There is only two of us and limited pantry space so we can’t really do bulk shopping. Instead we buy groceries to be delivered once per week through Whole Foods / Fresh delivery or equivalent. If we want any extras or snacks go ourselves to the store and buy random stuff, but then it’s not part of “official meals”.
I like online ordering because it can save lists of all the needed foods and remembers recent purchases so you can easily reorder same things without making a separate list each time. Also inventory is likely to be available rather then in person. (I hate crowded weekend grocery shopping so I do anything to avoid it.)
Once food arrives, half goes in fridge and half in freezer for the perishables. Once per month, I get extra non-perishables all at once to stock the pantry - like canned chickpeas, black beans, rice pasta, pasta sauce, Couscous etc.
Then we have “approved meals” list that has a same structure and nutritional value and macro ratio and can be swapped out in any way with any combination. Like chicken/fish/beef + salad/veggies/soup + rice/potato/pasta
Over time by using a food scale and charts I’ve learned the amount of calories, macros in different amounts of food. The serving sizes on packaging have no correlation with actual nutritional needs nor level of satiety you will feel. My plans aim to minimize gut inflammation and to keep steady blood sugar - so no processed foods are used etc.
Now I just remember the amount that goes into each “meal” and can approximate without using scale. Cooking is 1-2 times per week and stored in fridge. Optimized so that you can use the oven + stove + slow cooker at once. If you don’t like one meal you can just take another, and everything I cook lasts 7 days in fridge with no issue. Some Sundays I get tired and so those are leftovers / go out to eat day.
Food budget is no longer a driver for this, as we are both high earners, but it helps that it’s predictable at $800/month for groceries + $500 for restaurants/snacks, etc.
I’ve optimized all I could at this point. Boyfriend never has to cook a single day of his life. Although if I could, I’d rather take a daily nutrition pill and never think about this again.