A Meal Planner is a part of my weekly routine. I sit down each Sunday and create my meal plan for my family so that I have one less thing to worry about!
Hopefully by now you have purchased your copy of the Homemade on a Weeknight Cookbook – if you haven’t you can get it as a Paperback or an eBook on Amazon! As mentioned in the cookbook, you can easily create weekly mean plans by simply selecting a recipe from each of the five categories in the book:
To that end – I am going to start sharing one Weekly Meal Planner each Sunday to help you get a jump start on your meal planning. I also want to provide you with the blank version of the Meal Planner so that you can make your own menu using other recipes (egads!) than those from my cookbook! Maybe even incorporate some of the free recipes I provide right here on this blog
Here is the free printable Homemade on a Weeknight Meal Planner (pdf):
And here is this week’s Meal Plan!
This Week’s Meal Planner
Bacon & Bleu Steak Stuffed Potatoes
Chicken & Broccoli Alfredo
Ravioli Bake
Shrimp Burrito Bowl
Egg & Corn Salad Wraps
Why Meal Plan?
To be honest, unless you live alone, you are probably in need to meal plans each week. Whether you use them to decide who is cooking on which nights, or just so that you can better plan out your grocery list – they are a huge time saver. And for my family it serves as a reminder of what might be going on that evening. My kiddos know that if the dish is more involving then we probably don’t have anything on the calendar for that night. Conversely, if it is one of my super quick dishes, then they better see who has a game or concert or if we are going to a movie or something.
So each Sunday I look through my fridge and pantry to see what I have on hand – what might need to used before it goes bad. Then I write out my meal plan for the week followed by my shopping list for the week. This practice has saved me time and money and heartache! Some days it is just so much easier to look at the menu and start cooking then have to come up with a plan on the fly. It also helps me remember to take the meat out of the freezer in the morning if I already know what’s on the planner.