Weekly Meal Plan #17: Cozy Fall Dinners for Busy Nights

We’re well into October now, and this week’s meal plan is full of the kind of dinners I want as the evenings get cooler.

This week includes an easy sheet pan dinner, a sweet-and-savory slow cooker chicken, one of my grandma’s old-fashioned recipes, a creamy soup, and a really cozy chicken casserole to finish the week.

As always, use the whole plan or just pick a few recipes that work for your family. You can move the dinners around, prep a few ingredients ahead, and use the swaps below to make grocery shopping a little easier.

If you missed it, don’t forget to check out my Week #16 meal plan.

The Daily Dinner Line-Up

Meal Prep & Money-Saving Tips

• Sheet pan prep: Trim the green beans, slice the kielbasa, and chop Monday’s onion ahead of time. If you cut the potatoes early, keep them submerged in cold water in the fridge and dry them well before roasting.
• Slow cooker setup: Measure Tuesday’s brown sugar, soy sauce, vinegar, and seasonings the night before. In the morning, you’ll only need to add everything to the slow cooker.
• Rice plan: If you’re serving Brown Sugar Chicken over rice, make extra. It can easily become lunch the next day.
• Cabbage stretch: Thursday only uses half a head of cabbage. Save the other half for coleslaw, stir-fry, or this cabbage roll rice later in the week.
• Chicken shortcut: Pick up a rotisserie chicken for Friday’s cobbler instead of cooking chicken specifically for the recipe. You’ll need about 4 cups shredded.
• Leftover turkey: If you’re celebrating Canadian Thanksgiving and have leftover turkey, Friday’s Chicken Cobbler is an easy way to use some of it.
• Pantry check: Before you shop, look for brown sugar, soy sauce, Worcestershire sauce, beef bouillon, tomato juice, chicken broth, cream of chicken soup, flour, and seasonings.

Easy Swap Ideas

• Sausage swap: Use smoked sausage, turkey kielbasa, or chicken sausage instead of regular kielbasa on Monday.
• Potato swap: Yukon Gold or red potatoes work in the sheet pan dinner. Just cut them into small, even pieces.
• Vegetable swap: Try broccoli, bell peppers, zucchini, or Brussels sprouts instead of green beans, and adjust when you add them based on how quickly they cook.
• Chicken swap: Boneless skinless chicken thighs work well in Tuesday’s Brown Sugar Chicken.
• Soda swap: Ginger ale or cola can replace the lemon-lime soda in the Brown Sugar Chicken.
• Ground beef swap: Use ground turkey, chicken, or pork instead of beef in Grandma’s Goulash.
• Soup meat: Leave the ham out of the Creamy Cabbage Soup for a meatless version and use vegetable broth instead of chicken broth.
• Vegetable swap: Use your favorite frozen vegetable mix or just peas and carrots in the cobbler.
• Soup swap: Cream of celery or cream of mushroom soup can replace the cream of chicken soup in the cobbler.

Master Grocery List: Week 17 Dinners

This grocery list covers only the five Monday-to-Friday dinners. Add the bonus recipe ingredients separately if you plan to make them.

Meat

• 9 oz kielbasa sausage (for Monday)
• 4 boneless skinless chicken breasts (for Tuesday)
• 1 lb ground beef (for Wednesday)
• 2 cups cooked cubed ham (for Thursday)
• 4 cups cooked shredded chicken or 1 rotisserie chicken (for Friday)

Produce

• 1 ½ lb baby potatoes (for Monday)
• 12 oz fresh green beans (for Monday)
• 1 yellow onion (for Monday)
• 2 sweet onions (1 for Wednesday and 1 for Thursday)
• 1 head of garlic (for Monday and Tuesday)
• 1 bunch of celery (for Thursday)
• ½ medium head of cabbage (for Thursday)
• 1 carrot (for Thursday)
• 1 bunch of green onions, optional (for Wednesday)
• 1 bunch of fresh parsley, optional (for Tuesday, Thursday and Friday)

Dairy and Refrigerated

• 1 package of unsalted butter (for Thursday)
• 1 package of salted butter (for Friday)
• 1 carton of milk (for Thursday and Friday)
• 1 carton of half-and-half cream (for Thursday)

Frozen

• 1 package of frozen mixed vegetables (for Friday)

Pantry

• 1 bottle of extra virgin olive oil (for Monday)
• 1 package of brown sugar (for Tuesday)
• 1 bottle of soy sauce (for Tuesday)
• 1 bottle of white wine vinegar (for Tuesday)
• 1 bottle of lemon-lime soda (for Tuesday)
• 1 bottle of Worcestershire sauce (for Wednesday)
• 1 package of elbow macaroni (for Wednesday)
• 1 bottle of tomato juice (for Wednesday)
• 2 beef bouillon cubes (for Wednesday)
• 2 cartons of chicken broth (for Thursday and Friday)
• 1 package of all-purpose flour (for Thursday)
• 1 box Red Lobster Cheddar Bay Biscuit Mix (for Friday)
• 1 can cream of chicken soup, 10.5 oz/284 mL (for Friday)

Spices and Seasonings

• Italian seasoning (for Monday)
• Garlic powder (for Monday and Friday)
• Onion powder (for Monday and Friday)
• Smoked paprika (for Monday)
• Celery salt (for Wednesday)
• Poultry seasoning (for Friday)
• Dried thyme (for Thursday)
• Salt
• Black pepper

Grab Your Free Printable Shopping List & Meal Plan

To make your week easier, I’ve put together a printable PDF pack with this exact meal plan and the complete grocery list.

This week feels like October to me. Use as much or as little of the plan as you need.