Meal Planning Monday: Week 6 – Simple, Real Family Dinners

It’s already week 6 of Meal Planning Monday! I’ve really been enjoying planning out my meals lately. It’s been helping me deal with stress better and save some money. Both have been highly needed lately! I think I’ll continue Meal Planning Monday until I reach week 8, and then I’ll have a great library of weekly plans to draw from for the summer. How about you? Have you found these meal plans helpful at all?

My own “rules” for meal planning:

• I plan six meals – they can go on any day of the week (whatever we’re feeling like eating that day) and the 7th day is for leftovers or eating out. This helps me go with the flow a little and not feel like I’m failing if we have have to change things due to life.
• We like to eat meat, whole grains and vegetables at every meal but I can usually convince my husband to have one meat-free meal a week.
• The meals are as “from scratch” as possible, but they still need to be simple (enter my crock pot and a lot of one-dish meals).

On the menu this week:

1. Crunchy Baked Pork Chops from Love, Sugar & Spices
2. Crepes with Ham, Swiss & Asparagus from Mel’s Kitchen
3. Homemade Gnocchi Bake from The DIY Mommy
4. Winner Winner Chicken Dinner from Rachael Ray
5. Ground Beef Risotto from Betty Crocker
6. Chicken ‘n’ Biscuits from Taste of Home