Printable weekly meal planner how to#
Printable weekly meal planner pro#

Same with Sundays: I’m preparing for the week ahead and don’t want to make an elaborate meal.

Printable weekly meal planner pro#

Pro Tip: When you’re deciding on nightly themes, think about the rhythm of your week.įor example, Wednesdays are often busy because we have small group at 6pm so I need something quick and easy. That way, you’re ready to open up your template and plug-and-play. Decide on your nightly themesįor additional structure, you can categorize your meals based on nightly themes.

Printable weekly meal planner how to#

Related: How to Streamline Your Grocery Shopping So You Don’t Hate It 3. That way I can use up the eggplant before it stinks up my fridge and I only have to purchase it once for both recipes, instead of two weeks in a row. Look over your list and using different colored highlighters ( mildliners are my fave!) highlight meals you can list in the same week because they use similar ingredients.įor example, when I put Eggplant Parm on the list, I should also list Eggplant BLT Sandwiches a day or two later. This next part isn’t 100% necessary, but if your produce often goes bad before you can use it all, then this will help tremendously! Highlight meals using similar ingredients If you want to take this list this one step further, brainstorm a few lunch ideas and side dish options to pair with your main dishes. This number gives you a variety of meals to choose from as well as space to repeat a few of your all-time favorites. These don’t have to be elaborate meals! Pizza and pancakes totally count. Grab a blank sheet of paper and write down about 20 favorite dinner ideas. Make a list of your family’s favorite dishes Especially if I had to use their recipes, not my tried-and-true ones.įYI: Plan to Eat uses your own recipes to meal plan, but I also didn’t feel like typing all of them into a database when they’re already organized inside my Recipe Binder!ġ. In the past, I felt frustrated using these services because I didn’t like other people telling me what to eat and when. I studied what companies like Once a Month Meals and eMeals were doing and considered replicating their system using my own recipes. No matter what I did, I couldn’t find my rhythm. From winging it to jotting down random meals on a sticky note to assigning theme days and investing in done-for-you meal plan services. The truth is, I’ve tried just about every meal plan strategy out there to help me fall in love with meal planning. You would think that because I’m a planner by nature (my bullet journal is consistently by my side and Google Calendar lives permanently as an open browser tab) I wouldn’t mind this weekly chore.

I’m not going to complicate this, because I actually want you to give this a go, so here is a super simple Meal Planning template that works.Ĭlick on it, Print it, Save it for next week.Every time Sunday evening rolls around, I sigh. So Whats Special About my Meal Plan Template? Nothing.

Game Changer, baby! I have a year of Meal Plans up my sleeve now. It’s not rocket science.Īnd as an added little bonus, after a few weeks, The grocery store tends to have similar things on special, so if I keep my Meal plans, I can rotate them and use them again. Now I just take a picture with my phone of the meal plan stuck (with a magnet) to the fridge and shop from that. I used to write out a detailed shopping list to go with it but that just pushed it into the ‘ Agh!! too much‘ zone. And I love going through mailers so at the same time, I check out the specials and fill out my meal plan for the week based on what’s in Season or on sale. And meal planning helps me with both of those things.Įvery Thursday, the local grocery store mailer arrives in my mailbox. Not me, because that s just not my ‘thing’. I’m not naturally organised and Meal Planning is one of those things I thought ‘other Moms did’. The thing is, I always thought Meal Planning was too much of an effort. My husband works really hard to support us and when I waste money like that – simply because I’m not organised – it upsets me. Knowing that I spent $3 on that soggy, rotten lettuce that I forgot about at the back of the fridge, and now tossing it in the compost – makes me feel guilty. Throwing food away really, really bugs me. There was one thing I did last year that I wish I had started years ago – Meal Planning.įor some reason I have always resisted this simple 5 minute job and I am now certain that this little mistake has cost me thousands of dollars in unnecessary spending and food waste over the years. * We sometimes use affiliate links, so we may receive a commission, at no cost to you, if you make a purchase through a link.