Our Family Dinner Menu for January and February
Over the summer, I mentioned that our family had switched to a two week menu rotation.
I come up with two weeks of complete dinner plans and then we rotate through them for eight weeks.
This has made my life SO MUCH EASIER.
I got off track during the holidays, and I remembered how stressful it is to make up dinner plans on the fly each week.
Over the break, I sat down and made a new family dinner menu for two full weeks that we’re using in January and February.
This time, I added snacks to the rotation since I’m lousy at making up snack ideas on the spot.
And then, because it was winter break and I was feeling extra ambitious, I logged on to the Walmart grocery app and made a grocery list for week 1 and a grocery list for week 2, so now on Sundays, I can just add the whole list to my cart (plus my “weekly essentials” list) and have my grocery order placed within about 90 seconds.
It is the BEST.
Here’s what is on our family dinner menu for the next eight weeks:
Family Dinner Menu Ideas
WEEK 1:
- Chicken Tacos with grapes
- Hamburgers with pears and sweet potato fries
- Butternut Squash Soup with muffins and salad
- Tuna melts with chips and apples
- Homemade Pizza with roasted broccoli
- Takeout
- Slow cooker pork with dried plums over mashed potatoes with rolls and roasted brussels sprouts
WEEK 2:
- Sweet Potato Tinfoil Tacos with pineapple
- Lentil Soup with muffins and grapes
- Honey Lime Tilapia with garlic bread and salad
- Tomato Soup with grilled cheese sandwiches and clementines
- French Dip Sandwiches with apples and sugar snap peas
- Takeout
- Parmesan Chicken with spinach salad and rolls
And here’s what our snack menu looks like:
WEEK 1 SNACKS:
- Lemon energy balls
- Crackers and cream cheese with sugar snap peas
- Orange Julius
- Banana Cookies
- Greek yogurt with granola
WEEK 2 SNACKS:
- Apples with peanut butter and mini chocolate chips
- Hummus with pretzel sticks and pepper slices
- Banana muffins
- Ants on a log (celery with peanut butter and raisins)
- Chocolate peanut butter smoothie
And of course, there are some nights where we just have leftovers instead or I make pancakes or something, but those happen less and less often because I know from the beginning of the week exactly what I’m making and have all the ingredients to get dinner on the table.
Any questions about these family dinner menu ideas? Happy to answer!
I just started this too! Plus each of my kids (4) have a day of the week. So on their day they are in charge of picking the meal (we did that ahead of time for the 2 week rotation) and then helping make it. I’m hoping my older three (13, 11, 8) will pick up some more cooking skills and then I can kill 2 birds with one stone.
I just did this for our family and it is amazing how much stress it relieves. My kids love knowing what’s coming next in meals, activities and life and this is an easy way to answer that question for them. Next month, I’ll add in snack plans.
Great idea! I always find something to cook from your menus. This time it is the chicken tacos. And I’ll probably make lentil soup as well. One thing I started doing recently is picking up an easy to cook meal for my teenager and having her cook once a week with me sitting nearby in case she has questions. Thankfully, a local grocery store has kits that rotate once a week that are inexpensive and healthy.
Thank you for sharing this!! This is brilliant! Do you usually eat leftovers for lunch the next day? I am making this a goal for 2021 because SO much mental energy goes to this!! I am literally going to straight up copy your plans. Lol!! So please post for March / April. 😂 I found your blog late last year and absolutely love it!! Xx
I have leftovers occasionally – more often I make a salad for lunch or have a protein bar, a string cheese and a piece of fruit.