Easy Bullet Journal Meal Plan Ideas for a Happy Family
How to use your bullet journal to plan your meals and save your time and sanity.
A Bullet Journal Meal Plan
Let’s face it – we are busy.
Very busy people.
Wait, you’re not? I don’t believe you!
Meal planning can be a great way to save time and stress. Even for those of you that say you’re not busy.
Let’s be really honest here, planning anything helps save us time and stress.
We have to plan meals everyday anyway right? I mean we eat everyday right? So it makes sense that if we have a system for meal planning it will save us time and stress, and quite possibly money.
The hardest part about meal planning is getting a system set up and using it consistently.
So we’re exploring how to use your bullet journal to meal plan to help you get started.
If you’re already using a bullet journal this is a great spread to add. If you’re not using a bullet journal then you need to check out why you should be.
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The Meal Planning Process
Do you have a process for meal planning?
We bet that you do. You may not have put it down into words before, but you probably have a process.
It could be that you plan a meal when you’re standing in the aisle of the grocery store trying to figure out what to buy. Or when you’re on your way home trying to remember what’s in the fridge so that you can pull a meal together.
Or you’re super organized and you’ve already got a plan.
Meal planning is really a lot of lists.
- A list of meals to prepare
- A list of recipes for the meals
- A list of ingredients for the recipes
Then there’s the grocery list, where you add all the ingredients that you don’t already have on hand.
Just lots and lots of lists.
Food diary’s and food trackers are pretty common to find in a bullet journal, and while these are helpful, they are only part of the process of meal planning.
How to Use a Bullet Journal Meal Plan System
Bullet journals are a lifesaver of productivity.
Instead of writing out long notes and lists you can use abbreviations and bullet points to keep everything manageable.
To start your meal planning system you need a list of meals for the week and the ingredients that you’ll use to make them.
Once you have your list started you put a symbol next to the items that you have on hand, and another symbol next to the items that you’ll need to add to your grocery list.
Now you can transfer your specific needs onto a grocery list.
As always, the best thing about a bullet journal is being able to cater it to work for your life and your system. Try a meal planning system and then tweak it so it works best for your family and your situation.
What We do for Bullet Journal Meal Planning
I started off with using a lot of the templates that you’ll find in our idea section below. Eventually we figured out a system that works for our family and it has become much simpler.
It helps to pay attention to how you plan your meals and groceries right now and then try to work off of that.
We generally do our big grocery shopping on Sunday afternoon and then can easily stop and pick up a thing or two during the week if we need to.
On Sunday evenings I’ll chop veggies and put them in the fridge so that they’re ready to grab for snacks and salads throughout the week. I usually eat leftovers or salad for lunch so that makes an easy prep on the weekend.
And have you heard of Copy Me That?
This app is for recipes that you find online. You can save the recipe and ingredient list, add your own notes to it and create shopping lists. Definitely life changing!
Here are some great bullet journal meal plan ideas to help get you started.
I always think it’s helpful to see how other people are doing things so that I can figure out what will work for me. Here are a few templates for you to look through and get an idea of what you want to include on yours.
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This is a great example of meal planning on one page right along with the grocery list. She has a column on her list for “have” or “need” and can easily check the items which makes it quick and easy for grocery shopping.
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Here’s a layout featuring the big meals of the week along with a grocery list broken down by department. Again, this is an idea that makes grocery shopping and meal planning so much quicker by just being able to see all the information at a glance.
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I love this method of using sticky notes in my bullet journal.
Because I use sticky notes in my bullet journal.
This layout just outlines the notes and then they can be moved from day to day, week to week, month to month. Whatever method you’re using for your meal planning.
I can just pull the grocery list right out of my bullet journal and take it to the store with me.
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Here are all the menu options on sticky notes so that they can be moved around inside your bullet journal.
This is a great way to have some core recipes and just move them around every few weeks.
Again with the sticky notes because I like them.
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Well I think you can clearly see where we’re going with this. Maybe you just need to invest in a lot more sticky notes.
By far the easiest way to move your menu’s inside of your bullet journal!
A Few More Bullet Journal Meal Plan Tips
It’s really all in the word – planning.
Try to keep all your recipes together – however you can easily do that. (check out the copy me that app).
Have a theme night in your house – we have Meatless Monday, Taco Tuesday and Steaks on Sunday. This makes it easier to meal plan because you have a few recipes already established. Or at least a few menu nights that you don’t have to create brand new each week.
Always use a grocery list. It will help you remember what you need and it will help you cut down on impulse buys
Unless of course you write it on your list, add it to your cart and check it off.
I mean, who would do that?
I’ve never done that.
Okay, maybe once.
So what ideas do you use for meal planning?
Do you use your bullet journal for meal planning or are you going to try it?
Do you have any tips you want to share? Let us know in the comments below!
Follow us on Pinterest and on Instagram for lot’s more ideas and inspiration!
And please pin this to your favorite board and share it with your friends. While you’re at it check out our bullet journal layout ideas too!
