Meal Planning Template 

A Meal Planning Template is an invaluable tool to get better organized, save money and improve nutrition. After all, if you’re overwhelmed with those all-too-familiar dinner dilemmas, or you want to simplify your life, meal planning may be your perfect solution. In today’s blog, I’ll share our amazing and FREE Meal Planning Template along with my top 3 dietitian tips to get started. Get ready for meal planning!

This post was sponsored by the Egg Farmers of Ontario; as always, all opinions are genuine.

Each year at Dietetic Directions, we see an increased number of clients seeking meal planning support. Something about our fast-paced society just calls for people to need a better kitchen organization system. We get that! Therefore, due to popular request, I’m pumped to share this FREE Meal Planning Template that you can start using right away. Trust me, you won’t look back. Meal planning is a total game-changer for saving time, money and, of course, improving nutrition. Read on for more! 

What is Meal Planning?

Meal planning is the action of choosing your meals in advance based on:

• Foods on hand
• Your schedule
• Preferences
• Grocery sales
• Seasonal produce

Therefore, Meal Planning is the act of getting dinners and/or lunches organized for the week ahead. This comes down to planning your actual meals based on your schedule, the foods in your fridge and your preference for leftovers if you don’t have time for cooking. So grab the Meal Planning Template and discover my top 3 dietitian-approved, meal planning tips on how to use it below. 

Benefit of Meal Planning Templates

• Reduces stress with dinner decisions already made and ingredients on hand.  
• Saves time by cooking twice as much in less than twice the time. Also, by meal planning, we are more likely to have foods on hand, which saves extra grocery trips, and results in planned meals (or leftovers) that can be faster than take-out.
• Saves money by using our existing ingredients, which may otherwise go bad. For example, the average Canadian households spends $1,800 a year on perfectly good food that is wasted before we have time to use it. Our Meal Planning Template can help fix this.
• Improves nutrition since research shows that meal planning is associated with improved dietary quality, as opposed to following a rigid meal plan (see blog on difference of meal planning vs. a meal plan).

Grab FREE Meal Plan Like a PRO! It’s 28 pages with meal ideas, dietitian tips and templates.

Introducing the Meal Planning Template! 

Without future ado, here’s the Meal Planning Template that’s available to download for FREE. Or, Ontario residents can order a hard copy (available in English or French) at Getcracking.ca/mealplan. This Meal Planning Template is included as part of Meal Plan Like a Pro! a comprehensive, 28-page book that I wrote with tons of dietitian-approved, meal inspirations, budget-saving tips and step-by-step templates to get those nutritious meals on the table with less stress. 

Click to download & save this Meal Planning Template here.

3 Dietitian Tips for Using a Meal Planning Template: 

1. Take Stock Before you Shop

The first Meal Planning step is a powerful one that cannot be skipped. To start, you must open your fridge and write down all the perishable foods on your Meal Planning Template (FREE here). You’ll see this in the top section under the title, “Foods To Use Up.”

Write perishable foods under the “Foods To Use Up” in the Meal Planning Template

Importantly, this quick grocery inventory allows you to use existing perishables first so you only buy what you need (which is in a different section of the Meal Planning Template.) The written foods in your meal planner then act as forefront inspiration for your meals! This step saves you money by reducing your food waste. For example, when I’m meal planning, I often have extra mushrooms, spinach cherry tomatoes, carrots, celery, and of course, eggs. These inspire what I’m planning to make, which is the next step!

First step in meal planning is to open that fridge and write down all the perishable items!

Benefits of Taking Stock of What’s in Your Fridge

• By writing down all your perishable items, you will be more likely to use them. 
• Consequently, we will throw out less food AND save more money! Food waste is a real issue that is preventable with proper meal planning. Interestingly, the average Canadian household wastes over $1,766 per year (or ~$35 a week) on good, uneaten food. Therefore, cutting down on food waste can save over 10% of your grocery bill.  
• The foods we need to use up can act as inspiration for your meals! For example, if you have lots of tomatoes, why not make a Lentil Bruschetta or Parchment Bruschetta Salmon?

DKY: Meal Planning can help us ~10% of grocery bill?

2. Get Creative with Meal Ideas 

The next tip in using your Meal Planning Template is to get creative based on the foods you have to use up. This can be an intimidating step for many. However, the FREE Meal Plan like a Pro resource covers a surplus of meal ideas! Additionally, at Dietetic Directions we pride ourselves on supporting our clients with one-on-one dietitian support for learning how to become a confident meal planner.

Use the ingredients you already have to inspire planned meal for the week ahead.

For meal inspiration try using Meal Themes like Breakfast for Dinner, Taco Tuesday, Homemade Pizza Night or Sandwich Saturday to help with meal ideas. Additionally, your ingredients can inspire your meals. For example, if you have leftover mushrooms, eggs and Swiss cheese you can choose something like a Mushroom Swiss Quiche, an easy Mushroom Swiss Omelette or a Mushroom Swiss Crepe, to use all these ingredients. I might also add spinach or peppers to the meal planned if I have them to use up.  

Need More Help with Meal Planning Ideas?

• Ask family members for requests. Then use the “Meals To Make” section of the Meal Planning Template to write these suggestions.
• Reflect on family favourites or traditional foods you’d enjoy. My family LOVES homemade pasta or Italian dishes so this gets prioritized in our meal planning. 
• Write a meal brainstorming list of about 20 easy and enjoyable dinners. This could include simple ones like French Toast, naan pizzas or sheet pan perogies.
• Give family members two options – would you like Mushroom Swiss Quiche for dinner or a Stir-Fry?
• Check what’s in your pantry to inspire meal ideas. For example, I have canned clams – I could make a Clam Pasta or a Clam Chowder.  Check out our blog on How to Do a Pantry Inventory.
• Check Pinterest, blog recipes, cookbooks, ask friends for their favourite recipes or meals that are quick and easy or good options for leftovers.
• Do a Freezer Inventory to inspire meals to make based on foods you have to use up. I always remember to make a salmon dish when I check inside my freezer. 
• Use a weekly Meal Theme to reduce the dinner possibilities. For example, every Tuesday could be Mexican Night or Thursday might be Breakfast for Dinner. Check 15 Favourite Fun (and Unique) Meal Themes for more inspiration.
• Plan meals that are good to batch cook. Egg sandwiches are a top easy-peasy option and they freeze well too (see recipe).

Here’s our Freezer Egg Sandwich recipe! Prefect for planned batch cooking.

3. Meal Planning Template Grocery List 

The third step of your Meal Planning Template is using your selected meals to generate a grocery list. You’ll see that the FREE Meal Planning Template (download here) has a handy grocery list on the bottom. Four different sections of the grocery store are outlined so you can gather items in the designated area and save time.

This simple Meal Planning Template will help you organize your grocery list for the week.

Therefore, as you’re coming up with dinners in the previous step, think of the ingredients you need. For example, if Wednesday is Pizza Night, ask yourself what ingredients do I have to use up? Write those down beside the meal. Next, ask if I need anything – pizza dough or naan bread? Sauce? Cheese? Do I need any extra veggies or proteins? If you need grocery items, you simply write them in the appropriate column of the list! For example, I often add pineapple to my grocery list when having pizza night. This final step helps set you up for mealtime success. Basically, you have all the ingredients you need to make your meals for the week!

Dietitian TIP: Use a grocery list that’s ordered by section of the grocery store! This means that you’ll have all the produce items listed together and can shop more efficiently.

Still Not Sure a Meal Planning Template is for You?

Here are some questions to ask yourself:

Do you:

• Feel overwhelmed by the “what-to-make-for-dinner” question?
• Feel unprepared (with available groceries) to make dinner at home?
• Resort to take-out more than you’d like?
• Resent money spent eating out when cooking at home is cheaper?
• Believe your diet could be healthier if you cooked more?
• Make several trips to the grocery store in a week?

If you answered YES to ANY of the above, a Meal Planning Template would benefit YOU!

Remember, the art of meal planning is a skill that’s broken down step-by-step in this FREE Meal Plan Like a Pro resource. Ontario residents can order paper copies or you can download English or French versions. I wrote the content for this comprehensive resource and it’s available now online or by ordering print copies. Additionally, our dietitian team at Dietetic Directions is also well versed on meal planning and can coach you. 

My Top Dietitian Tips for Using a Meal Planning Template 

• Designate a day of the week to plan ahead for the upcoming week. Sundays or Fridays are my preference to meal plan. 
• Use lots of “easy meals” to start – this helps you get in the habit of using our Meal Planning Template from planning to execution. You can tackle more advanced meals as you feel ready or desire to try.
• Use “Fridge Cleaner” meals to use up leftover ingredients – stir-fries, pastas, soups, chili, sandwiches/wraps or buddha bowls are all good ways to use up what you have. 
• Be consistent with planning; committing to doing it regularly forms a habit.  However, remember it’s a skill that takes time. 
• Save past weekly meal plans for future inspiration. 
• Have flexibility if things come up (and they will.) Swapping planned meal days or pulling leftovers from the freezer can help in these cases. 

Bottom Line: 

Meal Planning Templates improve organization, decrease stress, save money and benefit nutrition. Remember that you can download your free Template and Meal Plan Like a Pro guide for my dietitian-approved meal inspirations and healthy eating tips. Then the next step is consistency with weekly planning to form a habit. Additionally, you may choose to seek dietitian meal planning support for idea generation and prepping strategies for busy weeks.

Watch Andrea, Dietitian, on CHCH Morning Live speaking about the Meal Planning Template

Finally, let us know in the comments if you’re a fan of meal planning too. We hope that you enjoy the FREE resources and remember, for beginners, the act of meal planning is more important than the level of skill in your meals. So keep it simple and have fun!