Some people might call them “glorified leftovers”, but planned meals can save you time and money. Meal prep will also give you control over your eating habits, if you stick with it.

Consistency will be key here! Meal prep Sundays can become a waste of resources if you still end up buying food on the go, or eating out.

Instagram influencers and fitness gurus will give you all the inspiration you need to get motivated about meal prep, but cooking hundreds of dollars’ worth of food for 7 meals isn’t for everyone.

Buying and cooking in bulk is the budget-savvy way to go!

Here are 9 must-have kitchen essentials for meal-prepping on a budget:

1. Meal prep containers

Turn your fridge into a grab & go station for the entire family. A pack of 20 Bento box-style containers are the perfect starter kit for a couple, or a small family.

Of course you can buy glass containers, but these reusable sturdy plastic containers are much lighter in weight, and they take up less space in both the fridge and your to-go bag.

Dishwasher and microwave safe, easy to clean & store!

2. Insulated bag

A multipurpose insulated bag will pay for itself in no time. You can use it as a lunch bag, a picnic cooler, a bag to keep your coffee warm, or your fruits cold and crisp.

You can also use it as a no-spill insulated grocery bag for your meat and frozen products.

Get it in a neutral unisex design so anyone in the family can use it. Go for a 2 pack and you’ll be amazed at how many things you end up using these robust bags for.

3. Crockpot / Instant pot

Ever check Pinterest for top meal prep recipes? I bet you can’t find one list that doesn’t have a Crockpot/Instant Pot recipe somewhere in there.

And that’s because cooking in them is just so convenient!  You can cook a dump dinner with a Crockpot, while prepping your lunches. Any kitchen tool that requires minimal attention will save you time to be more efficient.

As for the Instant Pot, there isn’t much you can’t make in it! You can pressure cook for quick protein add-ins to your meals, or cook sides like rice without worrying about burning any pots to a crisp.

4. Food sealer kit

Buying in bulk should become the norm if you’re serious about keeping a tight grocery budget. But even buying in bulk can become wasteful if you don’t pre-portion the food correctly before storing in the freezer.

A vacuum sealer starter pack (with rolls & bags included) can also help you save on food storage space if you don’t have a deep chest freezer.

You can freeze single-meals or cuts of meat in just the right portion size for your tried & true recipes.

5. Silicone trays for pre-portioning

Speaking of pre-portioning, cooked or store-bought sauces will often go to waste if you don’t freeze them soon enough after the first use.

These handy silicone ice-cube trays have 15 x 1.25-inch square cubes. You can use them to easily freeze portions of your favorite marinara sauce. Once frozen, you can move the cubes to Ziplock bags.

You can also do this with stocks, so you can always have true flavor bombs on hand when cooking large batch meals.

6. Stockpot

Buying food in bulk, and batch cooking meals will often leave you with loads of odds & ends from bones, random cuts of meat, to veggies and herbs.

A large volume stockpot, left to simmer for several hours will go unnoticed as you take care of other more labor-intensive parts of your meal prep.

The flavor of a concentrated stock will have you craving homemade meals!

You can also use the stockpot as a pasta strainer or as a steamer.

7. Waffle maker

Waffles, hash browns, pancakes, Paninis, omelets and so much more can be cooked in large batches using a large capacity waffle maker.

The shape of the end-product is perfect for saving space in your freezer & your to-go containers. Triple the breakfast recipes you know & love and make ahead even a month’s worth of easy meals.

8. Silicone baking mats

These reusable silicone baking mats can save you the expense of buying new oven trays, as they never get food stuck on them, or go brown & sticky.

Roll out dough on them, bake cookies and pizza all in one place, without having to repurchase rolls of baking paper.

9. Planner

When you fail to plan, you plan to fail. Wise words!

Use this meal-prep focused planner to get your plan in place. From pantry inventory, to weekly inspiration to stay on track; all in all a budget-friendly way to stay on top of your goals!

It has 29 weeks’ worth of meal planning along with a grocery list for each week and a meal prep strategy section.

The post 9 Must-Have Kitchen Essentials for Meal Prep on a Budget appeared first on Online Storiez.

But this improvement in product packaging regulation came at a steep price.

Seven people, including a 12 year old child, died unexpectedly in a series of events that what would later become known as the Chicago Tylenol murders.

The victims

At first it appeared that the victims had absolutely nothing in common: a 12-year-old in Elk Grove Village, a postal worker in Arlington Heights, a new mother of four in Winfield.

But then, just as the family members of postal worker Adam Janus gathered to grieve, 2 more deaths took place in the same house. Stanley Janus, the first victim’s brother, and his wife Theresa both collapsed in a matter of hours.

The plot of thickened as authorities quarantined the house, suspecting an unrelated health issue.

The unsolved mystery of the “Tylenol murders”

A public health nurse, Helen Jensen, is present at the scene of the 3 deaths in a row. She expresses her assumption that there must have been something “wrong” with the recently purchased bottle of Tylenol they discovered on site.

The receipt found for the bottle that had been purchased just that morning determined medical examiner Dr. Edmund Donoghue to pursue her theory.

Donoghue decides to look for the tell-tale signs of cyanide poisoning when examining the bodies.

What he discovers will send the entire nation into a state of panic!

Red skin, signs of erosion within the stomachs of all 3 victims, in an alkaline state.

And most conclusively: the smell of bitter almonds.

Final verdict: cyanide poisoning!

So how did cyanide even cross anyone’s mind?

Dr. Donoghue says that it was just of matter of “luck” that someone with the ability to smell cyanide was present at the scene. This ability is regarded as an inherited genetic trait, manifesting in only half of the population.

The pungent smell of bitter almonds was the missing piece of the puzzle! This detail led the hundreds of investigators looking into these 7 deaths to the final answer: all the victims had taken Tylenol contaminated with cyanide.

Cyanide blocks the body’s ability to use oxygen, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It’s a poison that’s particularly damaging to the heart and brain.

It works very fast. In solid crystal form, cyanide can be lethal to humans even when ingesting a single gram.

Ultimately, public health nurse, Helen Jensen saved investigators a lot of time. By sniffing a Tylenol bottle, she helped link the 7 mysterious deaths to the random act of drug tampering that would revolutionize safety product packaging regulations.

“Tylenol” federal bill & new safety product packaging regulations

Following the Chicago “Tylenol” murders, the brand behind this very popular over-the-counter drug, Johnson & Johnson not only changed the packaging, but the pills too!

Maybe it doesn’t sound like much now, but at the time it was a crisis management move that created a Domino effect within the industry.

Johnson & Johnson switched from capsules to caplets, while also upgrading their containers, and advertised a triple-sealed Tylenol packaging. It included a box with glued flaps, a plastic ring around the neck and a foil seal; all of which are now industry standards for over-the-counter drugs.

The “Tylenol” murders also led to a change in federal law. The Federal Anti-Tampering Bill took legal effect in 1983. This bill made tampering with medication and other consumer goods a crime. The bill is still commonly known as the “Tylenol bill.”

The FDA followed suit, making it an FDA requirement for drugs to have tamper-proof packaging (blister packs, shrink wrap bottle covers and visible seals).

The FDA’s new over-the-counter packaging requirements also instructed manufacturers to clearly write on the label how a consumer can recognize if a bottle had been tampered with.

The tamper-proof features included breakable seals, blister packs or tape.

Johnson & Johnson’s crisis management becomes standard study-case in business school        

The story the public was told by the company, by the police, by the government and by the media followed a single plotline: a madman was responsible for the “Tylenol” murders.

Medical historian Dr. Howard Markel, a University of Michigan professor, calls it a never before seen turnaround; thanks to a top-notch crisis management team and a skillful PR campaign.

The immediate recall, where Johnson & Johnson recalled 31 million bottles nationwide, after warning consumers to stop taking the drug, brought the company to the edge of disaster.

By cooperating with investigators and offering a $100,000 incentive for information that might help identify the perpetrator, Johnson and Johnson did some quick damage control with the general public.

J&J also tested 1.5 million Tylenol bottles and found three more unopened bottles laced with cyanide.

Collateral damage

1. The copycat murders that followed the mysterious 1982 Tylenol deaths.

– A New York victim of a cyanide laced Tylenol in 1986;

– A woman lacing Excedrin with cyanide, resulting in the death of her husband and a stranger in 1986;

– A Seattle man’s Sudafed cyanide contamination in 1991, having the intention of murdering his wife, but killing two strangers instead.

2. People still remember that the September 1982 Chicago Tylenol murders effectively ruined Halloween that year. Parents were scared of the reality that was consumer goods tampering. This making trick-or-treating a risky affair following the panic that set in that year.

The post Safety seals on meds became a must after this evil act appeared first on Online Storiez.

W. Borders was named the first bishop of Orlando in 1968. And as luck would have it, the Apollo 11 space mission was launched one year later.

The old Catholic law, which was still in effect in 1969, indicated that every new territory discovered will fall under the rule of the diocese from where the members of the expedition left.

Cape Canaveral, the place where the legendary Apollo 11 launched, is under the range of the Diocese of Orlando and its territory. This fact makes Bishop Borders the first bishop of the moon!

The Apollo 11 space mission

July 16^th, 1969, the Apollo 11 space mission took off, being launched from Cape Canaveral. Apollo’s mission is meant to fulfill President John F. Kennedy’s goal for the nation. In 1961, J.F.K shares his plan to “land a man on the Moon and return him safely to the Earth, before the decade is out.”

Little did the president know that this space mission would also unintentionally make Bishop Borders the first Bishop of the Moon. Not only that, but it would also make the Diocese of Orlando the biggest diocese in the known Universe. By claiming the Moon under its rule, the Diocese of Orlando adds more than 14.6 million square miles to its current territories.

Fun fact: Buzz Aldrin took Communion on the moon, even though he’s a Presbyterian, not a Catholic.

The rule of the 1917 Code of Canon Law that made it possible

The 1917 Code of Canon Law, also called the Pio-Benedictine Code, is the first official comprehensive codification of Latin canon law. Promulgated on 27 May 1917, it started taking legal effect on 19 May 1918.

It was abrogated in 1983, on the 27^th of November, when the 1983 Code of Canon Law took legal effect.

Before the codification of the 1917 Code of Canon Law, the numerous new laws and decrees that had been issued by popes, councils, and Roman congregation would be just a scattered mass of legal material.

The 1917 Canon Law Code references the rule about “newly discovered land”, but it apparently went unnoticed as it was still in effect in 1969, at the time of the launch from Cape Canaveral.

Say it to the Pope!

It was actually a tongue-in-cheek comment that Bishop Borders made when visiting the pope, which triggered the entire “Bishop of the Moon” matter.

Following the launch of Apollo 11, Bishop Borders met with Pope St. Paul VI for his ad limina (a meeting that takes place every 5 years between a bishop of a diocese and the pope, in which he has the privilege to greet the pope, and then discuss current issues with the heads of various Vatican departments).

As you can see, Bishop Borders used his time with the pope wisely! According to Renae Bennett, diocesan archivist, Borders told the pontiff that he was “bishop of the Moon”.

A confused look on the pope’s face made Bishop Borders bring up the 1917 Code of Canon Law, where it was stated that newly discovered land would fall under the jurisdiction of the diocese from which the expedition team that discovered that territory departed.

He also informed the pope that Cape Canaveral, Apollo 11’s launching spot, was located in Brevard County, which was part of the Diocese of Orlando, along with 12 other counties and, now, the Moon.

On the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 launch, Jennifer Drow, secretary of communications for the Diocese of Orlando was interviewed on the matter. She says that Bishop John Noonan, the current bishop of Orlando, does not consider himself bishop of the moon. She says that the current bishop of the Diocese of Orlando would probably say that God is the bishop of the moon.

What does Bishop Borders’ claim of jurisdiction mean?

First of all, it 100% doesn’t mean that the Diocese of Orlando, or the Catholic Church for that matter, claim sovereignty on the Moon’s territory. Bishop Borders made this comment with humor intended, as he knew Pope St. Paul VI was a supporter of the Apollo 11 space mission.

And even if we were to follow the rule of the 1917 Canon Law Code, the Catholic Church wouldn’t be able to claim ownership of the Moon.

By falling under the jurisdiction of the Diocese of Orlando, according to this obscure law, it would only affect the Catholics inhabiting the Moon.

A diocese, in ecclesiastical (clerical) terms, simply offers administrative rights and responsibilities to its bishop regarding only matters of the Catholic Church.

So fear not, the Moon is still up for grabs!

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With just 2 years of retirement under their belt, 78% of NFL players go bankrupt or end up with financial burdens, mostly because of joblessness or divorce.

By year 5 post-retirement, close to 60% of NBA players are basically broke.

These sound like the stats of an epidemic, except athletes are plagued with a disease that eats away at their financial stability at an alarming rate. It happens to NFL, NBA, and major league baseball players. It really seems like the sports industry chews you up, and spits you out with a vengeance.

From filing for bankruptcy, to being sued for overdue credit card payments, or being jailed for failing to pay child support!  They just seem to not be able to catch a break after the money from those big contracts stops coming in. Not to mention the post-retirement divorce rates among professional athletes.

So what are the main theories behind this infamous phenomenon?

There are as many theories as there are people that like to talk about how others handle their finances. But there are some patterns that reveal themselves when studying the spending habits of athletes.

The lifestyle creep

It finds its way even when you start making $10.000 more a year. You wouldn’t imagine yourself adjusting back to your old budget after giving every extra $ a purpose. The same happens for the 18-22 year olds that get recruited into professional leagues, and immediately get offered millions!

They build their lifestyle around these outrageous incomes, but when contracts end life catches up to them. Mortgages don’t go away, and neither do car payments, their money-hungry entourage or their taste for the finer things in life.

Picked young and dropped early

Athletes get pushed into a very narrow field of expertise at a tender age in their newfound maturity. As soon as 18 years of age they are taught and incentivized to think, eat & breathe just one thing: the game!

That’s why at 24-27 years old they step out into the real world with that short-lived career having taken its toll on their body. Athletes are then left to figure it out without having any real-world skills or the right support system to help manage their superficial wealth. A sort of easy come-easy go.

Spending habits that match their financial literacy

These are among the worst culprits in the financial pandemic that burdens most retired professional athletes.

This isn’t just about how everyone’s trying to keep up with the toxic culture in sports (aka the mansions, the cars, the jewelry, the partying, etc.). It’s mostly about how athletes choose to invest their earnings while they’re still in the game.

They typically set themselves up for failure by trying to play it safe. That’s when their lack of financial know-how outplays them.

Athletes tend to go for the tangible and shortsighted investments that cost them a good chunk of money at a time. They do this because they don’t trust what they often can’t understand (i.e. more conservative stock market investments).

Nightclubs, fashion lines & other gimmicks are the ultimate money drains for a lot of athletes’ entire career’s worth.

Social media would have you believe that professional athletes have everything you wish for and more. But you’re only seeing the highlights & the crashes. The highlights are the extravagant lifestyles they put on display while money is pouring in; and the crashes are the nasty divorces that put them on blast.

You never hear anything anymore about them once they go broke!

Professional athletes that have actually managed to build considerable wealth are few and far between.

American former professional basketball player, Michael Jordan, retired 3 times, before it was final. And he maxed out his fame and success in order to build true wealth. With five regular-season MVPs, Jordan is the most decorated player in NBA history. But it’s his flair for self-marketing that made a big difference in how his post-retirement finances turned out!

The classic, Magic Johnson, used his earnings to set the foundation of Magic Johnson Enterprises, valued at $1 billion dollars. Partnering with Starbucks, 24 Hour Fitness and Best Buy, as well as investing in urban development, this retired NBA player is a rare exception to the rule.

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A study on killer whales seems to have helped researches find the missing puzzle piece in the case of the evolutionary mystery that is menopause.

Menopause is the chapter that ends most women’s reproductive lives, when menstrual periods end permanently, and they can no longer become pregnant. Women generally experience menopause between 49 and 52 years of age.

That means we, as humans, basically stop reproducing halfway through our lives, unlike the majority of animals around the world. Even our friendly companions, dogs and cats, have a lengthier reproductive life than us (when considering the difference in life expectancy).

Dogs do not experience menopause, although their cycles may become irregular and infrequent. Menopause has been observed in a few other species closer to our ecosystem (chimpanzees, or elephants), but the subjects have mostly been captive individuals; this making the results incomparable to what actually happens outside of captivity.

To get some conclusive answers, researches started exploring the post-reproductive lives of animals in the wild, with the study on killer whales being the true eye-opener on the matter!

Darren Croft of Exeter University shared a few different theories behind this atypical evolutionary trait, after studying killer whales for several years.

The “Evolutionary Accident” theory suggests that menopause is among one of the many accidents that stuck around, as evolution solidified its “survival of the fittest” rule.

This theory suggests that this trait occurred in our lineage sometime in our recent evolution, and we’ve been carrying it through generations.

However, Croft himself says that this theory is easily disproved simply by pointing out just how infrequently menopause manifests in the animal kingdom.

Menopause is more likely a post-reproductive stage of life that’s deeply embedded into our evolutionary journey for a reason.

But what is that reason?

The “Granny” theory is one of the earliest ideas meant to identify a cause for menopause.

Apparently, older females from species that experience menopause are programmed to stop reproducing just to help with raising their grand-kids.

So instead of pushing for more children of their own, they devote themselves to giving the next generation a better chance to reach adulthood, losing their reproductive abilities in the process.

The eldest matriarch of a killer whale clan has been shown to call the other whales from mile away, guiding them to the best salmon hunting spots. A granny never lets her grand-kids go hungry!

The main downside of the “granny” theory is that is doesn’t account for all the other species that lead the pack as the elders of a group, but continue to breed (like elephants for example).

Although the “granny” theory explains how the post-reproductive life of menopausal species looks like, the “Reproductive Conflict” theory explains why certain species stop reproducing in the first place.

A study on several orca mothers that were near menopausal age revealed breakthrough information! These orca mothers were paying a higher price for reproducing, when in competition with their younger daughters.

The offspring of middle-aged females were more likely to die than those of their younger counterparts. This fact, along with the “granny” effect, lead menopause to becoming a thing in killer whale populations!

So just like humans, killer whales that have reached the menopausal stage of their reproductive life will start to look for a new purpose in life. A middle-age crisis if you will.

Most species in the animal kingdom are innately driven by their fertility. Females from these species are basically doomed once they become infertile. And that’s because they no longer contribute to the main goal of the group: propagating the species!

Whichever theory is correct, in the case of menopause, finding a purpose beyond your fiercest instincts is an amazing thing to observe in the wild.

Women have full control over their reproductive lives. And we see the “granny” effect as the most endearing hypothesis. But it’s remarkable to see this type of complex behavior taking place in such a few select other species.

One would imagine that an elder orca will be more successful in passing along its genes by continuing to reproduce later in life. It invests energy into giving her grandchildren better odds. It accepts the fact that her late-in-life offspring would suffer facing their younger competitors. An amazing decision-making process seen from the animals we share this evolutionary anomaly with!

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