The 7 × 3 grid has room for 21 meals; it does not require you to cook that many. The templates below plan 12 each and leave the rest open, and every meal carries the number of people it feeds, so the grocery list comes out right.

12 of 21meals planned in each template; 9 left open

5–6recipes per week; most are cooked twice or eaten twice

22–33lines on the finished grocery list, sorted by aisle

Template 1: the family week

Five everyday recipes, planned for 2 to 6 people at a time. Thursday's pasta is for 6; breakfast is planned on three weekday mornings only.

Day	Breakfast	Lunch	Dinner
Monday	Overnight oats · 2	—	Tomato pasta · 4
Tuesday	—	Red lentil soup · 2	Chicken rice bowl · 4
Wednesday	Overnight oats · 2	Red lentil soup · 2	Garden omelette · 2
Thursday	—	—	Tomato pasta · 6
Friday	Overnight oats · 2	—	Chicken rice bowl · 4
Saturday	—	Garden omelette · 2	—
Sunday	—	—	Red lentil soup · 4

Servings planned: 36. Grocery list: 26 lines, 3 of them rounded up to whole items. Open the family week in the planner.

Template 2: the vegetarian week

Six meat-free recipes. The curry and the risotto each come back as a smaller lunch later in the week; weekend breakfasts are pancakes.

Day	Breakfast	Lunch	Dinner
Monday	—	—	Chickpea curry · 4
Tuesday	—	Greek salad · 2	Veggie tacos · 4
Wednesday	—	—	Mushroom risotto · 4
Thursday	—	Chickpea curry · 2	Greek salad · 2
Friday	—	—	Margherita pizza · 4
Saturday	Banana pancakes · 4	—	Veggie tacos · 4
Sunday	Banana pancakes · 2	Mushroom risotto · 2	Margherita pizza · 2

The vegetarian example week in Mintquiet: chickpea curry, veggie tacos, mushroom risotto, Greek salad, banana pancakes and margherita pizza across seven days. — The vegetarian week in the planner. Each card is one meal with its own servings; empty slots stay open.

Servings planned: 36. Grocery list: 33 lines. It's the longest of the three lists, and most of the difference is fresh produce: 12 produce lines against 7 in the family week. Open the vegetarian week.

Template 3: cook once, eat twice

Fewer cooking sessions, bigger pots. An eight-serving chili is cooked on Tuesday and eaten again on Wednesday and Friday; chicken noodle soup is planned on Tuesday, Wednesday and Sunday, and roast chicken on Monday and Saturday.

Day	Breakfast	Lunch	Dinner
Monday	Yogurt and granola · 2	—	Roast chicken and vegetables · 4
Tuesday	—	Chicken noodle soup · 2	Big-batch chili · 4
Wednesday	Yogurt and granola · 2	Big-batch chili · 2	Chicken noodle soup · 2
Thursday	—	—	Burrito bowls · 4
Friday	Yogurt and granola · 2	Big-batch chili · 2	—
Saturday	—	—	Roast chicken and vegetables · 4
Sunday	—	Chicken noodle soup · 2	—

The cook-once week: big-batch chili on Tuesday comes back for lunch on Wednesday and Friday; chicken noodle soup appears on Tuesday, Wednesday and Sunday. — The cook-once week. Chili and soup appear on several days; the servings on each card are quantities to shop for; cooking dates and storage are your decisions.

Servings planned: 32. Grocery list: 22 lines, the shortest of the three; none needs rounding because every item bought by count scales to a whole number. Leftovers have a time limit, though: the leftovers guide checks this week against FSIS refrigerator guidance and shows why Sunday's soup has to be a second pot. Open the cook-once week.

How to adapt a template to your week

Swap recipes, keep the repeats. Replace a dinner with something you cook, but plan some recipes more than once. Repeating a recipe is what keeps the list short.
Set servings per meal, not per recipe. A recipe for 4 eaten by 2 at lunch is a different shopping amount from the same recipe at dinner for 6. The planner multiplies each meal separately.
Leave gaps. If a slot would be "something from the freezer", leave it empty instead of inventing a recipe.
Save the weeks that worked. A week you liked can be saved as a menu and brought back in one tap.

Saved menus in Mintquiet: "Family week" and "Meat-free week", each with its dishes, meal count and a "Use this menu" button. — Saved menus: the family week and a meat-free week, ready to reuse. Using a menu replaces the week; your recipes stay.

Printing the template

Each template prints as two pages: the menu for the fridge door and the grocery list for the store, A4 or US Letter. The menu page lists every day with the meal and the number of servings; the list page groups items by aisle with tick boxes. For a pen-and-paper start, download the blank A4 or Letter PDF above. To print a filled example, open it in the planner and choose Print / PDF.

The printed shopping list for the family week: two columns of tick boxes grouped by aisle, with the amount to buy on the right. — The printed grocery list for the family week, grouped by aisle with tick boxes.

Questions

How many meals should a weekly meal plan include?

Plan the meals you will actually cook. The three templates here plan 12 and leave the other 9 slots open.

What is the best weekly meal plan template with a grocery list?

One where each meal has its own servings and the list is built from the plan. Then the amounts on the list match what you cook, not a fixed recipe size.

Can I print a weekly meal plan?

Yes. Mintquiet prints the menu and the grocery list on one page each, in A4 or US Letter.

Do I need an account to use these templates?

No. The templates open in the planner without signing up, and your changes are saved in your browser.

Sources

Mintquiet example weeks, run through the planner's own list code — meals, servings and list lines for each template