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Here’s my system for building meal plans you can actually use — and enjoy!
Quick links from the video (you will also find them as you read through the lesson below!):
- Meal Plan Worksheet (Weekly Version)
- Meal Plan Worksheet (Monthly Version)
Step 1: Focus on Planning One Meal (Breakfast, Lunch, or Dinner)
It can feel like too much pressure to meal plan for a full week of meals and multiple meals per day. And it’s not necessary, especially in the start! Your goal with meal planning is to make your life easier, and the best way to do that is to ease in with some meals.
So, before diving into full-week, full-day planning, ask yourself one simple question:
Which meal stresses me out the most?
And start there. Maybe it’s dinner, or lunch with a toddler who changes their mind every 5 seconds. Pick that one. That’s your focus for meal planning.
This will make it easier to be consistent when meal planning and get continuous benefits from this habit. Focus on consistency, not perfection.
Take action: Make a mental note of which meal type you’ll focus on. For example, “I will plan some dinners.”
Step 2: Pick a Planning Rhythm
Choose how often you want to plan:
- Weekly
- Biweekly
- Monthly
When it comes to when to meal plan, there’s no right answer. The key is to choose a day that actually works for you. Think of it like a little coffee/tea date with yourself!
Take just 15–20 minutes to look at your family’s schedule, check what’s in your fridge, and make a plan. It doesn’t have to be the weekend!
I personally like to do mine on Thursdays so I can grocery shop on Friday and avoid the weekend crowds. Pick a time that feels doable and consistent, and let it be a rhythm that supports your week not one more thing on your to-do list.
Then, choose how many meals you want to plan for each week and on which days.
For example, you don’t need to plan 7 dinners each week at the start. Even just sketching out 3 dinners for each week is a win. Keep it light.
Take action: Make a mental note of how often you’ll plan, and how many meals you’ll plan for each week. For example, “I will plan monthly, three dinners per week – Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.”
Step 3: Print and Fill Your Meal Plan Worksheet
To make it easy to follow your meal plan over time, I’ve created a simple worksheet for you! Each page has space for a week’s worth of meals.
Click here to download and print your meal plan worksheet.
How many copies should you print? That depends on your planning rhythm from Step 2! For example, if you plan monthly (every ~4 weeks), print 4 worksheets.
If you want to be super proactive, print a stack of 10-20 copies in advance to make it easy to continue as you build your meal planning habit!
You can already fill some of your worksheet! At the top of the page, circle the meal time you’re planning. Then, circle or highlight the days of the week you’ll be meal planning for. See below for an example!
Take action: Print at least the number of meal plan worksheets for the number of weeks in your planning rhythm. Then on each worksheet, circle the meal type and circle the days you will plan for. For example, “I am planning monthly for Mondays/Wednesday/Fridays, so I will print at least 4 copies of the worksheet. I will write “dinner” at the top and circle Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.”
