We are on a MISSION to help make dinnertime stressfree and affordable for families! Our Shelf Cooking Meal Plan is a monthly subscription with SO MANY BENEFITS. If you’re a new subscriber or you’re curious if this is something that will work for you, here’s a guide on how to use the meal plan to save money, save time, and waste less food!

*Note: When you click the links in this post, we may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.

We are SO FIRED UP over this Meal Plan Subscription that we have created for you! Our shelf cooking principles have united an entire community of busy parents cooking for their families on a budget, while learning to love the process along the way. If you are someone who:

  • dreads coming up with the menu for the week
  • finds themselves back at the grocery store multiple times per week
  • struggles staying within budget on food and groceries
  • throws away expired ingredients or leftover food

…….then we are here to change your life. We will take the menu planning off of your plate while providing you with a weekly list of recipes to grocery shop ONCE for, stay within budget, and utilize all of your ingredients and leftovers! All for just $9.97 per month (or $99.70 annually). It's truly something that we are so proud of that will help save money, time and food and ultimately pay for itself many times over!

Plus, our recipes are pretty delicious. Just sayin'!

WHAT IS THE SHELF COOKING MEAL PLAN SUBSCRIPTION?

We are taking the mental load off your plate when it comes to planning out your family's meals week after week.

Every Friday, we deliver you a meal plan for the upcoming week with recipes that include so many substitution and customization options!

The BEST part? We carefully write these meal plans with thoughtful consideration of the ingredients and groceries involved so that you are shopping ONCE at the grocery store each week and use all of your ingredients and leftovers to waste less!

Every Friday you’ll receive a new meal plan for the upcoming week. Here's what it will include:

  • Delicious recipes for 5 dinners, 5 sides, & 2 desserts
  • Grocery list with ingredients labeled by recipe, so you only buy what you need.
  • SO MANY substitution options for ingredients to meet your dietary needs! Including the option to customize the week's menu by swapping out any recipes that don't match your preferences!
  • Tips & tricks for simplified prep & cooking 
  • “Table Talk” prompts for mealtime fun
  • A community of other Shelf Cookers to share conversation with on our Page Company app or the Shelf Cooking Facebook group. (Seriously the BEST community EVER!)

The meal plan can be accessed on phone, tablet, or computer. We also like to print out the entire week's recipes onto papers and keep them on the fridge!

HOW TO GET STARTED

First things first, you will sign up and join the subscription plan here.

You will decide if you'd like to pay monthly, or save a bit of money by prepaying for an entire year.

Once you sign up with your email address and payment information, you will create a login (a username and a password) for your meal plan subscription account. Each week when the new meal plan is posted, you will log in to your account and access the week's recipes!

If you aren't already using our free app, now would be a great time to download it and join the Shelf Cooking community page! It's a great forum to ask other shelf cookers questions or just share your recipe creations and inspire others.

HOW TO USE THE MEAL PLAN SUBSCRIPTION

Alright, you're signed up and ready to go. Now how does it work?!

We've carefully planned out each week's menu so that you won't be spending a fortune on ingredients and you won't be left with a fridge full of leftovers and expiring ingredients after the week is over.

  1. Every Friday morning, you'll get an email (and a notification in the app) with a reminder that the new meal plan is available and a link to access it. Log in to your Shelf Cooking Meal Plan Subscription Account! Here's what it looks like when you log in:

As you can see, there is more than just a menu. The “Kitchen Resources” tab has free printables, tips and tricks, and an entire glossary of ingredient substitution options!

2.) Once you're logged in, you'll want to check out the week's plan. Review the 5 dinner recipes, 5 side dish recipes, and 2 dessert recipes. If you're satisfied with the menu, then you will simply download the plan as a PDF! It includes everything you need to totally crush dinnertime! In it, you will find all of your recipes, an organized grocery list, and of course, our secret sauce: your shelf cooking Prep Plan. The Prep Plan will guide you through any prep tips or time-savers you may need to save your sanity and reduce your future mealtime workload! Trust us, the more you follow this plan, the more your subscription will be a life saver for you!

Once your plan is downloaded, you can print it out to keep in your kitchen for the week. You can also access the recipes on your smart phone, laptop, or tablet. Whichever is easiest for you to work with!

3.) Guess what?! If any of the recipes don't fit your meal preferences or dietary needs, you have two options!

A.) Use our GIANT list of substitution options to swap out any of the ingredients you don't have on hand or you don't enjoy. For example, if you don't have eggs that doesn't mean you need to run to the store! We have 6 substitutes for you to try, including mashed banana with baking powder.

B.) If any of the recipes are beyond substituting ingredients for, you can CUSTOMIZE your week's meal plan with our library of recipes to choose from. Once you've locked in the recipes that you would like for the week, you can continue to download your plan! However if you do choose to create a custom menu, it will not include the pre-made grocery list for you at this time.

4.) Pay attention to the tips and tricks included on each recipe sheet! We love to include advice on how to freeze leftovers, and how to repurpose any recipes. For example, here's what is included at the bottom of this week's Slow Cooker Philly Cheesesteaks recipe:

5.) Time to eat! Don't forget that every dinner recipe contains a ‘Table Talk' prompt, a question or conversation-starter for your family to chat about during your meal.

BECOME A SHELF COOKING PRO!

Once you get accustomed to the style of cooking – using what you have on hand first and using the grocery store to fill in the gaps, rather than finding recipes that require brand new ingredients that you won't use again! – you will see how dinnertime does not have to be stressful or expensive!

Spend less time worrying over what to serve for dinner every day, whether your grocery budget is in check, and scrambling at 5 PM every afternoon to figure out what you can make with what you have. If you’re exhausted and feeling a little burnt out, you’re not alone. Let US take the overwhelm out of meal planning, so you can focus on what matters most and start enjoying family mealtime!

Now you can spend more time connecting with your family and knowing you're putting a little extra money back in your wallet!

Sign up today!

SHELF COOKING MEAL PLAN SUBSCRIPTION FAQs

HOW MANY PEOPLE DOES EACH RECIPE SERVE? Our recipes typically serve about 4-6 people, but quantities can easily be adjusted by halving or doubling to fit your family’s needs!

DO I NEED ANY SPECIAL EQUIPMENT? Short answer, no! We believe that you can make things work with what you have, but many of our meals recommend the use of a slow-cooker and other common kitchen tools.

WHAT ABOUT PICKY EATERS? WILL MY KIDS LIKE IT? We hear you loud and clear, sister! We have picky kids too and want them to eat! Keeping our meal plan family friendly is extremely important to us as we design each week’s meal plan. Our meals offer a variety of delicious family dinners that have been tried and tested in our own homes. The beauty of shelf cooking is that recipes can be adapted to what you have on hand and what your family likes to eat, so many recipes can easily use whatever protein your kids enjoy and other modifications for picky eaters!

ONCE I PURCHASE THE PLAN, CAN I GO BACK TO VIEW PREVIOUS RECIPES AND PLANS? You can access previous weeks of the meal plan via the “Previous Plans” page on our website. In order to protect the value of our meal plans, we can only grant access the meal plans created within the timeframe of your subscription. If you would like to pay for access to any of the weeks prior to your subscription start date, please contact our customer support team.

HOW IS THIS DIFFERENT THAN OTHER MEAL PLANS? We aren't just giving you a bunch of recipes and saying good luck–that's what Pinterest is for! We know that what you're really needing is structure. Let US do the brain work of organizing meals to use up your ingredients and reduce waste, mapping out grocery lists, figuring out how to prep ahead, and collecting delicious recipes your whole family will love (with options for substitutions, so you have the option to use what you have before spending money on what you don't need). All of this tied up in a pretty little PDF package!

There you go, there is everything you need to know about the meal plan subscription. It really is that simple – try it for yourself!

If you find yourself with any questions, please head to our Help & Contact page where we’ve answered all of our most frequently asked questions.

You should receive your welcome email within 30 minutes of subscribing. If you have not received your first email or if you have any other issues, you are always welcome to contact our team directly by email at [email protected] – we love getting to meet all of you!

For more Shelf Cooking tips and tricks, check out these blog posts:

Let's get (shelf) cooking!