Next Week’s Meal Plan: 5 Weeknight-Friendly Comfort Food Classics

My husband is finally home after a few weeks of traveling for work, and I am taking full advantage of him being home to help with dinner and kid wrangling. We’re celebrating him being home, his belated birthday, and a new home with a week of our family’s favorite dinner.

There’s nothing fancy in the meal plan this week — just five classic family favorites, from lasagna to enchiladas, that are all quick and easy to put together. Some use shopping shortcuts, while others make the best use of a single pan. Here are the five comfort food classics we are eating this week.

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

My husband is pulling off a riff on this skillet lasagna that we call “Nana’s lasagna”; it’s something that his mother made for their family on the regular when he was a kid. It’s the definition of comfort food for him. With some roasted broccoli on the side, this is one of our favorite dinners.

I have a bunch of leftover turkey from recipe testing last week and plan on turning the last bit into these easy enchiladas. Full disclosure: I bought canned enchilada sauce, which makes this recipe even easier to throw together. I’m roasting the last few ears of corn that I picked up at the farmers market while the enchiladas bake too.

Every single person in our family loves this broccoli cheese soup. Need I say more? Alright, I will. This soup is full of vegetables — carrots, onions, broccoli — and is super satisfying. We’ll skip the bread bowls but serve some bread for dipping and apple slices on the side.

Honestly, this dinner is all about using up the bits and bobs left in the fridge. Half a zucchini, a quarter of a red onion, leftover roasted cauliflower — they all come together with the help of eggs.

I saw this ciabatta pizza bread recipe in our

Week of Dinners series with Jessica Merchant