Choose from 14+ free printable weekly meal planners, including family planners, floral designs,
with grocery list, minimalist, & more. Download your favorites and get organized.
I love printable meal planners. One page and it’s done. Get the week planned, make the grocery list, throw it away at the end of the week.
You may ask why to bother with meal planning, though? Maybe you have a general idea of what you’re going to make and just run to the grocery store whenever you need something.
There are two reasons:
• Meal planning saves you time. You might have to make a second trip for produce (we do most weeks), but a single grocery trip for the week for everything is faster than four “quick” trips to pick up something for dinner. You also save time because there is no more debating what to make tonight. You’ve already decided!
• Meal planning can save you money. Years and years ago, when my husband and I first started budgeting (we noticed we were getting in debt and decided we didn’t want to live like that forever), I started tracking everything we spent. And I noticed money was draining away on groceries. And it wasn’t the regular grocery trips that were killing us. It was the trip to the store to grab steaks for the grill and some macaroni salad on the side.
Or for ice cream…and end up leaving the store with a dozen items.
Planning your meals and making one main grocery trip each week—especially if you stick to your list—can save a surprising amount of money.
Table of contents
Instructions for Printing
- Print options: regular paper is fine.
- All of the files are in pdf below. Each printable has its own PDF file- it will be next to or below the image. Just hit the “download” button (or pink word “download,” depending upon browser).
- The default size of these is full-page. However, if you want smaller, simply reduce the print size. If you’re not sure on how much to reduce, check out my post “How to Resize Printables to Fit Your Planner.”
Aesthetic Weekly Meal Planners
These free printable weekly meal planners are for those who (like me) love their organizational paperwork to be pretty as well as functional.
Rustic Farmhouse Meal Planner
This rustic farmhouse weekly meal planner has space to plan breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks for all seven days, along with space for a grocery list. Watercolor food, herbs, chickens, and other cozy country-kitchen details give the printable a warm farmhouse look.
Cottagecore Meal Planner
This cottagecore weekly meal planner has an open layout with plenty of room to plan meals and snacks for all seven days, plus a large notes section. A cozy forest cottage, herbs, mushrooms, fruit, preserves, and other whimsical countryside details give the printable its cottagecore charm.
Printable Family Meal Planners
I know from creating weekly meal plans for my family that the schedule often dictates what gets made for dinner. And I’m forever writing ‘lay out chicken’ on my own weekly planner so I don’t forget. You also sometimes don’t need a block every day for breakfast or lunch. I mean, seriously, do I need to write “yogurt, protein waffles” out 5 times for the weekdays? Haha.
With that in mind, I developed these free printable family meal planners. There are 2 designs below- one vertical (portrait) and one horizontal (landscape). There is room on both planners to write down your schedule so you can plan dinner around whether you’re busy or not. There is also a prep ahead section for things like thaw chicken, marinate pork, make a sauce or dressing, brown taco meat, chop vegetables, baking, etc.
Family Meal Planner
Keep meals and your family’s busy schedule organized in one place with this printable family meal planner. There’s room for each day’s schedule, dinner, and anything you need to prep ahead, plus space for breakfasts, lunches, meal requests, and miscellaneous notes.
Family Meal Planner: Landscape
Prefer a landscape layout? This family meal planner has plenty of room for your weekly schedule, dinners, and prep-ahead tasks. Use the weekly breakfasts and lunches sections for general meal ideas, then add any extra reminders to the notes section.
Weekly Meal Themes
If you’ve ever stared at a blank meal planner trying to figure out what in the world to have for dinner, you might want to try meal planning themes. The idea is to assign the same general theme to each night of the week- for example, Mexican on Mondays and pasta on Tuesdays. Instead of trying to come up with seven dinner ideas for the week out of thin air, you simply decide this week it’s tacos on Monday and chicken Alfredo on Tuesday.
And you don’t have to eat the same meals every week! Mexican night might mean tacos one week, enchiladas the next, and fajitas the week after that. The theme simply narrows down your choices and makes deciding what’s for dinner a little easier. I have meal theme ideas below for you plus a free printable.
Weekly Meal Theme Ideas
Obviously, you can pick any themes you want. (I’m not coming to your house to investigate that you’re using the ones I suggest…haha). But if you’re looking for some meal planning theme night ideas, here are a few possibilities, along with dinner ideas for each
Mexican- tacos (hard or soft shells with chicken, steak, beef, or pork), burrito bowls, quesadillas, nachos, fajitas, enchiladas (Easy Beef & Rice Enchiladas or White Chicken Enchiladas), Mexican Casserole.
Pasta- spaghetti, lasagna, chicken Alfredo, garlic and butter noodles, lemon pasta, Easy Pesto Ravioli with Chicken, Chicken Fettuccine with Roasted Vegetables, Copycat Pizza Hut Cavatini, Homemade Hamburger Helper
Breakfast for dinner- pancakes, waffles (or chicken & waffles), French toast, eggs & bacon, omelets, breakfast burritos, Triple Berry Baked Oatmeal
Pizza night- make homemade pizza (make your own dough, use refrigerated dough, or buy a pre-made crust), frozen pizza, pizza delivery, pizza bagels. You can also mix things up with different sauces (pesto, BBQ, or Alfredo) or try something different, like taco pizza.
Asian-inspired- beef & broccoli stir-fry, chicken teriyaki stir-fry, sushi, pad Thai, Thai curry, chicken lo mein, ramen, Pho bowls, Shrimp Fried Rice with Homemade Shrimp Sauce
Appetizers for dinner- charcuterie board (or just plain old meat and cheese if you’re originally from Iowa in the 80’s/90’s like me…haha), bite-sized veggies with dip, fruit skewers, appetizers from the grocery store freezer aisle, deviled eggs, potato skins, Bacon-Wrapped Smokies
Soups (add a salad, if you like)- tomato soup (grilled cheese optional), minestrone soup, chili (yes, I realize chili isn’t technically soup…I won’t even get into the debate over whether beans belong…haha), broccoli cheddar soup, Old-Fashioned Ham & Bean Soup, Spicy Corn Chicken Soup, Chicken & Wild Rice Soup, Sausage & Mushroom Stew, Chicken Noodle Soup
Salad night- grilled or crispy chicken salad, steak salad, Cobb salad, Greek salad, strawberry feta salad, taco salad
Casseroles- tuna noodle casserole, tater tot casserole, Chicken Bacon Ranch Casserole, Cheesy Ham & Potato Casserole, Cheesy Chicken Broccoli Casserole
Slow cooker- pulled pork or pulled chicken, pot roast, chicken and dumplings, White Chicken Chili, Jalapeno Brown Sugar Ribs, Cheesy Chicken Tater Tot Casserole
Healthy- Shrimp & Vegetable Skillet, Quinoa & Beef Stuffed Peppers, Smothered Zucchini, Roasted Salmon with Bell Pepper Tomato Vinaigrette, Tilapia Veracruz
Leftovers night- Plan one night a week to use up leftovers from previous meals. It’s an easy dinner that helps reduce food waste (and saves money!) and gives you a night off from cooking.
Try a new recipe night- Set aside one night a week to experiment with a recipe you’ve been wanting to try. It’s a fun way to add some variety without having to come up with seven completely new dinner ideas every week.
Free Printable Weekly Meal Themes
Take some of the decision-making out of planning dinner with weekly meal themes. Choose a theme for each day of the week, then list several dinner ideas that fit each theme. You’ll find plenty of meal theme and dinner ideas below to help you fill out your printable.
Printable Floral Meal Planners
There are 4 designs in this section. All are vertical. Some have space for meals divided by meal. Others are more open. A couple have room for notes. And one includes a section for a grocery list. Just pick which you like best!
Watercolor Floral Weekly Meal Planner Printable
Soft pink and blue watercolor hydrangeas add a pretty touch . There are dedicated spaces for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks each day. A lined notes section provides extra room for meal prep reminders, recipe ideas, or anything else you need for the week.
Lemon Floral Weekly Meal Planner
Bright watercolor lemons and blue flowers give this weekly meal planner a fresh, cheerful look. The grid organizes all seven days by breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks, making it easy to see your entire week’s meal plan at a glance.
Wildflower Weekly Meal Planner with Grocery List
This pretty floral meal planner features a simple seven-day menu layout alongside a spacious grocery list, with delicate watercolor wildflowers decorating the page.
Vintage Floral Weekly Meal Planner
Vintage-inspired blue flowers and strawberries give this weekly meal planner a charming botanical look.
The simple layout features seven large, open daily boxes plus an extra notes section, making it a great choice if you prefer plenty of flexibility when planning your weekly menu. (For example, we eat the same breakfast almost every day in our household; no need to write it down seven times! haha).
Printable Weekly Meal Planners with Grocery Lists
There are 4 designs in this section. 2 horizontal and 2 vertical. Some include space for different meals plus snacks. Others just have a blank space for the day. Some categorize the grocery list. Others just have space for you to write. I hope the variety available will give you something you love!
Pretty Weekly Meal Planner with Grocery List Printable
This cute weekly meal planner with grocery list has an open space each day for meal planning. So if you eat the same breakfast every day, no need to write it down.
Plus a section for your grocery list.
Colorful Weekly Meal Planner with Grocery List Printable
Bright and colorful, this planner has a large section for the shopping list.
Landscape Weekly Meal Planner with Grocery List Printable
Horizontal format. Open space for planning meals. And a categorized grocery list section.
Printable Weekly Meal Planner with Grocery List
Horizontal/landscape format. Space for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks. Plus a categorized section for your grocery list.
Simple Black and White Weekly Meal Planners
There are 2 different designs in this section. Both are vertical. Both are black and white (mostly to save money on printer ink!). If you’re printing every week, that can add up. They also have a minimalist design.
Printable Black and White Weekly Meal Planner
Vertical format. Space to write dates of the week.
Blocks for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks.
Black and White Weekly Meal Planner w/ Notes Space
Vertical format. Room for dates of the week.
Blocks for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snack. Also a section for notes. You can use this to make schedule notes (for example, to not plan a time-intensive dinner on a night you work late), grocery items, etc.
Old Designs
I’ll be keeping these designs on here for awhile just in case anyone is fond of them. As I slowly update this post over the next couple of months, I might delete them. So grab and save them now if you really love them! (Plus, you might notice that the fundamental design- but touched up a bit- is available above for most of the designs).
Yes, this is technically a 2 week planner. It will be moved to the 2 week meal planner post when I get THAT one updated (can you tell I’m updating a bunch of stuff? Haha). In the meantime, here it is if you want it:
Same design is above in the “Weekly Meal Planners with Grocery List” section…but with a different background, thinner lines, and cleaner design. I’ll keep this on page for awhile, but probably not forever. So if you really like it, save to computer!
Which was your favorite?
Which of the free printable weekly meal planners was your favorite? One with a grocery list attached? A minimalist design? Or maybe one of the new family meal planners?
Comment below and let me know!
And could you do me a quick favor? If you enjoyed this post, please share it with your friends! You’ll find the share buttons at the top of the post.
Love these. Thank you! I’m not sure which I like best. I’ll try them out to find the one that works for me.
That’s why I try to do multiple designs. I know I’ve re-designed the ones I’ve used over the years multiple times as my needs change. Hope one works out well. Thanks for taking the time to comment.
Thank you so much, I hope this helps my family to stay on track
You’re welcome. Meal planning saves me so much!
Just came across your website looking for some weekly menu templates. Need to make some extreme budget changes due to family job changes. Also downloaded your budget plan which looks great. That you SO MUCH for these free resources. Theu will be a big help to my family!