Are you a meal planner? Hell ya, I know I am (now). When the popularity of meal planning really became a thing, I was finding it hard to put aside time to plan out healthy meals. Not to mention, actually sticking to those recipes and buy only the things I needed. Meal planning really helps to keep me on track during the week now that I have the right tools to use. I typically plan for 5ish healthy meals a week – on the weekends I go out or visit family. I usually make 2 servings every night and that way I have leftovers for lunch the next day.

What’s so good about meal planning?

Staying organized when it comes to meal planning makes it so much easier to make healthy meals, save money and reduce food waste! I have looked far and wide across the interwebs and there are a couple of useful tools. I used a grocery list app for a while, but ultimately I found it easier just to go back to using the built-in Notes app. This is because of 2 things: 

1. I am a very visual person and need to be able to see the recipes I’m planning for and the ingredients included, right next to each other, in one place. This way I don’t get confused in the middle of the grocery isle thinking “why did I need to buy this again?” Can anyone relate? No? Just me? Ok.

2. I need to be able to check things off as I buy them, and refer back to my list to remind myself what meals I’m making for the week, and what ingredients go with each one.

That’s why I created this 100% free, downloadable weekly meal planner guide. 

Using this tool, you can write down what meals you want to have each day, find out what ingredients you need to buy, and write them all down on the list. You can also include miscellaneous items like snacks on the same list so that it’s all in one place. Makes things easy! 

In an effort to save paper, I’m planning to fill out this meal planner on my laptop using Adobe Acrobat (you can download the free version here), or you can also download the meal planner PDF on your phone and use this app to fill it out each week. Obviously, you can print it as well! 

Meal planning has really helped me to stay on top of my health, and save money at the same time. Download this helpful meal planner sheet below!