About Meal & Macro

Who publishes it

Meal & Macro is published by Iron Mako Media, an independent portfolio of gear sites. It is a national online publication with no premises, no phone and no storefront; the only way to reach it is mike@blackironathletics.com, which goes to a person, not a queue.

Who writes it

Every page on the site carries the byline Mike M., the hands-on owner behind Iron Mako Media. He reads the manuals, compiles the published specs, runs the arithmetic and keeps the sourcing honest. That is the whole claim. There is no test kitchen, no lab, no credential we didn't earn and won't pretend to, and no "expert panel". What there is instead is a published method, on the methodology page, that you can check line by line.

Who it is for

Someone packing five meals at 5 a.m. before a twelve-hour shift, or a parent who lifts at 6 and needs lunch decided. Not the person surveying the whole market for fun — the person who wants the kit chosen and the reason stated, and then wants to stop thinking about it. That reader shapes every page: the answer comes first, the evidence follows, and the plan is by schedule, not by spec sheet.

What the site covers

• Meal Prep Containers — Glass vs plastic, the best sets, leak-proof lids, freezer-safe picks, bowls and disposables — plus how long the food inside actually lasts.
• Food Scales & Portioning — The best scales for macros, smart scales that log to an app, portion-control kits, and whether to weigh food raw or cooked.
• Shaker Bottles — Best overall, ball-free, stainless and electric shakers, head-to-heads, and the guides on cleaning, smell and clump-free mixing.
• Lunch Bags & Meal-Management Bags — The best insulated lunch bag for work, boxes for men and jobsites, meal-management bags, nurse-sized bags, heated boxes, and how long a bag keeps food cold.
• Bulk Cooking & Freezer Workflow — Freezer containers, rice cookers, pans, slow cookers and vacuum sealers, plus the guides on freezing, reheating, rice and bulk chicken.
• Meal Prep Systems — Start here: the starter kit, meal prep for beginners, shift workers, night shift, 12-hour shifts, nurses, busy parents, the gym, and gifts.

At launch that is 65 articles across six sections and 63 products, each scored on its category's rubric with every specification linked to the maker's page it came from.

How picks are decided

By a rubric per category, published in full and weighted for the buyer above: for containers, the seal and the material carry half the score; for lunch bags, container fit carries thirty points; for shakers, the mix and the seal carry half. Every score is an editorial judgment from documented research — the lid the maker describes, the oven rating it prints, the hours it claims — and never from a test we didn't run. Where a maker's page blocked our reader, the card says so and cites what we could verify instead. Where a maker publishes nothing, the card says that too.

Food-safety figures come from the USDA and the FDA and are quoted with a link on every page that uses them. We are a gear site; when a question is about health, we point at the agency and stop.

How it is funded

Amazon Associates. When you buy through a link on this site, Meal & Macro earns a commission at no cost to you. That is the site's only income. No maker pays for a placement, no maker has sent a product, and a commission never decides a ranking — the rubric does, and it is published. The full statement is on the affiliate disclosure; the rules we hold ourselves to are on the editorial policy.

About prices

We don't print them. Amazon sets them and they change daily; a price on a page is stale the day after it's written. Every pick's button checks today's. When a live price layer exists, the number appears inside the button with the date it was checked, and it disappears on its own after 48 hours if it can't be refreshed — a stale number never sits on a page pretending to be current.

Corrections

If a spec is wrong, a product is discontinued, or a source has changed, write to mike@blackironathletics.com or use the contact form. We aim to correct within seven days and note the change at the foot of the page.