Meal planning sounds great in theory…
Until it’s Sunday afternoon, your fridge is empty, and you’re staring at Pinterest with zero motivation to cook.

Sound familiar?

You’re not alone. And more importantly, you don’t have to love meal planning to be successful with it.

This guide will walk you through a no-stress way to plan your week, hit your macros, and feed your family—without spreadsheets, complicated tracking, or reinventing dinner every night.

And yes, we’ll use the MFF App to do most of the heavy lifting for you.

Step 1: Know Your Macro Targets (The Easy Way)

First things first, it’s a good idea to know what your goals are. Not just “eat healthier” or “cut back,” but how much your body actually needs.

Head to our Free Macro Calculator and enter a few simple details about yourself.

You’ll get a personalized breakdown of how many grams of protein, carbs, and fats to aim for each day, plus your estimated calories.

You don’t have to hit these numbers perfectly. They’re just a starting point for awareness and balanced meals.

Step 2: Decide How Many Meals You Need to make This Week

Once you know your numbers, think about what your week looks like.

Ask yourself:

• How many dinners will I be cooking at home?
• Do I need lunch options for work or on-the-go days?
• What mornings are the busiest (and need something prepped ahead)?

You don’t need to plan every single meal; pick the ones that tend to trip you up the most.

Tip: Most MFF members start by planning 3–4 dinners and 2–3 lunches or breakfasts. That’s enough structure without becoming overwhelming and, depending on the size of your family, may give you options for leftover (no cooking) nights.

Step 3: Open the MFF App and Browse the Weekly Meal Plan

Inside the app, you’ll find a suggested meal plan ready to go every week. You can start by browsing the week’s plan and asking, “Which meals would actually work for my family this week?”

Don’t feel pressure to follow it perfectly. You can always mix and match from the full recipe library (900+ and growing).

Filter through breakfasts, lunches, dinners, snacks, and desserts by your macro goals. You can figure out how much protein you want per meal by dividing your daily protein goal by 3 meals (or however many you eat). It’s such an easy way to plan your week of eating without hours of playing “macro-tetris.”

Step 4: Add Your Meals to a new weekly meal plan

Once you’ve picked your recipes, use the weekly meal planner tool in the app to drop them into your week.

You can customize:

• Which days you’re cooking
• Which meals you need
• What to repeat or skip

This is where everything starts coming together, and the mental load starts lifting.

Step 5: Let the Grocery List Build Itself

When you add recipes to your meal plan, the ingredients automatically generate a grocery list, organized by recipe or category.

You can:

• Remove anything you already have
• Add extras for your kids or household
• Tap to check things off as you shop

This step alone saves you 30–60 minutes a week (and at least one forgotten-ingredient grocery run).

Bonus points if you live in a location where you can order your grocery delivery directly to your home or place a pick-up order and never have to get out of your vehicle.

Step 6: Keep It Simple (Really)

You don’t need to prep everything on Sunday. You don’t need color-coded containers.

Just focus on having:

• The ingredients on hand
• A flexible plan in place
• One or two backup meals for the nights that get crazy

Meal planning isn’t about perfection. It’s about making your week feel easier—not harder.

Step 7: Let Go of the “All or Nothing” Mindset

Did you forget to defrost the chicken?
Did you skip lunch and eat snacks from your kid’s plate instead?
Did dinner not go to plan?

That’s okay. You don’t need to start over, you just need to pick back up at the next meal.

Macro-friendly living is about progress, not pressure.

You don’t have to become a meal prep influencer to feel in control of your meals.
You don’t need to spend hours making elaborate recipes.
And you definitely don’t need to track every bite to make progress.

With the right plan, and the right tools, you can eat in a way that feels good, supports your goals, and fits your real life.

👉 Try the MFF Meal Planning App here and see how simple meal planning can be.