If you are trying to get organised and stay on top of family meals and grocery shopping, this free printable monthly menu plan is a great way to start.
This monthly meal planner template will help take the trauma out of deciding what is for dinner each night!
I went to the shops almost every day last week. I hate that. It means I spend more money and time than I should, and it’s a sign that I am totally unorganised.
I aim to do one big shop a month for all the staples and non-perishables. Then I try to limit it to one shop per week for things like fruit, vegetables, bread, and milk. This works really well for us, saves us time and money, if I am organised and plan ahead. To do that, I need to use a monthly menu plan.
Find out how I meal plan for a month in half an hour here.
Free Printable Monthly Meal Planner
There are so many great options for meal planners these days, you can even use a digital planner, but I like to have a paper menu plan, and something that is really flexible.
Planning with a single sheet of paper and pencil (always a pencil so I can change things if needed!) means I can do my planning anywhere, and display it easily.
And using a planner that is undated means I can plan any time. I don’t need to get ti done before the first of the month, and when I fall of the menu planning bandwagon (because I always do now and then) I can just pick it back up again whenever I’m ready.
Our free printable meal planner template is a simple, one page, planner with enough room to plan for five weeks. You can write your own dates in each circle and there is enough room to write breakfast lunch and dinners if you like.
There is a version of the meal planner printable that starts on a Monday, and one that starts on a Sunday too.
You can download the free printable monthly menu plan (starting on a Monday) here.
You can download the free printable monthly menu plan (starting on a Sunday) here.
This printable is an A4 sized pdf file, you will need a pdf reader such as adobe acrobat to open it. If you are printing on US ‘letter sized’ paper be sure to select ‘fit’ or ‘shrink to fit’ from your printer options.
Please remember that the printables at picklebums.com are for personal use only, you may not sell, share, or link directly to these files.
Weekly and Fortnightly Menu Plan Printables
If planning a whole month of meals feels like too much, or you just prefer to plan your menu each week or fortnight, you can find weekly and fortnightly menu plan printables here.
And you can find all our family friendly recipes to fill up your menu plan here.
New, Free Printable Monthly Meal Planners, Weekly Meal Planners, and a Bonus Shopping List
Do you menu plan?
Do you have any great tips for making it work and avoiding a million little trips to the shops?
Thank YOU!!! This is exactly what I’ve needed and I didn’t want to have to spend the two hours creating it for my perfectionist self! :) Thank You, Thank You, Thank You!
I know you have posted this a long time ago – but we still appreciate it! It’s a great printable. I love having the spaces for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, plus snacks. So many times I will buy things to make a special muffin or granola bar then I forget. The extra space helps me to keep track of that. I have used this plan many times and will continue to use it. Thanks a bunch! :)
I love your template. Is there anyway to make the week start on a Sunday instead of Monday without printing it out and cutting and pasting it? We always have ours start on a Sunday and it throws dh off when he glances at the calendar.
Hi Shauna,
Thanks for asking about a monthly plan that starts on a Sunday… I am sure lots of other people would like that too (I just always feel if I start the calendar on a Sunday then I miss out on half the weekend LOL!).
I’ve updated the post to include a version that starts on Sunday.
Im so looking forward to trying this out. Im hoping it saves me money and time planning. I have 2 kids and Im getting ready to go back to school. I have such a hard time getting ideas for dinner each night this way Ill have it planned out and we can just cook whats planned. PLUS I can do shopping all in advanced for the majority of the stuff and just get the milk, bread stuff like that when needed.
Im also hoping this will help me with my kids lunchs as well. THANK YOU for your help.
Thanks so much for the template! I plan on using it in conjunction with the weekly and monthly flyers. Ex. I want to plan a menu for September using the items that I buy on sale in August. Of course fresh food will be a bit different but at least it is a start!
Hi there:) I menu plan too. I go through my fridge and freezer, make a list of what i already have and plan my meals from that.
Every now and again i may have something i didn’t use in the week before so that gets written down and i source a recipe to use that ingredient. This week it is ricotta, so i’m thinking a vegetarian lasange as i also have some eggplant to use.
I often also add a new recipe and buy the ingredients for that as i love trying new stuff. I am also trying for us to eat more whole foods and lentils and legumes so there are new recipes there to try.
Thankyou for you menu plan, i usually write them up on a big white board weekly and it sits on my bench. Very handy so everyone could see what we were having and shock horror! if they decided to make a start on tea then they knew what i had planned:) Now it seems to just be me cooking again so i might give your version a go:)
This is fantastic!!! I’ve really been wanting to get a monthly menu plan underway too. I’m so sick of going back and forth from the shops ALL THE TIME. Thought I was the only one, but looks like everyone is on the same wheel as me LOL. This template is just great!
Time to get planning!!
Thanks for the printable, love it!
Thanks, I love this happy planner!
Thank you for this! I’m finally working toward some real meal planning, and this printable is perfect!
Thanks for this! I kept trying to make my own, and I am SOOO not good at this kind of stuff. Finally decided to see if I could find something online, and this is perfect! Thanks again!
Love the simplicity of this calendar and the colors!
Thank you! I printed off your original calendar that started on Monday, and absolutely loved it. Simple, cute, to the point. Except I think Sun-Sat, so I kept getting confused. Just downloaded the Sunday version – off to create a kick*ss meal plan for my family!