a really simple meal plan v.31
quick, delicious meals to bridge the gap between seasons
Happy first Friday of March! We have a handful of very easy, very flavorful meals in store for this new really simple meal plan. We’re going to prep a warm, filling chicken enchilada stew to enjoy for lunches throughout the week before soup + stew season officially wraps. And we’ll whip up a mix of nutritious dinners with some overlapping ingredients to simplify cooking and keep your grocery list tight.
This meal plan will feed a family of four. If you’re cooking for fewer people, you can omit a meal or two to minimize leftovers. Or, stock your freezer with them instead — the stew, white rice, refried beans, and saucy pork all freeze well!
Paid subscribers, you will find a PDF at the bottom of this email with a printer-friendly version of this entire meal plan, including:
the prep-ahead notes outlined below
all 5 recipes (modified to coordinate with the notes specific to this meal plan)
and a color-coded shopping list organized by aisle
So just print it off and cook your way through! No jumping between posts — or brainstorming what to cook for dinner every night — required.
If you want to dig deeper into certain recipes’ substitutions or swaps, you can click into the individual recipe links below. And if you want to make changes to your grocery list (like if you want to cut a recipe, or swap a protein), you can copy and paste the whole thing into a new Google doc to modify as needed.
GOOD-ALL-WEEK LUNCHES: creamy chicken enchilada stew
REHEAT IT: Once the stew has cooled completely, store it in an airtight container (or multiple pre-portioned containers) in the fridge. Reheat in the microwave until warmed through.
TIMING TIP: Don’t add the garnishes (chips, extra cheese, avocado, cilantro, etc.) until you are ready to eat.
USE WHAT YOU’VE GOT:
You will need four green onions to cook dinner on night #4. If you have more than four onions in the bunch, thinly slice and garnish your stew with the extras.
Use either sour cream or plain Greek yogurt as a topping — whichever you want to use for your magic green sauce for taco night.
You’ll have half a block of cream cheese leftover from this recipe. Grab some bagels to eat for breakfast (Dave’s Killer Bread Epic Everything bagels are elite) to use the rest of it up.
DINNER NIGHT #1: pasta al limone
GIMME SOME GREENS: Make a simple side salad of arugula or mixed greens, shaved Pecorino Romano, kosher salt, freshly cracked pepper, lemon juice, any nut or seed, and extra-virgin olive oil. You’ll use the rest of the greens up later this week.
ADD MORE PROTEIN: If you want to bulk this vegetarian meal up even further, our perfect-every-time pan-seared chicken breasts would be delicious on top! Everyone-loves-this-salmon would be another great option. (These aren’t included in the shopping list, so add them to your list, if using!)
LOVE YOUR LEFTOVERS: Leftovers stay good for up to 4 days stored in an airtight container in the fridge and make great, easy-to-heat lunches for if/when you run out of soup later this week. Add splashes of water when reheating to get things loose and saucy again.
PREP AHEAD FOR TOMORROW: Make the sriracha shrimp sauce and use 1/4 cup of it to marinate the shrimp (they can marinate for up to 24 hours). If you really want to get ahead, pickle the cucumbers now, too.
DINNER NIGHT #2: sriracha shrimp sushi bowls
COOK ONCE, EAT TWICE: Double the pickled cucumber — you’ll eat half tonight and the other half on night #4.
STORE-BOUGHT SHORTCUT: Option to use microwaveable frozen white rice to save yourself some effort.
OPTION TO PREP AHEAD: If you prepped the shrimp and cucumber last night, tonight’s dinner will come together VERY fast. If you want to shave off time cooking later in the week, here are some totally optional things you can prep right now.
To prep for dinner on night #3, you could:
Finely chop one small yellow onion, OR make the whole refried bean filling. Either way, store it in the fridge in an airtight container.
Make the magic green sauce and store it in the fridge.
To prep for dinner on night #4, you could:
Peel and cut 2 pounds (2 large or 3 medium) sweet potatoes into 1-inch cubes. Or you can go a step further and roast them. Either way, store them in the fridge in an airtight container.
DINNER NIGHT #3: crunchy refried bean tacos
I PREPPED AHEAD: If you made the filling yesterday, warm it in a pot over medium heat, stirring often, and adding water if needed to loosen it up.
LOVE YOUR LEFTOVERS: If you have leftover magic green sauce, it’d be great on top of your pork bowls tomorrow or swirled into the chicken enchilada soup. Or you can use it as a dip for veggies and/or tortilla chips.
DINNER NIGHT #4: saucy pork and sweet potato bowls
COOK ONCE, EAT TWICE: Here’s where you’ll use the extra pickled cucumber you made when cooking dinner on day #1.
WE OMIT THE CARROTS: If you love and cook this recipe often (or if you are just seeing carrots in the photo and wonder why they’re missing), we omit the pickled carrots this week to streamline your grocery list. The meal will be fab with just pickled cucumber!
USE WHAT YOU’VE GOT: Use whatever greens you made your simple salad with on pasta night OR any kale you have leftover from the stew. Pickled ginger would be good on here, too, since you have it in the fridge.
I PREPPED AHEAD: If you pre-roasted your sweet potatoes, reheat them in the microwave in 30-second increments until warmed through.
