Why not just set the auto updates to "notify but don't download or install" ?
Then you get the notification, wait a day or two. If there are significant problems with an update (as happens occasionally) the net will turn blue until they fix it.
I've usually found it's safe to get updates maybe a couple of days after release.
I wouldn't want to wait much longer than that, personally, because the bad boys are likely to ramp up their efforts to exploit the "known vulnerabilities" that are often involved with some patches.