Sample Weekly Menu

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Welcome to the Menus 4 Moms sample menu! Menus 4 Moms is a website dedicated to helping you organize your meals and make the most of your family's precious mealtime. The most popular part of the site is our free preplanned weekly menu which include 5 nights of dinner menus with all recipes and a grocery list. Below you will find a sample menu to give you an idea of what to expect from Menus 4 Moms' weekly dinner menus.

Do not be put off by the total of the grocery bill for the first week, because you are actually investing in several items to freeze for later use.

In order to make the best use of Menus 4 Moms, please read the Menus 4 Moms plan basics and the Busy Cooks Pyramid before beginning the sample menu. Menus 4 Moms will be based on these ideas each week. If you have questions, please check the FAQ page.

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Menus 4 Moms Weekly Menu Plan

Menus 4 Moms is a free menu plan with 5 nights of dinner menus including recipes and grocery list. Menus include cooking for the freezer and planned leftovers as well as using quick and easy recipes and tools like slow cookers and bread machines. The menus generally will feed a family of 4 with leftovers or a family of 6 without leftovers.

Weekly Menu Plan Archives

Menus 4 Moms Sample Menu

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Monday - Recipes

Grilled Marinated Chicken
Zucchini and Tomatoes
Chinese Cabbage Salad

Tuesday - Recipes

Beef Burgundy Simplified
Egg Noodles
Leftover Chinese Cabbage Salad
Acorn Squash

Wednesday - Recipes

Chicken Enchiladas
Refried Beans
Mexican Salad

Thursday - Recipes

Breaded Pork Chops
Pasta Carbonara
Green Beans
Cooked Apples

Friday - Recipes

Alfredo Chicken Pizza
Salad
Pineapple with Vanilla Yogurt

Grocery List

The Grocery List for the sample menu can be downloaded here:

Grocery List for sample menu - PDF

Shopping List Software format (download shopping list free Windows software)

Monday Recipes

Notes for Monday:

The longer your chicken marinates before grilling, the better it will be. I recommend preparing the marinade at least 24 hours in advance for the best flavor, but if necessary, start marinating the chicken in the morning for grilling at dinnertime. We will make a large batch of chicken so we have plenty of leftover to use in other dishes this week (Planned Leftovers) and to freeze for later. Using grilled chicken from your freezer in place of boiled or sauteed chicken gives your casseroles and soups a great flavor, so put your freezer bags of chicken in the freezer and use them in any recipe that calls for chopped cooked chicken.
You can prepare the individual parts of the cabbage salad in the morning to help ease dinnertime preparations. Do not combine the three parts (dressing, crunchies, and cabbage) until ready to serve. Reserve half of each part to use on Wednesday.

Grilled Marinated Chicken

4 lbs. chicken parts of your choice
1/2 cup red wine vinegar
1 cup soy sauce
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 tsp. oregano
1 tsp. basil
1 tsp. garlic salt or Adobo
1/2 tsp. pepper

Place marinade with chicken in a zipper bag and marinate overnight. Grill chicken until it reaches 160° at the thickest part, or until white all the way through and juices run clear. Serve half of the chicken tonight and save the rest for tomorrow. If you do not have a grill, you can bake the chicken in the oven.

Reserve 2 cups chicken for Wednesday's enchiladas, and 1-1/2 cups for Friday's pizza. Any extra can be chopped or shredded and frozen for future use.

Zucchini and Tomatoes

Olive oil
1 small zucchini, sliced 1/4-inch thick
1 small onion, sliced into 1/4-inch wedges
1-2 Tbsp. water, as necessary
2 small tomatoes (or 1 large tomato), cut into wedges
1/2 tsp. garlic powder
Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
Parmesan cheese

Saute onion and zucchini in olive oil. Add water if needed. When vegetables are starting to get tender, add tomatoes and seasonings. Serve warm sprinkled with Parmesan Cheese. (You may serve this over pasta if you wish.)

Chinese Cabbage Salad

1 head napa cabbage
1 bunch minced green onions
1/3 cup butter
1 (3 ounce) package ramen noodles, broken
2 tablespoons sesame seeds
1 cup slivered almonds
1/4 cup cider vinegar
3/4 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup white sugar
2 tablespoons soy sauce

Shred or chop the head of cabbage. Combine the green onions and cabbage in a large bowl, cover and refrigerate until ready to serve. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Melt the butter in a pan. Mix the ramen noodles, sesame seeds and almonds into the pot with the melted butter. Spoon the mixture onto a baking sheet and bake the crunchies in a 350° F oven, turning often to make sure they do not burn. When they are browned remove them from the oven. In a small saucepan, heat vinegar, oil, sugar, and soy sauce. Bring the mixture to a boil, let boil for 1 minute. Remove the pan from heat and let cool. (Remember to reserve half of each part of this salad for Wednesday night.) Combine dressing, crunchies, and cabbage immediately before serving. Serve immediately.

Tuesday Recipes

Notes for Tuesday:

If you can make the Beef Burgundy a day or two early and refrigerate it the flavor will intensify. If not, start it in the early afternoon to be ready for dinner. I do this recipe in my slow cooker, and I add the mushrooms at the beginning with the other ingredients.
I have listed substitutes for the red wine in this recipe, but I do not recommending substituting unless absolutely necessary. The red wine is what gives this wonderful dish its depth of flavor.

Beef Burgundy Simplified

2 T. oil
18 small white onions, peeled (or frozen)
3-5 pounds beef chuck, cut in 1 1/2 inch cubes
2 T flour
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. freshly ground pepper
1-2 C. Burgundy or other dry red cooking wine (substitutes)
2 cloves garlic, crushed
3/4 Cup beef stock (or canned beef bouillon*)
1- 8 oz can tomato sauce
2 T. chopped parsley
1 bay leaf
1 tsp. thyme
3/4 pound fresh mushrooms
2 T. butter

Lightly brown the onions in the oil and remove with a slotted spoon and reserve. Pat meat dry between paper towels and brown it on all sides in the same pot without crowding. You may have to do it in batches. Sprinkle browned meat with flour, salt, and pepper. Add wine, garlic, stock, tomato sauce and herbs. Over heat bring the mixture to a simmer and then cook it, tightly covered for two or more hours or until the meat is fork tender. Add the onions after one hour.

Meanwhile, wipe the mushrooms with a damp cloth and trim off stem ends. Quarter mushrooms if large, leave small ones whole. Heat the butter and remaining part of oil in a large skillet and lightly saute the mushrooms for about 4 minutes and set aside.

When done, skim off any fat and add the mushrooms. Voila! Beef burgundy! After cooling, it can be refrigerated or frozen at this point. If the sauce is too thin, combine 2 TB flour with 1/2 Cup water and whisk the mixture into boiling beef burgundy. Serve over egg noodles.

This recipe is courtesy of Marilyn Moll at www.UrbanHomemaker.com.

Egg Noodles

Leftover Chinese Cabbage Salad

Acorn Squash

1 acorn squash for each 2 people

Wash acorn squash, cut in half; scrape out seeds. Place upside down into a glass baking dish containing 2 Tbsp. water. Cook in microwave until squash is tender, (time depends on your microwave strength and the number of squash you are cooking).

Remove from microwave, turn squash right side up in same dish. Into each hollow, place:

1 tsp. brown sugar or honey
1 tsp. butter
dash salt

Cook in microwave until butter mixture is bubbly. Serve hot.

Wednesday Recipes

Notes for Wednesday:

Today we are making refried black beans from dried beans. Start the beans in the morning so you have plenty of time to finish them before dinner. They are quite easy. When done, you will have several baggies of beans to freeze. Each baggie of beans is approximately equal to one can of beans in recipes.
Instead of sauteing one onion for these enchiladas, we are going to buy a whole bag of onions and chop and saute them, putting all of the extras in freezer baggies and freezing them. Next time you need an onion sauteed for a recipe, it is so easy to just thaw a bag instead of chopping and sauteing, dirtying up all those dishes again.

Chicken Enchiladas

2 cups shredded or chopped cooked chicken (from Monday)
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 can chicken broth
8 oz. sour cream
1 onions, sauteed
1 bell pepper, chopped & sauteed
cilantro
cumin
Adobo or garlic salt
6 whole wheat flour tortillas (if you can't find them, get regular ones)
2 cups Mexican blend cheese

Combine soup, 3/4 can chicken broth, and sour cream. Set aside 1 cup of this mixture. To the remaining mixture, add chicken, onion, pepper, and spices to taste. Add 1 cup of the cheese.

Place 2-3 T. of mixture onto each tortilla, roll up, and place the tortillas in a 9x12 pan. Add the remaining chicken broth to the reserved soup mixture and pour over enchiladas. Sprinkle remaining cheese over enchiladas. Cook at 350° until bubbly.

Refried Beans

1 bag black turtle beans (kidney,pinto, or red beans also work)
cumin
Adobo or garlic salt
olive oil
1 can red enchilada sauce
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

Rinse beans in a colander and check to be sure there are no stones or other debris. Place beans in a dutch oven and cover with water so that the water is twice as deep as the beans. Heat to boiling and boil for 2 minutes. Turn heat off and cover, let sit for 1 hour. Drain beans in colander and rinse pot. Place beans in slow cooker and cover with water, making sure the water is twice as deep as the beans. Cook on Hi for 5 hours or Low for 8-10 hours.

Drain beans, reserving liquid (place colander on a lg. pan or bowl then pour beans in). Separate beans into 2 cup servings in freezer bags, reserving 4 cups of beans for tonight's meal. Cover beans in each bag with some of reserved liquid.

Mash 4 cups of beans, adding enough liquid to make beans mushy and soft. Heat 2 T. olive oil in a fry pan and add mashed beans and spices to taste. Stir until hot and bubbly. Heat enchilada sauce in a sauce pan and serve beans topped with enchilada sauce and shredded cheddar cheese.

Mexican Salad

variety of lettuces, torn into bite-sized pieces
1 red bell pepper, seeded & chopped
1 green bell pepper, seeded & chopped
1 can corn, drained
1 bunch green onions, chopped
1 can black olives, drained
1 tomato, diced
1 bottle ranch salad dressing

Combine all fresh ingredients and serve with ranch dressing.

Thursday Recipes

Notes for Thursday: none

Breaded Pork Chops

6 pork chops, trimmed of fat
bread crumbs
2 eggs
oil for browning

Tenderize pork chops with a metal pounder. Beat eggs in a bowl. Put bread crumbs in a container large enough to fit one pork chop in it at a time. Dip each pork chop in the bread crumbs, then the egg, then back into the bread crumbs. Line a 9x13 pan with heavy duty foil and preheat oven to 350°.

Heat oil in a fry pan. Brown the breaded pork chops lightly on each side. Place chops in the foil lined pan and bake covered at 350° for 1 hour, turning halfway through.

Pasta Carbonara

8 oz. cooked, drained, rinsed linguini (if long, break into pieces before cooking)
1 jar real bacon bits or 8 slices bacon*, cooked
1 bunch sliced green onions & 1/2 tops
4 oz. sliced fresh mushrooms
2/3 c. Parmesan cheese, grated
3 eggs, room temperature
2/3 c. cream, room temperature
2 tsp. dry parsley flakes
Salt & pepper to taste

If cooking bacon from scratch, in fry pan brown bacon pieces. Otherwise, heat a little vegetable oil and add onion and mushrooms, saute until soft. In bowl beat eggs, add other ingredients and mix and set aside.

To fry pan with bacon, onions and mushrooms and add rinsed, cooked noodles; heat. Just before serving, remove from heat and add bowl of egg mixture to hot noodle mixture and mix. Serve immediately.

Green Beans

Cooked Apples

5 Granny Smith apples
1/4 cup water
1-2 tsp. vanilla
1-2 tsp. sugar

Wash, peel, core, and slice apples. Place all ingredients in a sauce pan and simmer, stirring occasionally until apples are tender. You may need to add more water if it cooks down. You may either serve these hot as slices or mash them up and serve them as hot or cold applesauce.

Friday Recipes

Notes for Friday:

Use the extra chicken you grilled on Monday for tonight's yummy Alfredo pizza.
I recommend making a double (or triple) pizza dough recipe and freezing the extra dough for an easy lunch or dinner another day. The Urban Homemaker has a great bread recipe that I use for pizza dough as well. It has variations for bread machine, handmade, and large mixers.

Alfredo Chicken Pizza

Your favorite pizza dough recipe (see notes above)
1 jar (1 lb.) of alfredo sauce
2 pieces grilled chicken (from Monday), shredded
2 cups Mozzarella Cheese
1 cup Parmesan Cheese
1 pkg. (8 oz.) sliced mushrooms

Make pizza dough according to recipe and roll out on a pizza stone or pan. Layer remaining ingredients in order given. Cook at 400° until brown and bubbly.

Leftover Mexican Salad

Pineapple chunks with Vanilla Yogurt

This week's investments

This week you have made lots of investments in your freezer. You should now have:

chopped grilled chicken
Bolognese Sauce
cooked black beans
Beef Burgundy
sauteed onions

The Busy Cooks Pyramid recommends Fast and Easy Ingredients as one of the best ways to save time in the kitchen. With the beans, chicken, and onions you have prepared and frozen, you have a head start on any casserole or soup you would like to put together at the last minute.

You also have lots of options for nights when you need a quick meal with no preparation. It's much cheaper than a prepared frozen dish from the store or eating out, and it is far healthier.

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* Indicates that of the options listed, this item is the one on the grocery list.

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