I got thinking about how the rise in convenience meal delivery could have a wider appeal. Follow this model and you could have your life in a bag, or a series of bags.
A friend recently told me about the new companies delivering meal kits to busy households. The one I looked at says “We’ll deliver new recipes from around the world with the fresh ingredients you need to cook them.”
It seems like a great idea, and a fun one too, and if you don’t know how to cook, a great way to start learning (although, I think, preparing food is like singing; everyone can do it if they just get on and have a go).
The way this new take on ready-meals works is that you get an agreed number of meal bags delivered to your home each week. Each bag contains just the right amount of everything you need, with instructions, for preparing that day’s meal. You don’t have to plan, make a list, shop for ingredients… A few quid each week and a bit of your time makes it happen.
But why just food? Life in a bag could be more of a philosophy or an approach to life.
I’m not on commission here and I’m not promoting any particular business; it’s the idea that appealed to me; I’m wondering if one could apply it to other areas of life, by, for example, putting everything you need for a particular task into a bag so that you wouldn’t need to think about it until you actually started the job.
You can probably tell that I haven’t thought this through. Life recipes, or life in a bag just an idea, but it does have appeal. I like it because, for me, it would do a few things:
- Once planned, and in the bag, I could forget about the task until I was actually ready to start it. I wouldn’t have to take up head space with thoughts like “When can I get round to…”, because, like making a list, when it’s in the bag it won’t get forgotten.
- Putting the bits and pieces I’d need into a bag and lining it up with all the other bags would allow me to say “I’ve started…”.
- I could shift the bags about to prioritise things, a bit like dragging and dropping folders on my computer.
- A fresh idea has come to me now: I could COLOUR CODE the bags! Red for urgent, blue or not urgent, for example. This would mean I could put off unpopular jobs indefinitely!
- I could indulge my love of brown paper bags by researching and sourcing a supply.
- It could satisfy my entrepreneurial bent by marketing a range of bags for common tasks. There could be a Car Wash Bag (shampoo, wax, sponge, polishing cloth, instructions); a Marriage Proposal Bag (single rose, engagement ring, deodorant, champagne, and in case of rejection, brandy); A Going for an Interview Bag (shoe polish, breath freshener, deodorant, brandy), a DIY Bag (basic tools, common DIY Tasks Manual, first-aid kit).
Life recipes in bags could could help people develop competence and confidence in areas where they feel under-powered. If it works for cooking…. But this idea is not oven-ready; I’m still working on it. Any suggestions?
