Easy weekly meal plan: 7 dinners, leftover lunches and one grocery list
A weekly meal plan only works if it survives Wednesday. This one is built for two people who cook most nights but don't want to think about it: every dinner makes four servings, so tonight's dinner is tomorrow's lunch, and ingredients carry over from one night to the next. The rice from Monday's beef and broccoli becomes Thursday's fried rice, one head of cabbage covers taco slaw and burger slaw, and breakfast rotates between three things you can make half-asleep. Buy everything on one trip with the grocery list below, spend about 30 minutes on Sunday, and the rest of the week is mostly reheating and one pan a night.
For: Two people (or one cook packing lunches) who want a week of easy, varied dinners from a single grocery trip
Want a week like this built around you? Tell Cado who you're cooking for and what you like, say two people, no pork, dinners under 30 minutes, and it picks recipes that fit, rewrites any recipe on request, and turns the whole week into one grocery list sorted by aisle that you can send to Instacart. When it's time to cook, say "Hey Cado" for the next step or a timer, hands-free.
Get this plan in CadoThe plan
Day 1 (Sunday)
- BreakfastPeanut butter banana oatmeal: ½ cup rolled oats cooked in milk, ½ banana, 1 tbsp peanut butter (per person)
- LunchTurkey and cheddar sandwiches on whole-wheat bread with an apple
- DinnerSheet-pan paprika chicken thighs with baby potatoes and green beans (serves 4; save 2 for tomorrow's lunch)
Day 2 (Monday)
- BreakfastTwo eggs, scrambled or fried, on whole-wheat toast
- LunchLeftover sheet-pan chicken, potatoes and green beans
- DinnerBeef and broccoli stir-fry over white rice (serves 4; cook extra rice for Day 5)
Day 3 (Tuesday)
- BreakfastGreek yogurt with granola and berries
- LunchLeftover beef and broccoli with rice
- DinnerRoasted sweet potato and black bean tacos with lime cabbage slaw, avocado and crumbled feta (serves 4)
Day 4 (Wednesday)
- BreakfastPeanut butter banana oatmeal
- LunchBurrito bowl from the leftover taco filling: sweet potato, black beans, slaw and avocado
- DinnerOne-pot creamy tomato penne with Italian sausage and spinach (serves 4)
Day 5 (Thursday)
- BreakfastTwo eggs on whole-wheat toast
- LunchLeftover sausage and tomato penne
- DinnerClean-out-the-fridge fried rice with eggs, peas, carrots and green onions, using Monday's extra rice (serves 4)
Day 6 (Friday)
- BreakfastGreek yogurt with granola and berries
- LunchLeftover fried rice
- DinnerCoconut chickpea curry with spinach over rice (serves 4)
Day 7 (Saturday)
- BreakfastPeanut butter banana oatmeal
- LunchLeftover chickpea curry with rice
- DinnerTurkey burgers with cheddar, oven fries and the last of the cabbage slaw (serves 4)
Grocery list
Produce
- Baby potatoes, 1½ lb
- Russet potatoes, 1½ lb (for oven fries)
- Sweet potatoes, 2 large
- Green beans, 1 lb
- Broccoli, 2 heads (about 1½ lb)
- Green cabbage, 1 small head
- Baby spinach, 2 (5-oz) containers
- Yellow onions, 3
- Garlic, 2 heads
- Fresh ginger, 1 thumb-size piece
- Green onions, 1 bunch
- Limes, 3
- Avocados, 2
- Bananas, 3
- Berries, 1 pint (or a bag of frozen)
- Apples, 2
- Lettuce and 1 tomato for the burgers (optional)
Meat
- Boneless skinless chicken thighs, 2 lb
- Flank steak, 1 lb
- Italian sausage, 1 lb (bulk, or links with casings removed)
- Ground turkey, 1¼ lb
- Sliced deli turkey, 8 oz
Dairy and eggs
- Eggs, 1 dozen
- Milk, ½ gallon
- Plain Greek yogurt, 1 (32-oz) tub
- Sliced cheddar, 8 oz (sandwiches and burgers)
- Half-and-half, ½ pint
- Parmesan, 1 small wedge
- Feta or cotija, 4 oz
Bread and tortillas
- Whole-wheat bread, 1 loaf
- Hamburger buns, 4
- Small flour or corn tortillas, 12
Frozen
- Peas and carrots, 1 (12-oz) bag
Pantry
- Long-grain white rice, 1 (2-lb) bag
- Penne or other short pasta, 1 (1-lb) box
- Crushed tomatoes, 1 (28-oz) can
- Diced tomatoes, 1 (14.5-oz) can
- Coconut milk, 1 (13.5-oz) can
- Black beans, 2 (15-oz) cans
- Chickpeas, 2 (15-oz) cans
- Rolled oats
- Granola
- Peanut butter
- Low-sodium soy sauce
- Toasted sesame oil
- Cornstarch
- Brown sugar
- Mayonnaise (for the slaw)
- Olive oil and a neutral cooking oil
- Smoked paprika, ground cumin, chili powder and curry powder
Prep tips
- Sunday, about 30 minutes of hands-on time: heat the oven to 425°F. Toss the chicken thighs, halved baby potatoes and green beans with olive oil, garlic, smoked paprika and salt on a sheet pan, and roast until the chicken reaches 165°F inside, about 25 to 30 minutes. On a second pan, roast the sweet potatoes, cut into ¾-inch cubes, with cumin and chili powder for Tuesday's tacos.
- Also on Sunday, shred the whole cabbage. Half goes into Tuesday's slaw (lime juice, a little mayo, salt); keep the rest dry in a bag for Saturday's burgers.
- Monday, cook 3 cups of dry rice instead of the usual amount. Use about half with the beef and broccoli, then cool the rest quickly and refrigerate it within 2 hours. Cold, day-old rice is what makes Thursday's fried rice crisp instead of mushy.
- Slice the flank steak thinly against the grain while it's still cold from the fridge; it's much easier than slicing it at room temperature.
- Pack lunches straight from dinner: portion the two extra servings into containers before anyone goes back for seconds. Cooked leftovers keep about 3 to 4 days in the fridge, and every lunch here is eaten the next day.
- Swaps that don't change the shopping much: chicken breast for thighs, ground beef for turkey, tofu for the flank steak, any short pasta for penne, brown rice for white (it needs about 15 more minutes).
Questions
How do I plan meals for the week?
Start with dinners, because lunches can come from leftovers. Pick five to seven dinners that share ingredients (here, one bag of rice covers three nights and one cabbage covers two), check your calendar so the quick meals land on busy nights, then write one grocery list grouped by store section. Do the slow jobs on Sunday, like roasting vegetables and shredding cabbage, and make every dinner big enough for the next day's lunch.
How do I create a healthy meal plan for the week?
Aim for a protein, a vegetable and a filling starch at most meals, and rotate protein sources across the week instead of repeating one. This plan moves through chicken, beef, beans, sausage, eggs, chickpeas and turkey, and puts a vegetable in every dinner. If you have a specific goal, like more protein or fewer calories, adjust portions or swap ingredients; a dietitian can help if you have a medical condition.
How much does a weekly meal plan cost?
It depends mostly on your store and how much you already have in the pantry. The biggest savings come from planning: buying for a list instead of browsing, choosing ingredients that show up in more than one meal, and turning dinner leftovers into lunches so you aren't buying lunch out. Beans, rice, eggs, oats and cabbage keep this plan's cost down; the meat is where you can trim most if you need to.
Get this plan, adjusted to you
Cado tailors the plan to your goals and tastes, builds the grocery list, and talks you through every recipe while you cook.
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