I think you may be over complicating things here. Keep it simple.
I would say it's useful to have your meter set up, to at least record the date and time correctly. You don't have to use the other functionality, so I wouldn't bother factory resetting it. I use mine in the simplest way possible.
I open the case, take a strip out of the pot. I put the strip into the meter - that turns it on - without displaying the pre/post meal symbol. I wait for the little blood of blood image to appear on the screen. I prick my finger, apply the blood to the strip, then the meter counts down to a result.
If you want to record whether the test is pre or post meal, you just press the right hand arrow once for pre and a second time for post, if I recall correctly.
Once I have my reading, I just remove the strip from the meter and zip up the case. It turns off automatically after a few moments.
I'm obviously the laziest person from LazyLand.