You have enough on your plate (pun intended) without stressing over what you’re going to feed your family during that first week of back-to-school madness. School supplies, new clothes, new schedules, meet-the-teacher nights — with so much to wrap your brain around, the last thing you want to do is spend hours meal planning or roaming around the grocery store.
Of course, such is mom life, right? You’re going to need to have a meal plan in place heading into that first week because you want to send your kids off the school with full bellies (aka brain fuel). Not to mention they’ll be ravenous when they come home each afternoon. As soon as they sling off their backpacks, they’ll be wondering what’s for dinner.
So, let us make things a little easier for you, Mama. We’ve put together an easy and crowd-pleasing back-to-school menu for that first harrowing week. Bonus? You’ll also find a grocery list outlining all the items you’ll need to make your meals.
Monday Breakfast
Kick your kids' first week off with a bang by serving up these super-fun breakfast banana pops. These can be rolled in anything from granola and mini chocolate chips to cereal, making them perfect for picky eaters.
Monday Dinner
The perfect marriage of chicken Alfredo and lasagna, these chicken Alfredo lasagna rollups are sure to have everyone in the family asking for seconds. And you won't mind because they only look like you spent hours making them — in reality, they're ready in less than 30 minutes.
Tuesday Breakfast
This egg and bacon skillet breakfast only has five ingredients, and they're all good ones: eggs, cheese, potatoes, bacon and scallions. You can't get much more classic (or easy) than that!
Tuesday Dinner
We're going to be really honest here — we were just as excited as our kids (if not more so) to discover this clever recipe. Taco pop tarts or mini taco pies take a breakfast favorite and turn it on its head by stuffing it with tasty taco filling. Taco Tuesday, anyone?
Wednesday Breakfast
By Wednesday, that midweek fatigue is starting to set in. You need something quick that your kids will eat without a big fuss. Enter English muffin breakfast pizzas. Your little brainiacs can tweak the toppings as they see fit so everyone gets what they want.
Wednesday Dinner
Can we get an amen for pan dinners? We're not sure who originally decided this was a good idea, but suffice it to say we owe them a debt of eternal gratitude. This one features a well-balanced trio of Parmesan pork chops, red potatoes and asparagus.
Thursday Breakfast
Joanne over at Eats Well With Others has found a way to whip up a healthy breakfast that happens to taste a lot like pie. Genius? We think yes. The secret to this fruit and granola tart lies in a yummy date-and-granola crust topped with yogurt and beautiful fresh fruit.
Thursday Dinner
Spaghetti will never steer you wrong, and this lasagnalike version is really something special thanks to an extra cheesy layer in the middle. It may taste like a million bucks and look like a million bucks, but it'll actually only set you back a few.
Friday Breakfast
Break out those English muffins you made pizza with earlier in the week because they're key to Friday's breakfast. This time, you're going to turn them into another dish everyone loves: French toast. Plus, you can top your English muffin French toast with any bananas left in your bunch.
Friday Dinner
Congrats, Mama! You made it through that first hectic week back to school. Finish it out on a tasty note by serving up crispy, crunchy Parmesan-garlic chicken with zucchini.
Your Grocery List
To make things super easy for you, we even put together a grocery list so you can go grab everything you need to make all of these delicious meals.
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