Stop Wasting Your Precious Time: Start Meal Planning In Your Bullet Journal

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Bullet journaling is my secret weapon to staying organised. If you don’t know what a Bullet journal is read this post ‘Why you NEED a bullet journal’

It doesn’t matter if you’re a family or single, meal planning is beneficial and a great time saver. I know it’s not your favourite task but it pays off spending half an hour planning your next weeks meals. No more madly rushing around trying to figure out what to cook for your next meal. All it takes is half an hour once a week to save you the hassle of figuring out your meals everyday.

Meal planning not only benefits you time-wise but it can also help you save money. Let me count the ways you waste money by not meal planning.

Buying takeout because you don’t have the ingredients for dinner or the time.
Buying pre-packaged meals from the grocery store that are expensive because they are convenient.
Wasting leftovers through poor planning to use them.
Not buying in bulk but just buying enough for the upcoming meal.

You get the idea.

Bullet Journal Meal Planning Collections

There are a few ways to start meal planning but I like to start with a list of my family’s favourite foods. This cuts down on the amount of brainstorming I have to do to create my meal plan. I can just choose from the favourites and add a new meal in if I feel like it.

Weekly Meal Plan

Once you’ve got your list of favourite meals it makes it so much easier to create your meal plan for the week. Turn to a blank page and start a meal plan spread. I use the following formats because they are simple. I also use sticky notes in each box so that I don’t have to re-write the plan every week. To make your life easier though consider having one night as a fend for yourself night or have a list of quick meals you can use on that night.

Bujo meal plan by ingredients — Meal plan by ingredient

Master Lists In Your Bullet Journal

Now you have your meal plan, on the next page of your bullet journal create a shopping list of what you need to buy before prep day. Remember to check your cupboards and fridge/freezer to see if you already have some ingredients. I recommend using sticky notes for your shopping list too so a) you don’t have to take your bullet journal shopping and b) again you don’t have to re-write your spread next week.

While you’re in your cupboards and freezer looking at what you have it can be helpful to create an inventory page in your bullet journal so you can keep an eye on what you have in your cupboards.

Another spread to create is your master shopping list and split it up by shopping aisle so it makes shopping a lot less stressful. This list is of the things that you get every time you go shopping.

Meal Prep Day

So we have all our ingredients and recipes, it’s now time to set some time aside once a week to prep anything you can for the week’s meals. I find it useful to make a list of what I have to do on meal prep day in my bullet journal so I don’t forget something. Cook some meals such as mince and freeze them, so all you have to do on the day is defrost. Now all you have to do is remember to check what you are having each day. You can do this by putting a reminder in each day of your weekly log or in your daily log.

Recipes In Your Bullet Journal

If you have go-to recipes you use frequently it’s worth writing them in your bullet journal so you have them handy for your meal planning. You can then add any changes to the recipes in your bujo so your not wondering things like how did I thicken the sauce last time.

Diet Plan Spreads

If you are following a diet plan it may be useful for you to write it out in your bullet journal as Christina 77 Star has done. She has the general principles of the plan at the top and then suggestions that you can have for each meal. You then have this with you whether your home or at work or even out for dinner, you can refer back to it.

So that’s it for meal planning in your bullet journal, I hope you enjoyed it and feel free to email me with any bullet journaling requests or comment on this post.

If you liked this post you may want to check out these posts too:
Bullet journal collections to organise your household
Setting goals using a master plan
10 bullet journal instagrammers to follow in 2020

Products I Used In This Post

Bullet Journal Notebooks:

Rhodia Goalbook comes set up for bullet journaling and is fountain pen friendly
Official Bullet Journal Leuchtturm1917 built for bullet journaling by the creator
Leuchtturm1917
Nuuna I love the funky covers on these books
Mumsy and Bub – This company makes beautiful vegan travelers notebooks. I have 3 of them 2 A5 and 1 B6 sized.