How to use the Meal Planner

Imagine a busy weeknight. You’ve got a hungry household but you don’t know what to prepare. How many times have you been there? Taking just a few quick minutes to plan your meals and shopping trip ahead of time can save you from this daily headache. Simply set your menu with your nutritionist-approved personalized recipes and sync to your grocery list. Then shop for everything you need, and nothing more -- it is that easy!

Please take a moment to read this handy how-to guide on building your perfect grocery list with the Blue Zones Meal Planner! 

There are two easy ways to plan your grocery list. Here’s an overview:

1. Add recipes straight to your Grocery list from any section of the meal planner (Discover, Search, or even from a previously saved menu); or
2. Add an entire menu of recipes to your Grocery list with just one click. You can even add multiple menus this way (for example you can add the menus called This Week & First name’s Work Lunches)

Or, you can get fancy and do both - add single recipes and a saved menu to create your unique grocery list. The choice is yours!

Now, here’s how you do it! 

To add a single recipe directly to your Grocery list:

• Choose the recipe you want to add and click the “Add” or “+” button. 
• This box will appear:

• From here you can add the recipe straight to your Grocery list, add it to a Menu, or both. (You’ll also be able to see if the recipe is already in a menu, or if a Menu is already in your Grocery list, so you don’t add it twice.)

To add an entire menu to your Grocery list, it’s just one click:

• Navigate to the menu you want to add to your list (Click Menus at the top of the screen, use the drop down arrow to select the menu you wish to view);
• Click the ‘Sync With Grocery’ button.

Ready to shop for the ingredients on your Grocery list?

• Click Grocery >> Items.
• Here, you can also print the list, schedule a delivery, or pull the list up on your phone to refer to it while shopping in the store.

Once you are done shopping for the items on your list, you can keep the list as is (in case you want to make all those meals again), or remove them to get ready for your next, all new shop. 

In your handy grocery list you can also...

• Remove items you already have on hand from your list by clicking the box to the left of the item;
• See which meals an item is needed for by clicking on the name of the item;
• Add your own items (food or otherwise!) to your list so your complete shopping list is all in one place.

We hope you love the Grocery List feature as much as we do. As always, if you have ANY questions or concerns please reach out to our team. We’re always here to help!!