Nutrition · 11 recordsMeal planning

Meal planning fails when it is a new decision every week. This builds the thing that makes it cheap — a rotation of meals you already know — and then the weekly routine is assembling a plan from it rather than inventing one.

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Goal

A planned week, every week, without deciding from scratch Month 2

A rotation to draw from, so planning becomes assembly.

Build the rotation Week 3

Mostly writing down what I already cook.

  • Write down fifteen meals I already makeDo firstDay 4
  • Note what each one needs, so the shop writes itselfDay 12
  • Fill the cupboard with what most of them shareWeek 3

Plan and shop weekly Month 2

One slot, both jobs, same day.

  • Plan the first week from the rotationDo firstDay 7
  • Do the shop against that plan and nothing elseDay 8

Routines

  • Plan the week's mealsweekly
  • Do the shop from the planweekly
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Assembly, not invention

Meal planning collapses when it is a fresh decision every week. A rotation of about fifteen meals you already know turns a weekly invention into a weekly assembly, which is a far smaller job.\n\nPlan and shop in the same slot. A plan not turned into a shopping list the same day rarely survives contact with a Tuesday evening.

Questions

Meal planning, answered.

Because planning from an empty page every week is the thing that makes meal planning collapse. A rotation of fifteen or so meals you already know turns a weekly decision into a weekly assembly, which is a much smaller job.
Around fifteen is enough that nothing repeats uncomfortably within a fortnight. Building it is the first project here, and it is mostly writing down what you already cook rather than finding new recipes.
Yes, and deliberately as part of the same weekly routine. A plan that is not turned into a shopping list the same day tends not to survive contact with a Tuesday evening.
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