Does meal prep really save money? Enter your week and see the cost per portion
Is cooking a batch really cheaper than buying lunch? Enter what your prep shop costs, how many portions it makes and what you would otherwise pay, and see your cost per portion and your weekly and yearly saving.
The sums include food waste, the thing that quietly cancels the saving. Estimates only: use your own prices and change the numbers to match your week.
Meal prep gets sold as the thrifty option. Cooking in bulk and eating from the fridge sounds cheaper than buying lunch every day, but the real answer depends on your own prices, how much you throw away, and what you would have eaten instead. The calculator below does the sums with your numbers.
Work out your cost per portion
Where the saving really comes from
Most of the gap between a prepped meal and a bought one is not the food. It is the margin on convenience: a bought lunch pays for ingredients, staff, rent and packaging. At home you pay for ingredients and a little energy. That is why the saving is usually biggest against takeaway or shop-bought meals, and smallest against a simple sandwich you would have made anyway.
Waste can cancel the saving
A batch only saves money if you eat it. Households are the largest source of food waste in the EU: Eurostat counts roughly 130 kg of food wasted per person per year, with more than half coming from homes. Slide the waste bar above to 40% and watch the saving shrink. If you often bin the last portions, cook a little less, freeze some on day one, or plan the order you will eat them in.
Prep what you will actually eat, in the amount you will actually eat. A cheaper batch you bin is the dearest one.
Ways to lower the cost per portion
Staples such as beans, lentils, chickpeas, oats, rice, eggs and frozen vegetables are cheap per portion and keep well, and they fit most healthy-eating guidance. Buying the vegetables that are in season, using the whole of what you buy (stalks, stems, the bones from a roast) and cooking two things in the same oven slot all trim the number further. Cooking in one session also saves your time, which is worth something even though this calculator leaves it out.
Safety and who this is for
Saving money should never mean unsafe leftovers or skipped meals. Cool cooked food quickly, keep it cold, and follow your national food safety agency's advice on how many days it keeps. If money is making it hard to eat enough, local food banks and community fridges exist for exactly that. This guide is general information, not medical advice: if you have a health condition, are pregnant, or follow a medically prescribed diet, check your meal plan with a doctor or dietitian.