this week’s menu + shopping list.

Happy Monday, friends! When I asked for your input on blog posts you’d like to see last week, many of you requested I share our weekly menus and shopping lists – so that’s what I’m going to do today!

If you’ve already done your shopping and meal planning for the week, I’d love for you to pin this post so you can reference it next time you’re planning your meals! I’ll share menu/shopping posts like this at least once a month so be sure to check back!

Really quick, let’s talk about my meal planning process.

The Process

Each Saturday I do three things to prepare for Sunday’s shopping trip and food prep session. They are:

1) Clean the Fridge / Purge the Pantry

If you follow my Instagram Stories, you’ve probably seen me share my fridge cleaning process. I remove everything from the fridge and give the shelves and drawers a quick wipe down using an all-purpose cleaner. Then, I replace anything that hasn’t gone bad or expired. I do a mini version of that with the pantry – just making sure things are tidy and I purge anything that may have gone stale or that I just know we won’t use.

2) Take Inventory

Once everything is all cleaned out and tidied up, it’s so much easier to take inventory of what we have for the week ahead. I take note of what’s getting low and add what I know we’ll need to the grocery list. We use the Echo Dot with Alexa in the kitchen, so all I have to do is say, “Echo (or Alexa – but we changed the setting lol), add X, Y, Z item to the shopping list.” I then bring up the app on my phone when I’m at the store and everything I need is right there.

3) Meal Plan Accordingly

In order to reduce waste in both food and money, I plan the next week’s meals with what we already have in mind – first. So, say we have half a pack of tortillas left in the pantry from last week’s chicken quesadillas – I’ll plan a meal like chicken enchiladas or taco night to utilize the rest of them.

Meal Planning

My process for meal planning is really simple. Other than planning meals to incorporate ingredients we already have on hand, I like to try and plan meals of various ethnic origins so as switch things up as much as possible. I find this method really aids in ensuring I don’t get in a recipe rut. If I feel uninspired, it makes the whole cooking process so much less enjoyable!

Here are my go-to ethnic categories with some examples of what we like:

American: Burgers, Sausage w. Peppers (maybe considered of different origin, but it reminds me of football/baseball season so that means American to me ;)),

Asian: Pho, Stir Fry’s, Fried Rice, Korean Chicken Wings

Mexican: Quesadillas, Enchiladas, Tacos, Fajitas

Italian: Chicken Parm, Spaghetti, Lasagna

Obviously, these aren’t the only things we make, but they’re some of our favorites!

This Week’s Menu

Alright, so let’s dive into this week’s menu. Some of these I make by heart, so I’ve done a quick synopsis of how I cook them below. I also like to share on Instagram Stories when I’m cooking dinner sometimes, so you can always check there for recipes and ideas! I’ll provide a shopping list at the bottom of this post, so be sure to keep reading!

Let’s get started.

Monday: Skinny Taste’s Broccoli Cheese and Potato Soup + Loaded Baked Potatoes

I planned to make this soup and when I asked G for his input on a side I got “loaded baked potatoes” haha – but a nice side salad and/or piece of crusty bread would be good too!

Tuesday: Taco Tuesday!

We do tacos so many different ways, but this week I’m going to fry some corn tortillas to make crispy taco shells. Then, to make it easy I’ll fill a sheet pan with diced chicken (covered with taco seasoning), sliced red + green bell peppers and sliced red + yellow onions. I cut the veggies into strips so they’re all the same size (and therefore cook evenly) season them with olive oil, salt and pepper. Then the sheet pan with chicken and veggies goes into the oven at 375 for about 30 mins until the chicken is done. The tacos get filled with the sheet pan fixings, cheese, sour cream and – if you’re G – salsa.

Wednesday: Chicken Teriyaki

This is another one of my ‘make by heart’ recipes that’s actually super simple! I make a cup of rice (we like jasmine), roast a sheet pan of broccoli (top with olive oil, salt + pepper) at 400 degrees for about 20 mins or until it’s nice and crispy. Then, cook one diced onion in olive oil until translucent then add a teaspoon of minced garlic and some cut up boneless skinless chicken thighs. Finally, make a homemade teriyaki sauce (equal parts brown sugar and soy sauce – ¼ cup each), add it to the chicken. Bring the sauce to a boil before turning the heat down to simmer. Once the chicken is cooked through and the sauce has thickened slightly – it’s ready. It’s REALLY good, I’ll share on Stories this week!

Thursday: Beef Pho

G requested this be on the menu once a week (starting last week) for the foreseeable future and I’m OK with that! We tried this recipe last week and LOVED it. It’s made in the Instant Pot which makes my life so much easier!

Friday: Korean BBQ Chicken Wings

These are another Skinny Taste recipe that we love so much from this book. If you don’t have the book, this recipe is almost identical! They call for an air fryer but I just cook them in the oven. I know they’re going to be a staple in our house – especially for football season! I like to serve them with sweet potato fries and/or a side salad.

The Shopping List

To make it easier on you guys, I’ve consolidated all of the ingredients you’ll need for these meals. Of course, if you have substitutions or food preferences, definitely take a look at the recipe and needs to see if you want to swap things out. I left out things like cooking oil and salt and pepper – things I assume y’all already have!

I know there are a lot of spices/sauces for this week’s meals, but they last a while and if you make (or resolve to make more) Asian cuisine, they’ll be well worth the money!

If you guys have any questions – or make any of these recipes please let me know! I hope this at least gave you some good inspiration of what to cook for dinner this week or next! If you make anything using this blog post, I’d love for you to tag me on Instagram! 🙂 @amandafontenotblog