Meal planner
A meal planner lays out a week of meals so you decide once. Paper planners had a median of A$14.99 on Amazon AU in October 2026, and Eat This Much starts at A$13.99.
Most people do not fail at eating well, they fail at 6pm with no plan. A good meal planner moves the decision to Sunday. Below is a method with the arithmetic done, what planners cost, and the honest state of what the Daily Journal does today: it logs what you ate, and a planner is on the list.
- A week of meals worked out in kcal and protein
- Prices of an app and of paper planners, read in October 2026
- A free printable planner while the app planner is built
- Free to start, private by default, no card
What a meal planner does, and where ours is up to
A meal planner is a calendar for food. You choose meals for the coming days, the planner turns them into a shopping list, and ideally it checks the week against a calorie or protein target. The saving is mental as much as money: one planning session replaces seven small decisions made when you are tired and hungry.
The Daily Journal does not have a meal plan builder yet. What it has today is the other half: the Food page, where you type what you ate and see the day's calories and nutrients, and Plan, where you can put a task such as cook the lasagne on a day. We are telling you that up front, because the planner is a feature we will build in the order sign-ups ask for it.
What is included
- A Food page that logs the week's meals and nutrients
- Plan for tasks and reminders such as shop on Saturday
- A free printable meal planner today
- Your vote on the planner, counted when you sign up
Who it is for
- People who want one decision a week instead of seven
- Households trying to cut food waste and last minute takeaway
- Anyone who has tried a planner app and found it too much
- People who like to log what they ate against a plan
Plan a week with the arithmetic done
Start from a daily energy target. For a 35 year old woman, 165 cm and 68 kg, with light activity, our calculators give about 1,900 kcal to keep her weight. Over a week that is 13,300 kcal to spread across 21 main meals and some snacks. For the same woman the national reference protein amount is about 51 g a day, or 357 g a week, and a commonly used higher figure for people who train is 1.6 g per kg, about 109 g a day.
The split below is one sensible way to carve the day. It is an example, not a prescription, and you should change the shares to suit your life. The calorie calculator and protein calculator give your own numbers.
| Meal | Share of the day | Energy at 1,900 kcal | Protein at 51 g |
|---|---|---|---|
| Breakfast | 25 percent | 475 kcal | about 13 g |
| Lunch | 30 percent | 570 kcal | about 15 g |
| Dinner | 35 percent | 665 kcal | about 18 g |
| Snacks | 10 percent | 190 kcal | about 5 g |
| Whole day | 100 percent | 1,900 kcal | 51 g |
Worked on 23 October 2026 with the formulas on our calculator pages. Estimates for a healthy adult, not personal advice.
A planning session that takes twenty minutes
This works with any tool, paper or app. The order matters more than the software.
- 1Look at the week first
Mark the nights you are out, working late or cooking for others. Plan around the week you really have.
- 2Choose the dinners
Pick three to four dinners, not seven. Plan to cook once and eat twice so one dinner covers a lunch.
- 3Fix breakfast and lunch
Most people eat the same two or three breakfasts. Decide them once and stop thinking about them.
- 4Write one list
Group it by where you shop: fruit and veg, dairy, meat, pantry, freezer. Check the cupboard before you write the line.
- 5Log it as you go
Type what you actually ate on the Food page. Plans change, and the log shows the gap between plan and week without any judgement.
What is in the app today, and what is not
The position on 23 October 2026. A planner is not built yet, and we will not pretend otherwise.
| Feature | In the app today | What it is |
|---|---|---|
| Log what you ate with nutrients | Yes | Type foods and amounts on the Food page and see the day's totals. |
| Tasks and reminders on a calendar | Yes | Put shop and cook tasks on a day in Plan, and set a reminder. |
| Printable meal planner | Yes | A free meal planner printable is on this site. |
| Build a week of meals | Not yet | Not built. It is the feature this page is collecting votes for. |
| Shopping list from the plan | Not yet | Not built. See the grocery list app page. |
| Recipes and prices | Not yet | Not built. We will not add prices without a source we can name. |
Sign up to your own free journal
- Free to start, no card needed
- Private by default, and you choose who you share with
- Your account opens straight away, on your phone or computer
Free to start. Takes about a minute.
What meal planners cost, app and paper
The app prices were read on 20 October 2026 and the marketplace prices on 21 October 2026. Marketplace figures are a first page of results, so they describe what is listed, not all of the market.
| Planner | What we read | Read on |
|---|---|---|
| Eat This Much (app) | App Store AU in-app purchases: A$13.99 to A$129.99, several tiers and trials. | 20 Oct 2026 |
| Mealime (app) | Free app. No paid price on the page we read. | 20 Oct 2026 |
| Paper and fridge planners, Amazon AU | Median A$14.99, lowest A$5.02, highest A$569.99. Magnetic acrylic fridge planners were bought 50 to 100+ times a month at A$17.99 to A$21.99, rated 4.3 to 4.8 stars. | 21 Oct 2026 |
| Meal planner notepads, eBay AU | 632 results, median A$19.43 between A$10.69 and A$43.95. A clear acrylic magnetic board had 22 sold at A$26.90. | 21 Oct 2026 |
| Daily Journal | Free to start. No paid plan is set, and the planner is not built yet. | 23 Oct 2026 |
ChatGPT, asked on 22 October 2026 which meal planners people name, listed Mealime, Eat This Much, MealPrepPro, Paprika Recipe Manager and Plan to Eat. We have not read the prices of the last three.
Why people still buy a fridge board
A magnetic board at around A$18 to A$22 outsells most apps in our marketplace read for a simple reason: it sits where the decision happens. The fridge door is seen forty times a day, and a phone app is seen only when you open it.
That is a design lesson, not a reason to avoid an app. If we build the planner, it should surface the plan on your Home screen each morning and keep a printable version one tap away, so the plan lives where you look.
- Put the plan where you decide: fridge door, or the first screen of your phone
- Keep it to one page so a week is readable at a glance
- Write the shopping list from the plan, not before it
Plan this week, log it tonight
A free account opens in about a minute. The Food page is ready to log what you actually eat.
Sign up to your own free journal
- Free to start, no card needed
- Private by default, and you choose who you share with
- Your account opens straight away, on your phone or computer
Free to start. Takes about a minute.
Planning for weight, protein or budget
Different goals change the order you plan in. For weight, fix the daily energy first and fit meals under it, always above the floors of 1,200 kcal for women and 1,500 kcal for men that our calculators hold. For protein, anchor each main meal with a protein food and check the total against your amount. For budget, plan the dinners around the cheapest protein and vegetables you will actually eat.
Our macro split examples show three ways to divide a day, and how to calculate macros explains the sums. If your goal is a deficit, read what is a calorie deficit before you plan one.
Tools and guides to plan with
A free one page week to print and stick on the fridge.
→Calorie calculatorYour daily energy target to plan under.
→Protein calculatorYour protein amount to spread across meals.
→Macro calculatorGrams of protein, carbs and fat for a calorie target.
→Food diary printableA paper log to compare with your plan.
→How to read nutrition labelsCompare products on the shop shelf.
→Vote for the planner by signing up
Sign up free, pick Food as what you want to track, and your sign up tells us the meal planner matters to you.
Questions people ask
What is the best meal planner app?
It depends on whether you want recipes, shopping lists or calorie targets. Eat This Much and Mealime are the names ChatGPT gave us on 22 October 2026, and Mealime is free. Try a free tier before you pay for any of them.
Does the Daily Journal have a meal planner?
Not yet. It has a Food page that logs what you ate with nutrients, and Plan for tasks and reminders. The meal plan builder is not built, and signing up with Food chosen tells us it matters.
Is there a free meal planner?
Yes. Our meal planner printable is free, and Mealime is a free app in our 20 October 2026 read. Paper fridge boards cost from about A$5 in the marketplaces we read.
How do I plan meals for the week?
Look at the week first, choose three or four dinners, fix breakfast and lunch, then write one shopping list grouped by aisle. The steps above take about twenty minutes and work on paper or in an app.
How many calories should my meal plan add up to?
It depends on your age, height, weight, sex and activity. Use the calorie calculator for an estimate and stay above 1,200 kcal for women and 1,500 kcal for men.
How much protein should a meal plan include?
The national reference amount is 0.75 g per kg for women and 0.84 g per kg for men aged 19 to 70, so about 51 g for a 68 kg woman. The protein calculator shows yours.
How do I make a shopping list from a meal plan?
Write the meals, list every ingredient, subtract what you already have, then group the rest by where you shop. A list written from the plan is shorter than one written from memory.
How much does a meal planner cost?
From our reads, Eat This Much starts at A$13.99 in the App Store, Mealime is free, and paper planners on Amazon AU had a median of A$14.99. Prices change, so check before you buy.
Can I plan meals for weight loss?
Yes, by fixing a daily energy target first and fitting meals under it. A gentle deficit is usually about 300 to 550 kcal a day below your maintenance, never below the floors. See the deficit guide.
Can I use it for a family?
The Daily Journal logs one person's food, and you can share your journal with one person at a time. Family wide plans and shared lists are not built yet.
Who can see my food log?
Private by default. You can share with one person or a group and stop at any time. The people who run the app can see counts, such as how many days you wrote, but not what you wrote. If anyone is ever given access to read your entries, your Profile page says so. The privacy policy has the detail.
How much does the Daily Journal cost?
It is free to start and no paid plan is set. If one is added you will see the price before you pay.
Where these figures come from
- App prices: Eat This Much and Mealime, from their Australian App Store listings, read on 20 October 2026 and saved in our competitor file.
- Paper planner prices: Amazon AU and eBay AU first pages of public search results for meal planner, read on 21 October 2026 and saved in our marketplace file. Bought and sold counts are shown on some listings only, so they are a floor.
- Which apps people name: ChatGPT, asked on 22 October 2026. Names only, not a ranking.
- Energy and protein: formulas and reference amounts as coded in our calculators (Mifflin St Jeor 1990; NHMRC Nutrient Reference Values), worked on 23 October 2026.
- The meal shares in the table are an illustrative split we chose, not a recommendation from a source.
Updated 23 October 2026. A figure that was not read from a file is written as unknown. Prices change: check the supplier's own page before you rely on one. We are not affiliated with any app named here.
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