Pulled pork and steak, two ways with mac
BBQ Pulled Pork Mac & Cheese and Garlic Steak Bites with Mac & Cheese make the library’s highest planned-calorie combination. Cherry Pomegranate Bliss smoothies and protein shakes with bananas complete the four-food comparison.
Ultra-high-calorie here means at least 2,800 planned calories from one smoothie, both meal preps, and one snack. It is the highest combination in this ten-plan library, not a calorie recommendation.
Meal-prep proteinBeef & pork
For one person. Ten of the week’s 28 slots stay open.
Two original four-serving batches. Breakfast and snacks, sorted.
Meal prep 1 · 4 servings
66.3g protein1109 calories$3.35 est.
Per serving, including listed sides and sauce.
Use pork shoulder, not the lean pork loin from the budget plan. The recipe includes chicken broth. Divide into four oven-rated containers or use a baking dish; leave lids out of the oven and refrigerate promptly.
View recipeMeal prep 2 · 4 servings
79.7g protein1055 calories$8.40 est.
Per serving, including listed sides and sauce.
Sear sirloin in batches. For food safety, cook whole-cut beef to 145°F and rest at least 3 minutes. Make the mac sauce separately, then divide both steak and pasta evenly into four portions.
View recipeBreakfast · 5 portions
31.7g protein499 calories
Per smoothie serving.
Monday-Friday breakfast. Blend each portion when serving.
View smoothie recipeSnack · 5 portions
31g protein285 calories
Per portion, using the planner estimate. Brands and fruit choices can change the numbers.
Keep cherries frozen until blending. Five smoothies plus five snack shakes use 440 g of the listed vanilla protein powder; the snack also adds five bananas. “Beef & pork” describes the main meats; the pulled-pork recipe includes chicken broth.
Eight meal-prep portions, five smoothies, five snacks. Every serving stays editable.
Calories and protein below count scheduled food only. Open slots and anything else you eat are not included.
1,109 calories
66g protein
2,948 calories
209g protein
1,839 calories
143g protein
2,948 calories
209g protein
2,948 calories
209g protein
784 calories
63g protein
0 calories
0g protein
Friday lunch and dinner, Tuesday dinner, all of Saturday, and Sunday’s other slots are open. Add food or change the schedule in the planner to fit your week.
A little planning before the first batch.
Cook one original four-serving batch of each meal: 2 lb of boneless pork shoulder, 2 lb of sirloin steak, and 16 oz of dry elbow macaroni altogether. Start the pork first: LOW for 8 hours or HIGH for 4-5 hours, followed by the sauce and bake. The recipes use different milk and cheese mixtures; keep those quantities separate. Freeze Sunday-prepped Thursday portions promptly, or cook them midweek.
For two people, use “Shopping for two?” in the planner. Groceries double to eight portions of each meal prep, ten smoothies, and ten snacks; per-person nutrition stays the same.
Shared between the two meal preps. The planner adds smoothie and snack ingredients too, and you can uncheck pantry items you already have.
If cooking both batches Sunday, promptly freeze Thursday portions after prep, or cook them fresh midweek. Use shallow containers, label the date, and thaw in the refrigerator. Blend smoothies when serving; keep dairy snacks refrigerated and follow product labels. Check every recipe and snack for allergens.
Refrigerate perishable food within 2 hours, or 1 hour above 90°F. Keep the fridge at 40°F or below. Use refrigerated leftovers within 3-4 days and reheat to 165°F throughout. Cook chicken to 165°F, ground beef to 160°F, and fish to 145°F. Cook whole cuts of pork and beef to 145°F and rest at least 3 minutes. Cook shrimp until the flesh is pearly or white and opaque. Keep raw proteins and their utensils separate from ready-to-eat food.
FoodSafety.gov: safe cooking temperatures
USDA: leftovers, freezing, and reheating
Eight meal-prep servings ($46.98) + five smoothies ($26.92). Snack prices are incomplete, so this is a partial ingredient-use estimate, not a full shopping total.
Snacks are included in the groceries and nutrition. Whole packages can cost more; taxes, delivery, and fees are excluded.
Calorie comparison: 2,948 calories and 209g protein is the total of one serving of each meal prep, one smoothie, and one snack. Those four slots are filled on Monday, Wednesday, Thursday. The library groups planned food as lower (under 1,700), moderate (1,700-1,999), or higher (2,000 or more) calories. Each plan’s introduction explains its theme.
Weekday scheduled-food totals range from 784 to 2,948 calories because some days leave meals open. The full schedule above shows each day separately. This is not a complete weekly diet or a calorie or protein prescription.
Meal-prep and smoothie nutrition comes from current recipe labels. The planner rounds each recipe’s calories and protein to whole numbers before totaling portions. Snacks use existing per-portion planner estimates. Editing a meal or portion recalculates nutrition and groceries; unchecking a pantry item changes the shopping list, not nutrition.
Cost calculation: each meal-prep recipe’s unrounded per-serving ingredient cost × four, plus the smoothie cost × five, rounded at the end. Prices are in USD for the amounts used, including priced seasonings. Observations were checked 2026-09-21, 2026-10-02, 2026-10-04; store, location, brand, and promotions affect actual prices.
Sirloin cost uses the library’s BLS sirloin price proxy. The ingredient-use subtotal includes the listed pork shoulder and both cheese sauces; whole-package shopping and snacks cost extra.
Each recipe links its ingredient-level sources. Cost methodology · Nutrition methodology
