sunday’s dinner.

“The rest of the meat we reheat and serve with pasta or rice on Wednesday as this is my late day at work.”

Check out the full recipe for the One Pot Spaghetti here.

Mint chocolate bubble crunch

Beth says, “This one is delicious, my kids love it and it freezes well. I haven’t made this before but it looks amazing and I only needed to buy the dark chocolate.”

Here’s the full recipe for the mint chocolate bubble crunch.

Peanut Bubble Crunch

“I haven’t made this before but it looks amazing and I only needed to buy the dark chocolate,” says Beth.

Here’s the full recipe for the Peanut Bubble Crunch.

Bananas

Beth says that she has also frozen her bananas for the week’s smoothies! 

Cooking in bulk 

Cooking in bulk and freezing has saved Beth approximately $50 a week.

“Meal planning and being organised with my food prep helps as I now only shop once a week so I’m less likely to impulse buy,” she says.

“The only weeks I get off track are the weeks I haven’t prepared for. I choose 2 snacks to make from the challenge and cook them in bulk every Sunday.”

When she first joined The Healthy Mummy’s 28 Day Weight Loss Challenge, Beth’s family were only on one wage, showing you don’t have to overspend to start your healthy journey.

Meal prepping also freed Beth up and gave her more time to survive the “witching” hour with her newborn, she always makes sure to have emergency meals in the freezer for when things ‘don’t go to plan’ because she says “takeaway was a massive weakness for me.”

Beth has lost 20kg* and is now takes part in marathons!

It all started with a double pram. After having her second baby this mum took her kids for a walk to the park in their double pram and she found the first 100m, going up a hill was a real struggle.

Beth was covered in sweat and out of breathe so much so that by the time she got to the park she was so exhausted she couldn’t even play with her kids. This, she says, was when she knew then that things had to change.

Beth has now lost 20kg on the 28 Day Weight Loss Challenge.

Running to the finish line

After her second child, Beth said she had put on a lot of weight during pregnancy and was really unhappy with her physical appearance.

“I was confiding in a friend that I needed to lose weight and she introduced me to The Healthy Mummy and I have never looked back,” she says.

Before Beth weighed 86.4kg, but now she weighs 66.4kg and has a goal weight of 65kg. So close!

Having lost 20kg and going from a size 16/18 to a size 10 means Beth can now take part in marathons.

Double prams are now apart of  Beth’s competition, albeit a healthy one! 

“On Mondays we go for a 5km run as a family with either hubby or myself  pushing the double pram and on Saturday we all participate in our local Parkrun. The boys are 1 and 3 and are about to complete their 50th park run,” Beth adds.

Are you ready to save time and money on your health journey?

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