a really simple meal plan v.27

November cooking is all about balance — some days you’re leaning into cozy soups and slow-simmered meals, other nights you just need dinner on the table ASAP before homework, sports practice, or a school event. This month’s meal plan offers the best of both worlds. You’ll find comforting flavors and warm, nutritious meals that require minimal cleanup, plus plenty of overlapping ingredients and prep-ahead instructions to keep things as efficient as possible throughout the week — a must as the holiday season ramps up!

Whether you’re cooking for two or feeding a full table, these recipes are built to be flexible — double up on a favorite meal, skip a night, halve a recipe, or turn leftovers into lunches.

We’d love to know: how big of a crew do you typically cook dinner for?

As always, we’ve pulled together a grocery list organized by aisle to take something off your plate. Each recipe now has its own color code, so if you want to skip or swap a dinner, you’ll instantly know which ingredients to cross off — no brainpower required.

These recipes are written to feed between two and six people (each meal will note its specific yield), so scale up or down depending on your household. Halve a recipe if you’re cooking for one or two, or double it if you’re feeding a crowd. You can also copy and paste our grocery list into a new Google doc if you want to tweak it.

We’ve kept the shopping list tight by overlapping ingredients wherever possible. Optional add-ins like nuts (for the noods) aren’t included on the official ingredients list, but if you’ve got them on hand, they’re great for punching things up.

This meal plan is designed to flow in order — starting with the freshest ingredients and saving heartier pantry items and veg for later in the week. But, of course, shuffle meals around as you’d like.

a really simple meal plan v27 grocery list

163KB ∙ PDF file

Download

Download

link to printer version

GOOD-ALL-WEEK LUNCH: good mood chicken & bean soup

There’s nothing better (or easier) than heating up a bowl of delicious soup for lunch in the cooler months. This one contains tons of brain- and gut-boosting ingredients — kale, chicken, sun-dried tomatoes, three kinds of beans — to keep you fueled throughout the afternoon all week long.

• COOK ONCE, EAT TWICE: Cook all