This Aldi Kitchen Find Makes Meal Prep An Absolute Breeze, And It's Less Than $10

Meal prep may not be a glamorous chore, but it pays dividends throughout the week when you have wholesome, yummy lunches or dinners that you just have to heat and eat — no expensive, nutritionally-bankrupt fast food or vending machine fare! We've heard of a Texas Roadhouse menu item that will get you a week's worth of meals, and we're also fans of implementing the best uses for store-bought rotisserie chicken (Salads! Soups! Pasta! Sandwiches!) to simplify the cooking involved in divvying up meals. Beyond simply abbreviating your task list by strategically choosing what food to put in your prepped meals, however, we're also fans of hacking the container in which we actually put the food to make life easier and more convenient.

To that end, we've kind of fallen head over heels with an Aldi limited-time item, the Crofton two-tier food storage box. At only $6.99 as of this writing (subject to changes in cost and availability depending on location), you have a cheap, functional version of the oh-so-popular bento boxes for a fraction of the price. Aldi's model has three separate food compartments divided amongst two stackable tiers, plus a clever space for an included reusable fork and spoon up top. It's spacious for even grown-up meals, although we bet this would be a starring player in a kid's lunch box. If you purchase a few of these, you can make your entire stash of lunches for the week and line them right up in your fridge, ready to grab and go. Life truly doesn't get easier than this. To have such convenience for that price? We're pretty much gobsmacked.

The Crofton boxes have a large compartment on the bottom, ostensibly for your entrée, with the top level split between two openings that would be ideal for sides, whether you choose a shiny piece of fruit or some viral cowboy caviar. The top compartments are also plenty roomy for a single-serving green salad, some guac or salsa, a pillowy brownie, or maybe some chips or crackers. The sturdy container will keep your crunchy or soft items from getting crushed and can easily separate hot foods from cold foods. We also like the handles on the sides that make lifting the tiers a breeze. Leftovers from home-cooked dinners can be split up quickly and painlessly into these containers for next-day lunches, or, if you are undertaking dedicated weekly meal prep, you can measure and portion your servings the way you always would ... just a lot more conveniently. 

Given that Aldi limited-time items have a way of selling out speedily, we encourage you to check for availability at your local store and run in to pick a few up while the getting is good. Brand-name versions of these boxes sell for quite a bit more money, making the Crofton models a heck of a steal. If meal prep is a process that seems painful and tedious to you, it might be the case that investing in some containers ready-made for packing adds ease to your life, which is always worth its weight in gold. (To wit: much more than $6.99!)