Anyone else have to stop meal prepping due to this economy?

&#x200B;<br><br>I slowed way, way down. Every week, I’m learning to be more efficient in the kitchen with food. <br><br>For me, this means I'm making an extra 2-3 portions of meals as I make them. I'm also eating far more leftovers. <br><br>Waste is a waste of money. I’ve learned to freeze everything I can and embrace leftovers. <br><br>The only things I prep are snacks: <br>- Coffee <br>- Overnight oats <br>- Rice cakes <br>- Yogurt parfaits <br>- Fresh berries <br>- Fresh fruit <br>- Fresh cut carrots and celery <br>- Protein powder <br>- Protein bars <br>- Greens drinks <br>- Hard-boiled eggs <br>- Individual ziploc bags of almonds or pumpkin seeds <br><br>These are things I can take on the go or at my desk and eat casually.<br><br>Another thing I do is prep the ingredients for the meal. I’ll chop and prep everything for a week-night meal days in advance, but then I assemble and cook it on the fly. <br><br>The other thing I do is I make one large, slow cooker meal that can be reheated or frozen for up to 6 months. In our climate, we can easily store 30-day frozen meals outside. <br><br>Example: Every Sunday, I make a large beef stew in a slow cooker. I let it cool overnight and then divide it up and freeze it. When I’m in a hurry, I’ll set one of those portions out and let it thaw overnight or I’ll toss it in my lunchbox frozen and eat it at lunch or I’ll leave it at room temp and eat it 5-6 hours later (because of where I live and the time of year). <br><br>If the food goes bad, I err on the side of safety and discard it and try again. <br><br>Another change is I’m trying to do far more of my own cooking at home, even if it’s on the fly. I refuse to even ‘treat’ myself anymore. It’s too expensive. <br><br>I’m still working on figuring out how to meal prep bread. I can’t find a good way to make a weeks worth of sandwiches and have them not get soggy.