Can we talk about meal planning versus just buying the same 10 staples every week?

I did a strict meal plan for 6 weeks and saved $87, but it took 2 hours every Sunday, then last month I just bought rice, beans, eggs, frozen veggies, chicken, and peanut butter on autopilot and my bill actually went down $23 with zero planning time, so which do you all swear by when the goal is just keeping the budget boring and stable?

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karen_sanchez109d ago

Oh buddy, you're comparing apples to oranges here and I gotta call it out. Your $23 savings without planning isn't because planning is useless, it's because you already knew your staples and stuck to them like glue. The real winner is having a solid list of go-to meals, whether you write it out or not. I do a lazy version where I meal plan in my head while I'm in the cereal aisle, and my bill stays flat without the Sunday chore. But if you're starting from scratch or easily distracted by sales, the written plan beats autopilot every time. Your "zero planning" still took years of practice to get there, so don't ditch the system, just make it lighter.