What to cook this week: 3 ready-made dinner menus of 5 meals each

The short answer: cook five dinners and leave two nights open. Pick one of the three menus below (easy, budget or cozy), shop once for the shared ingredients, and use the open nights for leftovers. Each menu uses overlapping groceries so little goes to waste.

"What should I cook this week?" is really two questions: which meals, and how to shop for them. The menus answer the first, and the method below answers the second.

Menu 1: the easy week (30 minutes or less, one pan)

1. Monday: sheet-pan dinners with chicken sausage and vegetables
2. Tuesday: fried rice with whatever vegetables you have
3. Wednesday: one-pot meals such as a skillet pasta
4. Thursday: breakfast tacos for dinner
5. Friday: a quick pasta with garlic, olive oil and parmesan

Shared ingredients: rice, frozen vegetables, eggs, tortillas, pasta. For more quick options see 30-minute meals.

Menu 2: the budget week (beans, rice, eggs, pasta)

1. Monday: rice and black beans with salsa and cheese
2. Tuesday: egg roll in a bowl
3. Wednesday: baked potatoes with chili and cheese, using leftover chili
4. Thursday: pasta with tomato sauce and a side salad
5. Friday: vegetable fried rice with a fried egg

Our meal planning on a budget guide covers how to build a grocery budget around meals like these, and how to make budget-friendly meals has more ideas.

Menu 3: the cozy week (soups and slow cooker)

1. Sunday or Monday: pot of chili (cook once, eat twice)
2. Tuesday: chicken noodle soup
3. Wednesday: slow cooker pulled pork sandwiches with coleslaw
4. Thursday: baked potato bar with toppings
5. Friday: a casserole or baked pasta

More cold-weather picks are in soups for winter and soup recipes.

How to turn a menu into a shopping list

1. Write the five dinners at the top of a page.
2. List ingredients under each dinner, then circle the ones that repeat.
3. Check your pantry and freezer and cross off what you already have.
4. Shop by store section (produce, dairy, pantry, freezer) so you make one trip.
5. Buy fresh items for early-week meals and frozen or shelf-stable items for late-week meals.

A printable planner makes this faster: the Meal Planner & Grocery List ($3.99) has a weekly menu page and a matching shopping list, and the Family Recipe Binder ($6.99) keeps the meals your family likes in one place so you can repeat them.

Make it work: a simple weekly rhythm

How to pick a menu in 60 seconds

Ask three questions. How much time do you have on most nights? If it is under 30 minutes, take the easy week. Is the grocery budget the main concern? Take the budget week. Is the weather cold or are you hosting weekend guests? Take the cozy week, since soups and slow-cooker meals reheat well.

You can also mix them: take three dinners from one menu and two from another. The only rule is that at least two dinners should share an ingredient, such as rice, eggs or potatoes, so the shopping list stays short.

What to do when the plan falls apart

Plans change, and that is why two nights are left open. If a dinner is skipped, move it to the next night and push the perishable ingredients first. If you are too tired to cook, use the emergency dinner: eggs and toast, pasta with butter and parmesan, or a frozen pizza with a bagged salad. Cross off the meal you did not make, keep the ingredients if they last, and carry the dinner into next week's plan instead of letting it go to waste.

Tips so the week actually happens

• Cook one double batch. Chili, soup, rice or pulled pork make two meals from one cooking session. Our freezer meals guide shows what freezes well.
• Pick meals you already know for at least three of the five nights. New recipes are for one night, not five.
• Keep one "emergency dinner" (pasta, eggs and toast, or a frozen pizza with a salad) so a busy night does not become takeout.
• Choose by what is on hand first. If you already have rice and eggs, start with fried rice.
• Plan next week on the same day each week. Sunday works for many families because it is when you shop.

If you want a longer-term system, our meal planning guide explains how to plan a full month, and the what to cook for dinner page has more ideas when the answer is just tonight.

Swap ideas if someone has a dietary need

• Vegetarian: swap meat dishes for beans, lentils or eggs. Chili, fried rice and baked potatoes all work.
• Lower carb: use lettuce wraps, cauliflower rice or zucchini noodles. See low carb meals.
• High protein: add eggs, Greek yogurt or chicken to each dinner. See high protein meals.
• Cooking for one: halve the recipes and freeze extra portions. See meals for one.