Dinner, Decided: Week 2 Meal Plan

I am soooooo excited how much you all LOVED the 1st week of Dinner, Decided and I’ve been just giddy getting Week 2 ready for you 🥰

When choosing the meals for this week, my goal was to repurpose ingredients but keep flavors feeling fresh all week. I think this week’s meals provide a lot of opportunities for ingredient overlap without feeling repetitive.

Week 2 has a good balance of:

• comfort food (Monday’s meal will have you drooling!)
• family-friendly options (aka, dishes your kids will actually eat!)
• different main protein sources (beef! chicken! fish!)
• multiple cuisines (Asian-inspired, Mediterranean, salad…)
• veggies & other nutrients

With Dinner, Decided you’re getting:

• Tested, developed, and retested recipes that work
• Ingredients overlap (cook once, eat twice theory)
• Leftovers get repurposed in creative ways.
• Grocery spending stays reasonable.
• Full shopping lists with swaps and substitution ideas
• Food waste is minimized.
• Most importantly…Dinner decisions are already made!

Why This Plan Works

• 🫙 One jar of pesto gets used twice: The pesto pulls double duty in both Tuesday’s meatballs and Friday’s salmon, so you’re not buying a specialty ingredient for just one meal. Still have leftover pesto? Use it in my Sweet Corn Pesto Pasta Salad or Pesto Gnocchi & Chicken!
• 🍴 Cook one, eat twice: Make extra sesame chicken on Wednesday for Friday’s salad instead of using rotisserie chicken or needing to cook more chicken come Friday. If you don’t have time to make extra chicken, then of course a rotisserie is delicious in a pinch!
  • ✨ Bonus ✨ the Chopped Chicken Sesame Salad Dressing is really great but if you make the slaw on Wednesday, that dressing works well with Friday’s salad, too!
• 🌱 Fresh herbs get used throughout the week: Parsley, basil, cilantro, and green onions can be incorporated into multiple meals, helping reduce waste.
• 🥬 Cabbage and slaw mix work overtime: Use the coleslaw mix for Wednesday’s Chicken Rice Bowls and Friday’s Chopped Sesame Chicken Salad. When I tested this week’s plan, I had leftover slaw that had no dressing on it from Wednesday and added to the chopped chicken salad since all the flavors work so well together. 
• 🍚 Rice can be prepped once and repurposed: Any leftover coconut rice from Wednesday can be enjoy as leftovers with Thursday’s salmon or mixed in with the salad on Friday!
• 💪🏻 Protein-forward dinners all week: Every meal includes a substantial protein source to help keep you full and satisfied. 
• 💫 A mix of cuisines keeps dinner interesting: Asian-inspired ramen, Mediterranean meatballs, crispy chicken cutlets, pesto salmon, and a chopped salad all feel completely different even though ingredients overlap well.
• 🥡 Built-in meal prep opportunities: Several components can be prepped ahead, making busy weeknights much easier. (Dressing made in advance, Veggies can be chopped)
• 🥫 Minimal specialty ingredients: Most ingredients are easy to find (or are already in your pantry!) and can be used multiple times throughout the week.

Monday

Chili Crisp Beef Ramen

This Chili Crisp Beef Ramen is a quick, one-pan dinner made with ground beef, ramen noodles, and a delicious homemade sauce. Easy to make and ready in just 30 minutes – perfect for a Monday!

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• Serving Suggestion: I don’t always serve this with a veggie, but when I do I usually choose edamame or broccoli. You do what feels right for you!

Tuesday

Pesto Chicken Meatballs and Orzo

This Pesto Chicken Meatballs and Orzo is a quick one-skillet dinner with juicy pesto meatballs, tender orzo, and a creamy parmesan sauce. It's an easy, high-protein meal that's perfect for busy weeknights.

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• Serving Suggestion: Pair this with roasted broccoli or another veggie of your choice.

Wednesday

Sesame Chicken Coconut Rice Bowls

These Crispy Sesame Chicken Coconut Rice Bowls are loaded with texture and flavor in every bite. Crispy sesame-crusted chicken is served over fluffy coconut jasmine rice and topped with a crunchy Asian slaw for a fresh, satisfying dinner that feels restaurant-worthy but is easy enough for a weeknight.

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• Recipe Notes: You can repurpose or double the dressing for the slaw to use in Friday’s salad if you don’t want to make the dressing that is written in that recipe.
• Serving Size Note: When deciding how much of the chicken to make, know that you’ll want to get enough to have leftovers for Friday’s salad (unless you decide to grab a rotisserie chicken for Friday, then you only need enough chicken for Wednesday night).

Thursday

Sheet Pan Pesto Salmon

This Sheet Pan Pesto Salmon uses simple ingredients and is ready in 30 minutes. You can make homemade or store-bought pesto, either way it is ridiculously addictive and bursting with summery flavors!

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• Serving Suggestion: This recipe is written with your sides included: roasted potatoes, asparagus, and cherry tomatoes! Feel free to swap any of those for something else – like sweet potatoes, green beans, broccoli, etc.

Friday

Chopped Sesame Chicken Salad

This Chopped Chicken Salad is incredibly delicious and equally simple to make! This salad is super flavorful, packed with fresh romaine, shredded Napa cabbage, crunchy wonton noodles, sweet mandarin oranges, and edamame then topped with leftover crunchy sesame chicken from earlier in the week. YUM!

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• Cook once, eat twice! Use any leftover napa cabbage from Wednesday’s slaw (because Napa cabbage sometimes comes in a huge quantity). The recipe makes enough salad to have lots of leftovers for the weekend lunches. If you have leftover green cabbage from Wednesday you can just add that to the salad and skip buying the romaine if you don’t feel necessary.
• Serving Suggestion: The salad and the chicken is a full meal in itself, but if you’re looking for something to add, the leftover coconut rice also goes well with this salad.
  

Sweet Treat

Monster Cookie Protein Energy Bites

These Monster Cookie Protein Energy Bites are an easy, no-bake snack made with just a few simple ingredients. I highly recommend making them on Sunday so you can enjoy them all week long!

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• Serving Suggestion: Working on your protein goals? These bites are a great way to enjoy a sweet treat with a little extra protein packed in. Use your favorite protein powder. I love this one from Clean Simple Eats.

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