How to Use Blank Meal Plans

With blank meal plans, you are in control of the recipes that get scheduled each week.  The Planner view allows you to see your entire meal plan and quickly schedule recipes all in one place.  We've added a smaller version of the recipe box on the left side of the meal planner to make it easier to add recipes to your plan. 

 

Blank Meal Plans

1. This area is part of the Recipe Box. You can use the filters in this area to search the Recipe Box to find recipes that meet your needs. To view recipes that meet your current dietary setting, toggle "Show recipes within my diet" to on (green). To view all recipes, even those that do not meet your dietary settings, toggle this to off.  
2. This area provides the list of recipes in the Recipe Box that meet your search criteria. You can click on a recipe to view the recipe or drag it to the meal plan to add it to your current plan.
3. The current week of the meal plan is indicated here.  You can change between weeks as needed.
   • Use the arrows to view other weeks 
   • Navigate forward to see the 3 future weeks
   • Navigate backward to view past weeks
   • Click the calendar to move to a specific week quickly
4. The days of the week are provided here. 
   • If you have a Whole30 meal plan set up, each day of your Whole30 is also indicated in this box.
     
5. The rows below the day of the week are for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, respectively
   • If you are tracking macros, another row will appear at the bottom of each day that will show the macro counts for the day 
6. All of the available actions for your blank meal plan are located in this area.  Click on View Shopping List in order to view the Shopping List for that meal plan, or click the drop down arrow to view all of the available actions.

Available actions

• View timeline allows you to view the timeline for the week to help you remember when to cook, defrost ingredients, start a slow cooker, etc.
• View your pantry allows you to make adjustments to your pantry settings to help you search for recipes based on ingredients you have on hand - click here for details
• View macro tracker - if you have the macro tracker add-on subscription, this link allows you to access the macro tracker so that you can make any adjustments needed
• Print this plan allows you to print the current meal plan - click here for details
• Clear this plan will remove all of the recipes and notes for the current week, leaving you with a blank meal plan. Note: this action cannot be undone
• Copy this plan allows you to create a copy of the current meal plan that you can schedule for a future week

Navigating the Recipe Box

• Browse through the recipes in the Recipe Box that is located next to the scheduled recipes
  • To view only the recipes that meet your specified dietary restrictions, be sure the Show recipes within my diet toggle is on (green)
  • Navigate through all pages of the recipes using the menu at the bottom
• Leave the search box blank and search using only the available filters on the left side of the screen
  • Click on any of the filters to expand the list of options
• Type the name of an ingredient or recipe in the search box
  • Then add filters to narrow your search
  • For additional information on using the filters in the Recipe Box, click here
• To add a recipe from the Recipe Box, click on the recipe and drag it to the meal time for which you would like to schedule it during the week

Move a recipe on the plan

• Click and hold on a recipe while you move it to a different meal and/or day
• Select Move this recipe

Delete a recipe from the plan

• To remove a recipe from your week, click the X for that meal and it will remove it from that week's meal plan

Accessing other functions

Click on the ... within a meal time to access additional features associated with planning, including: 

• • Add recipe - use the add recipe tool to browse through recipes
  • Add note - add a note to your planner that will appear in the meal time that week
  • Add ingredient - add an ingredient to your meal plan; will also add it to your shopping list
  • Remove meal - removes the scheduled entree and any side dishes from the meal time
  • Move meal - moves the scheduled entree and any side dishes to another meal time that you can select
  • Copy meal - copies the scheduled entree and any side dishes to another selected day
  • Add leftover - allows you to add a leftover to the selected meal time 

 

If you need assistance, please send us an email at support(at)realplans.com.