• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
Dish & Delite
  • Home
  • About ↓
    • Meet Cheryl
    • Collaborate
    • Disclaimer
    • Contact
  • Recipes
  • Resources ↓
    • How To’s & Tips
    • Useful Conversions
    • SA Food & Labelling Regulations
    • Nutrition Links
  • Navigation Menu: Social Icons

    • Bloglovin
    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • Pinterest
    • Twitter

3 Free Apps for Meal Planning

Meal planning saves my bacon on the regular and has really helped limit eating out or grabbing a takeaway or ready meal, as well as helping to keep our food budget under control.

Why bother plan?  It can feel like a time consuming chore, but I have found now that I’m into it, I have come to enjoy it, I’ve gotten much quicker at it, plus I really struggle when I don’t do it.

What I plan: I usually only map out dinners and do a week at a time.. For breakfasts and lunches we’ll have leftovers and I keep certain staples around to throw together (bread, eggs, yoghurt, cheese, cereal/porridge… you get the idea).

How I plan:
– I start by popping in any events or plans – so I can block off when I don’t have to cook and also see where I need quick meals or to dip into the freezer-stash or pull out the slow cooker and where I have more time to cook.
– I then do a quick take-stock of what’s in the pantry, fridge and freezer. Anything that’s about to go bad can then be slotted in first up.
– After that I fill up the gaps with meals from our family favourites list or grab inspiration from theme days, more about these below.

I like to think of it as a flexible plan – I often plan at least one meal with ingredients that won’t go bad in case plans change and the night of the week I actually cook each meal may well change too.

My favourite 3 free apps to pull weekly meal plans together, smoothly nativagte the meal planning process and reap the time and budget benefits.

My Top 3 Free Apps to bring it all together:

  1. Pinterest: for recipes
    I use Pinterest in a couple of different ways to plan:
    – general search and recipe inspiration
    – pin recipes I like or want to try for easy access them when needed. Secret boards can be very handy if you’d like to keep it just to yourself.
    – search for recipes to use up a specific ingredient
  2. Google Keep: for shopping lists
    Is a very nifty note taking app, I have the app on my phone and tablet and it’s a click away in my Gmail dashboard to keep a running list for when I shop. I really love the tick box function and find it useful for keeping track of all kinds of lists, but especially my shopping list.
  3. Evernote: to house the plan along with theme nights and a bank of family favourites to pull from
    Also a note taking/organization app which you can access from all your devices.
    – To speed up the planning process, I have a big ole list of our family favourite meals on evernote – I can refer back to this to help quickly fill in gaps and fill out your plan for the week.
    – Another way I speed up the planning is with an evernote theme days note for inspiration, some of our favourites are:
    Meat-free Monday
    Fish night
    Taco Tuesday
    Burger Friday
    Breakfast for dinner (bfd)
    Slow Sunday
    Try something new
    – I then also keep the actual plan on evernote, I do try write it on our chalkboard but don’t alway get that far.

Hope these app’s are super helpful for you too! Happy menu planning!

Cheryl x

 

Share this:

Filed Under: How To's & Tips Tagged With: meal planning


If you make one of my recipes and love it I’d be SO grateful if you’d give it a thumbs up by leaving a 5-star rating and/or comment on the blog.
Thank you, thank you, thank you!


 

Signup for recipes, tips and how to's straight to your inbox and receive our two free guides. You can also follow along on: Facebook | Twitter | Pinterest | Instagram

Previous Post: « Parmesan Vinaigrette
Next Post: Spinach and Strawberry Salad »

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recipe Rating




This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Primary Sidebar

Welcome

Hi, I'm Cheryl, NNICU dietitian and mom of two little boys. I believe in the enormous benefits of home cooking. Join me for recipes, tips and how to's to make nutritious, tasty meals achievable in your kitchen. About me...

Advertisement

Popular Posts

Coffee Date Smoothie, the ultimate on-the-go option, combining your morning cuppa and breakfast.
Make your next party or dinner gathering exceptional for drinkers and teetolers alike with a tasty mocktail.
Refreshing homemade ginger, orange and mint ice tea
Recipe ReDux New Ingredients for a New Year, baking with psyllium. Psyllium is a useful fibre-booster & binder in gluten-free recipes, I use it in these yummy seed crackers.

Read more about…

Advertisement

Footer

  • Bloglovin
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter

Copyright © 2021 Dish & Delite on the Foodie Pro Theme