Free Meal Plan #1 with printable grocery list
Free Meal Plan #1 with printable grocery list
Save yourself some time, money and stress with this free meal plan 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!
Dinner + grocery list for the week!
Planning our dinner ideas for the week gave me a sense of organization in one aspect of my crazy life, which has been very beneficial for me and my family!
Every week, I’ll share with you a free meal plan that includes 5 dinner ideas (Monday-Thursday plus a weekend meal), 2 side dishes, and 1 dessert!
In addition, I have a grocery list with every ingredient you need for all the items in your weekly meal plan. This will make your shopping trip almost effortless!
Tips of the week
This week’s lineup includes one of our family’s favorite Mexican dishes – chicken tacos! !
One trick I learned with tortillas in this recipe is Fry for a second or two before filling them and re-frying them. This will keep them from cracking!
Meal Plan Benefits
There’s nothing worse than fear when family members ask, “What’s for dinner?” And your answer is “I don’t know”. A week meal plan eliminates that completely, and it’s the number one benefit in my book!
In addition to developing a game plan, there are Several other benefits meal plan, include:
- cost: When you have a plan and a specific grocery list in place, you can eliminate the cost of wasting on impulse items or products you never use.
- reduce waste: No money wasted, no food wasted! Having a regular shopping list will help avoid both problems.
- type: Our meal plans specifically include a variety of options, including Mexican, Italian, dinner breakfast, and more! You can let your family taste a variety of cuisines.
- No indecision: Did you know there is “indecision fatigue”? The idea is that when you can’t decide something (like what to do for dinner), it actually tires you out. But when dinner is already planned, you can avoid indecision altogether!
- healthy: When you plan/anticipate making well-rounded meals, you’re more likely to actually make them than to default to a convenient box lunch or unhealthy fast food!
As you can see, meal planning has many benefits!
If you want to create your own menu, be sure to check out all our recipes and visit our recipe pages, including: Entrees, Sides, Desserts, Appetizers and Breakfast!
Chicken Tacos
Super easy restaurant style chicken tacos. Simple toppings include shredded chicken, cheese, lettuce, tomatoes and tortillas.
Spice up your chicken tacos with our homemade salsa, easy guacamole or sweet salsa. Ok! (Don’t forget to add ingredients from these aspects to your shopping list!!)
Garlic Butter Pasta
A garlic butter pasta filled with green and red peppers, carrots, olives, cheese and parsley. It’s so easy and so delicious!
This is a great meatless dish, but you can always add some shredded chicken if you want to make it a little more hearty! I like to make a batch of chicken breasts, chop them up, and keep them in the freezer for recipes like this.
fluffy french toast
Use this secret recipe for fluffy French toast every time. These delicious slices are flavored with warm vanilla, cinnamon and nutmeg.
Don’t forget to serve it with some scrambled eggs and bacon! (If you do want them as a side dish, make sure to add the eggs and bacon to the notes section of the printable shopping list!)
Sweet and Sour Balls
These Sweet and Sour Meatballs are made with frozen meatballs and chunks of pineapple and topped with a delicious homemade sweet and sour sauce! ! It’s the perfect appetizer or dinner idea with rice or noodles.
You can serve these meatballs with classic white rice, or homemade fried rice (one of the side dishes of the week!).
Huli Huli Chicken
This Grilled Chicken Huli Huli is the juiciest and tastiest Hawaiian chicken you’ll ever try! It’s great on its own or with rice or noodles.
If you had leftover rice with meatballs earlier in the week, you can eat the leftovers with this chicken. Or, throw together a summer corn salad (another aspect of ours this week!).
Our two choices
Thursday’s homemade fried rice goes really well with sweet and sour meatballs. Skip takeout and try making fried rice at home! The rice is seasoned with sesame oil, garlic and soy sauce mixed with peas, carrots and eggs.
Corn salad is a very versatile summer side dish, but we especially love it with huli huli chicken. This Summer Corn Salad is a light and tasty salad filled with corn, tomatoes, feta, basil, and cucumbers. It’s so easy and quick – perfect for parties and barbecues.
Check out each day of the week for more tips for meals of the week!
Fruit Pizza
Delicious sugar cookie crust topped with cream cheese frosting and topped with your favorite fruit. This fruit pizza is definitely a family favorite dessert.
Of course, we love eating this in the summer when the berries are in abundance! tip: If you can’t find fresh fruit included in the recipe, or they’re not in season, you can always use seasonal, frozen (and thawed) or canned fruit instead!
For more fruit pizza, check out:
Download the meal plan!
Click the link below to download this week’s free meal plan!
Remember – if you want to create your own menu, be sure to check out all our recipes and visit our recipe pages, including: Entrees, Sides, Desserts, Appetizers and Breakfast!
Click here to download the PDF!
Click here to view all meal plans.