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Meal Planning for Minimal-ish Moms

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Meal Planning, Organization · December 1, 2020

The 9 Greatest Free Meal Planning Templates to Save You Boat Loads of Time

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Here they are. My favorite, most helpful, absolutely free meal planning templates ever! Every one of these is designed to help you get dinner on the table faster, organize your kitchen easier, or just simply give you ideas so you can stress less about dinner.

It’s no secret how much I love planning (obviously, since this blog is all about meal planning, ha!) but did you know I also love to create free  meal planner printables? Yep, I love to design things (this website included) in my spare time. But when you mix planning + designing printables = oh, my heart goes pitter patter!

I hope you love them as much as I do! And you can download these individually by going to the links below, or you can join the Freebie Library and get access to all of them – plus more!

1 Dinner Theme Night Ideas List

It’s no surprise I love to use Theme Nights in my meal planning routines. I think they’re the fastest way to get a meal plan done AND one that you’ll actually stick to!

GET IT HERE: 42 Amazing Theme Night Meal Ideas

 

 

 

 

 

2 Free Weekly Meal Planner

If you just plan dinners and not all meals, this is a super simple dinner planner you can use to get the job done! Laminate it or put it in a page protector and you can use it over and over again. (PS – there are more free weekly meal planners in the Freebies Library!)

GET IT HERE: Super Simple Meal Planning for Beginners

 

 

 

 

3 Capsule Pantry Checklist

The Capsule Pantry is a method to keeping things simple and only having to meal plan 4 times per year! (yes, you read that right!) It’s less ingredients but more options, and I absolutely love it for keeping my sanity and not over-thinking dinner.

GET IT HERE: How to Meal Plan only 4 Times per Year

 

 

 

 

4 School Lunch Planner Printable

My kindergartner and I do this cute plan together every two weeks – he chooses ideas for every category of foods he loves and he eats every last bit of his school lunches! My stance on lunches is that he can eat what he wants – we add variety and try new things at dinner.

GET IT HERE: How to Plan School Lunches with this Simple Trick

 

 

 

You can get your hands on all these printables (plus more!) in the Freebies Library:

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5 Freezer Meals Checklist

It’s no secret that freezer meals is a great way to save some time in the kitchen – I personally love the “dump & go” crockpot style freezer meals the best. This is a quick and easy checklist that will help you maximize your time when making them!

GET IT HERE: How to Make Freezer Meals in a Snap with these 4 Simple Steps

 

 

 

 

6 Freezer Meal Planner Printable

Once you have some freezer meals made, how do you keep track of them so they don’t turn into a tiny Yeti in the back of the freezer? With this planner, of course! 😉 It also helps you note any ingredients you may need to add on cooking day – to make sure no one eats them so you’re not left empty-handed!).

GET IT HERE: 10 Easy & Healthy Freezer Meals that your Kids will Devour!

 

 

 

 

7 Free Healthy Meal Planning Template

This planner was made because my bestest BFF ever (we’ve actually been friends since kindergarten!) wanted a way to plan meals but also keep track of Weight Watcher points. So I made her this planner – which works equally well if you’re tracking carbs, macros, calories, whatever.

GET IT HERE: Family Hates Your New Diet? Try these 5 things.

 

 

 

 

8 Rescue Meal Planner Printable

What on earth are rescue meals, you ask? Those are those “break (pantry) glass in case of emergency” type of meals! You know – you forgot all about dinner, or someone ate the chicken you were going to use, or plans got cancelled – whatever. It’s the PERFECT backup plan! Take this free meal planner printable and put it on the inside of your pantry door and you’ll never have to order pizza last minute again!

GET IT HERE: Creating the Perfect Dinner Backup Plan

 

 

 

 

9 Kitchen Inventory Printable

There is nothing better than an organized kitchen! Ok, that might be an exaggeration but seriously… You’ll save so much time and money by making sure your pantry, fridge, and freezer are cleaned out and organized! Print this helpful sheet 3 times, laminate it, and keep everything where it should be!

GET IT HERE: 10 Healthy Pantry Staples You Should Always Have on Hand

 

 

Don’t forget you can get all of these free meal planning templates – plus more! – in the Freebies Library! Everything in there is completely free to help you get your meal planning in order and get dinner on the table FAST!

Free Freebie Library

In: Meal Planning, Organization

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10 reasons to love a Capsule Pantry instead of a r 10 reasons to love a Capsule Pantry instead of a regular meal plan: 

@mealplanningblueprints 👈🏼 follow

1. waste less food
2. kitchen is more organized/less cluttered
3. easy to keep up on what you have
4. backup in case of emergencies
5. can change your mind if you don't feel like what is on the plan
6. family loves what's for dinner (almost) all the time
7. your picky eater tries new things
8. intentional or minimalistic living spills over to other areas of your home
9. save time
10. save money

Double click if you’re going to learn more about a Capsule Pantry!
Why is this the perfect number of dinners in your Why is this the perfect number of dinners in your arsenal? 

First, follow me 👉🏼 @mealplanningblueprints 

35. 35 is the not only the perfect number of dinner ideas, but also the perfect number of ingredients to have. 

The capsule pantry method uses 35 ingredients to mix and match into 35 different dinner ideas. 

You control the ingredients, you control the dinner ideas. 

❓Why 35? I’ve just found that that is the sweet spot for having enough variety but keeping it simple without being overwhelming. 

A grid of 35 dinners also matches up perfectly to a 5 week calendar 😉

That makes it easy peasy to transfer your dinner ideas to your calendar! 

👉🏼 Double click if you’re going to try out the magic number of 35!
School lunch command center?!? If you don't have o School lunch command center?!? If you don't have one, you NEED to make one!

@mealplanningblueprints 👈🏼 follow

Everything in one place makes busy mornings so much easier! 

Here's what's in mine:

✏️ lunchbox and thermal lunch bag
✏️ water bottle
✏️ sporks (best find on Amazon ever!)
✏️ folded fun napkins (my mom always sends these and they’re a fun addition)
✏️ reusable snack bags (these are from Thirty One)

This bin goes right where it's easiest to grab
for you. For me, it's in the pantry next to the
juice boxes that are always included in lunch.

Share with a mom friend who also needs this tip!
This is a dinner game changer! When I started do This is a dinner game changer! 

When I started doing charcuterie boards on Friday movie nights, it quickly became my favorite kind of dinner. 

You mean I can make chicken nuggets or leftovers, and add all those random things from the rest of the week in the fridge.. and call it dinner?!? 

And the kids are actually excited about it?!? 

Yes, please! 

Share this with your mom friends and make their lives a little bit easier too! 

#mealplanningmadeeasy #mealplanningblueprints #mealplanning #familymovienight #charcuterieboard #easydinner #easyweeknightmeals
*Warning: This will change how you make school lun *Warning: This will change how you make school lunches forever. 

@mealplanningblueprints 👈🏼 follow

Here’s a super simple way to plan your kiddo’s lunch every week. 

And you only need a post-it note! 

I call it the Lunch 3x3 and it’s pretty simple…
✨ 3 main dishes
✨ 3 fruits
✨ 3 vegetables 

Now you just mix and match those by picking one from each, and throw in a snack (or better yet, have your child check the post-it note and do it themselves!).

Comment with a 🥪 if you’re going to try this! 

#backtoschool #backtoschoolready #schoollunchboxideas #kidsschoollunch #schoollunchideas #schoollunchbox #kidslunchideas #lunchideasforkids #easykidslunch #kidslunchboxes
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