I don't care about the money. Well, at least not for the purpose of this post. Yes, you've heard a million times that preparing your own food can save you money. If you didn't
know that, well, maybe I will get back to that another day.
Personally, when I think of the Economics of Life, I think about how the decisions I make lead to trade-offs in other domains of my
life.
When I choose to prepare my meals in advance, I trade off freedom of food selection, the time that was invested during preparation, and maybe even flavour. For what, if not to save
money?
(1) Certainty that I will hit my nutrition targets
(2) Time
(3) Mental Bandwidth
The first is obvious,
but how about Time and Mental Bandwidth?
Run the personal thought experiment / reflection...
How many hours per week do you spend preparing food midweek? Shopping for food? Being indecisive? Eating out? Stressing about what to eat or how to hit your macros?
The chances are that the cognitive and time cost significantly outweighs that of food prep done in advance. I know it does for me, and it's certainly something I could improve on.
For those of us leading busy lives, there are so many tasks and decisions each day. Adding what to eat, when you will eat, where you will eat, etc. to that is an unnecessary stressor that could be stealing time, money, and bandwidth from you each and every day.
Maybe this trade-off is worth it. That's the point; you have to understand what trade-offs you are willing to accept to live in the way that you do. Personally, I am generally happy to trade off money (i.e. pay more) for convenience and/or
time-saving, but if you are really struggling to pay the bills and are time-rich, this is something that would be unwise. Being time-poor vs time-rich should influence your decisions, just like your bank account should. Likewise, so too should your mental load or cognitive bandwidth.
Now, over to you...
What are you willing to sacrifice for the desired outcome? What trade-offs are worth it
for you? The trade-offs exist whether you are aware of them or not, so it's best to bring them to conscious awareness and to be deliberate about these decisions.
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