Did you know that Microsoft Office isn't just for businesses? This suite of programs makes it super easy to streamline essential household tasks, and now comes in a Personal version that is not only affordable, you can access it both at home and on the go. In short, you can take all of your organizational documents with you where ever you go!
One of the things I have been missing in my life is a proper meal planning template to use as I plan our meals each week. I wanted something that was easy to use, easy to access from on the go, and easy to reuse my favorite recipes.
OneNote was a great option for me to create my meal planning template!
The meal plan has 2 sections, a weekly calendar section and a recipe section. OneNote is an amazing tool because you can add links to your recipe section or add external links to open a recipe from the web. Within the calendar section is a grocery list page. You can open OneNote on your mobile phone and actually check off the items as you shop.
OneNote is a fantastic tool for anything you want to keep track of. You can even insert excel spreadsheets into a OneNote Notebook, "print" just about anything into a OneNote page and create an entire virtual noteboook that is organized and always at your fingertips.
OneNote on mobile devices
Your Office 365 Personal subscription allows you to use OneNote on one PC and one iPad. You also can use OneNote on any number of smartphones for free.
Check out my meal planning template on my iPad. You have full functionality with OneNote for iPad. You can create and edit your notebooks, adds pages, sections and more.
Check out my meal planning template on my iPhone. On the iPhone you can view notebooks that have been created on your PC or iPad.
Download the meal planning template for OneNote
Get my Meal planning template for OneNote
To add the template to OneNote, simply download the file to your computer, and double click on it. It will begin to import into OneNote.
Dianna
The link will not work for me. I have One note but it says that is not an app it can be downloaded to.
730 Sage Street
Download the .onepkg, then load in One note. Click the link, let it load, click download. Continue to load in One Note.
Angie
Hi, May I know if the meal planning template still available for download?
730 Sage Street
Hi Angie, I updated the meal planner link and it should work now!
Amy
Thank you so much for this! What a helpful tool!
Julee
Thank you for this. I was looking for something easy to put either into Excel or OneNote. I could have made one on my own, but I was not in the mood to do my own. Thanks!
Darlene
I was so excited to use this but it won't load into my onenote 🙁 Thanks for the idea. I will have to see if I can create something myself.
Kim
Oh, I'm sorry, maybe it's because it was created on an older version. I'll have to see if I can update it to the current version.
Wendy
I was searching for meal planning ideas and found a site where you had to pay for the program. I thought, I bet this can be done in One Note, so I did a search and found this. I have already copied a recipe and made a link to it on my meal plan. Thank you so much.
Kim
I'm glad it's working for you!
Nicole
Hi there! I am so excited to use this resource, but cannot open it in MAC. Please advise. Thank you.
Haydee
Hi,
This seems very very helpful, but I just can't access it on my Mac. I was wondering if you knew how to..
Kristina
Has anyone had a problem with getting the file to unpack? When I open it in one note, it has a pop up that says "unpacking..." and it gets pretty far but then just seems to stall after a while & never opens.
Just checking to see if anyone else may have had this issue..
Robyn
This looks so awesome. I have one note, however when I downloaded the template it won't open with the program?
Kimberly Grabinski
Do you maybe have an older version?
RobYn
No I just downloaded when I saw your template. However I am using a Mac not a pc.
Kimberly Grabinski
hmmm I suppose that could be the problem. I did mine on PC.
emily
Wow! Thank you! You're awesome to have included such great instructions. I just downloaded. I'm not new to Onenote, but I'm not too saavy with it either. This looks like it will be easy for me.
Jill Radke
I downloaded the file just fine, but when I tried to open it, the error message said it's from an older version of OneNote and cannot be opened. What version is it from? I use 2007.
Jill Radke
Ok, I'm an idiot. 🙂 The entire post is about what version.. duh. Is there any way you could convert it to 2007 for me? thanks!
Kimberly Grabinski
That's odd, it doesn't give me the option to save it as a different version.
Valli
Hi Kim
All you need to do is open the notebook properties and convert to 2007 to convert it back to an older version, even I am having a version problem 🙁
http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/15558/share-onenote-2010-notebooks-with-onenote-2007/
Thanks
Summer
I need to give this a try, I use OneNote for everything else including recipes. I just can't seem to make menu planning stick, maybe this will help since OneNote is already integrated in my daily routines!
Sara P. (@SensiblySara)
I have Office365 and OneNote but I haven't adequately played with either of them. I do LOVE OneNote for note-taking!
Ashley - Embracing Beauty
Wow, that is so handy!!! I love preparing meals a head of time. If I don't we always order take out and I really hate that!
Robin {Mom Foodie}
I am anti-meal plan (no reason other than I want what I want when I want it, and what I want is a frequently changing thing.. from minute to minute...lol) This would come in really handy for other organizing though. I've been thinking about either buying it or getting it through Godaddy
Liz Mays
That's so much easier than I thought it would be. Thanks for the run through!
Mandi
Oh that is neat! This reminded me that I need to actually write out our menu for this week before I forget what I was planning! LOL
trisha
I have this version and I love all the diff template options!! I was surprised how many they really had when I was in there one day messing around. You can also google some that work.
StacieinAtlanta
OVer the past couple of months, we have been making a real effort to put more planning into our meals. This is so much more organized than my pencil and paper mess! Thanks for sharing!
Shell Feis
Wow OneNote has a ton of features! I could see myself wasting way too much time playing with that. Thanks for the template!
Michelle
Yep, I downloaded! I need to meal plan better!
Sarah @ Must Have Mom
Wow, so glad to have come across this! I could definitely use it. Thank you for sharing.
Audrey at Barking Mad!
I have OneNote but have never used it. This makes me want to give it a try because more than anything, we need to plan out our meals. Things are way to haphazard around here and that causes our grocery bill to skyrocket. Thanks for the free template because it's something I'm definitely going to use, and hopefully OFTEN!
Virginia @thatbaldchick
I love that you can do your shopping lists in it, too.
Andrea Kruse
Despite having Office 365, I haven't really played around with it. I would have never thought to use it in this way. Thanks for sharing.
Jennifer H
I WANT to meal plan. This may help me do that!
Lynsey @MoscatoMom
Ohhh love it! I have wondered about OneNote!
[email protected]
I really need to work on being better at meal planning. This is totally awesome! Definitely need to check it out!
Mel {MamaBuzz}
Oh wow, this is so handy! I love that you can use it on any number of smartphones; that means I could share it with my husband, so he'd know what's up for meals too. And love that you can link to recipes! I'm always hunting down the recipes for certain meals I put on the menu.
Tonya
I hate meal planning- so I rarely take the time to do it but when I do our meals improve and I find it easier to stick to a budget.
Mel
I totally need to plan our meals. I'll check this out - thanks for sharing!
Nichol
I've used OneNote for about a year now. It is such a handy program to have and to stay organized. I once had a million sites bookmarked now recipes I make and like I add to it.
Kay M.
This is something I will definitely use! I'm going to work on this today.
Robin (Masshole Mommy)
I don't meal plan...sigh. I know I need to start, but I am a "throw it together last minute" kind of mom.