Weekly Meal Plan #1

Here is this week’s dinner plan. Five meals, one for each weeknight, and a shopping list at the bottom you can take straight to the store.

Nothing here needs a special trip or a long ingredient list. Swap any night for another, it still works.

This week at a glance

Monday	Hamburger Potato Casserole
Tuesday	Creamy Crockpot White Chicken Chili
Wednesday	Garlic Butter Steak Tortellini
Thursday	Restaurant-Style Chicken Chow Mein
Friday	Buffalo Chicken Sliders

Monday: Hamburger Potato Casserole

Get the Hamburger Potato Casserole recipe

Tuesday: Creamy Crockpot White Chicken Chili

Get the Creamy Crockpot White Chicken Chili recipe

Wednesday: Garlic Butter Steak Tortellini

Get the Garlic Butter Steak Tortellini recipe

Thursday: Restaurant-Style Chicken Chow Mein

Get the Restaurant-Style Chicken Chow Mein recipe

Friday: Buffalo Chicken Sliders

Get the Buffalo Chicken Sliders recipe

How to Prep This Week in About an Hour

Five dinners is not much cooking if the prep happens once. About an hour on Sunday takes most weeknights down to reheating and assembly.

• Slice the potatoes for Monday’s hamburger potato casserole and keep them submerged in cold water in the fridge. They will brown otherwise, and the water rinses off surface starch that would make them gluey.
• Build Tuesday’s white chicken chili as a freezer bag now. Everything but the dairy goes in raw, and Tuesday morning it goes straight into the crockpot.
• Cube the steak for Wednesday and keep it dry in a covered container. Salt it Wednesday, not now, or it draws moisture to the surface and will not sear.
• Slice all the vegetables for Thursday’s chow mein at once. Stir-fries need everything cut before you start cooking, and that prep is most of the work.
• Shred the chicken for Friday’s sliders and keep it separate from the buffalo sauce.

Two things not to do ahead: do not dress or sauce anything that goes on bread, and do not cook pasta or noodles. Both go soft, and Friday’s sliders in particular will have soggy bottoms by Wednesday.

Doing this in one pass also means one round of washing up rather than five, which is the part that actually makes weeknights feel long.

Shopping list for the week

Everything the five dinners need, grouped by where you find it. Check your pantry first, you probably have half of it.

Meat & seafood

• boneless, skinless chicken breasts (2 lbs + 1 lb)
• cooked chicken (3 cups)
• ground beef (1 lb)
• sirloin steak (1 1/2 lbs)

Dairy & eggs

• butter (3 tbsp + 3 tbsp)
• cream cheese (4 oz + 4 oz)
• grated parmesan (1/2 cup)
• heavy cream (1 cup)
• milk (3/4 cup)
• refrigerated cheese tortellini (1 (20 oz) package)
• shredded cheddar cheese (2 cups)
• shredded Monterey Jack or cheddar cheese (2 cups)
• sour cream (1/2 cup)

Produce

• chopped fresh basil or parsley (1/4 cup)
• fresh chives or green onion (1 tbsp)
• fresh ginger (1 tsp)
• fresh parsley (2 tbsp)
• garlic (3 cloves + 4 cloves + 3 cloves)
• green onions (3)
• lime (1)
• onion (1)
• russet potatoes (2 lbs)
• shredded cabbage (4 cups)
• shredded carrots (1 cup)
• yellow onion (1 small)

Freezer

• frozen corn (1 cup)

Pantry

• black pepper (1/2 tsp + 1/2 tsp)
• buffalo wing sauce (1/2 cup)
• chicken broth (4 cups)
• chow mein noodles (8 oz)
• cornstarch (1 tsp)
• cream of mushroom soup (1 (10.5 oz) can)
• diced green chiles (2 cans)
• dried oregano (1 tsp)
• garlic powder (1 tsp + 1/2 tsp)
• ground cumin (2 tsp)
• Hawaiian sweet rolls (12)
• marinara sauce (1/2 cup)
• olive oil (1 tbsp)
• oyster sauce (2 tbsp)
• ranch dressing (1/3 cup)
• salt (1 tsp + 1/2 tsp + 3/4 tsp)
• sesame oil (1 tbsp)
• soy sauce (1 tbsp + 3 tbsp)
• sugar (1 tsp)
• vegetable oil (2 tbsp)
• white beans (2 cans)

That is the week. If you want the next one in your inbox, the plan goes out every Friday.