Are you ready to finally get on top of meal planning? Then the 52 Week Meal Planner by Jessica Levinson, MS, RD, CDN is your answer.

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Disclosure: I received a copy of the 52 Week Meal Planner: The Complete Guide to Planning Menus, Groceries, Recipes, and More. All opinions are my own.

You guys, I’m so excited for the 52 Week Meal Planner, created by a fellow dietitian, recipe developer, blogger, and mom, Jessica Levinson, MS, RD, CDN. As a lover of any and all planners, I view this as the perfect tool to help me prepare for the week ahead.

Without wanting to give too much away too soon, I can honestly say that this book has inspired me to consider creating a meal planner style book of my own. I have already started doing some research into amazon self publishing and have a few ideas that I think could work. Watch this space. Who knows, my very own book could be in your hands very soon…

For now though, let me review the 52 Week Meal Planner: The Complete Guide to Planning Menus, Groceries, Recipes, and More.

Why Meal Plan?

You probably know why you should meal plan, but in case you need a reminder, the key points are that it will help you:

• save time and money,
• reduce stress,
• and eat healthier!

How to Meal Plan

Meal planning is not easy. But having a good system in place will help streamline the process and make it easier. Before you know it, you’ve created a new weekly habit–one that you may actually look forward to. Perhaps it entails sitting down every Sunday morning with your meal planning book, latte or green smoothie, and various recipe ideas (from cookbooks, the internet, magazines, a list of your family’s favorite meals, etc.). Or maybe you shop on Fridays, so on Thursday night, you sit down with a glass of wine or kombucha mocktail and your planner.

Of course, as I’ve said before, not everyone wants to plan a whole week at once, and that’s ok. You still get benefits from planning 3 days at a time. You could even plan out every day each morning if you prefer. The key is having some kind of plan before 5 pm rolls around! And the more you can plan at once, the more time you will save in the week.

Need help deciding what recipes to make each night? Narrow it down by designating theme nights (e.g., Meatless Mondays and Taco Tuesdays).

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Why I Love Jessica’s 52 Week Meal Planning Book

So what’s so cool about Jessica’s planner? Here are some of my favorite aspects:

1. Like any planner, it’s portable! So you can tote it around with you. Bring it to Starbucks to fill out. Bring it to the grocery store. Keep it in the kitchen to take notes.
2. You can make notes on which recipes were a hit or any changes that you made and then refer back to them when planning subsequent weeks.
3. Feeling lazy or short on time? You can just reuse one of your previous weeks that worked well — the history is right there at your fingertips for you to look back at. (Before you know it you will have a whole year’s worth of meal plans!)
4. While I love my printable meal planning templates, I love this even more since the worksheets are already printed and ready to fill in! (This removes the hassle of printing more or running out of printer ink!)
5. There is ample room to write and plan. (Pure bliss for a pen and paper girl like me!) (And perhaps a reason to get some new colored pens or sharp #2 pencils!)
6. Plus it contains excellent meal planning, nutrition, and family eating tips.

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Finally, did I mention the author, Jessica, is a meal planning wiz? Seriously, if you ever need ideas, check out her the meal planning section on her website: Meal Plan Monday, which includes tons of family-friendly weekly meal plans.

So go ahead and order this book, won’t be disappointed!

Images from 52-Week Meal Planner: The Complete Guide to Planning Menus, Groceries, Recipes, and More, published by Rockridge Press. Copyright © 2018 by Jessica Levinson.

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