DIY Meal Planner

Let’s start with a confession: I have both an Instagram and a blog dedicated to planning, and I am still a horrible meal planner.

As much as I love planning and getting things organized on paper, it’s way too common for me to head to the grocery store with only a vague idea of what pantry staples I’m running out of.

Which means I can usually make it about two days-post grocery store trip before I’m running out to grab fast food for every meal because there’s nothing left in the kitchen.

This DIY meal planner came about with the goal of more productive trips to the grocery store and less mid-week fast food outings.

How to make your own DIY Meal Planner: 

• I used a pack of skinny pre-punched note paper and mini discs, both from the Me and My Big Ideas Happy Planner line.
• To make the covers, I used the note paper as a guide to trim patterned card stock. (This paper is from the MAMBI Sheets Paint Palette pack.) I added some washi tape and stickers before I laminated the trimmed sheets. Then I punched them to fit the discs.
• I’ll be setting up a new set of these two pages each week:
      1) Meal-plan: I’m not going to assign meals to specific days, because I prefer being able to decide what sounds good each day. Having a list will make it so much easier to know what my options are!
     2) Grocery list: I’ll keep this page set up, so I can add to it throughout the week as I run out of things.
• I also plan to keep a running list of meal inspiration in my meal planner. So often I see recipes I want to make while browsing Facebook or Pinterest, but I can’t think of any when I’m trying to decide what to eat. Now I have a place to jot those yummy dishes down with a note about where I found the recipe. If I’m really excited about something, I may even print the recipe, punch it, and add it to my meal planner until I get a chance to make it.

I’m so excited to start using my meal planner this week! I love the combination of skinny note sheets and mini discs, because it makes this meal planner so portable.

Three cheers for being able to throw the whole thing in my purse so I can have my meal plan and my grocery list with me next time I want to stop in the grocery store while I’m running errands!

 

If you make your own meal planner, I’d love to see. Tag me on Instagram @katietheplanner.