Meal planning has been a bit exhausting for me lately. I’m not feeling the love like I used to, and the details are getting lost in my brain.
I end up making several extra trips to the store each week because I forget one thing I need to make dinner complete. And of course you never buy just that one thing you run in to grab, so my budget is a little crazy as well.
Friday night I geeked out a little on my calendar and set up a two week rotating weekday menu.
At first I was a little depressed about this solution, thinking it was incredibly boring and predictable. But then I realized even more benefits that I hadn’t even anticipated. For instance…
- I can set up automatic delivery for my Amazon Fresh orders, which saves me 15% on the items I need each week.
- Setting up automatic delivery makes my budget a little more predictable.
- I can shop less frequently at Costco because I know in advance what I’ll need for the month.
- I can still be flexible if I need to, and just shift meals around on the calendar.
- I can still be spontaneous re other elements of the meal, like side dishes.
But the biggest benefit I’m looking for is: DON’T MAKE ME THINK.
Oh man, I have NOT been organized about meal planning for a loooooong time. Our Costco membership expired in March and I just can’t bear the thought of going near that place. You’re right though. Lack of meal planning eats away at my sanity and our budget. Hadn’t considered doing auto reorder on Amazon Fresh (which I only use when I know a crazy week is ahead), but that is a great point. Thanks for the reminder!