Meal prep container calculator
Split a finished batch into perfectly equal containers by weight, get the calories and macros for each one, and find a container size that actually fits the food.
1 · Split the pot
2 · Batch nutrition (whole pot, from raw ingredients)
Don't have batch totals? The planner calculates them for its recipes, or use the recipe scaler to size a recipe to your container count first.
16.9 oz · 2400 g of food in total
Per 100 g cooked: 131 kcal · 10.0 g protein. Handy for logging odd-sized portions.
Re-split: 480 g per container (each still gets 630 kcal).
What size container do I need?
Enter cooked grams per compartment. Leafy and chunky vegetables take far more room than rice for the same weight, which is why boxes that look big still overflow.
Food volume ≈ 732 ml. Pick at least 28 oz / 830 ml
| Container | Volume | Good for |
|---|---|---|
| 16 oz | 475 ml | Soup, chili, curry for a light lunch, snacks |
| 24 oz | 710 ml | Chili or curry with rice, salads, pasta |
| 28 oz | 830 ml | Standard protein + carb + veg box |
| 32 oz | 950 ml | Bigger appetites, bulky vegetables, bulking portions |
| 40 oz | 1200 ml | Large salads, family-size leftovers |
Why split by weight instead of by eye
Spooning a pot into five containers "evenly" routinely produces boxes that differ by 20–30%, because sauce, meat and rice settle unevenly. If you log the batch as five equal servings, some days you'll eat 150 kcal more than you think and some days less. Splitting by weight fixes it in about two minutes: tare each container on the scale and fill to the number above.
The empty-pot trick
Write the weight of each pot, sheet pan and casserole dish you own on a strip of masking tape stuck to the bottom. You'll never have to weigh an empty pot again, and the calculation above becomes one subtraction.
Composite boxes (protein + carb + veg)
When each component is cooked separately, split each one by weight on its own: all the chicken into N portions, all the rice into N portions, and so on. For chicken and rice, cooked weight is very different from raw, so use the raw to cooked converter if your tracking app wants raw weights.
Questions people ask
How do I split meal prep into equal portions?
Weigh your empty pot or tray before cooking. After cooking, weigh it full, subtract the empty weight to get the cooked food weight, and divide by the number of containers. Put each container on the scale, press tare, and fill to that number.
What size meal prep containers should I buy?
For a full lunch or dinner (protein, carb and vegetables), 28–32 oz (about 800–950 ml) single-compartment or 2–3 compartment containers fit most portions. Soups and chili suit 16–24 oz (475–700 ml) round deli containers; overnight oats fit 12–16 oz jars.
How do I calculate macros per container?
Log every raw ingredient that went into the batch once, add up the calories and macros for the whole pot, and divide by the number of containers. If the portions are split by weight, each container gets the same share.
How much should a meal prep portion weigh?
A typical balanced meal prep box weighs 400–550 g cooked: around 120–170 g cooked protein, 150–200 g cooked carbs and 100–150 g vegetables. Your own portion depends on your calorie target.