Simple Meal Plan Everyone Will Love

This weekly meal plan, published by Carrie Barnard on Sep 18, 2026, lays out five simple dinners, one breakfast, and one dessert with a single grocery trip. Every recipe is priced under $4 per serving. The plan mixes slow-cooker, oven, and stovetop meals so you can pick lower-effort nights without repeating proteins or textures.

• Monday: Crock Pot Pork Tenderloin with Peaches — $11.92 total, $1.99 per serving. A slow-cooker roast flavored by a peach glaze.
• Tuesday: Ground Beef Oven Nachos — $15.67 total, $2.61 per serving. Sheet-pan nachos stretch ground beef across chips and toppings for an easy crowd-pleaser.
• Wednesday: Panera Bread Asian Sesame Chicken Salad (copycat) — $18.30 total, $3.05 per serving. Tender chicken with almonds, mandarin oranges, and a simple homemade dressing.
• Thursday: Crock Pot Green Enchilada Chicken Soup — $21.02 total, $3.50 per serving. Creamy soup built on green enchilada sauce, beans, chicken, and cheese.
• Friday: Zucchini Pizza Boats — $6.56 total, $1.64 per serving. Zucchini halves act as a veggie crust topped with favorite pizza toppings.

• Breakfast: Easy Fruit Smoothie — $2.90 total, $1.45 per serving. A three-ingredient frozen-fruit smoothie for quick mornings or snacks.
• Dessert: Fried Apples — $4.93 total, $0.82 per serving. Simple skillet fried apples that work as a sweet finish or side.

How the plan simplifies shopping and cooking

A printable shopping list is provided and categorized by store to speed the trip. The author recommends checking your pantry first to avoid duplicate purchases. Two slow-cooker recipes require minimal hands-on time: toss ingredients in the morning and have dinner ready.

The plan includes concrete suggestions for using leftovers so nothing goes to waste:

• Dice leftover pork for pork fried rice.
• Use leftover ground beef to make ground beef quesadillas.
• Turn extra Asian sesame chicken into honey sesame chicken.
• Repurpose leftover pizza toppings into crescent roll pizza.

• If you want an even quicker week, the author mentions a "Lazy Day cooking club" concept for short morning prep and crockpot dinners, though joining is optional.

It balances low-effort slow-cooker nights with quick-assembly oven or stovetop meals. Per-serving costs are listed so you can compare to your own grocery prices. The included printable shopping list and leftover recipes make the week more efficient and reduce food waste.

If you want to follow exactly, print the shopping list and shop your pantry first. If you prefer substitutes, swap comparable proteins or seasonal produce while keeping the same cooking method for each day.