Ever find yourself staring into the fridge at dinnertime, wondering what to make and wishing you had a plan?
You’re not alone. Between work, family responsibilities, errands, and everything else life throws your way, figuring out meals every day can feel exhausting. Without a plan, it’s easy to rely on takeout, overspend on groceries, or miss your health and fitness goals.
That’s why meal planning has become such a valuable habit for so many people. Taking a little time each week to map out your meals can help you eat healthier, reduce food waste, save money, and eliminate the daily stress of deciding what’s for dinner.
The best part is that meal planning doesn’t have to be complicated. With the right template, you can create a simple system that fits your schedule and makes grocery shopping and meal prep much easier.
In this article, you’ll discover 29 printable weekly meal planner templates to help you stay organized, save time, and make healthier choices. Be sure to grab the free Meal Planning Printables at the end of the article to help you put your plan into action.
Best Printable Weekly Meal Planner
Templates
1. 4 Meal Plan Printable Templates Bundle
Check out Meal Plan Printable Templates Bundle on Etsy
With these minimalist Meal Planning Printables, you can stay organized and simplify your meal planning — featuring daily, weekly, and monthly layouts.
These printables help you streamline your grocery shopping and ensure you never miss a meal.
Perfect for busy individuals and families looking to save time and eat healthier.
2. Black and White Weekly Meal Planning Template
Download the PDF
Want a simple weekly meal planning template that gets the job done? Then our very own Black-and-White Weekly Meal Planning Template is perfect for you.
This is the ideal meal planner if you’re only planning meals for yourself or as a couple. There are spaces dedicated to your daily meals, as well as your shopping list for the week.
3. Colorful Weekly Meal Planning Template
Download the PDF
If you want to involve your kids in your meal planning efforts, this colorful weekly meal planning template can help. Ask them for their input and then post a final meal plan somewhere the entire family can see.
4. Elimination Diet Weekly Meal and Snack Plan
via Word Templates Online
Some meal plans help keep track of the food you eat, especially if you need to identify triggers for illnesses or allergies.
This is one example. You can immediately spot a trigger food in case there are flare-ups of a medical condition by simply looking at the meal plan.
This template is in MSWord and is editable.
5. Handsketched Meal Planner
via Future Girl
If you intend to use a meal planner, it is best to choose a template that accommodates your lifestyle. For some people, that means customizing their planners when they cannot find a suitable template.
This planner is an example of that. It has no dates, so there is some flexibility within your planned menu for the week.
6. Weekly Meal Prep Clipboard Design
This meal planner
contains ample space for writing your shopping list, in addition to the meals
you plan for the week. It is very convenient because you can see what you will
need at a glance.
When you’re planning
meals for your whole family, it is a good idea to have a shared calendar where
you can coordinate everyone’s schedule. This ensures that everyone gets a hot
meal when they’re eating at home.
You might want to check out this review of the 15 best family calendar apps you can use for organizing your family’s schedule.
7. Teal-Themed Meal Planner
This teal-themed planner
features space for important notes about the meals you’re planning for each day
of the week.
If you’re new to meal
planning, the entire process can feel overwhelming. However, remembering three basic
things will help make it more doable:
- Step 1: Select the food for every meal. You might have to research some recipes for this step.
- Step 2: Buy your ingredients and supplies.
- Step 3: Prepare your meals according to the plan you made.
8. Kitchn Weekly Meal Plan
Having a meal plan can
help you keep track of the perishables in your pantry, ensuring that you use
them up before they go bad. This template has space for a pantry inventory of
what ingredients or supplies you need to use up, as well as a make-ahead list.
With this type of
planning, nothing goes to waste. Furthermore, with a make-ahead plan, you know
how to channel your energy and resources when it comes to preparing meals. You
can rest easy knowing that the things you need to get done can be reviewed at a
glance.
9. Minimalist Meal Plan
Many people like to keep things simple, and this meal planning template reflects that preference.
It features a black-and-white motif and is quite straightforward as a planner, providing columns where you can write down the meals you want to prepare for each day.
10. Systematic Meal Planner
In contrast to the minimalist meal plan, this template is itself an entire system of meal planning.
In addition to spaces you can fill in with the kinds of food you intend to prepare for all the days of the week, there is also generous space for brainstorming your ideas regarding the entire week’s menu.
This is quite useful,
especially if there is an important event that week, such as a birthday party.
The space reserved for brainstorming ensures that you remember minute details.
You will also find that
the grocery list is grouped into categories. Lastly, there is space to remind
you in case you need to prepare something beforehand.
11. Weekly Family Dinner Schedule
This dinner planner has
assigned columns for the planned menu, who will be cooking it, and who will be
assisting.
Research studies show that chores are good for children’s
personal development. With this planner, you can teach valuable life skills to
your children and instill in them family values that you want to pass on to
them.
Usually, older kids can
be assigned to cook dinner, while the younger ones will be the assistants. However,
you can also boost a younger child’s confidence by assigning them to be the
cook, letting them do easy-to-prepare meals for the whole family.
12. Black-and-White Menu Plan
If you’re into black-and-white themes or you want to save on printer ink, this meal plan template does the job.
The template contains spaces for the days of the week, plus an untitled column that you can use as a grocery list, pantry inventory, or space for personal reminders.
13. Colorful Weekly Meal Plan
For those of you who
love color, this planner might be what you’re looking for. It features splashes
of pastel to add a fun design concept to the meals that you are planning.
14. Green-Themed Weekly Meal Plan Template
Green is a very relaxing
color, and this template is a sample of an elegant green-themed meal planner.
It has columns for each day of the week, with spaces for writing down the food
you plan to prepare.
There is also a column
for a grocery list, with ample space for writing down the stuff you need to buy
for the week.
15. Violet-Themed Weekly Meal Plan Template
Here’s another template
with a color theme. This time, it’s in violet. Its standout feature is
food-type trackers for each day.
The concept behind this food-type tracker is that the person preparing the meals will tick off one of the dots for every dish prepared for the day, which should ideally contain the food types listed, such as grain products, vegetables and fruits, and meat.
It also features a three-columned shopping list for better efficiency.
16. On the Royal Table Template
In some households, family members only have a chance to get together during dinner. For these families, it would be impractical to plan three meals per day for the entire week. Yet it is still possible to do meal planning, as this template demonstrates.
The planner simply focuses on dinner menu plans. Of course, there are spaces provided for breakfast, lunch, and snacks, too, just in case you’ll be preparing any of these meals within the week.
Furthermore, there is a two-column shopping list for your convenience.
17. Meal Plan and Grocery Checklist
In this meal planning
template, the grocery list is featured prominently. It is categorized into
“produce” and “non-produce,” with a system for listing the grocery items you
need and their quantity.
The designers of this
template have a suggestion for how to use their planner:
- Write down the meal you plan to prepare for Monday.
- Write the ingredients for that dish on the grocery list, categorizing items as produce and non-produce.
- Shade the dots according to the quantity you need (each dot has a divider line across the middle to indicate half quantity).
- Once you’ve listed all the ingredients for the intended dish for Monday’s meal, do the same for the remaining days of the week.
If you are feeling
overwhelmed with meal planning, this template might help you see the lighter
side of things. This planner comes with a fun produce header and colorful tabs
for each day of the week.
Here are some additional
suggestions to make meal planning a fun process:
- Display a creative board for your meal planning (something like a vision board that inspires exciting ideas).
- Include the whole family in meal planning.
- Prepare at least one gourmet dish each week.
19. Easter Weekly Meal Plan
This charming template’s
design is ideal for meal planning during the Easter season.
Meal planning is ideal
for the holiday season. It helps keep things organized at a time when things can
become hectic.
For example, when
relatives come over for a holiday meal, you can use your meal plan to keep
track of food preferences and dietary restrictions. This way, you can prepare
meals that everyone can enjoy, creating happy memories and ensuring that no
food goes to waste.
20. Healthy Weekly Meal Plan
This is another fun meal
planner with a fruit-and-vegetable header and a colorful layout. This template
is available for download as a PDF and features a reminder for “make ahead”
tasks for the next day.
21. Be a Master Meal Planner
For something to become
a habit, it must be done consistently. This goes for meal planning, too. You
can only be a master at meal planning and reap the benefits from it if you do
it regularly.
With this template, you
can have home-cooked meals every day of the week. This will benefit you in at
least two ways: You become healthier as you avoid fast food (which is devoid of nutrients) and you save
money.
22. Floral Header Weekly Meal Planner
This meal planner is a great way to prep for your weekly meals. It has seven boxes dedicated to each day of the week, so you can plot out the meals for the entire week.
The right-hand portion of this template has space allocated for a grocery list. You can easily bring this planner with you while shopping so that you remember all of the necessary ingredients for the week’s menu.
23. Meal Planning Helper
Turn meal planning into something fun with the help of this colorful meal planner. It features two pages: one for brainstorming the family’s favorite meals and another for plotting out the meal plan for the week.
Space is also provided for your grocery list, as well as notes in case there’s something very important you need to remember.
24. What’s for Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner?
If you need more examples of colorful meal planners, here’s another one to try. It features a page for meal planning and another page for a grocery list.
The meal planner has spaces for writing down three meals each for Monday through Friday. One row is allocated for the entire weekend’s menu. Meanwhile, the grocery list allows you to categorize the items you need to buy, with boxes labeled “Produce,” “Dairy,” “Pantry,” etc.
25. Elegant Meal Plan Template
If you’re looking for a simple yet elegant template, here’s one worth your consideration. It features a monochromatic design with cursive text.
There are spaces dedicated for writing each day’s menu for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Ample space is also provided for your notes of the week.
26. Organize the Menu
When you’re creating a weekly meal plan, it’s a good idea to set aside a certain day of the week to brainstorm the menu and prepare your grocery list. Some meal planners dedicate Sunday afternoons for this task.
This planner has boxes for daily to-dos and is ideal if you also need reminders about important tasks during the day that are related to meal preparation. There is also space assigned for listing things to buy (not just groceries) and notes.
27. Pastel-Themed Meal Plan
If you prefer a light-colored theme for your meal planning template, here’s an example that you can use.
Meal planning is a wonderful time-saver for busy households. It also helps save on food costs while making sure that your family eats quality, healthy meals.
28. Beginner Vegan Meal Planning Template
Adopting a new way of eating can be challenging for many people. One of the biggest hurdles is to learn how to eat the right foods.
If you’re starting out being a vegan or vegetarian, a meal plan like this one can be helpful. Planning out the menu for the whole week ensures you’re on track with eating a variety of dishes while adhering to the principles of veganism or vegetarianism.
29. What’s Cooking?
In addition to spaces allocated for writing the dinner menu for the whole week, this green-themed template has several extra details to make meal prep a breeze.
It has dedicated boxes for writing menu ideas for breakfast, lunch, and snacks. There are also boxes for taking note of things to prep for a specific menu and to take out of the freezer.
Finally, it has space for a shopping list organized by category, such as produce, meat, frozen goods, etc.
Make It Reusable
Rather than printing a
new copy of your meal planner every week or so, one way you can cut printing
costs and become more environment friendly is to make your planner reusable.
You can choose to print a single page and laminate it, or place it inside a clear file folder. Then you can use a whiteboard marker to write the dishes you plan to prepare for the week.
Once the week is done, you can simply erase the content and write a fresh plan.
Free Download: Meal Planning Printables
These Meal Planning Printables make it easy to organize your weekly meals, create shopping lists, and stay on track with your nutrition and budgeting goals. They’re designed to simplify meal prep and bring more structure to your weekly routine.
Download your free printables and start planning your meals with confidence.
(The link opens up a Google Drive folder where you can get the PDF download in a variety of sizes: A4 and US Letter.)
Final Thoughts on These Meal Planner Templates
Meal planning is a good
habit you may want to start practicing in your household. You can actually feel
the benefits of doing it through improved health and the amount you save every
year.
Do you have a favorite weekly meal planner template from among the ones featured today?
Feel free to let us know in the comments.
If you need more in-depth information about meal planning, then be sure to check out the following articles and resources:
