How I Settled Into a Sunday Meal Prep Routine

I Was Spending $170 a Month on Delivery Fees Alone

I was reviewing my expenses and noticed the delivery food line item. Total spending on delivery: about $350/month. Pure delivery fees alone were roughly $170. (In Korea, delivery apps charge about $2.80 per order on average, and it adds up fast.)

Bringing lunch to work would cost almost nothing in comparison. I calculated ingredient costs at about $2.50 per meal. Compared to $9-11 for a delivery meal, I could save over $150/month. So I started meal prepping.

The First Three Weeks Were a Complete Failure

I followed a "weekend 2-hour meal prep" YouTube video. Week one took 4.5 hours. One hour for groceries, 2.5 hours cooking, 1 hour cleaning up. Monday I opened my lunch box to find hard rice, oversalted side dishes, and soggy stir-fry.

Week two I changed recipes, but the portions were wrong. I bought 2kg of chicken breast trying to make 5 days' worth. By Thursday and Friday it was just chicken breast on repeat. I gave up Thursday and ordered delivery instead. (That jjajangmyeon was unreasonably delicious.)

Week three, Sunday plans came up and I couldn't prep at all. That entire week was eating out.

Week Four, Something Clicked

I analyzed the failure points. Like a developer would. (Not sure if that's occupational disease.) Three problems: recipes were too complex, storage methods were wrong, and portion control was off.

The fix: I locked in a fixed menu. Same 3 side dishes every week. Soy-braised chicken breast, stir-fried broccoli, rolled egg omelette. Only the rice changes. White rice, mixed grain, fried rice rotation. Same ingredients, same amounts every week. 800g chicken breast, 2 heads of broccoli, 10 eggs.

I cook the rice slightly softer, let it cool, then portion it out. Side dishes cool completely before going into containers. Just following these two rules made a massive difference in next-day quality.

How the 2.5-Hour Routine Came Together

Current routine: Sunday 10 AM start. Groceries are handled Saturday evening. 10 AM, start the rice cooker, marinate the chicken, blanch broccoli, beat eggs. Around 11 AM when rice is done, start portioning. Cook side dishes and portion rice in parallel. (Concurrency programming, useful in the kitchen apparently.)

By 12:30 PM, 5 lunch boxes are in the fridge. Including cleanup, 2.5 hours. I've maintained this routine for 8 weeks now. Monthly savings: roughly $140. But honestly, more than the money, it's the freedom from the "what should I eat for lunch?" decision that matters most. Decision fatigue went down. Just grab the box and go.

Sometimes I Just Buy Lunch Though

Friday is cheat day. Fridays I eat out with coworkers. If you try to be 100% perfect with meal prep, the stress will make you quit within a month. 80% is enough. Bringing lunch 4 out of 5 weekdays is plenty effective.