Why plan the week?
Deciding "what's for dinner?" every day is tiring, and shopping without a plan wastes both money and food. Plan the week once and you shop once, leftovers have a purpose, and the whole household knows what's coming.
Tips for a good plan
- Balance the week: two or three days of daal or vegetables, two of chicken, one of meat or fish, and one day of something different, like a Turkish or Arabic meal.
- Cook once, eat twice: Sunday's qorma or daal works for Monday's lunch; leftover rice becomes lemon rice the next day.
- Keep weekdays quick: tick "Quick on weekdays" so suggestions for Monday to Friday take 45 minutes or less.
- One-tap shopping: the week's ingredients are combined and scaled to your household into one list.
- School lunches: switch to "School lunches" to plan one lunch box for each day from Monday to Friday, chosen only from recipes that travel well, with shopping scaled to the number of children. It's saved separately from your family plan. See our school lunch box collection for packing tips.
On a budget? See our guide to cheap meals. For special occasions, browse our collections.