
Thank you, and I really hope this weekly meal planner template helps you as much as it has helped us. The benefits of meal planning include saving time, eating healthier meals, less stress over what to have for dinner, reduced food waste and therefore it can save you money. Whatever you land on gets added to the meal plan. If you’re stuck, heck just close your eyes and randomly point to something on the page. You won’t be frazzled or overwhelmed wondering what is for dinner.Īnd because you have your Master List of your family’s favorite meals it won’t take you hours to decide what meals to schedule for the week. When you start meal planning and sticking to the regime you’ll find your meal time stress will decrease. Click to open the PDF meal planner in a new browser window It was requested by a reader, and I thought it was a great idea so I’ve made this option for you.Ĭlick here to open the weekly meal planner with a snacks column in a new browser window. Here is a weekly meal planner sheet with a snacks column. (It opens the PDF in new browser window.) Click to get your own copy of the Weekly Meal Plan Template (opens in a new window).Ĭolorful Weekly Meal Planner Template with Snacks column If you want to try this colorful free printable weekly meal planner template you can download your PDF copy of it by clicking here, or click the picture below. So it’s okay to eat it on Monday and switch things up a bit.

Sometimes you may realize the chicken you bought for Thursday night’s meal will go bad before then. And if you delegate someone else in your family to cook dinner one night, then they can look and easily see what they need to prepare.Īnd because you put all the recipes in a stack they’ll be able to find the recipe and get started. With structured meal planning like this you should be able to reduce the number of trips to the grocery store each week.ĥ) Have the Weekly Meal Plan posted somewhere so everyone can see it. Right after you’ve chosen the week’s meals and you’ve pulled out all the recipes, scan through the recipes to see what you need to buy. (Then the night before you can scan the next day’s meals and see if you need to pull anything out of freezer.)Ĥ) Go through that week’s recipes and decide what you need to buy to cook them Get the recipes for the upcoming week’s meals and put them in a pile. But do what works for you.ģ) Stack the week’s recipes in a pile – ready to be used Pick a day of the week when you’ll do your week’s meal plan. If your family’s meal choices are heavily affected by the season, then go ahead and make different Master Lists that correspond to the season.Ģ) Choose one day of the week where you schedule the upcoming week’s meals Some folks desire different meals in the summer than in the winter. Click to download your own blank Master List of Family Favorites (If you want to get a blank copy of the “Family’s Favorite Meals” PDF (like shown below), you can click here or click the picture below. Check out recipe for Fish Tacos with a tasty mango salsa. Our family loves the “Yum and Yummer” cookbook by Greta Podleski. For instance, write the name of the cookbook and the page, or write down the website you get it from.) (It is a good idea to write the source of the recipe if you know it. Having the defined columns helps you think of great meal ideas. One for “Meatless Monday,” one for Mexican food, one for Indian food, one for Asian-inspired food, and more. To help with the brainstorming we created different columns. Get your whole family to contribute so no one’s favorite recipes will be left behind. You’ll use this list to populate your meal planner. 3 Colorful Weekly Meal Planner Template with Snacks columnġ) Brainstorm a list of family-favorite meals and write them onto one piece of paper.1.5 5) Have the Weekly Meal Plan posted somewhere so everyone can see it.1.4 4) Go through that week’s recipes and decide what you need to buy to cook them.1.3 3) Stack the week’s recipes in a pile – ready to be used.1.2 2) Choose one day of the week where you schedule the upcoming week’s meals.1.1 1) Brainstorm a list of family-favorite meals and write them onto one piece of paper.
