Meal Planner Printable

A printable weekly meal planner with a grocery list

Decide the week’s food once and stop the 6 pm “what’s for dinner?” debate. This meal planner printable lays out the seven days across the page and breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks down the side, with a grocery list beside or below the grid so you can write the shopping as you plan. Start the week on Monday or Sunday, enter any date to print the real dates for that week, or leave it undated and photocopy it; add a row of your own (“Prep”, “Dessert”, “Kids’ lunchbox”) and shade the weekend.

The planner is drawn in your browser at true size for A4, Letter, A5 or Legal paper, and prints directly or downloads as a vector PDF or a PNG. Pair it with the shopping list maker to turn the grocery column into a categorised list, or let the meal plan generator fill a week of meals to your calorie target.

How to use the Meal Planner Printable

1. Choose the week start and enter any date in the week you are planning, or clear it for an undated sheet.
2. Tick the meals you want as rows — breakfast, lunch, dinner, snacks — and type an extra row name if you need one.
3. Put the grocery list on the right (tall, one column) or along the bottom (wide, several columns), or leave it out.
4. Pick an accent colour, the paper size and orientation (landscape gives wider day cells).
5. Press Print meal planner or download the PDF or PNG, then fill it in with a pen or stick it on the fridge.

Meal Planner Printable features

A simple way to plan a week of meals

1. Check the calendar first: late evenings, kids’ activities and nights out get the quickest dinners or leftovers.
2. Pencil in dinners for the week before anything else — they drive most of the shopping. Aim for two or three repeat favourites, one new recipe and one “use up the fridge” night.
3. Fill lunches from last night’s dinner where possible (cook one extra portion), then breakfasts and snacks, which are usually the same most days.
4. Walk through each cell and write every ingredient you do not have into the grocery column; group by shop aisle later with the shopping list maker.
5. Add prep notes under the grid: what to defrost, soak or marinate the night before.

Layout tips

• Landscape A4 or Letter gives day cells about 32 mm wide — enough for a dish name and a note. Portrait cells are narrower; use it when you only plan dinners.
• Fewer rows, taller cells: untick snacks and lunches if you only plan dinners, and each cell gets writing lines.
• Grocery on the right suits a weekly shop; along the bottom gives three or four columns for a bigger list.
• Cooking from recipes in other units? The cooking converter turns cups into grams and °F into °C.