Thanksgiving is upon us! What are you thankful for? I’m thankful for all the memories that are to be made this holiday season. I’m thankful for this season of being a stay-at-home mom instead of a working-outside-the-home mom. I’m thankful that my oldest son is doing well in pre-school. I’m thankful our home remodel is over (that was rough)! I’m thankful the election is almost over. I’m thankful The Voice is back on TV. (And I’m digging the show This is Us that’s on afterwards). I’m thankful for many, many things.
But not all is rosy – at least in my world. We’ve been struggling through some dietary changes in our household and it’s got my head spinning. It was consuming my mind all the time when I finally realized that I needed to just go back to the basics and keep it simple: spend time doing research, make a menu plan and stick to it! So while my family’s menu plan has suddenly gotten more complicated and very repetitive (so we can find our groove again), the stress has been drastically reduced! I give the same advice when having a baby (or, really, any other time of stress): keep it simple. Repeat meals. So that’s what we’re doing!
Menu planning is key, to me, for saving money in the kitchen. If you have a plan, you have a grocery list rather than random-things-that-end-up-in-your-cart. If you have a plan, you have way less stress.
Be kind to yourself and make a menu plan! Take this one if you want – either in its entirety or as a starting point!
The Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner Menu:
Available formats:
- The easy-to-print version as a .PDF.
- The pre-filled file in Excel.
- An empty file in Excel. Make your own menu plan!
The Dinner Only Menu:
Available formats:
- The easy-to-print version as a .PDF.
- The pre-filled file in Excel.
- An empty file in Excel. Make your own menu plan!
Its okay if you don’t like these recipes or these ideas – make your own! Just open the Excel version, delete what you don’t want and keep what you do want! I have a menu plan that works for my family – you should have one that works for yours!
What if I don’t cook every night?
Awesome! I don’t either – we often have leftovers 2-3 night/week. Just take this basic plan, cut out some meals and make leftovers part of your plan!
What if I don’t want a particular meal on a specific night?
Awesome! Just take this basic plan and swap meals around.
What if I don’t eat beef? Or chicken? Or pork?
Awesome! Just take this basic plan, remove the foods you won’t eat and put in foods you will eat.
What if I don’t know how to make that meal?
Awesome! Included are the links for the recipe that I usually use.
What if we always have pizza on Friday nights?
Awesome! (Can I come over?) Just remove my Friday meals and put in pizza.
What if I don’t like your recipe?
Awesome! Use whichever recipe you normally use and just use this basic plan as a suggestion.
What if I have my own monthly menu plan?
Awesome! Care to share it? Share it down below in the comments so that we all can see it and be inspired!
What’s cool about this menu plan?
I kept it simple around Thanksgiving time – go into the holiday relaxed and enjoy yourself!
Breakfast & lunch are simple and repetitive while still providing variety. For dinners, I try to have a lot more variety each week – some beef, some chicken, and some pastas. That way you won’t get too bored. There are also plenty of ways to save time when using this menu plan.
Examples: When prepping chicken at the beginning of the month, make enough for the other recipes and freeze it for future use. When making ground beef, brown 2-3 times the normal amount and freeze that. Check out these easy crockpot instructions for bulk cooking chicken and bulk cooking ground beef. It makes it super quick to pull meals together!
Recipes in this menu plan:
Breakfast Recipes:
Breakfast Popsicles
Sausage Breakfast Casserole
Sausage Bagel Sandwiches
English Muffins (top with butter, cream cheese, peanut butter or jelly)
Breakfast Burritos
French Toast Sticks
Scrambled eggs
Cereal
Pancakes
Cinnamon Rolls
Waffles
Fried Eggs
Bagels (top with butter, cream cheese, peanut butter or jelly)
Baked Oatmeal
Lunch Recipes:
Tortilla Roll Ups
Easy Skillet Nachos
Chicken Nuggets
Soup Ideas: Baked Potato Soup, Slow Cooker Ham & Bean Soup, Slow Cooker Ham & Potato Soup, Cheesy Veggie Chowder, Chicken Noodle Soup, Chicken Tortilla Soup, Ham & Bean Soup, Slow Cooker Chili, Taco Soup, Vegetable Soup, Broccoli Cheese Soup
Bean & Cheese Burritos
Summer Sausage, Cheese & Crackers
Macaroni & Cheese
Chicken Salad Sandwiches
Mini Pizzas
Cheese Quesadillas
Cobb Salad
Peanut Butter & Jelly
Egg Salad
Dinner Recipes:
Honey Garlic Chicken Skillet
Roasted Veggies with Sausage
Broccoli Cheese Soup
Pizza
Chicken Tacos
Crispy Onion Chicken
Fiesta Chicken
Chile Colorado Burritos
Chicken & Rice with Veggies
BBQ Chicken Foil Pack
Sausage Lasagna Rolls
Queso Chicken Bake
Chicken Parmesan
French Bread Pizza
Hawaiian Chicken
Homemade Hamburger Helper
Baked Spaghetti
Slow Cooker Stuffed Shells with Spinach
Lemon Garlic Salmon
Slow Cooker Sloppy Joes
Slow Cooker Sweet Sesame Chicken
Taco Soup
Meatball Subs
Turkey
Leftovers
Baked Quesadillas
Texas Hash
Baked Honey BBQ Popcorn Chicken
Taco Salad
Grilled Burritos
Jayme is a wife to 1 and a mother to four little boys. She coupons, but isn’t super extreme about it. She price matches and loves it! While she likes to cook, she’s in the stage of life where simple is usually better! She never knows how many hands she’ll have free at dinner time! You can find her at No Regrets Living.
