{"id":47319,"date":"2022-01-04T03:15:00","date_gmt":"2022-01-04T08:15:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/?p=47319"},"modified":"2023-12-11T16:56:11","modified_gmt":"2023-12-11T21:56:11","slug":"printable-meal-planning-templates","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/health\/printable-meal-planning-templates\/","title":{"rendered":"5 Printable Meal Planners to Simplify Your Life"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Odds are good that you plan your vacations<\/a> in advance. You probably plan your budget, too. You plan birthday parties, weddings, and family gatherings. But do you plan your meals? Meal planning<\/a> is the most effective way to start building healthy habits, says Jenny Champion, former Daily Burn<\/a> Nutrition and Fitness<\/a> Coach. \u201cYou\u2019re so much more likely to stick to your goals when you\u2019re not winging it on a meal-to-meal basis,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

And the benefits don\u2019t start and end with your waistline<\/a>. Having a plan in place will streamline your grocery shopping and save you time and money in the long run. Before each week starts, jot down what you want to eat and create a shopping list for all the foods you\u2019ll need. If you really want to save time during the week, Champion recommends preparing some of your meals ahead of time on Sunday. (Meal prepping is easy with these handy tips<\/a>.)<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you\u2019re new to meal planning, start with just one meal per day,\u201d says Champion. \u201cChoose the one that causes you the most stress. Once you\u2019ve tackled that, add another meal to the plan.\u201d And don\u2019t be too down on your self if you stray from your plan. \u201cThere will always be times when something unexpected<\/a> comes up or your schedule is thrown off. Allow some flexibility in your plan and don\u2019t get discouraged if a meal or a day doesn\u2019t go perfectly.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ready to fill your calendar with delicious and healthy foods? While tech-savvy planners can try these five apps<\/a> to get organized, for those who like to keep it old-school with pen and paper, we\u2019ve got five printable meal planning templates to help you and your family eat healthier.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

5 Printable Meal Planners to Kickstart Healthy Eating\u00a0<\/h2>\n

1. Weekly Meal Plan (download here<\/a>)<\/h3>\n

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Best for:<\/strong> Planning a well-rounded diet.
With a cute and colorful daily servings checklist at the bottom, this template makes it easy to ensure you’re getting all your vegetables.<\/p>\n

Template: Erin \/ <\/em>Strawberry Mommycakes<\/em><\/p>\n

2. Weekly Meal Plan and Grocery List (download here<\/a>)<\/h3>\n

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Best for:<\/strong> Getting organized with just the basics.
A two-column template keeps\u00a0your weekly menu and grocery list in tip-top shape.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Template: Kristina \/ <\/em>Cents and Order<\/em><\/p>\n

RELATED:<\/strong>\u00a012 DIY Projects to Clean Up Your Eating Habits<\/a><\/p>\n

3. Weekly Meal and Snack Planner (download here<\/a>)<\/h3>\n

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Best for:\u00a0<\/strong>Preparing well-balanced\u00a0<\/span>meals and snacks.
<\/span>This template allows you to plan for all your major meals, snacks<\/a> and everything in between. The addition of the weekend planner at the end helps you carve out time to prepare salad dressings, pasta sauces and dips. You can also write out specifically what your grains, starches and proteins are for the week to ensure you’re getting a balanced diet.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Template: McKel Hill \/ Nutrition Stripped<\/em><\/p>\n

4. Weekly Family Meal Plan (download here<\/a>)<\/h3>\n

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Best for:<\/strong> Feeding the whole family.
Need to keep track of who will be at the dinner table on Wednesdays versus Thursdays? This template helps coordinate schedules with meal prep, taking the stress out of family time.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Template: Jess \/ <\/em>Design Lass<\/em><\/p>\n

5. Monthly Meal Planner (download here<\/a>)<\/h3>\n

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Best for:<\/strong> Preparing for your whole month.
If you’ve mastered the art of weekly meal prep, why not take it up a notch? Set yourself up for a month of healthy eating<\/a> with this master template.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Template: Brittany \/ <\/em>The Military Wife<\/em><\/p>\n

Read More:
<\/strong>20 Meal Prep Tips from the Best Preppers We Know<\/a>
15 Genius Meal Prep Ideas from Top Trainers<\/a>
50 Resources That Make Meal Prep a Snap<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n

Not a Daily Burn member? Sign up at dailyburn.com<\/a> and start your free 30-day trial today.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Originally published February 2016. Updated August 2017 and January 2021<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cover image via Shutterstock <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Not sure how to start meal planning? Check out these free, printable meal planning templates that can help set you up for success. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"none","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[23,7,11,8,18],"tags":[317,292,71,341,352,167],"class_list":["post-47319","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-diet-nutrition","category-health","category-health-hacks","category-lifestyle","category-weight-loss","tag-meal-planning","tag-meal-prep","tag-nutrition","tag-tax1living-well","tag-tax2weight-loss","tag-technology"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47319","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=47319"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47319\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=47319"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=47319"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=47319"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}