Meal plan can be a little submerge for everyone, particularly during busy weeknights ! It ‘s not my darling thing to do, but I have found a few things that make it a tad bit easier to answer that nagging interrogate, “ What ‘s for dinner ! ? ! ”
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I am all about easily, no dither, kid-friendly food that keeps everyone glad ! I hope these ideas help you a much as they help me… get out of your dinnertime rut, and try out a newly dinner idea ! You may find your following family fav !
FIRST, A MEAL PLANNING TIP
You ready for it ? It ‘s so easy. I keep a big tilt of dinner ideas by or on my electric refrigerator. This is SUPER DUPER helpful in terms of coming up with a variety show of meals that can be made with things I typically have on-hand. It ‘s besides a great way to come up with uses for leftovers .
You can tied separate meal types based on the main ingredient, meals that can be frozen, how they are cooked ( crockpot, baked, grilled, etc. ), meals good adequate to serve guests, etc .
I besides keep all of my favorite recipes in one home, like my recipe binder ! Print our your best Pinterest recipes and keep them together where you can easily find them. If the recipe comes from a cookbook, photocopy it and keep it in the binder. That direction you never have to say, “ now, where was that amazing chicken recipe again ? …. ”
While I am sometimes badly at planning ahead for dinner, I firm believe it ‘s important to cook for your syndicate rather than eating out or preparing processed meals. It ‘s not only cheaper, but it teaches your family healthy habits and keeps you conclusion as a kin !
Making your own list is so easy, particularly when you use our printable list of over 100 amazing dinner ideas ! Take your favored meals from your recipe binder, Pinterest, your cookbooks, and everything else, and add them to your dinner ideas list !
Pssstttt… If you want an even more custom-make dinner ideas list, check out our dinner ideas post on ShelfCooking.com where we break meals down by theme dinner ideas to help .
THE ULTIMATE LIST OF DINNER IDEAS
hera is the list I have to help me come up with what to make for dinner ! If any of these necessitate recipes, I ‘ll try to post them over time and will update this number with links to the recipes. otherwise, I recommend a site like allrecipes.com for recipes ( be certain to read the reviews ) !
EASY PAN DINNER IDEAS
- Hard tacos or tostadas
- Huevos rancheros
- Stir fry
- Burritos
- Fajitas
- Burgers or hotdogs
- Quesadillas (plain cheese, steak, chicken, or pork)
- Meatballs and rice
- KFC bowls (mashed potatoes on the bottom, then corn and breaded chicken bites on top)
- Sloppy Joes
pro tip : burrito freeze really well ! Add all your ingredients to a tortilla, roll it into a burrito, wrapping in cling envelop and add to a deep-freeze bulge. It ‘s one of our favorite travel dinner ideas !
CROCKPOT DINNER IDEAS
- Chicken and rice
- Pulled BBQ chicken (sandwiches, put on a salad, etc.)
- Pot roast (leftovers can be made into sandwiches)
- Crockpot salsa chicken (makes into great burritos or salads!)
- Ribs (grilled, baked, crockpot, etc)
- French dip sandwiches (roast in crockpot + au jus sauce = French dip)
pro tiptoe : Throw a liner in your crockpot for easy clean up ! All of these easy dinner ideas can besides be made in the Instant Pot if that ‘s your jam .
BAKED DINNER IDEAS
pro tip : Learn to love your leftovers by taking pretty much any leftover kernel and turning it into a casserole ! It ‘ll bring a unharmed modern meaning to your weekly leftovers night when you dress it up into something else .
CHICKEN DINNER IDEAS
- Chicken parmesan
- Fried chicken (baked or fried)
- Chicken cordon bleu (easier than you would think, and so impressive! Great for guests.)
- Breaded chicken (can bread with Italian bread crumbs, graham crackers, saltines, potato chips)
- Chicken nuggets (homemade…so easy!)
- Chicken wings
- Cheesy bacon chicken
- Dijon chicken
- Chicken fingers
- Chicken and broccoli casserole
- Orange chicken
- Cilantro-lime chicken
- Lemon chicken
pro tip : Pre-cook some chicken breasts, shred it in your stand mixer, and freeze it in meal-sized portions ! It ‘ll make dinner prep that much easier.
Read more: How To Enjoy Eating Healthy
BEEF/PORK DINNER IDEAS
- Pork chops
- Chimichangas
- Meatloaf
- Meatball subs
- Stuffed pork chops
- Beef & broccoli
- Ham
- Beef or pork tenderloin
professional tip off : Ham is the kernel that keeps on giving. Make a large ham for your adjacent Sunday dinner and be amazed at all the leftover overact recipes you can make with it !
FISH DINNER IDEAS
- Salmon
- Salmon patties
- Fish sticks (homemade or store-bought)
- Fish ‘n chips
- Crab cakes
- Fish tacos
- Smoked salmon bagel
professional tiptoe : fish freezes truly well ! Do n’t be afraid to buy extra if it ‘s ever on sale and it fits within the budget. adenine long as you freeze it by rights to prevent deep-freeze cut, you ‘ll constantly have what you need on hand !
SOUP DINNER IDEAS
- Taco soup
- Minestrone soup
- Chicken noodle soup (homemade…serve with grilled cheese)
- Creamy potato soup
- White chicken chili
- Clam chowder
- Tomato bisque
- Italian wedding soup
- Chicken enchilada/tortilla soup
- Cheeseburger soup
- Corn chowder (various recipes, ham & corn chowder is good too)
- Tortellini soup
- French onion soup
- Jambalaya
pro point : You can turn pretty much anything into soup ! Leftover meat, limp veggies, random pasta… Build your own soup and it ‘ll make the best that you ‘ve ever had !
PASTA DINNER IDEAS
pro Tip : A batch of these dinner ideas freeze in truth well ! We always suggest to double or triple what you ‘re making and freeze it for an easy weeknight dinner. It ‘s so much cheaper than grabbing take-out on those busy nights !
SALADS OR SANDWICHES FOR DINNER
pro tip : Make mason jolt salads for easy grab-and-go dinners during the week !
GRILLED DINNER IDEAS
- Grilled chicken (season or marinade with whatever, and grill!)
- Steak (grilled or broiled)
- Kabobs
professional peak : The grill is n’t merely for your kernel ! Put your veggies in a steamer pack made out of foil and cook them on the grillroom. They turn out then delightful and it keeps you from dirtying any dishes in the kitchen. Winning !
BREAKFAST FOR DINNER
professional tiptoe : Make a boatload of breakfast foods over the weekend, freeze, and pull them out as you need them for a promptly and easy breakfast or dinner !
LEFTOVERS FOR DINNER
When you ‘re trying to come up with newly and fresh, easy dinner ideas, do n’t forget about your leftovers. If you have cooked food that is already in your electric refrigerator, EAT IT or use it to create something wholly newly out of your leftovers ! Unless you like eating leftovers how you primitively made them, there are plenty of ways to repurpose your leftovers. Do n’t believe us ? We came up with over 70 different meals to magically transform those “ boring ” ol ‘ leftovers into something fresh and unlike !
So the following time you ‘re standing in your kitchen, trying to figure out what to make for dinner, remember your leftovers ! Incorporate a weekly leftover night that helps to make meal plan easy. Use our tips to reheat your leftovers like a pro and never throw out your waste leftovers that have been hanging out in the back of the electric refrigerator for a little besides long again. We promise, the come of money you ‘ll save because there ‘s less food neutralize will have you loving your leftovers in no time !
so what is YOUR go-to dinner ? ? contribution it with us in the comments below !
Have you checked out ShelfCooking.com so far ? Our site is dedicated to helping you cook delectable, homemade, down-home-cooked meals for your kin without slaving away in the kitchen !
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Want more ? !
- Get your grocery budget in check and save massive money!
- Use our envelope budget system to really get your finances in order. It’s so simple, you’d be crazy not to! 😉
- Clean and organize your pantry so you know exactly what you have!
glad cooking !