Weekly Meal Plan, July Week 1
A weekly meal plan saves so much money, time, and energy! Get some inspiration and ideas from my meal plan for this week– breakfasts, lunches, and dinners!
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It’s been a while since I shared a weekly meal plan here, so I thought it was about time to share another. In the past, I’ve planned for two weeks of meals (about ten meals) at a time, but more recently I’ve been planning for just one week at a time.
This routine is really working for me right now, so I’m sticking with it. One of my major summer goals is to bring down our grocery spending quite a bit. A few things are helping us a lot with this:
- shopping ONLY once a week
- ordering groceries instead of going to the store
- using price lists to plan our spending
I shared a little more in detail about my current meal planning method in this week’s YouTube video. I do my planning on Saturday or Sunday morning, then place my order for the Whole Foods groceries to be delivered that evening. After church we make our weekly Costco run.
(Whole Foods grocery delivery is free for Prime Members! Sign up to be a Prime Member to get all kinds of great benefits!)
There are several printables that I always use when I meal plan, though the actual list of meals is always written down in my bullet journal. I’ve made each of the printables available for free on the blog so be sure to check them out!
The first thing I print out is my Kitchen Essentials Checklist. (I print it two sheets per page). I use this to make my grocery list (it helps me make sure I’m not out of anything important). Because I keep my shopping to the same two stores each week, I highlight what I need from Costco in green and my Whole Foods groceries in yellow.
At the same time, I am planning our meals for the week based on what we already have on hand, what I need to test or film for the blog, and any special occasions going on that week. This week I did not use my Seasonal Meal Plan because we have so many nights this week where we do not need full meals, but I did use the summer meal planning pages for the entire month of June and loved not having to think of meals and having my shopping lists ready to go.
The Yearlong Seasonal Meal Plan was a preorder bonus, but will be available for everyone who missed it next month! Perfect timing for back-to-school and end of summer routines. If you are not already subscribed to my email list, make sure you sign up so you will know when it is available!
The final printables I use to finish my plan and stick to my budget are price lists for Costco, Whole Foods, and Aldi. I total everything up before heading to the store so there are no surprises and I am not tempted to add a lot of extras to the cart.
Free Printables
- Kitchen Essentials Checklist
- Best Buys at Whole Foods
- Costco & Aldi Price Comparison
- Easy Dinner Ideas Mega List
- Master Lunch List
Weekly Meal Plan, July Week 1
This week I focused on really simple and kid-friendly meals because my older kids and husband will be gone part of the week. Plus, this week is the Fourth of July, so that’s another night I will not need a big meal.
I planned for smoking a pork butt at the beginning of the week and then using that meat for various meals the rest of the week. Easy and so delicious.
If you want to see more about our actual groceries hauls from Costco and Whole Foods, and hear more about my meal planning process, be sure to check out the newest video on YouTube.
Also, leave a comment at the end of this post letting me know if you want to see more weekly meal plans. If they’re helpful, I’ll keep doing them.
Prep
Breakfasts
- Oatmeal in the Instant Pot
- Yogurt & fruit and granola
- Eggs & hashbrowns/grits
- Saturday Morning Waffles
Lunches
- (Extra Green) Broccoli Cheese Soup & Grilled Cheese Sandwiches
- Green Smoothies & Quesadillas
- PB&J, fruit, & chips
- Magic Burrito Pot (cookbook) and tortilla chips
- Leftovers
Dinners
- Smoked pork butt, Amazing Dilly Ranch Potatoes (cookbook), roasted asparagus
- Ridiculously Easy Chicken Breasts w/ Instant Pot garlic butter pasta
- Barbecue & Caramelized Onion Pizza and Buffalo Chicken Pizza
- Fresh homemade ravioli or pork chops
- Easy Tastiest Sliders, Creamiest Instant Pot Ranch Mac’n’cheese, roasted carrot fries
What are you eating this week? Don’t forget to let me know if you want to see more regular weekly meal plan posts!
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Where has instant pot iced tea been my whole life? Can’t wait to try that and these other great ideas.
Simple eating is always a goal of mine, but often I can’t get it together enough to plan and get a list together before I need to go shopping, so the cylcle continues. This meal plan looks awesome! 2-3 out of 6 of my family doesn’t like pasta, so sometimes that’s tricky here but I’ve learned how to adjust (like, some people just don’t have to eat it 🙂 ) Thanks for sharing your meal plan!
Would love more weekly meal plans!
This is a perfect meal plan I’ll like to give a try.
Thanks for always sharing interesting articles.
Love your blog.❤️ I’m so tired of cooking, especially coming up with new ideas. Seeing your meal plans and just got your cookbook I hope that this will help me out of my rut. I’ll be watching for more of your weekly meal plans. THANKS Lisa
Marita