Meal Planner
Organize your weekly meals, select recipes from a library, and automatically generate a shopping list.
Meal Planner
Plan balanced meals for the week
Remember: This planner is designed to help with meal organization and variety. Everyone's nutritional needs are different. Focus on balanced meals with a variety of whole foods, and enjoy what you eat!
How the Meal Planner Works
The Meal Planner is an interactive tool designed to help you organize your weekly meals, draw inspiration from a built-in recipe library, and automatically generate a shopping list. It simplifies the often stressful question of "what's for dinner?" into a fun and structured activity. All data is stored locally in your browser, ensuring your dietary plans remain private.
Here’s how to plan your week:
- Navigate the Week: Use the arrows to move between weeks. The calendar shows the current week you are planning for.
- Add a Meal: Click the "+" button in any empty meal slot (e.g., Monday's Lunch). This will open the Recipe Library.
- Choose from the Library: Browse recipes categorized by meal type. Click on a recipe to add it to your selected slot. The planner will automatically close the library and update your plan.
- Build Your Plan: Continue filling in slots for the week. You can add the same meal multiple times for leftovers or batch cooking.
- Generate Your Shopping List: As you add meals, the "Shopping List" is automatically updated. Click the "Shopping List" button at any time to see a compiled list of all the ingredients needed for your weekly plan, with quantities tallied for easy shopping.
- Make Changes: If you change your mind, simply hover over a meal and click the trash icon to remove it, freeing up the slot.
Tips for Effective Meal Planning
1. Plan for Leftovers
Be realistic about your time. You don't need to cook a new meal every day. Plan to cook a larger dinner and schedule the leftovers for the next day's lunch. This saves time, reduces food waste, and simplifies your shopping list.
2. Create a "Theme Night" Schedule
To avoid decision fatigue, assign themes to certain days. For example, "Meatless Monday," "Taco Tuesday," "Pasta Wednesday." This narrows down your choices in the recipe library and makes planning faster and more fun.
3. Shop Your Pantry First
Before you go to the store, review your generated shopping list and cross-reference it with what you already have in your pantry, fridge, and freezer. This is the single best way to reduce your grocery bill and prevent buying duplicate ingredients.
4. Be Flexible
A meal plan is a guide, not a rigid set of rules. Life happens. If you get a spontaneous dinner invitation, don't stress about it. You can easily swap meals around or save a planned meal for the next day. The goal is to reduce stress, not create it.