Meal prep and menu if you're a Costco shopper...

[Anonymous]

I am a terrible meal prepper and cook...so it's just difficult for me overall.

We are almost exclusively Costco shoppers, but I find it so hard to meal prep/plan because you can't really shop from a list at that store.
Do I need to adjust where I shop, or adjust how I think?

[Anonymous]

What kinds of foods do you like? How many people? Do you have time to meal prep each week? Freezer space? What are you working with here?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What kinds of foods do you like? How many people? Do you have time to meal prep each week? Freezer space? What are you working with here?

Family of 5: 3 children under 5. We've been living on sandwiches and cereal and precooked meals for far too long.

Plenty of freezer space.

[Anonymous]

Stuffed peppers are great for meal prep. They freeze well, too. You can get everything at Costco (bell peppers, ground beef/turkey, rice, cheese).

I always have jarred pasta sauce, organic pasta variety pack, Parmesan, and Kirkland pesto on hand for pasta night.

Caesar salad kit, Kirkland frozen breaded chicken chunks, and tortillas/wraps for chicken Caesar wraps.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Stuffed peppers are great for meal prep. They freeze well, too. You can get everything at Costco (bell peppers, ground beef/turkey, rice, cheese).

I always have jarred pasta sauce, organic pasta variety pack, Parmesan, and Kirkland pesto on hand for pasta night.

Caesar salad kit, Kirkland frozen breaded chicken chunks, and tortillas/wraps for chicken Caesar wraps.

three children under 5 won't eat stuffed peppers ask me how I know

[Anonymous]

Chicken thighs with veggies.
burgers and corn
Pork loin or pork chops with veggies.
Salmon, fresh or frozen.

I buy my taco meat and seasoning there, but don't think they sell taco shells. They do sell tortillas if you want to do burritos.


I love Costco, but it could never be my only grocery store.

[Anonymous]

Seriously popping in to ChatGPT and put in your requirements and how many meals you’re gonna cook and what type of healthy habits you have it will pop out a meal plan and a shopping list

[Anonymous]

I’m the PP— I keep separate shopping lists in my phone for Costco and my regular grocery store. I generally don’t buy at Costco with specific recipes in mind (other than those I mentioned above), rather to stock up on ingredients I know I can use in multiple meals or that we go through a lot of.

Also use Pinterest to search for easy freezer prep meals, many of which you just thaw and bake in the oven, or throw from a ziploc bag into a slow cooker. You can pick out several to try, shop Costco for as many of the ingredients as you can, and prep the meals all at once.

[Anonymous]

I’d start by finding 1 thing to meal prep this week and quadruple the recipe. Maybe lasagne or pulled pork? Stock up on disposable baking trays, parchment, and heavy duty foil.

Next week do the same thing again. Find 4 items that work well and rotate them once a week. So one day is meal prep day, probably the day after your Costco trip.

Keep it simple, as long as you have a main you can easily add fresh fruit and veggies and hard boiled eggs and bread to round it out.

I love these for freezing pork bbq or other things

https://www.amazon.com/Cambro-Quart-BPA-Free-Storage-Container/dp/B0CZ552H67/ref=mp_s_a_1_5?dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.9A8VH_SsLy8SfIqAb_tp9Xr1_8HFIUhDCSXAbNf0Fxc-Z-edMG96j3wHErDBVRaC58fnn76qmY1Fhn2pH861VYyE9j411Clm1vZmWmExHCk3E50apEX8n8gdJoh2yqG3AJiim_oeVwUpA_eWkfwLdvoLXagMhyW43g-ye1CAebm90SGsuW7W0frY_D7GWyvxgcT4uefMIcMlY-jPuFNJpQ.ttVybbq0pq8Ee_VoriAQ-TS-ZxjbKxTXJtVdUp876qo&dib_tag=se&keywords=cambro+food+storage&qid=1750540913&sr=8-5

[Anonymous]

Find something you all like and eat it daily. For us it's chicken, rice, and green salad. That's the default dinner. We make the chicken and rice in batches and reheat. I have some frozen fish that works if we get stuck without enough chicken.

When we get bored we switch to tacos, fresh fish baked, or go out to eat.

[Anonymous]

You can use the sameday.costco site to see what's in stock and make your list.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Stuffed peppers are great for meal prep. They freeze well, too. You can get everything at Costco (bell peppers, ground beef/turkey, rice, cheese).

I always have jarred pasta sauce, organic pasta variety pack, Parmesan, and Kirkland pesto on hand for pasta night.

Caesar salad kit, Kirkland frozen breaded chicken chunks, and tortillas/wraps for chicken Caesar wraps.

three children under 5 won't eat stuffed peppers ask me how I know

OP asked for ideas. Didn’t specify how picky the kids are. 2/3 of my kids would definitely eat stuffed peppers (or at least the filling) as toddlers.

[Anonymous]

Can you buy half a cow from a local farmer? That would take a lot of guesswork and save tons of money.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Can you buy half a cow from a local farmer? That would take a lot of guesswork and save tons of money.

OP here we get all of our beef from a local farmer.

But that still begs the question…how to meal prep or plan ahead with Costco?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Stuffed peppers are great for meal prep. They freeze well, too. You can get everything at Costco (bell peppers, ground beef/turkey, rice, cheese).

I always have jarred pasta sauce, organic pasta variety pack, Parmesan, and Kirkland pesto on hand for pasta night.

Caesar salad kit, Kirkland frozen breaded chicken chunks, and tortillas/wraps for chicken Caesar wraps.

three children under 5 won't eat stuffed peppers ask me how I know

Of course they will if that's what they're used to.
But you can switch it to rice bowls. With rice, ground beef or tofu, stir fried veggies or just broccoli florets steamed, everything bagel seasoning, beans of choice.
We eat a lot it salmon from Costco. Bake on a sheet in portions covered in lemon slices. Serve with rice or pasta and frozen peas or steamed green beans.
Chicken thighs- marinate in lemon juice and garlic and spices and sheet pan roast the next day. This can be sliced and added to anything. Even my picky 5 year old eats it.
Costco is just larger quantities of basics, no reason you can meal plan, make the proteins and round out with different carbs and veggies every night depending on what you have.
Some days I make a lettuce free salad with just vegetables and a chopped apple. Sometimes it's a Caesar salad with scratch or bottled dressing.