6 Weeks of REAL Dinner Menus

Need a little weeknight meal inspiration? Look no further than these no-fuss, customizable, real-life dinner menus! Kid and parent approved!

With the craziness of summer schedules [or NOT having a schedule], I’ve found writing down my dinner menus for the week to be somewhat of a relief when I have the, “I don’t know what to make for dinner,” moment[s]. While I’m not a strict meal or menu planner by any means, I’ve found that a little bit of mealtime structure and planning not only helps with my grocery list, but it also brings me back to reality when I forget what I had planned on making. Forgetfulness and parenthood? Ha! It’s a thing let me assure you.

I don’t have a fancy planner or fun pictures to show you, just the real, everyday way or every week way I make my dinner menus. I apologize in advance for the number of times you’ll see pizza, garlic bread, or for the times you might not be able to read my writing. Penmanship has never been my strong suit, but eating pizza certainly is!

With some of the language or meal ideas below, this is what I’m often referring to:

Here’s how we typically zoodle. And naan pizza.

This is gourmet hot dog or sausage night.

And this is how 100% of my spaghetti squash nights look. Kids get spaghetti noodles and I get extra veg!

Here’s what I can tell you about my weekly dinner plan:

I always try to ensure there’s a little extra veg for me and a little extra carb for the kids. Why? Because. Kids. So, if you don’t see it listed, it doesn’t mean I didn’t add it!
We are a meat and potatoes kind of family, hence why you’ll see many meat options.
There’s no method to my madness. I typically put the same thing in my Kroger ClickList order every week and mix and match recipes from there.
There’s also no method to when or how I plan my dinners. I usually sit down on Friday or Saturday and think through the week ahead
See a dinner missing? See a night or two out? These are REAL weekly dinner menus. So really, some weeks we out or are at Nana’s more than others.
If something doesn’t sound kid-friendly, chances are I’ve deconstructed the meal to make it more palatable for my kids
Oh, and did I mention we like pizza. A LOT.

Here’s why I like to call this post REAL dinner menus:

I make it flexible enough that the plan can be changed [i.e. Mom orders carry out].
Breakfast and lunch are almost the same around here every single day. Why? Because dinner is my time to experiment and make meals that I actually love. It’s always been my time. No matter how often it’s being sabotaged by little taste buds, I still look forward to making MY dinner almost every night.
You don’t see much fruit pictured, mainly because when I’m making dinner I tend to set out apple slices, watermelon cubes, grapes, bananas, etc. to distract the troops. Sometimes I’ll put out cucumbers or pepper slices and count that as their veggie serving BEFORE dinner.
If I used a certain recipe or recipe idea, I’ll be sure to link to it after the dinner menu posted. I have a few repeats so be sure to check links in previous menus. And if nothing is shared, I likely googled my recipe idea and tweaked someone else’s recipe!
ONE last note. My menus tend to vary based on season. This one is very pizza and grilling heavy, mainly because pizza is easy in the summer, and so is grilling. Stay tuned for some fall recipes once the weather turns!

WEEK 1:

Recipe for hummus baked chicken

Pizza night [see at the end of this post]