If you’re trying to get ahead on your grocery budget, using a printable Weekly Meal Planner is the perfect way to do it!
Writing up the meals you’ll serve throughout the week before you head to the store is a great way to save money on groceries. You’ll know exactly what to buy, so there’s no guessing.
Having a plan also helps since you know what to expect ahead of time. You’re planning for your time constraints and not letting them overwhelm you. Do you always have a jam-packed Wednesday?
If so, use this as a meal planning template for a super simple 15 minute meal that night so you’re not stressed. Alternatively, plan to make a double batch of dinner a day ahead so you don’t have to cook at all on that day! It really is a money, time and sanity saver, and everyone can benefit from meal planning.
🥘 Why You’ll Love This
Easy Guide to Start Meal Planning | If you haven’t ever used a printable meal planner before or are a veteran who is circling back to using one, this is an easy way to quickly see what is on the menu this week.
You Develop a Plan for the Week | There isn’t a guessing game as to what you plan to serve each night for dinner. We all hate it when it reaches 4pm and we have no idea what to serve for dinner.
The Family Knows What’s For Dinner | You are able to stop the “what’s for dinner?” questions instantly as the entire family can see what’s up for tonight’s meal.
A great way to use this if you only want to print this out once is to laminate it so you can use a sharpie and erase each week!
🍲 How to Use
If you are new to menu planning, there are a few steps to help you out so you can kick it off with a successful first week! Let’s get started!
Step One: Pull out your weekly calendar and see what you have going on for the week. This is necessary as you need to build the menu around your upcoming life/week.
I can’t tell you how many times I used to plan a great grandiose meal on a night that I wouldn’t get home until 5:30 at night. I needed to get back out the door in under an hour. Put your expectations in perspective!
Step Two: Once you know what your week looks like, start plugging in your menus into each day! If Tuesday is crazy, make a quick 15 minute meal or a favorite crockpot meal.
Combine like ingredients so you are not buying a bag of parsnips when you only need one for a recipe. Find another way to use parsnips during this week.
Step Three: Make your grocery list and head to the store. Don’t go hungry and preferably, go alone.
Step Four: Come home from grocery store and spend 20-30 minutes prepping as much as you can by cutting up vegetables or even slicing up meats that will be used in a stirfry.
Anything at all that will make your life easier during the week.
Step Five: Each day, look at your menu, verify that your plans haven’t changed. Mentally prep through the day of what is to come and what you have to get done! It works like a charm!
Save the Weekly Menus that you have used in a binder like our Recipe Binder or start with plain binder covers to use the same way. It’s great to look back at weeks that worked and ones that did not. It is also a great reminder to recipes/menus that you have forgotten about!
Always check with the USDA website to verify how to clean, separate, cook and chill your recipes.
🥫 Snag Your Freebie
Grab the menu planner after you fill the form below. You’ll be sent straight to the PDF file once you enter your details.
- Click the link and then right click to save to your computer.
- Print on 8.5×11” paper at 100% size (to preserve quality, don’t resize if you can help it).
Note: If you are sharing this printable, please link back to this post. Do not place the printable on your own site.These are for personal use only.
Kickstart your entire kitchen with inventories, grocery lists, weekly and monthly menu planners with the kitchen organization freebie.
Tell us how you are using this printable. Make sure to let us know how you are using it! We would love to hear!
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just wondering ig this meal planner is editable? i was hoping to type my meals in the blank boxes 🙂 super cute