Numbers Template for Meal Planning

Update: FYI, these files are now offered as in the ZIP format so that they will download without incident. Just decompress them when you finish the download. Please remember that these files are free for noncommercial use only.

Sorry for Friday's missing post! I spent most of the night before in the Atlanta airport waiting for my massively delayed flight, and I then spent Friday running around preparing for a nine-hour car trip on Saturday. I meant to get ahead, but even the best of intentions . . .

Today, I have a spreadsheet template for meal planning. This template works with Apple Numbers, part of the iWork suite. I've been using Numbers primarily for meal planning since September 2007, and it offers plenty of organizing power and flexibility for my needs.

I've created a new template that, in my opinion, improves on what I'd been using before (for a picture of that, see the entry Setting Up Your Meal Planner). Here, you have rows for each part of a balanced meal, as well as space for notes and meal reviews.

Each month is a separate worksheet within the same document. I also threw in one worksheet with tables for collecting names and sources for your favorite recipes. Lists help when you need a little extra inspiration on planning day.

I tried exporting the document to the standard Excel format, but unfortunately it's causing Numbers to crash with each attempt. I will have to build from scratch for Excel, it seems. Look for that version soon.

I'll be using this workbook myself once I start cooking again in September, after all the family visits are over. I'm looking forward to test-driving the new system myself.

Download the Numbers meal-planning template.

Download the original Numbers document (not saved as a template).

To learn more about meal planning, check out the previous posts Templates for Meal Planning, Setting Up Your Meal Planner, and Discover Meal Planning.

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