THE 7 LEVELS OF MEAL PREP to fit your TIME ENERGY MONEY You have three basic resources in life: TIME ENERGY MONEY Here's a brief guide to choosing how you should meal prep, based on the resources you have. LEVEL 1 EXCELLENT Grow it Yourself EXCELLENT SCARCE PROCESS: > Build a garden; buy seeds & top toil > Kitchen: mint, rosemary, basil, thyme > Balcony: tomatoes, kale, cucumber, zucchini > Garden: apples, lemons, carrots, corn, avocado PAYOFF: > $15-30/week for the average garden *$680 (yield) - $240 (set-up), via Journal of Extension; Apr. 2014, Vol. 52 (2) LEVEL 2 GOOD Grocery Store GOOD TIGHT PROCESS: > Pick it up yourself > Cook it from scratch > Examples: Whole Foods, Urban Fare, Safeway, SaveOnFoods, Walmart, Superstore, No Frills COST: > $50-300/week LEVEL 3 DECENT Grocery Delivery DECENT OKAY PROCESS: > Order online > Cook it from scratch > Examples: Spud, Instacart, InABuggy COST: > $100-350/week LEVEL 4 TIGHT Prepped Delivery DECENT DECENT PROCESS: > Order online > Ready to cook & serve > Examples: HelloFresh, FreshPrep COST: > $150-400/week LEVEL 5 TIGHT Pre-Cooked Delivery LOW GOOD PROCESS: > Order online > Reheat & eat > Examples: Frankie's Meals, FitnessFoods, Vancouver Muscle Meals, Eat Your Cake COST: > $200-550/week LEVEL 6 TIGHT Hot Meal Delivery LOW GREAT PROCESS: > Order online > Tip & eat > Examples: Uber Eats, DoorDash, Foodora, Skip The Dishes, GrubHub COST: > $300-850/week LEVEL 7 LIMITED Personal Chef LIMITED FLUSH PROCESS: > Pick out your favourite recipes (anything) > Go to the kitchen and eat > Examples: Thomas Davidson (Vancouver) COST: > $1,000-3,000/week ASK YOURSELF: Which have I been optimizing for? Which should I be optimizing for? AND THEN GO DO THAT. .