Monthly meal planner: how to plan a month of dinners in one sitting

The short answer: a monthly meal planner lets you decide a month of dinners in one sitting.

• Start with 15 to 20 meals your household already likes
• Give each weeknight a theme, like tacos or pasta
• Mark busy nights for quick meals and leftovers
• Build grocery lists from the plan; the month takes about an hour
• Next step: Plan it with the Meal Planner & Grocery List ($3.99).

A monthly meal planner lets you decide a month of dinners in one sitting, so you're not asking "what's for dinner?" every night. Start with a list of 15 to 20 meals your household already likes, give each weeknight a theme, fill in the calendar, mark busy nights for quick meals and leftovers, and then build your grocery lists from the plan. Once you have the meal list, the whole month takes about an hour to plan.

Our Meal Planner & Grocery List printable has a monthly menu page, weekly meal planner, grocery list sorted by aisle and pantry and freezer inventories.

Here's the method, a sample month and the printable pages we make for it.

How to plan a month of meals in 6 steps

1. List your keepers. Write down 15 to 20 dinners everyone eats. Favorites can repeat every two weeks without complaints.
2. Check the calendar. Mark late practices, work events, travel and holidays. Those get quick meals, leftovers or slow cooker nights. For those nights, pick from our 40 crockpot and slow cooker recipes.
3. Assign theme nights. Themes turn 20 choices into three or four. Our recipe and meal plan topic hubs group dishes by type, so each theme is easy to fill.
4. Fill the month. Put a meal on every day, including leftovers and one flexible "fridge clean-out" night a week.
5. Plan the cooking. Note where you'll double a recipe to freeze half, or cook once and use it twice, like a roast chicken that becomes soup.
6. Write grocery lists by week. Shelf-stable and frozen items can be bought once; fresh items go on each week's list.

Theme nights that make planning faster

Sample monthly meal plan (four weeks)

Sample plan. Swap in your own favorites.

Shopping for a monthly meal plan

A meal plan works best in a kitchen where you can find things. Our kitchen organization ideas guide covers fridge zones and pantry bins.

• Buy shelf-stable staples once a month: rice, pasta, beans, canned tomatoes, broth, oil, spices and frozen vegetables.
• Shop fresh weekly: produce, milk, eggs and bread. Put meals with delicate produce early in each week.
• Buy meat in bulk and freeze it in meal-size portions, labeled with the date.
• Check what you have first. A pantry inventory list and freezer inventory list keep you from buying duplicates.
• Set a monthly food budget. The USDA's monthly cost of food reports estimate grocery costs for four food plans, from Thrifty to Liberal, which you can use as a benchmark. Coupons can stretch it further; here's how to start couponing.

Want to shop less often? See how to grocery shop once a month.

Leftovers and freezer timing

Build your plan around how long food actually keeps. FoodSafety.gov's cold food storage chart lists:

Stock a few freezer meals to cover your busiest nights. Our guide has 20 easy dinners and a prep plan.

That's why a Sunday big cook works well with a Tuesday or Wednesday leftovers night, and why doubling a soup to freeze gives you a ready meal later in the month.

For quick breakfasts and lunches to make ahead, see these meal prep ideas, with a 90-minute Sunday plan. Our chia pudding recipe is another make-ahead breakfast.

Our monthly meal planner printable

The Meal Planner & Grocery List ($3.99) is a 12-page printable PDF in US Letter and A4. Its Monthly Menu page gives you the whole month at a glance, and the rest of the set helps you carry it out: a Weekly Meal Planner, Dinner Plan & Prep, Grocery List, Family Favorites (your keeper list), Recipe Cards, Pantry Inventory, Freezer Inventory and a Meal Prep Checklist.

Want meals next to the family calendar? The Household Binder ($6.99) includes a Meal Planner and Grocery List alongside a Monthly Calendar, Weekly Planner, family information and a bill tracker.

The Family Life Admin Bundle ($15.99) includes the Meal Planner & Grocery List and the Family Recipe Binder, plus the Newborn Baby Tracker, Kids Chore Chart and Pet Health Records.

More help: how to meal plan for a family and meal planning on a budget. For appointments, bills and birthdays, a separate monthly planner keeps the rest of the month in view, and a grocery list template turns each week of meals into a shopping list.

Prefer to plan one week at a time? Our weekly menu template guide covers a printable dinner menu for the fridge. Comparing paper with apps? See our meal planning apps guide. New to the habit? Begin with our meal planning hub before you fill a full month.

Why I plan this way

I'm the oldest of three from a working family in Detroit, and I was the one my family leaned on for coordination. Deciding once and writing it down beats deciding every night, and that's the idea behind a monthly plan.