Groceries · 8 min read
The MOAB meal-planning method
Shop the specials, cook from overlapping ingredients, and freeze with intent — not hope.
Shop the catalogue, then write the menu
Open the Woolies, Coles and Aldi specials on Wednesday night. Circle the proteins under $10/kg and the produce you’d actually eat. The menu comes after the specials, never before.
Pick one “hero” protein that can do two dinners. Chicken thighs this week. Pork shoulder next. Beef mince only when it’s honestly on special.
Overlap on purpose
If Monday needs onion, Wednesday should too. If you open a bag of carrots, two meals should use them. That’s how a $3 bag stops being waste.
Cook rice and a pot of something on Sunday. Future-you at 5:40 p.m. is not a meal planner.
The freezer is a bank
Label with the dish and the date. Not “leftovers.” You will not remember.
A full freezer is cheaper than a packed fridge. Fridge food dies. Frozen food waits.