Meal Plan Week 126
Sep 18, 2026
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This week's meal plan is built around one of my favorite strategies: cook once, use it twice, and let your grocery list do a little more work for you.
You'll make extra salad and garlic toast for Monday, extra rice for Friday, and use overlapping ingredients like chicken, broccoli, ham, and Swiss throughout the week. Nothing fancy. Just a practical plan that keeps dinner moving without buying a cart full of ingredients you'll only use once.
Meal Plan 126
Like all of my weekly meal plans, this week's free meal plan includes 7 delicious dinners, ideas for breakfast, lunch, and snacks, meal-prep ideas, and a shopping list. I truly want to help you make home-cooked meals easier!
Download the meal plan, complete with meal-prep tips and a shopping list, here. Or simply find inspiration below.
Dinner Recipes
- Sunday: Baked Rotini with Homemade Garlic Toast and Italian Salad
- Monday: Broccoli Cheese Soup with Leftover Salad and Garlic Toast
- Tuesday: Black Bean Tacos with Instant Pot Cilantro Lime Rice (see notes for stovetop rice)
- Wednesday: Instant Pot Chicken Chili or Crockpot Chicken Chili
- Thursday: Chicken Cordon Bleu with Baked Broccoli
- Friday: Leftover Chicken Chili over Leftover Rice
- Saturday: Stuffed Pepper Casserole
Breakfast Ideas
Lunch Ideas
- Leftover Soup, Pasta, and Chili
- Ham and Cheese Sandwiches
- Veggie Wraps
Snack & Treats
Tips for this Week's Meal Plan
- Sunday: Make enough salad and garlic toast with the Baked Rotini to serve again with Monday's soup. If you have leftover cottage cheese from the rotini, save it for Cottage Cheese Pancakes later in the week.
- Monday: Use the extra salad and garlic toast from Sunday to round out the Broccoli Cheese Soup without making two more sides. When shopping, buy enough fresh broccoli for both tonight's soup and Thursday's roasted broccoli to cut down on waste.
- Tuesday: Make a double batch of Cilantro Lime Rice. You'll use the extra rice again Friday with the leftover chicken chili, which means one less thing to cook at the end of the week. No Instant Pot? Cook 2 cups of rice according to the package directions, then stir in the zest and juice of 1 lime, a pinch of salt, and ¼ cup minced cilantro.
- Wednesday: Buy one larger value pack of chicken breasts and divide it between the Chicken Chili and Thursday's Chicken Cordon Bleu. The Crockpot version of the chili is especially handy if Wednesday is packed.
- Thursday: You can opt to buy only the sliced ham and Swiss you need from the deli counter for the Chicken Cordon Bleu. Or buy a little extra intentionally and use it for the Egg Cups and ham and cheese sandwiches included in this week's breakfast and lunch ideas.
- Friday: Dinner is already handled. Warm up the leftover Chicken Chili and serve it over Tuesday's extra rice for quick chili bowls. Add any leftover cheese, cilantro, or other taco toppings from earlier in the week before buying anything new.
Printable Meal Plan
Click HERE to print the meal plan complete with shopping list and helpful time and money-saving tips.
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