Weekly Dinner Menu Planner PDF

Hooray! This is perfect timing, as I am also looking toward meal-planning to help ease the strain of a busy life, and to make sure we eat more meals at home (rather than out and on-the-go). Thank you so much for sharing your PDF!

Thank you so much Ali for sharing this!! I do try to plan ahead our meals and just end up writing them on a plain piece of paper. I'll use these from now on. I love the way it is designed. I also love the new food sections. I have a 3 and 5 year old girls and they keep us challenged on trying new things.

A friend and I did some freezer cooking a couple of years ago and lately (since I've moved) a few friends and I have done some on a large scale and smaller scale. It really helped, even if it wasn't for everyday use, but in a pinch it was nice to have something ready--even just chicken packaged in our family serving size, or even cut so I could use it with noodles and not having to do it all that night. It saved on dishes too. It's amazing, with a little planning ahead, how much food you can get prepped in a few hours. It saves on the food bill too because you are not buying things last minute.

Thanks for the planner. I have been doing this for about 2 years now (on scraps of leftover paper). The humble advice I give to you and your gentle readers is: 1) plan on a week night for the next week. I started doing it on the weekends, but one weekend trip can get you off schedule for two weeks and 2) when you cook, cook for two nights. For example, if I am going to have tacos and spagetti two nights in the week, I only brown meat once. I know the cooking purist will balk at this suggestion, but I promise for us working moms it makes having a homecooked meal on the table less hectic. Oh, and finally, I cook/bake all the bacon/sausage/sweets on the weekend, so I can heat it in a jif in the trenches during the school week. Hope my suggestions can help someone. They are offered in support.

Ali found this slow cooker site this week, haven't tried anything yet but thought I would share it

http://www.slowcookerfromscratch.com/

Thanks for the menu planner, will come in habdy even though it is only 2 of us here

Thanks, Ali!

I have tried weekly and monthly meal plans, but have always struggled with balancing leftovers or schedule glitches. My husband is quite picky and eats like a bird. My four-year-old is less picky, but eats very small portions (literally 1/4 cup and rarely more). So, I find that traditional recipes create too much food and I never manage to pick a great combination of recipes that don't leave me with a crisper drawer filled with leftover vegetables.

That said, with inspiration from Pinterest, this month I attempted a Cook-Once-a-Month strategy, primarily using prep ahead slow cooker and oven meals. It really worked for me. Although it took me about three hours to prep everything on one Sunday in late January, I spent no more than ten minutes preparing dinner for any day throughout the rest of the month.

I've been finding that my dinner planning is a little like a roller coaster. Sometimes it's up and working, others it dips down and I don't plan so much. Right now I'm in a place where I do plan, but just a rough plan on scrap paper, nothing fancy. I go with salads at the beginning of the week (as I shop on Sundays) and go with things that require less fresh vegies later in the week (or I cut and freeze fresh vege). We do homemade pizza once a week, as I need a lazy day. Struggling to find whether that is Friday or Sunday.

You are so funny! And so brilliant! Giving him proof that it's not new! I wish I'd thought of that back in the days when my son was the same. What I held on to back then was the statistic that a kid has to eat something 17 times before it's not new. I'm probably not remembering the exact number but it was bigger than I wished it was! Good luck with the new foods. I know it's very hard.

I have to have a menu plan every week or I make myself crazy wasting time. One thing is I always have a standby fast easy healthy dinner because stuff happens even with a plan.

:) Now I'm going to smile for a while thinking of you showing him the old menu plans ...

Thank you!

This is so cool Ali! Most meal planners I've downloaded are for breakfast, lunch and dinner and I really only need dinner (during the week) too. This is perfect. Thanks so much!!

Thanks for sharing this. I've tried a menu planner in the past, but I didn't keep it up for more than a week or two. I love how yours is set up with the categories of main dish, fruit, and veggies. This will help make sure they get a good balance.

Thanks again.

’ve really gotten into the swing of planning our meals. I’ve found that is saves time, money and me eating a pan of brownies for dinner after the kids are in bed. EVERYONE WINS.

Here are a few pins for recipes that we’ve LOVED at our house.
http://pinterest.com/pin/19984792066266942/
http://pinterest.com/pin/19984792066266872/
http://pinterest.com/pin/19984792066074379/
http://pinterest.com/pin/19984792065979405/
http://pinterest.com/pin/19984792065978438/
http://pinterest.com/pin/19984792065972716/
http://pinterest.com/pin/19984792065972717/

Thank you for the pdf and sharing your pins........I'm going to try some of those myself. Hopefully, this will help me lose an ounce or two!

I have two little very picky eaters at home and it always frustrates me when I try new things and they complain. This planner will come very handy, thank you, Ali!!

Love Pinterest for meal ideas. I've got some great ideas from there recently. I usually do a menu for the week on Sundays and I let each person pick a meal of choice.

I'm glad there is no struggle with new foods. My daughter shops with me sometimes so I let her pick out new things to try. I've had some fruits that I probably never would have bought because she wanted to try them(pomegranate, starfruit). I have wanted to try planning my menus more. My daughter is at school late 3-4 days a week for activities and soccer is starting soon. It would be so much easier to have it planned than to try to figure out something at the last minute. Thanks Ali!

been working on getting dinner menus organized as well. i have been posting a weekly dinner menu plan for the past three mondays on the blog - i would love for you to stop by! i hope to be of help :) xoxo

For anyone with an iPad or iPhone I STRONGLY recommend the paprika app. Recipes are super easy to import from the web, it has an easy way to plan your meals for the week and he grocery list can be emailed to your regular computer to print or sent to your iPhone. Everything is organized for you to make shopping quick and easy and you can easily unselect items you already have. It is my most favorite app.

Ali,
love the idea of the "new" food section. I also have a 11 year old on the spectrum and he has his preferred foods too... most of it consists of carbs and chicken noodle soup. For those of us that have struggled with the "food" issue let me tell you it does improve with age to a degree. He still refuses to try many things but I have found that if we just let it be"his idea" he will finally break down. I'm going to definately try the food planning to help him as well as myself on a weight loss journey. Great idea!!! As usual your the best.

Annette