The Family Plan

Meal planning made effortless: Everything you need to feed your family this week (except the food).

Welcome to The Family Plan by me, Debbie Koenig. Back in the late 20teens, I wrote the "What to Cook This Week" column for Epicurious. When that ended, Substack was just beginning to become A Thing, so I moved the column here. Each week, I put together a list of dinner recipes for a family of four. But it’s more than just a suggested weekly menu. It’s food Tetris.

The idea is to streamline the cooking, so you work with intentional leftovers. The goal: to make weeknight cooking easier, while also teaching you how to take command in the kitchen. Back when Epicurious discontinued the column, I heard from readers:

"I LOVE your meal plans. You seriously have made my life so much easier. Fun seasonal meals with the kid friendly tips and using up leftovers = winner!"

and

"It was real food, for both kids and adults, easily modifyable -- and not a bunch of weird taco casseroles like so many other family-friendly plans -- I don't know about you, but yuck! Bring it back -- maybe just on your own??"

And I heard from non-parents, too:

"Real talk, thanks so much for your 'what to cook this week' series on Epicurious. My Fiance and I have been using it to plan our weekly meals for months now, and it seriously kicks ass."

There are more, but you get the idea. I should say, I didn't invent the column--Epicurious hired me to write it. But my expertise with meal planning turned it into something special. And I was as sad as my readers when it ended. Which is why I'm still here.

For The Family Plan, I curate recipes from all over the Internet, food sites I know and trust. And recipes I've created myself, too--from my cookbook (Parents Need to Eat Too) as well as new ones. I also provide time-saving tips, advice on adapting recipes to work with leftovers, and tips to feed picky eaters (my own kid is so picky we call him “non-nivorous”).

Basically, with The Family Plan you’ll never have to think about weeknight dinner again. Sign up now so you don’t miss another issue. Recent issues are always free, but paid subscribers get access to the entire archive of 100+ plans.

In the meantime, tell your friends!