Weekly Meal Plan — What We’re Eating at the Longstreth House May 10–16, 2026
This week’s weekly meal plan for a family of seven is a comfort food lineup with a few surprises — Sunday spinach stuffed shells with roasted carrots and green beans plus brownie sundaes for dessert, Monday biscuits and sausage gravy with bacon and a fruit salad, Taco Tuesday with crispy fried corn tortilla shells, a Mediterranean-diet-friendly turkey meatloaf with mashed potatoes and corn on the cob, and Friday homemade pizza night with whichever crust your family wants. I plan every weekly meal plan for a family around what we’re really eating at the Longstreth house (seven of us, two cats, and a husband who appreciates a good meal). Below is the full plan, the complete grocery list organized by store section, and a per-meal breakdown if you only want one or two dinners from the week. Saturday we usually order in or go out — five dinners at home is our rhythm.
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Stephanie’s
13 Essential Kitchen Ingredients
A Baker’s Dozen 🥖
When you follow my weekly meal plans and grocery lists, I’m assuming you already have these 13 basics on hand. They show up in almost everything I cook and bake — keep them stocked and you’ll always be ready to make whatever’s on the menu.
Why This Weekly Meal Plan for a Family Works
Here’s what’s different about this weekly meal plan for a family. Every meal you see below is a meal my family actually ate the week before I shared it. If something didn’t work, I fix it. If a recipe needs a note, I add one. What you’re getting is a tested, real-world weekly meal plan for a family — not a template I filled in from a spreadsheet.
- Tested by a family of seven first. Five kids, two parents, two cats. If my crowd eats it, your crowd probably will too.
- A real grocery list, organized by store section. Meat, Produce, Dairy, Pantry, Frozen, Bread — the way you actually walk through the store, not the way recipes list ingredients.
- A per-meal breakdown for flexible weeks. Only want Tuesday’s dinner? Scroll to Tuesday’s card and grab just what you need. No math required.
- Every recipe links to a tested post right here on this site. No dead links, no mystery techniques — the full recipe with step-by-step instructions is one click away.
- A printable PDF for newsletter subscribers. I send the full plan plus the grocery list to my email list every Saturday morning so you can print it for the fridge or take it with you to the store.
This Week’s Weekly Meal Plan for a Family — May 10 to 16, 2026
Here’s what’s on the table at the Longstreth house this week. Tap any meal to get the full recipe, or jump down to that night’s shopping list if you’re only making one or two dinners.
Saturday we usually order in, go out, or let the kids make pizza — five dinners at home is our rhythm. If your week needs a sixth, swap in any of my crowd-friendly recipes or let Saturday be the night off.
🛒 Full Weekly Grocery List — May 10 to 16, 2026
This is the complete grocery list for this week’s weekly meal plan for a family — all five dinners in one shop, organized by store section so you can get in and get out. Basics like flour, oil, salt, eggs, and butter aren’t listed below — see Stephanie’s Baker’s Dozen above for the 13 essentials I’m assuming you already have on hand.
🥩 Meat & Proteins
This week: 1 lb breakfast sausage and bacon (Monday biscuits and gravy), 2 lbs ground beef (Tuesday tacos plus Friday taco pizza), 2 lbs ground turkey (Thursday meatloaf), and optional pepperoni (Friday pizza).
🥦 Produce & Fresh
This week: 10 oz fresh spinach (Sunday stuffed shells), green beans and whole carrots (Sunday roasted side), corn on the cob (Thursday side), russet potatoes (Thursday mashed potatoes), and a yellow onion (Friday pizza). Grab fresh fruit for Monday’s fruit salad too, and taco toppings — lettuce, tomato, and avocado — for Tuesday, as desired.
🧀 Dairy & Refrigerated
This week: whole milk ricotta, shredded mozzarella, and grated Parmesan (Sunday stuffed shells — the mozzarella also covers Friday pizza), shredded cheddar (Tuesday tacos and Friday taco pizza), half and half or heavy cream (Thursday mashed potatoes), and sour cream (Tuesday tacos).
🥫 Pantry
This week: jumbo pasta shells and marinara (Sunday stuffed shells); brownie mix, semi-sweet chocolate chips, and chocolate syrup (Sunday brownie sundaes); Italian seasoning, onion powder, and Kinder’s The Blend (across Sunday shells, Thursday meatloaf, and the Sunday roasted side); cream of tartar and shortening (Monday homemade biscuits); corn and flour tortillas and taco seasoning (Tuesday tacos and Friday taco pizza); Worcestershire sauce (Thursday meatloaf); and tomato sauce, salsa, yeast, Doritos, and black olives (Friday pizza night). A couple of staples pull double duty — Italian seasoning and taco seasoning each show up in more than one meal.
Plus, for Jason’s whole wheat pizza crust: King Arthur 100% Whole Wheat Flour (Shop on King Arthur Baking).
❄️ Frozen
This week: vanilla ice cream (Sunday brownie sundaes).
🍞 Bread
This week: optional canned biscuits, if you’d rather not make Monday’s biscuits from scratch.
🍽️ Grocery List by Meal
Just making one or two meals this week? Here’s each night broken out so you only grab what you need.
Dairy & Refrigerated
Produce
Pantry
Frozen
Monday — Biscuits & Sausage Gravy
Get the Recipe →Meat
Produce
Fresh fruit for the fruit salad
Pantry (for homemade biscuits)
Bread (no-bake option)
Tuesday — Crispy Fried Tortilla Tacos
Get the Recipe →Meat
Pantry
Dairy & Refrigerated
Toppings
Lettuce, tomato, and avocado, as desired
Thursday — Mediterranean Turkey Meatloaf
Get the Recipe →Meat
Produce
Dairy & Refrigerated
Pantry
Meat
Produce
Plus lettuce and tomato for the taco pizza
Dairy & Refrigerated
Pantry
Plus, for Jason’s whole wheat crust: King Arthur 100% Whole Wheat Flour (Shop on King Arthur Baking)
Weekly Meal Plan for a Family FAQ — The Questions I Get Every Week
How do you plan this weekly meal plan for a family each week?
I plan each weekly meal plan for a family ahead based on what we’re genuinely craving, what’s on sale at Publix, what we already have in the pantry, and what will stretch into good leftovers for Wednesday. My family of seven eats these meals first. If something flops, I fix it before I share it with you. Every weekly meal plan you see here is tested before publication — never a list of recipes I haven’t made. For general guidance on building balanced meals around what your family already loves, the USDA’s MyPlate healthy eating for families guide is a helpful starting point.
Can I use this meal plan for a smaller family?
Absolutely. Every recipe post on this site includes a scalable recipe card — you can halve or quarter any recipe with one click in the servings field. For a family of four, I’d cut the quantities by about 40%. For two, halve everything. The grocery list amounts are for a crowd, so scale those to match your servings.
Where can I get a printable version of this weekly meal plan?
My newsletter subscribers get a printable PDF of the full weekly meal plan for a family plus the grocery list every Saturday morning — before the public blog post goes live. It’s formatted for the fridge and for your grocery run. Sign up for the newsletter here and I’ll send you this week’s PDF as a welcome.
Do you include breakfast and lunch in the meal plan?
No — this weekly meal plan for a family covers dinner only, because dinner is where most families need the most help. We do breakfast casually (pancakes, eggs, oatmeal, cereal) and lunches are a mix of leftovers and easy builds. If there’s demand for a breakfast or lunch plan later, I’ll build one.
Can I swap out meals I don’t like?
Of course. This is your plan — use whatever’s useful and ignore the rest. Every recipe on the menu links to a full post with ingredients, so you can grab just what you need. The per-meal grocery cards above make swapping especially easy — pick the three or four nights that sound good, and shop only those.
Want a little note from my table every Saturday? Join my weekly newsletter — meal plans, recipes, family moments, and whatever’s happening at the Longstreth house. Sign up here.
About Stephanie Longstreth
Stephanie Longstreth is the home cook, mom, and storyteller behind StephanieCooksForACrowd.com. She cooks for a family of seven in Florida — five kids, two cats, and one husband who appreciates a good meal. Four of her children came home through adoption, and family stories are woven into everything she makes and shares. Find her crowd-friendly recipes, weekly meal plans, and real family life on TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, and Pinterest @stephaniecooksforacrowd.