Quirky Cooking Weekly Meal Planner Notepad

Use this handy meal planner to reduce the food stress and keep you on track with healthy eating!

If you’re walking in the door at the end of a long day, tired and hungry, kids screaming and no idea what to cook for dinner, you’re likely to make less nutritious choices. Planning your meals for the week can help you save money and time, reduce food waste, and reduce the dinnertime stress!

Watch my video on “Meal Planning to Use What You Have (& Save Money)” on YouTube

Simple steps to start planning your weekly meals:

• keep a list of meals & recipes that are family favourites to use as a quick reference when planning for the week
• clean out the fridge each weekend & check what ingredients & meals need using up, to reduce food waste
• read through your family favourites list & search my site & cookbooks to find recipes that call for ingredients you already have
• check your calendar for the week & write any events/appointments on the meal plan in small writing (see example), as a reminder to keep cooking simple on those days
• work out your main meals for each day (including meals from the freezer or using up leftovers) & write onto meal planner
• as you write down meals for each day, check ingredients needed & list any you don’t have on the shopping list
• set aside some time each week for meal prep; list your Prep Ahead goals on your meal planner (eg. freezable meals, stock, baking)
• stick your meal plan on the fridge & check each afternoon so you can prepare ahead for the next day (eg. thaw frozen meat/meals for next day & buy any ingredients that are missing)
• before you go grocery shopping, snap a photo of the shopping list so you don’t forget anything! (I like to have a photo of the weekly meal plan on my phone too, so I can check it while I’m out & stop by the shop on the way home if needed.)

Bonus tip: cook a double batch of freezable meals whenever possible & build up your freezer stash! Your future self will thank you when you’re too tired or too busy to cook. 🙂