Coming up with dinner every.single.day. can be such a struggle. Many people have a hard time coming up with dinner ideas for one night let alone a whole week.
These weekly dinner plans are created to help you get one thing off your to-do list. Shop once for the week and you’ll have the ingredients and meal choices ready to go for the week.
Visit the WEEKLY DINNER PLANNER archive for more meal planning ideas!
Table of Contents
👇🏻 SCROLL for Recipe Links, Tips & Additional Info 👇🏻
How To Use the Meal Plans
People are typically put off by commitment but if you give yourself a guideline with the flexibility and permission to make changes as needed, you’ll be more likely to stick to it. That’s why flexible meal plans work.
I give you 5 suggestions and you pick 3-5 meals for your week. Each week I scour through my collections of recipes from a variety of amazing food bloggers, recipe sites, cookbooks and personal recipes to thoughtfully create a weekly dinner plan that is easy and delicious. Pick 3-5 of them for your week based on what works for your schedule and include days for eating out, leftovers, etc.
Use the order of the meals as a guideline. You’ll notice dinners are not listed as Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, etc. and that’s on purpose. I don’t want you to feel restricted. That sense of “I HAVE to do this” is what makes people stop meal planning. Keep things flexible and be realistic with your expectations and schedule.
Make mindful adjustments as needed. Sometimes, you need to consider foods (i.e. meats) that need to be used by certain days. For example, if you planned on making steak fajitas on Tuesday, but now it’s Tuesday and you can’t or don’t want to, think about your ingredients for a minute. Check your steak, if the date is good til tomorrow then just make sure you make that meal tomorrow. Otherwise, throw it in the freezer and plan to make it on Friday instead (just take it out the day before to thaw.) This will become second nature as you continue meal planning.
Grocery shop for the week. Get all your groceries for the week so you have everything on hand. This will save you so much time and extra money spent on impulse purchases.
Dinner Plan #15
Meal Prep Tips
These are some basic prep ideas you can do before the week starts to get ahead of the game! Do some, do them all, whatever works for you! I just barely make it to the grocery shopping part, so actual meal prep is a stretch for me personally …. but I hear it’s super-efficient 😬🤪
| Cowboy Stew | Chop bacon Slice kielbasa Dice onion -Or- Make the whole soup ahead of time. |
| Baked Chicken Tacos | Cook & shred chicken Dice onion Prep chicken mixture (steps 2-4) |
| Creamy Garlic Shrimp & Rice | Shred cheese (if using block cheese) |
| Pasta with Creamy Mushroom Rose (Pink) Sauce | Chop onion Slice mushrooms Grate parmesan cheese |
| BLT Salad | Cook and crumble bacon Cook corn and remove kernels (or use canned corn) Cook eggs Chop lettuce Halve tomatoes Dice deli meat |
Recipe Links, Side Ideas & Helpful Tips
Cowboy Stew
from Gonna Want Seconds
FYI:
- This is a hearty and flavorful soup, that makes a decent amount so you can either have leftovers for another night or a few lunch portions (depending on how much you eat and how many you’re feeding.)
- Freeze leftover soup for another day using these Souper Cubes which are absolutely amazing and come in convenient portion sizes. The silicone trays are sturdy and yet you can easily pop up the frozen soup when you’re ready to eat. Also, they can store more than just soup, and go from freezer to oven. Think mini lasagnas, meatloaf, etc.. check out their recipe section… it practically sells itself. Like I said.. amazing!
SIDE SUGGESTIONS:
- Warm, crusty bread
- Side salad
Baked Chicken Tacos
from The Cookie Rookie
FYI:
- A quick and yummy meal that’s also good to eat one-handed on the go! (but bring a napkin 😜)
- Make sure to FULLY DRAIN the tomatoes and green chilis (squeeeeze the juice!) and be sure to use the refried beans on the bottom, this helps “seal” the taco so it doesn’t get mushy and fall apart. If you’re skipping refried beans, you could add a layer of cheese on the bottom, let it melt for a minute in the oven, and then add your filling and top with more cheese.
SIDE SUGGESTIONS:
- Grilled Corn
- Mexican Street Corn
- Yuca Fries (you can make your own, but I’d just buy frozen and bake)
- Air Fryer Fried Avocados (like avocado fries, but less work!)
Creamy Garlic Shrimp & Rice
from Ahead of Thyme
FYI:
- This is a super quick meal that doesn’t require a lot of prep work and just a few ingredients, but is creamy garlicky and delicious. I love this served over rice and listed the recipe as such, but risotto, orzo, or pearled couscous would also be perfect!
SIDE SUGGESTIONS:
- Sauteed Garlic Mushrooms
- Basic roasted green beans or broccoli
- Sauteed spinach with garlic
Pasta with Creamy Mushroom Rosé (Pink) Sauce
from Ahead of Thyme
FYI:
- Rosé as in Pink sauce (combining tomato & cream) not as in the wine. Just wanted to clear up any confusion 😂😂
- This is a meatless dish, but if you don’t like mushrooms you could easily swap out for some sautéed sirloin steak or chicken.
SIDE SUGGESTIONS:
- Tomato, Cucumber, Avocado Salad
- Garden Salad
- Mozzarella Sticks
BLT Salad
from Lauren’s Latest
FYI:
- Have a leftover buffet! Is your family like mine where we end up with multiple single-serving leftovers from the week? Or a bowl of rice from one dish, half a grilled chicken from another, etc? Rather than trying to figure out how to add in those random foods into new meals or just throwing them out altogether, let everyone pick whichever leftover meal they want and serve with this BLT salad to fill out the meal.
- Feel free to skip the deli meat and/or add any other raw veggies you might have on hand.
Hope this helps make dinner time less stressful for you this week! If you have questions or feedback let me know in the comments or email me, I’d love to hear from you 💜
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