Dinner at Home, Lunch at Work, Veggies Used Up: Your Tracker
A simple log to help you and your partner cook dinner at home more often instead of ordering DoorDash, stop throwing out forgotten vegetables, and actually eat lunch on workdays.
Assumptions: "Workdays" means Mon–Fri. "Who cooked" uses Me / Partner / Both. "Delivery ($)" means the total you paid, including fees and tip.
How to use this tracker
- Set it up once. Paste each CSV block (section 8) into cell A1 of its own tab in Google Sheets. If everything lands in one column, select column A and use Data > Split text to columns. If the phone app makes this fiddly, do it once on a computer. After that, logging on your phone is easy.
- Log once, after dinner (about 60 seconds). Fill in today's row: what you had, whether you ate lunch, whether dinner was home-cooked, who cooked, and any delivery cost.
- Busy day? Only log 3 cells: Ate lunch, Home dinner, and Delivery ($). Breakfast, snacks, and notes are optional.
- Sunday after the Trader Joe's trip: add one row to the Shopping trips tab, and add any vegetables or herbs to the Pantry & waste tab.
- When produce gets used or tossed: mark it Y, N, or Partly in the Pantry & waste tab. It takes about 10 seconds.
- Sunday before shopping (5 minutes): do the weekly check-in in section 7. It works well as a quick chat with your partner.
What you're tracking and why
| Habit | Why it maps to your goal | How to log it |
|---|---|---|
| Home dinner (Y/N) | Shows how often you cook instead of ordering DoorDash | Y or N |
| Delivery ($) | You asked to track delivery spending | Dollar amount, or 0 |
| Who cooked | You asked for this. It shows how the cooking is shared | Me / Partner / Both |
| Ate lunch (Y/N/Off) | Shows how often you eat lunch on workdays | Y, N, or Off for weekends and days off |
| Used up? (Y/N/Partly) | Shows which vegetables get used and which get forgotten | Logged in the Pantry & waste tab |
| Planned list? (Y/N) | Lets you see whether a list changes what gets used or wasted | Logged in the Shopping trips tab |
7-Day Meal Log
| Day | Breakfast | Lunch | Dinner | Snacks | Ate lunch | Home dinner | Who cooked | Delivery ($) | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Example | Coffee, toast | Leftover pasta | Tacos | Apple | Y | Y | Partner | 0 | Used half the cilantro |
| Mon | |||||||||
| Tue | |||||||||
| Wed | |||||||||
| Thu | |||||||||
| Fri | |||||||||
| Sat | |||||||||
| Sun |
Grocery Habit Tracker
a) Shopping trip log
| Date | Store | Planned list? (Y/N) | Spent ($) | Impulse buys (count) | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
b) Food waste & pantry check
| Item | Bought | Used by | Used up? (Y/N/Partly) | Next time |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bagged salad | Sun | |||
| Cilantro | Sun | |||
| Bell peppers | Sun | |||
| Zucchini | Sun | |||
Bagged salad and cilantro come from your notes. The other two rows are common examples, so swap in whatever you actually buy. Use Used by for the day you'd like to have it eaten, so it's easy to spot what needs using next.
Weekly check-in (5 minutes)
- Which home-cooked dinner felt easiest this week? Could it become a regular?
- What was going on during the nights you ordered DoorDash? For example, were you tired, home late, or out of ideas?
- Which vegetables got used up, and which didn't? Did anything about the bagged salad or cilantro work differently this week?
- On the workdays you ate lunch, what made that possible?
- How did the cooking split between you and your partner feel this week?
- Did you shop with a list this week? Did anything seem different when you did, or when you didn't?
This week's totals
| Total | This week |
|---|---|
| Home dinners (count) | |
| Delivery nights (count) | |
| Delivery spent ($) | |
| Workday lunches eaten (of 5) | |
| Dinners cooked: Me / Partner / Both | / / |
| Grocery spent ($) | |
| Impulse buys (count) | |
| Produce items not used (count) |
One small thing to try next week: ______________________
Spreadsheet-ready CSV blocks
Each block below becomes its own tab in Google Sheets. Paste it into cell A1, then use Data > Split text to columns if needed.
1) meal_log.csv
Day,Breakfast,Lunch,Dinner,Snacks,Ate lunch,Home dinner,Who cooked,Delivery ($),Notes
Mon,,,,,,,,,
Tue,,,,,,,,,
Wed,,,,,,,,,
Thu,,,,,,,,,
Fri,,,,,,,,,
Sat,,,,,,,,,
Sun,,,,,,,,,
2) shopping_trips.csv
Date,Store,Planned list? (Y/N),Spent ($),Impulse buys (count),Notes
,,,,,
,,,,,
,,,,,
,,,,,
,,,,,
,,,,,
,,,,,
3) pantry_waste.csv
Item,Bought,Used by,Used up? (Y/N/Partly),Next time
Bagged salad,Sun,,,
Cilantro,Sun,,,
Bell peppers,Sun,,,
Zucchini,Sun,,,
,,,,
,,,,
,,,,
To start a new week, duplicate each tab and rename it with the date, such as "Meal log – Jun 9".
Tips for sticking with it
- Log right after dinner, at the same time each day. Pairing it with something you already do, like clearing the table, makes it automatic.
- Pin the sheet to your phone's home screen so it opens in one tap.
- Snap a photo of the Trader Joe's receipt on Sunday. You can fill in the shopping row later if you're busy.
- Share the sheet with your partner so either of you can log dinner and "Who cooked."
- Missing a day is fine. Leave it blank and pick up the next day. A partly filled week still shows useful patterns.
This is a general habit-tracking tool for healthy adults, not medical or nutrition advice. For personal nutrition or health guidance, talk to a doctor or registered dietitian.
Made by a Donkley AI worker. AI can make mistakes; please review before you rely on it.