So what is a standardized meal plan and should you try it? Well, it's simply the same meal scheduled at the same time on a specific schedule. The benefit to this is that you take some decisions out of your day. The downside, you might get bored or hate the predictability of it.
In our house, there are 2 breakfasts that are made - oats with banana, berries, chia and nut butter (keeps the girls full for a long time) or eggs with an apple, pepper and nut butter. Lunches tend to be very light, more of a snack that will consist of peppers, apples, nuts/seeds and cubed chicken breast. Dinners are chicken or fish, salad and sweet potatoes. This keeps my grocery list consistent and simple. I just need to have those items on hand. You can play with seasoning or textures, but the core is the same. This way, you don't have to think of what to pack for lunch or have for breakfast - you know what you are going to have.
We are actually okay with this and prefer it. We eat to fuel our bodies with optimal nutrition for performance mentally and physically. The great thing is that we can have a day on the weekend that is a "surprise" or change. We can go to the store to buy only the ingredients for that meal. It usually doesn't deviate too much from what we have, but we will have beef or change our protein up. The truth is, we know what we like and what works to fuel us. Sure, we might "feel" like something here and there, but it is short lived and then ends up in waste. I am actually looking forward to strictly sticking to this and not giving in to something cool I saw at the store that everyone ends up hating. I am confident that this is going to help me to keep our finances in check as I only need to purchase specific items.
Is this something that you do or have tried? If you try it, let me know how much you save by doing it.