Meal Planner & Grocery List

Plan your family's meals a week at a time, or set up a 4-week rotation once, and shop from one grocery list. Add your recipes, and the Meal Planner & Grocery List converts every ingredient to the units you buy, adds it up across recipes, buys leftovers only once, takes off what's in your pantry and freezer, rounds up to whole packs and lists it all in your store's aisle order. One file, no subscription.

What's inside

16 tabs that work together:

• Dashboard: this week's dishes, spending against your budget, cost per serving, the next trip, what to use first and today's and tomorrow's meals.
• Week: one week's meals, a cook list and heads-ups for allergies and dislikes, on one printable page.
• Plan: 53 weeks of meals, six slots a day, with L for leftovers and what you spent.
• Rotation: weeks A to D of meals that fill the Plan's empty slots.
• Grocery List: the combined list in aisle order, in whole packs with an estimated cost, on one printable page.
• Pantry: what's in the pantry, fridge and freezer, with use-by dates and frozen cooked meals.
• Recipes: your recipes with servings, times and tags, and their cost per serving, allergens, family flags and when you last made them.
• Recipe Lines: each recipe's ingredients, in any units.
• Ingredients: 154 common items to start, with shop units, packs, aisles, weights and allergens, and your prices.
• Recipe Card: any recipe scaled to the servings you need, with its cost and allergens, to print.
• Recipe Finder: what to make with up to three ingredients you pick or with what's expiring, plus favorites you haven't made lately.
• Family: each person's age group for the USDA budget, allergies and up to three foods they won't eat.
• Data Checks: mistakes to fix, plus things to look at, like expired pantry items and planned dishes that conflict with allergies or dislikes.
• Start Here, Settings and Help: a setup checklist; your plan dates, meals, budget, aisles and lists; and answers to common questions.

Built to save you time

• Cups and spoons convert to weight through each ingredient's grams per cup, and counts through its grams per item, so every recipe adds up in the unit you buy.
• Type L in a slot for leftovers and they're bought with the meal that cooks them, never twice.
• Pantry and freezer stock comes off the list, expired items don't count, and staples like salt and spices show as Check you have.
• Fill weeks A to D once and the rotation fills every slot you leave empty; anything you type on the Plan wins.
• Leave the budget blank and it uses the USDA food plan cost for your family's ages, at the level you pick.
• Mark each person's allergies (the 9 major US allergens) and foods they won't eat, and recipes and planned meals with them are flagged.
• Pantry items near their use-by dates are flagged, and the Recipe Finder suggests recipes that use them.

Who it's for

Families and households who plan meals ahead, from a weekly dinner plan to a full 4-week rotation, and want one combined grocery list. Meal-prep and nutrition coaches and personal chefs planning for clients need the Professional license. It's a planning tool, not nutrition, medical or allergy advice: allergen marks are per ingredient and don't cover "may contain" warnings, so check labels; leftover and use-by flags are reminders; and talk to a doctor or dietitian about diets, allergies and health conditions.

What you get

• The Excel workbook (.xlsx), blank and ready for your own data
• The Google Sheets edition: open the PDF in your download and use its make-a-copy links to add it to your Google Drive
• An Example workbook filled in with sample data for a family of four planning with a four-week rotation, so you can see how everything works before you add your own
• A Quick Start guide (PDF)
• Free updates to the edition you buy
• Instant digital download after checkout

License

Standard covers planning your own household's meals. Professional adds use with unlimited clients, for example a meal-prep coach, nutrition coach or personal chef keeping a copy for each client; neither license allows reselling or sharing the template itself. Compare licenses

Requirements

Microsoft Excel 2010 or later on Windows, Excel 2011 or later on Mac, or Microsoft 365. For the Google Sheets edition, a free Google account. Best used on a computer. No macros.