FREE Meal Plan #77 {With Printable Grocery List}

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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 graphic showing multiple meal plans with printable grocery lists.

WEEKLY MEAL PLAN #77

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

Included is a grocery list with EVERY ingredient you need for all the items on the meal plan.

This is meant to help simplify menu planning, shopping, and cooking so you can more easily enjoy meals with your family throughout the week!

TIP OF THE WEEK

Cheddar Bay Biscuits are a Red Lobster copycat recipe!

We love recreating delicious, well-known dishes from popular restaurants.

A couple other favorite copycat recipes on the site are: Wendy’s Chili, Panera’s Broccoli Cheddar Soup, Chick Fil A’s Nuggets, Texas Roadhouse’s Rolls, Chili’s Salsa and Swig’s Sugar Cookies. ENJOY!

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!

Monday

Tostadas

Open face tostadas topped with all of your favorite Mexican ingredients! These tasty tostadas are a frequent meal in this house!

We like to eat these yummy tostadas with Homemade Salsa and serve them with Taco Pasta Salad, one of our sides of the week. It’s an easy, packed-with-flavor meal!

Tuesday

Crock Pot Spaghetti

We make this yummy crock pot spaghetti all the time! Buttery noodles topped with a flavorful meaty sauce—DELISH!

Some great sides to pair with this spaghetti are Quick Caprese Salad or Caesar salad with homemade Caesar Salad Dressing. And, of course, we love to have bread with our pasta. Italian Bread or Cheesy Garlic Bread go especially well with this dish.

wednesday

Pound Cake French Toast

Have you tried making French toast out of pound cake? If not, you need to! It’s thick, delicious and an easy breakfast for weekends and holidays!

On the side, we like to serve a light smoothie. Some of our favorites are Orange Juice Smoothie, Blueberry Smoothie, or Banana Smoothie. Everyone is going to love this breakfast for dinner!

Thursday

Broccoli Potato Soup

Thick and creamy Broccoli Potato Soup is full of delicious vegetables and seasonings. It’s hearty and filling!

Cheddar Bay Biscuits, one of our sides of the week, go great with this comforting soup. We guarantee your family will want seconds!

Weekend

Chicken and asparagus stir fry

Healthy and delicious Lemon Chicken and Asparagus Stir Fry is packed with lots of delicious flavors. It’s simple and super easy too!

We like serving this light stir fry over white rice, brown rice, Lemon Rice, or Cauliflower Rice. It also goes great with chow mein or ramen noodles. We hope you love this meal as much as we do!

Sides of the week

Our Top Two Choices

These addicting copycat Cheddar Bay Biscuits whip up in under 15 minutes, and they taste even better than the real thing!

These cheesy biscuits are definitely one of our favorites, but we also love Easy Biscuits and Buttermilk Biscuits. Be sure to check out our collection of homemade rolls and biscuits recipes. It includes some great baking tips!

This Taco Pasta Salad is easy to throw together and is a great side dish to go with all the Mexican dishes we are always making.

We have other yummy Mexican salad recipes! Some that we especially enjoy are Southwest Salad, Taco Salad and Southwest Quinoa Salad. It’s always nice to have something lighter with your Mexican food.

Dessert of the WEek

Christmas cookie bars are chewy and delicious. The M&Ms add a festive pop, making them perfect for any party!

For more Christmas Cookies, try:

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!