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Do you need some dinner inspiration? Today, I’m sharing an easy meal planning trick. It’s all about dinner theme nights and it couldn’t be easier!
This week, I thought it would be fun to come up with some nightly dinner themes to pick meals to make. Doing this helps me make a variety of meals and gives me some structure to get started with.
Give it a try this week!
I hope you find some new ideas and inspiration to keep up the work of cooking and eating at home with your family – you are doing so great!
Dinner Theme Nights: Easy Meal Planning Trick
A super easy meal planning trick is to give each day a dinner “theme”, like slow cooker meals, meatless meals, Italian meals, Mexican meals, designated night to order out, etc.
This gives you a blueprint to work around, so you can come up with ideas for each night quicker and easier, and eat a variety of meals. It really helps me come up with new ideas and I find I make my meal plan a lot quicker!
Here’s some dinner theme night examples!
Example Menu for Next Week with Dinner Theme Nights:
Sunday Theme: Slow Cooker Sunday
Meal Ideas: Pot Roast, Chicken Tacos, Pork Tenderloin, BBQ, Soup
Monday Theme: Meatless Monday
Meal Ideas: Fettucine Alfredo, Vegetable Soup, Baked Ziti
Tuesday Theme: Italian Night
Meal Ideas: Chicken Parmesan, Shrimp Fettucine, Spaghetti and Meatballs
*For a fun idea, grab your local Italian restaurant’s to go menu and look up recipes you can make at home for your favorite dishes.
Wednesday Theme: Meat and Three
Meal Ideas: Chicken Tenders with mac and cheese, green beans and rolls; Salisbury Steak with mashed potatoes, gravy, and peas; Meatloaf with mashed potatoes, corn on the cob, and dinner rolls
Thursday Theme: Mexican/Southwest
Meal Ideas: Taco Bar, Nachos, Quesadillas, Enchiladas, Burrito Bowls, Chicken with Cheesy Rice
Friday Theme: Homemade Pizza
Meal Ideas: Pepperoni, Margarita, Three Cheese, BBQ Chicken, Veggie Pizza with salad
Saturday Theme: Grill
Meal Ideas: Steak Kabobs, BBQ Chicken, Burgers
Need some more dinner theme nights?
Try one of these:
- Designated Night to Eat Out
- Picnic at the Park (sandwiches, rolled up meats and cut up cheese with crackers, pita pockets, burrito bowls, etc)
- Leftover Night (Make a little extra each night and set all the leftovers out to eat “potluck” style)
- Grilled Sandwiches + Soup (slow cooker soup, everyone can make their own sandwiches)
- Salad Bar (Set out lots of ingredients for salads and some fresh bread)
- Try a New Recipe Night (Save up some recipes you want to try, and pick one night a week to take a little more time cooking together and try something new)
These dinner theme nights are great to give you a starting point to make your meal plan. You’ll be able to think up meal ideas quickly, save yourself some time, and enjoy cooking and eating a variety of different meals.
With meal planning, you really just have to find a method that works for you and that you will stick with. Theme nights have been a great tool for many, and I hope it helps you make your meal planning easier, so you can eat at home and save money!
We’re all out here just trying to get dinner done every night – it doesn’t always turn out great and sometimes people complain, but in the end, we know we are doing our best for our family, so we can have nights at home around the table together, making memories, and saving some money, too!
Keep at it, mama – you are doing great things!
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