Meal planner template

Updated on October 28, 2026

Deciding what to eat every day at the last minute is tiring and makes groceries more expensive. With the week’s menu planned over the weekend, the shopping list comes out ready, you can prep ahead and less food goes bad in the fridge.

Meal plan · Week of Nov 17

Monday

Lunch: rice, beans, grilled chicken and salad
Dinner: vegetable soup

Tuesday

Lunch: pasta with tomato and ground beef sauce
Dinner: omelet with salad

Wednesday

Lunch: rice, beans, baked fish and vegetables
Dinner: Tuesday leftovers

Thursday and Friday

Lunch:
Dinner:

Prep on Sunday

Cook the week’s beans
Wash and chop the vegetables
Marinate the chicken

Shopping list

Chicken
Fish
Tomatoes, onions and lettuce
Eggs
Pasta

How to use it

On Saturday or Sunday, create the note with "Use this template" and check what you already have in the fridge and pantry.
Plan each day’s meals, starting with what needs to be used first.
Move only what is missing to the "Shopping list", with checkboxes. At the store, tick as you go.
Set aside an hour or two for "Prep on Sunday". During the week, cooking gets much faster.

Tips

Plan one leftovers day per week. It uses up what is left and gives the kitchen a break.
Repeat what works: a menu of five or six dishes the family likes is easier to keep up than a new one every week.
Cook big batches of what freezes well, like beans, sauces and soups, and note them in next week’s plan.
Send the link to the people you live with. Everyone can suggest dishes and add items to the shopping list.

Keep the meal plans that worked

Create a folder (home/meal-plans) and save one note per week. After a month, you will have four plans ready to repeat, with the shopping list already done. The dishes everyone loved can become full recipes, with the recipe template, in the same home folder. For diets with specific guidance, such as for health reasons, always follow what your doctor or dietitian recommends.