Anything is possible! Meal prepping doesn’t need to be an expensive, all day affair! With some great purchases from Walmart and a little planning, you can set yourself up for success with Summer Meal Prep that doesn’t break the bank! I’m going to show you how I prepped 5 lunches, 7 breakfasts, and snacks for the week in less than an hour for $20.
What to Buy for Summer Meal Prep
The key to a successful and inexpensive meal prep is using a single product for more than one recipe. In this case, I used spinach, eggs, bacon bits, cheese, and carrots for a combination of breakfasts, lunches, and snacks. I shopped at Walmart but I feel confident, given these basic ingredients, you will be able to purchase this list at any local store for a fair price.
Summer Meal Prep Grocery List:
- 2 Roma Tomatoes $.67
- Fresh Chicken Breast Tenderloins $6.58
- English Cucumber $.98
- Light Ranch Dressing Great Value Brand $1.93
- 8oz Great Value Cheddar $2.00
- 10oz Fresh Spinach $1.98
- 1% Great Value Cottage Cheese $1.98
- 1lb carrots $.98
- 2.5oz Great Value Real Bacon Bits $1.70
- 36 Great Value White Eggs $2.86
- Total = $21.66
The Meal Plan
With the groceries listed above I was able to make 15 egg bites, 5 salads, up to 21 hard boiled eggs, and a little under a pound of sliced carrots for snacks. As a busy mom of 3, having prepped breakfasts, lunches, and snacks are a real game changer. They keep me on track, feeling healthy, and energized through the day! If I follow this plan, I don’t need to stress about what I’m making for myself for lunch (just my kids hahaha).
Egg Bites Breakfast Prep
Egg bites are a great breakfast to prep for the week. They hold up really well, take almost no time to re-heat and pack in a ton of protein. These bites also freeze really well, so you can always make more than you need and freeze them for later! In the meal prep, I ended up making 2x the recipe. The above ingredients will perfectly cover this amount of egg bites. This makes 15 egg bites which is more than enough for the week!
I did make some tweaks to the original recipe by adding 1/4 of the bag of spinach, swapping fresh bacon for half the package of bacon bits, and using cheddar cheese instead of Swiss. I also used about 1 1/2 cups of cheddar vs. 2. These egg bites are really versatile so you can always adjust to what you have or what you like. You can check out the full recipe for these here!
Healthy Cobb Salad Lunches
I’m a huge fan of the Cobb salad but honestly, they can often be way to big and packed with unnecessary calories. That’s why I created these super easy salads that are big on flavor without all the calories. I like to go heavier on the vegetables and protein in salads and lighter on the less healthy items like bacon and cheese. Now don’t get me wrong, I love it all, but I find that going lighter on those items doesn’t sacrifice on taste at all, so why add extra?
Getting Started With the Salads
Making these salads is incredibly simple. Start by seasoning the chicken tenders with salt, pepper, onion powder, and garlic powder. Give a generous shake of each (season with your heart). Heat a pan over medium heat, and add cooking spray or oil. Add the chicken tenders and cook for about 4 minutes on each side, the tenders are done when they reach 165 degrees internal temp.
You will also want to hard boil your eggs, I used 5 for the salads (one for each salad). You can use your favorite method to hard boil the eggs or steam them. I have my entire steaming method below.
Assemble The Salad
To assemble the salads, start with 5 lunch size containers (these are my favorite) and put down a bed of spinach in each. I used about 3/4 of the bag of spinach for the salads and 1/4 for the egg bites. Dice the entire cucumber and 2 tomatoes and evenly distribute it among the containers. Shred 2 of the carrots and do the same. Take the remaining cheese and bacon bits and evenly distribute them as well. Chop up all of the chicken and 5 hard boiled eggs. Top the salads with the protein and save them for lunches or dinners! I used the light ranch as my dressing and the salads were delicious!
Snacks Packed with Vitamins and Minerals
For Snacks, I love hard boiled eggs and veggies dipped in hummus or ranch dip. In this case, I chose sliced carrots and light ranch because I could use the carrots and dressing in my salads as well. My favorite way to make hard boiled eggs that peel really easy is to steam them. I use my Hamilton Beach steamer that I got for my wedding (over 8 years ago and it’s still going strong!) to steam eggs that are super easy to peel and perfectly cooked almost every time.
How to Use a Steamer To Make Hard Boiled Eggs
Fill your steamer with an inch and a half of water and set to steam for 14 minutes. Leave the steamer basket out while the steamer heats up and fill it with your eggs. Once the steamer is pre-heated, add the steamer basket with the eggs to the steamer and let them cook for the 14 minutes. When the time is up submerge the eggs in an ice back immediately. Once your eggs are cooled, you can peel them or store the in the fridge to enjoy!
How to Do it All in 1 Hour!
If you want to see the exact process to make each of these breakfasts, lunches, and snacks, check out my Youtube video here! I’ll show you the exact process I followed including setting the timer and checking in at the end! This video is a must watch, if you want to know how to do this $20 summer meal prep in less than an hour!
More Summer Fun!
Don’t forget to check out my additional summer recipe videos on youtube in this playlist here. And, if you haven’t already, make sure to subscribe so you don’t miss anything from me in the future! If you’re looking for more fast and cheap meals, check out these 15 meals for $5 in less than 10 minutes each! Yes, you read that correctly! Seriously, these are game changers!
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