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 #43
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 😬🤪
| Autumn Harvest Beef Stew | Dice onion, carrot, celery. Cut squash. |
| Honey Dijon Chicken Sandwiches | Make Honey Dijon Marinade. Cook bacon. |
| Mexican Ground Beef Skillet | Dice onion and peppers. |
| Italian Sauteed Eggplant | – |
| Instant Pot Ribs | – |
Recipe Links • Side Ideas • Helpful Tips
Autumn Harvest Beef Stew
from My Homemade Roots
Squash and apple butter give a traditionally hearty and comforting beef stew a fabulous fall twist!
FYI:
- LONG COOK TIME – This is a traditional stew that you cook low and slow until the meat is fall-apart tender and all the flavors have melded into a beautiful harmony.
SIDE IDEAS:
- Warm crusty bread with a slathering of good butter!
Honey Dijon Chicken Sandwiches
from Thriving Home Blog
Sweet and tangy honey mustard chicken pairs perfectly with salty bacon and cheese on a soft pretzel roll.
FYI:
- REQUIRES MARINADING – FYI this recipe recommends a 1-hour marinating time. As always, marinating produces a good-better-best scenario. If you only have 15 minutes, so be it, your sandwich will still taste good!
- TIP – The recipe instructs you to boil the marinade after marinating to reduce it down to a sauce. Personally, I just save a few spoons of sauce before adding the raw chicken and drizzle that onto the sandwich. It’s not quite the same, but sometimes laziness wins.
- SHORTCUT – I make a similar sandwich using Sweet Baby Ray’s Honey Mustard. Instead of marinating, I make a simple grilled chicken that’s been seasoned with salt, pepper, garlic, and onion, and then just drizzle some of the honey mustard on top when finishing the sandwich.
SIDE IDEAS:
- Waffle fries
- Sweet potato tots
- BBQ potato chips
- Simple steamed broccoli
Mexican Ground Beef Skillet
from Fit Foodie Finds
A versatile One Pan Meal that can be eaten as is with a dollop of sour cream, scooped with chips, or even rolled up into burritos for an on-the-go handheld dinner.
FYI:
- If you have some corn or green onions laying around, those are great add-ins to this meal.
- RICE – The recipe calls for quick-cooking rice. In a pinch, you can use regular rice. I’ve made a similar meal many times with regular rice and you’ll just need to increase the broth to 2 cups, keeping an eye on it and adding a little extra liquid towards the end if needed.
SIDE IDEAS:
- Tortilla chips
- Simple Salad with a Cumin-Lime Dressing
- Margarita Cupcakes!!
- Sopapillas (fried dough)
Italian Sauteed Eggplant (with Sausage, Meatballs or Chicken Cutlet)
from Ready Set Eat
A simple eggplant recipe that becomes a perfect base for a fabulous dinner.
FYI:
- Add fresh crushed garlic and a sprinkle of Italian seasoning to enhance the flavors. Then serve with Italian sausage links; atop a breaded, pan-fried chicken cutlet; or add sliced sausage or cooked meatballs to the pan along with the eggplant.
SIDE IDEAS:
- Caprese salad
- Sicilian Spinach Salad
Instant Pot Ribs
from Tastes Better from Scratch
A quick and easy way to make super tender, fall-off-the-bone ribs!
FYI:
- LONG COOK TIME – Though these ribs take far less time to cook than in the oven, smoker, etc., they still take a while (about an hour) if you have limited time available for cooking. However, it is mostly hands-off so you could get some other things done while this is cooking if that helps!
SIDE IDEAS:
- Mac and cheese
- Sweet & Spicy Corn Casserole with Bacon
- Baked Beans
- Loaded Potato Salad
- Cinnamon Apples
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.
