How to Plan Meals for the Week

Planning your meals for the week doesn’t have to mean spending hours searching for recipes, writing shopping lists and trying to work out what everyone in the household wants to eat.

A simple weekly meal plan can help you decide what to cook, control your grocery spending and make your supermarket shop much easier.

With WiseList, you can create a personalised meal plan based on the days you want to cook, the meals you need, your household size, dietary preferences and weekly budget.

Even better, your meal plan can connect directly with your Grocery List, Saved Recipes, Pantry List and Fridge List.

Why Plan Your Meals for the Week?

Without a meal plan, dinner can become a daily question:

“What are we having tonight?”

This can lead to:

  • Last-minute takeaway
  • Unnecessary supermarket trips
  • Buying ingredients you already have
  • Food going unused
  • Overspending on groceries
  • Spending too much time deciding what to cook

Meal planning gives you a simple answer before the week even begins.

How to Create a Weekly Meal Plan

Step 1: Choose Where Your Meals Come From

With WiseList, you don’t have to start from scratch.

You can build your meal plan using:

  • Your Saved Recipes
  • Ingredients already in your My Pantry
  • Ingredients already in your My Fridge
  • Supermarket specials
  • Recipe suggestions

You can even choose to use ingredients already in your kitchen first.

Step 2: Choose Your Days

Decide which days you want to plan.

You might plan:

  • Monday to Friday
  • Monday to Sunday
  • Tuesday to Friday
  • Just three days

You don’t have to plan every day of the week.

Step 3: Choose Your Meals

Select which meals you want to plan:

  • Breakfast
  • Lunch
  • Dinner
  • Breakfast, lunch and dinner
  • Snacks

This means you can create a plan that actually fits your lifestyle.

Step 4: Tell WiseList Who You’re Cooking For

Choose how many people you’re cooking for.

Whether you’re cooking for one person, two people or the whole household, WiseList can use this information when creating your meal plan.

Step 5: Set Your Preferences

You can also choose your preferred cuisine style and set your weekly grocery budget.

Your budget helps guide the meal suggestions so your plan is more realistic for your household.

Turn Your Meal Plan Into a Grocery List

This is where meal planning becomes much easier. Once you’ve selected your meals, WiseList can turn the ingredients you need into a Grocery List.

Already have an ingredient? WiseList can take your My Pantry and My Fridge into account so you don’t unnecessarily buy something you already have.

Need something you don’t have? It can be added to your shopping list.

Plan Meals Around What You Already Have

One of the easiest ways to save money is to use the food you’ve already purchased.

Your My Pantry and My Fridge can help you see what ingredients you already have available.

You can also use Use It Up to find recipes based on ingredients that are approaching their expiry date.

Instead of buying more food, you can build meals around what needs to be used first.

Meal Planning Can Save You Money

A meal plan can help reduce impulse purchases and unnecessary grocery trips. You can also combine your meal plan with Scan & Compare to compare supermarket prices before you shop.

This means your journey can look like:

Meal Plan → Grocery List → Compare Prices → Shop → Pantry & Fridge

Make Meal Planning Part of Your Weekly Routine

You don’t need to spend hours planning. Choose a day each week to create your meal plan, check what you already have and build your shopping list. Once your plan is ready, the rest of the week becomes much easier.

Start Planning Your Week

Ready to stop wondering what you’re going to cook every night? Try WiseList’s Meal Planner to create a personalised weekly meal plan based on your household, preferences and budget.