Weekly Meal Plan — What We’re Eating at the Longstreth House May 31 – June 6, 2026
This week’s weekly meal plan for a family of seven is one of those rare combinations where every single night feels like a Saturday — beefy creamy shells with roasted broccoli and pineapple upside down cake to start the week, jambalaya with crusty French bread, a bright Asian chicken salad, home-fried chicken tenders with mac and cheese, and a cookout to close out the week. Stephanie tested every meal last week with our crowd of seven, the leftovers held up, and the grocery list is below. We post a new weekly meal plan for a family every Saturday so you can plan your shopping for the week ahead.
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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 31 to June 6, 2026
Here’s what’s on the menu this week at the Longstreth house. Each card has the meal, a quick note from me about why we made it, and a link to the full recipe where it lives on the site. The “See What You’ll Need” button on each card jumps you to the per-meal grocery list below — perfect if you only want one or two nights from this week’s weekly meal plan for a family.
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 31 to June 6, 2026
Here’s everything you’ll need for the full week of this weekly meal plan for a family, organized by store section the way you actually shop. I’m assuming you’ve already got my Baker’s Dozen on hand — flour, sugar, salt, eggs, butter, and the rest of the 13 essentials. The list below is just the additional ingredients for this week’s five dinners.
🥩 Meat & Proteins
This week: 1 lb ground beef (Sunday), 1 lb smoked sausage + 1 lb shrimp or chicken (Monday), 1 lb chicken breast (Tuesday), 1–2 lbs chicken tenders (Thursday), 4–6 hamburger patties + 1 pkg hot dogs (Friday).
🥦 Produce & Fresh
This week: 1 head broccoli (Sunday), 2–3 celery stalks + 1 red & 1 green pepper + 1 large yellow onion (Monday), romaine lettuce + green onions + shredded carrots (Tuesday).
🧀 Dairy & Refrigerated
This week: 1 pint heavy cream (Sunday beefy creamy shells), 32 oz buttermilk (Thursday chicken tenders).
🥫 Pantry
This week: medium shells + spaghetti sauce + Better Than Bouillon (Sunday), 1½ cups jasmine rice + chicken broth + Tony Chachere’s Creole seasoning + Worcestershire (Monday), soy sauce + rice vinegar + sesame oil + chow mein noodles + sliced almonds (Tuesday), cornstarch + garlic powder + smoked paprika + Worcestershire + mayonnaise + ketchup + Kraft mac & cheese (Thursday), pineapple supreme cake mix + canned pineapple rings + maraschino cherries (Sunday dessert), mandarin oranges (Tuesday), black beans (Monday).
❄️ Frozen
This week: garlic bread (Sunday), French demi baguette for crusty bread (Monday), tater tots (Thursday).
🍞 Bread
This week: hamburger buns + hot dog buns (Friday).
🍽️ Grocery List by Meal
Only want to make one or two meals from this week’s weekly meal plan for a family? Here’s the same grocery list broken out per meal. Grab just the night you want and skip the rest.
Sunday — Beefy Creamy Shells & Pineapple Upside Down Cake
Beefy Shells → Cake →Meat
Produce
Dairy & Refrigerated
Pantry
Frozen
Monday — Jambalaya with Crusty French Bread & Black Beans
Get the Recipe →
Tuesday — Asian Chicken Salad
Get the Recipe →Meat
Produce
Pantry
Thursday — Home Fried Chicken Tenders, Mac & Cheese, Tater Tots
Get the Recipe →Meat
Dairy & Refrigerated
Pantry
Frozen
Friday — Cookout: Burgers, Dogs & Pick-Your-Own Sides
Get the Recipe →Meat
Bread
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 new meal plan goes into effect. 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.