Budget-Friendly Weekly Meal Plan: Shop Once, Eat Smart All Week
Running to the grocery store every day will be a thing of the past when you plan ahead. Shop for these five weeknight- and budget-friendly recipes — that just happen to be healthy-ish too — on the weekend to make dinners through the week a breeze. Plus, download our free grocery list to make shopping a breeze.
by Madalyn Bendgen
The weeknight dinner conundrum can drive any family batty. Let’s put an end to this chaos! Start with a plan — by stocking up with enough food for weeknight dinners, there’s no more running to the store every night after work with the other frantic shoppers. This week of menus can be shopped for on the weekend and enjoyed any night you choose. And if you want to jumpstart things, start prepping your meals on Sunday.
To spice up the nightly dinner blahs, we decided to go with different flavor profiles, and tried to keep them somewhat “nutrish-ish”. The Creamy Greek Pasta with chicken is rich and warm, while also bringing bright fresh flavor to the table.
No red sauce pizza here. Instead, there’s an arugula salsa verde pizza that tastes divine with Canadian bacon and white Cheddar cheese.
The Steak & Quinoa Bowl is packed with vegetables and tossed with a balsamic mustard vinaigrette that melds this dish together.
And the Pork Tenderloin with date relish is the perfect combination of sweet and savory, and was a staff favorite.
Rounding out the menu are the BBQ Chicken Tostadas. Quickly smashed baked beans, saucy barbecue chicken, and a crunchy slaw top crispy tortillas — you’ll be savoring every last bite.
The best part of meal planning is it takes the guesswork out of the nightly question “What’s for dinner?” Pick which meal sounds good to you that night and start cooking. And while these recipes were created to serve four, if it’s just two at the table, you’ll be able to enjoy the leftovers another time, or pack them up to take for lunch.
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