A Week of Meals

When you use a 7 days meal plan, you feel in control of your week. You can adjust your cooking to fit your day if you choose easy recipes that can either be prepared ahead or quickly the same day. When you go out to eat, look at the menu and think about what choices you could make at home.

Begin your meal planning with a list of food staples you normally cook with and have on hand. Add items like eggs, specific fruits and vegetables, cheeses, breads, tortillas, pastas, canned goods like beans, tomatoes, soups, and so on to your shopping list.

Next, jot down all of your family's favorite dishes. Include the simplest things like ham and cheese sandwiches, scrambled eggs, grilled cheese, vegetable beef soup, chicken dishes, hamburgers, tacos--whatever your family's favorite meals are.

Some tips for cooking once, eating twice: cook enough meat (chicken, ground beef, whatever) so you can use if for two meals; bake a dessert in two small pans instead of a large one and freeze one dessert for another day; buy food on sale and freeze it to stretch your grocery budget.

Photo Source: sxu.hu/ilco

With your list of meals that your family likes to eat, begin planning the evening meal for one week. Start the week on whatever day makes sense for you (Sunday or Monday or another day if you have a "strange" schedule).

Do your grocery shopping for the entire week making sure you buy all of the ingredients you'll need so there's no excuse to cook a meal.

For a meal you need to fix in a hurry, either for your family or drop-in guests, keep the following staples on hand to prepare a meal of sandwiches and sides at the last minute: canned chicken and tuna fish, a extra loaf of bread in the freezer, canned beans, canned fruit like peaches or fruit cocktail, and a brownie or quick bread mix.

Keep reading for menu ideas for every day of the week.

Make Your Own Tacos with Rice and Beans -- Prepare ground beef or chicken, chop fresh tomatoes, shred lettuce, set out shredded cheese, sour cream, salsa, avocado, and any other toppings. Open a can of black beans or other favorite beans. Cook rice and season with chopped green peppers, onions, tomatoes, and Mexican seasoning. Warm soft or hard shell taco shells and let everyone make their own tacos.

OPTIONS:

- Make a taco salad instead of tacos with more lettuce and less taco shell.

- If your family likes casseroles, make a layered taco casserole adding the rice and beans to the dish.

Photo Source: agastecheg

Monday nights can be hard days for busy families. Monday is the first day back to school and work so give yourself a break. Think of some favorite foods your family likes that can be made in the crock pot. A good option is to make soup. Just add the meat, raw vegetables, water, seasonings, etc., turn the crock pot on and your meal will be ready when you get home from work.

Use these ideas for easy crock pot meals:

- Chili
- Soups, like bean, vegetable beef, chicken and noodle or rice, lentil

Have a cornbread mix on hand that can be mixed in a few minutes and baked in muffin pans for a quick, hot addition to your meal, or serve crackers or crusty rolls. Add some fresh celery and carrot sticks and fruit to balance the meal.

If your family likes breakfast foods, think about serving breakfast for dinner once in awhile. The only glitch to making breakfast is that it seems like most of the items have to be prepared just before eating. Let everyone pitch in, and breakfast, er, dinner will be ready lickety split!

These are some great choices for your breakfast dinner:

- scrambled eggs or a frittata (add in red and green pepper, onions, mushrooms for more nutrition)
- pancakes or waffles
- bacon, sausage, ham
- hash browns or fried potatoes
- toast, pastries, muffins, bagels, English muffins
- fresh fruit
- decaf coffee, tea, juice, milk

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Wednesday means it's all downhill. Only two days left till the weekend! Live it up and take the day off from real cooking. Enjoy one of these easy dinner ideas:

- pizza, frozen or take out or if you're ambitious, make your own

- canned soup or chili

- deli fare like prepared barbequed meat or fried chicken with sides

- family free for all, let everyone eat what they want as long as they eat one piece of fruit and a veggie like a serving or two of these: raw broccoli, carrots, sugar snap peas. Offer dip to sweeten the deal.

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Choose your favorite ethnic dish and serve it up on Thursday night (or any night). Some good easy options include the following:

- Italian: spaghetti and meatballs (frozen if you want to make it super easy) or bow tie pasta with pesto sauce, salad, garlic bread
- Chinese: stir fry with marinated (all day while you work) strips of chicken or beef or pork, vegetables like peppers, onions, snap peas, mushrooms, water chestnuts, green beans, etc.
- Mexican: chicken or beef enchiladas, burritos, fajitas, serve with rice and beans and a small cabbage salad
- Greek: gyros, Greek salad with Greek olives and feta cheese served with rolls, Moussaka
- German: franks, sauerkraut, beets

Whether it's for religious reasons or not, fish on Friday can be a delicious option. Serve your family's favorites or try one of these fish choices:

- fish sticks, sweet potato fries with cole slaw
- baked salmon, baked sweet potato, steamed broccoli
- shrimp, salad, fruit
- breaded cod, French fries, cole slaw
- tuna salad sandwiches, pasta salad, pickles
- tuna tossed in a salad

Photo Source: ilco

Saturday can be a hectic day with running errands or relaxing, just depending. With a stocked pantry, you can come up with something to serve your family. Keep frozen foods on hand like these options:

- frozen chicken breasts that can be sliced into thin strips and stir fried or cooked in oil and added with pasta and vegetables
- a roast that can be put in the crock pot Saturday morning and eaten that evening; add potatoes and carrots for a complete meal
- ravioli or tortellini with your favorite pasta sauce, salad and bread
- complete frozen meals that are not half bad; try one or two to see what your family likes
- sandwiches with everyone's favorite breads and fillings

Photo Source: lockstockb