If you want to kickstart your weight loss journey or push for a healthy diet for your family, having a meal plan will help ensure you can keep track of your food intake. We create editable Meal Plan Templates that you can use while on a vegetarian, keto, or low carb diet to help you out. These templates are perfect to use if you're a beginner planning to track and record your daily to monthly meals—from breakfast to lunch, snacks, and dinner. Get these templates in Microsoft Word, Apple Pages, and Google Docs file formats today!
How to Create a Meal Plan
Aside from helping you track and record your food intake, meal plans also help you avoid going overbudget. If you're a beginner to meal planning, we have some tips and tricks in creating meal plans that you can apply.
1. What's the Purpose?
Before you start meal planning, determine your purpose first. Are you meal planning because you want to look for variety in your meals, save money, avoid food wastage, or to avoid the stress of coming up with recipes? Whatever reason it may be, it will help you create an effective plan.
2. Check Your Schedule
Your schedule can greatly affect your ability to cook dishes from scratch. Check your calendar and mark days when it is impossible for you to cook. Doing so ensures you can prepare complete ready-to-cook meals for busy days.
3. Choose the Recipes Carefully
Choose recipes that are within your cooking skills, budget, diet, and purpose. There are a lot of recipes online for specific diets and budgets. You can also look into other categories, such as 15-minute meals, slow cooker meals, and so much more. Always choose recipes that you're comfortable cooking.
4. Prioritize Already Available Ingredients
As you choose your recipes, you should consider the ingredients you already have. Doing so helps avoid purchasing two of the same things, which helps you save money. Double-check your pantry first before writing your grocery list.
