SIMPLE DINNER THEME IDEAS INSTEAD OF MEAL PLANNING

Sometimes, I see the words “meal planning” and I automatically feel inadequate. Day 1, I’m good. Dinner is cooked and I feel motivation to continue. Then later in the week, life happens. An appointment runs late, chores exhaust me, or something comes up that throws me off my meal plan train. Then I feel defeated. Sound familiar? Am I the only one struggling with this? I had to think of something to help with my dilemma. So I thought I would try Weekly Meal Themes. And since doing this, I no longer feel defeated. Instead, I have a guide to fall back on if dinner feels out of reach. Doing dinner theme ideas is a simple way to get dinner on the table night after night instead of ordering out when I don’t have an ingredient for my dinner on my meal plan.

CAST IRON MONDAY

Monday can seem like an intimidating day to get a healthy meal on the dinner table. That’s why I picked a cast iron theme for this day. Anything can fall into this theme because there are lots of meals to make on all types of cast iron.

• Grill/Griddle
• Dutch Oven
• Traditional Skillet
• Casserole Dish
• Pizza Pan

If the weather is nice, cook chicken or salmon on the grill. Soup in a dutch oven. There are several ideas in my cast iron post here. But here are a few other suggestions:

• Salmon and Asparagus Skillet
• Ranch Pork Chops and Mushrooms
• Roasted Apple Whole Chicken

TACO TUESDAY

I know, DUH right? But let’s go past tacos and go to Mexican food. Here the possibilities are endless.

• Sheet Pan Nachos (my husband’s favorite)
• Walking Tacos
• Chicken Enchiladas
• Street Tacos
• Quesadillas

WOK WEDNESDAY

And let’s do Asian food too! I can’t survive without my wok. It makes delicious takes on Chinese take-out, with A LOT less sodium.

• Sweet and Sour Chicken
• Kung Pao Chicken
• Sweet Chili Shrimp
• Pepper Steak
• Orange Chicken

INTERNATIONAL THURSDAY

My husband loves Polish food. He is specifically asking for pork wrapped in cabbage. I haven’t tried making it yet but I will have to soon or I will never hear the end of it.

• Irish Dishes: Traditional Irish Stew, Reuben Sandwich, Shepard’s Pie, Corned Beef and Cabbage
• Polish Dishes: Sausage Pierogi Skillet, Stuffed Cabbage, Cabbage Rolls, Ham and Cabbage

PIZZA FRIDAY

Make Friday fun and something to look forward to during the week. One dream my husband and I have is to have an outdoor pizza oven. Once that happens, we’ll be in pizza heaven. Make it easy with sourdough discard pizza. Maybe put a twist on the theme and do pizza rolls. Or make it a once a month tradition to go out for pizza.

FAVORITE SATURDAY

Growing up, my family always went out to eat on Saturday night. It was really nice and a change of pace. With the price of food being so high, this is hard to do on our budget. So I had to come up with something to make cooking on Saturdays fun. I decided to make it a day we do our family favorites!

• Hot and Pea Alfredo (pictured above)
• Tater Tot Casserole
• Spaghetti
• Amish Country Casserole
• Homemade Hamburger Helper
• Goulash

SLOW COOKER SUNDAY

Sunday is a day I like to spend in the kitchen preparing for the week. Unpacking and organizing the groceries or making the bread. I like knowing something is already cooking all day and will be ready for dinner.

• Pork and Sauerkraut
• Jambalaya
• Stuffed Pepper Soup
• Mississippi Pot Roast
• Thieves’ Stew

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