7 years ago, I worked in an IT office at a University in NYC (a pretty crummy time in my life).

It was in the same building as a Subway and a Chipotle.

I pretty much cycled between the two of these for lunch, with the occasional Starbucks egg sandwich nestled in.

At the time, I was commuting from Brooklyn, all the way up to the Bronx.

If you’re not familiar with NYC (90 minutes or so each way on the subway):

My logic back then was simple:
“It’s convenient to eat wherever is closest to work.”

On the train, I’d listen to business podcasts or self-help audiobooks. I felt productive enough. But by the time I got home around 7pm, I was fried. The only thing I had energy for was sitting on the couch and ordering delivery.

Safe to say I wasn’t living my best life.

My decisions during the day looked like this:

Decision after decision after decision. It wasn’t me being lazy.

I wanted to find a way to reduce my decision load during the day so I could focus on waking up earlier to workout, and having enough energy at night to pursue some type of business (or continuing education).

So one day I finally said, “Enough”.

I leaned into something I already knew how to do.

Before that IT job, I was a Military Chef. I had planned meals for 200 people at a time, for months on end. Compared to that, planning my own food should’ve been easy.

I just didn’t think of it like a system yet.

Step 1: Breakfast stopped being a decision

Starbucks was the first thing to go. Their coffee is kinda whack anyways.

Instead, I prepped breakfast the night prior and made coffee at home to-go.

That alone saved about $10 a day.
Roughly $50 a week.
About $2,400 a year.

But the real win wasn’t money.

It was time.

I bought back the 20 minutes I used to spend walking to Starbucks, waiting in line, and eating at my desk. Breakfast became automatic. I never woke up wondering what I’d eat.

Five minutes of prep the night before replaced a daily decision.

Step 2: Lunch got planned once, not five times

I still can smell that Subway deli meat scent when I think back to that time in my life. And that Chipotle burrito that looked like a messy pancake because nobody knew how to roll a proper wrap.

Subway and Chipotle were convenient, sure. But they were also another daily choice I didn’t need to be making.

The best way to plan lunch and dinner ahead is to sit down Sunday morning for 10-minutes and map out your week ahead. (read my full guide here)

Maybe one day was a team lunch.
Friday was my “treat” meal.
The other three days, I brought my own food.

No scrambling. No guessing. No last-minute runs out of the office.

I’d batch-cook one simple meal on Sunday afternoon, enough for a few lunches and a few dinners. That alone saved another $50 a week and drastically improved how I felt.

Step 3: Dinner became a system, not a decision

I deleted DoorDash and Uber Eats from my phone.

That single move forced a decision earlier in the week, when I actually had energy to think.

Instead, I’d sit down Sunday during that 10-minute time block to figure out my weeknight schedule and dinner plan. Turning dinner into a system, instead of a decision is one of the biggest unlocks any entrepreneur can make (learn how to here).

When dinner stopped being a decision, everything changed.

About a month into this system, momentum kicked in.

My life trajectory changed, not because I found more motivation, but because I removed friction.

I already knew how to meal plan. I just hadn’t applied it to my own life in a way that worked in the real world.

But it took me a long time to put it into action in the ‘real world’.

You need to follow a plan which you can complete on your most tired or burnt out days.

That’s what I’m here for. Every Sunday am I’ll be in your inbox with a new tip or actionable framework to reduce decision fatigue by building a meal plan that actually works.

See you next Sunday.

Steven Hellman

Meal Planning OS

P.S. You can catch up on my other meal planning guides here. And if you reply to this email with a question, I read every one.

Say hi to me on LinkedIn, anytime. I post daily on building a meal planning system.