How to Make a Weekly Meal Plan

Making a meal plan is a huge lifesaver, time saver, and money saver for us. It takes a little bit of planning, but the benefits of knowing what you will make for dinner each night are worth it.

Here is how I create my weekly meal plan.

Research Recipes – There are always new recipes I want to try (on Pinterest), but I never have all of the ingredients. So, I research and select 1 new recipe (not every week). Once I’ve chosen a new recipe, I add the ingredients to my shopping list.
Make a shopping list – We have a list of essentials we buy each week, like bananas, milk, orange juice, etc…
Shop the sales – If Harris Teeter has a special on London Broil, I’ll buy one or two and freeze them.
Survey your stock and list possible meals – After shopping, I list all the possible meals I could make.
Select meals based on your calendar of events for the week. – If we have a hectic day, I usually plan a slow cooker meal. On weekends in the summer, we usually grill out.
Write down your plan and post it on the fridge, calendar, or somewhere everyone can see it. You can use this free meal plan printable I made.
Every morning, look at the meal plan – I look at my meal plan each morning to set out meat to thaw, prep food, or pick up any extras I might need. This prevents a 5 o’clock panic.