Weekly Meal Planning Ideas With Old El Paso™
Whether you’re living solo or with kids, there’s no denying that weekdays can be incredibly busy for everyone! With work, home and possibly even school all requiring attention, planning meals ahead of time can help add some routine to your week and ensures that dinners don’t become monotonous.
To help, we’re sharing several of our top weekly meal planning ideas that you can make with our meal kits and condiments! With these handy recipes, cooking up Mexican-inspired meals at home has never been easier.
How To Meal Plan & Prep
First, let's answer the common question of how-to meal plan and prep and what each entails! Meal planning is the process of deciding what meals you or your family will eat for a specific period. By choosing recipes in advance and shopping for all the ingredients at once, weeknight dinners become a breeze, plus, your weekly grocery shopping trip becomes a whole lot easier too! Meal prepping on the other hand involves preparing all your ingredients ahead of time so they’re ready to go when you need them.
One of the first steps to planning your weekly meals is choosing which dishes you’d like to eat. We’ll explore this step in the following section.
Choosing Dishes for Your Weekly Meal Plan
When it comes to choosing dishes for your weekly meal plan, the trick is to find recipes that suit your cooking style, dietary needs, and tastes. Mexican cuisine is incredibly versatile, which is why it works so well for meal planning. With a variety of Old El Paso™ products, you can adapt almost any recipe to your liking.
When gathering your recipe ideas for the week, it helps to try and identify common ingredients and add these items to your grocery list. Mapping out your weekly meal suggestions will help you to shop more efficiently, reduce food waste, and stress less about what to eat. Foods such as tortilla wraps are great for meal prepping as they store well, as do our handy meal kits which you can keep in the cupboard until you need them!
Another useful trick is to choose recipes you can rework for more than one of your weekly meals. For instance, with Old El Paso™ Chili Con Carne Seasoning Mix, you can create a delicious pot of chili con carne and have it with rice for one meal and use the rest as a tortilla filling later in the week!
Plan your meal with our products
Meal Planning with Old El Paso
So, what meals can you easily work into your weekly meal plan? Below, we’ve selected a variety of delicious recipes that you can craft throughout the week to keep your meals exciting and varied!
Stand ‘N’ Stuff Taco Recipes
When it comes to our Stand ‘N’ Stuff tacos, the possibilities are endless! Whether you’re a meat-eater or plant-based, these handy taco shells can be filled with almost anything. So, why not kick off your weekly meal plan with a family taco night? Our Extra Mild Super Tasty Stand 'N' Stuff™ Soft Taco Kit makes prepping even simpler and gives you more time to focus on creating family memories around the dinner table! Here’s an easy recipe to start:
Chicken Fajita Stand 'N' Stuff™ Tacos
Recipe Name
Chicken Fajita Stand 'N' Stuff™ TacosTotal Time
40 minutesSpice Level
MildServings
4Ingredients
Tacos
- 1 tablespoon vegetable or olive oil
- 500g chicken breast fillets, thinly sliced
- 1 Old El Paso™ Stand 'N' Stuff™ Smoky BBQ Taco Boat Kit
- 1 red onion, sliced
- 1 red pepper, deseeded and thinly sliced
- 1 yellow pepper, deseeded and thinly sliced
- Fresh coriander springs, to garnish
To Serve
- Limes
- Old El Paso™ Original Nachips™
Preparation
- Heat the oil In a large frying pan over a high heat. Cook the chicken breast pieces for 5-10 minutes, stirring, until golden and cooked through. Add in the onion and peppers and continue to cook for 5 minutes, stirring, until the vegetables have softened. Stir in the seasoning mix from the kit and cook for a further minute.
- Meanwhile, heat the soft tacos to pack instructions.
- Fill the Stand ‘N’ Stuff™ tacos with the chicken, onion and pepper mixture. Garnish with the coriander springs. Squeeze a little lime over the top and serve with Nachips™.
Expert Tips
- Great also served with lettuce, chopped tomatoes and a little grated cheese.
- For a change of flavour try the Old El Paso™ Stand 'N' Stuff Smoky Chipotle & Sweet Tomato Fajita Boat Kit instead of the Smoky BBQ.
Made With...
For a midweek change, explore your culinary skills with Old El Paso™ Stand 'N' Stuff™ Crispy Chicken Soft Taco Kit, which is perfect for a "what meals can I prepare for the week?" scenario. You prep the chicken ahead of time, store it in your fridge, and there you have it — a homemade chicken taco ready to be assembled in no time. This meal can hardly get any easier!
Even More Easy Dishes For Your Weekly Meal Plan
Here’s some more easy recipe ideas so to add to your weekly meal plan that are sure to make weekday dinners a breeze, whether you’re cooking for one person or more!
Beef Taco Rice Pan
Rice dishes are an excellent solution if you’re meal planning for a family which makes our Beef Taco Rice Pan recipe an excellent choice. While rice is best served fresh, ingredients such as the beef mince and vegetables can be prepared separately ahead of time and stored in the fridge or freezer.
Easy Black Bean Lasagne
Chicken Fajita Tortilla Pockets
Chilli Turkey, Sweetcorn and Black Bean Soup
There you have it, a variety of weekly meal planning ideas to add a splash of Mexican flavours to your mealtimes! With these steps you’re not only feeding your family delicious meals but creating more time to spend around the dinner table together too.
