After I make our meal plan for the week and post it on the refrigerator, I always announce to my kids, “You can sign up for what night you want to make dinner this week,” meaning put your initials next to the day that works for your schedule. I have them write it down so that I know what night I have the night off.

Because my kids are both teenagers (my son is 16-years-old and my daughter is 14-years-old), they either forget to write their initials or they don’t hear or they hope I forget to have them make dinner. I never forget. I love to have the night off in the kitchen! Sometimes, I’m slow and it doesn’t hit me until about Wednesday or Thursday and then I realize one of my teens has forgotten to note their night. That’s when I assign a night.

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.

This meal plan is from Monday, January 7, 2013 to Sunday, January 13, 2013.

Monday: oven roasted chicken, green beans broccoli and quinoa

Tuesday: chicken (leftovers) and pinto beans (freezer) and cheese burritos

Wednesday: split pea soup with shredded carrots (freezer)

Thursday: spinach salad with boiled eggs and bacon with split pea soup with shredded carrots (leftovers from night before from the freezer) – my daughter’s night to make dinner

Friday: pizza with red sauce (from last summer’s tomatoes) mushrooms, spinach and onions

Saturday: fish stew (from freezer) whole wheat pasta with spicy peanut sauce and green salad

Sunday: fish, quinoa and green salad – my son’s night to make dinner

What didn’t work:

• green beans were too expensive at my regular market and the broccoli was on sale so that was our veggie on Monday.
• I always want to note “homemade” when our menu says “pizza” but around our house it’s understood that it’s all homemade. We did make a double batch of pizza dough and froze some for another time.
• fish stew was skipped because I had made a spicy peanut sauce that needed eating. I made peanut butter (instead of buying it) and with the leftover peanut butter in my food processor, I whipped up a spicy peanut sauce that needed to be eaten before it went bad. Too bad I didn’t write it down – it got rave reviews!

What’s for dinner at your house?

Go Gingham related links:

11 reasons to meal plan every week – save money, save time and reduce food waste
How our freezer gets used – what I keep in our freezer and how I utilize the space
Grocery shopping soon? Plastic grocery bag alternatives