Easy Weekly Meal Plan: Save Time and Money with the Plan and Play Hack!

What’s for dinner at your house today? (You can leave a comment below!) Or have you taken 15 minutes to plan your meals (and some fun) this week? Happy Tuesday from sunny Copenhagen! It’s Flylady’s Plan and Play day. Think of it as “desk time” or “life admin”. It’s not an all-day thing: just taking 15 to 20 minutes to set yourself up for a smoother week. Sit down with a cuppa or a glass of cold water and check your calendar, write out a simple meal plan, maybe pay a bill or two—and don’t forget to schedule something fun for yourself and your family! Whether that means a picnic in the park, a cosy movie night at home, or just a quiet coffee break with a friend – if you don’t plan it and carve out time for it, it won’t happen. We all need a little something to look forward to!

I worked out at the gym this morning with my Bestie, Erika, who is just back from her vacation in Greece – yay! Was so great to catch up and chat.

If you’re feeling the “what’s for dinner?” fatigue or dreading another last-minute dash to the supermarket, you’re not alone. Summer can be a whirlwind with travel, holidays, and kids home from school. That’s why a stress-free weekly meal plan is key: it saves time, money, and brainpower. At Casa Copenhagen, we’re keeping things easy with no-fuss summer dinners—the kind that work whether we’re out all day or trying to stay cool at home. Here’s how we’re keeping it simple at Casa Copenhagen this week!

Greek Shrimp Pasta I forgot to take a photo but you can see the leftovers in the tupperware dish above (which I enjoyed cold, for my lunch, when I was swimming with Vibeke this week).

I got the recipe for Greek Shrimp Pasta many years ago from Leanne Ely’s book “Saving Dinner”. It’s basically Greek salad ingredients mixed with warm pasta. So easy to put together but full of flavour! Use what you have on hand but the basic ingredients are shrimp or prawns, tomatoes, green bell pepper, red onion or spring onion, black olives, lots of feta cheese, olive oil, red wine vinegar or a squeeze of lemon juice, dried or fresh oregano, salt and pepper. If you have large shrimp, you can quickly fry them with some garlic. Small prawns can be used straight from the tub (I add some garlic salt). Put everything in a bowl (best to leave it for 30 minutes to come to room temperature), cook your pasta and gently mix the whole lot together. If I’m using large shrimp, I use tagliatelle pasta. And with small prawns, I usually go for a smaller pasta.

Pork Tenderloin with Creamy Mustard Sauce, potato gratin and a simple salad of raw spinach, slices of fresh apple, cashew nuts and some balsamic vinegar and olive oil. I got the pork tenderloin for half-price, woo hoo!

Here’s the recipe for the tenderloin from Recipetineats https://www.recipetineats.com/pork-tenderloin-with-creamy-mustard-sauce/

Flæskesteg Danish roast pork made in the air fryer (the pork crackling comes out perfect every time), served with new potatoes, pickled red cabbage and homemade creamy gravy.

Danish Biksemad  A kind of potato hash with meat: fried cubed potatoes, beef, onions, served with ketchup or brown HP sauce and pickled beetroot. And topped with one or two fried eggs each. (Our kids loved this dish when they were small.) The potato/onion/beef mix comes ready frozen from the supermarket – easy!

Noodles with simple chicken satay and Asian slaw I jazzed up a packet of instant noodles by frying up some pieces of chicken (marinated in soy sauce and red Thai curry paste) and served them with a simple cold satay sauce (peanut butter, garlic, sriracha, lime juice, brown sugar, soy sauce and some water to loosen it up).

For the Asian salad, I was inspired by a dish we had at SILK, Split on our Croatian vacation. At the restaurant they used slices of apple, salad leaves, tomato, spring onions, cucmber, sesame seeds and a spicy dressing.

Above is what I put together, using what I had on hand. Yum!

Leftovers or smørrebrød One day of the week for us is usually leftovers, a frittata/quiche made with any veggies which need using up, or Danish smørrebrød (rye bread open sandwiches with various toppings). That’s my lunch you can see above… hummus on slice ryebread with beef tomatoes, plenty of black pepper, fresh coriander and a handful of carrots (I dip them in Goma Dressing).

Oksekød i fad “Beef in a bowl” A rather strange name – and the first-ever dish my Dear Danish Husband cooked for me when we were courting! Don’t be alarmed by the vast quantity of ketchup, it gives real flavour to the dish. Here’s how to make it. If you want to see more of my super simple recipes, click here for my YouTube series.

Velbekomme! Bon appétit! So, what’s for dinner at your house?

Hugs

Diane in Denmark