How to Plan Dinner for the Week in 5 Minutes!
Learn how to plan a whole week of every meal for your family plus a grocery list in 5 MINUTES!
I have said it before and I’ll say it again! Meal planning will forever be a part of my life! It makes cooking dinner so much easier! It makes my week easier! Here is our menu this week for my hubby, our oldest son, and myself then this weekend is for our whole family because our two youngest boys are coming home! 💙💙
Monday: Potato soup
Tuesday: Chicken Alfredo and garlic bread
Wednesday: Shrimp foil packs and salads
Thursday: Fish sticks, fried potatoes, and macaroni and cheese
Friday: Wings and fries
Saturday: Breakfast for dinner
Sunday: Marry me chicken and pasta
Making our meal plan this week was super easy and only took me 5 minutes! When the kids are here I only cook food they enjoy so that narrows down my options right there! Our oldest put in a request for potato soup and the hubby asked for fish sticks and wings! My second step when I meal plan is always asking the family what they want! Some days they tell me nothing. Other days they tell me most of the dinners! It makes things much easier and the family is much happier when they know they get a dinner that is going to satisfy their cravings!
Now that above was my second step in meal planning! My first step is looking at my week and seeing what errands and events we have going on. To the side of my menu, I write those down: baseball practice Tuesday, late afternoon doctor appointment Thursday, family dinner Sunday, etc! When I do this I can see where I need to plan for crock pot meals and where I can have time to make a big dinner that requires my attention. This particular week we have a play date on Saturday and those babies love breakfast foods so breakfast for dinner it is!
So there you have it! A weekly meal plan made in 5 minutes! But I said I would tell you how to do a grocery list too? Here’s how we do that my love:
- Look at your menu and write down (or type in my scenario because I keep my list on my phone in my notes app) the foods you need to make each of those dinners.
- Now go to your pantry, cabinets, fridge, freezer, etc, and see if you already have some of those groceries.
- If you already have what you need, take it off your list, if you can’t find what you need, keep it on your list. See something you're out of regardless of whether it’s for dinner or not, write it down! This is making sure you aren’t overspending and buying stuff you don't need!
You can repeat these steps for every meal of the day! I only plan dinner because that is when we are all home. If I was home all day and had my bonus kids every day, I would plan breakfast and lunch too but that’s not the case here. For you it just may be so take advantage of this and plan your whole day! I hope this helped you!
There you have it! That whole process took me 10 minutes. Now don’t get discouraged if it takes you longer! I have been cooking since before I could talk it seems, so I can make lists and have ideas in no time! If you are just starting out, it’s ok! This stuff takes time! But when you get it, it is so worth it!
Want more in-depth steps on how to meal plan? Read my how-to guide here:
Nervous about cooking at home? Here is my Get-started cooking guide!
Maybe what is holding you up is not having dinner ideas. Get my meal planning binder that has over 500 dinner ideas for every night of the week and those last-minute pinches HERE!
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