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For a long time, my wife has used a blank monthly calendar for planning our meals. Because she is proficient with Excel, I decided to create a simple weekly meal planner application that would allow her to select from a list of meals and side dishes, and it got a thumbs up review. So I went ahead and created a monthly version as well as a selection of printable meal and menu planners that you can download for free. She also wrote up some meal planning tips, that I've included below the downloads.
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Printable Meal and Menu Planners
If you just want a blank meal planner that you can print right away, then try one of the printable meal and menu planners listed below, which are downloadable as PDF files. In case you were wondering, the planners that include breakfast, lunch, and dinner are called "meal planners" and the others, like the monthly version which only includes lines for main and side dishes I've called "menu planners".
Meal Planner and Menu Planner Templates for Excel
View Screenshot
View Screenshot
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Weekly Meal Planner
This spreadsheet isn't just for printing a blank meal planner. For each main dish, side dish, breakfast, and lunch entry, you can select an item from a drop-down list within the cell. You can edit the meal lists based upon your own favorite foods and recipes. The weekly meal planner also has a notes and grocery list section.
You can choose between portrait or landscape format. Both versions are included in the same file (as separate worksheets).
"No Installation, No Macros - Just a simple spreadsheet"
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Download Now
Cost: Free ($0.00)
License: Personal Use Only
File Type: .xls
Size: ~50 KB
Version: 1.0
Required: Microsoft Excel® 2002(XP), 2003, or 2007
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Download as an OpenOffice Calc spreadsheet template: Weekly Meal Planner (.ots)
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View Screenshot
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Monthly Menu Planner
This menu planner is great for longer-term planning. It contains lists for main dishes and side dishes and has the same type of drop-down list selection as the weekly meal planner above. If you prefer to write your meals ought by hand, this template works well for printing blank monthly menu planners.
Important: When you change the month, only the dates change. The menu items stay the same. So, if you want to store different menus for different months, you'll need to create a copy of the Menu worksheet (and rename it to Jan, Feb, etc.).
"No Installation, No Macros - Just a simple spreadsheet"
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Download Now
Cost: Free ($0.00)
License: Personal Use Only
File Type: .xls
Size: ~50 KB
Version: 1.0
Required: Microsoft Excel® 2002(XP), 2003, or 2007
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Download as an OpenOffice Calc spreadsheet template: Monthly Menu Planner (.ots)
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Using the Meal Planner
Both the weekly meal planner and the monthly menu planner templates allow you to edit your lists of main dishes and side dishes. The weekly version also includes lists for breakfast and lunch. The screenshots below show how these lists are used to populate the drop-down boxes within the meal planner.
Screenshot showing the meal selection drop-down list within the planner. |
Screenshot showing the editable list of main dishes used to populate the drop-down lists. |
The items in the list like [==== CHICKEN ====] are used to make it easy to see the different categories as you are scrolling through the list in the menu planner.
You can make copies of the meal planner worksheet if you want to store multiple weekly or monthly meal planners within the same file. Right-click on the Planner tab and select "Move or Copy" and select the "Create a Copy" checkbox.
I designed the lists to be as easy to edit. You can delete and remove rows, sort, and do pretty much whatever you want as long as you don't delete cell A1. Doing so will mess up the formula used to create the dynamic named range which populates the drop-down lists.
Share Your Ideas Here
You will likely want to create your own lists based on your favorite foods. If you'd like to recommend that we add items to the list in our template, or would like to share your ideas with others, please do so by commenting on my "Meal Planner Template" blog post.
Meal Planning Tips
My wife has graciously provided the following tips meal planning tips, including ideas for how to use the meal and menu planners.
- Make a list of everything you like to cook or everything you have eaten in the last month. This will give you a start on your list of meals and you can add to it when you find new things. The planner gives you a starter list that you can add to or amend to fit your needs.
- Your meal planners can be reused from month to month or week to week. You can make three months worth of planners and then rotate them throughout the year. Or, at the end of the month or week, file the planner away until the next year. Then, you can bring it out a year later and have something to work from. I like this method, because then I can incorporate seasonal foods and my menus for July are distinctly different from the ones for December.
- Plan to use left-overs. You can vary the sides or the appearance, but left-overs save time and money. For example, BBQ chicken on Wednesday can become BBQ chicken pizza on Friday. Or Meatballs can be used for Sweet and Sour and then later in the week for Hoagies. You can serve Lemon Chicken twice, but the second time, serve it with potatoes instead of rice pilaf.
- Add recipes that you want to try to your planner. I am constantly printing or tearing out pages of new recipes, but if I don't put them on my meal planner, I never make them.
- Put your menu planner where you will see it. Save it on your desktop or print it out and put it on the fridge or the inside of a cupboard.
- Be flexible. If you order pizza, move the planned meal to the first week of the next month. If you don't feel like making Hamburgers, switch them with another night. The purpose of a meal planner is to make the dinner decision time less agonizing and to help you with your grocery shopping.
- Create a recipe file. When you create your planner, spend some time collecting the recipes or write down the page numbers. That way you don’t spend all of your prep time searching for that fabulous recipe.
- Involve you family. Ask for suggestions from your family for meals they want to eat for the month. There may be fewer complaints if they know they had a say in a few of the meals.
Share Our Meal Planner and Tips
Feel free to recommend our meal planners to your friends, or if you have a blog or website, please go ahead and link to this page. Thank you.
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