Healthy weekly meal plan for the whole family: 7 days and a shopping list

Who is this meal plan for?

For healthy families with school-aged children or teenagers who eat their main meals together at home. It is not intended for babies under 12 months, who follow their own pace with complementary feeding. Nor is it suitable for anyone who needs an individual plan because of coeliac disease, a diagnosed food allergy, insulin-treated diabetes or kidney disease.

A complete week of breakfasts, lunches and dinners

Every lunch and dinner includes vegetables, a carbohydrate and a protein. The quantities given are a reference per adult serving: they are not a children’s portion guide. For a single-dish meal, use 1 to 1.5 tablespoons of oil per serving; if there is a starter and a main course, use 1 dessert spoon in each dish. Have 2 or 3 pieces of fruit a day, spread across breakfast, dessert and snacks.

Day	Breakfast	Lunch	Dinner
Monday	Wholemeal toast with chopped tomato, avocado and black pepper · natural yoghurt with sliced pear	Oven-baked chicken breast (150 g) with courgette, green pepper, onion, sliced tomato and sautéed mushrooms · brown rice (40 g raw)	Pumpkin, leek and onion soup with cooked chickpeas (200 g drained), roasted in the oven with turmeric, and 1 chopped hard-boiled egg
Tuesday	Bowl of natural yoghurt with chopped raw apple and cinnamon, and wholegrain granola with no added sugar	Homemade leek and apple soup · grilled pork tenderloin (150 g) served with brown rice (40 g raw)	Lamb’s lettuce salad, wholewheat couscous (40 g raw), hydrated, and cooked beetroot dressed with lemon · grilled halibut fillets (150 g) with garlic and parsley
Wednesday	Wholemeal toast with olive oil and a French omelette made with 1 egg and courgette, cooked with extra virgin olive oil	Fresh quinoa salad (40 g raw), boiled, steamed broccoli florets, tuna in spring water (150 g drained) and strips of piquillo pepper	Homemade tomato and strawberry gazpacho · wholemeal toast with cooked white beans (200 g drained), sautéed with mushrooms and wild asparagus
Thursday	Wholemeal toast with fresh cheese or ricotta, cucumber, lamb’s lettuce and 2 or 3 ground or chopped walnuts (ground for children under 5) · an orange	Oven-baked aubergines stuffed with diced chicken breast (150 g), courgette, onion, peppers, carrot, 1 hard-boiled egg and gratinated cheese · brown rice (40 g raw)	Sea bass fillets (150 g) baked on a bed of courgette, peppers and carrot · wholewheat couscous (40 g raw), sautéed with those vegetables
Friday	Warm porridge made with rolled oats and whole or semi-skimmed unsweetened natural yoghurt, chia seeds and mixed berries	Sautéed carrot strips with quinoa (40 g raw), cooked, peeled prawns and squid (150 g cleaned in total) with a touch of garlic	Salad of griddled aubergine slices, rocket, diced tomato and feta · wholemeal toast with basil chickpea pâté made from cooked chickpeas (200 g drained) and 1 poached egg
Saturday	Wholemeal toast with mashed ripe banana and pure sugar-free peanut butter	Anchovies (150 g cleaned) baked with chopped garlic, parsley and lemon · wholewheat spaghetti (40 g raw) with cherry tomatoes cut lengthways and sautéed	Steamed artichokes with grilled chicken thighs (150 g boned) and mushrooms sautéed with garlic · wholemeal toast
Sunday	Homemade wholemeal crêpes made with whole or semi-skimmed milk, or a plant-based drink that meets the criterion in the shopping list, filled with seasonal fruit and cinnamon	Rice noodles (40 g raw), stir-fried in a wok with king prawns (150 g peeled), strips of carrot, onion, green beans and broccoli, and reduced-salt soya sauce	Warm salad of cooked lentils (200 g drained) with chopped red pepper, onion, avocado, tomato, gherkins and steamed mussels

Mid-morning and afternoon snacks

Mid-morning and afternoon snacks make room for the fruit, nuts and dairy foods that do not fit into the main meals. These are the snacks for the week.

• Monday. Bowl of natural yoghurt or whipped fresh cheese with 2 or 3 ground or chopped walnuts (ground for children under 5), sliced strawberries and unsweetened desiccated coconut.
• Tuesday. Full-fat natural yoghurt with chopped strawberries.
• Wednesday. Wholemeal toast with pure sugar-free peanut butter and raspberries.
• Thursday. Natural yoghurt with blueberries and natural or toasted pistachios, in an amount equivalent to 2 or 3 walnuts, ground for children under 5.
• Friday. Chia pudding, with the seeds soaked in whole or semi-skimmed milk, or a plant-based drink that meets the criterion in the shopping list, topped with banana and strawberries.
• Saturday. Homemade oat and ripe-banana biscuits with dark chocolate chips, baked for 20 minutes.
• Sunday. Fruit salad with kiwi, banana, apple, strawberries, orange and grapes cut lengthways.

The week’s shopping list

These are reference quantities for four adult servings over seven days, not quantities prescribed for two adults and two children. Adjust the shopping to the servings your family needs. For each lunch or dinner that includes grains, allow 160 g uncooked in total for four adult portions; for each meal with pulses, 800 g drained in total; and for each meal with meat or fish, 600 g cleaned in total. The quantities of vegetables, bread, dairy and store-cupboard items keep the guidance of the original list: they are not calculated children’s portions. It is organised by supermarket section so you can do the shopping in one go.

Greengrocer

• Ripe tomatoes for salads and sauces, 2.5 kg
• Cherry tomatoes, 500 g
• Courgettes, 4 medium (Monday, Wednesday and Thursday)
• Leeks, 2 bunches (about 8)
• Sweet or yellow onions, 1.5 kg
• Red and green peppers, 4 of each
• Yellow peppers, 2
• Chopped pumpkin, 1 kg
• Aubergines, 4 medium
• Broccoli, 2 medium heads
• Carrots, 1 kg, for Thursday, Friday and Sunday; green beans, 400 g, for Sunday
• Button mushrooms and mixed mushrooms, 800 g
• Wild asparagus, 1 bunch
• Artichokes, 8
• Lamb’s lettuce and rocket, 3 bags
• Cucumbers, 2
• Cooked beetroot, 2 packs of 250 g
• Apples, 2 kg
• Ripe bananas, 2 kg
• Strawberries and raspberries, 1 kg in total
• Blueberries, 300 g
• Oranges, 2 kg, and lemons, 1 kg
• Kiwi fruit, pears and grapes, 1 kg of each; top up the fruit until you have 56-84 servings for the week (4 people × 7 days × 2-3); weigh small fruit by servings, not by individual pieces
• Ripe avocados, 4

Fishmonger and butcher

• Whole chicken breasts or thick fillets, 1.2 kg
• Boneless chicken thighs, 600 g
• Pork tenderloin, 600 g
• Cleaned halibut fillets, 600 g
• Boneless sea bass fillets, 600 g
• Cleaned anchovies, heads and guts removed, 600 g
• Peeled prawns and cleaned squid, 600 g in total
• Raw or cooked king prawns, 600 g peeled
• Mussels for steaming, 1 kg (or 2 tins in spring water)

Eggs and dairy

• Eggs, 16 for the four meals with egg (1 per serving), plus those used in the Sunday crêpe recipe; keep the purchase of 2 dozen until that recipe is settled
• Unsweetened natural yoghurt, whole or semi-skimmed, 24 (6 servings × 4 people)
• Fresh cheese from Burgos or ricotta, 500 g
• Feta cheese, 150 g
• Mild grated cheese for gratinating, 150 g
• Whole or semi-skimmed milk, or unsweetened soya drink with at least 3 g of protein per 100 ml, 3 litres

Grains, pulses and store cupboard

• Bakery wholemeal bread, 2 large loaves as an initial reference for 8 servings of 4 slices of toast (32 slices); check the number of slices and buy more if you run short
• Fine rolled oats, 1 kg
• Brown rice, 480 g raw (3 servings × 4 portions × 40 g)
• Quinoa, 320 g raw (2 servings × 4 portions × 40 g)
• Wholewheat couscous, 320 g raw (2 servings × 4 portions × 40 g)
• Wholewheat spaghetti, 160 g raw (1 serving × 4 portions × 40 g)
• Rice noodles, 160 g raw (1 serving × 4 portions × 40 g)
• Wholemeal wheat flour, 500 g
• Cooked chickpeas in glass jars, 1,600 g drained (2 servings × 4 portions × 200 g)
• Cooked lentils in glass jars, 2 large jars (800 g drained)
• Cooked white beans, 800 g drained (1 serving × 4 portions × 200 g)
• Wholegrain granola with no added sugars, 1 packet for 4 bowls; dark chocolate for the biscuits, 1 bar (use what the recipe states)
• Tuna in spring water, tinned, 600 g drained (check the drained weight of the tins)
• Piquillo peppers, 1 jar
• Pickled gherkins and olives, 1 jar of each
• Shelled walnuts, natural or toasted, 16-24 walnuts for 8 servings; pistachios, natural or toasted, an amount equivalent to 8-12 walnuts for 4 servings (choose ground if there are children under 5)
• 100% peanut butter, 1 jar
• Chia seeds and unsweetened desiccated coconut, 100 g of each
• Extra virgin olive oil, 1 litre
• Cinnamon, turmeric, oregano, basil, black pepper, apple cider vinegar and reduced-salt soya sauce

How to adapt it to different ages

This meal plan does not set a kilocalorie target. A 7-year-old girl, a teenager going through a growth spurt and an adult need very different amounts. The paediatric protocol of the Asociación Española de Pediatría states that, in healthy children, particular attention should be paid to the quality of what they eat, because at these ages they usually regulate their energy intake well [1]. Serve portions that suit their age and let them have more if they are hungry.

The same menu works for everyone at the table; only the amount on each plate changes.

If there are young children at home, there are two safety adjustments. Before the age of 5, serve nuts ground or as nut butter, never whole. Cut grapes and cherry tomatoes lengthways to reduce the risk of choking. The tuna in the menu is tinned, because for children under 10 swordfish, shark, bluefin tuna and pike are avoided because of their mercury content [1].

You can also read our guide to nutrition during the school years.

How to get the week ready in one afternoon

A Sunday afternoon helps you get some weeknight dinners ready in advance; finish the preparations on the day indicated and freeze whatever will not be eaten within the time limit.

• Roast vegetables on a large tray. Pumpkin, aubergine and leek fit together in the oven. Keep covered in the fridge only the portions for the next two days; freeze the rest after cooling them. Thursday’s aubergines are prepared that day or defrosted in the fridge.
• Cook grains ahead. Cook Monday’s rice on Monday and Tuesday’s on Tuesday; prepare Wednesday’s quinoa that day. If you keep cooked rice or other grains, cool them quickly, refrigerate them covered within an hour and eat them within 24 hours; reheat thoroughly only once. Freeze portions for later after cooling and defrost them in the fridge. The couscous for Tuesday and Thursday is hydrated on the day it is eaten.
• Have hard-boiled eggs ready. Cook Monday’s four on that day; prepare Thursday’s four on Thursday. Keep cooked eggs covered in the fridge for a maximum of two days. Do not set aside eggs from Sunday for Thursday.
• Rinse jarred pulses. Rinsing them under the tap removes much of the salt from the liquid, and they can go straight into soups and salads.

What mistakes do we see in consultations?

• Cooking a separate menu for the children. Habits are learned at the family table [1], and a separate meal deprives them of that learning and adds an hour of work in the kitchen.
• Giving up after the third try. Refusing new foods is normal, especially between two and six years old, and it is resolved by offering them many times and without pressure [1].
• Always serving vegetables as soup. That can help when vegetables are difficult, but vegetables also need to reach the plate whole and varied [1].
• Counting juice as fruit. Fruit is eaten whole; juice, at most 150 ml a day for preschoolers and 250 ml for school-age children [1].

What is this meal plan based on?

It follows official recommendations for the Spanish population [2] and paediatric recommendations for school-aged children [1].

• Vegetables and fruit every day. At least three servings of vegetables and two or three servings of fruit [2].
• Pulses and fish several times a week. This menu includes four servings of pulses and four of fish, two of them oily fish (tinned tuna and anchovies), in line with the frequencies indicated [1, 2].
• Wholegrains. They provide more fibre than refined grains and help meals feel satisfying.
• A variety of protein sources. Alternate fish, pulses, eggs and poultry, with little red meat and no processed meat.
• Keep free sugars to a minimum. WHO recommends no more than 10% of daily energy, and ideally no more than 5% [3]. For children and teenagers, paediatric guidance recommends less than 5% [1]. That is why dessert is fruit or natural yoghurt, and Saturday’s chocolate biscuits are the exception.
• Extra virgin olive oil for cooking and dressing food, with nuts, seeds and oily fish as other sources of fat.
• Milk or a plant-based drink. Wherever the menu says milk, you can use a soya drink or another plant-based drink with at least 3 g of protein per 100 ml. Soya is an allergen.

Pastries, biscuits and sweetened cereals, packaged juice, soft drinks, ready meals and fatty processed meats are not part of the regular shopping list. They have a place occasionally.