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Looking for a what’s for dinner template that will enable you to plan your weekly meals easily, so you don’t get stuck in a dinner rut?

This simple free editable printable meal planner template will do just that for you.

I love the design of this weekly meal planner and, I know you will love it too. I had so much fun designing it. It is a cute, colorful template with a clean design.

 

Why You Need An Editable Printable Meal Planner Template

Using a printable meal planner template makes it easy to plan your meals every week. However, like everything else, it also comes with its challenges. First, you need to print out these dinner menu templates before you start planning your meals. You can’t meal plan on the go out of the house when your meal planning binder is at home.

Sometimes, I start collecting meal ideas while at work or when commuting, so I have to use a notebook to make a note of these ideas and wait for when I get home to transfer the meal ideas into my meal planning binder.

Honestly, that is a time sucker for me. And it defeats one of my meal planning goals, which is to save time. Come to think of it; you only have a paper copy and no digital copy.

I decided to create a weekly meal planner template printable and make it editable so that you could easily edit on the go using your mobile phone when out of the house or at work. Using an editable meal planner means you also have the digital copy you can refer to should anything happen to your printed copy at home.

I have a boy toddler at home who likes playing with water and loves writing on anything he comes across. I will let your mind drift for a few seconds to think of the scribbling they do when they have a pen and paper handy.

Moving on, you can use this free editable printable meal planner template for your menu planning and then print it and add it to your meal planning binder. It makes it so much easier, and I don’t need to worry about my awful handwriting.

 

Using this free planner keeps everything neat and tidy!

 

Also, check out this complete 130+ Page Meal Planning Binder in three beautiful designs.

Planner pages included in this meal planning binder:

• Binder covers
• Binder spines
• Divider tabs
• Meal planner stickers
• Pantry labels
• Kitchen rules wall art
• Monthly meal planner (Mon-Sun / Sun-Sat)
• Weekly meal planner with grocery list (Mon-Sun / Sun-Sat)
• Daily meal planner
• Menu ideas
• Grocery checklist
• Categorized grocery shopping list
• Blank shopping list
• Pantry inventory
• Fridge inventory
• Freezer inventory
• Family favorite
• Kids favorite
• Recipes to try
• Kitchen Conversion
• Recipe cards
• Notes
• Meal binder covers
• Monthly binder covers
• Recipe binder covers

 

Go ahead and DOWNLOAD your copy of this free editable printable meal planner template for easy meal planning.

 

 

Make your meal planning easy using this free editable meal planner template to record your weekly breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snack. Use the blank template to write your meal ideas, make a grocery list, and list the meal prep task for each day. You can indicate when you want to meal prep different grocery items for the different meals.

 

How To Edit Your Blank Weekly Menu Template Printable

 

Now that you have downloaded your blank weekly menu template printable, you can go ahead and edit the meal planning template from your laptop or your mobile phone.

 

1. Download the menu planner template and make several copies of the file and rename the template to the month and week, so you know which pdf file you need to edit each week

2. Open the meal planner template using a PDF reader. Download a pdf reader from the play store or app store if you don’t have it installed.

3. You can also open the pdf file using a web browser and edit and print directly from the web browser if you do not have a pdf reader installed on the laptop. You will need to re-download the file once you finish editing.

4. Click anywhere on the blue rectangle to start typing your meals. Don’t worry about the blue highlight. It just shows you where you need to add text.

Make sure to save after editing the meal planner.

Once you print the filled version of the file, you will not get the blue highlight on the printed copy.

5. Save and print out your meal plan when you finish editing. You can always go back in to make any changes without making it look messy.

 

It is that simple to edit your cute meal planner printable without any hassle and from ANYWHERE. You don’t need to wait till you get home or be in front of your meal planning binder before you can start filling in your meal ideas for the week.

 

If you haven’t downloaded this super cute and simple weekly meal planner template with snacks pdf file, then go ahead and do so RIGHT NOW so you can start meal planning on the go.

 

 

The Importance Of Meal Planning

How Can I Save Time Meal Planning

If you are not taking the time to plan your meals each week, you are going to waste a lot of your time trying to figure out what to eat for dinner each week.

 

Why?

 

Because you will need to carry out the same tasks of trying to figure out your menu each day and making last-minute grocery stop, why go through the hassle of repeating the same process three or four times a week when you could streamline that and do it only once?

Time spent doing repetitive tasks could be used to do other activities.

Start meal planning your meals today using the free meal planning template with grocery list so you can free up some of your time.
Imagine what you could do with the extra hour or minutes on something else.

 

Does Meal Planning Save Money

You have a higher chance of wasting money when you do not have a menu plan. Without a meal plan, you are most likely to walk into a grocery store and purchase items you either already have at home, or things you do not need.

When you live on a tight budget, the money spent on buying items you don’t need is a waste of resources that you can use into purchasing that kitchen blender you haven’t stopped thinking about or that meal prepping container or lunch box for your kids.

Bottom line, one way to save money on groceries is to plan your meals first before making a trip to the grocery shop. When you make a plan and take inventory of what you have at home, you will buy only the necessary items.

This free weekly meal planner template comes with a grocery list and other menu plan template.

Always double-check what you have at home before going grocery shopping.

 

How Do I Stop Wasting Food

You can stop wasting food by using a simple meal planner to plan your dinner menu. When planning your weekly meals, you can incorporate leftover food, so it does not go to waste.

It is easy to throw away food when food stays in the fridge for several days; it becomes inedible. Throwing away food means you not only waste your money used in purchasing the ingredients but also the time spent in prepping and cooking the meal.

I know you will opt for a fresh bowl of meal every day but let’s face it when your schedule is jam-packed, you have to make use of the leftovers. A meal plan will help you make the most of your leftover food and avoid food waste. You could eat leftovers as lunch or even breakfast and plan the menu for dinner.

Making a grocery list will help you reduce food waste in your home.

You can write a mini grocery list using this editable meal planner template.

How Do I Start A Meal Plan?

How do you create a meal plan that works for you?

Consider Your Goals

People do meal plans for different reasons. It could be you want to save money, save time, or even lose weight. These reasons vary from person to person. Before you begin your meal planning process, you need to consider what you want to achieve.

Knowing why you want to start planning your weekly or monthly meals will motivate you to follow through with your plan.

Maybe you are trying to stick to a diet plan so you can reach your weight loss goals, or you want to reduce the stress of cooking every night. The bottom line is you need to have a strong enough reason why you should develop a menu plan; otherwise, you will not be consistent, which could result in you giving up.

My reason for meal planning is to save both money and time. I am trying to be more frugal, and as a busy working mom, I haven’t got a lot of time on my hands to cook daily; hence, I go for quick and cheap meals.

 

Use A Master Grocery List

A master grocery list has a variety of grocery items listed from fruits, vegetables, proteins, produce, and other household items. Use the master grocery list to pick out different things to add to your meals.

Your meals don’t have to be boring. Try to spice things up and add a variety to your meals. Use the list to see the various fruits or vegetables you can make.

A master grocery list is like a cheat sheet that comes in handy for when you run out of ideas of what to eat.

 

Related: Free Printable Weekly Meal Planning Template with Grocery List

 

 

How Many Meals Do You Need?

Consider the number of meals you want to plan for before getting started. You need to know the number of people to cook for, are you planning for breakfast, lunch, and dinner or just dinner? These are questions you want to ask yourself so you have an idea of the quantity of food you might need.

Figure out if you need to plan for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Maybe you get free breakfast at work, so you don’t need to prepare for that. How about lunch and dinner. Do you want to have a sandwich or leftover at lunch and a cooked meal for dinner?

Meal planning will avoid last-minute trips to the grocery store and also limit the number of TV dinners takeout every week.

Decide what is best for you and your budget.

 

Protein Planning

Proteins like chicken, fish, or beef are the most expensive items on your grocery list. You will need to stretch your protein to make the most of it so it can last for the number of days required.

You can use the same protein, be it chicken, fish, pork loin, or beef to cook multiple dishes. You can roast a few portions of chicken and use the leftover to make chicken curry or even a chicken sandwich or any extra dish like stir fry, fajitas, stuffed pepper.

You can also have your protein to last you long by reducing the portion size of each person, or even consider going for a meatless recipe.

Choose whichever option that works best for your family and budget. If your meal planning goal is to save money, you will need to make the most of your protein, so ut last you longer.

 

You can read this detailed how-to meal plan guide to learn more about how you can effectively meal plan for a week. You also get seven free meal planner template.

Looking for a cute meal planning template to easily plan your meals?

DOWNLOAD YOURS NOW!

 

 

Leave a comment below how you go about meal planning meals for the family. Do you meal plan for a week or a month?

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