These days, I can say with conviction that “healthy”and balanced meal aren't as expensive as you thought it would. The thing that makes healthy eating expensive is a great marketing done by restaurants, influencers, and others who like to make you believe that eating well is only for the wealthy.

So, can you eat well with just simple broke adult budget? Sure, you can.

Whenever I look at just random people doing their meal prep, their ingredients are always on the pricier side. They always like to prep veggies that aren’t seasonal, fruits that are always expensive, and even protein shakes that could be on the pricier side. They always make it seem like their groceries are expensive and so out-of-reach. Their cooking method isn't exactly easy too.

But what if you’re broke adult and you love food?

People would like to make you believe that an avocado toast is expensive. The truth is, it isn’t and even for me who lives in the middle of nowhere,

Avocado is reasonably priced, it’s even cheaper than my daily coffee consumption.

At least in my area anyway. Oh and eggs are also cheaper here. The other day, I got about a dozen of them for less than 1$😂but I used to experience them way more expensive back in the day when the egg prices were beyond me.

I have written about these things since I was in college and over time, I realized that when it comes to meal-prepping and grocery shopping there are a few things to consider and if you want to meal prep, this is something that you can have it on your check list.

First, you must know your favourite meal and eating habit. I used to eat salads, pan seared tuna, and mostly western cuisine which requires sauces that can be a tad more expensive. These days, I enjoy those in moderation, but I have found that I equally love Korean cuisine, plain grilled chicken and boiled eggs. Surprisingly, my groceries are like two times cheaper these days. And I am also a snacker which mean I’d try to find anything savory or sweet at the end of the day.

Second have a rough plan on what you’ll be eating throughout the week. In the past I used to know exactly what I would be eating but these days, I simply use a roughly plan.

Let’s say for the entire week I’d love to cook a certain country cuisine, and I’d go from there listing all the ingredients needed to make something from it.

Third, it’s okay if your groceries aren’t aesthetic and it’s ok not to have a collection of aesthetic containers. Use whatever is available to store your ingredients.

Finally, shop at farmer’s/traditional market more than high-end grocery store. This used to be my mistake back in the day.

High end grocery store has its own perks especially for someone who doesn’t like talking to others, haggling or being hassled. I hate the noise all around it too as it gets me a headache, but I’ve learned to just blast on some music, just go at the place I frequent and even if they’re overcharging me a bit, I wouldn’t care as it’s still way cheaper than what I used to shop at the place I used to.

When you already nail down all those, it gets easier to shop, build your pantry and cook the food that you’re going to eat and not ended up in waste.

These days I am not shying away of just buying 2 cents worth of tofu. It’s what gets me through the week, and more than a block of tofu would end up wasting.

We do not want to waste food, not in this economy.

So, with roughly about $6 I got 1/2kg of eggs, 1kg of chicken, 3 carrots, 1 ounce of dried chilli, some garlic, bean sprouts, a block of tofu, a bag of anchovy, some block of palm sugars, and some greens.

Pictures are only illustrations of the stuff I got. The chicken is definitely way more than that, including the eggs( In case you're wondering)

I used to buy chili flakes in those plastic bottles. Now, I am blending them myself and I only paid less than 50cents for 100gr of it. The plastic bottle would have cost just a little over $2.5, that's a huge difference!

Note, I eat twice a day with snacking and sometimes once a day depending on how hungry I am. Usually because I workout 30-60 minutes/day. So this food meal prep is for those who also exercise and need protein but broke adults too.

In this week, I want to focus on making Korean and Japanese dishes since I have some sauces that could be used to elevate the simple ingredients I have . My favourite has been making yakitori and chicken teriyaki bowls. They're super delicious and filling. Most importantly, on a macro level, pretty low calorie too.

These are some of the meals I had recently and would have these on repeat. The first one is Chicken Teriyaki with Mayak Egg. The egg is braised overnight with soy sauce, gochujang, water and green onion with a bit of sugar. In this case I also shower the egg with teriyaki sauce for extra sweetness.

The second one is a twist on Dosirak (Korean Lunch Box) style with sweet anchovy. I use steam carrots, bean sprouts, fried some hot dog, toss in some anchovies that was cooked with sweet soy sauce and 100g of rice. Sprikle some dried chilli (if you like) and you're good to go.

The third one is Dubu Jorim with a spicier twist. It’s braised tofu with soy sauce. Super simple and yummy. This meal doesn't take an hour of your time.

For late night snacks, I have overnight oats with whatever left is in the fridge.

When I compared my past self on meal prepping, I was dumb as hell. I sure did make more bussin food these days compared to my younger self. I used to make chicken wrap that was tasteless, and I would still end up hungry. Here's another proof of dumbness Spanish Mackerel Pan Seared With Red Cabbage.

The thing is, back in the day as much as I love food, I also think they’re evil hence I always feel guilty of eating which lead to overeating later when I got so hungry.

I also didn’t really count my calorie as much as I did now so I would assume most food is bad. But these days with calorie counting, I know that some carbs and sugars aren’t necessarily evil. I still eat 1200-1500 calorie but with much better choices and tastier food.

You see, despite the news said the economy is doom and gloom, don’t let them fool you that you can’t eat bussin food. We need to eat well to survive & there's always a way to make that simple ingredients into something delicious.

See you around!