How to make a weekly meal plan with one shopping list
A weekly meal plan saves you the daily "what are we eating" and the third bag of rice in the cupboard. The trick is to plan and shop in one sitting, with one combined list. This method takes about 20 minutes once a week.
1. Look at the week first
Before recipes, look at the calendar. Late meeting on Tuesday? Football on Thursday? Those nights get something quick or leftovers. Weekends get the recipes that take longer.
2. Pick five dinners, not seven
Plan five dinners and leave two nights for leftovers, eating out or the freezer. A plan with no slack is the one you abandon by Wednesday.
3. Cook once, eat twice
Choose at least one dinner that makes extra: a big pot of chilli, a tray of roast vegetables, a whole chicken. Tomorrow's lunch is then already done.
4. Reuse ingredients across meals
If Monday needs half a bunch of coriander, give Thursday a dish that uses the other half. Overlapping ingredients is the single biggest way to waste less.
5. Combine the list, then check the cupboard
Add up the same ingredient across recipes into one line: 600 g of rice, not three separate entries of 200 g. Then cross off what you already have. Group what is left by shop section (vegetables, dairy, dry goods) so you walk the shop once.
6. Shop once
One shop a week, list in hand, tick as you go. If you shop online, the combined list goes straight into the basket.
Let the app do the adding up
Meal Planner does steps 4 to 6 for you: drag a recipe onto a day and the shopping list updates itself, with ingredients from several recipes combined into one line. Tick things off in the shop, and it remembers what you already have. 38 recipes are free, with no account.