Plan the week's meals, then shop once

What does the meal planner include?

Every week you print gives you two pages. The first is the menu: seven rows, one for each day with its date, and a column for each meal you chose. Below the grid are two panels, one for prep you can do ahead and one for leftovers and notes. The second page is a grocery list grouped into aisles, with a box at the bottom for the things you buy every week.

The aisles are fruit and veg, meat and fish, dairy and eggs, bread and bakery, pantry and tins, frozen, drinks and household. Grouping a list this way means you walk the shop once instead of doubling back for the item you missed.

How do I plan a week of meals?

Meal planning is easier when you work in a set order. This is a simple routine that uses both pages of the printable.

1. Check the week first: late shifts, clubs, nights out and guests. Mark busy nights as quick meals or leftovers.
2. Look in the fridge, freezer and cupboards and plan the first couple of dinners around what needs using up.
3. Fill in dinners for every day, then lunches and breakfasts if you plan them.
4. Use the prep ahead panel for jobs like chopping onions, cooking rice or defrosting something the night before.
5. Go through each meal and write the ingredients you do not have on the grocery list under the right aisle.
6. Tick off your weekly staples, then take the list shopping.

Do I need to plan every meal?

No. Plenty of households only plan dinner, because breakfasts and lunches repeat or take care of themselves. Choose dinner only and each day gets one wide box, which leaves room for a side dish or a note about who is cooking. If packed lunches or school snacks cause the most stress in your house, pick lunch, dinner and snacks instead.

The full layout, with breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks, suits people who want to see everything they eat in a week in one place, or who are cooking for someone with particular needs and want a clear record to follow.

Why is the grocery list grouped by aisle?

A list in the order you thought of things sends you back and forth across the shop. A list in aisle order lets you shop in one sweep, and it is easier to spot something missing when every item has a place. Each aisle has a few lines with tick boxes so you can cross things off as they go in the trolley or basket.

The every week box holds up to twelve staples you type into the maker, such as milk, bread or fruit for lunch boxes. They print on every grocery list with tick boxes, so you only need to check whether you are running low rather than writing them out again. If your shop is laid out differently, use the aisles as loose groups; the point is to keep similar things together.

How can a meal plan cut waste?

A written plan makes it easier to buy only what you will use. Planning two meals that share an ingredient, like a bag of spinach or a tray of chicken, means less of it is left at the back of the fridge. The leftovers and notes panel is a good place to plan for that: if Monday's roast makes extra, write Tuesday's wraps there.

Keep your old menus. After a few weeks you will have a set of real meals your household eats, which makes the next plan much faster. Some families repeat a favourite four-week cycle once they have one, and printing four weeks at once makes that easy.

Which paper size should I choose?

US Letter is standard in the United States and Canada and A4 in most other countries. Pick yours before printing and set the print scale to 100 percent. Ink saver mode prints the green parts in grey, which is useful if the menu is going on the fridge and the list is going in your bag. You can also save both pages as a PDF and keep the grocery list on your phone.

If you plan more than one week at a time, keep the grocery lists in order with their menus, since each list is dated to match its week.