How I Use the Daily Dashboard Meal Planner (Full Walkthrough)

I think the reason why weekly meal plans don't work for a lot of families is because we're just planning around the food and not the family. When you can look at the week ahead and make a realistic plan that accounts for how much time you have and who will really be at the table each night, your plan becomes something beneficial-- to both your time and your budget!

If you're visual and want to see how it works it in action, I put together a video walkthrough showing exactly what I do each week and you can watch it here:

Why I built a meal planner in the first place

After trying a few different systems and made-for-you programs, I realized that I was making things way to difficult for myself.  I was buying pre-made meal plans but then editing them for my family's needs-- and then wasting a good bit of the food I had purchased because we weren't home or we were late a few nights a week. 

Over time, I created a streamlined page for myself that just outlined each day and what we were doing that night-- so that I could plan dinners around our schedule.  That was the beginning of the meal planner.  I then realized that I was also consistently writing down what we had on hand so that I could use that up first-- and those two ideas became the foundation of the easily, repeatable habit that is meal planning the Daily Dashboard way!

1. What are we doing each night?
2. What do we have in the pantry already?

What's inside

• Kitchen inventory first — I check what's already in the pantry, fridge, and freezer before I plan a single meal. It saves money and gives me a running start on ideas.
• Weekly meal plan — Start with what you're doing that evening (where will you be and who will be home) and plan meals around that. 
• Recipe notes — a place to save the meals I make on repeat, with ingredients and instructions right where I'll actually use them.
• Shopping list — I put the list in here because I carry this book to the store with me in case I need to flip back and look at the plan when I'm shopping.
• Kitchen conversions — because I still don't have tablespoons-to-cups memorized.  If you do, I'm in awe of your brain-- you probably know the names of plants too, and now I'm just jealous.

Here are two ways to begin using the Meal Planner:

Free Printable: the Kitchen Notebook This is the streamlined version — enough to get you started planning your week without spending a dime. Grab it free here →

Printed: the Meal Planner (paid, expanded edition) This is the full 74-page version I use in the video — printed on heavyweight paper, bound and built to live on your counter or travel with you to the store. It includes everything above, expanded out for a full meal-planning season, not just a single week. Shop the Printed Edition →