Next Week’s Meal Plan: 4 Easy Dinners with Help from the Instant Pot

This week I’m trying something completely different and prepping our whole week’s worth of breakfasts, lunches, and dinners on Sunday — using the Instant Pot! My goal is to have dinners ready to go into the electric pressure cooker as soon as we walk in the door, because my kiddos have been coming home from school extra hangry this fall.

Here are four easy dinner ideas that use the Instant Pot to get dinner done, faster. (Plus one pizza night freebie!)

I believe meal planning is the secret to stress-free weeknight dinners. Since I’m frequently asked by friends and family what I’m cooking for dinner each week, I share my weekly meal plan here. Whether you’re just learning to meal plan and looking for a real-life example of how this works or you’re an old pro on the hunt for inspiration, here’s a peek at how I’m feeding my family this week.

• The Beginner’s Guide to Meal Planning: What to Know, How to Succeed, and What to Skip
• The Best Way to Use a Weekend for Meal Planning Success
• Ask Yourself These 5 Questions Before You Start Meal Planning
• 5 Strategies for Picking Recipes for a Week of Meal Planning

Monday’s goal is to meal prep the rest of the week’s lunches that I won’t get to during Sunday’s meal prep. While the home fries are roasting, I’ll be cooking chicken breast with this DIY ranch seasoning in the Instant Pot.

One thing I love about this burrito bowl recipe is that I can prep everything for it on Sunday afternoon and then cook it in the Instant Pot in under 30 minutes. I’ll cut down on the seasonings for my spice-averse 4-year-old and serve this with chips for dipping.

What is better than a bowl of comforting chili on a Wednesday night? I’ll tell you — it’s one that cooks quickly (yes, even with dried beans) in the Instant Pot. I’ll also roast some frozen broccoli for my kids to have on the side and as part of my leftover strategy for tomorrow’s dinner.

These Instant Pot baked potatoes will be done during Sunday’s meal prep session and reheated along with Wednesday’s chili for loaded baked potatoes on Thursday night with minimal cooking.

A few weeks ago I actually prepped a whole bunch of frozen pizza for nights just like this. I’ll have cooked a ton over the previous weekend and enough throughout the week to keep me from wanting to go out or even order delivery on Friday pizza night.