An undated meal planner fixes the problem every dated planner has: you miss two weeks in February and suddenly a chunk of the book is wasted, staring at you with blank boxes. Undated pages don’t care. You write the date in, start whenever, and skip a week without guilt.
That matters with meal planning more than most things. Real life has holiday weeks, sick weeks and weeks where everyone eats toast. A planner that forgives gaps is one you’ll keep using.
Below are three undated meal planners from Taskdale, what each one does well, who should get it, and who should skip it.
What to look for in an undated meal planner
Before comparing, decide three things.
Screen or paper? Digital planners are hyperlinked PDFs you write on in an app like GoodNotes or Notability. Printables go in a binder or on the fridge. Some kits do both.
How far past the weekly grid do you want to go? A grid of seven dinners is fine. But the planners worth paying for also handle the grocery list, the pantry and the food budget, because that’s where the money and the waste actually live.
Monday or Sunday start? Sounds small. It isn’t, if your shopping day is Saturday and the planner splits your week in half.
1. Copper Kettle: the biggest digital undated meal planner
The Copper Kettle Digital Meal Planner is the one to get if you want everything in a single tablet file and never want to scroll. Each planner has 824 pages and more than 49,000 links. January, week 3, the freezer list, the lasagna recipe: each one is a tap or two away.
For each of the 12 months you get a monthly meal calendar, five weekly plans, a grocery list sorted into eight aisles, a grocery budget, pantry, fridge and freezer inventories, a meal prep plan and a month-in-review page. There are 366 daily pages with a water tracker and prep-for-tomorrow box, and February has 29 days, so leap years are covered.
The recipe book has 12 categories and 240 recipe cards, each with an x2 column for doubling. You also get 308 PNG stickers, 12 covers, a user guide, and 30 printable pages in US Letter and A4.
It comes in four colour themes (Latte, Sage, Blueberry, Pastel), each in Sunday and Monday start versions.
Good for: iPad or Android tablet users who want the whole kitchen year in one place, including food waste and money saved in the monthly reviews.
Skip it if: you only want to plan dinners. 824 pages is a lot of planner for “tacos on Tuesday”.
2. Basil & Birch: digital, with a daily food journal
The Basil & Birch Digital Meal Planner is another hyperlinked tablet PDF, 712 pages, in US Letter and A4 versions. It has 60 weekly meal plans, each paired with its own Shop & Prep page: an aisle-by-aisle grocery list, a meal prep table and a small planned, spent and left budget strip.
What sets it apart is the daily food journal. There are 372 daily pages where you colour in water drops, circle mood and energy, write what you ate, and fill in calories and macros if you track them. Skip those boxes if you don’t.
The recipe book holds 144 recipe pages across 12 categories, with ratings, a cook log and space for tweaks. The kitchen side covers pantry, fridge and freezer inventories, a Use-It-Up board sorted into today, this week and freeze it, and a leftover tracker.
Good for: people who want meal planning and a food diary in one book. It’s also a nice middle ground in size.
Skip it if: you need to print. It’s built for tablets, and while the PDF can be printed for personal use, it has no fillable fields.
3. Larder & Ladle: the printable undated meal planner
The Larder & Ladle Meal Planner Printable Kit is for paper people. It’s 84 pages, in colour and black and white, across five sizes: US Letter, A4, A5, Half Letter and Classic planner size (7 x 9.25 in).
The clever part: every page is fillable. Type into it on screen first, or print it and use a pen. There are dropdown month pickers, clickable tabs and a linked contents page.
Inside you get 16 weekly plan pages (including a four-week dinner rotation, a meal prep plan and a leftovers tracker), 26 monthly pages in Monday and Sunday start, eight shopping pages including a price comparison and a multi-store list, recipe pages, kitchen stock pages and tracking pages for food budget, macros and eating out. There’s even a kids’ lunchbox planner.
Good for: fridge-door planners, binder users and anyone with a small ring planner.
Skip it if: you want hundreds of daily pages. This kit is about reusable pages you print as needed, not a year-long book.
Which undated meal planner should you pick?
Short version:
- Tablet, want it all: Copper Kettle. Most pages, most links, biggest recipe book, stickers included.
- Tablet, want a food diary too: Basil & Birch. The daily journal pages make it a two-in-one.
- Paper, binder, fridge: Larder & Ladle. Five sizes, colour or ink-saving black and white, type or write.
If you’re not sure whether you’re a tablet person yet, the printable kit is the low-risk start. You can print one week and see if you stick with it. For most iPad owners who already use GoodNotes, though, Copper Kettle is the one I’d point them to first.
How to make an undated planner stick
Undated pages are forgiving, but they still need a routine. Pick a planning day. Saturday morning or Sunday afternoon works for most families. Plan five dinners, not seven, and leave two nights for leftovers or “fend for yourself”. Check the freezer page before you write the grocery list, so the frozen chicken gets used instead of bought twice.
Then do a two-minute review at month end. Star the meals everyone liked. Those become next month’s easy wins.
Undated meal planner FAQ
What does undated mean in a planner?
The pages have no printed dates. You write in the week or month yourself, so you can start any time and you don’t lose pages if you take a break.
Can I use a digital meal planner on Android?
Usually, yes. Hyperlinked PDFs work in note apps that follow internal links, such as Samsung Notes, Xodo or Noteshelf. Copper Kettle lists these, and its bookmarks panel lists every section as a backup.
Can I reuse an undated planner next year?
Yes. With a digital PDF you import a fresh copy. With a printable you print new pages. Either way there’s nothing to buy again for your own household.
Do these planners track a grocery budget?
All three include food budget pages, and none print a currency symbol, so you can use dollars, pounds, rand or anything else.