To simplify dinner this week, these three main courses can do a lot of the work: rotisserie chicken, taco meat and a roast.
In this post, we give you seven dinner ideas for each one, so you can serve something different throughout the week without starting from scratch every night.
Dinner Ideas Made Simple
For a busy week, the easiest dinner ideas aren’t necessarily five completely different recipes. A better strategy is to choose one main ingredient or base that can be turned into seven different meals. That means less cooking, less prep and less cleanup.
These three dinner ideas can save you from starting dinner completely from scratch every night.
- Rotisserie chicken: Buy one already cooked from Walmart or Stater Bros. and turn it into several different dinners.
- Taco meat: Pick up a Cardenas Tri-Meat Pack, also called a Carne Tri-Pack, which typically includes marinated beef, chicken and pork that’s ready to cook. Cook it once and use it for different meals.
- Roast: Put a roast in the crock pot Monday morning before work. Come home to cooked meat that can become several different dinners.
How Do I Plan a Menu for the Week?
When planning dinner for an entire week, the goal is to make dinner easier, not create another chore. It doesn’t have to mean finding seven complicated recipes and spending your entire week in the kitchen.
A few practical tips planning dinner for the week:
- Choose meals you and your family will actually eat.
- Pick ingredients that can be used in more than one meal.
- Plan your busiest nights around the easiest meals.
- Use leftovers as ingredients for another dinner instead of serving the exact same meal again.
- Buy ingredients that can work in more than one recipe.
- Don’t plan five complicated meals just because you have five nights to fill.
- Keep one or two easy backup dinner options available.
- Check what you already have before making your grocery list.
What Are 3 Things You Can Cook to Feed Everyone All Week?
Rotisserie chicken, taco meat and a roast. These three options can give you several different dinners from one main ingredient or base, which means you do the major cooking once and save time and effort on the other nights of the week.
1. What Can I Make With Rotisserie Chicken?
Pick up two or three cooked rotisserie chickens from Walmart or Stater Bros. and skip cooking the chicken altogether. Instead of eating a basic chicken dinner every night, shred the meat and turn it into several completely different meals.
You can shred the chicken with two forks, a hand mixer or a chicken shredder. Once it’s shredded, divide it into containers and use it throughout the week.
7 Rotisserie Chicken Dinner Ideas
- Chicken tacos
- Chicken sandwiches
- Chicken wraps
- Chicken salad
- Chicken enchiladas
- Chicken pot pie
- Chicken casserole
2. What Can I Make With Taco Meat?
Cardenas’ Tri-Meat Pack, or Carne Tri-Pack, typically includes marinated beef, chicken and pork that’s already seasoned and ready to cook. Cook all of the meat Sunday night and you’ve got the main ingredient for several different dinners throughout the week.
Instead of making the usual tacos and burritos every night, try something different. Keep the beef, chicken and pork separated in plastic containers and use each one for different meals throughout the week.
7 Taco Meat Dinner Ideas
- Taco bowls
- Nachos
- Quesadillas
- Taco soup
- Taco bake
- Taco skillet
- Mexican pizza
3. What Can I Make With a Roast?
A crock pot, Ninja, or other slow cooker can do most of the work while you’re at work. Prep Sunday night, put the pork or beef roast in Monday morning and come home to cooked meat.
Have your roast dinner, then shred the remaining beef or pork and use it for completely different meals throughout the week. You can shred the meat with a fork, mixer or meat shredder.
These ideas can work with both beef and pork roast, giving you plenty of options beyond the usual roast dinner.
7 Beef or Pork Roast Dinner Ideas
- Sliders
- Roast bowls
- Birria tacos
- Taquitos
- Chimichangas
- Chili
- Enchiladas
For the chili, you can even let the crock pot do the work again, making it another low-effort dinner option.
The Dinner Problem: Solved
You make dinner easier by planning ahead, buying prepared ingredients, cooking once and finding ways to reuse what you’ve made. Or you can let someone else do the cooking.
For next week, WOW Chicken Life offers five fresh, hot dinners delivered Monday through Friday for one price. Choose your meals, choose your delivery time and let us handle dinner.
Ready to make next week’s dinners easier?