Coming up with dinner every.single.day. can be such a struggle. My weekly dinner plans are created to help you get one thing off your to-do list and have less stress at dinner time!
Visit the WEEKLY DINNER PLANNER archive for more meal planning ideas!
Table of Contents
Dinner Plan #37
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 😬🤪
| Roast Chicken with Shredded Brussels Sprouts and Bacon | Chop bacon. Shred brussels sprouts. Prepare (cut) chicken. |
| Linguini with Shrimp & Peas | – |
| Cottage Pie | Chop onion, carrot, and celery. Make cottage pie up to the assembly step, but don’t bake. Bake day of eating. |
| Green Chili Chicken Enchiladas | Shred Colby Jack if using block cheese Cook and shred chicken. Or shred purchased/leftover roast chicken. |
| Bacon Brussels Leek Pizza | Cook bacon. Roast garlic. Clean & cut leeks. Trim & separate leaves of Brussels sprouts. |
Recipe Links • Side Ideas • Helpful Tips
Roast Chicken with Shredded Brussels Sprouts and Bacon
from The Modern Proper
Juicy flavorful roast chicken with bacon-y Brussels. Yes please! This dinner does take longer to cook but it’s a perfect Sunday night dinner, where the leftover chicken can be used in the Enchiladas later in the week.
FYI:
- What in the heck is “spatchcocked” anyways? Spatchcocking is basically butterflying the chicken. Starting with a whole chicken, you’ll cut out the spine and flatten it to prepare for cooking. The recipe includes this link for more detailed instructions.
- If you don’t want to deal with cutting the chicken apart, you can purchase precut 1/4 or 1/2 chicken segments from your grocery store or butcher. Arrange the segments over the brussels sprouts and bake as instructed. As long as your chicken pieces are bone-in, your cook time should be about the same.
- DOUBLE IT UP If you think your family will use the full chicken and not have leftovers, consider getting two extra bone-in chicken segments to include in the pan that way you can have roast chicken ready for Enchiladas later in the week.
- Check out this article if you want to know how best to shred Brussels sprouts. https://www.acouplecooks.com/how-to-shred-brussels-sprouts/ However, Brussels seem to take me forever and a century so I buy the pre-shredded ones in the grocery story. This is one of those things I do choose to spend money on to save a lot of time.
SIDE IDEAS:
- Dinner rolls
- Cornbread
- Corn casserole
- Mac & cheese
Linguini with Shrimp & Peas
from The Mom 100
Delicate fresh pasta blanketed by a velvety pink sauce. It’s light but filling, and oh so yummy!
FYI:
- This recipe uses refrigerated fresh pasta – you don’t need to make your own. If you can’t find fresh pasta, dry pasta is fine too! Just adjust your cook time as needed.
- Seared chunks of halibut, cod, or salmon are great substitutes for shrimp. As is sliced chicken, if you don’t want seafood.
SIDE IDEAS:
- Caprese Salad
- Broccolini sauteed with garlic
- Lemon sauteed spinach
Cottage Pie
from Recipe Tin Eats
A hearty dish with a rich, savory ground beef base topped with creamy mashed potatoes and a perfectly oven-toasted crust. Comfort food at it’s finest!
FYI:
- A classic dish, often mislabeled as “Shepard’s Pie.” Shepard’s Pie is actually made with lamb, while the beef version is called Cottage Pie. Now you know!
- Perfect meal to make ahead and then just bake the night you’re ready to eat.
SIDE IDEAS:
- Simple steamed peas and carrots or if you want to be fancier:
- Carrot Salad with Honey Dijon Dressing
- Sauteed peas
Green Chili Chicken Enchiladas
from Lil Luna
A standard, go-to chicken enchilada recipe that is simple, easy, cheesy and delicious.
FYI:
- Great opportunity to use up leftover chicken if you made the roast chicken dinner earlier in the week.
- I like to add white rice inside of these to make them more filling.
SIDE IDEAS:
- Side salad
- White or Yellow rice
- Refried beans (I love Rosarita’s.)
Bacon Brussels Leek Pizza
from What’s Gaby Cooking
Let’s try some awesome new flavors for this week’s pizza night, shall we? Bacon, leeks, Brussels, roasted garlic, and gruyere – oh my!
FYI:
- DOUBLE DUTY! Prep extra bacon and Brussels when you make the chicken dinner earlier in the week so you have it ready to go for pizza night! (or vice versa!)
- Make the roasted garlic ahead of time so you don’t have to wait for it.
- I love using Stonefire’s naan breads, pizza crusts, or flatbreads to make easy, quick pizzas.
- Try a drizzle of balsamic on this pizza for extra wow factor!
SIDE IDEAS:
- Caesar salad
- Balsamic tomatoes
- Roasted butternut squash
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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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. 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.
