Printable Meal Planning Binder

Meal Planning is the key to saving money and having an organized plan for mealtimes. Get started and organized by using this printable meal planning binder.

I have been meal planning for years. It is one of the most important routines I do every month to stay organized. Meal planning has saved us money because we’re not eating out all of the time and I actually use the groceries that we buy. I’m less overwhelmed with cooking and grocery shopping because I have a plan.

Get Organized with a Meal Planning Binder

Organize your favorites:

• Breakfasts We Love
• Lunches We Love
• Dinners We Love
• Snacks We Love
• Pot Luck Meals
• Meals to Share

Keeping a list of your favorite meals is one of the most important steps to meal planning. Having a simple list of meal ideas will make meal planning so much easier. I use these sheets when I’m struggling to come up with meal ideas.

I use the “Lunches We Love” page a lot in the summer, when the kids are home. Lunchtime is a whole lot more stressful when everyone is home for the summer.

The “Pot Luck Meals” list is helpful when you are invited to a party or potluck and need to bring an entree, salad, or side dish. I added a new sheet, “Meals to Share”. This list has been helpful when I would like to bring a meal to a family or friend. It is always such a blessing when someone is going through an illness, unexpected job loss, or when they have just had a baby. I try to keep these meals simple to reheat and always provide them in a disposable container.

Keep track of what you have

• Pantry Inventory
• Freezer Inventory
• Food Storage Inventory

Knowing what you have in your pantry, fridge, and freezer will help you save money because you can plan your meals around what you already have. My freezer inventory is the most important because I often buy meat and vegetables in bulk and like to plan my meals around those items. Having inventories will help you when you create your grocery list and you won’t end up buying things at the store that you already have.

Create your meal plans

• Weekly Meal Planning – Blocks
• Weekly Meal Planning with Grocery List
• Weekly Meal Planning with Mealtimes
• Monthly Meal Planning Calendar Vertical
• Monthly Meal Planning Calendar with Grocery List
• Monthly Meal Planning Lists

These meal plan templates have different layouts depending on what you want to track. There is a simple block style that is nice to post on your fridge

Know what you need

• Grocery Lists with Boxes
• Grocery List with Unlined Boxes
• Grocery List Unlabeled

Sometimes it’s helpful to have an organized grocery list. This makes writing your list easier and will save you lots of time when you go shopping.

Fill your freezer with meals

• Freezer Meal Planning 
• Freezer Meal Stickers

Having meals ready in the freezer is a huge help for busy nights. I often double recipes or plan a day to prepare several meals to stock my freezer with. These printables will help you create a plan for a freezer meal cooking day so you can fill you freezer too.

Keep track of your recipes

• Full Page Recipe Card
• 1/2 Page Recipe Card

While I love Pinterest as much as the next mom I hate digging through Pinterest when I’m looking for a recipe, so I like to keep my recipes in a binder. I use an A5-sized binder for my recipes, so I use the 1/2 page cards. You can use the full-page recipe cards if you are going to keep your recipes in a standard binder. Print as many as you need.

It doesn’t have to be complicated

Meal planning doesn’t have to be hard, it is meant to give you a plan and that plan doesn’t have to be complicated. Planning meals can be as simple as planning what night you’ll order take-out or eat leftovers. Not every meal needs to be a gourmet experience. Meal planning allows you to know what to expect, what to buy at the grocery store, and how you can prepare for the week. Whether you plan meals weekly or monthly, I hope you find this planner a helpful tool.