Hello, Masha here from Masha Plans.

Today we are tackling meal planning in your Bullet Journal.

Confession time! I always had trouble with planning a healthy, balanced, or at least a constant meal. But the benefits are countless! So today, let’s see 5 spreads that will help you to follow through and finally add meal planning to your life.

SUPPLIES

First of all, of course, let’s take a look at some of the supplies I’ll be using.

A5 Archer and Olive Notebook - this is one of the cutest notebooks ever! And I love the color so much.

Faber Castell Pitt Artist pens - as always my go-to fineliners. But you can use any black pen you have. I simply prefer fineliners because they are waterproof and have very rich black ink.

Zebra Mildliners - as always my go-to coloring supplies.

Zebra Click Art Pens - a set of pens I've been loving lately.

WHY PLAN MEALS

Why would we spend so much time and effort on meal planning?

Simply put because it makes life easier. Like much easier!

Imagine you don’t have to come home and spend 30 minutes deciding what you want to eat. Just to open the fridge and discover that you don’t have the ingredients to cook it.

Meal planning will save you from such evenings!

Plus if you already have a plan you won’t be needing to spend energy on making food decisions and maybe instead you can just spend some time with the loved ones.

It also can be pretty good for your budget. If you have your meals planned you can schedule your grocery shopping so you get the best prices for the items you need.

MEAL PLANNING SPREAD

First, of course, you should have a meal planning spread. 

You can create a separate spread for weekly meals, add a meal plan to your weekly spread or even go wild and create a whole month plan.

It’s more difficult to create larger plans at once, but it will also save you more time and effort overall.

However, if you’re just starting with meal planning - try small steps and start with a weekly plan.

GROCERIES LIST

Once you have your meal plan, time to look through your fridge, frozen foods, and perishables, and create your shopping list.

Take note of which items must be bought fresh of what you can buy in advance and get it out of your head.

SNACK IDEAS

One of the things I struggle the most with is snacks. 

I’m an avid snacker and it’ll be my undoing! So when you plan your meals it might be a good idea to plan for snacks as well.

It will allow you to get something healthier for yourself.

GO TO MEAL LIST

When it comes to cooking it seems like possibilities are endless and how the heck do you choose what to have for dinner?

That’s when this list comes into place. Create a list of things you can easily cook at any time without any special effort.

This can help you in extreme situations when you don’t have a meal plan, but will also make it easier to plan meals since you can just look at the list and pick something from here.

And no this is not my list, unfortunately, I was born with a “can’t even fry an egg” syndrome. But my husband is a great cook and he looves cooking, so this is actually his list.

FAVORITE TAKEOUT PLACES

I know I know, we are talking about meal planning, not takeout.

But! Things happen and sometimes you might have too long of a meeting and come home smashed. Would you want to cook? Probably not.

I know though that picking a takeout can be just as stressful as picking a meal to cook. What do you want? Options are limitless! And there is always that new place that just opened.

Create a list of your favorite takeout places so you can easily pick just one from the list instead of spending an hour scrolling Uber Eats.

PLAN WITH ME VIDEO

Want to learn how to set up these spreads? Check out this Plan With Me video!

FREE PRINTABLE

Finally, I wanted to leave you with a little printable so you can start meal planning in your Bullet Journal right away.

If you ever decide to recreate any of these pages, be sure to tag me (@mashaplans) and @archerandolive on Instagram, we’d love to see your pages!

And remember: Keep Bullet Journaling and it’s ok to be a blob if you need to!