When a grocery store says something is family-sized, maybe it’s just a cue to consider yourself a family of one. TikTok creator LazyBtchKitchen (@lazybtchkitchen) recently posted a viral meal prep hack using two such portions of food from Costco.
The video has almost 640,000 views and 40,000 likes as of Monday.
@lazybtchkitchen Is it worth it?? ✨ Costco edition✨ TLDW: ✅ $3.15/meal @ 13 meals. #foodprep #easymeal #vacuumseal #costco #kirkland #lbk #lazybtchkitchen #lazytok #worksmarternotharder #foodtok ♬ original sound – LazyBtchKitchen
The creator starts with two large family-size containers of Kirkland-brand yakisoba chicken stir fry. The goal, she says, is to portion it out and freeze it.
She cuts the larger pieces of vegetables and chicken with scissors to stretch the meal further. Then, she mixes all the components together, including the sauce. With two packages combined, that’s 6.85 pounds of food for “roughly $41,” she says. (It’s actually $41.54, if you add up the price tags shown on the two containers.)
As the creator points out, this method also cuts down on the number of dishes one might use; she just dirtied one pot used to mix the stir-fry components together.
She portions out a half pound in vacuum-sealed bags, ending up with 13 bags. That’s $3.15 per meal, she says (or $3.20, if you want to be technical).
“So in my opinion, that’s worth it,” the creator concludes.
One commenter wrote, “That’s less than a frozen lunch.”
Another asked in the comments, “How do you reheat from frozen?” The creator replied, “Microwave for a bit, set in fridge to thaw the night before or if not in a hurry just toss in a skillet! I cover and add sesame oil if I’m skillet-ing.”
One viewer chimed in, “I stretch this further by adding more broccoli and carrots.”
“How do you heat it back up with the noodles getting mushy? Every time I freeze noodles when I reheat them. They turn into a mushy mess,” someone commented. The creator replied, “They aren’t cooked all the way! So when you heat them up they finish cooking and aren’t mushy!”
Several viewers also commented that Costco sells a frozen version of this dish for even cheaper.
This is just one of the latest meal prep hacks that food creators have shared on TikTok. One person recently shared her experience with a similar hack using a salmon meal from Whole Foods.
Another creator tried out meal prepping with chicken enchiladas from a local Mexican joint. Others have shared their meal prep ideas using food from Sam’s Club and Chili’s.
Update 7:50am CT, Sept. 21: In an interview with the Daily Dot via TikTok, LazyBtchKitchen said she started creating content as “a way to put pressure on myself to cook more since so much of my food kept going bad/to waste.”
“I just kind of thought, hey if this is helping me survive and navigate my executive dysfunction maybe it can help someone else too,” she said.
The creator started working full-time and didn’t have time or patience to cook meals from scratch, so she tried out freezing pre-made meals in bulk.
“When I think of bulk food for cheap … well cheaper … I think of Costco. I didn’t even realize they made pre-made meals, but when I saw them I bought a bunch of different kinds,” the creator said. “While I was there I bought a vacuum sealer, and carried on with the idea. When I realized how easy and cost-effective it was, I knew I had to make a video the next time I bought it, so I did!”
The creator thinks that people appreciate her content because it’s real and relatable.
“There’s no fluff, I don’t even clean my kitchen to make the video ‘pretty.’ What you see is what you get, and that kind of content is kind of lacking in my opinion,” she said. “In this economy, we all are just trying to survive and make life suck just a little less. As long as my videos can help at least one other person navigate this hellscape we’re living in, it’s totally worth it to me.”
The Daily Dot reached out to Costco via email.
