What should I make for dinner?! This meal plan is PACKED full of 5 family friendly dinner ideas, along with what to serve for sides, to give you less time planning and more time with the family.
Grab this time saving DONE-FOR-YOU meal plan below!
This post is sponsored by my favorite family friendly meal box services, HelloFresh. All thoughts and opinions are my own. Find our special discount below!
Easy Meal Plan for Families
I recently had a reader email and tell me,
“I don’t mind cooking, if someone will just tell me what to make!”
Even as someone who enjoys cooking, I find that it can be a tedious task finding time to plan out meals that accommodate our busy week.
If you are in the same boat, you will LOVE my completely FREE meal plans!
Each week I share a new plan that has:
- 5 days of thoughtfully planned dinners, complete with sides
- A dessert and appetizer idea for the week
- At least one meal almost always utilizes leftovers so you spend less time in the kitchen, and less money on groceries!
You can grab this week’s new plan below, or see almost 100 pre-made easy meal plans here!
This week, I am partnering with HelloFresh to incorporate an even easier solution to the plan for your busiest weeks! This takes the stress out of planning and cooking since it is so simple to have everything you need to create a restaurant quality meal show up at your door step!
I have tried several of the HelloFresh meal boxes and found a few things that really surprised me.
Make sure and read those details, plus grab a special coupon code just for my readers to give it a try below!
{Done for You} Meal Plan
Monday
- Main Dish: – Broccoli Cheddar Chicken Casserole– This dish is super kid friendly and a great way to get the whole family to agree broccoli is delicious! Bonus- It is all made in just one dish!
- Side Dish:
- Rice – Try white, brown, or wild rice. You can serve it right over top to give you something to soak up every last bite of the delicious sauce!
Tuesday
- Main Dish: Tex-Mex Pork Enchilada Bowls- This is our first HelloFresh Meal. It was so simple, packed with flavor, and came together for me in under 30 minutes. We loved that each person was able to assemble their own so that everyone loved the meal and cleaned their plates.
Wednesday
- Main Dish: Spicy Maple Chicken- This was our favorite HelloFresh meal from the week. It had so much flavor and baked together on a baking sheet for quick prep. The spiciness is adjustable, so we added more on ours, and less spice for the kids.
- Side Dish:
- Mashed Sweet Potatoes– I couldn’t believe how easy and delicious these were!
- Roasted Green Beans- The classic way. Simple and delicious!
Thursday
- Main Dish: Chicken Broccoli Cheese Baked Potatoes – Use leftovers from Monday to make a super easy meal! This is quick, filling and oh, so delicious!
- Sides:
- Side Salad– Chopped romaine, cucumber, carrots, tomatoes, and balsamic vinaigrette. Add mozzarella pearls and fresh chopped basil for even more flavor.
- Sides:
Friday
- Main Dish: Grilled Hawaiian Steak– This marinade has been a family favorite for YEARS! We got it passed to us from our server at a local restaurant in a small town we lived in when we were newly weds. We have been making it ever since!
- Side:
- Garlic Smashed Potatoes– just as good as they sound!
- Roasted Veggies– Fresh, simple, and delicious.
- Side:
Saturday
- Main Dish: Bruschetta Chicken with a crispy mozzarella crust – This is one of the HelloFresh Gourmet category meals, and it didn’t disappoint! Not only did it taste like something I would have gotten from a restaurant, it didn’t even take long to make. It is amazing when you can get that combo of simple to make and delicious to eat!
- Sides:
- Bacon Mashed Potatoes– Get the flavor of french fries in these oven baked potatoes!
- Asparagus– These are great to snack on before the main meal or give a little extra wholesome boost to the dinner.
- Sides:
Appetizer
- Mango Avocado Salsa– Grab these with a bag of chips and just try not to eat the WHOLE bowl!!
Dessert
- Lemon Meltaway Cookies– One of my top cookie recipes for a GOOD reason! These are light and airy and just seem to melt in your mouth.
Let’s talk about HelloFresh
It might come as a surprise that even someone who loves to cook finds HelloFresh a LIFE SAVER for getting dinner on the table.
If you aren’t familiar with HelloFresh, they deliver mouthwatering seasonal recipes and fresh, pre-measured ingredients delivered right to your door. They make cooking EASY + AFFORDABLE + DELICIOUS!
When I first started looking into HelloFresh there were a few things that really stood out to me, and may even come as a surprise to you too!
Click here to get $80 off, including free shipping on the first box! Additional restrictions apply.
Delicious
I was mostly concerned with this! Why would I want to pay to get sub-par food. If I can make it better, I am just not interested!
HelloFresh has more five-star recipes than any other meal kit, so you know you’ll get something delicious!
I am super picky about food, and especially meat. I was very pleased with the quality of the meat, and the vegetables were so fresh!
Their produce gets to you faster than the grocery store, so it arrives at PEAK freshness and flavor. I was skeptical, but they totally delivered! Everything from the peppers, to the asparagus and green beans were perfect and didn’t need much prep wise, because the flavor was great from being fresh!
One of my other concerns was that the portions wouldn’t be big enough. We are a family of 5 with 2 adults and 3 kids, but we are all eaters! I was skeptical, but after making several meals found that we had leftovers almost every time! The portion size was generous and the flavors were delicious!
Most importantly, we LOVED the meals! LOVED them! Every single one was gobbled up by both the adults and kids!
Time Saving
After I knew it was delicious, this was the biggest thing for me. Even as someone that enjoys cooking, it can be so stressful in the middle of a busy week when we are on a time crunch.
I found that HelloFresh saves me time in these ways:
- Less frequent trips to the grocery store – Most of our food is delivered straight to the door!
- Easy to Plan- I love being able to scroll the options and just pick off the “menu” what my family wants to eat this week.
- Less prep- Meals are fast since there is very little prep! This may be my favorite part! The ingredients are pre-measured, and prepped! Even the chicken came without a speck of fat that needed to be trimmed!
- Dinners are quick and instructions are clear- Most meals can be made in 20-30 minutes total, and they come with clear, concise step by step instructions.
Flexible
For the needs of a busy family this is KEY! And the flexible options which HelloFresh gives you makes it perfect for when needs change.
- HelloFresh has options for different needs like vegetarian, calorie smart, and one pan options.
- Add extra dinners or lunches to your weekly order, or throw in extra proteins, or yummy meal or complements like their best-selling garlic bread.
- Easily change your delivery days or food preferences and skip a week whenever you need!
- Feeding the whole family with larger box sizes (which gives more savings too!)
I really feel that incorporating HelloFresh into your weekly meal planning can be a great way to save not only your time and sanity, but without sacrificing delicious food!
Want $80 off and FREE shipping?!
Check the HelloFresh website to see more of the meals that they offer, and give it a try with this special discount only for Easy Family Recipes readers to get $80 off, including free shipping on the first box! Additional restrictions apply.
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