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 #24
Meal Prep Tips
These are some basic meal prep ideas you can do to get ahead of the game! Do some, do them all, whatever works for you!
| Pork Schnitzel | If you have more time in the mornings than at dinner time, you can pre-bread the pork cutlets and store in the fridge until you’re ready to fry them later that day. |
| BBQ Chicken Grilled Cheese Sandwiches | Shred chicken. Saute onions, prepare sauce, and combine with chicken. |
| Sun-Dried Tomato Pesto Crusted Salmon | Make the pesto. |
| Chicken Marsala | – |
| Lemon Basil Pasta Salad | Make the lemon basil vinaigrette. Make entire pasta salad ahead of time. |
Recipe Links, Side Ideas & Helpful Tips
Pork Schnitzel
from The Modern Proper
FYI:
- Crispy, crunchy, pan-fried goodness with a fresh squeeze of lemon juice!
- If you have time, feel free to prep and bread the pork cutlets in the morning before work and store in the fridge. Once ready for dinner, you get to skip that step and just fry them up real quick!
SIDE SUGGESTIONS:
- Boiled potatoes
- Mashed potatoes
- Buttered egg noodles
- Spaetzle
- Pickled beets (I love Aunt Nellie’s brand!)
- Warm red cabbage (recipe, store-bought)
BBQ Chicken Grilled Cheese Sandwiches
from I Am Baker
FYI:
- Whether you have leftover chicken from your 4th of July celebration or if you just pick up a rotisserie chicken from the store (or maybe you have some shredded chicken in your freezer) this meal comes together in NO TIME!
- Easily use this recipe as dinner inspo rather than following a recipe.
- Don’t have time to saute onions and make the sauce? Just pour on your favorite BBQ sauce and microwave the chicken til warm.
- Don’t feel like making fresh garlic bread? Use a frozen one and simply toast it.
SIDE SUGGESTIONS:
- Chips
- Fruit
- Potato Salad
- Cole Slaw
- or any other random variety of leftovers you have from your July 4th party!
Sun-Dried Tomato Pesto Crusted Salmon
from Haute and Healthy Living
FYI:
- Flavorful and easy salmon that looks fancier than it is and is done in no time! Add some veggies to your baking tray and make this a low-carb, one-pan meal!
- Consider making a double batch of the pesto and freezing in an ice cube tray for even quicker future dinners.
SIDE SUGGESTIONS:
- Green beans
- Broccoli
- Zucchini & yellow squash
- Couscous
Chicken Marsala
from Once Upon a Chef
FYI:
- Sweet and tangy, rich and creamy marsala chicken!
- My secret – I buy a good Sweet Marsala wine, and leave out the cream. Dry marsala is more bitter so it’s often toned down with cream in Chicken Marsala recipes. But Sweet marsala produces a delectable syrupy sauce that is even richer without the heaviness (and additional calories and fat) of the added cream.
SIDE SUGGESTIONS:
- I personally love Chicken Marsala with white rice
- Mashed potatoes are commonly served with it though
- Green beans or broccoli are always a good side veg
Lemon Basil Pasta Salad
from Kalefornia Kravings
FYI:
- This recipe is written as a cold pasta salad, which makes it ideal for making ahead, and so refreshing to eat on a hot summer night!
- However, you can easily toss cooked hot pasta in the lemon basil vinaigrette and eat this dish warm. It’s delicious either way!
SIDE SUGGESTIONS:
- If you want to add some protein, grilled chicken or shrimp are great with this pasta salad.
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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