Project Meal Plan is a food blog dedicated to make-ahead recipes, meal planning and preparing ahead.
Out of flour but really want some cookies?! No sweat – you can use pancake mix! These Chocolate Chip Pancake Mix Cookies are a cross between puffy pancakes and soft muffin tops! With a few easy ingredients, they’re simple to make with any ‘just add water’ pancake mix!
Jump to Recipe
…
These delicious Everything Bagel Baked Salmon Salad Bowls are a quick and easy to make weeknight dinner option! They take just 20 minutes start to finish and they’re simple to customize with your favorite dressing and veggies.
Jump to Recipe
…
Disclaimer: Project Meal Plan is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites. For more information, please see our Full Disclosure & Privacy Policy.
If you’re just starting out with meal planning, finding your groove can take some time! The key for me was making my own reusable weekly meal planner! No more weekly printing, no more using up paper and ink. Turn a paper meal planner into a reusable weekly meal planner! Here’s How to Laminate Your Weekly Meal Planner Template!
A weekly meal planner template is a tool used for meal planning. It can be in the form of a dry erase board, a piece of paper, or chart on the computer.
Weekly meal planner templates come in lots of different sizes and types, but they all have one thing in common: A chart with the days of the week and space so you can write down your meals each day.
Other things a weekly meal planner template might include:
If you’re looking for a Weekly Meal Planner template, try mine! I spent time designing a meal planner I would actually use. The Project Meal Plan Weekly Meal Planner Template includes:
Of course, there are tons of meal planner templates across the internet! Any that you can print out on paper can be laminated. Personally, I keep my shopping list in my phone so I always have it on hand. That’s why I didn’t include a shopping list on my weekly meal planner template, but they do exist!!
If you’re looking for a different kind of weekly meal planner template that includes a shopping list on the same page, check out my friend Steph’s template over at Meal Plan Addict!
The biggest reason to laminate your weekly meal planner is CONVENIENCE.
I’m embarrassed to say that for years, lacking a functional printer was reason enough for me to skip meal planning entirely. Printing out a meal planner once seemed like a possibility, but printing one every week? Maybe I’m high maintenance, but I wasn’t into that!!
Paper, ink and printers all cost money. It’s a lot of moving parts that have to be in order every week, continuously, for meal planning to be successful. For some people, it’s easy. But other people, like me, are always out of ink (how?).
All it takes is a quick wipe down to erase last week, then you’re set! I’m positive it takes less time and energy than printing a new meal planner every week.
More reasons to laminate your meal planner:
I got my meal planner laminated in January 2018. I meal plan every week. I’m still using the same exact laminated meal planner more than 18 months later.
If you do a Google search for ‘Weekly Meal Planner Template PDF’, a lot of options will come up. Most of these will be free to download from websites like mine. Think about what you would want in your meal planner, do a little research if you want, then download a copy from the website (download mine HERE).
After downloading a copy of the PDF to your computer, you’ll need to make it accessible while you’re at your local print center. Here are the options:
Almost all full service print and copy centers offer lamination as a finishing service. To avoid a wasted trip, you can always call and ask if they do laminating. If they don’t, ask them if they know anyone who does.
Based on my research, here are some locations in the United States that offer laminating services: Office Depot & Office Max, FedEx Office Print & Ship Centers, The UPS Store, Staples, and some Costco locations. Local (non-chain) print and copy centers may also offer these laminating services. Call and ask!
The staff at the print and copy centers will know how to help you complete your meal planner lamination project (it’s their job!), so you don’t have to be any kind of expert with printing or laminating.
However, there may be some options to choose from. Here are a couple things to keep mind:
While you’re at the print and copy center or office supply store, grab a dry erase marker! A thinner tip will work better for fine writing on the meal planner. I use an “ultra fine tip” black Expo marker (affiliate link to show you which one I use) for my meal planning. Any office supply store should have these in stock!
Overall, it should not cost more than $5-6 to get your meal planner template laminated. Here’s a cost breakdown of how much it cost me to get my meal planner laminated at my local Costco:
Staples has lamination service prices listed on their website – $1.89 per 5 mil lamination pouch OR $2.00 per square foot for larger sizes. If it’s concern, call around and see who can do it for the cheapest!
The cost of a ultra fine tip dry erase marker should be no more than $3-5, depending on the size and variety of the packs available (I like Expo brand!). In total, obtaining and using a laminated meal planner template should cost no more than $10.
So you’ve picked out a meal planner and maybe you even got it laminated! But now, it’s time to start meal planning and you’re still a little stuck.
Here’s where to go next:
5 Steps to Help You Make A Weekly Meal Plan That Works
10 Simple Things to Remember When You Start Meal Planning
If you want ideas, tips or feedback on your meal planning strategy, join us in the Project Meal Plan Motivation and Ideas Group on Facebook. Share your meal plan, ask questions, look for recipe ideas. Anything! Hope to see you there!
What breakfast needs: Basic Oven Breakfast Potatoes that everyone can enjoy! These oven roasted potatoes have simple flavors that go with any kind of savory breakfast or brunch. They’re easy to make and take only 30 minutes to cook – big batch or small batch, your choice!
Jump to Recipe
…
We could all use more dinner ideas, am I right? I love incorporating dairy-free, gluten-free, and clean eating meals into my routine even though I don’t strictly follow those diets. Here are our Top 10 Favorite Whole30 Dinner Recipes we keep on repeat year round!
This year, we dove deep into Whole30. It started with a round in January, and more recently we just completed another round in July. In my opinion, the key to Whole30 is meal planning!
That’s why I’m all about sharing Whole30 recipes along with my other nonspecific recipes. Meal planning is for anyone, but it can be especially helpful for some who want to achieve certain goals.
For me, dinner can be the most difficult meal to come up with new ideas. Maybe you had hard boiled eggs for breakfast, some dill pickles wrapped in organic turkey breast for lunch (who, me??), and now, you want a large, filling, complete, amazing meal. Don’t draw a blank! I gotchu!
This list is for you and me both. When I decide to do another Whole30 in the future, I want to remember exactly what I loved for dinner the first two rounds. These are meals we eat during Whole30 (sometimes more than once), as well as when aren’t doing a Whole30! That should tell you a lot about how good these meals are.
Most of these photos are real life kitchen counter phone pictures, because I want this to be authentic. Yes, we really eat all this!
Whole30 foods are a wonderful base for recipes because they can usually serve almost anyone and they fit within most diets (obvious modifications needed for vegans/vegetarians).
To be Whole30, a recipe must basically consist of only meat, seafood, vegetables, fruit, nuts, and approved oils. All of the meals listed here fit in the following categories:
So basically, if you start your dinner bones with one of these meals, you know it’s going to be real foods that are Whole30 approved.
If you aren’t following the Whole30, try it how it is. If something is truly missing to you, go ahead and add it in. These ideas can be starting places, or full dinner ideas. You do you! Here are my Top 10 Favorite Whole30 Dinner Recipes, in no particular order!
This is one of those recipes you completely forget is Whole30 because the meat is so delicious and the veggies are the same ones you love all the time and it’s just that good. I always follow this recipe for Perfect Paleo Instant Pot Carnitas from 40 Aprons to make these bowls. The meat is SO EASY to cook in your Instant Pot, I’ll never do it any other way. I always make some guacamole and pico de gallo, then serve it all over romaine.
Probably our favorite recipe on this list and the one we make the most often for sure – Sloppy Janes from the Defined Dish! I’ve praised this recipe since our very first Whole30. Think sloppy joe filling but served over sweet potato. It’s so incredibly flavorful and sometimes I still can’t believe that taste comes from those ingredients. Coconut aminos are pure magic people. This one will be on repeat forever!
We absolutely love a good roast chicken around here, but I was always slathering them in butter! Oops. Good news – this one is slathered in ghee and totally Whole30 approved! I always serve with potatoes and whatever veggies I’m in the mood for. Here’s recipe for Simple Whole Roast Chicken.
I could never do as good of a job introducing the Big Ass Salad as Mark Sisson, so you should just go over to YouTube and watch this 1 minute video real quick. Bowl of mixed greens, whatever vegetables are on hand, protein for the meal, and the salad dressing. For Whole30 salads, I love Primal Kitchens as well as Tessemaes brands. However, I just started making this Homemade Whole30 Ranch Dressing from Tastes Lovely and it is AMAZING. It is absolutely worth a try, especially if you’re already making your own mayonnaise.
Sadly, this is the only meal I couldn’t find a photo of in my phone, but that does NOT mean it’s any less delicious than the others. Think of the inside of an egg roll, but, in a bowl. If you’re never tried it, this dish will surprise you. This is the kind of meal I’ll serve with rice if we’re not doing a Whole30 because we love this one all the time, Whole30 or not.
I use this recipe for Egg Roll in a Bowl from 40 Aprons because I love how it uses coleslaw mix as a base. I skip the water chestnuts because they aren’t my favorite – this recipe has so many options, it’s super easy to modify it for your dietary needs!
Breakfast for dinner is always a great choice. You’ll need a solid base of breakfast potatoes (recipe coming soon), some eggs (cooked any way you like), veggie such as avocado, and a protein (Whole30 approved bacon, sausage, or smoked salmon is great!). These bowls are hearty, filling and feel a lot different than your basic hard boiled egg. Also, if you don’t like breakfast food, maybe we can’t be friends.
This was one of the very first Whole30 specific recipes I tried, and we still go back! These chicken strips are some kind of crunchy wonderful. They’re from this recipe for Crispy Chicken Salad from Paleo Running Mamma. Honestly I’ve never made the dressing from the recipe because I always have my own on hand, but I always go back for these chicken strips!! They’re also pictured on a B.A.S. above!!
Lately I’m loving seafood (did you see my trip to Alaska?!), so that’s what inspired trying multiple salmon recipes during this Whole30. The best part about salmon is it’s a super quick cooking protein! I love this recipe from Fed and Fit for Herb Crusted Salmon & Potato Bake – get the potatoes going, prep the salmon, the put it all on the same tray and cook until the salmon is done. You can also cook the salmon by itself and put it on a salad for the quickest dinner ever!
I absolutely love spaghetti squash casseroles during winter rounds of Whole30. The first spaghetti squash casserole I ever tried was this Buffalo Chicken Casserole from PaleOMG and I could not believe the ingredients. This is paleo?? Am I exactly sure what paleo is?? (This was 4 years ago, I’ve come a long way since then!!) Here’s a current favorite I worked up during our last winter Whole30 – Chicken Bacon Ranch Spaghetti Squash Casserole!
If you pack a few more veggies in there and get the flavors just right, it doesn’t really feel like you’re missing the rice at all. We LOVE this bottled dressing from Primal Kitchens!! We also tried and really enjoyed this Chicken Veggie Stir Fry With Garlic Sauce from Paleo Running Momma. If you enjoy Chinese takeout, you’ll enjoy this one!! Also works well as leftovers for lunch!
Hope this round up of our Top 10 Favorite Whole30 Dinner Recipes gives you some inspiration for your next Whole30! I know I’m going to be referring back to this list when we do future rounds. Have you tried any of these? Have a favorite? Let me know below!!
This Whole30 & Paleo meal prep recipe is a quick and easy addition to your lunch rotation! These Ginger Ground Beef Bowls are packed with carrots, bell peppers, cauliflower rice, grass-fed ground beef, and a simple sauce to pull it all together. Gluten free, dairy free and done in 30 minutes!
Jump to Recipe
…
