Meal planning

Updated 10 March 2026

Sunday meal prep on a budget

A complete Sunday meal prep guide with costs. Prep 5 days of lunches and dinners for $40-60. Real prices from Australian supermarkets.

The 2.5-hour Sunday prep plan

Meal prep doesn't mean standing over a stove all day. It means smart sequencing so everything cooks while you're chopping or portioning the next thing.

Hour 1: Build your protein base

• Preheat oven to 200°C. Bake 1kg chicken thighs on a tray with salt and pepper ($8-10). They take 35 minutes.
• Brown 500g beef mince in a pot with onion and garlic. Don't drain yet: the fat flavours everything else ($5-7).
• Put a big pot of rice on to cook: 1kg uncooked rice feeds the week ($3-4).
• While rice cooks, start chopping all your vegetables for the week: onions, capsicum, zucchini, broccoli. One big chopping board, one sharp knife, 15 minutes. Store in containers as you go.

Hour 2: Build your flavour bases

• Finish the bolognese: add 3 tins of tomatoes to the mince. Simmer 15 minutes ($3). This makes 5 dinner portions and 5 lunch portions.
• Make a curry: use the chicken thighs (shredded), frozen veg, 1 tin coconut milk, curry paste or powder. Simmer 10 minutes ($2-3). Again, 10 portions across lunch and dinner.
• Check your rice. Fluff it. Let it cool slightly on a tray so it doesn't steam in containers.
• Boil a dozen eggs for the week. They take 10 minutes. Peel while still warm ($3-5).

Last 30 minutes: Portion and store

• Grab 10 good containers. Glass lasts longer but plastic is lighter for work bags ($15-20 investment, lasts years).
• Build 5 dinner containers: bolognese plus pasta, or curry plus rice, or chicken thighs plus roast veg.
• Build 5 lunch containers: curry wrap with lettuce, bolognese rice bowl, stir-fry with noodles, soup in a thermos, salad with chicken.
• Make 3 overnight oats (oats, milk, honey, fruit). Grab one each morning for breakfast ($2-3 total).
• Portion boiled eggs into containers. Grab one or two as snacks ($0.30 each).

Shopping list for $45-55 at ALDI

Get everything in one shop. ALDI's pricing is tight and consistent week to week. Track prices in Pinch to find the best week to buy (often weeks when they're on specials or doing a price drop).

Item	Qty	Cost
Chicken thighs	1kg	$8-10
Beef mince	500g	$5-7
Rice	1kg	$3-4
Pasta	500g	$1.50
Tinned tomatoes	3 tins	$3
Coconut milk	1 tin	$2
Frozen vegetables	1kg	$3
Onions	1kg	$2
Garlic	1 bulb	$1
Eggs	1 dozen	$3-5
Oats	500g	$2-3
Bread	1 loaf	$3
Cheese	200g	$4
Fruit (apples, bananas)	2kg	$5-8
Total		$45-55

Five meal prep combos that actually work

Combo 1: Roast chicken dinners, wraps for lunch

Baked chicken thighs, roast vegetables, rice for dinner. Next day, shred leftover chicken into a wrap with lettuce, tomato, and mayo. 2 dinners, 3 lunches from 1kg chicken.

Combo 2: Bolognese pasta, rice bowls

Bolognese and pasta for Monday and Tuesday dinner. Wednesday and Thursday lunch: same bolognese over rice with grated cheese. Friday dinner: bolognese becomes a filling for a wrap or nachos.

Combo 3: Curry and rice

Chicken curry over rice for dinner (3 nights). Same curry in a wrap the next day for lunch. Makes 10 portions easily from one pot.

Combo 4: Stir-fry versatility

Brown mince with soy, garlic, ginger, and frozen vegetables. Serve over rice for dinner, over noodles for lunch. Costs $3-4 per meal.

Combo 5: Soup and bread

Tinned tomatoes, beans, frozen veg, stock. Simmer 20 minutes. Lunch: thermos of soup plus a slice of bread. Dinner: same soup with pasta stirred through or bread for dipping. Makes 8-10 portions for $5-6.

The work lunch maths

Buying lunch 5 days a week costs $12-15 per day in any Australian city. That's $60-75 per week or roughly $3,120 per year. A meal prep lunch costs you $2-3 per serve in ingredient cost (usually closer to $2). That's $10-15 per week or $520-780 per year. The difference: $2,300-2,600 per year. That's a holiday, a laptop, or a car repair fund.

The maths gets better if you share a house or cook for a partner. Double the recipe, same time investment. Cost per meal drops to $2-3, and you're buying in bulk (better unit prices at ALDI or Coles).

Container system: the one investment that matters

Buy 10 good containers once. Glass Pyrex lasts 10+ years and keeps food fresher longer, but they're $25-30 per set. Plastic containers are $15-20 for 10, lighter to carry, good for 3-5 years. Either way, buy once and forget it. Don't use single-use containers. The math works only if you reuse them 100+ times.

When to meal prep (pricing)

Chicken thighs and mince go on special in cycles. ALDI runs them every 2-3 weeks. Track these prices in Pinch. Meal prep in the week chicken thighs hit $7-8/kg and mince is $9-10/kg. You'll save another $5-10 on your shop. Rice, pasta, and tins are stable: buy any time.