Meal Plan #1

Save yourself some time, money and stress by using this FREE Meal Plan that is full of amazing recipes. Each plan includes 5 dinner ideas, 2 side dishes, 1 dessert and a shopping list making meal planning easier than ever!!

A Week of Dinners + a Grocery List!

Planning our dinner ideas for the week gives me a sense of organization in one aspect of my crazy life, and it’s been so beneficial for me and my family!

Each week, I’ll be sharing with you a FREE meal plan that consists of 5 dinner ideas (Monday-Thursday plus one Weekend meal), 2 side dishes, and 1 dessert!

In addition, I’ve included a grocery list with EVERY ingredient you need for all the items on the weekly meal plan. This will make your shopping trips practically effortless!

Tip Of The Week

This week’s lineup includes one of our family’s absolute FAVORITE go-to Mexican dishes—Chicken Tacos!!

A trick I’ve learned with the corn tortillas in this recipe is to flash fry them for a second or two before filling them and refrying. This will prevent them from cracking!

Benefits of Meal Planning

There’s nothing worse than the dread every time a family members asks, “What’s for dinner??” And your answer is “I have no clue.” Having a meal plan for the week eliminates that completely, which is the number one benefit in my book!

Besides having a game plan in place, there are several other benefits of meal planning, including:

• Cost: When you have a plan set in place, and a specific list of groceries, you eliminate cost wasted on impulse items or produce that never gets used.
• Decrease Waste: No wasted money, and no wasted food! Having a set grocery list will help to avoid both of those issues.
• Variety: Our meal plans specifically include a lot of variety, with Mexican, Italian, Breakfast for Dinner, and so much more! You can expose your family’s palates to all kinds of meals.
• No Indecision: Did you know there’s such thing as “indecision fatigue”? The idea is that when you can’t make a decision on something (like what to make for dinner) it actually makes you mentally fatigued. When dinners are already planned out, though, you avoid indecision completely!
• Health: When you plan for/anticipate making well-rounded meals, you’re much more likely to actually make them rather than defaulting to convenient boxed meals, or unhealthy fast food!

As you can see, there are so many benefits to meal planning!

And if you want to create your own menu, be sure to check out all our recipes and visit our recipe pages, including: Main Dish, Side Dishes, Desserts, Appetizers and Breakfast!

Chicken Tacos

Super easy restaurant-style Chicken Tacos. Easy ingredients including shredded chicken, cheese, lettuce, tomatoes, & corn tortillas.

Amp up your chicken tacos by serving them with our Homemade Salsa, Simple Guacamole, or Sweet Salsa Verde. YUM! (And don’t forget to add the ingredients for those sides to your shopping list!!)

Garlic Butter Pasta

A garlic butter-y pasta dish filled with green and red peppers, carrots, olives, cheese and parsley. It’s so simple and so flavorful!

This is a great meatless dish, but if you’re wanting to make it a little more hearty, you can always add some chopped chicken! I like to cook a batch of chicken breasts, chop them up, and keep them in the freezer for recipes like this.

Fluffy French Toast

Make fluffy french toast every time using this secret ingredient. These tasty slices have a warm undertones of vanilla, cinnamon and a hint of nutmeg.

Don’t forget to serve it up with some Scrambled Eggs and Bacon! (Make sure to add eggs and bacon to the NOTES section of your shopping list printable if you do want them as a side!)

Sweet and Sour Meatballs

These Sweet and Sour Meatballs are made with frozen meatballs and pineapple chunks and are covered in a DELICIOUS homemade sweet and sour sauce!! It’s the perfect appetizer or dinner idea served over rice or noodles.

You can serve these meatballs with classic white rice, or Homemade Fried Rice (one of the sides for this week!).

Huli Huli Chicken

This Grilled Huli Huli Chicken is the juiciest and most delicious Hawaiian chicken you’ll ever try! Great alone or served on rice or noodles.

If you have leftover rice from the Meatballs earlier in the week, you could eat the rest with this chicken. Or, throw together a Summer Corn Salad (another one of our Sides of the Week!).

Our Top Two Choices

Homemade Fried Rice pairs extremely well with the Sweet and Sour Meatballs on Thursday. Skip the takeout and try making fried rice at home! This rice is flavored with sesame oil, garlic, and soy sauce mixed with peas, carrots, and eggs.

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Corn Salad is a pretty versatile summer side, but we especially like to eat it with the Huli Huli Chicken. This Summer Corn Salad is a light, flavorful salad filled with corn, tomatoes, feta, basil and cucumber. It’s so simple and quick—perfect for get togethers and BBQs.

Take a look under each day of the week for even more side ideas that go well with this week’s meals!

Fruit Pizza

A delicious sugar cookie crust with cream cheese frosting topped with your favorite fruits. This fruit pizza is definitely a family favorite dessert.

Of course we love having this in the summer when berries are at their prime! Tip: If you can’t find the fresh fruit included in the recipe, or if they’re not in season, you can always use seasonal, frozen (and thawed) or canned fruit instead!

For more fruit pizzaS, check out:

• Mini Fruit Pizzas
• Patriotic Fruit Pizzas
• Sugar Cookie Fruit Pizzas
• Strawberry Nutella Pizza

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Download the Meal Plan!

Click the link below to download this week’s FREE Meal Plan!

And remember – if you want to create your own menu, be sure to check out all our recipes and visit our recipe pages, including: Main Dish, Side Dishes, Desserts, Appetizers and Breakfast!

CLICK HERE to download the PDF!

CLICK HERE FOR ALL MEAL PLANS.