Our younger kids are now 11 going on 12 (next week) and 9 years old. At this age, I think they still need some supervision when it comes to cooking on the stove or pulling something hot out of the oven. But for the most part, they are at an age where they understand the do’s and don’t in the kitchen without supervision.
To engage them a little more in the kitchen and to help them learn, after I post my weekly meal plan on the fridge, I’ve started to announce to them, “You can sign up for what night you want to help in the kitchen,” meaning put your initials or name next to a day you want to help mom cook and it’s usually once a week per kid.
Meal Plan
I meal plan at the beginning of each week. For me, it’s Sunday mornings when the house is quite and everyone’s still sleeping. I try and manage a decent frugal grocery budget and not go to the grocery store on a weekly basis unless we need dairy products like milk. Weekly meal planning saves our family money, reduces food waste, and keeps us from the urge to say, “Let’s eat out!”
Here’s our plan for the week.
My weekly meal plan and shopping list is completed and posted on our fridge:
Breakfast options:
(served with fruit)
French toast casserole
Pancakes
Waffles
Biscuits and Sausage Gravy
Cereal
Scrambled, Fried, or Hard-Boiled Eggs
Breakfast Burritos
Quiche
English Muffins
Homemade Bread
Biscuits
Muffins
Breakfast Cookies
Breakfast Potatoes
Mini Apple Pies or Turnovers
Lunch options:
Sandwiches or Wraps (Tuna salad, egg salad, chicken salad, turkey salad, leftover meats, grilled cheese, blt, pb&j)
Quesadillas
Smoothies
Leftovers from dinner
Salad
Baked Potato
Homemade Pizza Pockets
Suppers Your Family Will Love
Need ideas for your weekly meal plan? It’s time for another weekly menu. I enjoy menu planning because of the simplicity it provides for my life. It enables me to decrease my grocery shopping excursions to twice a month and it allows me to have more free time to focus on my family and home. For ideas in the weekly meal plan, we’ll be focusing on a variety of family meals. You’ll find the recipes on the weekly meal plan also available on my Recipe Index page with a grocery list included.
Dinner (recipes will post throughout the week, given time to cook and photograph 
)
Note: an asterisk* means it’s from the freezer
Sunday: Sunday Supper~Game Day Favorites – Jerk Chicken Nachos (cook and shred whole chicken, leftovers save for Monday night’s dinner), Lemon cake with Homemade Frosting for dessert
Monday: Chicken (leftovers), Crock Pot Black Beans* (freezer), Rice served with tortillas
Tuesday: Breakfast for Dinner~Banana Stuffed French Toast (new recipe)
Wednesday: Spinach Sausage Soup, Homemade Fluffy Dinner Rolls
Thursday: Southwestern Stuffed Peppers, Garden Salad
Friday: Family Favorites Night, Pizza Bites, Garden Salad
Saturday: Lasagna Soup, Sweet Skillet Cornbread
For more great family recipes, be sure to visit my new recipe box page.
What’s cooking at your house this week?
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