I mostly don't "cook fancy" with recipe foods and the like. I do buy staples and keep chicken breasts in the fridge and freezer, veggies etc. We have a number of similar meals and make special stuff when the spirit moves. No other planning needed per se except to keep staples in the house. I do plan a day or more ahead when I am doing something like cooking a whole chicken in my Traeger smoker grill with rosemary and seasoning salt stuffed under the skin. Really the prep time is less than 15 minutes anyway.

We plan. Not as tightly as we used to, but with the kids gone, it’s just easier for us. My wife and I have similar likes/dislikes, so we have some flexibility, so long as we get to the market. Our major [weekly] plan consists of figuring out how many nights we think we’ll be at home that week and throwing enough protein and vegetables in the cart. We usually keep plenty of pantry items (spices, dried herbs, canned tomato products, stock/broth, grains) on hand so we aren’t usually caught without an essential ingredient. If one of us has a specific recipe they want to prepare, we do a closer check of the pantry. Since I do the large shop on the weekend, my wife will do ‘fill-in’ shopping during the week.

Why? Because a cockroach could starve in our house if we didn’t plan. With our kids grown and out of the house, we just don’t keep nearly as much inventory on hand.