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Meal planning is a boring topic. It makes me think of structured suburban moms with their full calendars that have to ‘put their face on’ before going to the store.

Not the hip woman without kids that I am. (LOL, I am so far from hip, I could barely type that).

When I started meal planning a few years ago, I noticed how it made my life so much easier. I sit down with a pad of paper, take a look at what is leftover in my cabinets and fridge, and start planning.

It has freed up so much brain space for me. And it can work for you too.

It will save you time at the grocery store.

I don’t wander around the grocery store looking for what tickles my fancy when grocery shopping. I get in, get my stuff, and get out. When you know precisely what you are cooking for the week and have it all written down, it makes trips to the store so much faster.

You might be one of those people that likes to walk up and down the produce section looking for the perfect carrot. I would much rather spend my time reading.

You will stop wasting so much food.

There is nothing worse than buying a bunch of fruit and veggies only to have it rotting away before you get to use it. I grew up pretty scrappy, and there was nothing my mom hated more than wasting food. Every time I need to throw something out (or compost) something just because of my lack of planning, I can feel my mom’s disapproving gaze.

When I started planning out my meals, I was pretty simply able to use up leftover food. I can make a roast chicken on Monday and use the leftover chicken in burrito bowls later on in the week. I also make veggies as sides and eat them twice.

You will save money.

With a bit of forethought and planning, you can choose meals for the week that the ingredients are on sale. It may just be saving you a few bucks on your grocery list, but over months and years it can add up.

Have meals planned out and a list in hand will also help you from buying things at the store that you don’t need.

You will be more intentional about the food that you eat.

If you are following a special diet or trying to lose weight, meal planning is critical. Without a plan, you can easily be stuck doing a Whole 30 with only carbs in your cabinet.

I was able to lose almost 30 pounds by planning out my meals, so I didn’t stress eat a whole pizza because I had nothing else in the house to eat.

Meal planning doesn’t have to be a drag. Sitting down one evening with a pad of paper, and your Pinterest boards can be an easy way to simplify your week. Try it for a week or two.

It can save you time, money, and food waste!

In May of last year, I gave myself a birthday present.  I gifted myself a subscription to Blue Apron.

I went through a phase a few years back where I was going to make all meals from scratch.  No short cuts.  I am an adult with no children but I still have a demanding job, a home to take care of, hobbies, friends and a husband.  There is never enough time and I burned myself out.  Hard.

I came home from a really, really long and stressful work day and the meal that was on deck for that night would have taken more effort that I was prepared to give.  I think I ended up talking my dad into buying me a cheeseburger that night. There were tears.

Later on, I reassessed and gave myself some grace on the 100% home-cooked front. (This is why I keep a small stack of pizzas in the deep freeze at all times.)

Even with that grace, I was in food a rut.  I hated everything that I had been making and was ready to try something new.  So I figured why not give one of those new-fangled meal kit delivery services a try.   It was either that or burning my kitchen to the ground, so I patted myself for being a grownup about things for a change.

Over the next few months, I made delicious things like Beef Shwarma Bowls, Koren-style Beef, Sheet Pan Miso Salmon, and The Gouda Wife Burger.

Even the meals that I got that were not amazing were still good.  Not a pooper in the bunch.

My Blue Apron recipes taught me about new ingredients (hello, capers!), new techniques (fish in parchment), made me realize the deliciousness of simplicity (roasted broccoli with olive oil, salt, and pepper is my jam).

A few months in, I remembered that simple ingredients, when prepared correctly, are amazing.

images by Blue Apron

If you are considering giving Blue Apron, or any meal kit delivery service, a try here are a few things you should know:

The limited options help with analysis paralysis.

The worst part of meal planning is trying to figure out what you are going to make for a week.  The Signature 2-person plan has eight choices.  The 4-person and Weight Watchers plan have fewer.  For the most part, that is plenty and if none of them sound good, you can skip a week.  No muss, no fuss.

Recipes are balanced, healthy, and low calorie.

The meals are designed by chefs so they are healthy meals with lots of veggies.  The calories of most of the meals that I got were less than 700 calories.  There were a few of the grain bowls that were around 450, while still being very satisfying.  It was super easy for me to control portions while working toward losing weight.

It is super, super convent.

All you need to do is log on to the website or use the app, choose your meals, and they show up on your doorstep.  If you forget to make selections, Blue Apron conveniently (or not) chooses for you.  Is an epic snowstorm slowing down your shipment? They let you know.  Is a holiday going to mess up your delivery date? They reschedule it for you.   It is just that simple.

The service is not perfect, however.

The cost is not necessarily cheaper than meal planning and purchasing your own groceries.  Whether or not Blue Apron is cheaper depends on where you get your groceries and how often you eat out.  I live in Minnesota and purchase my groceries at a fairly standard midlevel grocery.  We also have a freezer full of meat, so Blue Apron was not cheaper per meal on a purely cost basis.

When you add the time spent meal planning and my much shorter and less frequent trips to the grocery store on top of the cost of buying less food, it might very well be cheaper.  I didn’t do the math, but my time is very valuable.  Because I am amazing (wink!).

Also – there is so much packaging.  For one meal you may have chicken, rice, and vegetables all in separate baggies, then another baggie full of condiments, vinegar, butter, and cheeses all wrapped up in their own plastic cocoons.  And that is not counting the box, insulated liner, and gel ice packs.  They do have detailed instructions on how to recycle everything, but it is still a lot of waste.

Are you in a cooking rut or need someone to do the heavy lifting?  Maybe you should give a meal kit service a try!

PS. I want to be completely candid with you – I canceled my Blue Apron plan early this year.  Nothing against the company or the service.  Jesse and I were looking for ways to cut costs and I canceled most of my subscriptions.

Also, I am not an affiliate for Blue Apron.  I just loved the shit out of it.