Jar ShelfJanuary budget and routine reset
Dinner decision jar: plan 7, 14 or 28 nights in one sitting
Type or pick 10 to 60 dinner ideas. Get slips to cut and fold, a jar label and a no-repeat schedule with a shopping prompt for every night.
Fill our dinner jarFree · works on your device · prints on A4 or Letter
Fill our dinner jar
Everything updates as you type, and stays on this page.
1Ideas for the jar
Between 10 and 60, one idea per line. The tag you choose applies to the lines you add; change any tag in the list.
Pick from 40 starter ideas
Your jar is empty. Add a few lines above, pick from the starters, or begin with a ready set.
Optional and off by default. When ticked, your ideas and options are kept in this browser only, so they are there next time you open this page.
2Plan options
Same ideas, options and seed always give the same schedule.
3Your plan
Draw live
One slip at a time. A slip you pass on stays out until every slip has been drawn, then the next round starts. Same seed, same draw order.
Press Draw a slip.
- Print the cut sheets and cut along the dashed lines.
- Fold each slip on the dotted line, writing side in, and drop it in the jar.
- Cut out the label and stick it on the jar.
- Keep the plan table on the fridge and read the shopping prompt before each shop.
Cut sheets
Week by week
How the draw keeps the week varied
- A seeded shuffleYour slips are shuffled with a seed that is printed on the label, the plan and the CSV. Write it down and you can rerun the same fortnight.
- Same tag, kept apartThe next night comes from the tag with the most slips left, never the tag you just used, so quick nights, batch cooks and guest nights are spread across the days.
- Fewer ideas than dinners? The jar refillsEvery slip is used once before any slip comes back. Each refill gets a visible round marker in the table.
- Leave out what does not fitAway for a weekend, no oven this week, no guests until February: tick a tag under Leave out and the plan redraws.
Free · works on your device · seed printed so you can rerun it
What comes out
- Cut sheets
- Fold-into-jar slips, two across, with the tag and a fold line on every slip. Up to 60 slips on three sheets.
- Jar label
- Your jar name, the date range, the number of dinners and the seed, ready to cut out.
- Plan table
- Week by week with the day, dinner, tag, round marker and a shopping prompt for each night.
- CSV
- The same plan as a spreadsheet file for a shared calendar or a household chat.
Want to see a finished plan first? A dinner jar for the busy weeks walks through a 14-night example, and you can open that exact plan here.
Dinner jar questions
How many dinner ideas do I need?
Between 10 and 60. With fewer ideas than dinners the jar simply refills, and every refill is marked as a round in the schedule.
What do the tags do?
Each idea gets one tag: quick, batch cook, no oven, budget or guests. The draw keeps the same tag apart, so a batch-cook night is not followed by another one when there is a choice.
Can I leave out a kind of dinner for a fortnight?
Yes. Tick a tag under Leave out and those ideas drop out of the slips and the schedule. Untick it and they come back.
How do I get the same schedule again?
Keep the seed printed on the label and the plan. The same ideas, options and seed always produce the same schedule, and a different seed gives a different order.
What does draw live do?
It shows one slip at a time. Re-draw passes on a slip, and no slip comes back until every slip in the jar has been drawn, then the next round begins.
Is my list saved?
Only if you tick the save box, and then it stays in this browser on this device. Leave it unticked and the list is gone when you close the page.
Does it work on A4 and Letter?
Yes. Pick your paper under Plan options and print the cut sheets and the plan table at that size.
Ten ideas and five minutes is enough to start.
Fill our dinner jarFree · nothing leaves your device · questions to [email protected]