Appreciation post: My $30 meal plan experiment that saved $200 last month

I tried one of those cheap meal prep services for a month back in March. Signed up for the smallest plan just to see if it would stop me from ordering takeout on lazy nights. Turned out I saved about $200 compared to what I usually spend on food that month. The real win was learning I actually eat way less when I don't have to decide what to cook. Has anyone else had a subscription service that accidentally helped their budget?

3 comments

3 Comments

william_miller2mo ago

Read a study a few months ago that said decision fatigue is a real thing when it comes to food. People who meal plan spend less just because they're not making a hundred small choices every day. Sounds like your meal service did the same thing, just took the thinking out of it. I tried a similar approach with a grocery delivery subscription and it honestly worked the same way. Less time wandering aisles means less random junk in my cart.

patel.daniel2mo ago

Spending less and eating healthier aren't quite the same thing though.

mason7981mo ago

Joke's on me, my meal plan ended up costing more than takeout because I kept ordering extra snacks on top of it. That whole "less decisions" thing backfired hard when I added a $12 bag of chips just because the checkout button was right there. At least wandering the aisles gave me a workout dodging the candy aisle. Maybe the real savings was the debt I never had to pay off.