Weekly Meal Planner Printable

What’s on this weekly meal planner

Each section of this planner is designed for fast, practical use — not elaborate journaling. Here’s a walkthrough of every field so you know exactly how to fill it out.

The planner uses a landscape layout with days running down the left side and meal types across the top. This gives each cell enough room to write a real meal description (not just “chicken”).

How to use this planner — 3 real scenarios

The best way to understand this planner is to see it in action. Here are three completely different ways real people use the exact same template.

Scenario 1: Sunday-evening planning for a working couple

You and your partner sit down after dinner on Sunday with the fridge open. You pick 4 dinner recipes from your rotation, assign cooking nights (Mon and Wed for you, Tue and Thu for your partner, Friday is takeout night), and fill in the planner together. Leftover dinners automatically become the next day’s lunches. The whole process takes about 12 minutes, and you tape the finished planner to the fridge door where you’ll both see it every morning.

Scenario 2: College student batch-prepping on a tight budget

You have a mini fridge and access to a shared kitchen. Sunday afternoon, you plan 5 lunches around 3 affordable ingredients: chicken thighs, rice, and whatever vegetables are on sale that week. Breakfasts are overnight oats every day (cheap, no cooking required). The planner helps you avoid impulse grocery purchases that spoil before you use them. Your weekly food budget drops from $60 to $35.

Scenario 3: Parent planning around a picky eater

Your 6-year-old willingly eats about 8 foods. You use the planner to make sure at least one “safe food” appears at every dinner while introducing one new item per week alongside it. The Notes column tracks which new foods were attempted and how it went (“tried roasted cauliflower — not a hit” or “broccoli with cheese sauce — asked for seconds”). Over a month, you build a picture of what’s working.

Example fill-out

Here’s what a realistic Monday through Wednesday looks like on a filled-in planner. Notice the cross-references between days — that’s intentional meal prep thinking.

Monday:

• Breakfast: Overnight oats with blueberries (prepped Sunday)
• Lunch: Turkey & avocado wrap + apple (packed in the morning)
• Dinner: One-pan lemon chicken with roasted potatoes (~35 min cook time)
• Snacks: Greek yogurt, handful of almonds
• Notes: Use leftover chicken for Tuesday’s salad

Tuesday:

• Breakfast: Same oats
• Lunch: Chicken salad over mixed greens (Monday’s leftover chicken, shredded)
• Dinner: Black bean tacos with quick-pickled onions (20 min)
• Snacks: Carrots + hummus, banana
• Notes: Thaw salmon for Wednesday

Wednesday:

• Breakfast: Scrambled eggs + toast (quick stovetop cook)
• Lunch: Leftover tacos reassembled as a burrito bowl with rice
• Dinner: Sheet pan salmon + asparagus (25 min)
• Snacks: Trail mix, string cheese
• Notes: —

The key details: Tuesday’s lunch uses Monday’s leftover chicken. Wednesday’s lunch repurposes Tuesday’s taco filling. The Notes column flags the salmon thaw reminder a day in advance. This is the kind of forward thinking that makes meal prep work.

Common mistakes (and how to fix them)

1. Planning 7 completely unique dinners in your first week. Start with 4 recipes and plan leftovers for the other days. You’ll actually follow through instead of abandoning the plan by Thursday.

2. Skipping the snack column. Unplanned snacks are the biggest reason meal prep budgets blow up. A $1.50 yogurt from home beats a $4 vending machine granola bar every time.

3. Writing vague entries like “chicken.” Be specific: “lemon chicken thighs, roasted, serve with rice.” Vague plans lead to 6 PM decision fatigue and a pizza order.

4. Not checking the fridge before planning. Spend 2 minutes scanning shelves first — you probably already have half the ingredients for at least one meal. Our Pantry Inventory printable makes this step effortless.

5. Treating the planner as permanent. Cross things out, move meals around, draw arrows. A messy planner that you actually use is infinitely more useful than a pristine one sitting in a drawer.

Customization tips

Google Docs version: Open the template, click File → Make a copy. Add or remove columns by right-clicking the column header. Change the starting day from Monday to Sunday if that matches your shopping schedule. Bold your batch-cook days so they stand out visually.

Lamination for weekly reuse: Print the blank planner once, take it to a FedEx Office or Staples for $2–3 lamination, and use a dry-erase marker each week. Wipe clean on Sunday evening and start fresh. This is the most cost-effective approach if you use the same format every week. Use matte lamination for better marker grip.

Adding a grocery summary: As you fill in meals, jot down needed ingredients in the Notes column. After planning all 7 days, transfer those notes onto our Grocery List printable organized by store section. This two-step process takes about 15 minutes total and replaces the “stare at the fridge and wonder what to cook” routine entirely.