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 #46
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 😬🤪
| Instant Pot White Chicken Chili | Chop onion. |
| Apple Dijon Kale Salad | Make dressing. Chop and rinse kale. Chop walnuts. |
| Chicken Gyros | Make tzatziki sauce (up to 1 day ahead.) Juice lemon. |
| Creamy Sausage Mushroom Pasta | – |
| Stuffed Eggplant | Prepare tahini sauce. Dice onion. Cook rice. Chop tomatoes, parsley, mint, and pistachios (if using). Prepare spice mixture. Can roast eggplants and cook meat ahead of time, then just assemble and heat through when ready to eat. |
Recipe Links • Side Ideas • Helpful Tips
Instant Pot White Chicken Chili
from Natasha’s Kitchen
This hearty white chicken chili is absolute perfection! Overflowing with textures and flavors, it does not disappoint! PLUS this meal is mostly hands-off and takes just a few minutes to put it all together in the IP and then shred the chicken towards the end!
FYI:
- You can easily use frozen chicken in this recipe! It’ll take a few extra minutes to come to pressure but it still works perfectly!
SIDE IDEAS:
- Tortilla chips or Fritos of course!
- Cornbread
Apple Dijon Kale Salad
from Budget Bytes
Lunch, dinner, or side – this salad is so freaking delicious! It’s creamy, crunchy, fresh, and tart, and I absolutely adore it!!
FYI:
- Add in a protein: diced chicken or turkey, shrimp, small cubes of white cheddar cheese, or even with a hard-boiled egg or broiled white fish on the side.
- This is also a great salad to serve alongside any leftover sausage mushroom pasta (#4) if you want to switch things around and plan for it that way.
SIDE IDEAS:
- Multi-grain roll
- Broccoli-cheese soup
- Wild rice mushroom soup
Chicken Gyros
from The Girl Who Ate Everything
I looove regular gyros (made of a lamb/beef combo) when ordering out, but at home I stick to chicken gyros. If you’ve never made your own, you’ll be surprised at how easy it is! And the tzatziki makes the whole thing come together in the most perfect way.
FYI:
- MARINADE TIME: This recipe does call for marinating for 1 hour.
- Tzatziki can be made a day ahead of time, but know that the garlic flavor does get stronger. Make sure to give it a good stir before serving because the liquid separates.
SIDE IDEAS:
- Warm pita with Tzatziki, Hummus, or Babaganoush
- Greek lemon potatoes
- Spanakorizo (lemon spinach rice)
Creamy Sausage Mushroom Pasta
from Jo Cooks
An earthy, cozy mushroom sauce that lusciously coats fun ribbon pasta – what’s not to love?!
FYI:
- Peas, asparagus, or spinach are a good addition to this pasta if you want more veggies.
- Turkey Italian sausage works well here!
SIDE IDEAS:
- Buttery garlic bread
- Peas and bacon
- Roasted asparagus
Stuffed Eggplant
from The Cozy Apron
Healthy, filling and full of so much flavor, this is a fantastic way to eat eggplant!
FYI:
- TAKES TIME: This recipe is a little more involved and takes almost an hour to make but is quite delicious and you can always double it up to have leftovers and not cook another night.
- Don’t scoop out too much eggplant – you really just want to get rid of the seeded area and have some space for your filling.
- Eggplant skin is edible. If your eggplants are too large, the skin might be a little bitter though.
SIDE IDEAS:
- Fattoush Salad
- Pita & Hummus
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.
