Coming up with dinner every.single.day. can be such a struggle. It can be hard 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 #19
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 😬🤪
| Spicy Chicken Chipotle Pasta | Cut chicken breasts into chunks. Juice lemon. Chop bell peppers. Cut asparagus. Shred parmesan cheese if using block cheese. |
| Cheesesteak Sandwiches | Slice onions, mushrooms, and peppers, if using. |
| Superfood Salad with Poppy Seed Dressing | Cook salmon. Cook quinoa. Make dressing. |
| Greek Chicken Orzo Bowls | Cook orzo. Juice lemon. Dice cucumbers and tomatoes, up to 1-2 days ahead. |
| Black Bean and Sweet Potato Burritos | Dice red pepper. Shred cheeses if using blocks of cheese. Juice limes. -or- Dice and roast all veggies (Step 1). -or- Make entire filling (Steps 1 & 2). |
Recipe Links, Side Ideas & Helpful Tips
Spicy Chicken Chipotle Pasta
from Dinner then Dessert
FYI:
- This Cheesecake Factory copycat recipe takes a little longer to make but it’s filled with delicious creamy flavors and a nice spicy kick.
- Don’t Like Spicy? This is easy to customize. If you’re hesitant about the heat level, start with a little and add more after tasting. If you have family members that don’t like spicy foods, you can make the full meal, plate their bowls, and then add the adobo sauce to the remainder of the pasta in the pan. Stir it in and let it warm through for a minute or two.
- Chipotle Peppers in Adobo – you can typically find small cans of these spicy smoky peppers with the Mexican foods in your grocery store. If you’ve never had it before, it’s whole chipotle peppers in a deep, smoky, and spicy adobo sauce. I consider myself average for heat tolerance and I think this stuff is SPICCYYY. BUT, it adds an amazing depth of flavor and totally worth it to use. The good part is you can easily control the heat level. You can use only the sauce, leaving out the actual peppers; you can use the peppers, scraping out the seeds to reduce some of the heat; and of course, you can start with just a little, taste, and add more as you see fit.
- Freezing Leftover Chipotle Peppers in Adobo – My favorite thing about chipotle peppers in adobo is that you can pour the leftover contents of the can into a freezer-safe bag/container, and use it for future recipes. The flavor and heat are maintained very well and the consistency is mostly frozen, but slightly sorbet-ish so it’s easy to scoop/scrape or cut off and dice.
- Asparagus – it’s not mentioned in the recipe, but do cut your asparagus into smaller pieces, you don’t want to put them in whole. I cut them into roughly 2″ long pieces.
SIDE SUGGESTIONS:
- Since we already have peppers, peas, and asparagus going into this dish, I prefer a nice fresh salad, especially one with a creamy dressing like Caesar or ranch!
Cheesesteak Sandwiches
from The Little Kitchen
FYI:
- Do you sometimes CRAVE cheesesteaks the way I do? They’re just greasy and cheesy and hearty and I love them. If you love cheesesteaks, you’re probably particular about how you make them, whether you include onions, peppers, or mushrooms, and ESPECIALLY, what kind of cheese you use. If you are set in your cheesesteak ways, by all means, make them how you want. HOWEVER, if you’re open to trying something new, please do try these. There is nothing particularly special about the ingredients or seasonings, and you can technically use whichever additions and cheese you want. The special part is in the method. I’ve been following The Little Kitchen for forever and ages ago, Julie posted about her Cheesesteaks and I tried it out. My mouth fell in love and I’ve been making my cheesesteaks this way for over a decade now!
SIDE SUGGESTIONS:
- Chips
- Fries
- Fried pickles
- Coleslaw
Superfood Salad with Poppy Seed Dressing
from Foodie Crush
FYI:
- With blueberries coming into season, this is the *perfect* salad to start enjoying little glimpses of summer. And if you have your quinoa and salmon pre-cooked, then this is also the *perfect* quick and easy mid-week dinner that requires minimal effort and time.
- If you don’t have those pre-cooked, quinoa is simple enough to make on the stove top in about 25 minutes; or for a faster option, try microwaveable pouches or frozen varieties. Salmon, on the other hand, is super hands-off cooked in the air fryer and only takes about 10 minutes.
SIDE SUGGESTIONS:
- Soup and/or Breadsticks are my favorite go-to sides for salads
Greek Chicken Orzo Bowls
from Cravings of a Lunatic
FYI:
- A simple, flavor, and fresh dish that’s perfect for a weeknight meal.
- You could also marinate your chicken in the seasonings along with some lemon juice and olive oil for about 30-60 minutes prior to cooking to deepen the flavors.
SIDE SUGGESTIONS:
- Warm pita bread and hummus
- Dolmas (Stuffed Grape Leaves)
- Baklava
Black Bean and Sweet Potato Burritos
from Mel’s Kitchen Cafe
FYI:
- As Mel says in her post, sweet potatoes and black beans just go together. They have this special delicious relationship that makes for the perfect meals.
- The filling for these burritos is conveniently made on one sheet pan in the oven and can even be made ahead of time for a super-duper quick and healthy dinner.
- The only thing that makes these even more fantastic is dipping them into that Aji Verde sauce we made the other week.
SIDE SUGGESTIONS:
- Chips with Salsa and Guac
- Fresh fruit
- Churros
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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