Meal planners: Print one or make your own

We are only two months in, but 2019 has come in with a bang for our family. Getting back into a routine has been difficult, but somehow, some way a meal plan was made on Sunday and so far it has been followed.....for the most part.

My handy dandy homemade meal planner is still working for me. I really like how I can list all of our food options for the week on the side, for those times when plans change. I also use it as a reminder of what I need to cook throughout the week. I have a hard time with remembering to cook something early enough for it to be ready for dinner.

Download the Weekly Meal Planner for free below. This is my first attempt  at adding a file for download on here. Please let me know if it doesn't work. The planner isn't fancy by any means, but it works for us.

Meal Planner PDF

Making your own Meal Planner

 I tried so many meal planners in the past. Free printables, apps, websites, everything. Nothing worked for me. One day, I started scribbling down some notes and out came this basic layout of the meal planner above. If this planner doesn't work for you and you have also tried so many others, have the confidence to know you can make your own. 

Literally start with several pieces of paper and a pencil, maybe a sharpie if you want to be bold. Ha! We needed a plan for breakfast, lunch and dinner since I stay home with small kiddos. That is the reason I have all three listed. You may not need all three meals a day. We also do not snack a lot or it's a scoop of peanut butter or some fruit, therefore I did not add snacks to our planner.

Grab your calendar for the week and just start jotting down ideas. Sometimes I even work backwards, depending on activities. We are also a leftover family so I always write down when something was cooked on the right side column. Then I don't have to think about when we need to have it eaten by - we have a three day rule at our house. ;)

There is no need to be perfect the first or even second or third time. I was scribbling things and marking things out a lot the first few times. Then I realized all those times before I hesitated to meal plan was because if I couldn't follow the plan exactly, it failed and I didn't know what to do with it.

I realized just simply writing something, anything down was a start.

Honestly, having the options on the side was the key for us. It allowed the flexibility we needed to make changes based on what we had left from the day before and what or when something else needed to be cooked. Finding that thing that works for you will happen too, but we have to start. It may not be pretty, but at least it's a start.

It's been rough getting back into a routine and my meal planning has been few and far between. I've made great efforts this week to follow it though and so far it is paying off. Check out our plan. You can see I am still making changes. The roast was tasty and the house smelled great all day! Happy meal planning!