Real Families Weekly Meal Plan 1

This is our family’s meal plan this week! 

If you want to learn more about why you should meal plan or why I post mine each week, keep on reading! 

Scroll to the end to get to this weeks meals!

Why Meal Plan?

If you are looking for ways to simplify your week, have less meal time stress, save money and eat better then look no further than starting a meal plan! 

As a mom, making a weekly meal plan is by FAR one of the best things that I can do to make the week go smoothly. 

Don’t know how to start a meal plan? I have all the tips to help you get started here. 

Need more convincing? Check out how much money we started to save by doing a meal plan! 

Real Plans from a Real Family

Every week I plan to share what our actual meal plan is. Not a theoretical plan but legitabily what our meals will be. I do this for several reasons!

• To show that it is doable weekly to plan 
• To convince you it does not have to be fancy and that the meals can be easy! 
• Encourage you to fill your own out
• Meal ideas for your own week
• To use as your family’s meal plan! 

Use the whole plan as your own or modify it for your own needs. However you want to use it! We all need to be here for eachother and help where we can. Maybe you don’t love planning out your meals but LOVE what it does for your week. Well, let me plan for you! 

Meal Planning is for Everyone

Even in a family where someone loves to cook (me!) most nights are simply normal meals, nothing fancy. If you are new to cooking it can be intimidating thinking you need to create these elaborate meals or change things up all the time for your family. 

This is our plan for the week. Having it planned out allows me to start the week feeling like I am already ahead of the game. 

As a mom starting off the week a few steps ahead helps because I will, without fail, lose a few steps throughout the week! 

Put in the work, sisters! Print off a copy of my meal planning template or simply scribble it down on a notepad for our fridge. Just start meal planning and watch how it can impact your week. 

Get the free printable meal planning template I use free here! Bonus-its a practical printable! As much as I love some of the beautiful and colorful meal plans you can find online I will never use them because I can’t print them! Well, I could, but they would take up all the ink in my printer. Print in grayscale to save on even more ink!

My template is beautiful, practical to use and I feel lost on the weeks I haven’t done it!

Get meal planning! 

Here is this week’s Meal Plan!

	Breakfast	Lunch	Dinner
Sun	Cereal	Lunch Out	Frozen Pasta Bag Caesar Salad
Mon	Eggs	Cheese, Beans and Turkey Quesadilla  With Sour Cream Canned Fruit	Potato Soup with Bacon Bits Steamed Carrots
Tue	Oatmeal with Blueberries	Leftover Soup Leftover Beans Cheese	Picnic with the C’sSnacks: Peppers, Chips, Cheese
Wed	Leftover Oatmeal and Cereal	Costco Chicken Mac and Cheese Pickles Costco Fruit	Chicken Roasted Potatoes with Onions and Peppers Strawberries
Thur	Eggs and Toast	Leftover Mac and Cheese Leftover Potatoes Blackberries Chicken Sandos	Chicken Ranch Rice Bake with onion, celery and carrots
Fri	Eggs and Toast	Leftover Rice Bake Strawberries	Poor Man’s Chicken Alfredo Pasta with Broccoli
Sat	Pancakes	Grilled Hot Dogs Salad Apples and Dip	Naan Pizza Canned Fruit Frozen Mixed Veggie

Because we were traveling last week I did not have any leftovers in the fridge. 

Notes from this week’s meal plan! 

• The bacon Bits I used on Sunday nights salad I finished up with Potato Soup on Monday night. Always try to plan to use ingredients in more than one meal.
• The extra lettuce from Sunday night I add in to my lunches as a side salad or as a salad wrap the next few days. A tortilla with some caesar dressing, a sprinkle of parm and lettuce is so so good. 
• Rotisserie Chicken is a magical ingredient! I bought it on Wednesday morning and then planned the next few meals around it. 
• Costco Fruit-I don’t name it here because my plan is to always buy whatever fruit looks the best/best deal when I get to Costco. They don’t always have the same things or the same prices! I usually save the “nice” breakfast for Saturday morning when my husband is also eating with us. 
• When I go to Aldi I always stock up on frozen veggies and canned fruit (try and get it in juice over syrup!). So when fruit or veggies are listed I simply pull one of those out!

Make that weekly meal plan, friends! Watch it change your week.