Meal planning in Notion - with full template!

SEE NEW + UPDATED VIDEO: • Meal Planning in Notio...
This is an overview of how to do your meal planning in Notion, complete with a template walk through, and some general best practices for those of you who might be new to this life changing habit! (I lied, this isn't a quick video, sorry!)
Old/free template from this video:
tinyurl.com/notionmealplanning
NEW for 2024:
tinyurl.com/foodhq
00:00​ Intro
0:25​​ The meal planning template + walkthrough
2:30 Recipes area
3:06 Creating a new Weekly Meal Plan
4:17 Relating recipes to groceries
6:20 Formatting text fields
9:07 Changing views of the weekly plan
10:13 Meal Planning Tips
///////////
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[@LeoHollyer]

This is great! I'm wondering if there is a way to generate the grocery list automatically. So once you choose a recipe the ingredients needed automatically get added to the grocery list.

[@MariePoulin]

There is now! Please see my most up to date video. Lots of notion improvements have made this process a lot easier :D

[@CassieWinter]

Love the simplicity of this, Marie! And thanks for sharing the template inside the Notion Mastery call last week. 😊

[@teoval]

Great template! Recently, I have checked a dozen meal-planning templates. I found this template most useful and comfortable and most answered my needs. Thank you Marie for sharing it :)

[@kelath5555]

This is totally amazing, thank you! I just got started with Notion. I was only going to use it to track a couple work projects. But now I'm really digging into it. I really needed a way to organize meals/ingredients/shopping lists and this made my jaw hit the ground. It's perfect!

[@tanyaswartz9401]

This is exactly what I’ve been looking for to use in my notion. This is amazing! Thank you ❤️

[@mjdjr04]

Hey!! Just an idea: I would recommend either putting an empty png image for each ingredient, etc. or if you could find a small circle png to make it look like a bullet point! So the empty page logo doesn’t show up!

[@julianpoma5051]

I love that you are sharing this great meal planning template. I give it five out of five stars it has been so easy to use and it has been so helpful for organizing my diet on a daily basis.

[@itschrishuerta]

HOLY SMOKES this is wonderful. We have a 1 year old and meal planning has been something that has helped us but has taken so much time and effort to actually do effectively. I started using notion to track recipes and easily bring them up but this is way more comprehensive and interconnected. Thank you!

[@Julchn]

just WOW!!! This is exactly what I always wanted to have. I didn't knew that you can make something like that in Notion. Thank you very much! ♥

[@quinnlb4412]

I really appreciate this update! every time I think of meal planning I think of your video from three years ago. I never used your template and half set up my own... but I'm coming back for yours, and it looks like you have an update! thanks!

[@slytherlily]

Oh my goodness thank you! I've been wanting to make a notion template for myself just like this one, but really haven't had the time or the mental energy to do so. THANK YOU so much. This is going to help me so much and I very much appreciate it.

[@AdeleMarieStewart3]

You're amazing!! This is so helpful. Taking me a while to figure out but it's literally such a useful tool.

[@Kamaltweet]

Thank you Marie. Really appreciate the notion template, explanation and the tips at the end.

[@luisafernino]

This makes me so happy! Thank you! Fun times ahead!

[@CourtneySpronk]

This is an amazing template!! Thank you so much for sharing.

[@just__abbi]

Wow! You are amazing for organizing this notion template and making it available for free! Thank you! This will be so helpful as I start the 75 hard challenge.

[@daliasuareztv]

I'm so greatful by your wonderful work, really thank you. In this moment I'm learning Notion so slow, and your template help me a lot to organize my meals!!!

[@rhirhiros3]

so glad I just found you I was amazed and so inspired by this!

[@mirthevanhoorn]

Great video! Recipes and meal planning was one of the first things I set up in my workspace. I've got a slightly different workflow but the key component are the same. Hooray for less food waste!

[@AdriannaContreras]

This was increcibly helpful, thank you so much. Your extra tips helped a lot as well and gave me some great ideas. i am looking forward to getting more organized in this area of my life.

[@celzalejandro]

It's here!!! Thank you Marie!

[@wesleyireland3900]

This is fantastic! Thank you so much for providing the template :)

[@joaoramos32]

This is gold. Awesome!

[@alysrtarr]

i love this template and using it has really helped me get to grips with rollups and relations. Thank you so much! I've customised it by adding a 'have?' property to my master grocery list and rolling it up in the recipes just as you've done for the need property. I've created a new formula property called 'Cookable?' which is set to true if I have all the ingredients for a recipe in my pantry/fridge, which means I have a very useful database view of things I can cook to use up what I already have!

[@RachelOber]

Another great video, Marie! Thank you for sharing your workflow for creating a weekly meal plan. I've been trying to start the habit of meal planning for years but my husband is the one who does the shopping & cooking so there is a bit of a mismatch on how the two of us work together. One day!

[@MariePoulin]

It has taken so long to figure out for us too, in a way that we regularly stick to! This so far has been the easiest and most enjoyable way to do it. And totally hear you - im trying to adapt to Ben's low card needs, but its haaaard lol

[@anissahassnahacene2972]

Thank you so much ! I am a strudent and actually trying to spend more time and money on groceries. I tend to buy too much stuff. This is exactly what I need ! Again THANK YOU !!

[@augustoleme]

This is amazing. Thank you so much.

[@21coolcat21]

Thanks very much for your work and for sharing!

[@tiisetsogama]

This is so awesome, thanks for sharing 👏🏽

[@dajeongko8410]

Thank you for your wonderful template!

[@theScott746]

This is really amazing, thanks you a lot🎉

[@joyferguson2581]

Thank you for sharing. I can’t wait to try it out. Need major help in the meal planning department. Also the vegan meals help because we are trying to go more plant based!

[@maiarapires7156]

love it! excited to use it, thank you :)))

[@daniyurie]

Noice! Time to improve my meal planning tables! Thanks for this! 😄

[@Skyora]

Thank you so much for this video and template. I have to change the way I eat because of my health and I've been struggling with learning how to plan. This was very helpful and the template is also great. I tired making one on my own but I couldn't figure it out. It felt clunky or like something was missing and now that I've seen yours, a lot was missing. Also, thanks for the tips at the end.

[@stinawernersson_]

Looks great! Thanks!

[@illialukianov2803]

OMG. This is just insanely ideal.

[@Miss_Lexisaurus]

oh this is awesome, thank you!

[@faheem91]

Really good implementation of Notion's database! 👍

[@BeingManal]

حبيييت مره شكراً يا عسل❤️ راح ابدأ نظام غذائي وكان نفسي بجدول شامل مثل كذا أكتب فيها وصفاتي ومنها أتابع أول بأول وكل شي مرتب.

[@Tarasik87]

this is great! I want to implement something similar for my workouts Thx Marie

[@GlobalEltorro]

Love this. Thanks for template.

[@samanthaeichele]

What a fantastic meal planning template for Notion! I have been searching far and wide to find a meal planner that suits my lifestyle and bless your beautiful heart, you've made the PERFECT one. Thank you so much for making this available for FREE! Also, I am going to be very inspired by some of these vegan and vegetarian recipes! I also am super impressed by your ability to simplify the intregration of all these databases. AH-MAZ-ING! :)

[@MariePoulin]

SO glad this was so useful for you, you made my day! :D

[@samanthaeichele]

@@MariePoulin you rock! love your great work :)

[@heidestyle]

Thanks a lot, a little bit to big for my needs, but as a receipe database, perfect! And a question: No more office hours Marie? I miss them!

[@thedailysom]

You are a lifesaver!! Thanks Marie :)

[@colleencoughlin1018]

I'm a new and huge fan! This is great. I'm secretly dreaming of one of your live builds with this template to add other functions, like a way to count the measurements for each recipe, so if you need two tomatoes for one recipe and 3 for another, it will show as 4 in the grocery list. or adding in nutritional info for the ingredients to carry over to any wellness tracking one is doing in notion. Here nor there, just a thank you for sharing your skills and brilliance with us all!

[@CMacN4sty]

This is really cool. Is there a way to make the groceries sum? So if you had 4 recipes that needed tomatoes, instead of just saying "tomatoes" you'd get the actual quantity as well?

[@laurens7191]

ooo good question! I'd love to know this as well!

[@jamielangley9434]

Anyone manage to figure this out? Would be greatly beneficial

[@fabryce]

hi! would it be possible for you to make a video going through and filling in all the settings for a recipe? like, adding a new recipe, explain each configuration, add to meal plan and grocery list? like a step by step. thank you!!

[@HippieP629]

Thanks a lot MP

[@asinboat]

THIS IS AWESOME! Thanks for sharing Marie! I created a basic version of this that I use with Alexa and AnyList to plan meals and buy ingredients at the supermarket. I'll have a look at how I could use your template at the supermarket instead. Looks great!

[@asinboat]

And OMG you have some amazing vegan recipes in there too, brilliant! Whoop!

[@MariePoulin]

@@asinboat So glad you enjoyed!!

[@TheCaiomoreno12]

perfect!!

[@WLolatk]

you are amazing !

[@luisavelasquez5977]

I LOVE THISSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

[@amodernapproach1853]

So great! I can't wait to put this to the test. I have been looking for a mealplanning system forever! I wouldn't have been able to do this myself in Notion so thank you so much for sharing. I would also like to know if you can't add a formula to add grocery items together so you know how many to buy. If you need to use Coconut cream in two dirrerent recipes, it shows as 2 tins of coconut cream in your grocery list. How would you do that?

[@calblue8694]

I really love what you've done here and I'm definitely going to implement this. I think one feature that would really help is to create an allocation for each meal per day in a particular meal plan. So if there are two breakfasts in X Meal Plan, then Breakfast 1 could go on Mon, Wed, Fri mornings and Breakfast 2 would go on the other mornings in that week. I think this would really take out that extra work of figuring out what day to eat what meal on that meal plan. Once again, LOVE this! and thank you so much for sharing, I can see that this has really been a labor of love

[@MariePoulin]

Oh we could absolutely do a v2 that takes this to even nerdier new levels, haha! maybe i will.... :D

[@calblue8694]

@@MariePoulin looking forward to it!

[@CheletheCello]

I love this! I'd personally love to see an option to track certain macros/calories & have it add up for the meal plan - might be a bit ambitious, as I don't know the full extent of notion yet, but I think it would be really cool!

[@priscillaCruz2023]

Could you create a Master Shopping list similar to your grocery template for household and self-care?

[@Klkara57]

OMG :O brilliant

[@FutileGrief]

This is heaven sent! Thank you so much for sharing. I was wondering, in this example, you plan 4 different meals for the week, or does each "Plan" represent one week and you eat the same thing every day?

[@MariePoulin]

Yes 1 plan is for 1 week, so it usually covers at least 2-3 dinners and 4 lunches. Every thursday we order takeout which also lasts us til lunch the next day... it gives just enough flexibility that you dont have to necessarily eat the same thing every day but can alternate a bit., and then end the week off with a veggie soup if you need to ;)

[@FutileGrief]

@@MariePoulin my language. Thank you for sharing 😊

[@saff457]

love you

[@AceNavigates]

First of all, SO EDUCATIONAL and INSPIRATIONAL! Love it. Just curious though, for things like Peanut Butter Toast, where I don't have a recipe, how can I add those ingredients to the "Groceries" rollup/property?

[@MariePoulin]

Groceries is a rollup which is automated. I would probably create a new text field for free form additions and show those too. You could even create a formula to display rollup + text for a summary of everything :)

[@LittleMissNyappyx3]

Hi, i s it possible that i add a meal plan and then the needed grocery show up immediately in the grocery list? I dont know how tomake the "need" button work...

[@awvtina]

Hello Marie, thank you so much for sharing this awesome template. I just duplicated your template a few days ago and I already added so many recipes. Very interrelated and comprehensive. Thank you! Just one question, I don't know why but I can only add one recipe to each course. For example, I can only add one recipe to "Dinner". I would have to duplicate "Dinner" row and add another one? How can I add two or more recipes to each course "Breakfast, Lunch, ..."? Please help. Thank you.

[@TayandRay1609]

I absolutely love this template and have been using for some time now. Is there a way to link the ingredients needed to the grocery list once added to the meal plan? It would be so much easier for it to automatically appear and uncheck items if i already have them, instead of going thru each meal for the ingredients and checking them on the master list. I just haven’t been able to figure out how to do this. So if you do, please let me know!

[@MariePoulin]

Yes, i think its probably time for an updated video on how to do this :)

[@nataliedavison5592]

Is there a way you can add an amount. No one ever shows you how to add an amount for the grocery list.

[@DonnaBreenC21]

I am pretty new to notion. How do I get this template into my notion? And I am guessing I can add to or delete from this existing one and run with it that way?

[@thierysjohnatan7663]

In the Weekly Meal Plan when I try to add a new property (because I need to add one more daily meal) it doesn't show up, could someone help me? No Plano de Refeições Semanais quando eu tento adicionar uma nova propriedade (porque eu preciso adicionar mais uma refeição diária) ela não aparece, alguém poderia me ajudar?

[@jakezulyani4313]

Hi this is amazing! I'd just love to ask if there was a way to account for how many ingredients there are when doing the relations since right now I can't think of a way to do this with how relations are structured

[@MariePoulin]

Can you be more specific with what you mean? hopefully i can help you problem solve for this but not sure i understand what you're trying to do!

[@jakezulyani4313]

@@MariePoulin What I mean is I'd like to have some sort of indicator for the quantity of ingredients. Like for example 2 onions, or 2 garlic, or 2 tablespoons of sugar. The way Notion handles its relations makes it that you can relate an ingredient to a meal but including the quantity of an ingredient doesn't seem intuitive. The only thing I can think of is adding a freeform text property where you can note the quantity of ingredients. I'd like to ask if you can think of a better way that doesn't seem as cluttered as a freeform text property.

[@justinedvorak8298]

You mentioned using the Notion Web Clipper - How do you save those recipes directly into the Recipes page/database?

[@hyulina3187]

this is amazing! just wondering, is there any way we can add a formula for best before dates for the groceries we have? for example if we buy milk today it would go bad in 2 weeks. is there a way we can get a reminder for that?

[@MariePoulin]

You can't do reminders with formulas, but you could have a formula and then do a view of your groceries to show upcoming best before dates...

[@erindegroot8324]

This is very helpful! I am curious how you know the quantities you need to order though?

[@MariePoulin]

Experience! I usually buy a little more than I need so i have leftovers for snacks. For example I always get a bag of carrots, bag of peppers, etc. I just figure out the minimum of the recipe and I get to know the quantities based on routine!

[@amaccoop34]

This looks amazing. Thank you so much for doing this! I wondering if I can also add a way to automatically calculate calories and macros for a meal plan. Do you think that's possible? I'm new to Notion. Not sure what it's capable of.

[@MariePoulin]

You absolutely could do that with rollups, and if you included a total calorie count per "recipe" portion, you could then do a rollup to your week that calls in all calories of all related recipes!

[@amaccoop34]

@@MariePoulin Amazing, Thanks!

[@mhdaminbkdaliya9359]

I'm trying to get the Template i did subscribed my Email several times but steal get nothing ! can somone help me pls.

[@santiagosolanille2636]

I´m not vegan or vegetarian but your recepies wooow i,m gona star doing the Peanut Butter Protein Bars, thanks a lot for the template and the recepies....

[@glcavett91]

Hi. I'm late to the (Notion) party but really love your content and training style. I wasn't able to access this template for some reason - the link currently just goes to a blank page. Thought I'd let you know.

[@MariePoulin]

I did a test as a new user and didn't experience any issues. Try visiting the link again and letting me know or refreshing the browser page?

[@tristanlee1171]

Does anyone know how to get properties to display inline? All my ingredients display line by line and it takes up a lot of space and I can't see every ingredient. I want them to display side by side like at 5:21.

[@MariePoulin]

This was a notion design change. only way around it would be to use a text field with @ mentions instead of relations.

[@jessesolomonscott]

Wow so cool.... beautiful this time..... Hi Marie.... How about using Daily Themes Database that you posted few weeks ago instead of weekly planning Database So that roll ups of breakfast, lunch and dinner pops up in Daily Journal When we click Monday Theme ? We know what we need to eat that day

[@MariePoulin]

You could certainly hook it up that way in your space! for me that gets too granular, because I don't assign specific meals to specific days - i have some options each day! but no reason why you couldnt hook this up to your daily themes :)

[@kellyvanniekerk226]

This is INCREDIBLE! Thank you so much. I am a recent cancer survivor with ADHD so planning for my health has been a nightmare but this will help a lot! One question- What can I do if all the recipes I link wont show a picture in the recipes section- have no idea what I'm doing wrong or how to fix

[@kellyvanniekerk226]

Or else- how do you add a recipe from your head? without a URL. I have added one but cannot get an image to show up (I put my image as a cover but that didn't work)

[@MariePoulin]

Check that your gallery cover image previews are set to content and not cover!

[@kellyvanniekerk226]

@@MariePoulin thank you!!

[@jplr0220]

New Notion user here! Is this template still available? I see the link but I can’t get it to open inside my Notion.. EDIT: Got it 😬

[@darrengenner6970]

Hi this looks amazing. Where can we get the template from?

[@MariePoulin]

The link is in the video description :)

[@michaelapatton]

How do you use the "need?" rollup inside each recipe? I can't figure out what it does. I thought maybe it would allow you to check which ingredients for this recipe you need (and leave those you already have unchecked) and it would automatically show only the checked items in the groceries rollup on the Weekly Meal Plan, but that doesn't seem to be the case.

[@louisethomason1077]

I'm wondering this too! Do you just have to manually tick off the items you need, as that seems really time consuming?

[@sandrinejean5992]

Hello, I love your work on meal planning, I tried do do something similar but yours is great ! There is just one thing I do not understand, I am quite beginner at Notion at 6:58 of your video, I do not have the same window, I can only write text, not chose one recipe Can you help me ? Thanks a lot !

[@MariePoulin]

you can @ mention any page name inside a text field. Type @ followed by the name of your recipe and you should see your options appear, but only if they already exist!

[@ribl1000]

Shitttt. Amazing

[@rob3040]

I'm curious if you are familiar with Precision Nutrition. I'm a PN "master coach" (not a title I chose, just what they call their level 2 certification), and I've been using Notion to organize a bunch of my stuff, and I know other PN coaches who do the same. This template is super dope and I can definitely see myself adapting this for clients.

[@MariePoulin]

My husband (who is also a notion ambassador) worked there as an engineer for 2 years)- very familiar and have all the books! Might have to take another look at them for the 2.0 version of this, because i've already adapted and evolved this system so much!

[@rebeccaevaandabby]

I am still trying to figure out Notion. On your weekly template how do you add more lines to the sections like in Prep? I have tried on my PC iPad and iPhone. I hit enter and it goes to next section not a new line below. I’m sure there is an easy way just frustrating trying to figure it out

[@MariePoulin]

Shift + enter :)

[@CassadyAlberico]

Is there any way to have the ingredients be automatically added to the grocery list when you add meals into the meal plan? I'm new to Notion.

[@louisethomason9545]

Yep, wondering this too. Do you just have to manually check them off on the list?

[@DanielJamesCollier]

Also wondering this

[@mikemarchionne7946]

Hello! The section titled "relating recipes to groceries" does not work on my end. I'm following your steps but it does not work the same way as when you do it.

[@mikemarchionne7946]

Should it auto-populate the ingredients into the shopping list each time you pick a new weekly plan?

[@lianaveronikayapriadi6823]

great tutorial, although need a little 'used to' skill just like you said in video... i've been watching this video like 10x to figure out each step, pause and rewind every time.. but i couldn't find better template than yours :) quick question, how do you pull the recipe in meal plan to show only those mentioned, not all the recipes? i keep getting this one error.. i've filtered to rollup in meal plan, but it doesn't work :( thanks again!

[@lianaveronikayapriadi6823]

pulling the recipes in the gallery view i mean, below the properties in meal plan template... thanks :)

[@user-rk4xe9bp7p]

Thank you so much for sharing this amazing template and video! Unfortunatety, I cant understand why my new receipts which I add via clipmaker, do not go to directly to the database((( They are added as separate pages (( Could you advice please?

[@MariePoulin]

It sounds like you're clipping them to a page, and not into your recipes database. You can move them into the datage by dragging them, but next time make sure you're choosing the database!

[@user-rk4xe9bp7p]

@@MariePoulin Yes, you are right> Thank you! I did it and it woks!

[@rob3040]

Ideally, I'd love that groceries in the meal plan to automatically show up in your needed groceries list. have you purposefully chosen to not give this template that functionality?

[@MariePoulin]

It's definitely pretty advanced and not beginner friendly to do this... but there is a rollup in the meal plan that summarizes all the necessary groceries, so you'd want to make sure to look at that when you're in the store!

[@tabw]

Is there a way to account for quantity needed per ingredient?

[@MariePoulin]

Not easily, but I tend to buy similar amounts from week to week, like a bag of carrots, bunch of parsley etc, and then have some go-to recipes to use up leftovers, make dips, freeze etc. It takes time to get a feel for it, but yeah Notion isn't great for doing that level of granularity...

[@nataliedavison5592]

Hi Marie, how did you learn all of this?

[@MariePoulin]

I love playing with tools + tech, so mostly just exploring and trying things!

[@laurens7191]

How did you get the exact recipies to show up at the very bottom inside the meal plans?

[@MariePoulin]

Do you mean the relations, or inside the body of the meal plan, below the properties? The relations are selected manually, and the recipes inside the body are a linked database of the recipes database, filtered to the current meal plan.

[@laurens7191]

@@MariePoulin inside the body of the meal plan. I think I figured it out but is there a way to do this without creating set numbered meal plans? Like I assume you just rotate through your set meal plans? So is there a way to customize it each week (aka set up a meal plan for that individual week)? Additionally, do you have any suggestions for a way to break down the week into what to eat each day? Thanks!

[@laurens7191]

@@MariePoulin I also already had a grocery list and recipie database so I tried to link up your meal plan with these existing databases as they already have a lot of data, but for some reasdon the ingredients just won't roll up eventhough I believe I did exactly what you did in the template version hmm maybe I am missing something?

[@kristelbaculi5048]

Please have a tutorial on how to set up this 🥺

[@MariePoulin]

I included a template and a walk-through in this video - i'm curious to know what you mean by tutorial. What parts were confusing, and what can I clarify? Have you tried downloading the template and playing with it? let me know!

[@bergseelotion6097]

How do you know how much of each ingredient you will need to buy?

[@MariePoulin]

Practice, experience, intuition. For example, I get a big back of carrots and then have leftovers to snack on. If there's still more leftover, I do a soup at the end of the week.

[@bergseelotion6097]

@@MariePoulin Wouldn‘t it be more useful if the shopping list were somehow connected to each recipe, so that it would show the exact amount of the ingredients required depending on which recipes one wants to cook?

[@TheChameleon84]

Why not get rid of the Recipes relation and just make the Lunch, Dinner and Breakfast properties relations to the Recipes database? That way you minimise duplication.

[@MariePoulin]

It's for improved display and readability. I like more granular control over the formatting + display, with bold titles, and spacing after the recipes for each grouping. Totally personal preference.

[@TheChameleon84]

@@MariePoulin fair enough

[@kz7115]

2-3 hours to plan AND cook? wtf. hOw?

[@MariePoulin]

Plans are already made - we just choose the plan that week, and it's all recipes we've made before. Then we batch cook, two of us each making multiple meals takes about ~2.5-3hrs. Instapot helps!

[@lnilin8810]

This is too much work, seems easier to use a pen and paper

[@MariePoulin]

You're welcome to use what works better for you; that doesn't cut it for many of us.

[@marcofernandes7057]

WOW, this is wonderful. Thanks so much for this!