How Smarter Grocery Tech Is Eliminating Meal-Time Decision Fatigue
Every day, you have so many decisions to make. You’ve got to figure out what to wear and which route to take to work. There’s also deciding how you’re going to juggle everything moment to moment. What you’re going to eat falls into those momentary decisions, even if you’ve planned out your menu for the entire week.
After all, you could change your mind. Instead of salmon patties tonight, you’d rather put together a salad. And oatmeal no longer sounds appetizing the next morning, so you grab a protein shake on your way out the door. No matter how meal-time decisions get made, the fatigue is real. There’s so much to consider, from searching for recipes and sales to the actual prep and cooking time. Here’s how smarter grocery tech is lightening the load.
Customized Meal Kits
A lot of steps and micro decisions go into meal planning. You think of foods to buy, look for recipes, and make a shopping list. While you’re making your list, you’re searching for what’s on sale this week. As you’re browsing a store’s app, you clip the digital coupons you think you’ll use.
What comes next is the real heavy lifting, sometimes literally. It’s time to go to the store and be faced with more choices—some you may make on impulse. Then, you’ve got to bag and carry those groceries home. Now that the kitchen’s stocked again, it’s time to use those purchases with each meal. All those steps are a lot for the brain to process, which is why most people consider grocery shopping a chore.
Some individuals choose to avoid the majority of these micro decisions altogether. They rely on healthy meal kits and the technology behind these services to do most of the work. Smart tech curates the meals, assembles the shopping list, and delivers the food. You get to skip most of the cognitive fatigue that comes from deciding what to eat, which ingredients you need, and shopping. All you have to do is follow the cooking instructions or heat the pre-made meals.
Streamlined Meal Planning
Ever have the itch to try something new? But you don’t have enough culinary knowledge or experience to know where to begin. Sifting through online recipes and thumbing through old cookbooks seems like it would take too long. Besides, you don’t even know what you’re really looking for other than something with an appetite appeal.
Smarter grocery tech, including grocery chain apps, is coming to the rescue in terms of meal planning. Based on your budget and dietary needs, you can get customized meal ideas for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. You can also get personalized suggestions for desserts, appetizers, and holiday-themed beverages. No more searching for cookbooks geared toward vegetarians or special occasions.
In addition to providing meal ideas and curated recipes, the technology displays the cost per serving and the exact nutrients. You don’t need to dig deeper to determine if a recipe is low-carb or vegan. You’ll know the calorie count per serving up front, so you can be confident about meeting your nutritional goals. While you’ll also see the ingredient list, there’s no need to transfer them to a shopping list. Many of the apps do it for you.
Automated Grocery Lists
Finding meal ideas and recipes is only part of the battle. Now, you’ve got to place those recipes side-by-side to see what ingredients they share. And, you have to determine what to buy and how much. As mentioned above, all these mental gymnastics can be eliminated.
Most people (66%) spend around 30 minutes planning for their trip to the grocery store. Yet, 25% spend between one to two hours before they head out. Wherever you fall within the range, these are moments you’d rather have back. If your shopping list is automated based on what you want to eat, you can shave off some of the time.
Whether you use a grocery chain’s app or a platform dedicated to meal planning, the tech can create organized lists. You can upload those lists to a store’s shopping app or a grocery delivery platform. Now, you’ve just saved yourself more time since you don’t have to go through and select your items. If you’re using a chain’s app, the process is even more streamlined. You can choose the option to shop your meal plan, instantly adding the ingredients to your online order.
Smart Device Integration
Got a smart fridge in the kitchen? How about a fitness tracker? Smarter grocery tech can sync with those devices to increase accuracy and personalization.
For example, a meal planning app can “see” what foods you have in your smart fridge. Based on these items, the app may suggest a recipe to use up your leftovers. Plus, if a new recipe you’ve selected uses some of the ingredients you already have, your automated shopping list won’t include them. You’ll be reducing your potential food waste without having to think about it.
Based on the goals and activity levels in your fitness tracker’s app, meal planning services can adjust your recommendations. Say you’ve been increasing your strength training sessions lately. You’ll probably see high-protein meal suggestions. If your activity level goes down, your meal planning service could adjust your portion sizes accordingly. As apps and devices get better at sharing data, real-time meal decisions will become nearly effortless.
Eliminating Meal-Time Decision Fatigue
It’s just a simple meal, right? Nothing to it. Except, there is. You’ve got to make decisions about recipes, ingredients, digital coupons, and where or when to shop.
Smarter grocery tech is lifting most of these burdens off your weekly plate. Meal kit delivery, curated meals, automated grocery lists, and smart device integration are examples of how. It’s up to you if you want to use them. But if you’re tired of juggling all the small decisions that go into eating right, smart grocery tech is the way to shop.
