Planning a week’s worth of dinner can be intimidating.  No worries, I have taken care of all the dirty work. Right down to the shopping list. Six meals are included in the plan leaving one night for what I refer to as CORN or Clean Out the Refrigerator Night. This week’s plan includes one vegetarian option instead of the usual fish. If your family refuses a meatless meal, a pound of browned ground beef could be substituted for the kidney beans in meal #5. These meals do not have to be prepared in any particular order, simply arrange them as best fits your schedule.

The shopping list does not include basic pantry items such as flour and sugar, but does include all the spices as most families keep spices based on their regional and ethnic traditions. Don’t be scared to substitute and remember many of the dry goods and cheeses will not have to be purchased every week. Simply cross off the items you have on hand. If you are fairly new to cooking, your grocery bill will drop once your pantry is stocked with the basic spices and dry goods.

Let’s get started:

1. Pot roast with onions, carrots, and celery, rice, and gravy.  This meal works well with a crockpot, leaving only the rice and gravy to be prepared near dinner time. If you are completely intimidated by the idea of making gravy, consider using a jar or packet, but don’t forget to add it to the shopping list.

2. Pork chops fake-n-bake style, baked apples, collards. Baked apples are a cinch, remove most of the core, don’t cut through to the bottom. Fill the hole with butter and brown sugar, place in an oven safe dish and bake for 15 minutes with the pork chops or a little longer if you like the apples quite soft.  If you want to be particularly naughty, try these for dessert stuffing the apples with Fun Size Snickers or Milky Ways.

3. Chicken, mushrooms, and peppers, roasted acorn or butternut squash. Squash is an excellent and simple autumn or winter side. Simply cut in half, place face down in an ovensafe dish add 1/4″ of water, and bake at 350F or 400F until the skin can easily be pierced with a fork.

4. Super simple cream of broccoli and grilled cheese or ham and cheese sandwiches.

5. Not Quite Shepherd’s Pie (lacto-ovo vegetarian), tossed salad

6. Sloppy joes, baked potato wedges, and raw vegetables

Shopping List

Dairy Case & Products:

Butter
Cheddar
Cheese of choice for grilled cheese
Eggs
Milk

Dry Goods:

Beef bouillon or stock
Bread crumbs
5oz can evaporated milk
Chicken bouillon or stock
Cornstarch
Hamburger buns
1 can kidney beans
Rice
Tomato paste
2 8oz cans tomato sauce
Vegetable bouillon or stock

Freezer:

Broccoli florets & stems (Just florets is fine)
Frozen vegetables for the shepherds pie

Meat:

Bacon or Sausage (optional, for the collards)
3-5lb bone in chicken (1 whole cut up is perfect)
Chuck roast
Ground beef or turkey
Pork chops
Sliced ham (optional for sandwiches)

Produce:

Apples (Not Red Delicious, get something suitable for baking, but not necessarily as tart as Granny Smith)
Acorn or Butternut Squash
Bell peppers
Bulb Garlic
Button mushrooms
Carrots
Celery
Collard greens
Onions
Potatoes (2 side dishes + 1 extra potato)
Tossed salad “fixings”

Spices and Condiments:

Bay leaves (optional)
Cayenne (optional)
Chili powder
Dry mustard
Garlic powder
Montreal steak seasoning
Nutmeg (optional)
Paprika
Red wine (optional)
Rosemary (optional)
Rubbed sage
Thyme
Worcestshire sauce

Heather also blogs at Home Ec 101. To see what her family is eating, click here.