STEP 1

First, come up with a list of categories for each day of the week. This takes some of the guess work out of figuring out what to cook.

• Meatless Monday: Focus on vegetarian or vegan dishes like veggie stir-fry, lentil soup, or stuffed peppers.
• Taco Tuesday: Enjoy different types of tacos, burritos, or other Mexican-inspired dishes.
• World Cuisine Wednesday: Explore dishes from different countries, such as Italian pasta, Indian curry, or Japanese sushi.
• Throwback Thursday: Cook classic comfort foods or family favorites like meatloaf, mac and cheese, or chicken pot pie.
• Fish Friday: Feature seafood dishes like grilled salmon, fish tacos, or shrimp pasta.
• Slow Cooker Saturday: Use your slow cooker for easy, hands-off meals like beef stew, pulled pork, or chili.
• Soup and Salad Sunday: Keep it light with a variety of soups and salads, such as tomato basil soup with a Caesar salad.

STEP 2

For each category, start saving the recipes that everyone enjoys. Create a menu for each category from the recipes that you’ve saved.

STEP 3

When you have your meal-planning session, follow the meal categories, and choose your dishes from your menus. If nothing seems awesome, experiment with a new dish.