This easy weekly menu planner has spaces for breakfast, lunch, snacks and dinner for each day of the week. The box for dinner is larger than the others, with room to note both the main dish and side dishes.

Still overwhelmed by the need to come up with 21 different meals? Here’s an idea: print several blank weekly menu planner sheets to have on hand and jot down meal ideas as you think of them. Collect menu lists from magazines, TV shows and Facebook status updates (friends who post what they’re making or eating for dinner) throughout the week. Menu planning made easy!

I’ve definitely found that using a weekly menu planner makes my life easier. I am better prepared each day and stay organized throughout the week much more easily when I have a good menu plan, for which I’ve gone shopping and located recipes in advance. A recipe plan makes cooking ahead easier as well. If we’re using ground meat in two recipes, I brown it all at once and save half in a glass container in the fridge for use later in the week.

In the days of the week boxes, I pencil in family activities or dinner guests so I know at a glance what’s going on around meal times that week that might change how much food I plan to make or what type of meal is served. On days we’ll spend afternoon at the pool, I start a crockpot recipe in the morning or pre-stage my ingredients (such as chop all the vegetables, soak the rice, make sprouted grain dinner rolls the day before).

Do you use a weekly menu planner? What’s on the menu this week?

Tags: printable, weekly menu planner