Grocery stores put loss leaders (items sold at/below cost) on front page of weekly flyer. Don’t browse whole flyer or aisles. Look only at front page.
The action: Identify the one cheap protein and one cheap vegetable. These become your “anchors” for the week.
The result: These two items choose your meals. You don’t choose recipes; the front page chooses the anchors, and you build around them using Template Cooking.
The Workflow
- Check front page Thursday/Friday
- Spot: “Pork chops 0.99/lb”
- Decision: “Pork is anchor protein, broccoli is anchor veg”
- Apply to template: Sheet Pan, Bowl, or Stir Fry
- Shop
Why this works: You’re not held hostage by one recipe. If chicken isn’t on sale, you adapt. Ground pork is cheap? Make that instead.
The Trap to Avoid
Buying sale items that don’t fit your frameworks.
Bad: “Artichokes are 1? I can use those in Stir Fry, Tacos, or Pasta. Buy 4.”
North: Where this comes from
- Loss Leader Strategy (retail pricing to drive traffic)
- Template Cooking (flexible frameworks)
South: Where this leads
- Opportunity Buy (bulk buy deep sales)
- Modular Meal Planning (plug sales into templates)