Free Meal Planner Printables And Grocery List Pages
There are so many benefits to meal planning and we want to make it even easier for you with our free meal planner printables and pre-populated grocery lists. We have meal planner printables in so many formats, including vertical or horizontal, with notes, grocery lists and more!
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Table of Contents
What are the Benefits of Meal Planning?
People have been meal planning for ages, but why is it so popular? These are just some of the benefits to meal planning and using one of our free meal planner printables and free printable meal planner with grocery list designs.
More Likely To Eat At Home: If you have all of your meals planned and groceries purchased, you’re less likely to pick up the phone and order a pizza or drop by a nearby restaurant.
According to the USDA data on US food spending, “food away from home” spending accounted for 56% of total food expenditures in the US in 2022. Yes, we love going out to eat too (and big YES to supporting small businesses and eateries), but restaurants can add up financially and it can be harder to eat healthy when someone else is preparing the meal. So restaurants and takeout can be an important part of your meal plan, but the key here is have it planned out first!
Save At The Store By Re-Using A Few Ingredients: A great example of this is one of our favorite ingredients to use over and over … broccoli. Frozen broccoli, in particular, is great for multiple meals. You can make a hearty breakfast omelet with broccoli, add some roasted broccoli to a lunch salad, use as a satisfying lunch side dish, or warm it up for an incredibly healthy mid-afternoon snack. And, use it with dinner as a side (we LOVE this roasted broccoli recipe) or make a broccoli and cheese soup. You could spread these broccoli recipes out throughout the week.
The beauty of frozen broccoli is it’s SO easy to cook many different ways, it takes a long time to expire and it’s incredibly healthy. So when meal planning, look at how one simple ingredient can be used so many different ways so you’re not overbuying too many ingredients.
Meal Planning Eases Meal Prep: Much like our broccoli example, if you know you’ll use an ingredient more than once, you could prep it in advance. Making a lunch salad? Cut up some extra peppers to put on your kabobs later for dinner. Making rice for dinner? Cook some extra for an upcoming lunch. Or cook in bulk and double up on a soup or other recipe that can store nicely in the freezer for a later date. If you’re prepping a bunch of meals all at once, these food storage containers are great for packing meals and are said to be freezer, dishwasher and microwave safe.
Meal Planning Saves Money: Build your meals around (healthy) ingredients that are on sale, in season, can be used in multiple ways and ones that are already in the house (and nearing expiration). It’s as simple as that and you’ll already see savings and less food waste.
Make Healthier Choices Through Meal Planning: While we are not nutrition or medical experts, we do know that it is pretty simple to eat healthier by actually mapping out nutritious meals and snacks so you’re less likely to be tempted by junk food. Healthy meal planning can be daunting for some, but there are many websites and apps dedicated to helping people make healthy food choices. One tool we like, on MyPlate.gov, is designed to help you create a personalized food plan.
Meal Planning Helps Reduce Food Waste: Doing a full inventory of what you have in house, including what is reaching its expiration, is a great way to use what you have and reduce food waste. A 2023 Mitre-Gallup food waste survey found American households wasted an average 6.2 cups of food a week and households could save $1,500 annually by cutting back on food waste. This really makes us think about how better to use what we have in house already. Tip: keeping your food very well organized is a great way to see what you have! We love these clear containers for the pantry and clear produce saver containers for the fridge.
What Are Some Good Tips For Meal Planning?
#1: Use the Right Meal Planner: With options ranging from monthly to weekly and a variety of start dates, meal planners come in a variety of styles. We also have free meal planner with grocery list designs or meal planning calendar printable style. Try out a few of our free meal planner printables until you find one that works perfectly for your lifestyle.
#2: Display it in a Prominent Place: Once we found a meal planner that worked for our family, we laminated it and hung it on the fridge or a cork board is great too. We use thin white board markers and this no heat laminating paper to make it reusable. Or, if dropping it in your planner is better, then put it there. The main point is to keep these free meal planner printables it in a place you’ll see it and use it.
#3: Keep it Up-To-Date: Life moves fast and your meal planner can adapt! For example, your neighbor drops off garden fresh tomatoes and you want to work those into your dinners or you end up unexpectedly eating lunch at a office party. Keep these free meal planner printables flexible and updated so you don’t lose track of your meals and end up with spoiled or forgotten food.
#4: Work Hard on the Shopping List: It may sound obvious to use a shopping list, but it will truly help you stay on track and avoid missing important ingredients. We offer grocery lists in our collection of free meal planner printables.
#5: Shop From Home: Depending on where you live, online grocery shopping may also save you money. We often use Amazon Fresh and find it has tons of deals, convenient delivery options (you do not need to be home) and generous return policies… and we are able to avoid impulse shopping. It’s also beneficial to online grocery shop from home to double check your inventory, keep your free meal planner printables handy and avoid overbuying.
#6: Source the Salad Bar: If you only need a tiny amount of one ingredient, and will not use it in anything else, purchase it from the salad bar to reduce food waste. This tip came from our friends at Taste of Home who also say to go small with olive oil as it can spoil quickly once opened.
#7: Factor in Your Busy Schedule: Take a look at the week ahead and work off that when using one of our free meal planner with grocery list printables. For example, if you’re totally free Monday night, make something slightly more time consuming and double it to eat again on Wednesday night when you’ll be coming in around later from… (sports practice/work/gym/you get the picture) and won’t have time to cook.
#8: Coordinate with Friends: Team up with a friend or neighbor and share a meal. Say you make a perfect chicken pot pie and your friend has the best chili… schedule a couple of days each week that you’ll each make an extra batch for the other person and drop it off in advance.
Share with us! We always need new ideas! Share your meal planning tips and how you use our free meal planner printables with us in the comments below!
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Pin For Later! Free Printable Meal Planner with Grocery List
*PLEASE NOTE: We are not medical professionals, and our meal planners are not intended to provide medical advice. Please consult a qualified expert if you have any questions or concerns before using a meal plan.
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