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It was 8.25pm. After a 12-hour day fuelled only by caffeine and three bland, crust-free sandwich halves at a 2pm meeting, I faced my open fridge and realized I had three choices: call for delivery and starve for another hour, head out and grab something not knowing what's still open, or MacGyver a meal out of leftover pasta, BBQ sauce, onion and...orange juice? No matter what decision was to be made, I wasn't going to eat before nine and chances were it wasn't going to be healthy.

For every minute planned it's said you can save 10 – or 60, if you take Benjamin Franklin's estimate – and unless you're a person of leisure or only eat for sustenance, the end-to-end process of eating without a plan is an all-consuming affair that few of us have time for. From writing a shopping list or feeling hunger pangs, to being sated without regret, depending how prepared you were, time spent thinking about, preparing or buying each meal can accumulate rapidly. And complexity simply escalates when you add another person to the meal.

Taking 15 minutes to plan meals and snacks each week will save you a lot of time everyday

Taking 15 minutes out of your day to plan meals and snacks each week will save you a lot of time everyday. It can be the one thing that prevents you from eating that cookie or opting for fast food on a short lunch break. The single drawback is adding another 10-15 minutes to your weekly planning session, but the rewards could include:

• portion and calorie control
• increased focus on more important tasks
• avoid binge-eating
• fewer cheat meals
• nutrition awareness
• save money
• reduce waste
• motivation to create food in bulk for the week
• save time

Admittedly, my late night cuisine incident isn't a recurring event. I was at the end of my own meal plan and with a lot going on at work that week, I had failed to create another. Fortunately, my local sushi bar was still open, so I was able to fill my belly with sashimi and salad, however, I was sorely reminded of life without a meal plan.