Easy Dinners: Meal Plan Monday

(Note: This post contains affiliate links. UM gets a small commision for purchasing items through our links. Thanks so much for supporting us!)

Hello friends! What a whirlwind week! Not only did my younger daughter Kerrigan turn ONE, but my best friend Claire got married!! It was the most beautiful wedding I have ever been too and incredibly fun to boot. My meal plan was kept simple with easy dinners and it worked out great.

This week I have another busy week ahead of me. My little niece and nephew are hanging with us this week and then over the weekend, I will have my big “niece and nephew” (aka my first babies that I used to nanny) staying with us. So we are keeping easy dinners on deck and the crockpot is getting a full workout.

Facebook LIVE Grocery Haul

I did manage to get to Aldi this week and get a LIVE grocery haul up yesterday. I almost went the Instacart route, which is always a great option when you are pressed for time but decided just to get my butt over there before they closed. Check out what we bought and how much I spent in the video below:

The Plan

Sunday: Out to Dinner

Monday: Sausage Sheet Pan Meal

Tuesday: Buffalo Chicken Paninis & Celery/Carrots

Wednesday: Ravioli Lasagna & Salad

Thursday: Pulled Chicken Sandwiches & Sweet Potatoes

Friday: Pizza Set-ups

Saturday: Leftovers/Out

What I Spent:

I spent $142.05 on my Sunday trip to Aldi, plus I’ll probably spend another $20 on the pizza set-ups. We are currently budgeting $160/week for our family of four but as you guys see, we eat almost all of our meals at home. From my research, most families of four typically spend between $146-289/week so we’re definitely at the low end! We shop primarily at Aldi and I highly recommend it if you’re grocery shopping on a budget.

Last Week Recap:

We did have the leftover pizza, chicken stir-fry (pictured), broccoli chicken cheesy bake (pictured), Crockpot chicken enchilada bake (pictured) and Slow Cooker Chicken Chili. The only thing we didn’t have was the sheet pan meal and I think we just had leftovers that night instead. It pays to make a meal plan with easy dinners when you know you’re going to have a busy week, I totally stayed on plan! 

Kitchen Essential

After some thought, I’ve decided that I will only bring you guys a Kitchen Essential when I have a great one to share. I don’t want to recommend something unless I truly believe I classify it as a “kitchen essential”.

Additionally, I will continue to show you guys a picture of my actual essential. I always want to be authentic with you guys and would never just throw something up here if I didn’t love it. I do use Amazon Affiliate links, and that helps support me as a blogger, but everything I say about any product is 100% true and I want you guys to always trust that. So thank you to anyone who has supported me thus far, I greatly appreciate it!

This week I want to highlight these plastic quart containers that I use to freeze my soups and sauces. While we utilize as many reusable storage containers as we can, I don’t have a big enough supply to freeze in them. So I get these quart-size and pint-size deli containers and they work great!

That’s all I have for this week! I hope you guys find the new format more interesting and helpful if you’re grocery shopping on a budget. Check out last week’s MPM if you missed it! Come follow me on Facebook to keep up to date with my LIVE grocery hauls and my weekly #undomesticmomhacks