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 #42
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 😬🤪
| Smoked Sausage and Beer Cheese Potato Soup | Chop sausage. Dice celery. Cube velvet cheese. |
| Instant Pot Fiesta Chicken and Rice | Make sauce. |
| Sticky Honey Pork + Snap Peas | – |
| Garlic Butter Fish + Angel Hair Pasta | – |
| BBQ Chicken Pizza | Shred cheese if using block. Cook/shred chicken. Make pizza dough if making from scratch. |
Recipe Links • Side Ideas • Helpful Tips
Smoked Sausage and Beer Cheese Potato Soup
from Aunt Bees Recipes
Rich and velvety beer cheese soup with potato and smoked sausage for good measure. This is one heck of a comforting, warm meal for a cold, fall night!
FYI:
- This recipe does use Velveeta so if you have a problem with this controversial “cheese product” 😆 move along — or just use freshly shredded cheddar cheese. You won’t get the same flavor and consistency, but it’ll still be delicious.
SIDE IDEAS:
- Serve in a bread bowl or with a hunk of crusty bread.
- Simple buttered broccoli goes well with the beer cheese flavor.
Instant Pot Fiesta Chicken and Rice
from Life Made Simple
Made effortlessly in the Instant Pot, rice and juicy, tender chicken thighs get bathed in layers of incredible flavors then dolloped with a zesty and creamy cilantro-avocado sauce.
FYI:
- Though listed as a 30-minute meal, with all the ingredients needed I do find that this takes me closer to 45 minutes to make simply for gathering and measuring everything.
However, it is simple with only 2 real steps – dump all IP ingredients into the pot and then puree the sauce ingredients. Done.
SIDE IDEAS:
- Fried sweet plantains
- Yuca fries
Sticky Honey Pork + Snap Peas
from Fit Foodie Finds
Super simple, super flavorful. This pork recipe is a great weeknight meal that’s done in 30 minutes and can be served in a variety of ways (think low-carb with veggies or in a lettuce wrap, over rice, mixed with noodles, as part of a buffet with various apps and sides.)
FYI:
- I suggest making this pork with snap peas as pictured in the recipe because the flavor and crunchy texture just pairs really well and it makes for a light carb-friendly meal.
- Honey – A quick tip for measuring your honey is to use a little bit of cooking spray in your measuring cup before adding the honey so that it pours out easier. (Rubbing sesame oil or olive oil would work, too.)
SIDE IDEAS:
- Spring rolls
- Snap peas
- White rice
- Fried rice
- Vegetable lo mein
Garlic Butter Fish + Angel Hair Pasta
from Rasa Malaysia
When it comes to fish, less is often more. And such is the case with this recipe. A simple prep leads to flaky, juicy, crispy fish nuggets that are just irresistible.
FYI:
- I like to serve this fish with simple buttered pasta, but adding fresh diced tomatoes and spinach to the pasta would be delicious too!
SIDE IDEAS:
- Creamed spinach
- Garlic roasted broccoli
- Potato wedges
- Lemon couscous
BBQ Chicken Pizza
Basic Meal Idea
Basic Meal Idea! Make it a Friday Night Pizza Night. I’ll be making my BBQ Chicken Pizza’s that have red onion and cilantro for extra deliciousness.
FYI:
- I love using Stonefire’s Naan breads and Pizza crusts because they are quick to warm up and I especially love being able to make personalized pizzas (my kids are boring with their plain cheese pizzas.) Plus, they’re super convenient because you can freeze them and cook from frozen in just minutes whenever you have a hankering for pizza. That’s a serious weeknight WIN!
SIDE IDEAS:
My go-to’s for Pizza sides will always be:
- Caesar or Italian salad
- Garlic bread (knots, sticks, loaf, whatev. I’m an equal opportunity garlic bread eater)
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.
