If you love the ease of Starbucks Protein Bistro Boxes but hate the cost, I've got great news for you. They're super easy to make at home and a fraction of the cost.
When you're on the run, it's so tempting to get sucked into buying convenience food. It's not so easy to find healthy options though, especially when you're on a budget. I love that Starbucks has better-for-you options like their Protein Bistro Boxes but at a whopping $6 a pop that can really add up.
This year, I'm trying to meal prep more to avoid making poor food choices. It'll also help me spend less money eating out.
DIY Starbucks Protein Boxes
The best part about making your own protein boxes is that you can customize them to your tastes. Starbucks has quite an assortment of boxes, including a fruit and cheese protein box. The only thing I don't love about that box is some of the cheeses. Don't get me wrong, I love cheese. Unfortunately, it doesn't agree with me so I need to eat dairy-free alternatives. Lucky for me, there are so many great options on the market now.
To make these copycat Starbucks protein boxes, you'll simply need the containers, silicone cupcake liners, and your ingredients.
I really like these two-compartment meal prep containers, but you can use just about any container you'd like. I bought a bulk package of these and they're so convenient for meal-prep for the week. The silicone cupcake liners are also super helpful for separating your ingredients.
To make my boxes, I used dairy-free cheese, hardboiled eggs (which you NEED to make in your pressure cooker because it's life-changing), grapes, apples, and peanut butter.
Here's the cost breakdown per box:
- Eggs (cage-free): $0.22 per egg
- Apple (organic honeycrisp): used 4 apples for 6 boxes, so $0.91 per box
- Grapes: $0.60
- Cheese: $0.35
- Peanut butter: $0.18
In total, I spent about $2.26 per box. Some of the items were bought at Sam's Club so were less expensive, but if you use generic brands you could probably get that total to under $2 per box. That's a big saving!
Be sure to check out my homemade vanilla chai tea latte for another money-saving hack.
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