Step 1: Talk to your family and compile a list of meals that A. You don't mind cooking. & B. They'll actually eat. And be fucking realistic. You don't have to be Superparent here. No 5 course meal necessary. Chicken Nuggets and French Fries totally counts as a planned meal with the complicated recipe of "Tear open bags and air fry until not frozen."
Step 2: Take the list and type it into a random picker app. I use Spin The Wheel on Android. This takes the decision process away from you. Don't question the wheel.
Step 3: Print off a meal planning sheet. Google it. Go for one with a grocery list on the side, beyond that, dealer's choice.
Step 4: Spin the wheel 7 times. Write those meals down on the meal plan side.
Step 5: Use the grocery list side to write down everything you need to make those meals.
Step 6: Open your cabinets and fridge and cross anything off the list that you already have.
Step 7: Sit down with your favorite grocery delivery app and order the shit on the grocery list. Go pick it up or have it delivered. Don't go inside the store and shop. This is the money saving part. Don't buy shit that is not on the list.
Step 8: Cook the meals you planned. Move them around for convenience if necessary, but over all for the week, stick to the fucking list.
Now when your parade of starving teenagers stumble through your kitchen and ask, "What's for dinner?", you in all your prepared glory can point to the front of the refrigerator and exclaim, "Learn to read, Dummy!" and continue cooking what you have planned.
After the first time of compiling your list and setting up the Wheel, the entire planning process takes all of 5 minutes a week.
September 07, 2022 at 12:04AM
