For example, BBQ chicken on Wednesday can become BBQ chicken pizza on Friday. You can vary the sides or the appearance, but left-overs save time and money. I like this method, because then I can incorporate seasonal foods and my menus for July are distinctly different from the ones for December. Then, you can bring it out a year later and have something to work from. Or, at the end of the month or week, file the planner away until the next year. You can make three months worth of planners and then rotate them throughout the year.
My wife has graciously provided the following tips meal planning tips, including ideas for how to use the meal and menu planners. Click on the little filter arrow and uncheck the "-" option to temporarily hide the unneeded rows. Go to Data > Filter to add a filter on this column. Here's how: First, select the Qty column, beginning with the label "Qty" and ending with the last line of the list. Printing a Grocery List: When using the "Menu Planner with Grocery List" template, instead of printing all 3+ pages in the List worksheet, if you want to print a grocery list containing only the items you need, use the Filter feature. Doing so will mess up the formula used to create the dynamic named range which populates the drop-down lists. You can delete and remove rows, sort, and do pretty much whatever you want as long as you don't delete cell A1. I designed the lists to be as easy to edit. Right-click on the Planner tab and select "Move or Copy" and select the "Create a Copy" checkbox. That will let you store multiple weekly or monthly meal plans within the same file. The items in the list like are used to make it easy to see the different categories as you are scrolling through the list.Įxcept for the version with the grocery list, you can make copies of the worksheet.