Weekly menu planning is the best and the worst part of my week. On one hand, I love having that framework in place to make out a grocery list…a THOROUGH grocery list that ensures that I only make one trip to the grocery store per week. That’s the goal. And a girl can dream.
I really don’t love the actual sitting down and figuring out what to eat part of menu planning, but it’s gotta be done. And it’s never as bad as I make it out to be. It’s actually kinda fun to scroll through the THM Pinterest Boards, and my Trim Healthy Mama book, and pick things I would like to try.
What do I adore about menu planning? I don’t have to answer the ‘what’s to eat’ question for the WHOLE rest of the week, AND I have what I need in the pantry already!
My week goes SO much more smoothly when I’ve done a menu plan. This neat little printable menu planner I created is the BEST way I’ve found to get it all done on one simple sheet: a weekly menu on one half, and the shopping lists on the other. You can see my menu plan in action here:
So, I plan for the meals for each day, and write out what I need to buy to make them on the shopping half of the list. Pretty straight forward.
Here, I’ve been a little lazy. OK. A LOT lazy. I’ve only planned for dinners. But that’s OK, because one of my favorite weekly menu planning tricks is to use leftovers as lunch for the next day!
Being the ‘creative’ type, I don’t love schedules, but I do enjoy the flexibility of having SOME sort of plan. I can always swap days around if I get a wild hair.
After shopping, I’ll usually fold back the used shopping list to leave room for family members to write in stuff we run out of that we’ll need for next week. Like toothpaste and bandaids. Which keeps me up to date on next weeks ‘needs’ when I start that menu. So that’s basically how I use my menu planning list for the week.
My Best Weekly Menu Planning Tips
- I often check out a coupon site, just to see if anything that’s on sale+coupon is of interest this week. If I find a great coupon, I’ll print and staple it to the back top corner of my list, so they’re ready to go when I shop. Southern Savers is my favorite coupon site for the southeastern U.S.
- Add in repeating theme meals to make menu planning easy. Fridays are always pizza & ice cream. Saturday mornings are always a big S style brunch with pancakes. I make Sunday’s breakfast on Friday. I know some Mamas who only serve one item for breakfast EVERY morning, just to keep things simplified. Sometimes, I’ll dub Mondays as “Mexi-Night” and if we have a busy season with practices, that night will become ‘Leftovers’ or ‘Crock Pot’ night. In the winter, I have done ‘Soup Night’ and ‘Chili Night’ (varying types and toppings of chili). Make that menu work for you.
- Jot down spur of the moment ideas on your menu for the following week. For instance, if I discover a lasagna in the freezer mid-week, I’ll jot a note reminding me to schedule it for the following week (and on the day or two before to thaw it).
- Use a colored pencil or marker for things that you want to really remind yourself of. Like this: RETURN LIBRARY BOOKS!
- Jot down major daily activities, functions, or appointments on the menu plan to give you an idea of which nights are going to be the best for easy meals, leftovers, or using your crock pot.
- Plan for leftovers, and use them! My man loves leftovers for lunch, so I make him a plate either before or right after we eat dinner. If you and yours are not so much into repeat foods, then make freezer plates, and that way you can start a great stash of easy to re-heat meals for lunches or busy nights when you don’t have time to cook.
- Re-vamping ‘planned-overs’ is also a great tactic. In the menu below, you’ll see I turned shredded chicken into BBQ chicken pizza on another night.
- Along the same line, if you’re expecting, are planning a vacation, or have friends or family who are expecting, planning double cooking one night a week is a GREAT way to stock the freezer. Just make a note on your shopping list for the extra food. It only takes a little more time to toss 2 lasagnas together.
- Remind yourself to thaw things on your menu plan. For real. I’m horrible about this.
- Don’t feel like you have to be RIGID with a menu plan. The main goal is that it’s there for *ideas* when your brain isn’t in the mood later on. If you decide to have Thursday’s Spaghetti on Tuesday, the menu police will NOT come knocking. Being flexible is what it’s all about.
- Recycle those menus! After you’ve planned weekly menus for a month or two, pull out your stash and re-cycle those babies.
Free Printable Weekly Menu Planner
Here’s a printable .pdf FREE Blank Weekly Menu & Shopping List
*AND* I am sharing a true labor of love:
One Week THM Sample Menu
with shopping list for you to play with.
I didn’t skimp here, friends…I filled out the WHOLE menu including snacks and a couple of desserts. WITH links to recipes and/or page numbers. Now I don’t expect your tastes to match ours, so please feel free to scrap things that don’t appeal and sub your own ideas. To simplify that, I listed ingredients by day/meal.
You can see how my Trim Healthy breakfasts and lunches are sometimes different than the kids at times. But those are the easy/quick meals ONLY, and usually the kids can make their own…and I make mine in less than 5 minutes. We enjoy ALL dinners, and even several breakfasts and lunches together with just a few tweaks with toppings or side dishes to move the kids into crossover mode.
And you’ll see that I don’t spend hours in the kitchen…I definitely try to make good use of my time by making extras and using common components to meals. Hope you enjoyed!
Stacy says
July 23, 2013 at 8:39 AMI think we’re friends because we’re polar opposites. LOL LOL
Its_Gwen says
July 23, 2013 at 11:35 PMHa! Probably!
Jessica from SimplyHealthyHome says
July 23, 2013 at 8:41 AMThanks for hosting! I need to start putting my weekly menus on the frig. I think it will help me stay on track.
Its_Gwen says
July 23, 2013 at 11:36 PMI call it my ‘brain on paper’. 🙂 Which reminds me…I need to go thaw some ground beef. 🙂
Tonia says
July 23, 2013 at 1:48 PMI love your weekly menu – mine is similar but why did I not think to put the grocery list right beside it on the same page! So simple it’s brilliant!
Its_Gwen says
July 23, 2013 at 11:37 PMI decided to do this after wishing over and over that I had my menu with me at the grocery store. It’s worked out great!
Monica says
July 23, 2013 at 3:26 PMyou are amazing. thank you so much for sharing this.
Its_Gwen says
July 23, 2013 at 11:36 PMYou’re welcome!
Becky L says
July 24, 2013 at 12:02 AMYou are awesome. Thank you so much!!!!!
Julie says
August 29, 2013 at 12:09 AMOh Gwen!
You are such a HUGE resource of great tips and helps!
I’m just now seeing this post and was VERY interested in the weekly planner, but when I click on the free pdf, what comes up is a form with blurred rectangles instead of text. Any ideas on how to fix this?
The THM menu comes up beautifully.
Its_Gwen says
September 3, 2013 at 12:54 AMargh! .pdf files make me crazy! :/ I’m so sorry you’re having issues with it. I’ll play with it and see if I can fix it for you.
Cynthia says
January 3, 2014 at 12:51 PMI do something similar, but I make a copy of it on my copier before heading to the store. I had the frustration of losing it a couple times going to several stores with kids in tow lol! It is super disappointing to have to recreate (and attempt to remember) all that info to match all the food I just bought.
Destiny Ramsey says
February 4, 2014 at 11:05 AMI don’t like to sit down and menu plan either. So weird… Cause I LOVE to search for recipes for hours, but deciding is hard. I find it especially tough because my kids eat differently from me. And my husband is a yet another equation of meals. My list seems to be sooooo long for just 7 days! If I do make a really awesome week of meals or even more than week, it isn’t guaranteed that I’ll use it again. Even though it is all worked out for me. I have a hard time eating the same plan over and over. Sheesh! 🙂
Connie says
August 17, 2014 at 6:04 PMWhat are “s” meals and “e” meals?
Its_Gwen says
September 3, 2014 at 10:55 PMHi Connie,
They designate the meal types for the Trim Healthy Mama plan. 🙂 You can learn more about that here in my review of the book: https://gwens-nest.com/natural-remedies/trim-healthy-mama-book-review/
Deanna says
October 3, 2014 at 9:16 AMHello!!! Can you make a couple more weeks so that I mayhave some differentiation. I am going to try to help my husband and myself. 🙂 I would love for you to help out with a few more weekly menus… I have already printed out the example, but I am a BEGINNER!!!! Like today!! So do you think you can help me? 😉
Gwen says
October 6, 2014 at 11:59 PMHi Deanna!
I’m so glad you enjoyed the menu. 🙂 Try printing out a few blank ones and as you see recipes you want to try, just fill them in. I try to do at least 2 E meals per week, and then enjoy them as leftovers for lunch. I have lots of great recipes by type in the menu bar. 🙂
Helen Krahn says
February 23, 2015 at 12:09 PMI really enjoy all your good information, I am new to THM, really hoping I can get a grasp of all this cauce I want to lose 20lbs by summer & I’ve tried almost everything else but this looks like something I could do & most important to continue after the weight is off
Thanks for your help
helen
Gwen Brown says
February 23, 2015 at 6:34 PMWelcome, Helen!
Marisa says
February 23, 2015 at 7:14 PMSo glad I saw this in my FB feed today. It was on my agenda to work on a menu plan this week and now I don’t have to go looking for one! I shop 2x a week and am hoping to plan ahead enough to start doing once a week. It is hard when you work next door to a grocery store! Thanks Gwen! Headed to print one out. Doing good with getting back to THM, too!
Gwen Brown says
February 23, 2015 at 11:12 PMYes! Hope this saves you bunches of time. 🙂
Wilma says
March 7, 2015 at 11:44 AMThanks for the weekly menu blank
Gwen Brown says
March 7, 2015 at 12:25 PMSure, Wilma!
Renel says
June 19, 2015 at 2:01 PMI am glad I found this my daughter just moved away from home and she requested that I send her weekly menus of the meals I make, being a in the moment meal maker lately I needed something to help me put my meal ideas and grocery list together. Your menu planner is perfect, thank you for all your hard work.
Gwen Brown says
June 19, 2015 at 6:28 PMYou’re very welcome!
Brend says
August 4, 2015 at 10:00 AMI’m just beginning. I like the way you have it set up. I’m very excited to get started.
Gwen Brown says
August 4, 2015 at 4:20 PMThanks, Brend! 🙂
Randi says
September 21, 2015 at 9:12 AMWhen I clicked on your sample menu page to print… it wouldn’t upload so i could print it… is there something on my end that I have to do in order to print this?
I love the idea of having the menu all made ahead of time
Help please,
Thank you,
Randi
Randi says
September 21, 2015 at 9:16 AMHey it worked this time.. its printing now… must have been sleeping … I love your web site.
Randi
Gwen Brown says
September 21, 2015 at 6:14 PMOh great! Hope it’s helpful to you! 🙂
cam says
January 5, 2016 at 10:44 AMjust getting started i’m aliitle confused for e meals and s meals when looking at recipes is that all you eat or do you add anthing else like i from the old school meat, pototes, veg and bread please help
Gwen Brown says
January 6, 2016 at 4:38 AMHi Cam! I think the book will really help shed light on it, and you can check out the menu printable I provide to see my basic ideas for a main dish. You absolutely can build a healthy, well balanced meal with protein, veggies, bread, etc. It’s just a different way of combining foods based on carbs and fats. You may find the Trim Healthy Mama Quick Start Guide to be a help? 🙂
cam says
January 6, 2016 at 10:18 AMthank you very much
Gwen Brown says
January 7, 2016 at 1:37 AMYou’re welcome!
Danielle says
February 16, 2016 at 9:19 PMThank you for this… I’m a newbee so this is really great!
Eileen says
July 10, 2016 at 7:18 PMI love your site! I printed your weekly menu and noticed one dinner there was just popcorn and frappe. My husband would divorce me if I served him just popcorn for dinner! LOL! I’ll have to adjust it accordingly. Thank you for taking the time to do all this!
Gwen Brown says
July 10, 2016 at 9:26 PMHa! Well, the frappe was a protein shake, and that was our easy Sunday night supper. We usually have a heavy lunch and a snack before the kids leave for church, and they’re home late. So it works for us to have a lighter supper that night. 🙂 Definitely adjust accordingly!
Susan Hamner says
April 17, 2017 at 9:24 AMI am just starting this plan and your site was suggested to me before I took the plunge. You have been such a blessing so far. THANK you for all you share. Love the tips for meal planning which I need to start (cute magnet, too)