Is meal planning one of those things you want to do but haven’t found the right meal planning template to actually stick with it? If you’ve sworn you would do this meal planning thing only to fail after two days, perhaps you just haven’t found the right template for meal planning yet.
Meal planner templates are typically used to plan meals for one week or one month. You can plan 1-3 meals per day, and some have space for snacks too. Most meal planning templates are paper-and-pencil, electronic, printables, or magnetic dry erase planners that stick to refrigerators.
Meal planning can be a super effective strategy for saving money, eating healthier, and feeling less overwhelmed by the dreaded 5:00 PM children’s cry, “What’s for dinner? I’m hungry!”
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Weekly Meal Planner Templates
After falling on and off the meal planning wagon many times, I finally found a meal planning template and system that works for me as a busy work-from-home mom.
Meal planning takes time and forethought, like creating a budget for the month, only with your food instead of money. But once you have it done, it’s done! No more thinking about “what to eat” for the week!
This weekly meal plan pad worked well for us for years. For those on a super tight budget, I created a printable version of it, which you can access for free at the end of the post.
1. KNOCK KNOCK WHAT TO EAT PAD
The Knock Knock WHAT TO EAT notepad is a cheap but incredibly handy meal planner that can stick to your refrigerator.
Since you can save way more than this notepad costs if it prevents you from going out to eat even for one dinner, it’s a worthwhile investment for someone who wants:
- paper-and-pencil meal planning
- magnetic so it can stick to the fridge for everyone to see
- space for planning breakfasts, lunches, dinners, and snacks
Why The ‘WHAT TO EAT’ Meal Planner Worked Well For Us
- It’s cheap.
- It’s magnetic – It sticks to my fridge where the food is to cook and where I look when making our weekly grocery list.
- It makes sense. The main space is for planning dinners, which is what I like to plan each day. We typically eat the same few things for breakfasts and lunches are often leftovers, so I don’t need to plan those every day.
- It has space for planning SNACKS. My kids eat ALL DAY LONG, so one of my tips for successfully working from home with kids is to make sure I have plenty of snacks. This was something most meal planner templates are missing.
- It lasts ALL YEAR because there are 60 weekly meal planning sheets.
- Reuse old meal ideas. Keep your old sheets so you can quickly plan a new week from those meals you made a few weeks ago. This is a huge timesaver!
2. Magnetic Meal Planner for the Fridge
Another excellent option for planning your meals by week, day, or month is a magnetic calendar. We have this Magnetic Dry Erase Calendar Bundle on our fridge and it’s excellent quality.
There’s zero paper waste and you can try each system to see which works best for you. The markers and eraser included are good quality too.
Meal Planning Printables
If you want to find a new weekly meal planner template but don’t think the Knock Knock WHAT TO EAT pad or the magnetic fridge magnets are right for you, check out these other meal planners you can print for free.
3. FREE PRINTABLE MEAL PLANNERS WITH SNACKS
FREE Meal Plan Printables in The Common Cents Club Freebie Vault
I created a weekly meal planning template that is the same as the WHAT TO EAT pad but in a printable version. Sign up below to print this printable and start meal planning today:
4. Monthly Meal Planning Template
I’ve also created monthly meal planners too, so you can plan meals for four weeks (Monday-Friday) or an entire month. You can access those in the Freebie Library too!
5. Free Meal Planner with Grocery List Template
If you want a meal planner template with a grocery list included check out this free one.
6. Monthly Meal Plan with Grocery List for Just $5
If you don’t want to come up with your own meal plan, you can get a meal plan and grocery list created for you for only $5 a month!
Try it Completely Free for 14-Days. Cancel if you don’t love it, or continue your membership for just $5 a month. You will be pleasantly surprised at how easy yet delicious Erin’s meal plans are.
7. Special Diet Meal Planning Templates
Meal planning makes sticking with individual diet needs and goals easier. Check out these options if you’re looking for meal plans for your individual diet goals:
Gluten Free Meal Plans – $5 Meal Plan program mentioned above has a library of gluten free recipes. You’ll get recipes, directions and a shopping list with your plan. Try it FREE for 2 weeks. Continue for $5 per month or cancel anytime if you don’t love it.
Whole 30 Meal Planning Templates – A great one-week Whole30 meal plan and shopping list can be found at 40 Aprons.
21 Day Fix Meal Plans – Grab a printable spreadsheet meal plan over here.
Vegetarian Meal Planning – Get four week’s worth of recipes and meal plans to fit a vegetarian diet either in Word or PDF.
8. Meal Plan in Your Bullet Journal
Finally, if you’re a bullet journal lover, you can create weekly meal plan in your journal too.
Here’s a how-to guide to show you how to create meal plans, shopping lists, and food budget goals with your bullet journal.
9. Plan Meals in Your Life Planner
If you’re a paper-and-pencil planner person, the Living Well Planner includes a space at the bottom of each daily column just for meal planning.
Related: See my review of the Living Well Planner to see inside!
Start Meal Planning Today
When you create a habit of meal planning, in just ten minutes or less you will:
- save money
- stop throwing away wasted food
- have less overwhelm about “What’s for dinner?” questions
- enjoy more family meals at home
- avoid spontaneous restaurants and fast food
- have a plan prepared ahead of time for your meals each day
- know what groceries you need for the week (and what you don’t)
- stick to your diet goals, eat healthier, and lose weight
Hope these meal planning templates and printables help you stick with meal planning and crush your goals!
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