How to Meal Plan Bi-weekly – and why it works!

Bi-weekly meal planning allows me to plan out my meals for the next two weeks, saving me time and money. I am completely lost without it!

Why Meal Plan Like this?

When I first started to meal plan, I would plan out a whole month at a time. It worked for a while, but with my health troubles, sticking to a whole month of meals became difficult.

Keeping my health under control with my diet became easier with planning out only two weeks at a time. This also allowed me to change things up more often, so we’re not eating based on one days cravings for the entire month.

Planning two weeks instead of one, allows me to plan different meals that bounce off of each other, saving money, and reducing waste.

For example, if I need half a cabbage for a meal, I can plan out when to use up the other half of the cabbage next week! That way we’re not eating cabbage for days on end.

This also allows me to double up on cooking one day, so I don’t have to cook on another day! I just freeze a few portions in containers, and pull them out when we need a quick meal and don’t want to eat out.

How I do it:

My meal plan is broken up in categories: Chicken, Beef, Pork, Fish, Soup, Breakfast, and Other. You can use these categories or write your own! Having different categories gives a nice verity of meals to choose from for each week.

Next, sit down with a few cookbooks, and fill out out two options for each category. Don’t forget to write where to find the recipe!

The “Other” category can be anything, but I typically like to use this for quick and easy meals like pizza, tacos, or sometimes leftovers.

Plan out the Weekly Menu

Once you have your categories filled out, you can plan out the next week! Pick one meal from each category, and assign it a day. Try to think ahead about what you may have going on that week, so your meals work with your other plans.

From there you can plan out breakfast, lunch and snacks if you’d like!

Even if I don’t follow my meal plan to a T, having it all written out takes a huge load off my mind.

Make Your Grocery List

On the back of my bi-weekly meal planner, is where I like to keep my grocery list. That way, when I’m out shopping, and if I need to make substitute for something, I can look at my plan so I know what meal the substitute is for.

My grocery list is categorized as well, helping me stay organized while shopping so I’m not all over the place looking for stuff.

This Free Printable Meal Planner Kit includes both the categorized, and blank version for you to use how you need to.

I recommend printing at 100% scale and with a thicker paper such as 28 lbs paper for better quality. If you want your grocery list on the back of your meal plan, like I do, be sure to change your print settings to double sided, flip long end.

You can download* the Bi-weekly Meal Plan/ Grocery List Here, and the Weekly Menu Here.

*These Printables are for your personal use only, you may share them with friends and family but you may not sell them as your own.*

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Meal planning can seem like a lot of unnecessary work at first, but this little bit of prep can make make a great difference in your week. Take the time to prepare now, so your meal plan can do thinking for you throughout the week!

What are some of your favorite meals to make? Lately I’ve been enjoying making this delicious Stuffed Pepper Casserole. Leave your thoughts down below!