The friendly guide
How to plan weekly meals without the stress
A simple weekly meal plan means fewer "what's for tea?" moments, less food in the bin and one calm big shop. Here's how we'd put one together.
1. Count the nights you'll really cook
Look at the week ahead before you look at recipes. Football practice on Tuesday, a late shift on Thursday, a takeaway Friday you both know is happening. Most households cook four or five proper dinners a week, not seven.
Plan for the nights you'll actually be in the kitchen and leave the rest free. A plan with gaps you choose beats a perfect plan you abandon by Wednesday.
How the app helps
A Food Plan is just a list of the dinners you've picked, so there's no pressure to fill every day. Add four meals, or ten, whatever fits your week.
2. Start from meals you already love
New recipes are fun, but a week built entirely from them is hard work. Pick two or three reliable favourites, then add one new thing to try. Keep a running list of the meals your household always enjoys and choosing gets much quicker.
How the app helps
Import recipes from websites or snap a photo of a cookbook page, and they're all saved in one place. Planning the week becomes picking favourites off your own shelf.
3. Think about who's eating
A recipe for four won't suit a week when it's just two of you, or when the in laws come for Sunday lunch. Adjust each meal to the number of people at the table, and decide up front if you want leftovers for lunch the next day.
How the app helps
Change the servings on any recipe in your plan and every ingredient scales with it, so cooking extra for tomorrow's lunch is one tap.
4. Reuse ingredients across the week
The cheapest plans share ingredients. Half a bag of spinach from Monday's curry can go into Wednesday's pasta. A bunch of coriander works for tacos and a stir fry. Buying once and using twice is how a meal plan saves money and cuts waste.
How the app helps
When recipes share ingredients, your list combines them, so you can see at a glance that one bag of spinach covers two dinners.
5. Use what's already in the kitchen
Before you finalise the plan, check the fridge. That half a butternut squash or the chicken thighs in the freezer could be the starting point for a dinner, and it's one less thing to buy. Our guide to cooking from what's in your kitchen has more on this.
How the app helps
Type in what you've got and "What have you got?" shows your recipes that use the most of it, best matches first.
6. Turn the plan into one shopping list
A plan only pays off when it becomes a list. Gather every ingredient, cross off what you already have, and group the rest by supermarket section. Our shopping list guide goes through that part step by step.
How the app helps
Your plan makes the shopping list for you, grouped by supermarket section and ready on your phone. Share it so someone else can shop with you.
Questions people ask us
How do I make a weekly meal plan?
Count the nights you'll cook, pick a mix of favourites and one new recipe, scale each to the people eating, reuse ingredients where you can, then turn the lot into a single shopping list.
How the app helps
Add recipes to a Food Plan, set the servings, and the shopping list is written for you.
How many meals should I plan for a week?
Plan for the nights you'll actually cook, usually four or five. Leave room for leftovers, a night out or a freezer dinner. You can always add more next week.
How the app helps
Plans have no fixed number of days, so they fit however your week really looks.
How can meal planning save money?
You buy only what the week needs, you reuse ingredients across meals, and you're less tempted by midweek takeaways or top up shops. Checking what you already have before shopping helps the most.
How the app helps
Tick off what's already in the cupboard and what's left on the list is exactly what to buy.
Where can I find free meal plans?
Supermarket recipe pages, cookbooks you already own and food blogs are all good sources. The best plan, though, is usually built from recipes your household already likes.
How the app helps
Save recipes from any website or a cookbook photo, then build your own free plan from them.
Or let the app do all of this for you
Import your recipes, plan the week's meals, and The Big Food Shop writes the list for you: scaled to how many you're cooking for, grouped by supermarket section, ready on your phone. Jot quick lists for the milk moments, too.