5 Kid-Friendly Dinners To Try This Week (Plus Steal Our Easy Meal Planning System!)

If you’re anything like me, dinner time can feel like the most chaotic part of the day. Especially when it comes to finding kid-friendly dinners.

Everyone’s hungry, kids are melting down, and somehow you’re supposed to magically come up with a meal… every single night 😅

For a long time, I would either wing it at 5pm (which usually meant stress + honestly takeout more than we should, whoops) or overcomplicate meal planning and never stick with it.

So I started doing something different — a super simple, flexible meal planning system that actually works in real life… with kids, busy days, and zero extra brain power.

And today I’m sharing: 5 kid-friendly dinners we’re loving this week plus the exact system I use to plan our meals (without spending hours doing it).

MY SIMPLE MEAL PLANNING SYSTEM

I’m going to be honest — I am not the mom with a color-coded spreadsheet and 30 prepped freezer meals 🙃

I needed something that was:

• quick
• flexible
• repeatable
• and realistic for a busy week at home

So here’s what I do instead:

1. I Pick 5 Dinners (Not 7)

We always leave room for:

• leftovers, a super simple night (frozen chicken nuggets, no shame around here) or going out to eat
• And we always have a pizza night… so there’s two dinners already right there. Maybe your family has a standing taco or pasta night, perfect!!

Planning 7 meals just sets me up to waste food or feel behind.

5 dinners = the sweet spot.

2. I Keep a Running List of Go-To Meals

Instead of reinventing the wheel every week, I rotate meals we already love. In our house, we call them “weeklies.” I have a running list that I keep written down, it’s actually a part of my meal planning system that you can get right here!

These are:

• simple
• kid-approved
• made with ingredients I usually have

3. I Build Meals Around One Protein

This has been a GAME changer for simplifying groceries.

For example:

• ground beef → burgers, bowls, pasta
• chicken → casseroles, salads, skillet meals

It keeps things easy without feeling repetitive.

4. I Don’t Overcomplicate Sides

Most nights look like:

• a protein-based main
• a simple side (fruit, potatoes, or something easy)

That’s it.

No fancy extras needed.

5. I Plan Once, Shop Once

I write everything down in one place, make a quick grocery list, and I’m done.

No daily stress.
No “what’s for dinner?” panic at 4:30pm.

👉 If you want my exact weekly meal planning system, you can grab it here for just $7.

Alright, now onto this week’s Kid-Friendly dinners

These are all:

• simple
• kid-friendly
• and made with real-life ingredients

Meal planning doesn’t have to be complicated to work.

It just needs to be simple enough that you’ll actually stick with it — even on the suuuupper busy, messy, real-life days.

5 Kid Friendly Dinners

Are you going to try any of these meals this week? Let me know in the comments which one(s) you made!