2025 Meal Planner Template
We’ve created a 2025 version of our super popular 2024 meal planner template. This free spreadsheet will help you plan out your week of meals so you can save money, reduce food waste and stay on track.
New this year! We’ve formatted a School Year version of the calendar.
Why create a spreadsheet when we have an app? We want to help people make smart decisions about their food, and everyone needs different tools to do that. It’s why we also create a newsletter (sign up here), offer classes, videos and post about food and meal planning on our social accounts.
So if you’re not ready for an app, but need a simple meal planner template, just access it through our links below.
You can see from the image of the spreadsheet below there is a section for activities that we have on the go. This helps with making sure that you choose meals on those nights that are quick and easy. There is also a row where you can input what prep you need to do for the next day, and a tab for capturing groceries.
How to Use this Template
1. Make a copy of the file you accessed.
By making a copy, if you accidentally make changes and can’t revert back, you always have the original on hand. You can also just come back to this page and download it again, so be sure to bookmark it.
2. Make note of the various tabs.
On this 2025 meal planning template, you’ll find one tab for each month of the year as well as a tab to record your recipes and one to record your grocery lists for each week. Feel free to add things or make it your own once you’ve made a copy.
3. Find the week you are going to start with.
Each tab is a month and contains four weeks worth of planning grids. So just head to the week that you’re in. Feel free to ‘hide’ other tabs so it’s easier to navigate.
4. Start by detailing which days have activities.
You’ll want to easily be able to see which days have activities on them, whether they are kids activities or things that the adults are doing. This gives you an easy way quickly understand which days you’ll need easy recipes or freezer meals. You can easily copy and paste across months or weeks for longer lasting programs.
5. Plan out what you'll eat for each meal.
One of the great things about the meal planner is that it’s broken out by meal, so you can easily tag last nights left overs for the next days meals. Be sure to link recipes so you can easily to go them when you need them.
6. Print out the plan or share it with your family.
A great strategy to help ensure you get buy in from kids and other household members for your plan, is sharing it and letting others contribute. It also takes the burden off you for having to create the meal plan from scratch. Or divide and conquer. You take part, your kids or partner takes another part of the processs.
The Importance of Meal Planning
With the price of groceries soaring and the knowledge that what we eat is having a huge impact on the climate, there couldn’t be a more imporant time to plan your meals.
Spending time planning and grocery shopping helps by making sure you aren’t wasting food, that you are cooking the right qualitites and that you don’t revert to take-out in panic to get dinner on the table. Once you are ready to take your meal planning journey beyond spreadsheets, the Zestyplan app is a meal plan in your pocket. The platform uses AI to get to know you so your weekly meal planning session goes from an hour or more to just minutes. Here are quick links to the app in the App Store and Google Play.
To get tips and recipes on an ongoing basis be sure to sign up for Zestyplan Newsletter.
Getting Started: Your First Week of Meal Planning
Sometimes getting started is the hardest part. Here are some steps to get things kicked off so you are set up for success.
- Choose 4 familiar meals to build confidence
- Plan one new recipe to maintain interest (check out our delicious selection of recipes)
- Include one prep-ahead option to save time
- Schedule your planning session for the same day/time weekly
- Review and adjust after the first week
Common First-Week Mistakes to Avoid
- Over-planning complex meals
- Ignoring family preferences
- Forgetting about leftovers
- Not accounting for busy days
- Planning too many new recipes at once
To get tips and recipes on an ongoing basis be sure to sign up for Zestyplan Newsletter.
