Weekly Meal Plan for Beginners: Sort Mains by Effort, Reuse Ingredients, Build a Shopping List

Personal & Life

Weekly Meal Plan for Beginners: Sort Mains by Effort, Reuse Ingredients, Build a Shopping List

Busy couples and people living alone can use this weekly meal plan template for beginners to set dinners in 15 to 20 minutes on a weekend evening. It covers placing main dishes by day, a shopping list, and batch cooking. Four whiteboard pages - page 1 for this week's schedule, dislikes and food at home; page 2 for main dish ideas in three columns (meat, fish, eggs and tofu), sorted into four zones by effort and whether you have the ingredients; page 3 for putting easy mains on busy days and linking dishes that share ingredients; page 4 for the shopping list, batch cooking and next week. The task board has four columns - this week's prep, planning meals, shopping and batch cooking, and done - with 4 parent tasks for the 4 pages and 3 subtasks each. A tip - fix your busiest days first, then give them the easiest dishes. Using one ingredient in two or three dishes cuts what you buy and what goes to waste.

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weekly meal plan how to plan meals shopping list batch cooking for beginners
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① This Week's Rules (start here) ② Daily Schedule (write the day you g... ③ Family Dislikes ④ Food at Home ⑤ What We Want This Week ⑦ Sorting Ideas (effort x food at home) Low effort x to buy Low effort x at home High effort x to buy High effort x at home ⑧ Low-Effort Limit (write before sort... ⑨ Day x Meal (put mains from the top ... ⑩ Dishes That Share Ingredients (link... ⑪ Shopping List (write from the ingre... ⑫ What to Batch Cook ⑬ When and Who ⑭ Storage and Finish-By Day ⑮ For Next Week (dishes to keep, chan... Weekly Meal Plan ... How to use (4 pag... Planned meals & w... Rules & owners Busy days & dislikes Food at home & reuse 1/4 Note this week's ... Ctrl+F / ⌘F : 2/4... → 2/4 2/4 Pick main dish ideas ↙ 3/4 Days to plane.g. Mon-Sun dinners, 7 days(eating out on Friday) This week's aime.g. Mains ready in 20 minutes on weekdays Shopping daye.g. Big shop Saturday morning, top up Wednesday Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat Sun Home at e.g. 8:30 p.m. e.g. 7 p.m. e.g. 9 p.m. e.g. 7 p.m. e.g. 8 p.m. e.g. At home e.g. At home Cooking? e.g. Cook e.g. Cook e.g. Cook e.g. Cook e.g. Eat out e.g. Cook e.g. Cook Who cooks e.g. Me e.g. Partner e.g. Me e.g. Partner e.g. No one e.g. Both e.g. Both e.g. Our child dislikes fish bones e.g. My partner loves spicy food e.g. I dislike eggplant Always write what no one can eat e.g. Frozen chicken thighs, 300 g e.g. 6 eggs and 1 can of mackerel e.g. 3 potatoes Check the fridge, freezer and shelves e.g. Grilled salmon e.g. Hamburger steaks e.g. Chicken and egg bowl One dish per person ⑥ Main Dish Ideas... Meat e.g. Fried chicken thighs (food in ④) e.g. Ginger pork e.g. Hamburger steaks (from ⑤) Fish e.g. Grilled salmon (from ⑤) e.g. Canned mackerel stew (uses the can) e.g. Cod in foil Eggs & Tofu e.g. Chicken and egg bowl (uses eggs in ④) e.g. Mapo tofu e.g. Chive omelet 縦軸: Effort (top =... Fits weekdays. Add the ingredients to the page 4 shopping list. e.g. Ginger pork, grilled salmon, cod in foil Place these on busy days first. No shopping needed. e.g. Chicken and egg bowl, canned mackerel stew Cook on the weekend or skip this week. e.g. Hamburger steaks Cook on the weekend, or batch cook for weekdays. e.g. Fried chicken thighs What counts as low efforte.g. Ready in 15 minutes, one pan only Ideas to skip this weeke.g. Mapo tofu (only my partner likes spicy food) Ideas to place on weekdayse.g. Pick 3 from the top 2 zones of ⑦ (Wed batch cooking, Fri eating out) 3/4 Place meals on we... → 4/4 4/4 Plan shopping and... Main Side or soup Ingredients Mon e.g. Ginger pork e.g. Quick-pickled cabbage e.g. Pork, cabbage Tue e.g. Grilled salmon e.g. Tofu miso soup e.g. Salmon, tofu Wed (latest) e.g. Batch-cooked meat and potato stew e.g. Boiled eggs e.g. Batch cooking, eggs Thu e.g. Chicken and egg bowl e.g. Cabbage miso soup e.g. Chicken, eggs, cabbage Fri e.g. Eat out (no cooking) e.g. None e.g. None Sat e.g. Hamburger steaks e.g. Carrot salad e.g. Ground meat, carrots Sun e.g. Canned mackerel stew e.g. Potato and carrot miso soup e.g. Canned mackerel, potatoes, carrots How to linkConnect cells with the same ingredient in ⑨ using connector linese.g. Cabbage: Mon → Thu Ingredients to reusee.g. 1 head of cabbage: Mon pickles, Thu miso soupe.g. 6 eggs (already in ④): Wed, Thu Likely leftoverse.g. Half a carrot left over, add it to Sunday's miso soup Item and amount Day used Store Who buys Meat & fish e.g. Pork 300 g, 2 salmon fillets, ground meat 200 g e.g. Mon, Tue, Sat e.g. Supermarket by the station e.g. Me Vegetables e.g. 1 head of cabbage, 3 carrots e.g. Mon, Thu, Sat, Sun e.g. Supermarket by the station e.g. Partner Eggs & tofu e.g. 1 block of tofu (eggs are in ④) e.g. Tue e.g. Nearby convenience store e.g. Me Seasonings etc. e.g. Mirin (running low) e.g. Sun e.g. Online grocery e.g. Partner e.g. Meat and potato stew (Wed main) e.g. 4 boiled eggs e.g. Quick-pickled cabbage e.g. Sunday before, 4 p.m. for 1 hour e.g. Meat and potato stew: partner Owner: ____ / When: __/__ e.g. Stew keeps up to 3 days in the fridge e.g. Keep boiled eggs unpeeled in the fridge and eat by Wednesday Write the cooking date on the container Dishes to keepe.g. Grilled salmon (ready in 10 minutes) Dishes to changee.g. Hamburger steaks took too much effort, so batch cook them next week Next shopping daye.g. Saturday morning / Owner: ____Next week, select this area and copy and paste it all at once → 2/4 Pick main dish ideas ↙ 3/4 Place meals on we... → 4/4 Plan shopping and...
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Task board contents

This week's prep 16 items

Note your week
Pick main dishes
Place meals by day
Plan shopping, prep
Set weekly basics
Note daily times
Note dislikes, food
List main ideas
Define low effort
Sort into 4 zones
Busy days first
Add sides, items
Link shared items
Make shopping list
Assign meal prep
Plan for next week

Planning meals 0 items

Shopping & batch cooking 0 items

Done 0 items

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