Using a weekly meal plan is the best way to cook healthier for your family, save money, and time! Browse all of my free meal plans which include a grocery shopping list and tons of meal planning ideas including healthy and kid-friendly meals. Read why I stared my free weekly meal plan with grocery list here. This particular list includes 2 vegetarian dishes.
T: Tomato Mushroom Pesto Pasta
W: Spicy Szechuan noodles with garlic chili oil – Add a lb of ground beef and head of broccoli a non vegetarian and more filling dish.
TH: Spicy Tilapia Bowls With Avocado Chipotle Cream Sauce
F: Sheet pan chicken thighs with brussel sprouts
Why Meal Plan?
We’re all busy. Whether you’re a single 20 something yr old or a parent of 3, we all don’t want to waste time or money. Eating should be an enjoyable experience not a stressful one. Here a couple reasons I believe in meal planning:
1. Save Money:
When you plan exactly what you need for the week it saves you time and money. You’ll avoid buying things you don’t need (looks good and hope to use) that will go to waste. You know that container of salad that rots every week in your fridge! And you’ll avoid impulse buying of random items.
2. Eat Healthier:
Cooking from scratch is the best way to know you’re eating healthy and managing what you put in your body. Not many people pay attention to pre-made nutrition and ordering out is too hard to track fat, sodium, calories, etc. Cook at home at least 5 days a week, especially if you’re looking to get healthier or lose weight.
3. Save time:
The hardest part of meal planning is finding the ideas and creating a shopping list, and I’ve done that for you! I save time during the week not having to figure out what to cook, not worrying about thawing out meat in time, or wasting time trying to make something and not having some of the ingredients. There are plenty of meal plans, so if you don’t like some on this list, simply trade it out for a different recipe.
My grocery shopping lists include categories like “pantry staples”, and “spices,” and hopefully those are items you already have on hand so you can cross them off of the list. Then you can use the categories to help you find exactly what you need for the week. PLUS feel free to buy extra meats and freeze them, especially if there’s a deal or it’s on sale. That way when you check back in for next weeks recipes, you could already have some protein on hand.
Joining our email list is the best way to keep up with the latest at OBJ and to receive great meal plans and recipes!
*Copy and paste this list into your phone as a checklist. That way you have it easily accessible to take with you to the store and don’t have to print anything. It will look like this:
If you read my pantry essentials post you should have a lot of these ingredients always in your home. If not, here’s a detailed list of everything you’ll need for the week.
Grocery List
MEATS
- 2 lbs chicken thighs (about 6) bone-in, skin-on
- 4 pieces Tilapia or white fish
- 1 1/2 pounds skirt steak
PRODUCE
- Scallions
- 1 inch ginger root
- 1 bunch Cilantro (2 recipes)
- 2 lemons
- 2 limes
- 10 ounces brussels sprouts
- 2 red onions
- 5 Large White Mushrooms
- 1 LG tomato
- 1 cup cherry tomatoes
- 1 avocado
- Fresh Basil
DAIRY
- Greek yogurt (1 cup)
CANNED
- 1 can black beans
- 1 can sweet corn
BREAD/PASTA
- 7 oz Flat or Wide Chinese wheat noodles
- 12 mini flour tortillas, warmed
- 4 cups Tri Colored Fusilli Pasta
- 1 cup brown rice
SPICES
- Sesame seeds
- Chili flakes
- Salt
- Pepper
- Italian Seasoning
- Chipotle Chili powder
- Ground cumin
- Dried oregano
- Cumin
- Cayenne Pepper
- Sunflower Seeds
PANTRY STAPLES
- Sugar
- Flour
- Olive Oil
- Unsalted Butter
- Chopped Garlic
- Vegetable Oil
- Rice Wine Vinegar
- Dijon Mustard
- Soy sauce
EXTRA
- Slivered Almonds
In my kitchen, we don’t measure garlic or chocolate chips. ENJOY!!
