It’s a new week and time to start planning out the meals!
Pick your favorite day to make your meal planning week start and bring your appetite!
Let’s have some tasty fun!
Remember the biggest rule of meal planning? Have fun and stick to the basics!
This doesn’t have to be a time when you plan a new meal with unique ingredients. (but it can be if you want!)
Meal planning is one of those weekly things that once you get the hang of it, you’re going to look forward to it.
It’s an easy way to make a plan to get everyone in the family fed – and somedays, that’s a win that you just want to keep rolling with!
Regardless, I’m glad we’re on this meal planning journey together.
It’s always fun to do something with others that can be a big help!
What is the hardest thing about meal planning?
Honestly, just convincing yourself it isn’t hard might be the hardest part about meal planning. It’s like motivating yourself to know that you can meal plan and then taking the first step to do it.
But seriously – trust me. Meal planning is so much fun. And so much less stress. And a great way to make sure that everyone is getting a good dinner without worrying about things too much.
Do you meal plan for every meal?
Nope, I don’t. To each their own, but I seriously only meal plan for dinner. Breakfast is too early and not something that we really eat together and lunch is something that we typically grab on the fly as well.
For this reason, I focus my meal planning skills on dinner – and that works out best for our family.
Do you have to meal plan every single day?
You don’t have to do anything that you don’t want to do. Seriously. If you want to meal plan on only the weekends, do so. If you want to meal plan for lunch, do so. I’m just here to help you start meal planning but you can totally tweak it to your liking.
Getting started with meal planning
Remember that simplicity is best. Pick a main dish and a simple side dish and that’s all you have to do. It doesn’t have to be any more complicated than that. Period.
(but don’t forget that sometimes you need dessert, too!)
Monday: Cauliflower Tacos
Tuesday: Chicken Bacon Ranch Casserole
Wednesday: Copycat Olive Garden Minestrone
Thursday: Fiesta Chicken and Potatoes
Friday: Grilled London Broil
Saturday: Open
Sunday: Bonus Night (make sure to scroll down to the bottom to find out what a Bonus night is!)
Grocery List Printable
Grab the free grocery list printable so that you can use it to write down what you’ll need from the store. Meal planning is great and all but you can only meal plan with what you have in the house!
Grocery List Tips
- Use your grocery list every week – This is a central way to write down everything that you need in a place where you can easily find it.
- Write down the prices next to the sale items – This will help you stay on budget and on track.
Meal Planning Weekly Schedule
Grab your free printable shopping list and take it with you to the store to easily grab everything you’ll need to make the following meals this week.
Cauliflower Tacos
It’s meatless Monday and I am so excited to share these cauliflower tacos with you.
Adding in one recipe per week that doesn’t include any meat is a great way to save on your grocery budget costs.
Chicken Bacon Ranch Casserole
This casserole recipe includes back and ranch and sure to be a family favorite.
The recipe calls for Dry Ranch seasoning mix. I have a homemade Ranch recipe that you can use in this carrerole recipe.
Copycat Olive Garden Minestrone
You’ll love how much this one tastes just like the restuarant version.
Bake up some of these Copycat Olive Garden Breadsticks for the complete experience.
Fiesta Chicken and Potatoes
This is such an easily and quick dinner to make. It’s perfect for busy nights.
Grilled London Broil
This recipe is for a London Broil Marinade that will take your beef to the next level.
It can be used on any beef you plan to cook on the grill. Make some corn of the cob or a fresh spinach salad for a complete meal.
Dessert of the Week
Each week I’ll highlight a new dessert recipe that you can make any day that you’d like to add to dessert after dinner.
Raspberry Cheesecake Swirl Bread Recipe
This super simple Raspberry Cheesecake Swirl Bread Recipe is one of my favorites.
You can easily switch up the recipe to include any kind of jame flavors you like!
Printable Grocery Shopping List
We leave the weekends free to splurge a bit on some of our favorites.
Pizza, delivery, takeout – whatever we’re craving.
Should you have a bonus day every week?
Totally up to you! A bonus day is just an extra meal to shake things up!
Check out the recipes in our Recipe Index for even more delicious ideas and recipes.
If you make any of these recipes, I would love to hear how you liked them.
Feel free to join us in the private Cooking Club FB Group here and share a photo of any of your meals with everyone else. This is a great place to get or give encouragement to others on the same mission to Saving Dinner!
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