One-Month Easy Meal Plan #FamilyOf7 #BackToSchool

I panic when I don't know what's for dinner. I hate wasting time shopping last-minute for food, and it also causes me to waste money because I pick up junk food and also spend too much on convenience foods. A little bit of planning goes a long way toward my peace of mind and toward sticking to our family's budget.

I've always tried to make a meal plan but never stuck to it. Things would come up and need to be shifted around, and then I just quit. Recently I decided to make a one-month easy meal plan for our family of 7 so I could focus on homeschool and co-op planning, as well as my job of proofreading from home.

I hope you'll find some inspiration from my meal plan. 

I just created a table in Microsoft Word and filled in the blanks. I've already veered off the path, but that's okay! Monday the 12th we had chicken tenders because I had them in the freezer and needed to us them up. Plus I did the crockpot BBQ chicken just a few days ago. We are probably going out to dinner on the 14th, so I can just use the salad on another night that calls for a veggie, and the frozen pizza will keep for another night or occasion, like a teen party at my place!

I have many more easy meals for rotations in the coming months, so check back! I'd love to hear your favorite fast and budget-friendly recipes in the comments!

Also, to make my life even more easy and save a lot of time, I use Walmart Grocery Pickup. You and I can both get $10 off when you give it a try. Check out my post about it to answer a lot of questions you might have. Minimum order is only $30 and, yes, you can get practically anything in the store that you need, not just food.
*If there is a star after a recipe, it can be found on this blog. Please scroll to the bottom of the post to see a list of recipes and links
We are trying to be frugal around here lately to try to pay off our van and braces, but every other Sunday I put a nice meat in the meal plan for smoking so we can have a little splurge and my husband can have some fun with his smokers. He has a smaller one, a Weber, and then a wonderful longtime family friend gifted us his huge Smoke Hollow stand-up smoker.

September 4th is our first day back to coop so I wanted to hit the Trader Joe's and get the Japanese fried rice we love. We need three bags, so it's a splurge, but it's fast and yummy.

Crockpot BBQ chicken sandwiches (coming soon)

Beef ravioli lasagna

Tuna melts (coming soon)

Cilantro lime chicken pesto fajitas

Slow cooker beef stew

Shepherd's pie

Mexican cornbread casserole

You may have noticed I don't have Tater Tot Casserole on this rotation. We are taking a break from it, but it will be back next month! Please check out my cookbook on Amazon here!




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