The Seven Day Solo Meal Planner on Google Sheets.

Ready to start putting yummy plans into place?  O.f.O.'s got you covered! 

Here's an overview of the Seven Day Solo Meal Planner on Google Sheets, and how it works with free recipe box building on Google Keep, Docs, or Apple Notes.  

Planning for one is less work and more fun!

The Seven Day Solo Meal Planner was designed to advance solo kitchen economics.  A free Google account is all that's required to start planning with a tablet (my preference), laptop, desktop, or phone.  

The planner is shareable, and may be used (but not shared) offline.

While decidedly guided, a quick tour is all it takes to master this fun & functional planner. 

Here's what's in the layout:

Plan & Shop page:

• Eleven Steps to Plan & Prep checklist (serves as a guide).
• Sliding Mix & Match Scratch Pad aligns with Recipes column for coordinating perishables across each week's recipes.
• Meal plan shopping list area with auto-adding servings counter, ingredient cost counter, and prep minutes counter.
• Timely Recipes Washi for coding FRESH & FAST, SKIPPABLE, and PACK TO GO recipes.
• Stock-ups shopping list area with auto-adding cost counter.
• Freezer Tracker.
• Kitchen Inventory Image Gallery.
• Location Reminders for Store Specific Stock-ups notepad.
• Shopping/Pickup/Delivery Itinerary notepad.
• Easy Options for Fast Food Anytime notepad.
• Recipe Ideas for Next Week's Plan notepad.
• Blank notepads for notes.

Task & Track page:

• Seasonings Sorter.
• Task Sticker-Gif Gallery featuring some of O.f.O.'s Procreate made washi, stickers and gifs for matching tasks.

Tasklist:

• Recipe titles (auto-migrated from the Plan & Shop page).
• Timely Recipes Washi.
• "How many Times?" fields for planned recipe repeats.
•  Prep Ahead Task fields with check boxes.
• Finishing Touch Task fields with check boxes.
• Single Serve Recipe Repeats checkboxes. 
• Leftover Perishables notepad (entries auto-migrate to the bottom section of the Plan & Shop page's Mix & Match Scratch Pad).

Five Week Kitchen Time Tracker:

• Days-of-the-week are set on the Time Tracker, and auto-migrate to the Budget Page and Meal Tracker page.
• Dates-of-the-month are set on the Time Tracker, and auto-migrate to the Budget page.
• Recurring weekly timeline targets are set and tracked with washi/ stickers/notes and checkboxes on the Tracker.

Meal Tracker page:

Meal scheduling is not part of O.f.O.'s flexible, buffet style method.  However, in the spirit of "To each her own"...

A checkbox fortified meal planner/tracker page is included to suit those who prefer a more structured planning style.

The meal tracker (or any tab) may be hidden from view by selecting "Hide sheet" from the meal tracker tab's dropdown menu.  To restore a hidden sheet, select "Hidden sheets" from Sheets' View menu.

Budget page:

• Seven Day Food Receipt Calculator.
• Five Week Monthly Food Receipt Calculator.
• Five Week Monthly Food Budget Balancer.
• Five Week Monthly Kitchen Time Calculator (for logging each week's auto-added prep time total).
• 12 month totals chart for tracking prep time, budgets, and receipts.
• Auto-generated Seven Day Recipe Cost Recap chart (works with or without the Recipe Cost Calculator).
• Receipt Gallery with long, vertical notepads (image landing pads) for displaying paper/digital receipt pics. 
• Blank notepads for notes.

Cost Calculator page:

• Recipe Cost Calculator for pricing recipe and serving costs.
• Bulk Ingredient Cost Calculator for pricing ingredients in common units of measure for recipes (like tsp. or cup).  Ingredient prices are tracked per brand and retail location.

Try & Buy page:

• Eleven category notepad.
• Kitchen Inspiration Image Board.
• Recipe Link Library. 

Stickers page:

• Food and task stickers can accompany or replace text on the Tasklist, Time Tracker, and Meal Tracker pages.
• Timely Recipe Washi confirm flexible, convenient meal plans.
• Timeline target washi and stickers pinpoint recurring weekly progress targets.
• Fun recipe category & kitchen economy character stickers encourage well rounded planning.
• DIY stickers are fun and easy to create from personal pics or Google Images.
• Beyond stickers, Google's menu of fun emojis are available.

A step-by-step system that's so comprehensive, better kitchen economy comes naturally.

Why not use the Seven Day Solo Meal Planner to plan, brainstorm, budget, shop, track, and keep recipe links?  

• Empty rows can be neatly hidden during shopping in all four grocery store zones.  This alleviates scrolling, for a condensed view.
• Trackers can display a detailed overview of progress, for easy analysis and clear accountability.
• Functional stickers add planning power.
• The Inventory Image Gallery can display home inventory during shopping.
• The Try & Buy page's Recipe Link Library can hold ideas for fun recipes beyond one's recipe box.
• Ingredient cost fields may be filled to display a running subtotal during shopping.  
• The planner can be used offline.
• The Recipe Cost Calculator and Bulk Ingredient Cost Calculator can track spending more closely.
• Notepads & galleries can keep bright ideas from fading away.

Why use Notes, Keep or Docs as a free recipe box instead of Sheets or Excel?

In my opinion, they work better!

Spreadsheets are powerful, but when it comes to building a box, automatically searchable, click-and-capture recipe keeping with note taking apps or Docs couldn't be easier, including handwritten recipes.

Keep, Notes and Docs all make excellent digital recipe boxes.

Beyond Apple & Google's free tools, there's a world of note taking apps that also work really well.

Just start a collection, then watch it grow!  Pin or file each week's recipes for easy reference. 

Is auto-updating ingredient inventory management with a spreadsheet worth it?

In my opinion, not really!  Referring to home inventory is a natural part of the planning process, but good kitchen organization makes image-based inventory record keeping easy and accurate enough to forego spreadsheet management.  

Here are five steps for set up:

1. Enter the current month on the Task & Track page's Kitchen Time Tracker.
2. Decide on a routine weekly shopping day, then refer to a calendar to find the date of the month's first shopping day.
3. Enter the month's first shopping day and date on the Tracker.
4. Enter the remaining days-of-the-week and days-of-the-month, downward on the Tracker.  To autofill dates, drag downward from the month's first shopping date (from the bottom-right corner of the cell) all the way to the bottom of the Tracker.
5. Set recurring timeline targets on all five weeks of the Tracker for Section 1 completion (near midweek) and Section 2 completion (near week's end).

Before reusing your planner each week:

• Clear text fields for reuse.
• Leave the Task & Track page's Leftover Perishables notes in place until leftovers are utilized.
• Individually uncheck check boxes for reuse.

Love planning on paper?

What's not to love?  Paper planning is easy on the eyes, pleasing to the touch, stimulates creative thought, and supports memory recall.  Still, the power of digital planning can't be denied, even when used solely as backup.

Consider hybrid planning!

• Capture searchable images of paper recipes in Keep, Docs, or Notes.
• Quickly add links to the Recipe Link Library, then refer to the Library to create recipe cards when it's convenient.
• Access recipes on cards at home or on a device while out.
• Plan and cook without a screen using a paper planner and cards.
• Plan on the go.
• Pre-plan with your digital planner when your paper planner is not with you.
• Back-plan on paper utilizing digital references.
• Reference the digital Seasonings Sorter, Freezer Tracker, and Kitchen Inventory Image Gallery while shopping.
• Use your digital planner to calculate a running total during shopping.
• Keep and repeat memorable meal plans from your paper planner.

Here's to laying down pretty plans, capturing kitchen inspiration, and making delicious decisions!