Next Week’s Meal Plan: 5 Most-Requested Family Meals

Some weeks the meal plan just flows out. Monday through Friday gets filled out in about 10 minutes. But other weeks, like this one, when I feel uninspired or bored by meal planning, I take requests from my family to fill up our week.

I consulted my favorite diners, my husband and two kiddos, for their meal requests this week and used them to plan a week of fall-feeling, family-friendly dinners for the last bit of October.

Planning my weekly meals is a habit I enjoy. Since I’m frequently asked by friends and family what I’m cooking for dinner each week, I thought it’d be useful to 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

I try to avoid hiding vegetables in kid-friendly food, but honestly I have a can of pumpkin purée that needs using up and this one-pot pasta is calling my name. Pairing this with some roast broccoli for the best-loved Monday combo of veggies and pasta.

My husband loves nachos and makes them often for weeknight dinners, which I find tedious. This casserole makes a nacho-like dinner possible with just one pan for cooking. You get the nacho effect from ladling the casserole onto tortilla chips.

I have had this chicken zoodle soup on my “to make” list since Patty made it for me in August and it’s about time it finally gets made in my own kitchen. This recipe will also use up a couple chicken breasts that are stashed in the freezer.

My 5-year-old daughter has been on an excellent run of dinner requests, and this week’s wish for black beans is so easily fulfilled. I can’t get my kiddos to eat fried eggs recently, so they’ll have their bowls with a dollop of greek yogurt instead.

Why yes, I am bookending my week with pasta! We have family coming to town and a birthday party (with pizza) the next day, so doing a pizza pasta bake on Pizza Friday feels like a dinner winner.