What’s for dinner at your house? I ask this question regularly. Isn’t everyone on a quest to regularly come up with healthy meals that taste good and your family will enjoy? Since I like to plan for leftovers, this weekly meal plan was particularly exciting in the no-waste food department. One simple roasted chicken fed our family of four for 4 nights in a row. The trick? After eating roasted chicken one night and bean/chicken burritos the next, I cooked the chicken in a pot and made broth, which I then made into soup.
Serve leftover chicken mixed in with your beans. When beans are warmed in a pot on the stove, with spices added you don’t need much chicken. The dinner will smell wonderful. Add a fresh tomato salsa, which acts as your salad, serve with tortillas or brown rice and you’ve got a simple, healthy meal.
Weekly Meal Plan
I meal plan at the beginning of each week, before heading to the grocery store. Weekly meal planning saves money, reduces food waste, and keeps me from saying, “Let’s go out to eat!” If you need more reasons to meal plan every week, check HERE. Both of my kids cook dinner once-a-week and do the clean up after the meal. If you want to learn how to pull that off at your house, check HERE. If you’re looking for more meal planning ideas, check HERE.
Monday: roasted chicken, greens, quinoa
Tuesday: chicken (leftover), bean, and cheese burritos
Wednesday: chicken (leftover) noodle soup with vegetables
Thursday: chicken (leftover) noodle soup with vegetables
Friday: pasta with pesto, salad
Saturday: salmon, brown rice, and spinach salad
Sunday: strata (eggs, spinach, mushroom)
You’ll find the blank meal plan downloads here. Don’t forget, you can also sign up for a free meal planning service from Food on the Table. Just click on the image below.
What’s for dinner at your house this week?
Go Gingham related links
Spicing it up in the kitchen
Meal planning made simple
Food waste, not here
How to adapt recipes
Go Gingham 
January (and maybe February) has been designated to use up food that is “old” in the freezer and in the cupboards. So we have been having some funny meals. Today is pesto from the freezer, some spaghetti that needs using up and salad from our CSA box. Thursday is chicken from the freezer and cauliflower from the CSA box. Saturday is stacked tortillas with some tortillas that have been cooking their heels in the freezer. Without kids and just the two of us, I only cook about every other day and we eat lots of leftovers. I am blessed with a DH who not only eats anything and everything, but will eat leftovers and cook for himself if I am not around. I am so lucky.
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Great plan!! One thing we do with tortillas when they’ve been around for a bit is turn them into “chips.” Cut them with kitchen scissors and put them in the oven until they’re good and crunchy. You can brush them with canola oil and sprinkle with salt but you’ll be surprised how good they taste crunchy with some salsa. I love that your husband is a leftover lover. You’ve got a real gem!!
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Thanks for one more idea for “leftovers”!
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I cook the same way you do. A roast or chicken can become so many new meals. I have found it a lot harder since my boys have become teeenagers. My meat does not go as far.
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Oh, yes, the nightly, “where’s the meat?” question!! Teens have the best metabolism, don’t they? We’re having several nights of lentils and veg chili this week – meetings, evening sports, and a church event equal dinners that are ready as soon as we walk in the door. That’s my method for keeping teens fed – food that’s ready to eat quickly. Thanks for leaving a comment. Keep those teens fed 🙂
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You know I added “chicken” on the shopping list this week as we ran out of all chicken except for one package and breasts and 2 whole chickens plus the MIL picked up two more on the week for $12.00 for both. But I think I’m crossing that out! I never thought how I could make a 3 lb chicken last 4 meals, heck in 3 would be great. Thanks for this post!
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Kelly, good for you! I’m working on a post about how I roast the chicken because several readers haven’t done it before. Our teenage daughter just made roasted chicken for her meal of the week. It was so good! Thanks for leaving a comment!
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We will often roast a large turkey (15 lb or more), invite some grandparents to join us, then use the leftovers to make up a couple of shepherds pies for the freezer, and we shred or cube the leftover meat for pizzas, omletttes, curries, soups, stews, etc. the bones get made into soup and stock. We manage to get many meals out of the turkey – usually bought on sale, too!
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