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Weekly Planning

Plan your family's meals week by week with Nook's visual meal planning grid.

The weekly meal plan gives you a visual overview of what your family is eating. Plan breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks for every day of the week.

The Meal Plan Grid

The meal plan displays as a grid:

  • Columns - Days of the week (Sun-Sat or Mon-Sun)
  • Rows - Meal types (Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner, Snack)
  • Cells - Individual meal slots

Adding Meals

Quick Add

  1. Click the + in any meal slot
  2. Type a meal name or search recipes
  3. Select from suggestions or add as custom meal
  4. Meal appears in the slot

From Recipe Library

  1. Click the + in a meal slot
  2. Click Browse Recipes
  3. Filter by category, time, or dietary needs
  4. Select a recipe
  5. Recipe is added with full details

Drag and Drop

Already have a meal in your plan? Drag it:

  • To a different day
  • To a different meal type
  • Hold Alt/Option to copy instead of move

Meal Details

Each planned meal shows:

  • Recipe name - What you're making
  • Prep time - Time to prepare
  • Cook time - Time to cook
  • Servings - How many it feeds

Click a meal to see:

  • Full recipe with ingredients
  • Cooking instructions
  • Nutritional info (if available)
  • Quick actions (edit, remove, duplicate)

Week Controls

  • ← → buttons move between weeks
  • Today jumps to the current week
  • Date picker jumps to any week

Planning Ahead

Plan multiple weeks in advance:

  1. Navigate to a future week
  2. Add meals as normal
  3. Grocery lists can be generated for any week

Copying Weeks

Had a good week? Copy it:

  1. Click Week Options (⋮ menu)
  2. Select Copy Week
  3. Choose destination week
  4. Meals are duplicated

Meal Types

Breakfast

Morning meals. Default time: 8:00 AM

Lunch

Midday meals. Default time: 12:00 PM

Dinner

Evening meals. Default time: 6:00 PM

Snack

Between-meal snacks. Default time: 3:00 PM

Customizing Meal Types

In Settings > Meals, you can:

  • Hide meal types you don't plan (e.g., hide breakfast)
  • Change default times
  • Add custom meal types

Serving Size Adjustments

Recipes have a default serving size. When planning:

  1. Click on the planned meal
  2. Adjust Servings up or down
  3. Ingredient quantities update automatically
  4. Grocery lists reflect adjusted amounts

Recurring Meals

For meals you make regularly:

Favorites

Mark frequently used recipes as favorites for quick access.

Meal Templates

Create templates for common patterns:

  • "Taco Tuesday" - same meal every Tuesday
  • "Sunday Roast" - weekly tradition

Copy to Other Days

Select a meal and copy to other days in the week.

Dietary Filtering

When adding meals, Nook considers dietary restrictions:

Automatic Filtering

  • Toggle Safe for family to only see compatible recipes
  • Warning icons show potential conflicts
  • Allergen alerts appear before confirming

Per-Meal Exceptions

Sometimes you cook different things for different people. Add notes about modifications.

Planning Tips

Plan on the Same Day

Choose a consistent day to plan the week (Sunday is popular).

Consider Your Schedule

Look at the calendar when planning:

  • Busy nights → quick meals
  • Work-from-home days → more prep time
  • Company coming → special meals

Theme Nights

Make planning easier with themes:

  • Meatless Monday
  • Taco Tuesday
  • Fish Friday
  • Leftover Night

Balance the Week

Mix up:

  • Prep times (quick meals + involved recipes)
  • Proteins (chicken, beef, fish, vegetarian)
  • Cuisines (Italian, Asian, Mexican, American)

Use What You Have

Check your pantry before planning. Build meals around ingredients you need to use.