My weekly dinner plan

I should have started doing this earlier! I used to work 12 hour shifts and never had a plan for dinner. Since switching to a “normal” schedule it is still challenging but it is nice to be able to whip up something quickly.

I recently was gifted a free week with a home meal delivery program. I have used others with good results but eventually cancelled. Lately I have been using Home Chef. Click here for a $35 off credit if you are new to the program.

So far, our meals from Home Chef have been super tasty and flavorful. Best of all they are easy to prepare. I only purchase 2 meals per week, which is OK for us because I like to cook a lot too. So here is my meal plan for this week.

1) Chicken sausage soup. I whipped this up with inspiration from my mom. I browned some chicken sausage then added a ton of veggies, including onion, celery, carrots, red pepper, jalapeno and basil. I seasoned with cayenne and white pepper. I was going to add frozen spinach at the end but I forgot. I served over ditalini pasta and topped with parmesean cheese. This meal will be repeated later this week, probably for lunch.

2) Spicy beef mac and cheese from Home Chef. This was easy to prepare and very tasty. I amended the recipe by adding a fair amount of hot sauce.

3) Today is my day off. I will make veggie stirfry which is one of my go to meals and very customizable. I cook whatever veggies I have but then put in a bag of frozen stirfry veggies too. I whip up a quick sauce and usually throw in some tofu, and serve over rice.

4) Grilled veggie burgers. I really like the Dr.Prager brand. They are good and hearty and hold up when cooking. I usually cook up some veggies on the grill and serve with dressed greens so it can be low carb. However, I really like potato buns so usually serve on those.

5) Steak sandwich from Home Chef. I bet it will be good!

6) Big salad. At this point it is the end of the week so I eat leftover veggies. I like to add canned (rinsed) legumes like chickpeas or black beans. I either make my own vinagrette or use a pre bottled one.

7) You have to go out one day a week, right?

My tricks are having easy things on hand, like my stirfry veggies and tofu mix, or my box of veggie burgers. They are easy and delicious. I also keep lettuce on hand 24/7 so I can whip up a quick salad anytime. Things like frozen pizza also work well in a pinch, and sometimes I find them for $2 each.

What do you think?? Do you plan for your meals?