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 with the convenient grocery list 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. Get a super convenient grocery list for this week’s dinners by subscribing below (and it’s color coded because I’m just a nerd like that):
Dinner Plan #7
Meal Prep Tips
These are some basic prep steps 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 😬🤪
| Chicken and Dumplings | Chop onion & celery Strip thyme Cook/shred chicken if making fresh |
| One Skillet Mexican Beef and Rice | Dice onion Opt: Cook onion and beef; store in air-tight container in fridge |
| Roasted Sweet Potato Kale Salad | Chop kale Roast sweet potatoes Make the dressing Make the pistachios (can be stored room temp) |
| Sausage, Peppers, & Onions Pasta | Slice sausage, peppers and onions |
| Honey Sesame Chicken Wraps | Make the dressing for the broccoli slaw (but don’t mix with the slaw yet) |
Recipe Links, Side Ideas & Helpful Tips
Chicken and Dumplings
from The Novice Chef
FYI:
- This soup is best served fresh; if you have leftovers and your soup has thickened too much, simply add some milk a little at a time until you get the consistency you want.
- Think fresh thyme is too time consuming .. check this out:
One Skillet Mexican Beef and Rice
from I Wash You Dry
FYI:
- This is a perfect recipe for customizing!
- She mentions in the post they put leftovers in a burrito; I’ve also just eaten it as a dip with Tostito scoops.
- Easily substitute ground turkey for ground beef in this dish.
ADD-IN/TOPPING SUGGESTIONS: (not included in shopping list)
- Fresh or pickled jalapenos
- Diced tomatos
- Scallions
- Cheese sauce
- Black or pinto beans
- Hot sauce
- Tortilla strips
Roasted Sweet Potato Kale Salad
from Ambitious Kitchen
FYI:
- Serving size is shown as 6, but as a dinner salad this is more 3-4 servings in my opinion.
- This salad does take some time to put together, but it’s deliciously worth it! If you can, prep some steps ahead of time. You can also buy boxed/bagged baby kale and save some time there as well.
- This is a perfect “meatless” dish that is still very filling because of the sweet potatoes and avocado, but you can certainly add some protein if you want. I personally love this salad with grilled chicken, but she also suggests shrimp, salmon, bacon, quinoa, or chickpeas
- Make sure to read the “Tips for making salads with kale” within the post, super helpful!
Sausage, Peppers, & Onions Pasta
FYI:
- You can certainly make this with Italian sausage, I just prefer the taste of smoked sausage, and generally opt for Turkey Smoked Sausage or Turkey Polska Kielbasa. You do you!
- The sausage, peppers and onions are just as delicious served over rice instead of mixed with pasta.
- With a full box of pasta this makes about 6 servings.
SIDE SUGGESTIONS: (not included in shopping list)
- Garlic Breadsticks
- Mozzarella Sticks
- Salad
- Roasted Broccoli
Print
Ingredients
1 Tbsp butter + 1 Tbsp olive oil
2 medium yellow onions, sliced
1 large bell pepper, sliced
1 smoked sausage rope, sliced
1 jar tomato sauce
1 box short pasta (like penne or bowties)
Directions
- Bring a pot of salted water to a boil and cook pasta according to box directions.
- In the meantime, melt butter and olive oil in a large non-stick skillet over medium high heat. Add sliced onions and peppers and saute for 5 minutes.
- Add in sliced sausage and continue to cook for 5-10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until veggies are softened and starting to caramelize, and sausage is starting to brown.
- Lower heat to low and add in a jar of your favorite tomato sauce, stir to combine. (Careful, tomato sauces tend to splatter when they hit high heat.)
- Once pasta is cooked, drain and add to the pan with the sausage and veggies (or switch and add everything to the pot if you’re concerned about space in the pan.) Give it a good stir and serve with red pepper flakes if you like some heat!
Honey Sesame Chicken Wraps
from Dinners, Dishes & Desserts
FYI:
- This is a perfect light, quick, and easy meal for a busy night!
- You can substitute grilled chicken, or fresh fried tenders or nuggets instead of frozen.
- Consider adding some crunchy chow mein noodles for even more crunch!
SIDE SUGGESTIONS: (not included in shopping list)
- French fries
- Edamame
- Rice
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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