We’re almost at peak autumn here in Nashville so I made a very autumn-inspired meal prep this week. I went deep into the Budget Bytes archives and pulled an awesome recipe that I haven’t made in forever—Apple Spice Pork Chops. These amazing chops are the perfect blend of sweet, savory, and warm spices, plus the pan sauce it creates is just to die for.
Because I had all that awesome pan sauce it was only natural that I paired the chops with some mashed potatoes to go with that pork and apple gravy. To make the mashed potatoes I converted my Slow Cooker Mashed Potato recipe to use my Instant Pot (pressure cooker) and it worked like a charm. I may never make mashed potatoes any other way. I’ll include instructions for that later in the post.
And then for the “green” portion of the meal I tried something new and went with frozen green beans. The fresh green beans were looking kind of sad at the store so I thought why not buy the frozen beans, just let them thaw in the containers, then they’ll actually cook when the containers are reheated. The only flaw for this method is that the green beans that I bought ended up being super thin compared to fresh green beans, so I think they might over cook while reheating. Oh well, meal prep and reheating food is never perfect and I know I’ll still gobble up the whole box anyway!
For more information about meal prepping, how it works, and why I do it, check out Meal Prep 101: A Beginner’s Guide to Prepping and Portioning Meals, or check out my entire Budget-Friendly Meal Prep Archive.
Apple Spice Pork Chop Meal Prep
This Meal Prep Includes:
Apple Spice Pork Chops: $9.40
Instant Pot Mashed Potatoes (recipe below): $2.17
1/2 lb. Frozen Green Beans $1.15
Total Cost: $12.72
Cost per meal: $3.00
Cost of leftovers (2 servings mashed potatoes): $0.72
Instant Pot Mashed Potatoes
Servings 6 1 cup eachIngredients
- 3 lbs. russet potatoes ($1.50)
- 1 cup chicken broth ($0.13)
- 1/2 Tbsp seasoning* ($0.15)
- 3 Tbsp butter ($0.39)
Instructions
- Peel and cube the potatoes (about 1-inch cubes). Place them in the Instant Pot along with the chicken broth and seasoning of your choice (see notes for what I used).
- Close the Instant Pot lid, close the steam valve, and select the "Steam" option. The machine will auto-set to 10 minutes. Let the machine come up to pressure, cook for 10 minutes, then naturally release pressure.
- Once the pressure has released, open the pot and mash the potatoes with a potato masher. Add the butter and stir or mash into the potatoes until melted. Taste and adjust the salt or seasoning as you see fit.
See how we calculate recipe costs here.
Notes
Nutrition
And I think that’s all I’ve got for you this week! As always, any questions or ideas can be left in the comments below. :) I hope you have a wonderful week!
I made these once and they came out great. The second/third time I made them I keep getting the burn warning on the IP (I tried increasing the broth by half). What else could I be doing wrong?
It was a hotter temperature where I live on the second/third tries – would that be it?
I’m not very well experienced with Instant Pots, so it’s hard to say. I’m not sure what mechanism triggers the burn warning for the IP. This recipe is probably best done in a skillet, as it’s written.
For the mashed, what if you don’t have an instant pot? What is the best alternative?
Hi Brandon! You could certainly make these mashed potatoes they’re one of my favorite recipes from Beth!
I have never meal prepped, but I’m going to try this recipe as my first attempt. I love the containers you used. Do you just reheat everthing in the container or not?
Yep, I just pop the whole thing in the microwave. :)
Just tried your recipes for the first time tonight and we tried this one. It was AMAZING! Best (and easiest) mashed potatoes I have ever made! And the pork chops were SO good! This is a keeper for sure! And now I can’t wait to try the dragon noodles tomorrow night.
Wait, you’re in Nashville now??? Can we PLEASE go shopping together and help me with meal prep? I suck so bad at it!
This looks amazing. I think I’ll try this with chicken since we don’t eat pork
Haha, I’m still trying to find my way around town and find the best deals! 😂
Boy oh boy, were these pork chops fantastic! I’m a college student and these are the perfect meal prep item. Didn’t have time to prep much else so I just served them with some riced cauliflower which went surprisingy well with the sauce. I also used cutlets (cause they were cheaper) and they came out delicious, but a bit dry. Any suggestions for that?
I think cutlets are usually thinner than chops, so you’ll want to reduce the cooking time a bit to prevent the proteins from seizing up and getting tough and dry. I’d reduce the simmer time at the end of the recipe.
Ahh…This is amazing! Yammi Recipe within a Low budget! Love this Recipe. I can Try this. Thank you💦💦
I Want to Try this Recipe at my Kitchen! Love this Recipe! Its Yammi Thank you! Can’t wait to try this!
I made the pork chops last night in between trick or treaters. Yummy, but I need to cook down the sauce more next time. I paired it with green beans and the carrot orzo salad. Leftovers should be great!
I am curious what storage box is pictured with this meals. Thanks.
I got them from Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01M0FE59Y/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o03_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
How have the green beans fared in the reheat? My go-to quickie lunch is frozen potstickers with a side of frozen broccoli, which thaws during the day. The potstickers get a damp paper towel on top and the broccoli goes beside them in a glass dish. I usually season the broccoli with salt, pepper, soy sauce, lemon juice and a sprinkle of sesame seeds and it cooks right in the microwave.
I’m curious how the green beans do! It would be fun to mix it up.
They definitely over cook a little, especially since the mashed potatoes tend to take a bit longer to heat through. But I just combine the beans with some mashed potatoes on each forkful and I don’t even notice. :)
Yum!
Perfect timing on the mashed potato recipe! We had Thanksgiving trial run this weekend. IP potatoes is brilliant.
Maybe and IP round up for thanksgiving?
Can you make this in a pressure cooker? Or crockpot? I don’t have a instant pot
No, unfortunately I do not suggest a slow cooker or pressure cooker for this one because you need a dry cooking environment to get the browning and for the sauce to reduce. Slow cookers and pressure cookers hold in all the moisture and steam, so you’ll get a very soupy result with no caramelization.
While this pork chop dish is one of my favorites from your site, it isn’t well suited as lunch–I work in a place that bans any but plastic utensils, and plastic doesn’t work very well on thick chops, so I would need to cut them into bite sized pieces before packing. This did, instead, make a terrific dinner, with enough leftovers for an encore later this week
Love these posts! Two weeks ago I saw the maple Dijon chicken post right before I went to the grocery store and have ended up making that for my lunches the past two weeks. Where did you find those Tupperware? They look glass and I love the compartments.
I got them on Amazon, here is the link. :) https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01M0FE59Y/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1